A pinch of sugar and salt ~ Kya Dilli Kya Lahore

“Everything I learned I learned from the movies.” ― Audrey Hepburn

Well movie watching is something I enjoy but not to the extent where I am watching everything and anything that comes to the nearby multiplex. I am very choosy about what I watch for I believe in these words by Audrey Hepburn a lot.

This weekend I decided to catch up with Kya Dilli Kya Lahore (wondering WHY? Read my post here on it) and added yet another lesson to my book of life. If there is one thing that stared back at me throughout the movie was just one thought – wish the answer to this problem could be as simple as we are so similar yet so different as rightly pointed out by a wonderful fellow blogger Beloo Mehra on my previous post.

Source: Google Images

The movie made me cry at some places while at some it made me laugh. But overall it made me think, what is that gives me goose bumps in a tale of two countries separated at birth never to be united ever again? Perhaps I would never be able to explain. Just the way I would never be able to express why should one watch this movie?

The story line begins on a very mixed note as a Pakistani soldier of Indian origin and an Indian soldier of a Pakistani origin meet. The exchange between them (it was more than just words) is what sets the tone for this whole movie. The simplicity of the tale is where the real beauty lies of this movie which is sprinkled with amazing poetry by Gulzar adding to its grandeur. The location of the movie might be far away from the place of origin but the story is as close as possible to the reality. The end is the show stealer. It left me with a zillion questions; I am still trying to look for answers.

Source: Google Images

~ Watch it ~

to know the beauty behind this sad tale of separation. It will tug your heart.
not for the joy it would bring along, but watch it to learn how to celebrate the differences and yet be happy.
to know how love is trying hard to triumph peeping through those crevices and yet is unable to be victorious.
to know that there are more than just differences between us which are responsible for the way things are.
to hear the untold saga that every heart wants to hear.

Movie Review: If by Tathagata Ghosh – A Tender Portrait of Love, Loss, and Possibility

If , a 26-minute short film by acclaimed Bengali filmmaker Tathagata Ghosh, is a sensitive, evocative piece of storytelling that lingers long after the credits roll. Set against the everyday rhythm of life in Kolkata, the film delicately unpacks the story of a lesbian couple torn apart by the weight of societal expectations and dares to imagine a different future, one where a mother's love might just change everything. What struck me first was the film’s raw, grounded realism. The characters feel like people we know, middle-class families navigating a complex world with quiet resilience. The world of If is filled with silences, glances, and stills, rather than heavy dialogue. Ghosh masterfully uses these moments to speak volumes, allowing viewers to sit with discomfort, interpret the unspoken, and feel deeply.

Book Review: The Story of Eve: Selected Poems by Zehra Nigah

Few voices in Urdu poetry have carried the weight of history, resistance, and deep personal introspection quite like Zehra Nigah. One of the first women to break into the traditionally male-dominated world of Urdu poetry, Nigah’s work stands as a testament to the power of words to illuminate, question, and challenge. The Story of Eve: Selected Poems, translated by Rakshanda Jalil, brings together some of her most powerful nazms and ghazals, showcasing both her literary elegance and her unflinching gaze at the human condition, particularly through the lens of gender, social injustice, and political turmoil.

The Urban Gaze : Reimagining the Village in Contemporary Indian Cinema

Indian cinema has long been fascinated with the village. From the earthy, socialist realism of Do Bigha Zamin (1953) to the melodramatic lament of Mother India (1957), the village once stood as both heartland and hinterland — a space of moral clarity, rustic struggle, and often unyielding fate. But as the urban middle class began to dominate cinematic production and consumption, the depiction of the village increasingly came to reflect an urban gaze, that is, a perspective shaped by distance, nostalgia, condescension, or even outright fantasy. In recent years, this urban gaze has taken on new shades, evident in the way mainstream and indie filmmakers alike have re-engaged with rural India. While some have tried to explore the village as a site of resistance, authenticity, or even horror, others continue to reproduce sanitized or exaggerated versions of village life that serve urban sensibilities more than rural realities.

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