Chidiya Ghar Review

LOL vs. ROFL :)

My Ratings: 4/5

LOL: Laughing Out Loud
ROFL: Rolling On the Floor Laughing

I am fond of SAB TV from the beginning as the programs aired on it are really meant for families and full of fun and entertainment. Two months, a new comedy program- CHIDIYA GHAR was started on this channel and I am complete fan of it. I love the show, concept, actors, performances and the situational comedy. And yes, many times am confused after watching wonderful hilarious scenes that whether I have to LOL or ROFL so gave this title.

Concept

Unlike the name suggests, the serial is not about a zoo but a house named after the owner’s wife - Chidiya Narayan. This serial tries to show the animal traits in humans - restlessness like monkeys, appetites like elephants, swiftness of a horse, slowness of a donkey etc. This show showcases the journey from a four legged creature to a two legged one inculcating basics of human values like love, respect for others, patience and the true meaning of a family and togetherness is what makes us humans.


The show has a fresh concept that revolves around a unique idea that we humans too have animal traits and our values and culture separates us from animals.

Story

This is a story of a retired principal, Shri Kesari Narayan and his two sons Gomukh and Ghotak, their respective wives, Mayuri and Koel; younger son Kapi; grandchildren Gillu and Gaj; daughter Maina and Son in law Tota.

The best part of this serial is that it has no story like most serials aired on SAB TV or other channels. The main character (Kesari Narayan) teaches a lesson to his grand children and next few episodes are directed towards that teaching by real examples. It is a very innovative way to move forward the serial.

Casts and performances

Kesari Narayan (‘Lion’ of Chidiya Ghar) - Rajendra Gupta has played the main and oldest character of this serial and is man of principles. Like his name, he roars like a lion. He used to teach important lessons of life to his grand children.

Ghotak Narayan (‘Horse’ of Chidiya Ghar) - Paresh Ganatra has played this character of a ticket collector in Indian railways. He is the eldest son of Kesari and very fast like his name. He talks in the railway lingo and loves to living in the train and even converted his room like a train. He is a well known personality in comedy shows and movies and perfectly played this character.

Gomukh Narayan (‘Cow’ of Chidiya Ghar) - Sumit Arora has played the character of teacher and is simpler than a cow. He has a unique way of talking never seen before. He even speaks out the punctuation marks used in sentences like comma; full stop etc. Sumit Arora was last seen playing negative role in Pavitra Rishta and he dynamically performs this comic character very well.

Koel Narayan (‘Cuckoo’ of Chidya Ghar) - Shilpa Shinde has played this role of the wife of Ghotak Narayan. She is a self claimed singer has a habit of talking in the style of singing like her name.

Mayuri Narayan (‘Peahen’ of Chidiya Ghar) - Debina Mukherjee has played the role of wife of Gomukh Narayan. She likes to dance and expresses her happiness by dancing. She loves to hear her praises from her husband and thinks herself as the most beautiful woman.

Gadda Prasad (‘Donkey’ of Chidiya Ghar) - Marathi actor Jitu Shivhare plays the role of dumb servant of the house. He is called as Gadha (donkey) by all the family members. He is the most entertaining and interesting character of this serial and worth watching . I have never seen such a wonderful character and awesome performance in any serial . He has unique way of walking, standing and talking.

Then there are few other characters Gillu Narayan, Gaj Gamini, Kapi Narayan etc. Everyone has their own positives in character and all have performed very well, unexpected from a comedy serial.

On Air

The show is on air since November 28, 2011 on SAB TV. It is a half hour show telecasts at 9:00 PM from Monday to Friday .

Positives

1. The performances of each and every character and specially the performance of Jitu Shivhare as Gadha Prasad .
2. The proper family oriented serial that can be enjoyed by your grandparents and grandchildren at the same time.
3. The story based on human values and teachings.
4. The characterization of individual characters as per the animal’s name.

Negatives

1. Why telecast is limited to only half an hour? It should go on and on.
2. The director should concentrate more on Gadha Prasad and should provide him more screen presence as he is the USP of this serial.

My Views

My mother is residing with me who is very conservative in nature and didn’t like typical serials on TV. But she eagerly awaits this serial and never misses any of its episodes. I am wondering that how such a small serial is able to hire these wonderful actors who are worthwhile. The discovery of this serial is Jitu Shivhare and I would like to watch him more often in other serials or movies.

The serial tries to make you laugh by situational comedy and never uses any cheap acts to do so. The most amazing thing is that even the presence of few characters is more than enough to bring smiles to your face.

So just take a break from the typical television and try to enjoy this serial. Watch it once if you really want to laugh out loud.

Manorama Yearbook 2012 Review

 Desi GOOGLE

My Ratings: 4.5/5

It was 1996 when I first got a copy of Manorama Yearbook from one of my classmate. I became a fan of this book since then. It is a one stop search for major GK questions. It was the time when there was no Wikipedia, Google or internet. Time has changed in almost 15years since then, but my loyalty towards this book is still the same. Though I have many online search engines always ready for me and Wikipedia with all the detailed information but still I love to flick through its pages to get information on many hot topics or topics that never came to my mind. Interestingly, I took help from Wikipedia while writing this review but that doesn’t make this book any inferior. I am writing this review considering the latest edition of this book- Manorama Yearbook 2012.

Simply said, it is an encyclopedia of current affairs published annually in Bengali, English, Hindi, Malayalam, and Tamil languages by Malayala Manorama Group of Kerala, India. It was first printed in 1959 in Malayalam and seven years later, the first English edition was published. It mainly covers information related to people, places, events and other major incidents happened during the past year.

Contents

The book is divided into 14 sections as follows:

1. Current Affairs- This section comprises two sub-sections of happenings in India and World. The section tries to cover all the major incidents or persons in news of past year like 2G spectrum, Srikrishna report, Kalmadi, Anna Hazare, Liz Taylor, Wikileaks, Straus-Kahn etc.

2. Events- It contains calendar of events (date wise) in India and World in two separate sections from 1^st November, 2010 to 7^thOctober, 2011.

3. Cover Story- This is a permanent section in all the editions of yearbook where a hot topic is discussed in detail. This time, the topic is related to ‘Arab Uprisings’ where the recent revolutions (Jasmine Revolution) in Arab countries are explained in 30pages.

4. Science World- This section explains many basic principle of science and also major incidents in past year like BT Crops, Gene revolution etc.

5. Cosmos- It covers all the important topics related to Space science – space facts, solar system etc., geoscience, tsunami, earthquake & volcanoes etc.

6. Environment- It covers international conventions on environment, green growth, global warming, COP16 summit, ozone protection and many other important topics related to environment.

7. Health & Medicine- It has some very interesting topics related to human body systems, types of human diseases, drug resistant bugs etc.

8. Information Technology- IT Scan, computer virus, kinetic thrills, computer revolution, touch screen systems, tablets, internet timeline, social networks etc.

9. World Panorama- The best part of this section is ready reckoner of all countries comprising of all the relevant information. It also covers UN, international organizations, world religions and much more.

10. Education & Career- Topics related to Civil Services, IELTS, GRE, training, planning, CEED, armed forces career and many useful topics related to career and education.

11. India- It covers all the details about India, its states, peoples, state assemblies, constitution, flora, forests, fauna and many interesting and important topics.

12. Indian Economy- Agriculture, plantation crops, liberalization, privatization, globalization, five year plans, banking, mutual funds, FDI etc.

13. General Knowledge- It has information that is not covered under other sections. You think of a topic and it is here. You never have imagined of that topic and it is also here. It has information like awards & honors, Bollywood, abbreviations, records, who is who, important post holders etc.

14. Sports- It covers all the important sports incidents, persons, awards etc. of the past year.  The important section of this part is Sports diary that covers date wise happenings in sports.

Few more reasons that make it worthy

1. GK quizcomprising of 1000 questions

2. One-linersGK at the bottom of almost all the pages.

3. Top 50 Hollywood classic movies.

4. Top 50 classic novels.

5. Curious human body facts.

6. Most confusable words in English language.

7. List of important historical places.

8. ’Who is Who’of persons related to politics, literature, arts, science & technology, sports and miscellaneous.

9. A special article on youth power by APJ Abdul Kalam.

Manorama Yearbook vs. CSR Yearbook

Competition Success Review Yearbook is the most able competitor to Manorama Yearbook, so it’s natural to have comparison between these two books.

1. CSR yearbook is priced at Rs.310 (online price Rs.233) compared to Manorama yearbook which is priced at Rs.170 (online price Rs.128).
2. CSR has only 990 pages when compared to 1040 pages of Manorama.
3. Manorama has much better presentation and page quality when compared to CSR.
4. Manorama comes with free Encyclopedia CD where as CSR comes with free wall maps of India and World.
5. Manorama is fully colored book , where as CSR has only about 80 colored pages at beginning and end.
6. I personally feel that CSR is more inclined towards more and more number of ads, inside and on cover (multiple layered cover with lot of advertisements).

I am unable to understand that there is no additional info in CSR nor they have additional pages, still they have priced it at almost double the price of Manorama. CSR looks very bulky and thick despite less number of pages, may be because of inferior paper quality. I would say that Manorama Yearbook is a steal when compared to CSR . 

Recommendations

It is best recommended for

1. Students and the people who are appearing for competitive exams.

2. People who don’t have time in their daily life to keep them updated with the current affairs.

3. Those who want to get current scenario of always changing geography.

4. Persons in search of concise as well comprehensive information on major aspects.
5. Teachers and researchers who are in need of quick reference.

6. Those who love to collect important or ignored information from all sources.

7. Bibliophiles, as this book is worth their collection.

Pricing and availability

This book is available at almost all the bookstores in whole India at a printed price tag of Rs.170. These bookstores may give you a discount of 10-20%, but I would recommend purchasing it through online stores. It is available at all the leading online stores at Rs.128 (i.e., discount of 30%).

Finally

Many people may be fond of reading fictions while going to bed but I love to sleep after spending few minutes with this book. It never gets me bored as every page has something new to offer. Even at the most bored moment, there is always an option of switching to any other category of my choice.

The only negative point is that it covers current affairs till October. By the way it is same with the all the GK books in the market, may be all are in hurry to release new editions.

It is the best thing that can be purchased at this price, considering the quality and quantity (total 1040) of pages, colored printing and vast information.  You will get a free Encyclopedia Britannica CD freewith this edition.

Don’t go blindly with my review, just try it yourself for once. Either it is a waste of Rs.128 or a yearly delight :) 

Ek Deewana Tha Music Review

Feel the Music!!!

I have heard about this movie when it was in news regarding the music launch at Taj Mahal. There were no expectations attached to this album but was totally mesmerized by it. It has some uniqueness attached to it, seen rarely in Hindi Movies.

This movie is remake of Tamil movie Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa that was a great musical hit by A R Rahman. Rahman tries to replicate that magic and he is successful to an extent. The lyrics are penned by Javed Akhtar in very simple lyrics with mix of English phrases and even pure Hindi phrases.

The album has total twelve tracks, out of which three are instrumentals. Interestingly, there is no remix version of any song that has become a normal trend in music albums nowadays.


Kya Hai Mohabbat (AR Rahman)

Mohabbat hai jis se wo dil tode bhi to
Bura phir bhi dil ko nahi lagta hai kyun
Koi ye bata de ki kya hai mohabbat mohobbat

The album opens with the magical voice of A R Rahman who did full justice to the lyrics. It is free flow song with slow music in the background . You may not love it at first time but will surely love to move with the song later on. Don’t forget to notice the lyrics as it is wonderfully written by Javed Akhtar.

My Rating: 4/5

Dost Hai (Naresh Iyer, Jaspreet Jasz, Arya)

“Dost Hai Hum toh” Yeh Bahana Kyun
Pyaar hai humko ye chhupana kyun
Girl I loved you

It is a bit different song in terms of lyrics, vocals and music but that doesn’t make it any better. The vocals of Naresh Iyer are good and impressive but the rapping is not required. It seems as if it is the remix of an original track or some party mix. Good to listen for few times .

My Rating: 2.5/5

Aromale (Alphonse Joseph)

Priyadarshini..Swarn hansini
Sunle..mann pukare..
Doobeyngein dono hi inme
Gehre hai yeh prem dhaarien
Aromale..
Aromale..

For me it is one of the best I have heard in recent times . The word ‘Aromale’ itself did a magic on myself. Anyhow, this ‘Aromale’ word is much better than absurd words used in lyrics these days. ‘Aromale’ means ‘The Beloved’ in Malayalam. Pure Hindi wordings seem somewhat odd but when used to these, it sounds good.

My Rating: 4/5

Hosanna (Leon D’Souza, Suzanne D’Mello, Blaaze)

Dil.. hote jo..
Mere seene mein do
Doosra dil bhi mein
Tumhe deta todhne ko
Hossana..

This is the heart & soul of this album . The song starts with wonderful lines mentioned above. I am sure that it is going to be one of the best romantic songs of recent times . It is brilliant creation of Rahman and Leon did justice to Akhtar’s lyrics with English interludes in between.

My Rating: 3.5/5

Phoolon Jaisi (Clinton Cerejo, Kalyani Menon)

Tere zulf se mehki hui jo chahon hai
Woh hai meri manzil
Tere saare gum meri saari khushiyan
Ab dono ki hai, hai kehta dil

It is also a nice romantic song . It reminds me of a song of 1942 A Love Story. It seems bit boring as it process , may be because lyrics are dominating that fails to impress. It feels repetitive after 3 minutes though it sounds natural as if someone is really trying to describing his lover to the listeners.

My Rating: 2.5/5

Sharminda Hoon (AR Rahman, Madushree)

Tumko maine chaha bhi hai
Tumhi ko maine gum bhi diye
Sharminda hoon
Sharminda hoon

It is a slow romantic song that flows naturally with the composition . It sounds good but not up to the level of A R Rahman. The sudden interlude of ‘Sitaro kea age jaha aur bhi hain…’ doesn’t make any sense. It is not going any further and can easily be forgotten .

My Ratings: 2.5/5

Sunlo Zara (Rashid Ali, Shreya Ghosal, Timmy)

Suno na..
Kheti hai yeh umang
Chalenge sung sung
Leke hum pyar ke saare rang

It is the only fast song of this album and uses many instruments. Shreya Ghosal sings in her own style with a bit different tone. It may be remixed to be a favorite pick for DJs. Overall the song is good and refreshing to listen .

My Rating: 3/5

Zohra-Jabeen (Javed Ali)

Tootke girte hai jaise zameen par
Aksar raaton mein sitaare
Hum hi hum hai
Ab na sharmaao..aa jao
Iss dil ko apnaao

This is the last vocal, but not the least. Javed Ali is at his best with his trademarked soothing style. At first, it may seems too slow but don’t ignore it. This song is full of soul and will be known by its beautiful composition .

My Rating: 3.5/5

Instrumentals

There are four instrumentals in the album. The first one is slow and simple ‘ Broken Promises ’ with sweet humming of single word ‘ Aromale ’ by Shreya Ghosal. The second one is a lovely Piano composition by Prabhakar- ’Moments in Kerala’ . ’ Jessie’s Land ’ is a very simple composition and has nothing new to offer.

The last one ‘ Jessie’s Driving me Crazy ’ is full of madness and craziness with a full Hindi composition. This one is simply superb.

My Picks - Kya Hai Mohabbat, Aromalae & Hosanna

Overall ratings- 3.5/5

This album may not be as great as other creations of Rahman but it can’t be ignored . It may disappoint Rahman’s fan a little but still a great work by him.