Birthday Celebrations!

 Small treats like these.....

I had a slice of black forest cake from Monginis after such a long time.

Still remember the days when our (building friends') birthdays were celebrated with a cream cake from Monginis , potato wafers, samosa or batata wada and rasna. We were happy with that too and we were not given any choices. We decorated a single wall with festoons and balloons and clicked group pictures in front of it. We just invited our building friends. We enjoyed the little party and were thrilled with whatever gifts we got. The return gift was not mandatory and if given, it was something common like a  pencil box, plastic water bottle or tiffin box.

In my house we never celebrated birthdays like this. My amma just prepared something special for all of us. We didn't have birthday parties at all. It was a new concept for us. Later when we had kids we celebrated our kids birthdays on a small scale as mentioned above.

Nowadays little kids have themed parties at rented halls or at McDonalds or Pizza Hut. They dress up according to the theme decided. Birthday cards are distributed. They also have takeaway gifts that are customised. Selected school friends are invited and it is a huge affair. Parents go all out to compete with each other to have a grand party. Some have movie screenings, magic shows and game hosts to conduct the party. The sad part is they keep comparing each other's parties and feel let down when others give away more expensive takeaway gifts. They also make fun of gifts that are not expensive enough according to them.  In the end it is just a competition among parents to show who has more money power. 

In the end, it  is all the choices we make. Time is changing after all. Trends keep changing too.

The Kashmir Files

 

Watched Gangubai Kathiawadi today on the big screen. Total waste of time and money. Too much of hamming and unnecessary melodrama. The only thing that captured my interest was the dances and the location they showed. The Kamathipura red light area was beautifully portrayed. I was in that area during one of my walks and it was a close representation. The storyline was not engaging enough and the characters were nearly reduced to caricatures due to the over the top acting. I like Alia Bhatt but here she looked too artificial and forced. Ajay Devgn is good but could not save this film. The lone saving grace was Jim Sarb and the television heart throb Shantanu Maheshwari. They were splendid in their short but important roles. Shantanu is really adorable! The luxury cars looked spectacular and the dances were amazingly picturized.

I have nothing against the real life shero who fought against the oppressors and made life more bearable for the prostitutes and challenged the people who exploited their miseries. She was an iron lady who led by action and was admired by one and all for her guts.

I feel the casting was too far-fetched. Aalia Bhatt did not look convincing enough in this role. The story dragged in many places. Probably an actress who is a bit more mature in this field would have done an outstanding job according to me. It's not just about the age as we have seen Anupam Kher shine the brightest in his role of a grieving father in the movie Saraansh. I am talking about maturity in acting that Aalia Bhatt lacked for this particular role. She is undoubtedly an amazing actress otherwise.

My verdict, please give this one a miss. I regret watching this one. I nearly dozed off three times!