"Singham" Movie Review: Hindi

Singham" starring Ajay Devgn sizzles like Tamil original ('Yamudu' in Telugu). Golmaal" dir Rohit Shetty embellishes this conceptual blockbuster with desi Goa-Maha flavor, good music and maxes up the output with rocking performances by Prakashraj, Ajay and stage artists. You can die of comedy created by Prakashraj. Kajal, not Kajol, gets cute debut. Another South plot gives lifeline to ageing six-pack Heroes. Watchable.

The Artist of Disappearance - New book by Anita Desai

Anita Desai is back with a new book-"The Artist of Disappearance" after seven year itch. This one is a lovely read- three novellas, one like a Ruskin 8ond memoir of an artist in making, one on a translator and one a travelogue. Delightful as ever and you will swallow it between dusk and dinner.

Kothi Kommacchi - 3 is released

Late Mullapudi Venkataramanagaru's work-in-progress columns in "Swati" weekly till his last days are published as part 3 of "Kothi Kommacchi". He stopped writing this column in May 2010 citing bad health and promised to resume on Ugadi of 2011. That was never to be. But the current one is shorter costs Rs.100/- and has priceless memoirs of people Bapu-Ramana met last 10 yrs. Must buy for Telugu literature lovers.

"Naanna" Movie Review

Naanna" is mesmerising with straight narration & crisp story-telling by Dir Vijay. No stunts, no items, no sleaze. Surprise, fully-clothed Anushka, mentally-challenged Vikram, angel-like baby Sara. Great performances by All. Comedian Santhanam draws out loudest laughs. 2nd half has few flaws in court scenes, though intriguing. GVPrakash scores good music. Dir hits it clear-You dont need IQ to bring up a child.

Two New Books on Subhas Chandra Bose

Two exciting new books come out on Subhash Chandra Bose. 1.HIS MAJESTY'S OPPONENT by Sugata Bose. 2.BOSE IN NAZI GERMANY -the first account of his relationship with Hitler and the Nazi Party by Romain Hayes. First one is a hypnotic read and reads wonderfully well like his previous "A Hundred Horizons: The Indian Ocean in the Age of Global Empire." Pick the first, if you are hard-up for both.

Afternoon Newspapers in Hyderabad

I always used to wonder after seeing those 125 page editions of foreign newspapers like FT, NYT and Times, London whether Indians will get enough to read in a day. Same is the feeling I used to get on picking copies of afternoon papers in Mumbai - like Mirror and Afternoon Despatch. When will Hyderabadis get quality reading material for the evening? Hyderabadis are not known for their readerly interests but entrpreneurs never give up if they get cheaper newsprint, good news editors and sassy connections. Hyderabad's evening newspaper, first in many years - "Post-Noon" paper arrived slightly after noon today . "Post-noon" looks meatier at 32 pages, full of gloss on everything under the sun. Far better than "Citizen's Evening". Remember that paper used to wrap tennis shoes and knitwear and made to look as if it was printed on blotting paper with handmade fonts? Postnoon has attempted more eclectic mix on day 1 from topics ranging from jaywalking to IT cos temping to AK Khan profile to why John Abraham doesnt dance at weddings. Its got all the snooze on Katie Holmes, Paris Hilton and some ho-hum news on upcoming movie releases and heroes. I have seen English newspapers come and go in Hyderabad and felt sorry many wound up sooner- "Newstime", "AP Times", "Asian Age" . A paper's stamina will be known after six months, atleast. I hope this paper lives long enough for citizens to read it on Hyd Metro trains on their way back from work. I still do not know why the earlier papers closed down because the content was quite pedgireed and hardly pedestrian. Atleast, nobody tried to do a "News of the World" misdeeds. Yet they closed down due to dwindling print runs and subscriber support and ads. But the ones that live on are those who chronicle the times of the city and amplify the megapolis' citizens' voices. They just don't map the GDP of the city but also its gross domestic happiness and unhappiness - thats why they are able to thrive. And they managged to get the pulse of the city-goer and make it more than a loo habit - some even atttempted to indoctrinate younger generation by selecting their paintings and doodles and dodo poetry. In this era of facebook and google+ and breaking-news, the editor of "post-noon" proclaims this will be an eveninger that will be more interactive and responsive and make the resident of Hyderabad a stakeholder in its development. I hope it lives to its promise half the time - and carries the spirit of indolence, fun, dignity and self-respect of a Hyderabadi after a day's work. Cheers and now over to the new morning daily tomorrow - The Hans India. As I see newsprint prices are going to be upbeat - they track the Canadian dollar which is doing better than the US Dollar that is likely to drop against India. As I said, the weekend is something to look forward to.

Who is the sick man of Europe?

Turkey has been called the "Sick Man of Europe". Right through Byzantine Rule and the Ottoman Empire reign, Turkey always wanted to belong to Europe, not Arab world. It is secular and shun Arabic script for the standard European letters. Its membership to EU is still pending and is one of the red-hot Emerging Markets. It may have the last laugh as the rest of the Europe compete with one another in "sickness".