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Tips to become a succesful book blogger

No one has become a superstar blogger overnight.Recognition in blogosphere takes time and there are no short cuts for achieving instant success as a blogger.Read like there is no tomorrow and pen down your sincere thoughts in a lucid, organised and unpretentious manner.Your work will definitely get its due.

Blogadda-Quikr Shopping Fiesta: My Experience

It was like a slap on my face.Thankfully Arun was not there with me to witness by embarassement. I was all set to call him when some random piece of paper with a phone number written on it from my pocket caught my attention.

Book Review:Salvation Of a Saint

On the whole,’The Salvation Of Saint’ is a decent thriller.It may not be as racy as ‘The Devotion of Suspect X’,but still it’s a pretty good one.

Interview with Doctor-turned- Writer Deepal Kripal

Earlier this week,we chatted with Doctor-turned-Author,Deepak Kripal.He has authored 'The Devil's Tale:An impossible journey',published by Leadstart Publishers.In this candid interview,he tells us about his debut work,future plans,his journey as a writer and his other interests in life.

Private India: Book Review

On the whole,'Private India' by James Patterson and Ashwin Sanghi is a strictly average work.

November 27, 2010

Nothing Great about 'TD Dasan VI B'


reviewed by nikhimenon@gmail.com
 ‘Mohan Raghavan’s debut feature film ‘TD Dasan VI B’  got positive reviews from almost all the leading Malayalam movie portals when it was released early this year.Obviously nikhimenon’s expectations were sky high when he bought the dvd of this small movie.The covers had a fully dressed up Swetha Menon(thank God,she sn’t playing a pro this time! -thinks nikhimenon.) along with Biju Menon(oops.!) and two child artists.
100 minutes and a moserbaer dvd later nikhimenon was back with some startling discoveries and…..
·       TD Dasan VI B is a simple but pretty ordinary film which has it’s heart in it’s right place.
·       11 year old  Dasan’s search for his father would have been a compelling watch,had the makers concentrated a bit more on the scripting avoiding cliches’ like the lunatic (who comes out of nowhere and fades into the oblivion in the beginning of the movie ),the un necessary ‘movie within the movie sequences’ (honestly, the track is quite underdeveloped and it adds nothing much to the narrative),to name a few.
·       Both the child artists were quite competent.The boy who played Dasan(Alexander) deserves a pat on his back
·       TD Dasan had a decent and (most importantly)an original story to tell which  couldn’t  live upto it’s potential,thanks to a mediocre script.

…………some annoying querries…..

·       Will Ms Swetha Menon ever be able to play a morally correct character in a Malayalam film?
·        Biju Menon’s character is shown as an Ad film maker in the movie.One fine morning, he calls his assistant and says that the story for a movie is ready.C’mmon ,is it so easy to start making a movie?One needs a producer atleast.. right?
·       What was the ‘movie within the movie track’ doing in this film?
·       Why does Malayalam Cinema  prefer an Alex Paul or a Suresh Peter to  a Sreevalsan Menon or a Jason J Nair when the latter is available at a cheaper rate with better music?  
·       What made the reviewers think that this movie (‘TD Dasan VI B’) is some sort of a masterpiece?

Verdict: 2.5/5(Not bad)


ps: Mr Jagadish,please don't torture us more..!

November 21, 2010

Finally,the movie came out....!



Poster of the Short Film
       Finally our short film ,'Silence' came out yesterday.It was screened at the conference hall of the Medical College hospital for which more than 500 people  turned up,including doctors,medical and nursing students and the non teaching staff.To be frank,in the few days prior to the screening of the movie ,I had been through hell! Misunderstandings,technical glitches,financial constrains....there were too many complications...There were instances which even made me think about dropping this project altogether.Anyways all were happy with the final product once it came out.

The biggest compliment for the movie came from my Associate Professor, Dr Vijy Paul.He didn't say a word but hugged me and gave a smile after the screening! Dr Jomine also had some good words for me.Everyone seemed to have loved the movie .There were a few interesting criticism too(honestly we were expecting that since the movie delt with a complex and serious issue).At this point of time,I would also like to mention that a major share of the success of this short movie goes to Mr Harish Krishnan who not only edited this short film brilliantly but also corrected and guided us through out while making it.Harish was also kind enough to help us in taking some difficult shots.Joseph Sabu,Sarath R.S,Unni C and Kiran Gopal all had worked really hard to bring out this movie.

Right now,we are planning to make some corrections and send this movie to selected amateur short film competitions.

Update: This post was written way back in 2009.'Silence' was screened in a couple of Short film festivals of the state.Initially,we had plans to re-make it with a better cast and also on a bigger budget.But as a lot of feature films and shorts have come out with almost the same theme since then,we shelved the plans for re-doing it and moved on in Life. 

-nikhimenon