Review of “Veer”

“Veer” is a movie set during the colonial times in India and it was released in 2010. Raja Gyanendra Singh (Jackie Shroff), king of Madhavghar sides with the British and deceives the Pindaris along with their fearsome fighter Prithvi Singh (Mithun Chakraborty) into a situation in which more than 4500 Pindaris were slaughtered. Gyanendra Singh did not escape unscathed but had to pay dearly for this treachery by losing his right arm as it was chopped off by Prithvi Singh.

Prithvi Singh in his desire for vengeance sends his two sons Veer Pratap Singh (Salman Khan) and Punya Pratap Singh (Sohail Khan) to the United Kingdom to learn their way of life and their way of thinking.

Veer (means brave) had been trained to be a great fighter by his father since childhood. Surprisingly in London Veer falls in love with Princess Yuvraji Yashodhara (Zarine Khan) the daughter of his enemy Raja Gyanendra Singh.

Veer disguises himself and inserts himself into the camp of his enemy Raja Singh and he is able to win his trust.  It remains to be seen as to whether Yuvraji Yashodhara will betray Veer as she is fully aware of his identity. In order not to spoil the suspense for you I will leave you to watch the rest of the story to find out if Veer and his father’s plot to defeat the British and Raja Gyanendra Singh will see the light of day.

“Veer” was directed by Anil Sharma and it is well scripted. Veer is very long with a running time of approximately 155 minutes but very interesting to watch. Just like all other hindi movies the action of the movie is interspersed with very nice rhythmic music and dance.

"Eye of the Needle" by Ken Follett

                                           

The showdown between the British and the Americans on one hand and the Germans on the other during the Second World War is inevitable. Espionage has become very crucial for both sides. Being on top of intelligence is half the battle won.

Faber is a German spy in a class of his own. He is extremely brilliant but very callous. He holds the key which may determine who eventually wins the war with the intelligence he has gathered. The British Intelligence and Security agencies have been marshalled against him. Faber proves to be much more than they had bargained for. He is like a needle in a haystack. He drifts into invisibility leaving them unable to get too close to capture or neutralise him. He lives up to his code name “Die Nadel” (the needle).

He is so vicious that anyone who stands in his way is murdered and any obstacle in his way is either neutralised or he finds a way around it. Hitler himself is waiting impatiently for that piece of information from him that could alter his war plans and bring him victory.

It remains to be seen whether “Die Nadel” will be able to fulfil his mission or the British will stop him and prevent Hitler from getting the upper hand. The stakes are very high. Faber is unwavering in his desire to fulfil his mission at all cost.

Ken Follett in this novel maintains his reputation as a master thriller writer. The language is beautiful. It is full of action and suspense and certainly a page turner. The dénouement is totally unexpected. Eye of the Needle is a great novel for all thriller lovers.

“X men Origins: Wolverine”: A Must Watch

Major William Stryker (Danny Huston) put together a team of mutants on a special mission to Nigeria in Africa. Logan who is also called Wolverine (Hugh Hackman) and his brother Victor Creed (Liev Schreiber) were part of this special unit.

During the mission certain events take place which went against the moral principles of Logan (Wolverine), so he quit the special unit. He settled in Canada and found a job as a lumberjack and found himself a very pretty girlfriend named Kayla Silverfox (Lynn Collins).

After six years Victor was supposedly tracking down members of the special unit and murdering them one after the other. Victor Killed Kayla and Logan vows to avenge her death. Logan tracked down Victor and the two brothers engaged in a deadly battle but Logan was no match for his brother and he was severely beaten.

Fuming with rage and still seeking revenge he allows himself to be surgically injected with overwhelming dose of adamantium, the substance found in Africa. This was to make him indestructible and invincible.  He later discovers that the situation is much more complex than meets the eye and that his brother is just a pawn in the grand scheme of things.  Wolverine therefore sets out on the road to seek revenge and justice.

“X men Origins: Wolverine” is a great movie. It will not be out of place to give it a 9 out of  10. It is an action packed thriller full of suspense, treachery, and deception and interesting to watch. It was released in 2009 and it has running time of 107 minutes. It was directed by Gavin Hood.

The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success

Are there any concrete laws which when you follow would ultimately lead to success? This question interests everybody who desires to succeed. If you are not looking for laws to follow that will bring you success, you will be looking for ways, ideas and opportunities to help you to succeed. This is because no one wants to be a failure, we all want to succeed.

In his book “The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success”, Deepak Chopra tries to show the path to success. The path to success that he advocates is a strict obedience to laws that will ultimately lead to success. These laws are however not physical but spiritual. There are seven of such laws, hence the title “The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success.” In the subsequent paragraphs I will give a gist of what these laws are but I will refrain from going too much into detail in order not to give the book away.

The first spiritual law of success is the Law of Pure Potentiality. He states that “pure consciousness is pure potentiality; it is the field of all possibilities and infinite creativity.” He goes on to show you how to follow this law.

The Law of Giving is the second spiritual law of success. He explains in detail how the Law of Giving will ultimately lead to success. He indeed stresses the importance of giving. It is perhaps one of the easiest laws to understand. It is less complex.

The Law of “Karma” is the third spiritual law. Deepak Chopra admonishes us “to become consciously aware of the choices we make in every moment.” This is because “everything that is happening at this moment is a result of the choices you’ve made in the past.”

The Law of Least Effort is the fourth spiritual law. He shows how to apply the law of Least Effort to help you to succeed. This law is important for those who believe that pushing yourself beyond the limit is all that is required for success. He advises us to look to nature and appreciate this law at work.

 The Law of Intention and Desire is the fifth spiritual law of success. He proves beyond all reasonable doubt how intention and desire together become a force powerful enough to bring about what we want. This particular law is complex however, he should be commended for his ability to break down such a complex metaphysical law for all to understand.

With respect to the sixth spiritual law of success which is the Law of Detachment, he states “in order to acquire anything in the physical universe, you have to relinquish your attachment to it.” He is convincing in his explanation as to why a strong adherence to this law is fundamental to success.

The Law of Dharma is seventh and final spiritual law of success. With respect to this particular law, he states “discover your divinity, find your unique talent, serve humanity with it, and you can generate all the wealth that you want.”

“The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success” is convincing, well written and interesting to read. It throws light on many neglected areas in our quest for success. He should be commended on his ability to explain to explain metaphysical principles easily for all who wish to understand. This may well be that he himself is practicing the Law of Least effort and he wants us to practice this law hence he simplifies everything so that we will not struggle to understand the book.

Couples & Co.: Man Successfully Sues Wife for Ugly Children

Couples & Co.: Man Successfully Sues Wife for Ugly Children: A wonderful article from Russia Today came to my attention yesterday, Chinese man sues wife over ugly child – and wins $120,000 , an...

President Obama Takes Control of the Second Presidential Debate

The second presidential debate was moderated by Candy Crowley of CNN. In this presidential debate Obama was at his best. He was determined never to let any accusation levelled against him by Romney to stick. He tried successfully to defend his record as president and aimed to discredit Romney’s ability to do a better job.

This debate was very interesting and both candidates were sharper and combative intending to score political and debating points in the eyes of the public. The only problem was that they gave Candy Crowley a hard time. She had a hard time trying to be polite and firm at the same time when they were clearly exceeding their time and speaking out of turn.

President Obama rubbished the five point plan of Governor Romney. He forcefully asserts that Romney has no five point plan and that he has only a one point plan, which is that those at the top play by a different set of rules. He further states that that is what created the crisis in the first place. This is no doubt a reference to the Bush Administration. In other words a vote for Romney is vote for a deepening and worsening of the financial crisis.

It was obvious that the President and his team had been extremely busy after the first debate and they had successfully graduated from an Intermediate Romney Studies to Advanced Romney Studies and passed their advanced studies with flying colours. He attacks Romney for presenting himself as a coal guy when in actual fact he stood in front of a coal plant and said that it kills and he was instrumental in closing it down. This and many attacks were to present Romney as inconsistent.

On the question as to whether there is a difference between President Bush and Romney, Romney distances himself from President Bush and tries to present himself and his proposed policies as quite different from Bush. It was obvious that the President loved this question and seized on this opportunity to prove why the former Governor is like President George Bush and in fact on some issues he was in fact worse than President Bush.

All in all it seemed that President Obama had one goal in mind to defend his record and his ability to keep his promises while on the other hand discrediting the former Governor as being inconsistent and shifting positions.  The President did very well and he was slightly ahead of Romney in this debate.