Game of Thrones Concluding Season

• I watched the Game of Thrones Concluding Season on Hotstar.
• I guess all the people including the actors and makers were successful in hiding the fact the Kings Landing would get destroyed completely.
• That was great by them.
• There was no leakage of the plot before hand.
• People expected little damage but never expected complete destruction like it happened in Episode 5 of Season 8.
• I liked the Episode 5 anyways. It was the most logical episode according to me. People who were equating Kings Landing with London over the years would have been the ones most disappointed with the episode.
• What we would expect Daenerys would be doing. Not like garlanding each and every people of Kings Landing.
• She was there to destroy. And that was she did.
• Maybe if the other dragon was alive, Jon Snow could have commandeered the dragon and stopped Daenerys in her tracks. We just don't know. Euron Greyjoy took the other dragon out in Episode 4.
• Also Episode 3 was a little heart breaking I mean it is that easy to get rid of the Army of the Dead.
• Just kill their leader The Night King and the entire Army crumbles.
• I mean if it that simple then the Night King and his Army never deserved to win anyway.
• Also they were dead anyway.
• So the dead should stay dead and the world is better with that.
• The world has to deal with the living anyway.
• But what about Jon Snow.
• He was dead anyway and brought back to life.
• So the rule applicable to others is not applicable to Jon Snow.
• Also, in the last episode Jon Snow bended his knee to Bran is simply unbelievable and unacceptable. Bran is after all his kid brother. That was a disappointment.
• And when North becomes independent and does not need to bend the knee to Bran the Ruler of Six kingdoms why should Jon Snow bend the knee when he stays beyond the North at the Nights Watch. It is absurd.
• Arya goes on chasing to a place where there are no maps.
• And we can expect a genocide will follow and make existing civilisation extinct like it happened following Christopher Columbus journey to the Americas.
• Arya would be no hero in that case. Only a "colonialist" or "imperialist".
• Also Jon Snow so simply could murder Daenerys in last episode is unbelievable.
• I mean such a powerful queen had no bodyguards. It is laughable.
• Jon Snow was not frisked when he went to meet the queen. That is also unbelievable.
• Such a powerful queen faced threat of assassination every step of her way. I mean where was Greyworm and his guards entourage.

Stree

• Watched the above movie Stree on Hotstar.
• I liked the movie,.
• But I felt that movie has several loose ends which they have not covered.
• Like how seamlessly the heroine Shradha Kapoor merges with the Stree character.
• I mean how is it even possible.
• Are there two Strees or they are oen and the same.
• And where does she go rest of the year.
• And when the Stree abducts the men how come they returned back unharmed.
• In that case where they went when they got abducted.
• I guess if you leave your brain outside the cinema hall and watch then it is okay.

Student of the year 2

• Watched the above movie Student of the year 2 at Inox Cinemas.
• I liked the movie.
• The guy Aditya Seal is too good. Must I say he is hero material.
• And we all know Tiger Shroff.
• The fact that Aditya Seal can challenge Tiger Shroff in the movie at least is pretty good and does a good job.
• The ladies also have done tremendous job.
• Movie is worth watching definitely.

Kalank

• Watched the above movie Kalank today at Lakshmi theatre, Tavarakere
• I will say the movie is great.
• It is sheer propaganda by few people who are discrediting the movie.
• This movie can be compared to "Titanic"
• Titanic was a long movie but this movie is not that long.
• Maybe it is 2 hours forty minutes if we exclude the end credits.
• Thsi movie is a love story par excellence.
• This movie shows "utopia".
• Means it shows a mythical world which has ceased to exist.
• Things cannot go back to the way they were
• And just like we see in Titanic that after death the souls get united in the same state as they were in long past this movie also shows similar kind of ending.
• Alia Bhatt character also asks a question to the audience whether the "love" that she did was "true love" or "Kalank" means a black spot or flaw.
• I will say that it is true love.
• And that is why the souls get united after death.
• I will say Kunal Khemu has done a great role. He deserves more roles in movies.
• He is a talented guy and people will miss if he is not acting actively.
• Varun Dhavan, Madhuri, Alia and Kiara Advani have also done great roles.
• Aditya Roy Kapoor and Sanjay Dutt have subdued role maybe because that is what was required of them.
• I will give 5 stars to the movie.
• It is a shame to compare it with Thugs of Hindustan which was a really bad movie.
• Also we can't compare with Sanjay Leela Bhansali movies which appear like the movies from the "Middle Ages".
• This movie captures the "modern age".
• It is a challenge from me that movie made on the same theme and story set in pre-partition India in Lahore cannot be made better than this.
• But I have watched Earth movie starring Aamir Khan and it was also as good. That movie felt real. That was also on the same subject.
• This movie is built on a grand stage and is a love story and certainly we cannot compare it with Earth.
• But some common elements are there nevertheless.
• Movie is definitely worth watching and I am not doing propaganda.

Civil War : A Ken Burns Documentary movie

• Watched the nine part episode above series Civil War : A Ken Burns Documentary movie on Netflix.
• Actually Netflix at Rs 500 per month is expensive for me.
• And when I read that just only mobile plan at 250 Rupees per month is being offered I took the membership.
• And First thing I began to watch was Civil War Documentary.
• I had watched a little bit of the first episode earlier when I was member and then my membership expired. So I resumed watching with the 250 rupees membership.
• Wikipedia link is as below:
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Civil_War_(miniseries)
• I feel my blog post will not suffice as to what I have seen and understood.
• I feel just like the Vietnam War Documentary and Second World War Documentary by Ken Burns this is also a masterpiece.
• This should be made mandatory for every Candidate of President of United States including the President Elect to watch just like the Vietnam War.
• This documentary basically shows how the South which rose up as rebellion was doomed to fail.
• It shows how Abraham Lincoln came as Prophet Abraham from obscurity and emancipated the slave.
• Slavery got banned but freedom is still elusive.
• Freedom means all men are equal is still being chased by people in United States and around the world.
• The South fought the devastating war and their forces just kept getting expended and they could not get replaced ultimately.
• There were many desertions towards the end.
• Some fled to West and some to North.
• Entire South cites were left in ruins. Especially when William Tecumseh Sherman led his army through Atlanta, South Carolina and North Carolina.
• When the Army of General Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S Grant at Appomattox the war was over.
• And few days after the surrender Abraham Lincoln got assassinated and the victory seemed hollow to the entire nation.
• The funeral of Abraham Lincoln stretched for one month and his body was taken throughout the country for the tens of thousands of people to pay their respects.
• When war began in 1861, South had too much dreams. 
• But a year or two into the war the price they paid was so great that even if they would have won it would have felt like "Pyrrhic Victory'. No value of victory with such heavy price.
• South was fighting to build another country in south of present United States and they were planning to expand their empire to further South like Mexico, Central America and South America.
• But that dream just melted away.
• In the last episode of the series they began showing what happened to the different characters in war. Like who ended where and the stuff is real not like in movies where the characters are usually fictional.
• Worth watching.
• The commentary by Shelby Foote, Ed Bearss and Barbara Fields among others is just amazing.
• 670 thousand people (Americans) died in four years of the war.
• This was the War that made United States what it is.
• Shelby Foote has said several sentences which are noteworthy, three I will reproduce below :
• Before the war people had the habit of telling "United States are.." After the war it is always "United States is..."
• The reason for casualties being so high was because the weapons used were new and modern and people were unprepared.
• Nowadays Americans tell that they have never lost a war. But a big part of America which was the Confederate States or South lost and lost heavily. They just melted away.
• There were several skirmishes in 20000 people died on average.
• The Battle of Gettysburg was the turning point of the war.
• The Documentary also shows very early in the war few Generals of the North did not take action inspite of having the forces else the war might have ended sooner.
• The soundtrack is also too good. They show in End Credits and I will reproduce below:
• Ashokan farewell by Jay Ungar
• We are climbing Jacob's Ladder by Bernie Johnson Reagon
• Battle Hymn of the Republic By the Sanctuary Choir
• The below by Fredrick Fennell:
• Hail to the Chief
• Listen to the Mocking Bird
• Palmyra Schottishe
• Hail Columbia
• Freischutz Quickstep
• Parade
• Dixie
• Bonnie Blue Flag
• Luto Quickstep
• Cheer Boys Cheer
• Watltz No 19
• Maryland My Maryland
• Dixie by Bobbie Horton
• The Star Spangled Banner By United States Marine Band 
• Funeral March No.1 & Battle Hymn Quickstep by The heritage Americana Bass Band (conductor Robert Garafalo)
• When Johny Comes Marching Again
• If you can go through teh above soundtrack sometime and if possible watch the series as well.

A Quiet Place, Junglee

Watched two movies as mentioned in the subject line.
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A Quiet Place

• This movie was watched on Amazon Prime Video.
• I liked the movie.
• The creature feel very primitive.
• I mean if they are Aliens and can do interstellar travel at least they would be technologically advanced.
• Also why will they kill indiscriminately.
• If they are killing for food it is justified and will their requirement would be such that they will kill millions or billions.
• Somehow that was a gap in the movie.
• Also childbirth scene happened quite without soundless.
• As far as we have seen in countless movies both Indian and Hollywood it is a very noisy affair, kicking and screaming and ends with wailing sound of the baby.
• Also the girl goes to the bridge where she they had lost their youngest member and turns on the toy rocket ship but she still survives for later is shown. How did it happen?
• But okay movie can be watched once without any problem.

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Junglee

• This movie was watched at PVR Forum mall.
• Though the movie is set in Odisha the director has put Kerala characters and martial arts in the movie.
• The director could have done well to set the entire movie in Kerala.
• I am from Odisha and I know what I am talking about.
• No relation to Odisha in the movie should have been kept.
• The movie is shot in Thailand and some scenes in Mumbai.
• I doubt if the director made it to Odisha. 
• What is shown as Paradeep port in the end is actually a portion of Colaba where several movies and scenes have been shot over the past few decades.
• I know Odisha well.
• I will say "abject poverty" destroys the "enemy" in the state.
• The enemy is not destroyed by razzle and dazzle in Odisha.
• He is destroyed by the poor and the downtrodden.
• That may be true of other parts of India as well.
• But maybe not in Kerala.
• Kerala people are better off compared to people in rest of India (Southern States included)
• But okay, director has done his homework and hard work.
• Firepower of poachers shown is also tremendous.
• I am doubtful if the best of best Armed forces in India would be having such firepower.
• Movie is worth watching once mainly for the elephants.
• In one scene the "sad look" of elephants is displayed perfectly.
• The director maybe wants sequel but if the movie is not "massively successful" it may become doubtful as producers may not want to fund it.

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The Least of These

Watched one more movie as mentioned above.
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The Least of These

• This movie was watched at PVR Forum Mall.
• I liked the movie.
• Movie deals with Graham Staines Story who was murdered in Odisha in 1999.
• I am from Odisha and I felt guilty of this crime also.
• Due to crimes like this people are unable to lead comfortable lives because the will feel at least a little bit guilty in their hearts.
• The ordinary people from the state cannot be happy if incidents like this happen.
• They will feel it as a blot on their society and will question their very souls.
• It was 1999 and Janaki Ballav Pattnaik of Congress was CM.
• Following that incident Kargil War happened in India and Super Cylcone happened in Odisha and BJD Govt came into power in Odisha.
• It is different that for 10 years BJP and BJD were together.
• It is said that Bajrang Dal which came from the flock of RSS BJP combine was responsible for the killing.
• The movie highlights every tiny bit of the incident.
• Sharman Joshi is a journalist but you can say he is the face of every common Indian in the movie.
• Common Indian will condone such violence.
• Especially the way Staines was murdered and his two boys as well and they were not allowed to escape.
• Staines was actually part of an organisation which had been working in Mayrbhanj district for more than 100 years with the permission of erstwhile King of Mayurbhanj.
• He had been personally in the region for more than 35 years when he was killed.
• He could speak fluent Odia.
• He used to work with lepers kind of people who were simply rejected by their villagers and families.
• He was doing Holy work, Gods work kind of work nobody would be willing to do and was not into conversions.
• In the movie, after his death, our journalist goes through a lot of files and documents but does not get any proof of "forced conversion".
• If any conversion he came across it was from "diseased to normal".
• The very boss Sharman Joshi was working for had disowned his father and villagers had done his "mock cremation" and he tells in end that he had never converted.
• The father of the boss only goes closer to God and is that wrong he asks Joshi.
• In another scene, our hero lands in village where he is defending a lady who has converted. Her mother is Christian whereas her father is Hindu.
• And villagers begin to target the hero. So to save himself he begins to blame Staines and gang for the same and saves himself especially because he has a wife and new born baby girl to care for.
• And the same spark becomes the fire which kills Staines.
• It was really unfortunate incident. As in India the guests are treated as Gods.
• And Staines was more than a guest. To many people he was like a God.
• It could be the bigger picture where the foreigners were belittled by the Indian society as a whole.
• This incident showed that India could "take back" what it its own.
• Even the diseases like leprosy.
• The Govt is there to look after the people. 
• Indians don't need the foreigners and especially people who are from faith different from Hindu.
• It is very bad because what I believe no one can convert to Hindu. 
• Hinduism is not like other religions.
• Only one who was Hindu earlier and converted to other religion can "come back" to the faith what is known as "Ghar Wapsi" or "return to home".
• If Hindus don't allow outsiders they will very very isolated.
• The incident is shameful and more I think about it and dwell on it fills me with depression. 
• But at the same time we realise that the underlying message is outsiders need to acknowledge the power of Indians or Hindus.
• The Hindus will not get eliminated like American Indians or the Aborigines of Australia.
• They are more like Africans who will bounce back and take back what belongs to them.
• It is a message and needs to be read between the lines.

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