Showing posts with label Events. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Events. Show all posts

Tuesday 10 July 2018

Book Review - The Assassinations

Author - Vikram Kapur
Publisher - Speaking Tiger
Genre - Fiction
Pages - 211
Price - Rs. 299


First Impressions
The year 1984 is a very important special year for me, because I was born that year. Well, on the serious front, being a Delhiite I have heard many first person accounts of the 1984 riots. When merely listening to those accounts shook me, imagine what those people would have gone through. I hardly get to read anything about 1984 these days, so I was quite intrigued when i came to know about this book. 

The cover bore a fiery read look, symbolising the flames that had engulfed the once peaceful city and burnt many lives, hopes, desires and friendships. All that they left behind were burnt houses, burnt lives and ugly scars that refuse to leave the hearts of those affected. 

My View
If you have lived in Delhi during the 1980s, you would have your own set of memories related to the 1984 riots, irrespective of your religion. Having been born and brought up in Delhi, I have heard several accounts of the riots from my parents and in-laws. Those few hours of lawlessness left scars of a lifetime to many lives. I recall having once met a Sikh uncle at a social gathering whose one arm was amputated. When I asked my mom how he lost his arm, she made a grim face and told me in a hush tone, "He lost his arm in the 1984 riots". While uncle was happily enjoying his Patiala peg, I am sure the drink would do nothing to remove the ugly memories from his mind. When my mom in law came to know about the plot of the book, she went in past and recalled how houses were burnt in the nearby colonies. In my previous organisation, a Sikh woman told me how she and her family had to hide in the Gurudwara for days before they felt safe to venture outside. 

To feel unsafe in one's own home is the worst fear come true and sadly, this happened in the city I call my home. For those who unlike me, haven't had the chance to hear the stories of survivors, The Assassinations beautifully narrates how one incident can affect the destinies of multiple generations. 

The book portrays through Prem, Deepa and their families the physical, social and emotional trauma people went through in the times that followed the assassination of Mrs. Indira Gandhi. Prem, the son of a migrant Punjabi family and Deepa, the daughter of a an affluent Delhi Hindu family are head over heels in love. Even as Deepa's father, a beaurocrat has his hunch on the upcoming situation becoming tense due to Operation Bluestar, the father in him is unable to say no. While Prem and Deepa are engaged and weaving dreams of a rosy life ahead, the flames of Operation Bluestar and its aftermath reach Delhi. In the lawlessness and riots that followed, Prem was transformed overnight from a guy next door to a youth with endless turmoil going in his mind. The effect is seen on their relationship as well, however keeping the focus on the aftermath, the book does not unnecessarily drags on their relationship. While reading a book like this, one often anticipates the next, so while I had anticipated Prem and Deepa to be the focus till the end, I was shocked when they both die in a militant attack. I think it was the powerful narrative after their untimely death which brings brownie points to the story. The story suddenly shifts focus to the lives that remain, how they try to pick up the remains and move on. While Deepa's parents live a life of endless guilt having agreed for the match, Prem's family tries best to escape the tag of a militant's family. The story fast forwards two decades later, where both families are seen struggling with the after affects of the incident. They do move on physically, however the scars on their hearts refused to fade. 

Hits

  • One has to be very careful when touching upon such a sensitive topic as Operation Bluestar and the 1984 riots. I am impressed how the author beautifully captured the pulse of those times without any exaggeration or digression. 
  • The chapters are divided aptly before and after 31st October 1984, which makes it easy to understand the sequence of events.
  • Each character is penned thoughtfully and has an important role to play in depicting the mindset of each generation.
  • The consistent pace of the book is its biggest plus point. Without any exaggeration, the book is able to keep the reader glued and one literally feels transported to 1984. 
  • Unlike a lot of books that use such incidents to grab eyeballs without focusing much on the storyline, The Assassinations is a book that delivers what it promises. The powerful story not even once loses focus from the core issue and even as you flip the last page, your heart might say a silent prayer for those who suffered in those horrible times. For a moment, I felt as pained for the characters as I had felt while watching the 90s movie Maachis.

My Rating
4.5/5

A must read, for its powerful narrative.

I received the book from WritersMelon for an honest review.

Thursday 24 December 2015

Smart moms shop with FlipkartKids

What happens when you land up in a new city, are bad with local navigation, have a hectic schedule at work and in dire need of shopping? Ting tong, e-commerce comes to rescue!

Well, that’s my story. Ever since I left the comfort zone of my hometown last year and relocated to a new city, my life has been super busy. After slogging at work for 5 days, all I wanna do on a weekend is spend a lazy day with Mr. Hubby, a good movie and food ordered from my favourite restaurant. But then, shopping is to woman what dope is to an addict! Sorry, bad example but you see that’s how it is! No matter how much we have, we always want more! In a city like Mumbai, I would rather prefer spending quality time with Mr. Hubby at home than spending half of our weekends stuck in traffic jams, quenching my thirst for shopping. Thanks to online shopping, I am able to pamper myself to best of both the worlds! A smart phone and hubby’s credit card is all I need to sit at home, yet manage to impress my colleagues with the latest, trendiest and the coolest stuff they can’t sometimes get in stores!

I realized the power of e commerce the most when I became a mommy. Not in my wildest dreams can I think of shopping with a cranky baby, whose vicious cycle of feeding, poo & pee would keep me confined to the feeding room of the mall! But, I am a smart mom. I have shopped almost everything for my little one online – from diapers to toys, feeding bottles, clothes (size 0 clothes aren’t really an issue when purchasing online!)…u name it and I got it.

That’s when I began to wonder how these trends in e commerce have changed the way we shop for our kids –

Convenience – We can shop from anywhere, anything, anytime and it will be delivered to us within the committed timelines. What’s more, with Flipkart, one can also choose Express delivery just in case you need the product urgently! Feature like FlipKart Ping and Image search make shopping a fun experience!

Easy returns – Who wants trips back and forth to the store when you can manage easy returns from home!

Genuine products and sales support - Buying from trusted websites guarantees genuine products. There is also a dedicated call center to cater to all customer queries.

Apps – I swear by my FlipKart App! Not only does it make shopping convenient, it also notifies me of latest offers, deals and products of my interest!

Discounts and offers – If you are a smart and aware shopper, you can really make good use of the deals and discounts e commerce has to offer.

All brands under one umbrella – When I was a kid, my friends would flaunt the branded toys their parents bought during international trips. Thanks to e commerce websites like Flipkart, we can shop for any international brand from the comfort of our homes.

Reviews – This is one of my favorite features. I love to go through the review before taking my pick.

The #FlipkartKids Indiblogger Meet on 19th December was about all this and a lot of fun.

The moment I received the Indiblogger mail about the meet, I was all excited and eager since I myself shop everything online for my baby! Flipkart has launched India's largest online kids store and the meet revolved around the same. There was also a twitter contest where one had to post pic of your kiddo’s favorite toy and the best 10 tweets would win Rs. 1000 Flipkart vouchers. I immediately got in action and posted few tweets with pics of my little one’s toys.

Somehow, Mumbai traffic loves to play spoilsport for my Indimeets. However, this time I wasn’t willing to give up. A clueless cabbie, turtle speed traffic and few frantic calls to friends later I was at the venue - Blue Frog. My savior blogger buddy Sujata Tawde who had guided me to the venue welcomed me and I took a huge sigh of relief. Vineet welcomed us and suggested we quickly register and grab our lunch as the event was just about to begin. After all the struggle to reach the venue, I was super hungry. So, we dashed to the buffet and filled ourselves with some veggie delights. However, Sujata soon spotted the sinful strawberry pastries and we pampered our sweet palates. As I regained some energy, I looked around and realized what a wonderful venue Blue Frog was! The venue was definitely worth the drive & the seating arrangement was just so so cool! To add to the fun was Chhota Bheem himself, obliging everyone with a hug and a pic!

The event began shortly with Anup welcoming us all, along with Kalpana Behara, a veteran mommy blogger. It was a fun and insightful session where she shared her experiences as a mommy blogger – How she deals with writers block; how much to reveal abut one’s life on the blog; and what keeps her motivated. As a newcomer to parent blogging, the session was special for me and I listened with rapt attention.

Next, it was time for a panel discussion with representatives from Flipkart, Mattel and Chhota Bheem team on how e commerce is changing the way we shop for our kids. Many bloggers too shared their views and clarified their doubts regarding online shopping.

After a short break began fun time with a performance by the in-house band Blunder In the Code! I had missed their performance in the last Indimeet and so I thoroughly enjoyed myself this time with my blogger friends!

An Indimeet is never complete without THE activity. Going with the theme of e commerce, the game was Ad Mad where each team had to advertise FlipKart products in the most innovative manner. After a lot of brainstorming, my team of 10 presented the skit “Age of innocence” where the #FlipkartSanta brought products for various stages of a kid’s life.

True to an IndiMeet, there was endless selfies, giggles and lots and lots of fun with blogger friends. Being the last Indi Meet of the year, all of us took the opportunity to exchange New Year wishes.





Just as we were about to move out, we got a cute li’l surprise – Very cute Chhota Bheem soft toy from the upcoming movie Chhota Bheem and Himalayan Adventure! I was as excited as a 10 year old for the toy is really cute and we got excuse for another round of selfies with Chhota Bheem toy!

The last Indi Meet for the year 2015 was definitely full of fun, friends and e commerce insights!


Tuesday 20 October 2015

Fun, friends & freedom from Frizz!

On a Monday morning, this is the feeling of most girls admiring their freshly shampooed hair in front of the mirror -

"Mirror mirror on the wall,
Who has the best hair of them all"

However, by the time the calendar hits Friday, the same girl stands in front of the mirror in frustration, cribbing at the havoc played by pollution, stress and sweat -

"Mirror mirror on the wall,
Can someone manage this frizz after all"

I am one of these girls. The week begins with me admiring my smooth hair and Friday evenings see me tying my hair to save a bad hair day.

Add to this, pregnancy. As far as hair are concerned, pregnancy is the best phase of a woman's life, when hair decide to stay and give us moral support. However, soon after delivery the hair start bidding adieu. 

Soon after my son was born, I faced the problem of Frizzy hair and tremendous hair fall. While a quick Google search gave me many elaborate home remedies waiting to be tried, managing the baby hardly gave me anytime to try even one.

Few days ago, when I received an invite for the Dabur Vatika #FrizzFreeHair meet, I was all excited to find a solution to my hair problems. This was also my first IB meet after moving to Mumbai and I was superrr excited to meet team indi and make some new blogger friends! Another reason for excitement was that this also gave me to increase my saree count for my 100sareepact! The dress code was green and the only thing green I was looking good in post delivery was a lovely green saree!

Thanks to my baby's cranky mood and Mumbai traffic, I ended up reaching the venue late and missed the band's performance I was so eager to witness. As i entered the hall, i saw many people in black suits and got a bit puzzled if this was the right event. However, I later came to know they were students of NMIMS who were here to learn about product launch. Vineet welcomed me with a warm smile at the entrance asking me to quickly register as the event was already on!

As my eyes searched for a vacant seat, Priyanka waived at me and I took a sigh of relief! 

We were all excited to know about the product we were here for - Dabur Vatika non sticky Jasmine oil, that promised to make our hair Frizzy to fantastic!

Soon team Dabur took over the centre stage and introduced us to the brand and product. Most of us were surprised to know that Dabur hair oil has been nourishing the hair of millions of women for the past 75 years!

The info session began covered everything from the definition of Frizz to how Dabur Non Sticky Jasmine oil with its Silicone Oils helps fight Frizz. Soon the product was unveiled and everybody got so excited to get the perfect pose with the oil!


The session was followed by a round of hair care tips where many women shared their tried and tested recipe for hair care!

An indi meet is incomplete without the game and so the game of the day was - Rock, paper, Scizzor...Amidst a lot of fun, laughter and confusion, the game finally saw its winners while the losers had their hair messed up! 

But why to fear messy hair when the event is for a hair oil? We were pampered with a relaxing champi and a cool hairstyle at the Champi counter!

The meet also introduced me to these lovely ladies, better known as my BFFs -



Along with Sujata Tawde and Manisha

Finally it was time to gorge on the sumptuous food. The ladies enjoyed the food amidst chatter and headed home.

The excitement was not yet over. As I opened my goody bag, my eyes widened in excitement to spot a wonderful Philips Hair Straightener! I knew that Dabur meant what they said when they mentioned "Hum Samajhtey Hain Aapke Balon ko!"


Sunday 27 September 2015

Pampers pamper our li’l ones with Softest Diaper Ever

Motherhood blessed me three months ago and since then, my life revolves around my little bundle of joy. Keeping him happy and comfortable has been my whole sole priority. After all, it’s the mother baby looks up to in moments of happiness and trouble.

Since my baby arrived at the onset of Mumbai monsoons, my biggest concern was how to keep him dry and comfortable. Using a cloth nappy meant having to deal with frequent nappy changing and a cranky baby. Hubby and I began exploring options in diapers however; we weren’t too comfortable using diapers for long hours since we didn’t want our baby’s soft skin to get affected.

In the middle of all this, when BlogAdda invited me to the preview of Pampers premium care pants, my reaction was “Who knows about diapers more than a mother” and I was super eager to know the mystery behind #SoftestForBabySkin.

Finally, on the designated day, I landed at JW Marriott, which incidentally was also the venue for WIN Awards 2015. After spending some amazing time at the ongoing sessions and meeting my fellow bloggers over a lavish lunch, the BlogAdda team quickly signalled us to come to a separate area for the event. The entrance itself brought a wide smile on my face as it read “World of soft” and carried a picture of an adorable baby everyone looked at and went “Awwwww”

As the BlogAdda crew led us in, we were welcomed by the Pampers crew who promptly asked me to pose against a lovely wall which had been created especially for the event. I loved the placard “Softest diapers, sweetest mom” and soon felt like a diva posing to shutterbugs!

We quickly rushed to the main hall where the main event was about to begin and the set inside instantly made me feel as if I was on a TV show!

Inside, there were many bloggers and mommy bloggers with their lovely kids. I also spotted a table titled “Demo Zone” and was very curious to know how the demo could convince moms that these diapers are the best for their children.
 

No sooner had we settled that a beautiful voice caught our attention. I had spotted the gorgeous Mandira Bedi in the hotel lobby but didn’t know we would be lucky to have her at our event! 

She soon appeared on stage and opened the event in her signature style.

There were four chairs on the stage which meant three more celebs had to be there. “Who would be the other 3 surprise guests?” we all were wondering. Mandira soon welcomed the other panelists for the event –

Tara Sharma – Actress and celebrity mom
Ajita Gopal Seethepalli – Child sleep consultant
Dr. Wei Sing Long - Pampers R&D Expert

The event began with the panelists talking about the importance of good sleep to a baby’s comfort and development. Celebrity moms Mandira and Tara shared their personal experiences of being Pampers moms and that how soft and dry diapers can help in the overall development of the baby. During my sleepless nights with my baby, I often wonder how celeb moms manage their kids, so when Tara spoke about the challenges she faced as a new mom, I could totally empathize with her.


The two experts on the panel had a more technical approach to the whole soft diaper concept. Leading Baby Sleep Consultant Ajita Seethepalli highlighted the importance of softness to a baby’s sound sleep. She drew parallel between continuous sleep and uninterrupted playtime, which has a direct correlation with the cognitive, mental & physical, development of babies.

Finally, scientist & R&D expert Dr. WeiSing introduced us to the product for which by now, everyone had become curious.

Soon, we were asked to touch the three diapers kept in separate compartments on our tables and vote for the softest diaper. While most moms encouraged their kids to take their pick, at our table we were all adults. 


I could instantly make out the one particularly soft diaper but decided to stay mum and wait for the voting results. 92% voters had chosen the same option as mine, and soon the panel unveiled the identity of this softest diaper – Pampers premium care pants!
 

Now that we had our first look and feel of the product, it was time to know the product features in detail. Scientist & R&D expert Dr. WeiSing took us through the Pampers 5 star skin protection, that make it the best diaper for baby comfort.

1.  All-around softness –
Pampers understand baby’s skin is the softest, so premium care pants have been made using soft materials to provide softness and comfort. Also, the all around waistbands and leg cuffs ensure a snug fit, minimising leakage and making movement more comfortable for baby. 

2.  Upto 12 hours of dryness –
Pampers premium care pants come with ultra dry core that quickly absorbs and locks away liquids. While this was sounding too good to be true, Dr. WeiSing actually demonstrated the technique by showing how the same material absorbed poop like chemical poured in a glass. 

3.  Baby Lotion –
Pampers understand a mom’s concerns and therefore, Pampers premium care pants come with baby lotion that helps protect the baby’s precious skin. Dr. WeiSing took cards as substitute for baby’s skin. The cards when treated with baby lotion in diaper showed no impact of pee like skin irritant poured on them indicating how the baby lotion in Pampers protect the baby’s skin. 

4.  Breathable materials –
The micro pores in Pampers premium care pants help air circulation, which allow the baby’s skin to breathe.

5.    Wetness indicator
The only way a baby communicates his discomfort is by crying. No matter how much mom understands her baby; it is only when the baby cries that a mom usually discovers that the diaper is full. To save the baby this discomfort, Pampers premium care pants come with a unique wetness indicator that turns from yellow to blue when in contact with fluid, so parents can easily know when it is time to change.

Pampers also showed us the first look of their TV commercial and the promo video. While we all murmuring “Cho Chweet” at the sight of cute kid in the commercial, Tara had a pleasant surprise for us. She showed us some of her family videos that showed her changing diapers and her adorable kids talking about their views on Pampers. The witty Mandira Bedi was quick to add, “People these days don’t say diapers, they say Pampers!”

Next, it was time for a live demo and everyone rushed to the demo zone to take pics of the celebrity. Tara took the lead in highlighting the features of Pampers premium care pants.

Needless to say, twitter was abuzz with #SoftestForBabySkin!

Finally, Pampers pampered the bloggers and moms to the part they waited for – one to one with the celeb panellists and a lovely goody bag. It was so much fun to discover celeb moms Tara and Mandira discussing babies and motherhood with us sans any celebrity air! A real mom to mom conversation! I complimented Mandira on her post baby weight loss and she was quick to offer her expert advice, “Start working to shed that baby fat RIGHT NOW!” While I discussed the importance of comfortable diapers with Tara, Dr. WeiSing was very sweet and down to earth as I thanked her team for developing #SoftestForBabySkin diapers!
 
 

When I left the venue with my goody bag, I was all smiles, for thanks to the unique product demonstration by Pampers, I came to know the best and softest diaper for my baby’s skin!

I have been using Pampers premium care pants for my baby. Read the product review here.

This blog post is written for the Pampers #SoftestForBabySkin activity in association with BlogAdda

About Pampers
Pampers is the #1 selling diaper brand worldwide. For more than half a century, Pampers has been caring for the happy, healthy development of the world’s babies and in turn, has grown to become P&G’s biggest brand.  Every day Pampers serves over 25 million babies in more than 100 countries around the world.  Pampers was inspired by babies.  In 1956 Vic Mills, a P&G researcher was inspired by his desire to create a better diaper for his newborn grandson, and his work led to the creation of the brand.  Pampers takes great care in developing products that benefit both baby and mom, and are committed to making a difference in babies’ lives. 

Pampers India can be reached on social media at –

Sunday 20 September 2015

ACEF 2015 – The dope to CSR

Corporate Social Responsibility or CSR has over the past few years, become more than a section in Indian Company’s Act. Technically speaking, the section mandates corporates with a networth of more than five hundred crores to spend 2 percent of their annual profit on CSR activites. However, in the era of cut throat competition, smart corporate have realized CSR too, can be used to gain competitive advantage.

Having been involved in many CSR activities during the span of my career, I have been witnessing this increasing focus on taking CSR beyond just charities. So, when BlogAdda offered us the ACEF 2015 event, I was all eager to get my dose on CSR.

Asian Forum & Awards For Excellence in Branding, Marketing and CSR, or ACEF is an annual event to recognize the best in CSR. Running in its 5th year now, the event has industry stalwarts share insights on the avenues that can be explored and success stories. This year, the theme of ACEF was “Integrating Brand Marketing with CSR”.

As I landed up early at the ITC Maratha Central on 12th morning, I realized I was one of the few early birds. However, soon delegates started pouring in, from students to corporate from varied industries and a wake up tea session followed. Allan Rodrigues, VP Hansa PR was at his wittiest best as he opened the event. All eyes were on me as Allan suddenly gave me 2 minutes of fame by highlighting my live tweeting skills!


A morning session usually has people struggling to wake up and get their attentive selfs, however, the opening session from Sanjeev Kotnala, founder and Head Catalyst – The Unconsult Way had the audience listening in rapt attention. His session, “Where marketers need to grow” emphasized the role CSR has in building goodwill for the brand. The focus for any corporate is taking the biggest pie of market share. However, if companies use CSR to build brands, and involve internal stakeholders as well, CSR can be the path from Perception – Preference – Premium.

Saurabh Uboweja, Founder, CEO & Director, Brand Strategy – Brands of Desire took us through the session “Creating Strong Brands versus using CSR to create Strong Brands”. Creating feel good factor for internal and external customers about CSR and link it with branding should be the mantra for smart companies, for consumers trust brands that do more CSR than those who don’t. He also spoke about the relevance of CSR to be taken as an integral part of value system and culture. Taking the audience through many success stories, the session concluded on activist positioning as the next focus.

As growling stomachs were in no mood to compromise anything for lunch, Sangeeta Robinson’s session began on CSR: It’s correlation and impact on the Brand. An expert orator, Sangeeta knew how to keep the crowd hooked, so she kept the session alive by quoting case studies from her career span. CSR is going beyond the business and good CSR can help build relations with community, create shared value and also generate future business. The impact of her session – people who were looking at their watches waiting for lunch as her session began were by the end of the session, compromising their lunch time to take tips from the expert.

Another session squeezed before lunch time, faced the threat of low audience participation. However, the session by Vikas Singh, AVP – Brand Marketing, Dainik Bhaskar Group saw the highest response from the audience. The session, titled “Building a Strong Brand in Cluttered and Commoditized Print Media Space” was full of interesting clippings from successful ad campaigns. The highlight of the session was the #livenonegative campaign by Dainik Bhaskar that focussed on highlighting the positive aspects of news rather than just getting mileage on dragging the negativities.

Amitha Amarsinghe, Head of Neo@Ogilvy Sri Lanka spoke about Customer Engagement through Social Media in Emerging markets. Taking us through many successful campaigns from his agency, Amitha threw light on how Social media had helped brands create the hype and get the competitive advantage.

Next on the agenda was a panel discussion on “Integrating Brand Marketing with CSr & PR”.  Jessie Paul, CEO Paul Writer moderated the event. The panel of experts, Betsy Vincent, VP – General Carbon, Nilesh Jagad, Sr. VP – Indian Centre for CSR, Hasrath Munasinghe, DGM marketing- Commercial bank of Ceylon PLC Sri Lanka, Vaishali Sharma, Sr VP MarComm Sony MAX, Umesh Jhawar, VP Strategy, Arihant Superstructures Ltd, Sangeeta Thakral, Head of Marketing & Communications – Charities Aid Foundation shared their views.

And lastly came the event everyone had been waiting for – the ACEF awards! Mr. Nirav Sanghvi of BlogAdda won the Best partner Marketing Award.

CSR is being increasingly seen as a tool to give a cutting edge to brands. While one may see it as a mere gimmick by corporate to glorify their small mandatory contributions, a lot remains unexplored by which companies can achieve the important Cs – Customer’s preference, Conscious contribution to society, Creating immense brand value.

This post is written for BlogAdda and ACEF.

#BlogAdda #ACEF



Saturday 5 September 2015

Movie Review – The Path of Zarathustra

Date of Release – September 4, 2015
Genre – Magic Realism
Director – Oorvazi Irani
Duration – 79 minutes
Cast – Oorvazi Irani, Tom Alter, Rushad Rana, Shishir Sharma, Darius Shroff, Firdausi Jussawalla
Music – Vasuda Sharma
Screenplay – Farrukh Dhondy

My View
Ever since I landed up in Mumbai, the mystery behind Zoroastrianism had me intrigued. At work, I met many people with unusual surnames and found out about the religion and its interesting history. However, since it is a very closed community, non Zoroastrians have no access to important aspects like their places of worship, Tower of silence etc.

It was for this mystery and exclusivity that the moment I was invited to the premiere of this unique movie about Zoroastrian faith and religion, my head immediately nodded in affirmation and excitement!

The Path of Zarathustra is a very unique movie, for it gives insights into the community’s faith, religion and challenges faced. The protagonist, Oorvazi (Oorvazi Irani) moves out of her isolated life after her maternal grandfather, Mamavaji (Tom Alter) passes away. However, before closing his eyes to the world, he gifts her a book which he says will help her find her true identity and answers to all her questions and directs her to go and be amongst her people. There is no belief without believers. And thus begins Oorvazi’s quest to find her roots and true identity in a community that is facing the threat of losing its identity due to a fast dwindling race. 

Oorvazi comes to Mumbai to stay with her maternal aunt Sheramasi and cousin Perseus (Rushad Rana), whose eyes still reflect his love for her. As she begins her journey to discover her true self, she discovers many aspects about her religion and in these revelations; she is guided by imaginary characters from historical past of Zoroastrianism such as Mazdak (Darius Shroff), who was executed for his radical ideas, Mani (Firdausi Jussawalla), and Zurvan (Shishir Sharma). Each character uncovers layers of the mystery surrounding the book. However, just when she thinks she has found the keeper of the book, she is told her search is yet to be over.

Whether Oorvazi finally unravels the mystery behind the book is for you to find out by watching the movie. However, as a curious outsider, the movie is an excellent way to know about the community and its beliefs. The movie also boasts of many path breaking moves, such as shooting in a fire temple.

One has to give full marks to the attention given to each detail. Excellent screenplay by celebrated author Farrukh Dhondy has the viewers transported to a different world of mystic every time one plot blends into the other. The dialogues will definitely hover in your mind hours after you walk out of the theatre. As a newbie, Vasuda Sharma’s job to the background score deserves a round of applause as it compliments the flawless cinematography.

One doesn’t come across path breaking movies like The Path of Zarathustra very often. So, whether you are a Zoroastrian or not, go for the movie as it will definitely provoke your thoughts regarding your own roots,


My Rating

4/5

This review is for BlogAdda and SBI Impresario Pvt Ltd. The Path of Zarathustra releases at a theatre near you on September 4, 2015. Check out the movie’s official website www.thepathofzarathustra.com