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Last year a friend gave me ‘Roar’ by Cecelia Ahern, a collection of 30 stories. I only got around to it this year, and that too because of the lockdown. I probably wouldn’t have picked it up if I could have gotten my hands on some of the titles I’d been meaning to read. But Roar had me hooked from the start. I couldn’t believe this gem of a book had been sitting on my bookshelf for so long and I had always overlooked it. 

I actually didn’t have high expectations from Roar as I wasn’t particularly fond of Ahern’s bestselling ‘PS I Love You’. The anthology has, however, managed to put Ahern on my list of favorite storytellers. Roar was great fun and I found myself smiling—often ear to ear—while reading the stories.

The highly imaginative stories—with touches of magical realism or science fiction—are uplifting and insightful. You can see yourself, or women in your lives, in these stories. Ahern’s writing might not be beautiful but it’s empathetic and relatable.

‘The Women Who Wore Pink’ lives in a dystopian world where there are strict gender codes. ‘The Woman Who Grew Wings’ struggles to fit in when she moves to America with her family. ‘The Woman Who Ordered the Seabass Special’ teaches a lisping waitress to embrace her flaws. ‘The Women Who Slowly Disappeared’ goes to South Africa to meet a woman consultant who treats unseen middle-aged women. ‘The Woman Who Was Kept on a Shelf’ sits next to her husband’s trophies, first being admired and eventually ignored over the years of her marriage. The ‘Woman Who Had a Ticking Clock’ is concerned about her biological clock and it stresses her out unnecessarily.

The premises of Ahern’s stories are simple but they leave a lasting impact. Based on women’s experiences that are rarely discussed, each story has a moral. But what you take away from a story could be very different from what another person might glean from it. A lot of how you perceive a story depends on your unique circumstances and how you view the world and those around you.

I read the book in one go but that’s not what I would recommend you do. It’s best to read these fables one or two at a time. That way you can better enjoy the stories as well as let the messages sink in.

Fiction/Short Stories

Roar

Cecelia Ahern

Published: 2018

Publisher: Harper Collins

Language: English

Pages: 337, Paperback

So after a week’s break, my ‘Turkish trials’ restart and this time I turn to Google before committing myself to a movie from an industry that is still largely alien to me. A quick search on IMDB lands me on the page featuring “7 Kogustaki Mucize” (Miracle in Cell No. 7), a 2019 film that’s been given 8.3/10 ranking by more than 23,000 users—enough reason to spend 2hrs 12mins on a movie which requires subtitles.

“Miracle in Cell No. 7” is a remake of the highly acclaimed Korean movie with the same name released in 2013, with not much change in storyline besides the setting and a few minor adaptations. With the original film loosely based on a true incident, Miracle is one of those movies that continue to pull your heartstrings long after you have watched it.

Memo (Aras Bulut Iynemli), a shepherd in rural Turkey, suffers from an unnamed cognitive disorder and is said to be the same mental age as his daughter—Ova (Nisa Sofiya Aksongur)—who’s six. His family consists of Ova and grandmother Fatma (Celile Toyon Uysal), with whom he has a happy life in a village where people love and support them.

But tragedy befalls the little family when one day fate plays a trick on the mentally challenged Memo. He finds himself charged with the murder of a little girl Seda, his daughter’s classmate. Seda’s father is a high-ranking military official who uses his powers to get Memo arrested, tried and then sentenced to death, without giving him the opportunity to explain his story.

Falsely accused but unable to prove his innocence due to strong circumstantial evidence, Memo is jailed, and locked in cell number 7. There, he is treated with utmost brutality by jail authorities as well as his cellmates. Memo feels helpless. But then his cellmates and jailors quickly recognize his mental condition and start sympathizing with him. The rest of the story is about Memo wins their hearts with his childlike innocence, resulting in a real miracle in the climax.

Categorized as a ‘comedy-drama,’ Miracle is in a whole different league among whatever little Turkish movies I have watched. The execution of all aspects of filmmaking is nearly flawless, which changes my perception of the industry. While most Turkish movies I’ve watched have been frivolous ‘pass-times’, Miracle is a hard-hitting film made with all earnestness and deserving of every bit of attention it is getting.

Miracle is one of those films where everything goes right. With a storyline that is already strong, the screenplay adaptation gives a sense of authenticity. It becomes a Turkish movie, based on real incident.

Even with English subtitles, the original punch of the dialogues can still be felt. The writers have incorporated religion and philosophy into the script and presented it in a simple form, one of the most difficult tasks to pull off for filmmakers.

Besides excellent writing, the cinematography and direction deserve a big round of applause. The movie is a visual delight, to say the least. There are a number of visual cues and metaphors that play with the audience’s senses and create a mesmerizing sequence of scenes. Normally a two-hour plus movie tends to feel stretched and borderline lethargic, but not Miracle, where the whole cinematic cosmos comes together to make the film enjoyable throughout.

Also, a review of this movie would be incomplete without showering accolades on actor Aras Bulut Iynemli. Aras, as Memo, is a jukebox of different emotions in the movie. As a grown man with the mind and the innocence of a six-year-old, Aras performs his role with such dexterity and elegance that he can easily be ranked as one of the finest actors in global cinema.

Who should watch it?

“Miracle in Cell No. 7” is an emotionally charged, excruciatingly beautiful movie, meant to be watched by film lovers of all genres. Even for those not interested in tearjerkers, Miracle is worth a watch for its cinematic brilliance.

Rating: 4 stars

Genre: Drama

Actors: Aras Bulut Iynemli, Nisa Sofiya Aksongu,

Director: Mehmet Ada Öztekin

Run time: 2hrs 12 mins

Laura Cavendish can’t wait to meet the girl her son, Daniel, seems to be smitten with. She wishes the two of them would be great friends, hoping this girl will be some sort of replacement for the daughter she had lost. But, when they finally meet, there’s something off about Cherry that makes Laura uneasy. Laura also suspects Cherry is not as great as her son thinks she is, and that Cherry is pretending to be someone she is not.

To make matters worse, there is a certain possessiveness in the way Cherry holds Daniel and caresses him—it’s almost like she’s telling Laura to back off. Then Laura catches her lying about little things, taking money from Daniel, and borrowing his car. It seems she is also trying to drive a wedge between mother and son. But nothing she says can make Daniel change his mind. He loves Cherry and Laura, he thinks, is just being paranoid.

But is she? Or is there really something sinister about Cherry?

The story is predictable but you want to know what Cherry or Laura will do next and thus it keeps you hooked. Stories and dramas of rivalry between mothers- and (potential) daughters-in-law are nothing new but Michelle Frances’ debut novel, ‘The Girlfriend’ takes it up a notch. Both women are ruthless and there’s no telling what they are prepared to do to get their way.

What I also liked about the story is how emotionally charged it is—there’s the rift between Laura and her husband, Howard, the love between a mother and son, how we tend to take our friends for granted, and people’s need to be understood and accepted. You feel all sorts of emotions—jealousy, rage, concern, hurt—well up as you turn the pages.

Though the plot is fairly simple and straightforward, there are quite a few twists and turns to make Frances’ debut novel a gripping read. There isn’t much I can say about the book without giving the story away. But I can tell you that The Girlfriend was one of the most enjoyable domestic dramas I have read. Though it has been marketed as a psychological thriller, there isn’t much of the thrill element in the traditional sense. However, there is enough tension and suspense to keep the story fast-paced and so at no point do you get bored.

Fiction

The Girlfriend

Michelle Frances

Published: 2017

Publisher: Pan Books

Language: English

Pages: 454, Paperback

The most appealing thing about the latest Hindi-language movie “Class of ’83” (released on Netflix on August 21), apart from Bobby Deol’s promise of a comeback, is its length. At 1h 38mins, this movie is one example of how Indian filmmakers have been trying to cut down runtime to suit the preference of new audience. A 90-something-minute movie is the new undefined feature length and totally worth one’s time. Even if turns out bad, you wouldn’t regret, not having spent two (or more) grueling hours getting past it.

As a ‘resurrection’ for Deol, who never did have a career high since his debut in “Barsaat” (1995), Class of ’83 was moderately anticipated, and the trailer showed it as an out and out action thriller. Produced by Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment and adapted for screen from Indian journalist/author Hussain Zaidi’s 2019 book with the same name, the film claims to be inspired by real life stories of the officers of the law and yet also gives a disclaimer that it is mostly fictional.

So there seems to be a general confusion on the portrayal of fact vs fiction, and this shows throughout. The film doesn’t stick to a line; it rather zigzags, confusing the audience. If the phrase ‘all over the place’ had a face, it would definitely be Atul Sabharwal’s direction. Because even with his years of experience in writing films, Sabharwal loses the plot here. So many times the film feels like a labyrinth of ideas that just go round and round and never amount to anything. Sabharwal can’t seem to decide on the important conflicts in the film, and what scenes should be given time.

Class of ’83 is about a batch of students at a police academy in Maharashtra, India and their new dean Vijay Singh (Deol), an honest, resolute cop who has been transferred to a ‘punishment posting’ after falling out with a powerful politician. Feeling he has been failed by the system, and that system needs an overhaul to maintain law and order, Singh decides to recruit a bunch of wayward students in the academy and nurture them so that he can inject them as ‘anti-bodies on the corrupt system’.

Vishnu Varde (Hitesh Bhojraj), Aslam Khan (Sameer Paranjape), Laxman Jadhav (Ninad Mahajani), Janardan Surve (Prithvik Pratap), and Pramod Shukla (Bhupendra Jadawat) are the five misfits dean Singh selects and trains with his unorthodox methods, also making sure they pass academy exams. Now the premise that since the selected team is from the bottom list of eligibility in the academy they must be honest, is flawed in itself. But that’s just one of the over-exaggerated, glorified accounts of police training the film portrays.

Then come twists and turns and the saga of failed expectations, corruption, betrayal, and retribution that we are made to watch as dispassionately as possible.

We know for fact, after watching Deol onscreen for more than 25 years, that the actor does not have serious acting chops. But still, Class of ’83 fails to bring out even the little acting skills he may have. It provides him with the perfect premise to create a memorable character, but deprives him of the opportunity because of a badly written role. Singh, struggling with family issues as well as professional problems, could have been someone with more intensity, depth and character, but lack of screenwriting and direction skills fail him more than the ‘system’ he is fighting against. As for the rest of the characters, there is not a single name that stands out.

Who should watch it?

Class of ’83 might not exactly be a “Shootout at Lokhandwala” (2007), but it does have moments that may be enjoyable for audiences interested in cop movies. This genre, where good cops are glorified to some extreme, sits well with some. And its brevity is also an advantage. For the rest, don’t bother.

Rating: 2 stars

Genre: Crime/Drama

Actors: Bobby Deol, Bhupendra Jadawat, Sameer Paranjape

Director: Atul Sabharwal

Run time: 1h 38mins