Kalyana Samayal Saadham, Tasty Fare

How many of you had an arranged marriage? How many of you had a love marriage? How many of you had love-cum-arranged marriage? And how many of you had arranged-cum-love marriage? Though this movie is about the last kind, anyone can relate to the movie.

Kalyana Samayal Saadham is a nice cute romantic comedy. It deals with the relatively newer trend of having an "affair" in the period between the engagement and the wedding. Basically, it is similar to what people do when they have a love affair except that here the couple have the blessings of the families. The movie also deals with the taboo subject of premarital sex. There's more, sex in married life and erectile dysfunction. In addition, the pressures of organizing a wedding, the politics and other nitty-gritties. All this served nicely as the food served in banana leaf in South Indian wedding. Not rich but sumptuous and delicious.

If you are married, you will relate to it. If you are not, take this as an easy digest.

Nice to see a big fat South Indian marriage for a change. Though it is not as fat as North Indian marriages, it has its own charm. On a different note, have you noticed that many South Indian weddings have Sangeeth and Mehendi! It is like a South Indian restaurant serving Naan and Paneer Butter Masala. 

The Wolf of Wall Street, Self Help

Long ago, when I was employed with Twenty Twenty Media, I along with few managers attended a Time Management training program. That was my first exposure to the world of life management and personality development. Before getting into the tricks and tools to manage time better and become efficient, the trainer who was a Russian lady introduced us to the concept of different pies in the circle of life.

1. Health 
2. Wealth 
3. Social 
4. Spiritual 
5. Family & friends 

To lead a holistic and meaningful life, one has to look at life as a sum of all the parts. One could also find these lessons in self help books such as Road Less Traveled, Monk Who Sold His Ferrari, First Things First et al. Not that I have achieved any balance, in fact far from it, but just the awareness of the pies can help bring sanity. That's for the majority of normal people.

Based on Jordan Belfort's biopic The Wolf of Wall Street it is about his spectacular rise and fall. It is the story of a man who focused only on one pie - Wealth. Jordan's life is filled with his passion for money and entertainment. The movie can give you nausea.

Is it a bad movie? No, absolutely not. There are amazing performances. Leonardo is brilliant. I loved Mathew McConaughey in his cameo appearance as "guru" who probably "shapes" Jordan's actions.

Once you have seen the movie, also read this very thought provoking article by Sudhish Kamath in The Hindu on "WHY DO our films toe the moral line?"