Two movies and a book

What do I have to show for a week. Exactly that- two movies and one book(incomplete)

• On a slow Monday evening, after a late day at work, I decided to check out Kite Runner, the movie(limited release that it was, what could be better than having it at a theater en route between office and home, a few yards away from home sweet home?). Its been a couple of years since I read the book. Thankfully. Since the details were hazy enough for me to not obsess over minor omissions or nitpicky comparisons, I went and watched with a nearly clear mind. And felt good. While the book delved into a lot of minute details about life in Afghanistan and the social structure, I'm sure a lot of it was infeasible to capture in a movie...or it would have to be turned into a 4 hour one. The book itself was enjoyable because the writing was fluid, gave a lot of room for using one's imagination to understand the background and situation. In a movie, unfortunately all that is visual. Takes away a good part of pages from the book. A phrase I felt for the movie was "less is more". A lot of restrained acting, subtle picturisation and minimalistic. So, if you are expecting a popcorn popping, thrill ride, this isnt the one for you.

• Evano Oruvan : Maddy's movie based on the Marathi original, Dombivli Fast. A very realistic movie on the life of any middle class family in India. One feels instantly bonding with the characters and their situations. With a middle class upbringing and the values that get imbibed, its a tough struggle to balance one's ethics and yet survive in the system. Quoting a line from the movie "Page 3", one needs to be in the system to change it. Again, not your everyday fantastic movie, no star studded stunts, no dreamy locales and finally none of the fancy star cast. I, however, did not relate to the ending. For the wonderful build up, this was not a matching end. But then, realistically speaking...perhaps, there is no other way out!

• Upon SK's suggestion, I got "Shantaram" by Gregory David Roberts. I believe its about 1000 pages long, so its going to be a while before I am done with it. But I definitely have enjoyed it thus far, which is about a couple of chapters. Thanks SK, for the reco.

And thus ends yet another weekend in 2008.