Seshadri's Musings

There is just a 5-day gap between my birthday and my anniversary 😊 !!  From last year, I had decided to go for outing during these days.  Last year, since it was our 25 th anniversary, my wife and I had gone to Kashmir for one-week duration.  This year, we didn’t have so much days free for us.  So, I started looking out for other options for 2-3 day’s time-period. I had always wanted to visit Hogenakkal Waterfalls and it was on my bucket-list.  I started looking at where it is and how to reach the place.  It was near Hosur where my son is working.  So, I decided that we would go to Bangalore and drive from there to Hogenakkal and also pick my son for the trip.  There were 3 more temples in Hosur which we thought we will visit while returning from the waterfall.  This took care of one day.  For the second day, I decided on Kolar and a Shiva temple.  So, accordingly I booked flight tickets to Bangalore starting early morning on th...

More web-series reviews… Fauda (Season 4) – Came out in 2023.  The action in this season shifts to Brussels when Gabi travels there to see Omar, one of his agents who has infiltrated Hezbollah. Doron travels with him as his personal bodyguard, but when Gabi runs into Omar, things flip around and he is kidnapped and transported somewhere secret. It is now up to the Belgian and Israeli forces to locate the hiding area where Gabi is being held captive. Running parallel to this story is the tale of Maya, a decorated Israeli Police Officer who is now being investigated on account of Omar being his brother. One of the reviews from Times of India... The stakes are much higher, and the canvas is much bigger in season four of “Fauda.” The thriller series is able to hit the mark once more with an intriguing plot and multiple twists. Despite being a long season (12 episodes), “Fauda” is a compelling watch and has all the qualities to ...

More web-series reviews… Frankie Drake Mysteries – Ran from 2017-2021.  "Frankie Drake Mysteries" follows Toronto's only female private detective in the 1920s as she takes on the cases the police don't want or can't handle. Along with her partner Trudy, Frankie and the Drake Detective Agency take on cases of all shapes and sizes. From airplanes and booze-running to American G-men, Communists, and union busters, Frankie's fearless sense of adventure gets her into all kinds of trouble, but she always manages to find her way out. One of the reviews from IMDB... I wanted to like Frankie Drake, hoping it would be like Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries. Sadly, it's more like a high school production. Not as bad as Murdoch Mysteries but close. The language is very stilted when they're trying to make them sound like they're in the early 20th century. Much of the acting is also very stilted. The th...

  More web-series reviews… Lupin – Came out in 2021.   Inspired by the adventures of Arsène Lupin, gentleman thief Assane Diop sets out to avenge his father for an injustice inflicted by a wealthy family. One of the reviews from IMDB... This French series is centred on Assane Diop, the son of a Senegalese immigrant who is determined to expose Hubert Pellegrini, the wealthy businessman who framed his late father for a robbery he didn't commit. As a boy his father introduced him to the stories about 'gentleman thief' Arsène Lupin and Assane has followed in his heroes feet; committing daring well planned burglaries to get what he needs to achieve his goals. Of course Pellegrini will play far dirtier to protect himself and Assane must also contend with the police; most notably Lupin fan Youssef Guedira. I really enjoyed this series, it may require some suspension of disbelief but that shouldn't be a problem as it was never aiming for gritty realism. The story moves...

Akira Kurosawa (March 23, 1910 – September 6, 1998) was a Japanese filmmaker and painter who directed thirty films in a career spanning over five decades. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. Kurosawa displayed a bold, dynamic style, strongly influenced by Western cinema yet distinct from it; he was involved with all aspects of film production. Here is the list of all his movies ranked.  https://mubi.com/lists/kurosawa-ranked--3 I thought of seeing the top 10 movies of his.  I had already watched High and Low while watching the suspense movie series.  I had seen Rashomon earlier as Mani Ratnam’s Yuva was made on similar lines.  I saw Seven Samurai as it was his number 1 movie and supposedly Sholay was based on this 😊 !  But when I started to see Ikiru somehow it seemed too slow for my liking.  I then went to Wikipedia and read all the stories there.  Since I have seen 3 of his movi...

  Sorcerer – Came out in 1977.   Adapted from the novel The Wages of Fear which was made earlier in 1953:-)!   A gangster, a crooked banker, a hit man and an Arab terrorist are stranded and on the run in a small village in South America. Their only chance of escape is to drive two trucks filled with unstable dynamite (leaking nitroglycerin) up a long and rocky mountain road in order to plug an escalating oil refinery blaze. With their deadly cargo likely to explode at the slightest bump, the four men must put aside their differences and work together to survive. Trivia - Director William Friedkin initially wanted Steve McQueen to star in the film. McQueen accepted the part, but on one condition--he wanted a co-starring role for his then wife, Ali MacGraw. Friedkin would not accept his conditions, and McQueen dropped out of the film. Friedkin later went on record, regretting not accepting McQueen's conditions. He tri...

  The other day I came across a site which said 25 best suspense movies of all times ( https://flickside.com/best-suspense-movies/ ).  Naturally I was interested 😊 !!  While going through the list, I found that I had seen 17 of them!  One story, I didn’t find interesting.  I then wanted to see the balance 7.  I can now say that I have seen all of them.     These are movies that are not to be missed 😊 !! One of them was Akira Kurosawa’s High and Low.  Seeing this movie, made me want to see his Top 10 movies too.  High and Low is ranked 6.   Will write a separate blog on Akira Kurosawa’s Top 10 movies, once I finish seeing them 😊 ! So, here are more details on the balance 6 movies (spread across 2 blogs)… Cache – Came out in 2005 and it means “Hidden”.  Set in France, Georges is a TV Literary Reviewer and lives in a small yet modern town house with his w...