Ritika Ruminates

Image Source- BookMyShow Recently, Kiran Rao's Laapata Ladies was released on Netflix, and it is worth every appreciation and hype there is for the movie on social media. My Instagram is filled with it, and many reels end up being shared on my Instagram stories (gonna be obsessing over the movie for some time now). It is a movie that rightly depicts feminism. Laapataa Ladies explore and respect the choices of both the lead female characters, along with Manju Mai (dadi). The feminist dialogues are on point. The only problematic statement was from Mai that women don't need men. Maybe not husbands, as marriage should be out of choice, but surely progressive fathers and brothers who are not threatened by women's independence, opinions, and professional work. The movie proved that feminism isn't about drinking, smoking, and cheating alone, as portrayed in a series on Amazon Prime and partly in Lipstick Under My Burkha. Feminism, as a concept/movement, is simple and aims for ...

Image Source- BookMyShow Last week, I watched the movie Maidaan in theatre. No doubt, it was entertaining, with heartbeat fluctutaing every few seconds during match scenes (much like a good game of football). Unfortunately, the movie tanked at box office as of now, despite its good content and overall acting.  Afterwards, while ruminating on it, I realized the right timing when the movie got launched in theatres. Initial part of the movie had the Indian football team struggling badly, and even in midst of the movie, where people did not have any faith in the team to win. This is the exact scenario currently with our Indian football team as well, where we are mostly on a losing streak and suffering badly. This one year is not going really well for our country. The team, coach and AIFF is facing backlash for losing against Afghanistan as well, a country that is under the rule of Taliban and isn't doing well in socio-political realm. Some of the football fans are demanding resignation...

Image Source - Medium Recently, Sandeep Reddy Vanga, director of the 'Animal,' gave a statement that if one can't slap, kiss or use cuss words towards their partner whenever one wants to, it is not love, that is he "doesn't see emotions there." It is uncertain whether it was his personal beliefs or he said it for negative publicity, but going by his past movies, I'd say he really means it. This brings us to the question - is love supposed to be unconditional? Does there not exist boundaries in love, especially for people with a mindset similar to this director? I don't believe that love can be unconditional, surely not between friends or a couple. Some say a mother's love for her child is unconditional, maybe. But don't these mothers (let us include fathers too) expect respectful behaviour from their kids once they are old enough to understand mannerisms? Respect is the foundation of love of any kind. If you don't respect them, you can'...

Disclaimer- This post is a product of random thoughts and my opinion and not backed by any research. The books and movies/series are mentioned only for examples and I have no intention of condemning them. Image Source - IMDb With the humongous collection of books and movies & series, it's evident that similar narratives will be observed and followed in many books, especially contemporary works. While some may be looked down upon, many other tropes are even admired and recommended.  Tropes here refers to elements in a story or relationship dyamics which is similar in many works of fiction across different authors and screenwriters. Example of tropes include grumpy × sunshine , fake dating,   enemies to lovers,   friends to lovers , marriage of convenience , ex-lovers runiting after long time etc. As a reader & viwer of mostly comedy and romantic genre, I can only mention similar narratives found in these genres. Here are examples of other tropes from various genr...

Image Source- The Guardian Happy Teacher's Day! Teachers can contribute a lot to our academic, sports, and personal growth. A teacher can make or break someone's interest in a subject or field. We all have had our share of good and bad teachers. Teachers who teach a subject with so much passion, build your interest in the subject (or at least help you survive the subject like Maths), guide you where needed, motivate you when you doubt yourself, build your confidence, etc. Their teaching and general behavior is so good that you attend lecture out of interest, and not merely for 75% attendance. In contrast, I've also had teachers because of whom my interest in the subject dipped and now I am quite miserable at it (my Hindi getting worse is what hurts me the most). It was so much so that if I happened to see them in public, I would run away before they could see me😂 My interest in English started during 10th board exams when my English teacher in tuitions would give positive ...

Image source: Popsugar This blogpost is going to be my interpretation of the character Tyler from Wednesday series, seeing it from his perspective. Even if you are team Xavier, do give it a read anyway (promise to try to not trick you to change your team). Picture of Hunter Doohan (Tyler) for this blogpost can quite be like a candy, attracting many girls (or even boys) to this blog post🤭. As most have already seen the series or have come across spoilers on Instagram anyway, I'm free to post spoilers here too. Or if you do not want spoilers, watch the series Wednesday on Netflix (not freeload it on Telegram!) and come back here soon after finishing the first season (ofcourse I would like the additional view😂😜).  I think Tyler, at some extent, represents all of us. We all have a negative or even monstrous side to our personality which could lay dormant for years or decades. But when something major happens (or compounding of small things until it reaches the boiling p...

Image source- Hindustan Times   I recently watched the movie Maja Ma on Amazon Prime Video. A movie about how the lead's (Madhuri Dixit) smoothly going life gets interrupted by her secret getting out in public, affecting her's and her family's life. The caste includes Madhuri Dixit, Gajraj Rao, Ritwik Bhowmik, Barkha Singh, and Sheeba Chaddha among many others. This review contains some spoilers. So you can watch a movie and come back to this blog post 😀. Phobia against homosexuality still very much exists in our society, be it within India or western countries. This is even more in small towns or rural areas of India, where knowledge is not enough and incorrect, and so prejudice and shame around homosexuality is more. The myth and phobia against homosexuality are often based on incorrect and incomplete information we receive about homosexuality (and everything in the LGBTQIA+ community). I have written about it in my other blog post, which you can read here . ...

 This post won't be a blogpost but a open letter that I wrote for fictional characters Ram and Sita Mahalaxmi/Princess Noorjahan from movie 'Sita Ramam'. Image source- The Hindu Dear Ram and Sita Mahalaxmi, You both showed us what love seems like. Yes, I don't believe that love happens without even meeting the person (from Ram's POV), but maybe, there can be a few exceptional cases. Ram falling in love with Sitamahalaxmi due to her letters, tells us how words can have an impact on one's life. Our choice of words can make a person loved (or atleast comfort them and make them feel heard and less lonely) or break someone's heart. Princess Noorjahan, who left her real identity behind and took up the role of Sita Mahalaxmi, thanks for showing that girls are not only behind money. You left comfort that the title of princess provided, to move in with Ram, a soldier who would be earning Rs600 a month. You both defied the stereotypes associated with genders being in ...

Image source- Hindustan Times After recently finishing watching the 4th (and the last) season of Little Things, it makes all the sense why Gen Z is idolizing Dhruv Vats and Kavya Kulkarni as a couple. Little Things is a series, spanning over 4 seasons, about a modern day couple Dhruv and Kavya who are navigating their lives as individuals and also their relationship. The beauty of this series is that it depicts the small yet beautiful things of a relationship, away from grand and cliche bollywood love stories. And making live-in relationships more acceptable in Indian society, especially among the Gen Z. A couple that had had their own episodes of live-in as well as long distance and yet sticking together happily, they give major couple goals. They make even the smallest and little of the things look cute, caring and romantic.  They have depicted  modern-day relationships  very rightly and in a healthy way. Like what relationships are supposed to be in founda...

Image source- Wikipedia I do not write reviews on my blog about books or films, but this movie has intrigued me to. The Great Indian Kitchen is a Malayalam movie on Amazon Prime Video which very well depicts the patriarchy in Indian households.  Though the movie is in Malayalam language, subtitles are available in English for people who cannot understand Malayalam language. Set in a South Indian town or rural area, it shows the male privilege prevelant in the the small towns and villages in India (also in metropolitan cities). The female lead character, an educated woman and dancer, raised in Bahrain, is married to a guy in a regressive family. The movie shows her struggle of fitting in to a family where she doesn't belong in the first place. The instances in movie like expecting the girl to hand the toothbrush to her father-in-law, make rice in firewood, having to manually clean one person's clothes seperately, etc She is also expected to clean up the mess at the...