Glimpse of Love in Indian Cinema
Manjari Shukla
Love as reiterated in movies, specially Indian movies, almost every time takes the viewers to a fantastical, make believe world… a world, so full of love, that every dimension of it is overflowing with nothing, but love. Love is the guiding principle, love is the air, love… love… love is everywhere…. And nothing else… the boy is in love, the girl is in love, and the environment too is supporting by putting forward the love. No doubt, the Indian cinema shows, obstacles, problems, and unwanted situations in the life of both the protagonists, but the power of love is beyond any measures… it acts as a healing principle, acts as a powerful weapon, removing all the obstacles coming in its way. The songs too are full of the lovey-dovey kind, and all of them present love with a different edge...The final reconciliation happens, and the viewers are happy to leave the theatre, with an ephemeral happiness, which seems to be eternal for a while. The new cinema trends are changing and many a time, the reconciliation is not with the hero and heroine getting married, and marching forth to a land of Happily Ever After… but these days a number of movies show, how love as a power is conquering every dimension of not only body but soul of the lover. Even death is involved in the narrative, so as to make the impact of love as an emotion more powerful, rather than, just getting married, and being in the family way. The trends have changed, the dimensions modified, but still the charm of presenting love in Indian Cinema, is as good as new.
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Literature
Manjari Shukla
Literature in itself is like a sea, so full of choicest and best gifts. The pearls are scattered throughout the vastness of this great sea. The pearls, of different shapes, sizes, volumes, and what not. Reading literature leaves a great impact on the readers, and if not read, they are capable of influencing or motivating people, even if they are narrated, and heard from someone. It appears to be of great worth, that whether one is, or one is not a student of literature, literature is very much the “breath and finer spirit” of all existence. In one or the other way, literature appears in front of us, and we are more or less, either affected by it, or guided by it. Its strands are various, and each strand is so complete in itself, that at times, it appears, each means in literature, leads to its own ends. Whether it is the Charm of Classics, epistolary novels, Fiction, Pulp Fiction, Comics, fan fiction, Poetry, Drama etc…etc… All are so complete in their forms, that it really makes one believe in the existence of another world through literature. It is even said, what is once lost, can be relived through literature. The world of literature is truly like a vast sea, with enormous waves of appealing aspects. It is so very soothing to travel through this sea, which always lands us in an unknown, unexplored land. The impact of it is so very powerful, that no matter what phase of life we are going through, it is always going to leave on us, such an impression, that for a while, we surely feel relaxed, and motivated. The literary world has magical charms, and each time our visit into this scintillating area, very much like a vast sea, makes us spellbound, probably because a fairy with her literary wand, each time touches us, and makes us, know of ourselves more, and that too in a better light.
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Dickens Revisited
Manjari Shukla
It’s a Tale of Two Cities, where two boys lived, David Copperfield and Oliver Twist. They were the best of friends and worked from the two cities for the same company named Pickwick Papers. They first met each other in a Christmas Carol at Bleak House, where the owner of the company gave the party. The host  was a noble man and had Great Expectations from himself to please all his guests, his son was Little Dorrit, who engaged himself in studies throughout the day. He had a big library where all his favourite books were lined up, the favourite was an incomplete work of a great writer, entitled The Mystery of Edwin Drood. David Copperfield and Oliver Twist came to know each other in the party, and a lifelong friendship was started in them. One day they planned to visit the famous bookshop in town, The Old Curiosity Shop, to buy something for Little Dorrit. To their astonishment they met Charles Dickens, who was present there for the release of his new book.
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Literary Theory : My Way
Manjari Shukla
Literary theory has always been a terrain, unexplored for me, the more I want to know about it, the more secrets it reveals to me. Many strands of theory and theoretical discourses often make me think and ponder about so many facets of a single idea, or view. We have so many glasses on our eyes, and I think theory gives us a freedom to choose any one of the glasses, and thereby allow us to give our views and opinions. Truly, it is having the power to make us realise the timelessness of a work of art. As many angles, as many interpretations. We are free enough to choose more than one glass for our eyes to make us believe on various ideologies and interpretations at a single moment of time. Reading a text is the first step towards analysis, the second reading gives us an insight, and how a text is unfolding itself starts appearing to us on our mental horizon, a brief knowledge of theories, help us to locate the text on that level, which seems perfect to us. Theory gives us a freedom, to interpret. We don’t need any yardstick to prove our point, a singular text can have infinite observations, by a singular reader, and it also gives us a choice to stick to one or more than one ideas at the same time. The world of theories is unique in itself, it’s a path where one can tread for as long as one wants, no barriers are there, a freedom of spirit, to articulate and express oneself, as the way one wants.




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So simple ...
Manjari Shukla

So simple and delicate it was, fresh as the first ray of the morning and so beautiful that no image in the world can be compared to it. I was thrilled to have it in my bare palms, it was so very soft, and appeared to be alive with its own liveliness and spark. I was mesmerized by its beauty, and the moment for me appeared to freeze, when it landed on my palm, from somewhere above. I wanted to hold it, but its delicateness, held me from imprisoning it, even for a small while, I continuously looked at it, so pristine in appearance it was, slowly a gush of wind came and it took the small tiny feather with itself to a far unknown land. I was held back by the moment for a while, when the whole thing happened with me. I still remember the softness, the pristinity of the delicate small feather, which eventually gave me a moment worth cherishing forever.



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