Spies In Disguise – Scanty.

The interesting cast was the green signal for me to watch this film alone. Let alone the fact that it was of the animated with a spy genre. But are the stars of Will Smith in his favor, especially after his big failure Gemini Man? Let’s find out.

As you all are aware how much I still love animated films in this day and age. Still, not every film succeeds on the basis of a happy ending or by giving an inspirational message. Unfortunately, this is one of them. Critically speaking, there are better stories out there which have won hearts. One main feature of a cartoon film is that it consists of each aspect equally, action, comedy and drama. More often, it’s the comedy quotient which is comparatively higher. Stories are always predictable in any animated film. It’s how you direct (Troy Quane & Nick Bruno), the background score (Theodore Shapiro) and the smallest of details which matter.

Fortunately, the flick is inclusive of comedic scenes, but not enough. There are action scenes, but not enough. The chemistry between Will Smith (Lance Sterling) and Tom Holland (Walter Beckett) is great. The background score is superbly thought of and composed. The direction is okay. Ben Mendelsohn (as Killian) voices a brilliant antagonist. Rashida Jones (as Marcy Kappel), Karen Gillan (as Eyes) and DJ Khaled (as Ears), Masi Oka (as Katsu Kimura) and Reba McEntire (as Joy Jenkins) aid the lead actors really well.

In fact, even the rest of the supporting cast did really well. However, there was the X factor missing, which decides the film’s critical success, according to me. I feel there was a lot lacking as I mentioned above. It is based on a short film Pigeon: Impossible by Lucas Martell, wherein, he shows a unique concept of how pigeons are really considered insignificant. Screenplay writers Brad Copeland and Lloyd Taylor tried to incorporate this into a 102 minute big scale film. Appealing yet not convincing.

While I write my views about Spies In Disguise right now, I checked the film’s worldwide earnings simultaneously, and found out that they haven’t even reached the original budget amount of the film after 17 days of it’s release to break even. I think this alone proves that people who have seen the film “worldwide” aren’t recommending it to their friends and family. As I wouldn’t do to you.

2.5/5

The Compliment.

People close to me know that I dislike praises. I might appreciate you, if I liked something you did, but I feel shy on receiving them. In the month of February, I attended a friend’s wedding with one of my close friends. We set our arrival dates to match together so that we land around the same time. It’s good to attend weddings because you not only get to bless the bride and groom, but you also get to meet new people and especially various kinds of elders.

My close friend (who I was staying with during the wedding and with whom I planned our itinerary) and I had already decided that we are going to perform at the bride’s Sangeet. Both of us were called ‘the guests from Dubai’ at the wedding. You don’t expect so many international invitees if it’s a local Indian wedding. The bride’s side were kind and were very happy to have us.

We had practiced a few times in Dubai and a couple of quick practices before the performances (because I was nervous). I dislike screwing it up. After watching and cheering for all other performances, the moment arrived.

We danced on the two numbers we had and as usual I forgot almost all the main steps but luckily I didn’t screw up completely because my dance partner knew them all. Hence, I wasn’t looking straight at the audience, well, most of the time.

The bride’s side had booked a beautiful villa/lodge, where all the small events and rituals would take place and it had a lot of rooms. So, most of the guests who had come from different states were living in it, including us. It didn’t take us time to get mixing with the relatives. Even though most of them were our parent’s age or even older. There were, however, a few of our age – who were the bride’s college or school mates.

We would all, gather around every morning, for breakfast in the same hall downstairs. Eat and mingle together. The morning after the Sangeet happened, we were standing at the buffet and there was this uncle who has been an ex-military colonel, who I had had a good conversation with, during the previous breakfasts. We were all at the line of buffet and all the elders were already finished with their breakfasts long before us because we always were the late comers.

He stopped me, pulled me out of the queue gently, to tell me something. I was shocked at first, thinking what was going on. I was scared for a minute thinking what did I do wrong!?

Fortunately, it wasn’t something wrong that I did, it was something miraculous. It was not intended but I am REALLY glad that I could make a person feel that way. The uncle, who was from the bride’s side, obviously, was decent and elegant. He carried a great persona, yet, was a little old fashioned.

What he said, not only gave me goosebumps, but it also made me realize that not only money can buy happiness, even a compliment can and only a few words can make someone eternally happy.

His approximate words were, “Beta, what you did last night on the dance floor definitely entertained us. The joy you brought us from your spirit of dancing not only helped me be happier but it also made my health better at that point of time. Keep doing this. God bless you with all the happiness and good luck for your future endeavors.”

I was smiling, constantly. I was blushing. I went numb for a few seconds. My thank yous were sounding like whispers. I had goosebumps. I hadn’t felt this awestruck since maybe forever. I felt on top of the world.

Thus, I just wanted to share this with all my readers. Please never stop doing good things in life. You never know, you might unintentionally make someone’s day. Stay happy. Keep smiling, no matter what. And thank you for reading.

Is WhatsApp a lifeline today?

I tried this for ten odd days when I had given my phone for repair and didn’t have a backup phone. I said to myself, “Let’s try living in a world without WhatsApp”. I put my sim card in a feature phone – which doesn’t have a capability of installation and usage of social media applications and messengers. I had a little bit of ego growing inside of me. Whoever wants to contact me, shall do it in any way. There are other mediums too. They could call me? Or text me. Just like the olden times. The era of late nineties and most of 2000’s.

Most of my contacts didn’t realize that I am off WhatsApp. Well, I had put it on my story. Didn’t they see it? I used to log in on my Facebook account, once in a while, through my laptop to check if it really was the “other” medium of communication. But, I found my inbox empty.

I really didn’t bother so much about my friends and family trying to connect with me or contacting through this application. Because I knew they would do it through any medium, if they really needed me. Whom I got worried about, were my clients. Some of which contacted me ONLY through WhatsApp to place orders. And when finally I made a rough decision of buying a low-budget backup phone and appeared again on WhatsApp, there really was a message from one of my clients {along with hundred other group chat messages and personal messages from friends} and he did give me a couple of orders. If I would have been a week late, I might have not gotten that order.

I really feel that most of us humans have become so dependent on WhatsApp. Probably chained and locked to it. Gone are the days where we used to be without smartphones. Gone are the days where there used to be so much of letter writing. Gone are the days where there used to be one-to-one, face-to-face, real conversations. Hence, I want to ask you this question. Do you really think business should be done on these social messengers? Isn’t electronic mail a better option? Doesn’t it feel more professional? Can WhatsApp and other social messengers be neglected? Just for a little bit of peace, perhaps?