 hotel room. But unlike Piku or even a Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, he doesn’t allow the characters to organically reach this point. Instead, he invokes the surrealist overtures of a Finding Fanny – that is, the third person ends up in the hospital because he is injured while trying to stop his van from being stolen by gangsters, which then leaves the other two free to find a hotel to bond in. The scene between the man (Malayalam star Dulquer Salmaan, as Avinash) and the girl (a cool Mithila Palkar, as Tanya) is charming because it is a casual clash of generations. The actors, rather than their characters, discuss photography and pregnancy tests. We expect things because it is a hotel room. We learn much about them through their reactions. The lines (by Hussain Dalal) are perceptive and non-dialogue-ish. But the glue that binds such scenes together is…sticky.
The first hour is awkward, because it is designed as a black comedy with occasional slice-of-life moments. The makers attempt to locate humour in all kinds of death. Avinash is informed about the death of his estranged father (Akash Khurana) by a prototypical call-center employee; the travel company mixes up the coffins of two senior citizens who died during one of their tours; a crude manager plays the fool when interrogated by traumatized relatives; Bangalore resident Avinash mourns the death of his artistic dreams by working under a cartoonish boss in an IT firm; Avinash’s friend Shaukat (Irrfan) laments the death of traditionalism when he sees Tanya’s ‘loose’ values and short skirts; Shaukat mocks white tourists because he resents them for killing the identity of his country.
These are scenes that aren’t broadly funny in real life. But the film is obsessed with Irrfan’s deadpan wryness – he is inimitable, yes, but the camera relies on him too heavily to bring levity to inherently serious circumstances. Every flashback of Avinash’s stern father is instantly followed by a Shaukat moment. The socioeconomic rift between Shaukat and Tanya is overplayed, too – she rolls her eyes and responds in English, while he mutters away and curses in chaste Urdu. He feels planted into most frames, but trust the actor to radiate the eccentricity of a desi Captain Jack Sparrow even when the director almost turns him into a ‘90s comedian. At times, the camera stays on him well after a scene is over, virtually willing him to give us a parting punch line. Not all of them land. Overdosing on Irrfan, however, is not a bad decision, given his curious affinity to Hindi road movies.
The second hour is the clincher. Here’s when Karwaan “finds itself,” because it becomes a slice-of-life movie with occasional dark humour. The makers give Shaukat more than just the bandwidth of a sidekick – he becomes the star of his own little short film in the hospital, and Avinash is left to simmer in his own coming-of-middle-age story. There’s still a bit of meandering, what with the needless gangster track, but the film begins to address the finality of death.
A cameo by the lovely Amala Akkineni as Tanya’s mother goes a long way in helping the film settle on a grown-up tone. The coffins go from being narrative devices to being the narrative; they are made to look like they have in them the legacies of people who once lived rather than the remains of dead bodies. There aren’t as many wisecracks, even though some characters disguise the depth of their words with self-deprecatory quips; dialogue writer Hussain Dalal (Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani, 2 States) excels at walking this thin line between informality and self-awareness. The songs start to feel like a car on an endless highway. And for once, we see the three of them in separate frames as individuals, consumed by their own thoughts. A movie might have been created out of their time together, but there is a sense of cinema about their time apart.
The film, to its credit, recognizes here that a road trip is little more than a memorable car ride. Perhaps even the director recognizes that the adventure, in fact, lies within – as opposed to the actual physicality of a journey. This is when Karwaan stops clowning around, stops escaping, stops evading and, much like Shaukat, stops trying to fill the silence with reminders of its free spirit. Most importantly, it just stops trying.
A film critic (formerly of Mumbai Mirror, Catch News) and columnist (The Hindu), Rahul Desai writes about everything cinematic under Mumbai's hot sun, including short films, web shows and desi B-movies. When he isn't writing, you can find him in obscure countries nostalgically identifying locations of the films he writes about.The regiment carried orange flags with white trefoils in April 1642 and September 1643 2).
Towse was a grocer and alderman, serving as Sheriff of London in 1641. He died in May 1645.
Wilson was a vintner. He commanded from 1645 to his death in 1650, though Camfield was Colonel in 1647 under the Presbyterians.
Gower was a grocer, he commanded the regiment in 1658.
Mercer and alderman, Colonel 1659 to 1660.
Browne was a woodmonger, he commanded the regiment between 1660 and 1668.
Officers granted arrears in the final hours of the Presbyterian Militia Committee’s existence on 23 July 1647 6).
City Orange Trained Band.
Officers after re-organisation under the dominance of the Independents7).
3) The Names Dignitie & Places of the Severall Colonells…, London 1642. British Library Thomason Tracts E669 f6 (10).
6), 7) The Militia of London 1641-1649 PhD Thesis, Lawson Chase Nagel, King’s College, University of London, 1982.
The National Assurance Manager – Audit Tools and Technology is responsible for coordinating and managing audit and assurance content and knowledge development efforts for various engagement types, within and outside of the Firm's audit and assurance software. The Manager also supports assurance professionals to sustain quality of work, while innovating the audit experience.
All the pertinent color masters of the world have been announcing what they think is going to be the color of 2013 — the color that is trendy, that makes it into fashion, interiors and art. The color that represents the mood we’ll all be going into as the new year comes into effect. Why just a few posts ago we announced that someone else called Indigo is the color. And Sherwin Williams said it’d be a light shade of green-gray called Aloe. Well last week Pantone made its pick…what do you guess?
It’s Emerald! Cheers for the May birthdays (Emerald is the birth stone of May). But also cheers for a deep, rich green that defies convention and categorization. That is at once cheery and perky but also rich and jewel-toned. That can be casual or formal. That is one sassy shade of green.
What do you think about Emerald being named the color of the year? Do you love it? Hate it? Which color have you liked the most? Aloe, Indigo or Emerald?09 October 2008
President Bush signs law amending landmark Americans with Disabilities Act
Washington — A new law restores workplace protections for the disabled that had eroded as a result of several Supreme Court decisions issued since the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed in 1990.
The ADA Amendments Act of 2008, passed by Congress and signed by President Bush on September 25, clarifies and broadens the definition of disability and expands the population eligible for protection under the ADA.
A week after signing the act, Bush proclaimed October as National Disability Employment Awareness Month to recognize the contributions of people with disabilities to American society and its workforce.
Enacted during the presidency of George H.W. Bush, the current president’s father, the Americans with Disabilities Act was a landmark civil rights bill aimed at eliminating discrimination against individuals who have physical or mental impairments. In 1990 there were 43 million such individuals, according to congressional estimates. The National Organization on Disability, an advocacy group, says that today some 54 million Americans have some sort of disability. (See “Americans with Disabilities Act Transforms Lives.”)
The ADA prohibits discrimination against people with physical and mental disabilities in such areas as employment, public accommodations and transportation. It mandates that employers make "reasonable accommodations" for disabled individuals unless those accommodations impose an "undue hardship" on the employer.
Ultimately, the courts — sometimes the U.S. Supreme Court — have the authority to determine whether an individual is legally "disabled," and whether an employer has obeyed the law. (See “Protections Under U.S. Disabilities Act Defined by Courts.”)
PROTECTION UNDER ADA AND ADA AMENDMENTS ACT
,” the ADA Amendments Act says.
It states that over the years, some Supreme Court and lower court decisions “narrowed the broad scope of protection intended to be afforded by the ADA, thus eliminating protection for many individuals