Mawlynnong- Where Cleanliness is equal to Godliness!!

There are planned trips, there are unplanned trips & then there are "one second you are planning to book tickets for a movie & other second you are booking flight tickets" trips. It was on a Sunday that both me & Jojo decided to travel to north-east & booked our tickets to Guwahati, without even having an fixed destination. Post some research we figured out that Mawlynnong could be a place which we can explore. Its a small village almost at Shillong-Bangladesh & has the reputation of being the Cleanest village in entire Asia. Actually the reputation is official, as there is a formal award which has been given to the village by the official body which gives these sort of titles. But official awards aside, the cleanliness hits you as soon as you enter this small village, hence the reputation is as genuine as it gets. Its home for a small community which has also initiated an eco-tourism project, riding their claim to fame of being 'Asia's Cleanest Village' properly.

Beautiful Meghalaya

So we met at the Guwahati airport & took a shared cab to Shillong. We decided to spend the night there itself, idea was to take a cab next day morning straight to mawlynnong. I had a an injury which I had to get checked, so time in Shillong was spent by meeting doctor & finding good places to eat. Doctor didnt took much time & we went to the police bazaar, which is the main part of the city & kept looking for a restaurant with good momos. After talking to a few locals & taking their vote, we decided on a restaurant. Went to our hotel which was playing loud music till late night, not that we complained.

Bangladesh visible from Mawlynnong

Next day morning we hired a cab took it straight to our destination. Now journey was beautiful as expected, roads were bad at places though. Now the major part of the journey is same as Cherrapunjee, barring the last bit. We had a good driver to give us company & he ensured we watched everything which was of any interest to tourists. It was good fun & time flew with decent company & scenic path. After reaching we realised its a small village with a few families. There was just one small place where tourists/guests can stay & it was a tree house. A house built of bamboo on a very old tree, with about 3-4 rooms. It was looking pretty decent & as soon as you enter the balcony you can see a stream flowing below you. Setting was just perfect a small bamboo house, greenery all around, stream flowing beneath the house, small houses all around, a church right in front & a school right beside it.

Tree house @ Mawlynnong



Living root bridge

Machan

We decided to take a full round of the village & see places where tourists normally go, which comprises of a living root bridge, a watch tower, a small water fall & a holy stone which has some relevance which I do not remember. Now for someone seeing the root bridge for the first time would in itself be a big thing, these bridges are worked on for a long duration & post which it actually take the shape of a bridge.Its living root of a tree, hence its called Living root bridge as well. Then we went to the water-fall which north-east is full of, especially this part of NE. This was a small one & Henry told us that we would get to visit a big one on the way back. Next was a regular Watch-tower/ Machan, nothing much to write about it. On the way we saw plenty of kids playing football, almost on all the occasion kids play football in hills. At least I have not seen many playing cricket, probably that's why they are all so fit or is it the other way around, either ways it doesn't matter. What matter is they are fit & they have good taste in sports.

Awareness

Waste bin

Throughout the day we saw that small waste bins were installed across the village. Not even a shred of dirt was found on the road. There is this sense of social ownership which exists in majority of north-east, where they also take care of the socially owned assets like roads, trees in the open space, etc. In fact I have seen families even outside Mawlynnong cleaning roads along with their house everyday, this is in sharp contrast to some of the other states where people actually don't give a damn about the stuff they throw on the road. We also saw some interesting plants, including the one that traps & then eats insects & bugs.

Plant that traps & eats bug/insect

Local food

So after devoting more than half a day walking around Mawlynnong we came back for food, we decided to give local delicacies a shot went to the only tea shop asked them as to what do they eat. They had couple of local dishes, which were nothing to write home about. Everything was made out of rice, one looked like Idli, but tasted nothing like it & another was sweet but it was without any other flavor. We interacted with a few locals there & realized that almost everyone plays guitar & sings there, even after trying too much we couldn't get anyone to sing. But we had an extended bakar session with the guys there which was super fun. After that we walked some more, as it was beautiful. Evening we had home made food comprising of some meat gravy for jojo & some veg gravy for me with dal & rice. Along with the food they serve a hot & tangy chutney-cum-salad which was super awesome & was the best part of the meal for me. Barring the chutney, food-wise there was nothing much to try & like, but for us food was actually just a basic requirement. Post dinner we sat with our local host & guide Henry and again had a long discussion on music. Their was a cute cat their who was constantly giving us company, she would stand up on two legs and take food. So we had a good time, till it was time for random insects to destroy our mood. Now bugs & insects are the worst part of any experience out in the open, but they are always part of a good package.

Stream

Leech & Me :)

Next day we had a bath at the stream, which was super fun. After doing more timepass, we decided to move towards shillong as the idea was to spend one day their as well. Journey was again beautiful, on the way we stopped at a waterfall, for which we had to walk down a fair bit. Saving ourselves from leeches, we managed to click some pictures & I even managed to catch one of them & clicked both of us together. We reach Shillong by late afternoon, enjoying the journey to the fullest. Checked into a Tourism guest house, which was cheap & good, a real value for money. I realized it was the same guest house where we had stayed in 2007, on the way to Cherrapunjee. There were about 17-18 of us and we had taken the biggest dormitory available, it was one of the better road-trip that I have had so far & also that was my first encounter with NE. We didn't explore Shillong then as it was only a night halt, something similar happened this time. Sometime would plan a trip where Shillong would be given more importance in the itinerary.

Guest house at Shillong

Waterfall outside Mawlynnong

Next day, we started moving towards Guwahati to catch our flight, but the journey was as always beautiful. Since Jojo had an early flight he left after lunch, which we had at my company's office as I decided to catch up with colleagues there. I had plenty of time to I went sightseeing in Guwahati, after consulting my colleague. Though to be fair, he did warn me about it being a waste of time. I went to a art museum, spent some time their. Could not appreciate it much & decided to move to Kamakhya devi temple which was good fun but it would have been better during evening. Guwahati in itself is just like any normal tier-I town, but once you start to move out of the town it starts to get awesome. Plus the connectivity that it enjoys with its other sisters is great.North-east has to be one of the most beautiful part of our country, it has still not reached its potential in terms of tourism development. But one thing is there, we can learn a lot from the people & the way they respect their surroundings.

Island peak expedition- Diaries

This should have been posted long back for some reason it was stuck in drafts, anyways here it goes...

We were waiting for the time when all stars & constellations would be in right position, and we would be able to align leaves for 19 days from our respective 'world-saving jobs'. And then the time came, initiated by a bold move from supro, where he booked his tickets & sent it across to me & jap. My biggest takeaway from 'Game theory' was 'move of credibility', and it worked yet again. Using supro's dates as base for planning we also aligned our leaves and booked tickets and it all took just couple of days. Don't know whether it was mountains & scenic beauty or the idea of staying away from our routine mundane life,  but we were mighty excited & counting days with bated breath. 31st march 2011 we reached Kathmandu from our respective locations, so as to start our journey on 2nd of April.

Our guide Lalu

After completing all the preparations in Kathmandu, including insurance which was 1st thing on my agenda given my history with mountains in Nepal, we started for Lukla. We had a guide with us, Lalman lama also known as lalu. He was initially into rafting, but later decided to get into trekking. We also hired a porter from lukla, Bidya. Poor guy was not only carrying a bit of our stuff, none of which was used on the trek, but was also leading the way throughout the trek.

Lady from Lodge @ Lukla

Day 1- First day of trek was pretty simple, it was mostly downhill. We were to walk from Lukla to Phakding. Journey was full of greenery & water body. The biggest event in the day was meeting Subbu, who was head porter for trip 3 yrs back. It was a happy moment for all of us to spot 2nd familiar face on the mountain, 1st being the lodge lady at Lukla. Three years of corporate life didn't do any damage to my memory :)

Lodges at all these places have same fundamentals, electricity is a luxury, fire would be there at the dining room where everyone would assemble at the end of the day. It is this place where you get to talk about anything and everything under the sun.

All of us with Daniel & Charlotte

I don't even have a count of different countries from where trekkers would come to Nepal. What we missed during the last trip was interaction with such a diverse group, you get to learn so much with so less efforts & so many misconceptions are done away with. I met a girl from Russia, who was working to become some sort of Water body researcher, an adventure photographer from US who was planning to rush home soon as his wife was about to deliver, an elderly couple from Australia who would give us a run for our money in stamina & strength, our almost co-traveller Daniel from US who was teaching in Korea & Charlotte from Denmark who just completed her High school & was on a break for a year. And these are just a few names as there were so many more.
We decided to stay put at a Lodge with TV, as it was WC finals India Vs Sri-lanka. We saw the match & celebrated till late with some locals & a couple of guys from Scotland who didn't even knew what Cricket was before this match.


Day 2- Slightly challenging task of climbing up to Namche bazaar was waiting in front of us. And the surrounding started to change from green to a combination of brown & grey. Now these are dull colors, but they give lot of mental peace & makes you forget all about your daily routine life. Second part of the day is very difficult as the climb is steep & tiresome. So we managed pretty well till lunch, we passed quite a few trekkers greeting them happily, walking at a fast pace, all was good till it was flat walking or downhill walk. The day is to be remembered for the post lunch part of the trek, which made us realize that we are not just in for visual treats but also for some physical exertion. And after reaching Namche bazaar, we treated ourselves with Pizzas at the lodge. While on the way we were passed easily by the Australian couple who were friendly, they didn't start trekking from Lukla like us, they walked down till Lukla, which though beautiful is time taking & difficult.


Day 3- It was to be one of the best day of our journey, we were to have an acclimatisation day with a walk to the top of the hill. The trail passes through a helipad also & it leads to a lodge at the top of the hill. We knew it all as last time we did the same thing. But to our surprise it started snowing, and we were just 3 days into the trek. Even though it makes walking difficult & sighting even more difficult, snowfall is mighty fun. Wind was blowing in a way that snow was coming directly into our faces, and hence you cant even keep your eyes open. Still we were having a great time, and after reaching to the lodge there was a satisfactory smile on everybody's face.


Snow effect above the Helipad @ Namche Bazaar


And at the lodge I had a great masala tea & jap tried a masala coffee (making him the 1st person in the world to think of that combination). And then after reaching back to namche bazaar we celebrated supro's b'day at the same cafe where 3 years back me and jap got the cake for supro. Interestingly we noticed now the same cafe was offering b'day cakes at 30 mins notice period, 3 yrs back we had to just haggle for more than 30 mins to get the chef to bake a cake.

Ama Dablam, one of the most beautiful peaks

Day 4- We started on the way to Tengboche and the views started to get better. Mt. Everest was visible for a while, but we had clear views of Ama dablam, most beautiful peak on the way. Color wise it was a combination of white, grey & brown. Also we found an Indian, Pankaj, covering EBC all by himself. Don't remember anything else about the day apart from amazing views & also pain which I encountered post twisting my ankle. After reaching we went to Tengboche monastery. Took some medicine from pankaj for pain.

Monastery

We prayed for a while and post that we went for a random walk while it was snowing, following the 'walk high sleep low' principle. It was snowing heavily with lots of wind and there was not much of path . But it was fun for sure. After spending a long time out there we returned with the idea of spending time at the German cafe where I fell ill last time I was in Nepal, for some reason it was closed. But we didn't lose hope & went for walk in another direction reliving old memories.

beautiful trail..

Day 5- Walk towards Dingboche, extremely tiring walk, with lot of uphill climb. The only solace was that the views were getting better, especially of Ama dablam. Ama dablam means mother's necklace, and the name is given for two reasons, 1st the long ridges on both sides of the peak looks like protective arms of a mother & 2nd the glacier which hangs from the peak looks like a pendant. Till now we weren't feeling any altitude related issues, but I had already twisted left ankle twice, so I was putting more pressure on the right knee. But it was a good day to walk, sun was out, it wasn't that windy and no snow. So with reduced number of layers of clothes, we completed the day's task and reached dingboche, and as soon as we reached it started getting all misty. Only jap & daniel had some energy as they went for a walk following the 'high-low' principle (walk high & sleep low) & came back after playing a game of snooker at the altitude of 4410 mts. Next day we were suppose to proceed towards chukkung & hence it was the last day with daniel & charlotte, we they were to continue for Everest Base Camp. We did what we always used to do after reaching the lodge, played lots of 29 & shithead. And then wished each other well for the journey ahead.



Ama dablam



Day 6- Something happened to us and we decided that we needed to finish it quickly. Don't know whether it was excitement of starting the training for climbing or need of more rest, but we ended up reaching chukkung very fast. Chukkung is at the height of 4750 mts, hence its not much of altitude gain. But the path is flat and long, and by this time my right knee also started troubling me. Supro was having headaches. But the major part of the day was spent looking towards our right side, where the peaks were visible. Also the Island peak views got really better till the weather was good. It seemed as if Ama dablam was right in front of us, breathtaking beauty it was.

Post reaching all we could do was rest, with bad headache & unending tiredness we couldn't have done anything else. And from this moment onwards my appetite went for a toss, in fact I started getting nauseated by food or even the smell of it. So I went into liquid diet, supro was anyways suffering from headaches.

Andy giving us lessons on climbing

Day 7- The day when we were suppose to go for rock climbing. We were extremely excited, our guide lalu went down and even he was not feeling well and his place was taken by andy. He would be our climbing guide and would accompany us for the summit. We went for a little walk post which he set up a training exercise & explained all about the equipment which were to be used. All of us took a liking to it, and enjoyed ourselves.Also since it was a short day we had plenty of rest as well, but even that didn't do any good to supro's headache or my appetite.

On the way to Ice wall 

Day 8- Most eventful day came when we were to learn ice climbing which would be used to climb the 100 mts 'wall', before summit point. We realized soon that it was gonna be a bad day. Our guide asked us to use plastic boots and reach a frozen ice-wall, where we would practice climbing. The equipments like ice axe, harness etc were also carried by us. And not only it was a long walk, but also it was full of snow and ice. And we climbed a great deal.

Ice climbing

Now walking on ice and snow is difficult even with trek boots, but with plastic boots it becomes horrible. During uphill climbs we would keep slipping. And during downhill walks we wouldn't be sure of our footing. It was painful even on the plains. Supro gave up soon & decided to stop at midpoint. And since the paths on the mountain are so unclear, in fact even our guide needed marks to reach the point and used the same to reach the lodge, that he had to wait at the same point till we came back post the training. After lots of difficulties we reached the practice ice wall, ND set up the equipments. We started giving the practice wall a go. With your hands full with two ice axes & feet covered with plastic boots, climbing the wall which was perpendicular, wasn't easy. Jap went almost till the end of the wall, while i could reach till mid point only.

Andy making Wai-wai noodles

After giving satisfactory number of attempts, we call it quits & andy started preparing lunch for us there. Yes at an altitude of 5000+ mts he made wai-wai noodles for us & also gave mars bar, fruits etc. Even with my f**ed up appetite I finished the noodles, as it took lot of efforts on andy's part to take all the equipment at that altitude & cook for us. We reached back in record time though as andy provoked us by saying we would take at least 4 hours to reach back, proved him wrong and reached back in little over 2 hrs.


Day 9- It was an acclimatisation day, according to itinerary we were to climb till chukkung ri. Supro had decided he would be resting the entire day. Jap & I both started towards the path but after walking for a bit & clicking some good pictures returned back to take some more rest. We spend the day talking with strangers who arrived at chukkung, sharing their experiences & narrating ours. We met a Gujarati married to a Chinese lady & staying at Africa/Dubai, base in Dubai & work in Africa. It was fun meeting this couple & knowing about different places from them as between them they had almost covered the entire globe. Next day was the day when we were to start by afternoon for the journey to base camp & head to Island peak at mid night from there. Because of health issues both me & Supro could not complete our summit, as he was not feeling well & by the time of summit I was not having any appetite & nausea was troubling me big time. Jap completed the Summit, though he took loads of time keeping us waiting.

Personally I managed to enjoy these 9 days due to a combination of awesome music from my N8, great book by Jasper fforde 'The eyre affair', playing 29 or shithead or briskcola with co-trekkers (teaching 29 to all & learning the other two in return), some contemplation & last and most important bakar with strangers.



Awesome color combination, white-silver & green

 Downhill walk- Its much easy to walk down, as you know that the effort would be less & also effects of altitude also keeps reducing. So we started to cover the distance as quickly as possible, on the way down we had a fair share of fun as well. Though same cannot be said about Supro, as he twisted his ankles couple of time while getting down from Chukkung. But Jap & me had a blast, we played Snooker & had seabuckthorn juice at Pangboche. I crossed a board with "Khunde Hospital" mentioned on it, it brought back so many memories. Way back was also much beautiful due to constant snowing, giving the place a completely different look. We would sleep late & wake up early just to spend more time out in the open. The time of parting was fast approaching and we were doing our best to enjoy as much as possible.

On a parallel track was our banter with all cricket playing nation, especially Australians. None of them were spared, as we ensured that they relived the humiliation received by Indian cricket team. Luckily we met a Sri-lankan group on the way to Namche Bazaar where both of our groups had lunch. They all took it in good spirits like the Australians we met & yet again the World cup provided us with an opportunity to share laughter with our fellow trekkers. At Namche bazaar we partied & heard loud music after decent time. Its such a lively town, I doubt there is a better town in world at the given height, at least I can't think of one.

Namche @ night

Walk from Namche bazaar to Lukla was extremely emotional for me, not only did I relive the experience but also I realized first hand the efforts put in by the set of guys who covered it in one night. I ensured we did the same this time, though we cover the distance during day time. And it was beautiful as the dull white & grey gives way to blue & green in this scenic route. All these things were lost on us last time due to obvious reasons, but this time we enjoyed it to the max. We also kept our promise of treating the staff of the lodge at Phakding with chang (Rice beer) as we stopped there for lunch.

Bidya, lalu & all of us

We reached Lukla & treated Bidya to food & alcohol, as he was to leave from Lukla for his village. We had an awesome meal at the same lodge along with toomba (millet liquor) with Bidya opting for Beer. Stayed up till late night chatting with Bidya, Lalu, lady of the lodge. It was a day & evening well spent as the time to say goodbye to mountains had come. We met the Australian elderly couple again here as they took the same flight. After catching up on each other we started discussing other good options for trek. It took us to various places & we wished each other luck & loads of traveling.

KFF- My first encounter with a film festival...

Having read so many blogs about cine-lovers visiting film festivals & writing about some really great movies, great hospitality, representation of various countries, interaction with cast & crew, in summary a true celebration of cinema, I was looking forward to the 18th edition of KFF (Kolkata international film festival). I wanted to enjoy the experience, meet some like minded cinema lovers, watch some great movies (known & unknown) from across the globe & celebrate cinema.

Day 1, we reached the venue about an hour before the movie we came to watch starts in order to figure out the process for watching movies, whether tickets are to be bought or passes have to be made. As soon as we reached we saw people just entering the hall, and without thinking we followed suit. Nandan has three screens & we decided to grace Hall 1 which was playing "Memories of the melancholy whores", since we entered only for last 30-40 minutes we could not relate to anything that was shown. Also I didn't like the fact that people were taking calls, talking amongst each other, etc, I always hate such stuff when I am watching a movie. But at the end everyone clapped & the movie got a standing ovation. Though I didn't share the sentiment, as I couldn't see the whole movie, I like the appreciative bit about the audience. Everyone was made to leave post that & asked to re-enter in case they wanted to watch the next movie, which is supposedly the biggest draw in Indian movies. Movie was Ashim Ahluwalia's "Miss Lovely", which has been making right noises across film festivals. As expected there were quite a few people trying to get in, we stood in the queue but realized everyone had a pass except us. And in Nandan you cannot enter using contributory passes, hence the only way we could enter was to get passes from someone else or somehow convince the guys manning the entrance & checking tickets. Of course we could have waited and entered half way into the movie just like the previous one, but I wanted to watch the movie from the beginning. So convincing didn't work as gate pass was asked for vehemently and sentiments of a cinema lover didn't count for anything. We started asking strangers for pass, as expected it didn't happen soon. After a few really bad & a few funny reaction we found a group of guys carrying camera & looking disappointed, we found out that they were denied the permission to enter as they had a camera. One of them was a director of a short movie, which was shown earlier in the day. They were kind enough to give us their passes. We entered 15 minutes late, using a pass which had a different picture & a different name. Cast was interesting, so was the plot. It was less of a movie, which is more of a documentary, about the B-grade sex-horror movies which were being made post 1980s. Niharika singh did a nice job, so did Nawaz & all the other actors. Now for me it was not a great movie, but the setting, performances, manner in which the industry was shown, made it an enjoyable experience. And this time when they all clapped, I joined.

Day 3, Next on the agenda was "Calm at Sea",a french movie giving an account of initiation of resistance in Nazi occupied France, during World War II. Now out of all movies about WW II my pick would be "The boy in the striped pajamas", the reason for that would be it communicates with viewers in a subtle manner. Simple plot with a story line, which although strong does affect & capture imagination of audience by the end of the movie. Something similar was the treatment of "Calm at Sea", very matter-of-fact-ish representation of an actual historic event, it wasn't dramatic or over-the-top. Performances were good & overall it was a good experience. I had gone in with zero expectations with the movie but came out more than satisfied.The movie was about how Nazis decided to kill 150 hostages, when one officer was shot by french revolutionists & that becomes the turning point in otherwise almost non-existent resistance in France. Out of those 150, there are quite a few young, non-political, harmless hostages but since the numbers had to be completed they are all ordered to be killed. The movie, sort of pays homage to all those unsung heroes who died for no fault of theirs. 

Day 4, Next I wanted to watch 'Hemel', I had to run from my office to the theatre in order to be on time. My friends were there with the tickets, I just had to reach on time. After standing in queue for a decent time when we were just about to enter the hall, I was asked to put my laptop away. Now camera not being allowed inside the screening area is understandable, but people having issues with laptop was beyond me. Also they had no arrangement to keep laptop & they were rude. I wanted to watch the movie & the only solution they could offer was to meet with the CEO of KFF & ask him to help us. So we went to the CEO's office which was about 200-300 mts away. And again our experience here was sad, no one had a solution. After I blasted one of the guys there, I was told that I can keep my laptop at the locker at Nandan, but it was already 30 mins into the movie & I was not in a mood to appreciate anything good by then. On our way out we saw the CEO, who was acting busy inside his office, standing down waiting for someone or something. I went up to him to give feedback regarding behavior of his staff & random rules (which was not even communicated at ticket counter or printed on tickets) but I realized he wasn't keen on hearing. It was a bad experience, even worse than watching 20% of "Maan gaye mughal-e-azam" a benchmark which hasn't been improved for a long-long time. With new benchmarks, we went for dinner, cursing the CEO & his team. No one was even trying to help people, as we weren't the only ones & everyone left with a bad taste.

Even though I had decided not to participate any more, on last day I felt like I should have a decent last memory of my first film festival. And there was a movie I wanted to watch which had a show at a different theatre, EZCC at salt lake. The movie was "A Separation" by Asghar Farhadi, the movie had won plenty of awards including Best Foreign Language Film at Academy. So with a decent level of expectation we went for the movie & the movie delivered big time on our expectation. A story playing on human emotions, relationships, right & wrong, ethics, ego, and so many other subtle layers. Amazing story telling by Irani director, and all the actors gave top notch performances. Movie was about a couple on the verge of getting a divorce, were wife wants to travel away from Iran for a better future of their daughter & husband wants to stay back in Iran to look after his father who has Alzheimer's. They do not communicate properly between each other & daughter is suffering because of this. Their are plenty of characters which ensures the movie moves forward & get on track to an end which is almost like the best thing possible for the movie. Backdrop of Iran & divide that exist between classes was shown nicely in the movie. It is one of those movies which has characters with different shades of grey, there is no right or wrong here. Viewers would be able to sympathize with every character & it's the mastery of director that even after plenty of significant events & blame game's no one would be able to judge any of the characters.Recommended for one and all, it is one of those movies which should appeal to everyone.

If I have to summarize my experience with the Film festival, I strongly feel that it should be conducted in a more viewer-friendly manner, which was missing big time in case of KFF. But one positive was that the selection of movies was pretty good, I could have seen many more, but the incident with 'CEO & his team' prevented that from happening. Unless a film festival is conducted as a celebration of cinema & has elements of festivities, it should not be considered successful. But because of the movies I saw, I would never miss an opportunity to attend any film festival in future, though this time I would be careful about what I carry because for all I know the CEO of Kolkata FF would still be there years from now :)

Movies & ROI!!!

Mixing movies & the concept of ROI may make it seem like it talks about financial part of the movie-making, but that's not relevant here. What's relevant for the post is the set of movies which one starts watching with low expectation & stays glued on till the end. Also by the time the movie ends, viewer is so involved & attached that he doesn't want to leave the movie. Initially I felt that most important thing working for such movies is that they come with zero expectation, so even if they are good the ROI for viewer is extremely high. But then by that logic ROI should not remain same at the time of repeat watch, but by personal experience I can say that most of the below mentioned movies would work on repeat watch, or may be I have selected movies which also work on repeat watch. Also most of the movies mentioned below are based on radical ideas, ideas which would not hit you on their own, but once someone help plant the seed in your head it becomes difficult to take it off.

By no means is this an exhaustive list or every movie mentioned below would work for everyone, but these are top-of-mind when I was thinking about high ROI movies. Will try and avoid spoilers to the best of my abilities.

• Aakrosh- Currently there are three movies with this name, but let me tell you one thing there is no way in the world anyone can believe the recent namesake of this 1980 movie can make it to any decent movie-list. The movie is first directorial venture of Govind Nihlani, with a script written by Vijay Tendulkar & Who's who of parallel cinema at that point of time. I mean when you see the star cast comprising of Naseeruddin Shah, Om puri, Smita patil , Amrish puri, etc, by no means can you let go of the opportunity to watch the movie. So I was channel surfing late night and by mistake it went to one of the doordarshan channels, opening credits were rolling & I got slightly interested but I was sleepy as well. And for the next 2 hours plus I didn't move, it was way beyond mid-night when the movie ended without justice being served, without a 'they lived happily ever after' ending, with all the lead character struggling with helplessness, with the 'hero' accepting the fact that good will not triumph over bad. I was mesmerised & wanted to watch more of the futile struggle that was to be faced by the lead actors, but director knew better. Its a simple story which has been retold hundred of times in various different types of cinema, a man belonging to backward caste faces trial for his wife's murder & a young lawyer tries to defend him post which the plot gets complex & there are characters with shades of grey. Om puri as a wronged man, who is silent for most of the movie is awesome. Naser as an ideal & vulnerable lawyer, has the meatiest role in the movie & he delivers big time. Amrish puri, one of the most under-rated actor of Indian cinema, gives a subtle & powerful performance. Smita patil looks beautiful & delivers a really strong performance. I can go on & on, but the crux is its a must watch movie for the performances & script, which was dealt with perfectly by the first time director.

• The man from earth- At many a times I open IMDB, look for a movie & then using some link I keep exploring more & more. Came across the movie during one of my hurricane IMDB sessions, and at the onset it looks like the simplest of movies with a plot which can be mistaken for single act of a play. The entire movie is set in a house where 7 teachers (and one student) have gotten together to wish goodbye to one of their own. They all want to know the reason behind the sudden movement & all the secrecy around it, as the details of his new whereabouts & future plans are not shared with them. Then "The Man" starts talking, making viewers wish that he would never stop. So in a room they talk & talk till it is about time for the guy to move. Plot would not sound that interesting to anyone, but believe me once you start watching this awesome movie, there is no way you would not like it. Its a one of its kind script where concept like God, beginning of life, essence of life, mortality, etc is discussed, which usually everyone would find boring & preachy. But the treatment is so unique & fresh that you not only take in every word said, but also left begging for more. Seven professors who are expert of their own respective field discuss & debate amongst themselves with an idea so radical that its almost crazy. Awesome performance by all & sundry, but the biggest thing in this movie is script. I have recommended the movie to plenty of friends, post watching invariably we would have long discussion on the movie. It is that kind of a movie, which makes you think & debate.

• I am a Cyborg, but that's OK- Not often would you come across a movie title that has so many words. But before you start judging, I would add that its the English name for a South-Korean movie. Chan Wook Park has written & directed this movie, which hasn't been appreciated by his regular fan base for some reason which is beyond me. Yes he did direct the Vengeance Trilogy, for the uninitiated old boy being one of the three movies, & he directed 'Thirst', 'The Good, the bad & the ugly', etc. And IACBTO is the closest he got to a love story, but what a story it turns out to be. A movie set in a mental asylum, where the female lead thinks that she is a fighter cyborg (her granny thought that she was a mouse), the male lead thinks that he is a soul stealer & tries to help the girl when she was on the verge of being really ill. The idea of sanity with the background of insanity & good with the background of indifference, works really well. Very few characters, very simple plot, great acting & awesome direction makes this movie what it is. In most of the movie the girl is hallucinating about killing people & being a real fighter cyborg, but in the end she imagine herself to be happily living with the guy, at the asylum. Now this isn't one of those movies which will make you feel extremely happy or will make your head spin with its radical, out of the world, concept, its a simple feel good movie which grows on you.

• Defendor- Saw 'Natural born killers', was extremely impressed with Woody harrelson, though I knew that movie would be good as the script was written by Tarantino. Hence did some IMDB on Woody & landed on this movie. Wasn't expecting anything from this one & got pleasantly surprised. I mean I did enjoy plenty of superhero movies, but I haven't till then seen a movie which does belong to superhero genre, but is anything but your typical superhero movie. Talking about the movie would not be fair, so rather I would talk about the actor. Woody harrelson still does mostly bits & pieces roles, but once in a while he gets to deliver a sublime performance like in Defendor, NBK,The messenger, etc (Yet to watch larry flynt), where he just bites into the character & does not let go. Here he plays a guy who thinks he is a superhero & believes he need not have superpower to be a superhero. He is shown to interact a lot with his psychiatrist, which help viewers to get his perspective & plenty of relevant question are asked & answered. Its a believable, feel good movie, which has humour, action, emotions in right proportions. And it is full of great performances & with a different story. So combination of all the things mentioned makes it a must watch.

• Let me in- I had just seen a few vampire movies which treats the subject differently, namely Daybreakers, Thirst (South korean movie, directed by CWP & lead role by KHS). So was IMDBing the genre & came across a European movie named "Let the right one in". It had a different plot & it had received good reviews across. Also read somewhere that there is an English movie called "let me in", which is remake & is not as good as the original. Randomly decided to watch the movie & was not prepared to see some really Young actors acting in the manner they did. The kids pair shares a great chemistry & was repeated in 'Hugo'. Chloe moretz as a vampire is simply mind blowing. Even long after movie the lines were playing on repeat in my head 'eat some now, keep some for later'. Remakes of bad movies do not have to deal with comparisons with great movies & high benchmarking, hence I have always felt that it is difficult to remake a successful movie. So I felt director did a pretty decent job & the more spoken about Chloe moretz, lesser it is.

• Kick-Ass- Chloe moretz saga continues, saw a few movies of her & loved what I saw. But still nothing prepared me for the awesomeness that was 'Kick-Ass'. This was a movie which was again very different from usual super-hero movie. I am not a big fan of Nicolas Cage, but Mark Strong again reposed my faith in the movie. Director was also of reputation as I had seen quite a few of his previous movies, but still I was pleasantly surprised by the movie & got a great ROI on my viewing experience. It was the one of the best movies which I have ever seen, because Mr Vaughn did an awesome job, Mark strong was good as always, Nicolas cage gave a subtle performance, the entire cast was awesome but most importantly it was because of Hit-girl & the music, that you can't stop thinking about the movie for a long time. And the repeat value is so high, I have already seen the movie about 5 times & every single time it provides awesome entertainment value, great ROI on time spent.

• Before the devil knows you are dead- Yes the movie had Sidney Lumet for director, Phillip Seymour hoffman & Ethan Hawke as actors, so saying that expectation was not there would be completely incorrect. But they are all guys who are reliable, but great stuff from them comes few & far in between. So this movie was also seen with a limited expectation, it never generated the buzz it should have for whatever reasons. But it was an awesome movie, it was dark, serious, didn't have an happy ending. Characters were struggling with each other, they all faced some unrest. But typically very few movies with such element would be qualified as great movies, though you would have quite a few good ones. According to me this one does qualify for the list of great ones. This is a movie where two brothers plan to rob their parents store, thinking "Nobody gets hurt, everybody wins". Any body's guess as to how things go on from there. Hoffman here is the real treat to watch & Marisa tomie looks amazing, adding to the beauty quotient of the movie.

• Hot Fuzz- This is the movie which made me aware of the genius that is Simon Pegg and what an experience it was. The pegg-frost chemistry, the British understated humor which they bring on the table, awesome imagination which is visible in their work, weird characters which is always there in their movies, etc was all introduced to me by this movie. It also introduced me to the world of Edgar wright, who is a quintessential British director. I have since been following whatever work is done by all the involved guys & have seldom been disappointed. To think of it, they might have done better work with some other projects, but since the objective of this post was to consider ROI hence "Hot Fuzz" is mentioned in the post. Its a movie about two cops who are as different from each other as possible and they realize that things are not as they seem in their town. Simon pegg is such an under-rated creatively gifted guy, who is multifaceted and can pull off quite a few things. Movie would not be loved by everybody, so mostly you would either not like it or love it.

• Perfume- A story of a murderer- This movie was there in my hard-disk for ages, didn't knew much about it, had no idea about it, title felt like it would be a thriller so decided to give it a go. This movie has Alan rickman & Dustin hoffman, for stars & they perform wonderfully well. But the real star of the movie is a relatively unknown actor Ben whishaw, he delivers much above the expectation in an extremely unconventional role. Whoever has seen this movie, found it gory & dark. But somehow I never found the movie gory, its dark for sure but not gory as the actor portrays the role with so much innocence that you could actually end up sympathize with a serial killer. The movie (based on a book) is about a boy who was born in a fish market, with an excellent sense of smell. He uses that skill to impress a perfume maker & get a job at his shop. From there how the story evolves and goes into a really dark place. Would not divulge any details, but the ideas are amazing & unimaginable. The climax is one of the better ones that I have seen. Again an extremely under-rated movie & a must watch. 

There would be so many more which can be safely added to this post, but than completion of this post would become an impossible task. So would end the list at this, in no way am I saying this is the all time best movie list or whether they follow a particular order, its just that they gave me much more than I expected & are more than good movies. As an after thought I realised that all of them had awesome music (background score) to enhance the effect on viewers, which according to me is critical & at times the only difference between good movies & great movies.