Thrill, Fun And Tears

Life without spice is boring. To instill a little drama I always veer towards fiction , movies and series. This time it is a mix of political thriller, light hearted comedy and a biopic.

Hostage

When a group of Doctors Without Borders are abducted by extremists in the French Guyana the target is the removal of Abigail Dalton, the (fictional) British Prime Minster, from the seat of power. In the midst of international summit negotiations with the French President, Mme Vivienne Toussaint, Dalton receives the news of the abduction of her husband, Dr. Anderson (one of the team of doctors held hostage). Torn between love for her husband and the determination to save her country from an acute supply of life saving drugs and other crucial issues, Dalton has to choose her priority before further devastation rocks 10 Downing Street and tears her apart from her loved ones – her kidnapped husband, her distraught daughter and her terminally ailing father.

Hostage, a web series on Netflix, is a gripping, limited episode, must watch drama.

The Wrong Paris

Dawn is a small town Texan girl living with her grandmother and two sisters. Her parents have died in a car accident. She and her siblings have been brought up by their grandmother, Birdie. One fine morning Dawn is thrilled to be informed that she has been accepted by the Art School in Paris. This has been her dream. However, being short of funds Dawn contemplates not going to Paris after all.

Seeing her sister’s predicament, Emily, Dawn’s younger sister, coaxes her to audition for a dating show called “Honeypot” which is to be held in Paris. She convinces Dawn that if she gets into the show the royalties received can help cover up her lodging and Art School expenses. An unwilling Dawn is taken by surprise when she gets accepted to participate in the show.

However, on disembarking from the plane, she is dismayed to find that she and the other participants have been tricked as the shooting of the show is to be done in The Silver Spur Ranch in Paris, Texas, a few miles away from her home in place of the actual French Capital.

The bachelor of the show is Trey McAllen III, the owner of the Ranch, whom Dawn has incidentally met earlier in a bar. She tries to influence Trey to eliminate her from the show so that she can pursue her dream with the Appearance Fee. However, fate has something else in store. Moreover, the fatal attraction between the two is what she has not taken into account in her meticulous plans.

After a tiring day if you want to have a good laugh this romantic comedy movie is the one to watch out for on Netflix.

Songs Of Paradise

Based on the musical journey of Padma Shree (one of the highest honours of the country) and Sangeet Natak Academy awardee, Raj Begum, the defining female voice of Kashmir, the paradise of India, this movie on Amazon Prime is the story of Zeba who hails from a very humble background. When Masterji, the classical maestro, hears her singing in a marriage ceremony, he inspires her to take training under him and later participate in the Music Competition held in Kashmir Radio Station. Zeba wins the competition by her soulful rendition and becomes the first female singer of the valley. Though she has to fight against many odds in a conservative society of the then Kashmir, including destruction of archival records of her entire repertoire in a fire accident, she emerges as a trailblazer for other female talents to come forward and take up a career in music and public performance. The highlight of the film is the soul stirring songs in Kashmiri language steeped in wistful serenity, rich poetry and bearing the fragrance of the captivating charm of the picturesque valley – truly the heaven on earth.