Review of Michael Winterbottom's Trishna trailer

Trishna is Michael Winterbottom's latest cinematic offering and his third film adaptation of a Thomas Hardy novel, Tess of the d'Urbervilles. Trishna stars Freida Pinto and Riz Ahmed with original music by Amit Trivedi, and is set in contemporary Rajasthan.

According to Trishna's official Facebook page, "The movie tells the story of Trishna (Freida Pinto) who meets a weathly young British businessman, Jay Singh (Riz Ahmed), who has come to India to work in his father's hotel business. After an accident destroys her father's Jeep, Trishna goes to work for Jay and they fall in love. But despite their feelings for each other, they cannot escape the conflicting pressures of a rural society which is changing rapidly through industrialisation, urbanisation and, above all, education. Trishna's tragedy is that she is torn between the traditions of her family life and the dreams and ambitions that her education has given her."

The trailer for the movie is beautiful, with the music haunting you long after the trailer ends. I can’t wait to hear all the songs of the movie - hoping for another magical album by Amit Trivedi. It is also refreshing to see "modern" Rajasthan in the trailer rather than just the typical scenes of deserts, villagers and camels usually shown.

Riding high on her success in Hollywood, Freida Pinto returns to play an out and out Indian part as a young woman from Rajasthan – also a refreshing change. Of course will have to watch the movie to decide whether she embodies her Indian character as well as she does her Hollywood characters.

For more about Trishna, subscribe to the its Youtube channel, follow its Twitter account and ‘Like’ its Facebook page

Ajmer...my home

We reached the motherland when we landed in Delhi airport and continued our onward journey to Ajmer. We finally reached our final destination and it was the most joyous moment was when we reached home to be welcomed by Baby Masi and Nanisab (maternal grandmother). I feel so warm each time I see them; I love them so much. Although we were exhausted from the whole day of travelling, the excitement of being home got to us. Everyone was chatting away; spilling travel tales, bringing out the gifts. The feeling of being home was finally sinking in.

My Nani's home in Ajmer for me is my home in India. For me Ajmer is my city, I know the place and the people; it is always great to be back in Ajmer. Actually Ajmer is my mother's city; she was born and brought up there. She studied there, made her career there and was married off from there. The greatest gift she gave my sister and I was when she decided that her children would be born in this lovely city of Ajmer- Sharif.

Speaking of which, like always my family made a trip to the darga. It is such a spiritual experience going there and even more meaningful as we went there a day before Eid. The crowd and the atmosphere were amazing. We were also lucky to witness the daig being functional. The daig is a massive cooking pot in the darga and is large enough for an adult person to stand in. A kind of porridge is cooked in it to be handed out to the poor. The most amazing thing is that when the cooking is done, the people serving the food jump into the boiling porridge to scoop it out. No one ever burns; power of faith.

Other than the darga, we made our usual visit to Pushkar which is a small holly valley-town 2 hours away from Ajmer. Other than its beautiful temples and ghats, it boosts a vibrant and modern tourist market. The market caters to the tourists due to which you can find spaghetti strap tops, tube tops, ultra miniskirts, Arabian pants, hot pants and the kind being sold in ethnic prints and materials. This is quite a shock as the state of Rajasthan is a conservative state.

Being in Ajmer also means watching movies with Raju Mama and going to Mango Masala. The best part is my sister, Raju Mama and me ride on his motorcycle. Add to the bike ride the winter cold, the fun factor gets upped seriously once we're zipping around town on the bike.

Following the things Ajmer means for me and my family, we celebrated our New Year there. It was a small and simple New Year with family and my mother's best friend and her husband. We played crazy games, had a crazy dance item (by Paru, Chotu Didi and me) and had a delicious pineapple cake.

Our sumptuous New Year pineapple cake

Raju Mama and Paru

With Baby Masi, NaniSab, Geeta Masi, Chotu Didi, Paru and Mummy

Geeta Masi and my NaniSab

The daig being emptied

With Paru, Chotu Didi, Mummy and Geeta Masi in Darga

Chotu Didi, Paru and me at the Phushkar ghat

One of the ghats of Pushkar

The VISA ad set in India

I’m sure by now all of us have seen the VISA ad set in India at least once. I like that ad. Its very colourful, the music is melodious, there is Richard Gere, and of course it is set in India. I have to confess I am a sucker for all things Indian, yes even the guys.

Anyways like I was saying i really liked that ad. The simplicity and innocence of the girl is so believable. Of course Richard Gere purchasing 101 birds for the girl is a little far-fetched but still I’ll take it. Now what makes this ad even more special is that i just visited the very place where the ad was shot when i was in India in December holidays. It made it all so much cooler!

The two photos below were taken at the mentioned place, the place of Jodhpur in the state of Rajasthan, India. This was the last parting shot in the ad. I feel proud whenever I watch that ad (and I watch it very often while waiting for the MRT). It is just cool to have been to a place that has been acknowledged as mention worthy by the media. Guess it is all human psychology.