Rules of Engagement

To shoot at more than 300 civilians, many of whom armed and actively firing at you, or to go on the defensive, get mobbed, and die a un-soldierly death along with your fellow marines whom you command is the predicament Colonel Childers, the main protagonist of the movie, faces when he orders his men to “waste those Mother F***ers (referring to the armed Yemeni civilians)” atop the US embassy building in Yemen. Although a fictitious typical military courtroom drama on the lines of J.A.G and not too that well received by the critic brethren, more because of the racist portrayal of the Arabs, I have always liked this movie. I feel a lot of soldiers; especially in the current theatre of urban warfare often go through this catch 22 situation. Be it the US marines in Iraq, empathizing only with the soldier on the ground and not with his bosses who made the Iraq decision or the Indian Army in Kashmir, this dangerous predicament has always dogged them!

Either of the options is bound to spell doom for the platoon leader who is making the choice, akin to what Col. Childers played by Samuel L. Jackson goes through. Charged with the culpable homicide of 83 innocent civilians, conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman and breach of peace, accusations that could reward him punishments varying from a court martial, life imprisonment to death penalty, Childers chooses Colonel Hays Hodges, a former colleague to be his defense attorney at the J.A.G. Hodges played by Tommy Lee Jones is initially reluctant and sights his dubious stint at the JAG to cool his heels off, but finally agrees to defend him upon Childers’s adamant insistence. Childer’s reason: only a soldier can understand a fellow soldier

The rest of the movie is revolves around the courtroom drama of how Hodges successfully exonerates Childers against insurmountable odds and evidence. Albeit not of the same class, Rules of Engagement is a good one time watch for all those of us bred on the likes of A Few Good Men, Michael Clayton and JFK.

I will go with a 3/5 rating for this.

Understand the ratings :)

1/5 – “Learn from others mistakes”. I have seen it, you don’t repeat it. .

2/5 – Lend the DVD from some idiot like me who has bought it. If you don’t find an idiot buy it on the pavement in front of forum, MG road or Jayanagar or wherever you are. See it at your own risk.

3/5 – Buy the DVD from Landmark if it’s cheap. Good one time watch

4/5 – Very impressive, just buy.

5/5 – Masterpiece, treasure it.

Of course I love You...Till I find someone Better

- By Durjoy Datta & Maanvi Ahuja

The name caught my attention. A price tag of 100 bucks lured me further into what I thought was another blunder like buying “three mistakes of my life”. But, surprisingly this was not exactly a blunder.

   The book was again of the five point someone type, college genre. The two authors, who probably also play the main protagonists of the book, tell you a story about this lucky son-of-bitch called Deb and his massive never ending sex-capades with his girl friends. The plot is simple and predictable, probably because we 20-30 age group Indians probably can’t make much sense out of ‘complex’ plots which also explains why Chetan Bhagat sells so much. Oops, back to the plot. Story is about the life of Deb, this high libido mechanical engineering grad from DCE, through his last two years of engineering. The exaggerated transformation from a fat nerd to a rollicking stud with a never ending list of girl friends and making-out instances happens at the cost of almost losing his friends and career. The story reminiscences me of the many Direct to DVD Hollywood teenage love stories, where the hero toils through a series of one-night stands, stand-in girl friends and almost-love episodes until he finds the love of his life. Deb even with his mediocre looks has this enviable ‘something’ in him that females can’t resist. I thought it was a new flavor of Axe, till Vernita, a friend of Deb tells you that it’s his smooching skill that makes him stand apartJ.

    Life for Deb changes when he meets this drop dead gorgeous ex-P3P Avantika who incredibly is a virgin. When introduced to us, she is a reformed person just out of Spirit of Living (I don’t know what stopped Durjoy/Maanvi from using Art of Living) from a dubious past of crazy boy friends, drinking problems and grass addiction. Predictably she too falls for Deb and this time Deb has found his true love. A little more than half of the book is about how Deb and Avantika stick with each other in times of insipid messed up events like two-timing, getting debarred from placements and screwing up CAT that Deb gets involved in.

   At the time when all is hunky-dory between the two, making the book a boring read, the authors make a smart move that involves Avantika and her Guru from SOL. The paucity of friends in Deb’s life gets him closer to his nerd colleague at his employer BHEL, Amit. I personally liked the Amit-Deb male bonding chapters, but a girl in here too falling for Deb is highly exaggerated.

   To end with, Deb’s life comes back a full circle and he is back with his good old life, but with a few changes to it. While the book is an over-hyped tale of a Delhi boy, infact a little too much on the pervert side, I would still recommend this as it makes a good funny time pass read, ya I am used to masala movies of Bollywood and ofcourse Chetan Bhagat. Most of us can definitely relate to one or the other characters in the book, if not characters some instances at least. Our lives are all messed up and this book is an over-hyped mirror to it.

   I will go with a 3/5 rating for this.

Understand the ratings :)

 1/5 – “Learn from others mistakes”. I have read it, you don’t repeat it. In short DON’T READ.

 2/5 – Lend it from some idiot like me who has bought it. If you don’t find an idiot buy it on the pavement in front of forum, MG road or Jayanagar or wherever you are. Read it at your own risk.

 3/5 – Buy the book from Landmark if it’s cheap. Good Read

 4/5 – Thought-provoking, just buy.

 5/5 – Masterpiece, treasure it. 

Current Read: The White Tiger