Ramblings of a 20something girl

You thought I wouldn't watch a series related to Pride and Prejudice?  Hah. The joke's on you. :) The newest BBC series in town,  The Other Bennet Sister, is an adaptation of the book by the same name, authored by Janice Hadlow, that retells the story of, well, the Other Bennet sister — in this case, Mary Bennet.  A ten-part adaptation by Sarah Quintrell, it follows the life of Mary Bennet.  If you've read Pride and Prejudice , or watched the BBC series (1995), the movie (2005), or the hundreds of spinoffs and modern-day adaptations of the genius novel that Jane Austen gave the world, you'll know about Mary Bennet. If you are, in fact, living under a rock and don't know about her, then read on.  Mary Bennet is the middle sister between Jane and Elizabeth at one end, and Kitty and Lydia at the other. Born at a time when women had practically no rights and no inheritance of their own, their main purpose was to secure a wealthy husband. If he were handsome, that w...

A Real Pain is a movie that had been on my to-watch list for the longest time. I just finished it, and I loved it!  Read on to know more about it. A Real Pain  is a comedy-drama that follows two cousins. Mismatched in temperament and character, they reunite to go to Poland for a heritage tour to honour their late grandmother, a Polish Holocaust refugee. The cousins, played by the ever-talented Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin (who also  won Best Supporting Actor at the 2025 Oscars, as if it were any surprise), are funny, different from each other,  and trying to reconnect (a reunion that takes them across the Atlantic).  Written and directed by Jesse Eisenberg in his second directorial effort, the film also stars Will Sharpe, Jennifer Grey, Kurt Egyiawan, Lizy Sadovy, and Daniel Oreskes as the supporting cast. I haven't watched Eisenberg's first directorial effort, so I wasn't sure what to expect. But he really shines both on and off the camera in this one....

While surfing Netflix a few weeks ago, I decided to watch something new and chanced upon The Four Seasons . I saw the trailer featuring Steve Carell, Tina Fey, and a group of friends enjoying life, and I was sold!  Created by the ever-brilliant Tina Fey, along with Lang Fisher and Tracey Wigfield, The Four Seasons is an eight-part series adapted from the 1981 film of the same name. Alan Alda, who wrote and directed the 1981 film, also has a guest role in this series.  The ensemble cast boasts several fine actors, including Steve Carell, Tina Fey, Will Forte, Colman Domingo, Kerri Kenney-Silver, Marco Calvani, and Erika Henningsen. The series follows the lives of three couples who are best friends and take vacations together each season. The series follows them through each vacation, from Spring to Winter. Out of the six individuals, some met in college, while the rest (basically their spouses) became friends through marriage or work. These couples are in their forties and fif...

Note -  Spoilers Ahead Janhvi Kapoor and Sidharth Malhotra's recent film ' Param Sundari ' was caught in a social media storm even before its release. The trailer, which showed a glimpse of what the movie was going to be about, had many Malayalis ready to fight with them.  Compelled to see for myself what the issue was, I booked a ticket to watch it—a decision I would come to deeply regret later. Directed by Tushar Jalota and produced by Maddock Films, the movie stars Sidharth Malhotra, Janhvi Kapoor, Sanjay Kapoor, Manjot Singh, Renji Panicker, and Tanvi Ram, among others.  The story of Param Sundari is as simple as it gets. It follows the life of a rich guy, played by the ever-dashing, gym-bodied, easy-on-the-eyes Sidharth Malhotra as Param. Living off his father's money, he essentially plays the part of an Angel Investor (with his father's money, of course) and tries to support startups in need of funding.  A new company with its app, 'Find Your Soulmate...

Life imitates art far more than art imitates life.  This quote from an essay by Oscar Wilde went through my mind when I saw an article in the newspaper (mentioned below) after watching the movie  Sthanarthi Sreekuttan.  . Sthanaarthi Sreekuttan is a Malayalam movie directed by Vinesh Viswanath in his debut, starring Aju Varghese, Saiju Kurup, Kannan Nayar, Anand Manmadhan, and Johny Antony, among others. The film follows the story of 7th-grade students at   K.R. Narayanan U.P. School in Kerala.  Sreekuttan (our hero), along with his best friends  Sharat, Anoop, and Anas, are the backbenchers of the class; t hey don't like to study (like every other kid), and would rather be out playing cricket or pulling pranks and inevitably getting into trouble. There is a constant struggle between this group and the good kids in the class, with whom they are always compared by the teachers. The most studious one, Ambadi, is their direct competition.  The main ...

It's July of 2025, and it's time for my annual review of movies I watched last year. The movies released last year were extremely interesting. No points for guessing which Indian film industry shone through last year ( hint: it's not the Hindi film industry :p) Honestly, there were so many good movies I watched last year, it took me a lot of effort to pick just a few for this list due to space constraints. Anyway, if you don't find your favorite movie here, don't fret. I might have watched it, or I will in 10 years :p  Now that it's here, read on!  Malayalam Of course, I will start with the Malayalam film industry (it's my bias, I know). The Malayalam film industry went through an absolute whirlwind last year, with its back-to-back record-breaking successes. Were there bad movies too? Oh, absolutely! But here's my list of movies that made me laugh, cry, and go through all sorts of emotions!  1. Premalu    I didn't like this film (JK!). It's a mo...