The Martian- Movie Review

Directed by- Ridley Scott

Screenplay- Drew Goddard

Starring- Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Chiwetel Ejiofor

Rating- 4/5

  If you are into movies which have no connection to reality, but still make you sit on the edge of your seat all through the movie or if you simply love sci-fi, you will definitely like Ridley Scott's The Martian.

 Based on a novel by the same name written by Andy Weir, the story revolves around Damon's character Mark Watney, an astronaut from NASA, who was on a mission on Mars when suddenly the whole team is hit by a storm and Mark gets knocked out by flying debris. Presumed dead, his team leaves to Earth without him. But guess what? He is not dead.

 Now honestly, any person who admires Matt Damon will blindly follow whatever the movie offers. But this movie has actually presented some legit instances which are closer to life and hence the audience deals with less bullshit and more with human-shit(pun intended). From 'stapling' his own wound, growing potatoes on a potentially infertile planet with his own excretion in order to make enough food that'll last him months to fixing an old probe, Mark Watney proves to be a genius botanist and an ultimate survivor.

Even though it might not be actually possible to grow things like than on Mars, the movie did not at least disappoint us with a single scene and only one person onscreen doing nothing for 2 hours. 
     

                      (a clip from gravity)

Also, seems like Damon is interested only in movies in which he has to be saved from a different planet (as also in Interstellar). But in the end, if you want a good dose of smart humor AND want to know how NASA works, this movie should be on your Top 5.

Let us know what you think about the movie in the comments below. And stay tuned for the next movie review!

-Sohini Mukherjee

The Need To 'Fit In'

   Every single day, when you walk out of your house, you see small groups clustered in random places, snickering or gossiping or I don't know what. I'm usually indifferent to such people and just head out for my work or whatever and I mostly prefer to be alone. But I wasn't so always. I too had a group of friends. We would hang out, do stuff together like shopping or going out for lunch and all. But slowly, somehow I lost the need to be in a group. 

   

    Being in a group requires a lot of effort. According to psychologists, social conformity plays a big role in shaping a person's attitude towards the world. The need to be in a group makes them turn into someone else altogether in order to 'fit in'. But do we really need to fit in? I don't know. 

       Psychologists say that it is necessary for a person to be part of a social group in order to maintain a good mental health. It is sort of an unsaid norm that we all need to abide to. Everyone is a part of a social group and they all indulge in various activities together. They have similar interests, characteristics or way of thinking. Usually, a group of like minded people is what creates a social group.  But, what if none of the people have a way of thinking like you? What if you don't find satisfaction in conversing with someone because their thoughts and your thoughts do not sync? 

  
    
    The lack of similar tastes or interests may at first sound very intriguing and might drive you to get to know the person or a group of people better. You try everything they are into and try to like something others do because you want to be with them and be a part of them. You read the books they read, watch the shows they watch, even go to the places they go to and also get to know their friends. In this whole process, somewhere and somehow you are losing who YOU really are. You maybe a tomboy but because your girlfriends are sorority queens you start wearing makeup and all your guy friends start acting weird around you. They say 'you've changed bro' and all you reply is 'don't call me bro'. 

   

This isn't you, this is what you turned into just to belong with a bunch of people who are not like you. 

     But why? Why did you burn up the original you and become someone who is a stranger even to your closest friends?   You no more like chinese take-out, you prefer tops over tshirts and hardly go out without your eyeliner and lipstick. Eventually you just become a plastic. 

     
     Instead of going through so much of pain, I suggest get to know people, know their interests and meet their friends. But don't try to become them. Don't try to do things they do just to feel accepted in the group or watch the shows they watch to be a part of the gossip. Be yourself. If they are talking about something just listen and then tell them about something you like. Show them who you are and why you are the way you are. If they like you, the real you, well and good. If they don't, no problem! Be on your own and do your own thing. Doesn't matter if few people don't like you the way you are. You weren't born to please them all. 

And....

-Sohini ❤️

   

5 times you hated being a girl and wanted to be a boy instead

No matter how many times you loved taking advantage of being a girl, there are times when you absolutely hate your gender. Sometime not being the dominant sex gets to you the way it shouldn't.  Despite numerous such self-loathing moments, these are the five times when you were completely convinced to undergo the sex change operation-

1. During periods-

Those agonizing days of every month when you become a different person including all your mood swings and food cravings. Not to mention the cramps and limited clothing choices. No, I'd rather wake up with an early morning boner everyday.

2. While running or jumping-

Apart from the better stamina, you must have wondered how it would be like to run around with the lack of two heavy weights dangling from your chest or not having to worry about your skirt flying up while jumping. I would kill to get rid of those prying eyes every time I jog(which I don't do very often).

3.  Being out late at night-

You may relate to this one if you are Indian and your parents set up a curfew time whenever you go out. Even though it is for our own good, but why do boys get to stay out late and we don't?

4. Smoking/Drinking in public-

Now if you are a girl, being judged by people around you is something you can never avoid. Especially in India, if a girl is seen smoking or drinking or peeing in public, she is considered characterless, shameless and cheap. Boys get away easily with stuff like that. We all have our needs man, come on!

 5. Special discounts at the spa-

 Okay this one is new. I just went to the parlour cum spa across the street last weekend and discovered they have special discounts in haircut, body massage and stuff for men, And NO DISCOUNT for women at all. That either means no men go to that spa or we women appear richer than them. What even -.-

Well obviously, Why should boys have all the fun?

The Seven Deadly Sins(Mini Stories)

The Seven Deadly Sins-

Mini stories for adaptation in shortfilms or etc. (Copywrited stories by Sohini Mukherjee)

Pride- pride was a young man of 20 with the perfect face, height and body. he was flawless. he spent hours in the morning to groom himself and the rest of his day was spent in self appraisal. people around him were always talking about how perfect he is. but perfection isnt forever. fate spoke up when pride met with a serious accident and was left with a permanent scars on his face and body. he wasnt perfect anymore. people stopped talking About his beauty and instead talked about how unfortunate he is.

envy- envy was a girl of 19 who was fat and not so fair. her marks in class were not impressive either. on the other hand her bestfriend was the definition of perfection. she was fair, skinny and the topper of the class. envy always whined about how life is so unfair because everyone except her has all the things she ever wanted. but envy wanted to be perfect. she tries to pick a fight with her bestfriend for no reason. but instead of pulling her reputation down envy herself becomes a victim of extreme mockery and is left heartbroken.

gluttony- gluttony was more than a healthy kid for his age. his parents were working and too busy to look after their son. gluttony would go out and instead of playing with his friends he would spend money on food. he wouldnt stop eating for the world. he ate more than he should and could until he was surfeit. at the age of 20 gluttony was said to be at the peak of obesity where he had the highest risk of a cardiac arrest. it was a life or death situation for him until he chose to undergo a surgery and had to go on a strict diet for the rest of his life.

greed- greed was a middle family girl with hardworking parents with strict moral values. but greed wasnt happy in her life. she would see her friends with iphones and expensives bags and get jealous. one dAy she met a mysterious man who offered her lots of money for a job which was anything but moral. the job was to smuggle drugs. but greed agreed to do it. until the day police caught the whole gang and greed was arrested.

lust- lust was a married man with a beautiful wife who would do anything for him. they had a sweet little family and they seemed to be happy. but the truth is lust was attracted towards other women. he would stalk his wife's friends and other random young girls on facebook and read women's magazines. he also had a girlfriend at his office. but soon his lustrous days were over. his wife found out About his extra marital affair and filed a divorce against him. Also he was fired from his job.

sloth- sloth has been lazy all her life. but little did she realise that time once gone will never come back. she wouldnt go to school for days because she wanted to sleep at home or sit and watch tv all day. she was so lazy that she wouldnt even get up to get the remote if it was too far.   but she was going to pay for her laziness soon.she has already failed once in 12th grade. She was given another chance. her finals were approaching and also the final dates for submitting the AIEEE form. her parents wanted her to be an engineer. but sloth was too lazy to be anything. on the last day of submission sloth decided to sleep a little longer. as hours passed by the last day of submission was gone. she also failed her finals. sloth had wasted one more year of her life.

wrath- wrath was the colony bully. he and his gang were feared by all the colony members because of his violent nature and foul mouth. the girls in the society were unsafe and hardly anyone went out after 7. wrath would break into people's house and beat the people or break all the furniture without a word. but soon came the end of his days. one of the colony members finally decided to report to the police. wrath was arrested along with his gang and the colony was now safer.

P.S. If you are going to use my stories in a shortfilm/ad or any kind of visual media or any other media, kindly email me at sohini.mukherjee95@yahoo.com for a written permission. 

Caged birds... When do we fly?

     Have you heard parents claiming their child has been under the influence of a bad company which altered his behavior towards them? Or their child has been doing things they strictly asked him not to, hiding from them?

But why the need to hide?

      Parents nowadays are so busy in their confined lives that their children have no other option but to go out and confide in strangers. And when something goes wrong and the situation is discovered all the blame falls upon the child's stupidity and disobedience. Have they ever, even for once, considered the lack of faith in their children? They were not available when their daughter had her first break up or their son got shamed for his cowardice. Because these things are not supposed to be their concern. They asked them to stay away from trouble. Now they won't save them.

       For years I have been one of the many troubled teens dealing with all the drama alone. Relationships, catfights, zoning out are just a few to name. My parents even blamed my lack of judgmental qualities when I was betrayed by my friends. They instead told me that they always saw it coming and had tried to warn me but I wouldn't listen. But no one is going to investigate the truth behind that, are they? 

   They tell us to stay away from people they think are not right for us. But on what basis are they judging them? Now don't tell me they know it just because they are our parents. No dude being a parent doesn't give you two ultra sensitive antenas on your head which vibrate on the sight of something harmful. (Though we should try inventing this thing okay). They do this because they personally don't like them or have heard stories of kidnapping of children after befriending strangers. They even fail to give them the benefit of doubt. Instead they tell us they have lot more experience. But having experience doesn't make you an expert in everything.

       We children(yes that's what we really are) have a weird way of working. Either confine us in or let us loose. There is not no in between. Now most parents like to do what is easier, confine us in , because that's what they're taught to do. Their parents and their parents' parents have also done the same. Its like a tradition to be followed to keep things in control. But are we in control really? I guess you already answered that.

       We go out, we meet people, we talk, we share. Some make their way into our lives which eventually makes us closer to them more than our parents. Not all of those people are our true friends though. We make mistakes sometimes and fall in trouble. Of course our parents won't live with us  forever and we have to live without them after a certain point of them. But aren't we supposed to be prepared for 
that? Then why all the restrictions? Why not instead help us deal with the situation?
The only problem is they think they have experienced it all and the best way to save us from falling is keeping us in our nests till we grow up and then kicking us out in time so that we learn how to fly. But, we are not birds. Our instincts are not so easily determined. 

   Only a bird which is caged wants to explore the outer world more than anything else. The more you try to keep it trapped, the more it will try to fly away the first chance it gets. In the same way the more restrain we face, the more we try to break free. So why restrain at all? Why not instead encourage us to explore and not only introduce us to the various dangers of life but also give the will power to face them? After all only then we learn to be wise, don't we?

I really hope my point is made clear here because I don't even remember why I started writing this. 

Later.