#7 I’ve Been Going Through Something
These are the first words we hear from Kendrick Lamar on his latest album ‘Mr. Morale and The Big Steppers.’
When we spoke a few weeks ago, the album was releasing the next day, and cut to right now, the hype hasn’t really died down.
That’s how dense this album is. People are calling it the rapper’s ‘most personal yet least consistent’ work yet.
Should you listen to it though? Is it really worth your time?
You’ll have to wait for episode 45 on my podcast ‘That’s What Shree Said’ to know more about that. Give the show a quick ‘Follow’ so that you know when this episode hits. It’s gonna be a fun one.
Until then, let’s go through today’s newsletter...
Imagine Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows shot with a shoddy Percy Jackson aesthetic starring a 39-year old Ranbir Kapoor. Imagine Amitabh Bachchan in a millennial hairdo doing yet another voiceover. Imagine the extremely talented Alia Bhatt playing Ranbir’s muse.
Imagine utter chaos and nonsense.
Now you're getting a sense of the official trailer of Brahmastra, part of the ‘Astraverse' (which sounds like a bootleg Nike sneaker line by Travis Scott?)
I don’t blame director Ayan Mukerji for doing this though. After directing two highly successful films, Dharma Productions gave the man a lot of moolah to play with. And now he’s splurging it all on a film trilogy that’s likely to become cringe fodder for generations to come.
As one of my friends rightly mentioned, “This is what happens when you don’t have any more Sids to wake up.”
True that.
2. Ghode Ko Jalebi Khilane Le Ja Riya Hoon ??
Every once in a while, there’s an Indian indie film that manages to break through the shackles of indie cinema.
Directed by theatre stalwart Anamika Haksar, the film is set in Shahjahanabad, Old Delhi, and chronicles the lives of four residents in the area: a pickpocket, a kachori seller, a labour-activist and a tour guide. The film uses documentary vignettes, dream sequences and staged scenes to capture the lives of people on the streets in the area.
领英推荐
Premiered at Sundance 2019, the film had to sit out for three years because it couldn’t find any distributors!
If it’s still running at a cinema hall near you, I’d recommend you to catch it before it goes.
3. Adidas Originals x Ravi Restaurant ??
Restaurants are more than just places to eat and drink. They’re the fulcrum of conversations, where communities thrive and culture is created.
These lines were embedded into my psyche while I was working as a content strategist at SOCIAL, perhaps India’s most iconic cafe/bar chain.
In Dubai though, adidas Originals launched the ‘SUPERSTAR RAVI’ sneaker, in collaboration with Ravi Restaurant, which has become one of those iconic places that some people are say overrated just to sound cool.
Covering 11 restaurants in 11 cities, the series by Adidas Originals presents 11 culinary inspired silhouettes, all driven by the mantra – authentic food, real people, fresh sneakers.
Excited to see what’s next! Which Indian city/restaurant should get their own line?
This Is A Great Song (TIAGS)
Conclusion
The title of this newsletter wasn’t just Kendrick clickbait, by the way.
I’ve had a couple of intense weeks of travelling through Delhi and Chennai. Currently, I’m cooling down in Calcutta, before relocating to Bangalore very soon.
In other news, I just got done with my GrowthX program, where we ended up in the Top 4, after battling it out with 11 other teams.
When you realise you’ve been going through something, you’re acknowledging that things aren’t the same. You realise that you have to keep working on yourself, but never be too harsh on yourself. You realise that it gets better.
And that’s growth.
See you soon enough,
Shreevar