All that glitters ... watch out for the 'Bling Ring'!

You could dismiss ‘Bling Ring’, as an absurd story, about a bunch of ambitious, aspiring, immoral teenagers, who get their kicks out of invading the houses of the rich ‘n famous, helping themselves to cash, jewellery, clothes, trinkets, shoes .... & Sofia Coppola could have called the movie, ‘Girls & one guy, just wanna have fun!’

But then, we are informed that Coppola got her inspiration from real life events & suddenly, this documentary like movie, assumes scary dimensions, which inspires more fear, than a scary horror flick...

Post ‘Bling Ring’, a lot of parents are going to be checking in 24x7, on the whereabouts of their kids – where they once worried about the safety of their children, rave parties, drugs, reckless driving, they now need to assure themselves that their children are not breaking into celebrity homes & helping themselves to things which do not belong to them ... oh well, let’s just say it, ‘stealing’!

Visually, quite heady to get a peek-a-boo into the lives of the glitterati – Paris Hilton, Audrina Patridge, Orlando Bloom, Lindsay Lohan (like she doesn’t have enough problems of her own!) ...

The modus operandi is simple. The Bling Ring checks out if any star is out of town, simply pick up their address from the net & then break in – in some cases, they don’t have to trouble themselves too much, because apparently rich celebrities like Paris & Orlando, leave their doors & windows wide open, have no security or burglar alarms – quite surprising & glad tidings, for criminal across the globe!

The chilling part is that this gang of misguided youth, headed by Rebecca (Katie Chang) & her friend, Marc, which includes a sister pair, one of them being our own Hermione, Emma Watson, feel no guilt or fear at what they are doing. They just experience a heady rush & the money, outfits, the lifestyle which they borrow, puts a spring in their steps, makes them popular & the only problem they seem to have to find place in their houses to hide the spoils of their crimes – makes you wonder why none of their parents notice their designer clothes, Louboutin shoes, Birkin bags & fat purses, bursting with money!

Forget keeping it low key, the Bling Ring lives it up, partying & openly telling their friends, about about their escapades & proudly posting their pictures on facebook.

FINALLY, the cops put all the pieces of the very public puzzle, catch up with the gang & arrest a couple of them. You don’t know whether to laugh or cry, when Nicki, played by Emma Watson, puts it down to a ‘learning experience’ & expresses her hopes of becoming a ‘world leader’!!! Nor do you buy Marc’s tear jerker story, of how there is no place in the social map of a teenager, for anyone who is not hot or good looking – as an explanation about his part in the crimes of the Bling Ring!

The adult in you also worries, whether this story, about how easy it is to take to a life of crime, without getting caught, while your parents and guardians are clueless, may send the wrong signals to a lot of youngsters out there, who are impressionable, socially awkward and looking for a way out of their dull lives!

The rationale part of my brain tells me that it is just a movie, but I still would follow my instincts & advise any parents of youngsters, who have watched the movie, to sit down with their kids, discuss the ‘Bling Ring’ & caution them that, all that glitters, cannot be robbed!

The Reluctant Fundamentalist

Read the book, seen the movie & in case anyone is interested, for me, the book scored over the movie!

Mira Nair gets some parts right & then there are those jarring notes, despite the beautiful, haunting music, which flows through the film.

Riz Ahmed, as Changez Khan, deftly handles the journey, from being a young lad, from an upper crust family in Pakistan, which falls upon hard times, to effortlessly living the American dream – Ivy League college, dream job as a consultant with a leading firm on Wall Street, finding love with an American photographer (Kate Hudson, who looks unnecessarily old & unfit) & on the fast track, to the top of the corporate ladder, as the blue eyed boy of his boss/mentor, played efficiently by Keifer Sutherland.

So far, so good - until the horror of 9/11 happens & suddenly, life in the US, as a Muslim, is not a bed of roses for Changez. Like in the book, he articulates that, shocked as is, while witnessing the ruthless crashing of the twin towers, there is an irrational part of him, which smiles, almost as if pleased, at what is happening.

The events that follow, where Changez, because he is a Muslim, is the target of suspicion, the object of hatred, in the US and is humiliated & strip searched at the airport, don’t seem enough reason for him, to suddenly lose interest in his career, grow a beard & moustache, to highlight his being Islamic, despite the gentle hints by his boss, that his appearance is a cause of concern & after a dream promotion, abandon it all defiantly, to go back to his motherland. Riz Ahmed conveys more hurt, at being betrayed by his lover, rather than by America! Unlike in the book, here, the viewer is left with the lingering regret that he is so near, yet so far, thanks to his own actions, from attaining his childhood dream!

Back in Pakistan, the disillusioned Changez, despite his family’s disapproval, joins a local college as a lecturer, voices his new found distaste of the Americans & tries to arouse nationalism & pride in the youth of Pakistan.

Mohsin Hamid, created a silent American, to whom Changez narrates his story – Mira Nair transforms the mute stranger, to a journalist, who works for the CIA, played crisply, by Liev Schrieber, who is trying to investigate, if Changez is responsible for the kidnapping of an American academician, who is suspected to have links with the CIA.

Mira Nair brings her signature, larger than life, ethnic tone to the film – with Shabana Azmi and Om Puri, as Changez’s parents, their decaying upper middle class existence, the hip, westernised sister, the musical soirees, with sublime Sufi music ...

But unlike the book, the movie, “The Reluctant Fundamentalist”, made me, the viewer, ‘The Relcutant Believer”!