Dates are the most important component in this no-cook recipe by FoodVedam as no extra sugar or sweetener is added. Try to use good quality dates of Medjool variety, if possible, as they are large and soft and therefore easier to process into a paste. The shelling, roasting and chopping of the nuts should be done ahead as it is the most time-consuming step. Once you have the nut mixture ready, the assembly hardly takes 15 minutes and you have a deliciously different laddoo to add to your sweet box and share with your loved ones on the blessed occasion of Diwali, Festival of Lights.
From the number of times I have been posting mango flavored cakes and desserts this summer, it must be plainly obvious that they are by far my favorite seasonal fruit. Well, come on, who can resist a chilled mango lassi in this heat? The balance between the sweetness of overripe mangoes and the tangy flavour of freshly made yogurt is what gives this Indian beverage it uniqueness. A pinch of crushed cardamom is all you need to add to this childishly simple recipe from SimplyRecipes before serving. Though it mentions two servings, I think that you should double the recipe to be on the safe side; a single glass might not be enough for foodies like me.
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Poetic visuals notwithstanding, what an outstanding soundtrack from SLB. Maratha flag waving Priyanka Chopra against a crimson sky, set to the tune of Albela Sajan, is a visual that has been burnt upon my memory. Peshwa Bajirao dancing like a drunk chimpanzee, to that bouncy ditty Malhari, felt bizarre.
When Bajirao became the Peshwa he was all of 19 years old. He met Mastani at age 25 which is the normal age at which people should be falling in love. When he died he was 39. He fought 40 battles meanwhile, winning all of them. That is 2 battles a year.
Priyanka Chopra gave the best performance in the film IMO. She simply blows away both Ranveer and Deepika in the scenes she has with them. Deepika is terribly miscast in the film. She neither looks the character or plays it well. Her dialogue delivery is embarrassing. The film should have been called bajirao kashi instead of bajirao mastani
One of the friends with whom I went to the cinema last week told me that Bajirao Mastani was the first movie ever, i.e. in any language, that he had seen twice in the theater. He considers seeing it for the third time.
I fail to understand how Kashibai has got more public sympathy despite living in a hermetically sealed palace when it was Mastani who faced all kinds of tortures and troubles, multiple attempts on her life etc. Maybe they think she deserved it
Just back from watching it for the 4th time though. And loved Mastani more and more, in fact, she has inspired me in my personal life. And the last 15 minutes of the movie, from the time that Aayat begins to play until the end- priceless.
I wanted to engage with you further on your comments to clarify some misconceptions you have about my views, but alas, since i am not going to\able to create great art on my own,well i suppose there is no need for further engagement between us
Punee: Wow, there are so many things in your comment I want to get back about, but primarily, there is something called the sensibility of the audience/recipient/rasika that is as valid as the sensibility of the creator.
Punee, Glad to hear that you like reading my comments. ? you must understand i have nothing personal against Ms.Padukone. but i will be honest and say that i dont think she is A very gifted actress. Not in the mold of Sridevi, Madhuri, Kajol or say Ranveer or Ranbir, who are all gifted and has that inborn talent that helps them coast through their roles effortlessly and in many case without the help of good scripts or a good enough directors. Priyanka chopra has that certain amount of gift.
Well this is a complex subject. where would you draw the line then? If a student fails the exams, you dont blame the teacher for teaching badly. even though that might not be the exact analogy for relationship between director and actor. but still.
The questions regarding authorial intent ( _intent) have been raised many a time in this space and other forums I peruse like imdb . i thought i had a lot to say when I realized that being on either side of this debate is like discovering / rejecting God (one needs to have an a-ha moment), and to have someone discard the notion of authorial intent via discussions is not something I have the stomach for. That said, I know Messrs. BR and MANK and Ms Punee are made of sterner stuff, and I am and would be, enjoying the back and forth from the fences. Hence the popcorn.
Hi Baradwaj-
Been a fan of yours for several years. Reading your articles has inspired me to think, reflect and write about movies. My thoughts are on the below blog. Would love to have you critique not just the movie, but my writing too (on all movies I have written so far).
Abhishek: SLB addresses emotions with grandeur, craft and visuals. Shankar likes to keep throwing lowbrow stuff (that may or may not serve the story in hand) at you till you become exhausted and start wondering how better things could have been.
Caught this on Christmas Eve, my first SLB movie, and I must say, Baddy, barring most of the allusions and references to his previous films and Mughal-E-Azam, my observations were very similar to yours.
MANK: Ha! Glad you liked the Gujarati number- I am a trueblue Madhuri Bhakt, loved her since I saw her in Tezaab at age 2! ? After that I insisted to my mom that I be taken to watch every single piece of film reel she is ever on ?
But no matter how good they are, pretty visuals and a rich background score do not by themselves make an engaging film. Fortunately, this is the most substantive film of Bhansali in terms of dramatic content with a rich historical backdrop, interesting play of human relationship and the dynamics of political power.
Although, I could connect emotionally in Ramleela and hence enjoyed it. Here I found the love insipid and never felt invested emotionally in the proceedings and hence the eventual tragedy appeared forced to me.
This mixing of zones seems to me a big problem here. SLB on one hand wants to portray this great love story but also wants to put the whole thing on a pedestal by showing that the love is on a higher spiritual plane.
I completely agree that not all films have to be warm films. But is Bajirao-Mastani not an epic love story? If an epic love story is not supposed be a warm film, then which film is supposed to be? A film dealing with alienation in modern society?
1) Every frame dripping with gorgeous colors. What I got was every frame made up to the nines to look like a moving painting (leave the moving pictures to lesser directors I suppose). Probably not since Life of Pi has a movie looked this beautiful.
Mastani in mohe rang song, suggestively shows the sindhoor to express her desire for bajirao. We saw the same in ramleela song but here Ranveer does the sindhoor thing. We keep seeing the tropes again and again. Not that I am complaining. Its kind of endearing I admit
@SR, every director has his own visual aesthetic. its rather immature to ask one to acquire the aesthetic of another. macbeth is a mindlowingly beautiful film and so is Russian Ark and The Last emperor. Each style has its own place and beauty.
Waht is all this talk about bigamy? Until the Hindu Marriage Act came into force in the 1950s, there was no resriction on the number of wives a Hindu man could have. Yagnavalkya had Maitreyee and Gargi, Krishna had Rukmini and Satyabhama. Arjun had Drapuadi, Subhadra and Chitrangada. Dasrath had Kaushakya, Kaikeyee and Sumitra. There was no restriction on the number of wives one could have.
Eeps, there I go meandering again, anyway back to the topic- this is a man birthed by his parents and moulded by them to fulfill their preordained destiny for him as a ruthless warrior and he is stunned into changing everything that was his reality from the first moment that Mastani barges into his tent and later his life.
I was so disappointed with the ending of HDDCS- where she chose some vague notion of duty and sacrifice above love, I am happy that in Bajirao Mastani, Rao chooses love again and again over duty, over status, over every goddamn thing- even if it meant alienation, even if it meant death. Wonderful!
Whereas most situations with Priyanka demand an external performance, those with Deepika are more internal (a glance, a resolve etc).we as Hindi filmgoers are more attuned to showy external performances rather than those of the internal kind (an example I can recollect is Samuel Jackson sitting in the car and working out what happened between Robert de niro and the girl at the parking lot in the underrated Jackie Brown)
MANK: yes she does some terrible things in the film. but she does it on the strength of her convictions and beliefs. she is a matriarch of an orthodox brahmin family and she was following her heart as to what was best for the family,country and her son, in that context she is not acting any different than Bajirao or Mastani.
How can her convictions that are based on tradition, status, and politics be in any way equal to the convictions of Bajirao and Mastani which is based on pure love and standing proud in the face of a world that hates them and their love?
I have no clue on that. The basic reasoning in that quoted text has a very pro-other woman feel to it. The whole Radha did not expect Krishna to acknowledge and establish her as his queen, she was content to bask in his love angle does it. Unrequited Love? Radha? Going by Tamil movie lyrics, I thought she was quite his all favourite girl.
There are actual plagiarists like Anurag Basu who lifts entire scenes in Barfi from various shorts of Charlie Chaplin, but no- that is seen as some sort of masterpiece, while SLB is consigned to the level of a copycat for making a movie based on a book!!
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