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Over a cup of coffee: Places around Delhi to hold meetings

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It happens so often that you need to hold a meeting, be it for discussing an event, practicing for a competition or for an internship, and a plethora of other reasons. Fixing up a meeting at  a place where you can spend hours brainstorming over the agenda, (without death glares directed at you) and which does not go hard on a student budget, can be a difficult task, but guess what? DU Beat to the rescue! Here’s a list of places in Delhi, ranging from shackled colonial buildings to neo-modern cafes, where you can hold meetings and not be badgered or chivied to take leave.

1. Kunzum Travel Café

Reality meets utopia in this unique book cafe. Located in the forever-bustling Hauz Khas Village, Delhi, Kunzum Travel Café is adorned with travel memorabilia. While the ambience sounds tempting, here’s the cherry on the cake: they have a ‘pay what you like’ system, and you are not obliged to buy anything. Beat that.

kunzum
The Kunzum travel cafe | Image Courtesy: Official website (www.kunzum.com)

When can you visit: Tuesday – Sunday, 11:00 am – 7:30 pm

2. Indian Coffee House

One of those old, rusty, dilapidated buildings that refuse to die, with its colonial charm, the location and utility of the place overshadows the ramshackle furniture. This place was meant for conducting meetings. With the provision of outdoor seating, it almost always remains occupied, but morning meetings cannot have a better destination.

When can you visit: Monday – Sunday, 09:00 am – 09:00 pm

 

ICH - www.sodelhi.com
The open terrace area at Indian Coffee House, Mohan Singh Palace, CP | Image Courtesy: www.sodelhi.com

3. Fursat Se – A Cultural Café 

Yet another unique cultural concept, this book café is the nook for creative people. Rooftop? Check. Artisitc décor?  Check. Pay as you like? Check.

fursat
Fursat Se – A cultural cafe ( Shahpur Jat, New Delhi) | Image Courtesy: www.ixigo.com

When can you visit: Monday – Sunday, 11:30 am – 7:30 pm

4. Madras Coffee house

It can give a tough competition to ICH on the age of the furniture. Jokes apart, this place can be a good place to meet up, provided you order something. Unlike ICH, however, it has less mobility of furniture.

MCH - www.zootout.com
Madras Coffee House, Connaught Circus, Block P, Connaught Place, New Delhi. | Image Courtesy: www.zootout.com

When can you visit: Monday – Sunday, 11:00 am – 10:00 pm

5. Cha Bar

Heaven is for real, and what could be better than having a meeting in heaven. Located in Oxford bookstore, this place redefines the concept of high tea. The ambiance is so professional and spruced up that one cannot want to leave. But you’d need to order in proportion to the hours you wish to bask in the heavenly bliss of this book café.

When can you visit?: Monday – Sunday, 11:00 am – 9:30 pm

Also, no points for guessing, Cha Bar has been our favorite meeting spot too!

 

Tons of coffee and intense discussions on DUB strategies. Starting the semester already!

A photo posted by DU Beat (@du_beat) on


For a detailed Cha Bar (Barakhamba Road, Block- N, CP) review, visit here.

 

6. Triveni Tea Terrace

Located bang opposite FICCI Auditorium in Mandi house, this place has mixed reviews. It is a great pace to meet fewer people. However, if your meeting is scheduled at peak hours, it might not be a good venue.

When can you visit?: Monday to Saturday 12:30 PM to 3 PM, 4:30 PM to 6 PM

triveni
Trivent Terrace Tea, Tansen Marg, New Delhi | Image Courtesy: www.buzzintown.com

 

Drop by these places and if you’re lucky enough, you might bump into some of the dedicated DU Beat folks!

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Indraprastha College for Women

Why Gandhi Still Matters: Talk at IP College for Women

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The Gandhi Study Circle, Indraprastha College for Women organised a lecture on “The music of Humanity: Why Gandhi Still Matters” last week. Dilip Simeon, noted historian and author of Revolution Highway was the guest speaker for the same.

The President of the society, Kavyayani Bhatt, says, “The lecture marks the inauguration for the year-long celebration of the centenary year of Gandhi’s return to India, which will encompass a variety of other events like round table conferences, visits etc.”

The college principal, Dr. Babli Moitra Saraf, reminisced the tumultuous times present couple  of decades back and emphasized on how teaching about pain is one of the best things history can teach us.

Prof. Simeon commenced his speech with his concern about the times we live in, an era where people are becoming timid to talk about Gandhi. He also spoke with a pang of anguish about how people, in their expression of thoughts over electronic media or otherwise have grown antagonistic to the idea that is Gandhi. He also implored the audience to see Gandhi as a staunch revolutionary rather than a pacifist, as his clichéd image goes. He also praised Gandhi for his equanimity.

The lecture was followed by a Question and Answer session. He answered the questions with enthusiasm and encouraged the audience to think about Gandhi as a unique personality whose truth was greater than trivial differences, rather than as a face reproduced on currency notes.

Baldeep Grewal, who attended the lecture, had a fulfilling experience, “I’ve heard so much criticism of Gandhi lately, it was really good to hear someone address a different side of the argument.”

 

Kritika Narula

[email protected]

Image credits: Asmita Jagwani, IP College

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Campus Central

'India in the 21st century': Delhi University announces short-term course

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The concept of MOOCs(Massive Open Online Courses) involves short-term courses, which allow unlimited participation. The concept that has now become ubiquitous was embraced by Delhi University earlier in the week. A notification was issued to the effect that an open online non-credit course, entitled “India in the 21stCentury” has been designed for mass audiences to be delivered through the internet.

This course will be launched with an inaugural session at the Convocation Hall on January 30, 2015 by Prof. Dinesh Singh, Vice Chancellor, University of Delhi. The course which is to be delivered weekly, carries no fees and is open to audiences worldwide. The mode of teaching would be in form of a lecture delivered by Dinesh Singh. Students who successfully complete the course will be issued a certificate.

Delhi University’s press release states, “The course is designed to portray some of the great milestones in the modern history of India with perspectives from the past and indications into the future. The course comprises of ten lectures to be delivered by Professor Dinesh Singh, the DU Vice Chancellor.”

In the initial phase, the interactive facility will be available at four colleges including Aryhabhatta College, Maharaja Agrasen College, IP College for Women and Keshav Mahavidyalya.

Dr. Babli Moitra Saraf, Principal of Indraprastha College for Women addressed the students in a General Body meeting and said, “It is a matter of pride and honor for us at IP College, and a great opportunity for our students that we have been selected in the first phase to be a part of the interactive process.”

The course will be spread over 10 weeks beginning January 30th 2015.

Feature Image Credits: Official Notification at www.du.ac.in

Kritika Narula [email protected]

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DUB Speak

National Girl Child Day: No girl, no world

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Prime Minister Sh. Narendra Modi in his speech implored the public at large to end gender discrimination, and lauded the girl child’s role in nation-building as paramount. Today is just another day. Yet, it’s not with 24th January being observed as National Girl Child day.

Nothing would describe the joy that a girl child brings better than how actor Amitabh Bachchan did a few months back. “Daughters are special.. very special. They become the soul of the home and become the reason for the warmth that embraces us all. They conduct, command, secure, analyse, dictate, rule, govern and spread that tender thread which binds an entire family together. They are reason. They are consult. They are opinion. They are guidance.”

He certainly has everyone in agreement, because no matter how much we deny it, the truth remains that daughters share an inexplicable and heartfelt bond with their parents. Our parents have had a ball raising us. They play with them, run around the house, and fill the home with their shrieks of laughter. And while daughters may outgrow their parents’ laps, they can never outgrow their hearts. As they grow up and become mature, they become a pillar of strength themselves. Fathers and mothers wish for her to choose her battles carefully, and that she faces the difficulties head-on.

“A daughter is one of the most beautiful gifts this world has to give.”

With those words, here’s hoping that this day isn’t just many of the symbolic days, but rather a heartfelt expression of gratitude to the cheer that a girl child brings with her.

Kritika Narula
[email protected]

Feature Image Credits: www.unp.in

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Offbeat

Offbeat careers: Private Detective

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Problem-solving, digging deep into mysteries, investigation, meticulous attention to details and courage – if all this comes naturally to you, coupled with the belief of treading the less-travelled path, private investigation might be your calling. Add to it a strong sense of integrity and a taste for adventure and risk-taking, and you know for sure what you are meant to do.

If you have always loved the adventures and cases of Sherlock Holmes, Byomkesh Bakshi, Hercule Poirot, Feluda and the likes, it is an added bonus and it means you have your theory right. All that needs to be done now is the application of your knowledge into situations which demand speedy inferences and investigations.

Job profile

No wonder Hercule Poirot, Inspector Dalgleish, Inspector Clouseau, Cordelia Gray, our beloved Sherlock Holmes and his Indian counterpart Feluda have brought glory and glamour to the profession of investigation, we need to get to the nitty-gritties. This is a job similar to and different from that of a policeman.

As a detective, you are supposed to investigate spurious events (mostly of a criminal nature), and other such suspicious activities. The work encompasses digging facts by putting your communication skills to the best use: making enquiries using various techniques, without the knowledge of the person being pursued, or in other words, undercover investigations. The job may take the form of an independent detective solving a case on his own, or assisting lawyers, businesses, insurance companies, investors and the public.

Projects include surveillance, fraud investigation, tracing missing persons, investigating commercial piracy, private matrimonial/business alliances’ preliminary investigation, among several others.

Qualifications and Institutes

Apart from working knowledge of the law, computer skills etc, a graduate degree is taken as basic qualification. The following combinations of courses provide the requisite skills:

  1. Dr B R Ambedkar University, Agra — MSc Forensic Science (www.dbrau.ac.in)
  1. University of Mysore — MA in Criminology and Forensics (www.uni-mysore.ac.in)
  1. National Institute of Criminology — Master’s in Criminology (www.nicfs.nic.in)
  1. The Indore Christian College, Indore (www.indorechristiancollege.com)
  1. The National Institute of Private Investigation, New Delhi
  2. Lancers Network Limited, New Delhi
Detective Agency | Source: www.cheyennepd.org
Detective Agency | Source: www.cheyennepd.org

Remuneration

In a private investigation agency starting salary would be somewhere between Rs. 6,000 to Rs.15,000 per month or between Rs. 1,25,000 to Rs. 2,50,000 per annum. An experienced private detective with repute may earn higher and have unlimited perks. Corporate Investigations can fetch Rs. 5 lakh to Rs. 10 lakh per annum.

Acquiring a leadership managerial position or setting up one’s own agency becomes viable after a few years only, once you have established an array of clients and contacts. That said, this profession did feature in Forbes’ list of “surprisingly low-paid jobs”.

Why is it offbeat?

This is one profession that never loses its charm, whatever the era be. The element of uncertainty and adventure only enhances its challenges as sophisticated technology enters the picture and makes it even more complex.

Another factor that makes this profession unusual is that there are no defined contours to which the job profile is confined. A private detective handles many cases of burglary, extortion, theft, suicide, kidnapping, fraud, murder, rape, forgery, molestation, eve teasing, family cases, undercover operations, copyright infringement cases, cyber-crime, so on and so forth.

Scope

As pointed out earlier, setting up one’s own agency becomes viable after a few years only, once you have established an array of clients and contacts. So, for starting out by working for some agency, a list of potential employers can be found on the websites of the Association of Private Detectives and Investigators, Council of International Investigators and World Association of Detectives.

Featured Image Credits: www.telegraph.co.uk

Kritika Narula
[email protected]

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Arts & Culture

Most awaited music albums of 2015

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The music lovers this season, are basking in the bliss of a caressing melodies or dancing to the beats of EDM. There’s plenty of symphony to look forward to in the next 12 months. While fans are all hoping for Rihanna, Drake, One Direction and DemiLovato to come out with an album, it is all a conjecture.

There are those that we know for sure, and here we go with the most anticipated of them all:

Adele: 25

The Skyfall singer kept her fans anticipating a new album in 2014. When that didn’t happen, fans were consoled citing a 2015 release. Now that 2015 is here in its full glory, here’s hoping that we soon get to hear more from the woman whose last album 21 shattered sales records, topping the Billboard 200 in the U.S. for 19 weeks and also being the best worldwide selling album in both 2012 and 2013. Until we know for sure, let’s keep playing the game of “Will she, wont she?”

Hardwell: United We Are

The album has been in news for two years now. Hardwell has been voted the number one DJ in the world two times in a row now, which justifies the excitement that his announcement of releasing the album this January has set into motion. The album will have 14 tracks and will feature artists like Jason Derulo, Tiësto, Mr. Probz and W&W.

Hardwell's United We Are - Album Cover
Hardwell’s United We Are – Album Cover

Sleater-Kinney: No Cities to Love

Their new, unexpected album comes across as brimming with palpable excitement, passion and bloodlust. This all-female rock band is back with a bang, no exaggeration. The beloved trio is expected to come back in the first month of the year.

Madonna: Rebel Heart

Having already released six finished songs, including the single “Live for Love,” she announced that the whole album would arrive in just three months. No wonder, though it is ridden with controversies.

Imagine Dragons: Smoke and Mirrors

February 17th is when we anticipate to relive the magic of Night Visions, or atleast we hope to. Reynoldssaid in an interview quoted, “We embraced a lot of hip-hop influences with Night Visions, but I think the next record will be more rock-driven. It’s too early to say, but there is some weird stuff going on in these songs.”
Here’s hoping that it is a good-weird.

Madeon: Adventure

The you-tube superstar thinks that the name will make a lot more sense once we listen to it. So, we are all waiting for the album. His singles are a testimony to his production finesse, no wonder we are waiting to listen how it has gone in his debut album.

Coldplay: A Head Full of Dreams

As much as it breaks our hearts to think that this might be their last album, it also increases the delirium with which we await its arrival. We will also make sure that we make the best of it, just in case, they cease to perform live too!

Bob Dylan: Shadows in the night

Columbia Records announced that Bob Dylan’s next studio album comes out on February 3rd. The chairman at Columbia Records says that Bob has managed to find a way to infuse these songs with new life and contemporary relevance. Dylan himself admits it was a privilege to make the album. It would equally be a privilege to hear it out.

The Decemberists: What a terrible world, What a beautiful world

Yet another one coming out which has a track list that includes The Singer Addresses His Audience, Make You Better, Lake Song, Till the Water is All Long Gone, Easy Come, Easy Go etc.

Papa Roach: F.E.A.R

Set to release on 27th this month, singles from this album are already out. Name of the album and its songs has us all in feverish excitement over its full release.

 Marilyn Manson: The Pale emperor and Joey Bada$$: B4.Da.$$

Two more additions to the January releases are TPE’s alleged ‘cinematic sound’ which does little to help us contain our excitement and B4.Da.$$ which is pronounced as Before the Money.

Image Credits: billboard.com

KritikaNarula
[email protected]

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Features

Enactus SGGSCC: Bringing Naukri.com to slums

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When we see a slum, we see the squalor, the filth, the dirt, the poverty, the grime, the dust. We see ‘dignity’ conspicuous by its absence. But there is a group who saw it differently: they saw potential job-seekers. This is the same group of college students who do not believe in giving a man a fish to eat, but rather teaching him how to fish.

These social entrepreneurs-in-action are the members of Enactus at Sri Guru Gobind Singh College Of Commerce. Enactus SGGSCC came up with Project Shakti after thorough research, and eight months later, the survey, planning and implementation has acquired palpable dimensions. Rishabh Goyal, President of the college chapter under Enactus India explains how the conceptual inception was the most crucial part, even as the implementation remains the deciding factor for the success of the project, “The research phase was definitely very grueling. We conducted a lot of surveys in different slums and talked to over 500 slum dwellers. The community we are working for is very unpredictable. Even after expressing their willingness to work and get a job, they used to back out at the very end moment. We needed to detect the problems. And, so we conducted a few experiments to find a solution and then we arrived at one. It was all about building their dignity. This all lasted for 4-5 months.”

So yes, this worked out eventually, and they have been able to employ a few people under Project “Shakti”.

What is Project Shakti: Power comes to the slum-dwellers?

Groundwork, exploration, scrutiny, analysis, plenty of brainstorming, coupled with field work in the slums of Rohini, GTB Nagar and PaschimVihar, materialized into a project which fills a crucial demand-supply gap. Under the project, the lower income group people (who are willing to work), are employed in various shops and centers that require staffs for chores like data entry, billing, delivery and other such jobs so as to provide them with sustainable jobs and earn their living.

The social tangent: benefitting both employers and employees

On one hand, the project provides the hitherto slum-dwellers a fixed source of income to meet the daily expenses, along with a sustainable living pattern, which also confers new learning and skill development opportunities, on the other hand, this aids the employers in the recruitment process by reducing their burden of finding employees, doing background checks, among other benefits that cater to the demand side of the mechanism.

Following up regularly and effectively

Surely, one can never be sure of the fickle human character. How then, do we ensure that the employer and employee are both satisfied with what the project has to offer? Goyal points out that they have this issue figured out, “For the purpose of following up, we have created a separate department of Personal Managers. So, for every person employed by us, we allot a separate personal manager. He/she keeps on following up with the employee and the employer on a fortnightly basis and is available on a 24*7 basis to them. Also, we meet the employee once every month to make sure he doesn’t face any problems in the workplace and in case, he does, we provide him additional training or talk to the employer for the same depending on the situation.

And if that doesn’t work out for another month, we find a new, suitable job for the employee and provide a new employee to the employer as per his requirements.”

The ingredients for success:  Fairness  

What sets this project apart is the fact that they have regulation checks in place, in addition to the fact that it caters to the needs of both employer and employee, with no tendency to favor one over the other. Their skill enhancement focus makes it all-encompassing.

Future prospects and challenges

While they have so many ways to take the project to the next level: taking more jobs under their umbrella, getting more people ‘placed suitably’, much depends on the follow-up and the efficiency. Hence, success will be defined more by the suitability of their placements more than any other parameter.

 

Kritika Narula

[email protected]

Image credits: Enactus SGGSCC

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Indraprastha College for Women

IP College teams up with Jagruti for paper recycling initiative

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The Ecology club at Indraprastha College for Women has been actively engaged in a paper recycling initiative in collaboration with NGO Jagruti. They have already completed the first phase of the initiative successfully.

While the college has been involved in this paper recycling drive by donating the tonnes of paper used/discarded in the office and library in the past, it was only in the last semester that this initiative was conceptualized as a college-wide campaign. As the president of the Ecology Club, Sakoon Prabhakar testifies with zeal, “Before we initiated this drive, the NGO was only taking away used paper from the college library. We really wanted to involve the students to make them conscious about the ‘Rs’ of reuse and recycle which needed to be transformed into real, palpable action.”

Under the campaign, empty cartons are kept at strategic places near and inside the college, where students and teachers dump all the used and unwanted papers. Once the cartons are filled, they are sent to the organization for recycling. Jagruti has, in a one-of-its-kind initiative, started manufacturing custom-made paper stationery out of recycled paper in return for the raw material provided by the college for their recycling plants. They take away used/waste paper (minimum 300 kgs), recycle it and send it to the college in the form of stationery (writing paper and notepads) without charging any money, which makes this a barter exchange. These are then distributed among the college staff.

Ravneet Kaur, the General-Secretary of the Ecology Club gives an update on the success of the initiative, “The first phase was completed in the previous semester itself. The cartons filled up to the brim with huge piles of paper in no time at all. We had an enormously successful first phase. We are on to the second round of collection now.” She attributes the success of the initiative to the fact that it creates real change for the environment on the local level, and sets a good precedent for the activities of the club on the whole. It also lays emphasis on the role of the club as a champion for the cause.

“Soon after its inception, we have been successful in creating an incessant cycle of contributions from students and teachers alike”, adds Prabhakar.

Image credits: Ecology Club, IP college

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Flicks

The most awaited movie adaptations of 2015

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The quantum of adaptations we saw this year made it feel like a celebration: If I Stay, This is Where I Leave You, The Fault in our Stars, Divergent, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1, The Book Thief, Gone Girl, A Long Way Down, The Giver, Vampire Academy, The Best of Me. Indeed it was a time to grab your bucket of popcorn and bag of chips and revel in the happiness of watching your favourite characters come alive in flesh and blood (on-screen, duh). Fandoms were ecstatic, and young-adult fiction readers were on cloud nine. Even though bibliophiles are usually fretting over how the adaptations couldn’t live upto the book, this year even they welcomed the movies with open arms. Which brings us to the question: will 2015 be able to live up to the high standards set by 2014? We are no clairvoyants but we do have some hope in the following:

Fifty Shades Of Grey


Yes, we all know of the trilogy by EL James, which elicited extreme responses from its readers. You are either too much into it, or you loathe every word with the fire of a thousand suns. Explicit content, BDSM and lengthy scenes had forced many avid readers to drop the book halfway, making it one of the most abandoned book, according to a Goodreads survey. But with the trailers set to the voice of Beyoncé, Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson as the main cast, hopes have been set very high, making it one of the most anticipated valentine release.

Mockingjay


May the odds be ever in your favor, more so, because this year will witness the end of the Hunger Games as we know it. True, there have been rumors about an extension, but the books end here. So, lo and behold, the tragic end of an epic series. Jennifer Lawrence has won us already, the question is: who has won her? Will Katniss choose Peeta or Gale? Wait and watch.

Insurgent


Another epic trilogy, Divergent by Veronica Roth stars Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort, Theo James in its cinematic adaptation. The fandoms are ecstatic, yet again.

Paper Towns


If you like John Green, you will not miss this come June. Paper Towns is a story of a friend searching for his neighbor-cum-crush. This girl happens to be Margo Roth Spiegelman, a self-proclaimed paper girl. The concept and plot will blow you away, that is for sure. Green is often posting his pictures on the set of the film starring Nat Wolff and Cara Delevingne in the lead roles. We hope he is also making sure that the film is just as insightful as the novel.

Dark Places


If you liked Gone Girl, here is another one from Gillian Flynn. The plot is summarized as a woman who survived the brutal killing of her family as a child, forced to confront the events of that day by a secret society obsessed with solving notorious crimes. Hold your breath for another chilling and intense work being transported to the celluloid.

Also lined up are Fallen, Frankenstein, Silence, Inherent Vice, Child 44, The Martian, fueling our hope for yet another year of varied movie adaptations.

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Flicks

Once was enough: 5 Bad Hollywood Movie sequels

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If we were to analyze what ingredients go into the making of a bad sequel, the lack of a concrete plot would top the list. Other reasons will include some pivotal characters (or the actors who played them) conspicuous by their absence or repeated and unoriginal plots, stunts and in some cases, even the dialogues.

Even if a sequel qualifies as relevant, the direction and execution of the idea and plot is sometimes so bland that it leaves you wondering, ‘What on earth had been so special about the first installment that I dared to turn up for the next?’

In a movie famous with its own set of sequels, Jurassic Park, there is a witty dialogue, “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.”  For the sequels listed below, the same goes for the producers and writers and the whole cast and crew. They were so engrossed in recreating a masterpiece and banking on the success of the predecessor that they forgot to do the preliminary research of whether the audience was REALLY asking for more!

1. Jaws 2

No one can so much as dare to think that the magic of Steven Spielberg can be recreated. It must have taken a lot of courage to actually think of competing with the gigantic wonder and phenomenal success that Jaws was. Jaws 2 suffers with the drawbacks of playing safe- you cannot expect the audience to be excited and awestruck by a mechanical shark upturning sailboats or breaking bones as they had been by the originality of the concept in the first movie. When an audience turns up to see the sequel, they come to watch a story above and beyond what they were told in the preceding part, not for some rehash!

2. Son of the Mask

This one suffers from a variety of illnesses like the absence of Jim Carrey, who had driven the libidinous hit comedy The Mask with his hilarity. In his portrayal of a socially-inept, cartoon-watching lowly bank employee and the transformation into a semi-cartoon, Carrey managed to carry the insanity in a way that makes it endearing and not creepy. But alas, in this movie the mask of Loki has fallen into wrong hands. And to be honest, it was not just the mask, the script as well! There can possibly be no other explanation to the insipid script.

3. Speed2: Cruise Control

We all love Sandra Bullock-her acting, prowess, her personality. But this movie had us questioning her credentials and that of the whole team. It was pretty clear from the beginning that this won’t work! Maybe, Jason Patric was not the problem, but he wasn’t the solution either!

One, Bullock is not cut out to play feeble or frail roles. Two, the assortment of the supporting cast does nothing to elevate our anger. Three, you can keep waiting for 110 minutes in anticipation of a stunt that never really hits the screen. Maybe the makers had a thrilling sequence planned but decided to go for a ridiculous conclusion instead. Bad choice!

4. The Hills Have Eyes 2

Described across review sites as ‘shoddy piece of corporate horror’, this film has no reason for its existence. The first part was a treat for the fans of hardcore horrors. Panned by critics and dismissed by viewers, this depiction of teens fighting inbred cannibals is a classic example of lazy filmmaking. So unless your laziness and impunity matches theirs, do not watch this flick.

5. Batman and Robin

Are there awards for attempted film-slaughter? If there are, you know whom to award it to. If I say that a superlative film was followed by a fiercely mediocre one, it would be unfair because I doubt if ‘Batman and Robin’ was even mediocre. Subsequently, Warner Bros. cancelled the unproduced Batman Triumphant. Even George Clooney couldn’t save the day!

Here’s some friendly advice, when making a sequel, you are already walking on thin ice (and a lot of expectations!), don’t take uncalculated risks, but don’t play safe either. Don’t repeat the plot, but don’t twist it inexplicably either. Know your audience well!

Kritika Narula
[email protected]

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