It's roasted chilly chicken and Hawain Salad

Rocky and Mayur have ventured out to explore food from all parts of India and curate videos on Askme.com. I’m contributing my part by relishing my favorite dishes at Kiva Ivy Askme.com’s listing of that restaurant and sharing my views with you all!

You are in Pune and may be bored of going to Koregaon Park because of it's huge crowd at eating joints and the neighbouring Kalyani Nagar.
You may want to drop in at this place Kiva Ivy, Baner; brew and pub.
The moment you enter in the evening dim-coloured lights meet you with furniture and wall hangings from films and art framed photos; it's such a welcome after a day of tired-work.
You settle down and there are many LCD TV's which generally have a football match or cricket or basketball playing. Recently I watched a bit of Pro-Kabbadi session.
They have a roasted chilly-chicken which has a delicious flavour not like Mainland China or popular Chinese joints. The roasted chilly chicken is roasted in red pepper and yellow asparagus and dipped in Oyster sauce with vegetables. It has something royal about it, probably the sauce or the utensil it is served in. There is also some veggies served with the roasted chilly -chicken and broccoli, ya it feels so good.
Another, dish you may want to try here is Hawaiian chicken salad. It's based on iceberg with added mayo sauce in it, fresh pineapple and garnished with garlic. It's something light , but you need to try it. The way the mayo is mixed with the cabbage is yummy. Go for it.
Some signature dishes of the brew and pub is Keema pav, Murg Dum Kabab, Chicken Handi-dum Biryani. Some other dishes offered are Buffaloo Chicken Wings, Galoti Kebab, Fish Chatpata, Jalapeno Poppies.
Some drinks you could go for are Long-Island Ice Tea and Fresh Fruit Margarita.
Songs like," Please forgive Me" and "We will rock you" may not be aired in the radio too often, but this pub still plays. Go there after 8:30 pm and experience the music take you away!

Aabhas, review, PIFF2015

Aabhas is such a powerful, excellent, dark work; it’s oozing and festering horror. It should have been played in the main theatre of PIFF, City Pride Kothrud for more audience to experience it. It’s the story of a writer’s encounter with the supernatural and tantric in a village close to his workplace. He is signing copies of his latest book, when an old man comes up to him, and asks for his help to save his daughter in a nearby village. The film opens up with mantras to invoke Goddess Kali, with the bellowing of drums. Three macabre incidents are shown in flashes; a lady running in front of a car, a man drowning, burning of bride and bride-groom together. This film is a quality horror film that I have seen in last couple of years. The technique employed by the camera man, reminded me of Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Birds’. The pauses taken before the next scene is brilliant, without revealing the plot, you cannot predict the next scene. The script writer should also be applauded for creating lots of tension and choices in the story. The plot reminded me of the John McNaughton film “Wild Things”. As the writer is driving by, a girl comes running his way and the car hits a tree. While he is looking for help, a man carrying water suddenly appears, looking for his kid. The technique used to make the man appear is amazing. There is no drag or loss of suspense and thrill. As he is talking to the man, the man keeps asking how the accident happened, creating an environment of horror for the writer. Suddenly, the car horn blares, and both of them move to the car, only to find the kid giggling inside. The cameraman has not shown any kid trying to sneak in or any other technique to suggest it happening. But the kid suddenly appears, as if through thin air, and it’s so natural; amazing creation of horror. The man takes the writer to his family to get help to pull the car out. The family is preparing for the daughter’s wedding. The man who had met the writer at the book launch is possessed by an evil spirit. He does all to prevent the wedding: strangling the groom, pushing him in the well and dancing inside a circle of fire. The performance of every actor is outstanding: the head of the family, daughter, the helps. It was tuned to both horror and humorous roles. The location where the movie is shot is also one of the good points of the film. The location is apt and the camerawork gave a horror look without brimming towards humor. A scene where the lady is walking on the roof is so well shot!!! Also the use of near-inverted shots, partial shots is so well done. Do watch this film, directed-written by Gajanan Kulkarni, starring Ankush Choudhari.

Rang Rasiya, review, PIFF2015

Rang Rasiya or Colours of passion revolves around the life of the painter, Raja Ravi Verma of Travancore. The painter is married to a queen who does not have high regard for his work. But in places where art stinks is also the same where it finds inspiration. He finds his muse in Sugandha, Nandana Sen. While she’s dressing up one morning, he asks her to stay and paints her. A new subject rekindles his interest and he begins to paint. But there are also protests from a section of society, which the film tries to depict. The accusations are mostly on grounds of ‘immorality’ and ‘vilification of Indian Gods’. The painter is frequently pulled into courts, where questions “Do you live at your wife’s house and do you squander your time at the palace ” are put to him. Nandana Sen has carved a role for herself in the film and Randeep Hooda has played an artist-who-is-not-dazed role to an applaud. Tom Alter, as an English judge, appeared as an understanding-British-judge. The film imbues the pre-independence setting at a local level pretty well on the screen. The moments where the painter and the muse make love, is so beautifully painted, is like aesthetic health to the audience. Rang Rasiya is an unorthodox treatment of an artist-fighting-society-and-back-theme in the celluloid world. And to treat it with the maturity of an Indian audience is quite a feat. The music grows well into the film. The film reminded me of “Frida” by the American Broadway and film director, Julie Taymor. A question arises, is it unfair to a woman, who’s a subject to a painter, to feel neglected on account of the painter’s interest in many subjects during his development process . Do go and experience colours of passion!

The Lesson, Review, PIFF2015

An honest teacher loses money after a bank goes kaput. This puts her in a bad way, as her husband who’s a drunkard, squanders all the money. One day she’s travelling in a bus and finds that her money is gone. The bus driver being a gentleman lets her ride and even lends her money, after quizzing her on a Greek god’s name. But, the bank won’t allow her to send the funds until she pays the exact amount. There’s a pond close by, and it has coins in them, thrown in by tourists who make a wish. She helps herself. On going to school, she finds her stolen money, at the canteen with the cashier. Her immediate guess is a kid from the class has done it. She scolds the class but is unable to recover the money or the culprit. She goes to her dad, who’s married to another woman, but her step-mom pisses her so much that she decides not to take his help. She borrows money from the money-lender but is unable to pay him back. He asks her to give his nephew good grades in class, which she does. It does not help. The money-lender asks her to come dressed in a thong and do oral sex. She comes but gives up and ends up robbing a bank to pay the debt. The script was good, pleasing cinematography, but the execution could have been better. The story had lots of in decisions and choices, which makes the script a strong point of the film. But it was slow and could have been made more interesting. The Lesson was a part of Global Cinema at PIFF 2015.

International Student Competition-live action,review, PIFF2015

I made three new friends at the festival today. One was from Chennai who had come just to attend the Pune International Film Festival. He made Pune Railway station home for his stay. The other two mentioned a poem of W. H Auden with words like, ‘dream within a dream.’ Let’s talk stories now! Sunny, Germany The film opens up with two people fighting, a guy is sneaking out. A baldie guy. Hajo plays the drums and also takes care of his son. I could not pick up much of the storyline. The cinematography was good. Color Water, China-Beijing One of the funniest part of the story is when he gets a blowjob and plays the clarinet at the same time. “I will blow for you and then you blow for me.” The film had good cinematography for live action. The Kid in the Closet, Australia A family raises a kid, by keeping him with his grandparents as the family needs to stick to the ‘’One Child Policy” of the state. The kid witnesses a different environment when he comes out of the closet as he is looked upon as the other. But slowly his sibling comes to accept him. A pretty lively watch! Manorath, India The story is inspired by Rabindranath Tagore’s, “The Postman” . A photographer talks to people from a village and makes new friends. He befriends a girl. The story looked good for live action films. Song we wrote, India This was such a lively story; it imbued romance when I saw it. A girl is dancing in a party and Jeetu, the musician-protagonist goes and introduces himself. The girl does not have the gift of hearing and speaking. Jeetu goes around capturing sound, near the beach on the roads. I loved the story! “I was a musician, travelling with a girl, who couldn’t hear.”.

The Bear, Anton Chekhov, a review

When it’s a Chekhovian play, you naturally mix up titles and plots; genius that he was in dealing with relationships. The drama lovers in Pune got another chance to enjoy the Russian playwright’s work. This was my second watching of the play in Pune. I mixed up the stories of the two plays, ” The Bear” and ” The Proposal”. When the play started today, a few seconds told me that it was ” The Bear” being performed. The artists at Orange Reason are doing something splendiferously right, because I experience the same fluidity in their skills as performers since the last time. I really liked the costumes of the artists. It’s like the blend of a Russian setting and an Indian milieu. Professionals slip into their skin at every moment on stage and create anew. Technology which seeks to aid the dramatic performance, like times fails but the artists did a good job today, to harmonise the blaring speaker and the weird mics.Finesse of the trio is surely visible. Also the right amount of balance. It’s sheer joy to watch something you have read in your school textbooks live. Thanks to Orange Reason to bring up such a work!

Sure Thing, David Ives, a review

“Sure Thing” is side-splitting humor. It’s about two characters sitting at a table in a cafe and their attempts at striking a conversation. The attempt is reset by a bell placed on the table. The artists from Orange Reason mades sure the characters come alive and the chemistry was visible. On Youtube there is a performance of the play by Williamburg Theatre Company in Brooklyn. Orange Reason is at par. It’s difficult to do such a wonderful script badly. There is a scene in the play where Bill tries to poke his head forward to Betty , while talking, it looks he’s trying to smell her ; could be different. Williamburg Theatre Company’s too uses the same movement. New expressions keep the script growing. The mention of Modi and Kejriwal was nice. In the opening attempts Betty is sitting on the chair but later when she gets up and walks to the other side, it’s a lovely use of space on stage. ” Sure Thing” is a must match!!!