New Year Resolutions - Week 13 Achievements & Failures in 2023 #TheLifesWay

Hi Guys,

Week 13 also went strongly into watching many movies and web series on a mission as if I have to complete them on a priority. I did this sometimes to complete which have been pending to be watched and then don't care anything for the next few months. I don't have the discipline to watch a single episode per day and make a schedule, but this can be my goal in the coming months. 

1. Entertainment - I started with John Wick 4 that I really loved and had to go through the storyline once again to understand the same. I also watched United Kacche Season 1 starring Sunil Grover and totally loved the same. It's definitely a watch if you want to enjoy some comedy. Then I went on to watch Pop Kaun Season 1 starring Kunal Khemu, Nupur Sanon and all the biggest stars of Bollywood comedy. It's also the last web series of Late Sh Satish Kaushik who died just before the release of this web series on Disney+ Hotstar. It was a difficult series to watch as there was no logic in the story as they kept running from one end to another in search of the father of the lead character. 

2. Thank You - This week I progressed really well on the count I started from 11500 to reach the 61000 mark to finish this week. I am sure that you are also following this habit. The more powerful exercise is to do the affirmations on a daily basis. 

3. No Salary - This is the first time in the last many years that I have not received my monthly salary. This has been a little bit difficult as now you have to dig into your savings if any towards doing all the expenses for the month. I could have saved a lot of tension if I could have planned the closure of the bank account better. I have closed on all my regular bills that I really don't want that are not adding to my life. There is a lot of dependence on the monthly salary and it really makes your risk-taking capability less and puts you into a comfort zone. I definitely need to come out of my comfort zone for sure in the coming days. May Almighty Lord Shiva grant me the courage to break away. Aum Namah Shivay! Har Har Mahadev!

4. Events - I attended Homefair Expo, Buy Local Summit as well as a YouTube Shorts virtual event. This is really a nice thing as I get to meet a lot of new people and get new opportunities to review products that I have never done on my Youtube channel. This is going to be good as my channel will have diverse videos so that people can know about some of the brands that I was also not aware of. 

5. Brands - There are millions of brands in the markets around Planet Earth and it's not possible to know them all. We all know some of the local brands around our city or country and some of the expensive ones that we aspire to own or dream about. I have now tried to acquire some of the items that I have never received earlier. I am now introducing all those brands in my unboxing videos or doing some of their product reviews with a little bit of history about the brand. 

The first 3 months of the year 2023 are already finished this week. Whatever you intend to do this year, start your engines firing towards them for sure. I am looking forward to the same as well so that I can achieve what I thought about my goals and dreams. I am sure with the power of my dreams I can too fly towards them. Har Har Mahadev!

Aum Namah Shivay!

Till next time...Aashish

Thanks! Cheers!!!

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#TheLifesWayReviews LOOTCASE @DisneyplusHSVIP #Movies #Lootcase #Comedy

Hi Friends, 

It's been a while that I have written about some of the movies and TV series I have watched and today I got the time to write about the same. Disney+ Hotstar is bringing a lot of great entertainment which includes some 7 Bollywood movies which are going to be showcased exclusively on this OTT platform as a part of their Multiplex Initiative. The one I was waiting for is Lootcase which stars Kunal Khemu, Gajraj Rao, Vijay Raaz, Rasika Dugal and Ranvir Shorey in main roles. 

The story is a common middle-class hard-working man who toils day and night to earn a meagre living and not able to fulfil his family wishes of going to Shimla and Water Kingdom. Kunal Khemu plays his character really well as Nandan Kumar who is married to Lata played by Rasika Dugal and they have a son Aayush played by Aryan Prajapati. His life changes when one night after completing his duty at printing press he found a suitcase filled with 10 Crore Rupees and a file which he was not aware of till the end belonging to a Minister Patil played by Gajraj Rao. The series of events that happens after he gets the bag and tries to hide it from everyone is what makes Kunal Khemu's acting unique and brings back a lot of memories from Hum Hain Raahi Pyaar Ke where he was a small naughty kid. 

Meanwhile, Vijay Raaz plays a gangster who also is after the bag named Lootcase by Nandan along with the Cop Madhav Kolte played by Ranvir Shorey. Vijay Raaz promotes a lot of National Geographic Channel and wildlife in this movie and each scene will be etched in your memory for a lifetime. Gajraj Rao plays the perfect cunning and selfish minister who knows how to turn events into his own favour. All his dialogues are very well written and overall the movie dialogues is something that the writers took time to write and are worth every penny. 

Fox Star Studio is the production house behind this 132 minutes of situational comedy directed by Rajesh Krishnan and story is written by Kapil Sawant and Rajesh himself. The movie also has some good background music and you should definitely watch it with your family this weekend. In the end, this movie has three strong pillars which will entertain you the most - Kunal, Vijay and Gajraj. The small kid Aryan too is entertaining in his scenes and Rasika has played her role well and though this one is released on Digital Platforms but has all the parameters of a great movie. The ending though is a shortcut taken and reminded me of Ek Chalis ki Last Local. RATING 3.5/5

Cheers!!!

Contact Aashish Rai Jain at thelifesway@gmail.com or editor@thelifesway.com to send your products, launch event invites, and services to be consumed. #TheLifesWay #PhotoYatra #7YearsofTheLifesWay. Follow me on www.instagram.com/thelifesway for all travel-related photo posts and subscribe to my YOUTUBE Channel too. Namaste!

#TheLifesWayReviews AARYA @DisneyplusHSVIP #HotstarSpecials #Aarya #Thriller

Hi Friends,

Aarya is the latest web series launched on Disney + Hotstar online platform and marks the comeback of Sushmita Sen after a gap of 10 years. Aarya has a good storyline with a lot of twists and turns. Sushmita Sen hasn't aged and seems extremely fit to be in the role of mother of 3 children, two being teenagers. I watched the whole series on the day of the launch i.e. 19th June 2020 on Hotstar Digital Platform but didn't get the time to write the review to date.

Also, I found the 9 episodes to be running too slow and it would have made it more thrilling if the speed of the serial has been increased 10-15% as I got disinterested in the series in the first 2 episodes which I watched at the regular playback speed and when I increased the same to 115% then it was working more and kept me on the edge of the seat. 9 episodes in total will take around 7 hours 45 minutes to finish and you can easily binge-watch them on the tour of Rajasthan and the first few episodes are more like marriage ceremonies of the big fat wedding.

The web series stars Chandrachur Singh which also makes a comeback as Jay Sareen, husband of Aarya Sareen played by Sushmita Sen. Namit Das as Jawahar and Ankur Bhatia as Sangram who is the younger brother of Aarya. These 3 persons are handling the business once run by their dad Zorawar played by Jayant Kripalani. Sikandar Kher as Daulat is Zorawar's, right-hand man and later helps Aarya in all her tasks to run the business. Alexx ONell plays Bob with which younger sister of Aarya, Soundarya is getting married played by Priyasha Bhardwaj. Flora Saini also plays a small role of Radhika/Rads as a lover of Zorawar. Sohaila Kapur plays the ex-wife of Zorawar. Sugandha Garg also makes a comeback as Hina but got nothing much to do as the fiancee of Sangram. Maya Sarao plays Jawahar's wife role as Maya. Maya, Aarya, and Hina are best friends in the web series.

The story revolves around the greed of getting rich despite Jay's warnings to Jawahar and Sangram led to the murder of Jay in front of his son. The reign is then handled by Aarya as she overcomes all kinds of challenges and fighting the cause to keep her family close despite several threats from the police and the Shekawat played by Manish Choudhary whose heroine they tried to take and become rich. She herself tries to find the person behind the murder of her husband Jay which keeps you glued to the screen. Sangram runs the operation from jail and ACP Khan played by Vikas Kumar tries to find the culprit. The overall story has many elements which you will like as the fighting spirit of Aarya and the selfish tendencies of Jawahar while all the hell comes loose and there is chaos all around. I really loved the acting of Vishwajeet Pradhan as Sampat - right-hand man of Shekawat. The story tells an emotional part of the afterlife of kids as their father dies and how each one of them tries to handle the situation despite their loving mother and other family members. It's a real struggle inside their hearts, mind, body, and soul and showcased greatly in this web series. Veer (eldest son) is played by Viren Vazirani, Aaru (daughter) is played by Virti Vaghani and youngest son Adi is played by Pratyaksh Panwar. Veer's love interest Pallavi is played by Gargi Sawant.

Some of the issues showcased are just introduced in the story to accommodate everything like ACP Khan to be gay as there is no development of character or something and there is no focus on the same too afterward. Also, the love with the old Bollywood songs is just like as showcased in the Karan Johar's movie Ae Dil Hai Mushkil where it was introduced just to match someone's from the production house thinking it will suit the audience and they will like it and here also in this series there are long sequences of the old Hindi songs. It's not like I didn't love those songs but it doesn't make any sense in today's world of web-series unless you are advertising them for SAREGAMA's Carvaan Music player. 

Overall, this web series has a huge star cast with great sets and cinematography and they have kept the ending open so as to make another season. It is not announced yet but in the days to come - it will be as the web series is getting good response from all the fans of Sushmita Sen including me. The web series is produced by Ram and Amita Madhvani along with Endemol Shine India and is based on Penoza a Dutch Drama series by Pieter Bart Korthuis. I also liked the background music done by Vishal Khurana and the story is written by Sandeep Shrivastava and Anu Singh Choudhary. Aarya is directed by Ram Madhvani himself along with Sandeep Modi and Vinod Rawat. Watch it this weekend on Disney Hotstar. RATING 3.5/5

Sawubona!

Contact Aashish Rai Jain at thelifesway@gmail.com or editor@thelifesway.com to send your products, launch event invites, and services to be consumed. #TheLifesWay #PhotoYatra #7YearsofTheLifesWay. Follow me on www.instagram.com/thelifesway for all travel-related photo posts and subscribe to my YOUTUBE Channel too where contests will be held in the month of July 2020. Namaste!

#TheLifesWayReviews Criminal Justice @DisneyPlusHS #HotstarSpecials #Crime

Hi Friends,

As I told yesterday in the review of ASUR, that sometimes you like a particular actor so much that you see all the serials he or she acts in and all the web series he or she is part of and similar is my case for Anupriya Goenka. She is a part of another big crime and court drama named CRIMINAL JUSTICE where she plays the character of Nikhat Hussain a lawyer who fights the case in the favor of the main hero of this series who is Vikrant Massey (Balika Vadhu fame) playing Aditya Sharma a college student preparing for MBA exams working as a cab driver who is caught behind the murder for one of his last customers. Vikrant has played his character so authentic that you will feel the pain he is going through. Anupriya didn't have much to do in the initial episodes but her chemistry with Pankaj Tripathi does bring a lot of comedy into this serious court drama. 

In another powerful performance is Pankaj Tripathi playing opportunist Advocate Madhav Mishra who takes up the murder case and his journey to earn the respect of his colleagues and police is also shown in this 10 episodes web series. Aditya's sister Avni is shown to be his main pillar of strength and is being played by Rucha Inamdar who has acted very powerfully and she is the main pillar of the story too. How the middle-class family members of a convicted murder suspect suffer in the hands of community, police, lawyers, and society as a whole is showcased so authentically in this web series. 

The fight is shown on both the fronts - inside the jail and the life outside the jails. Outside the jails, there is always something or the other happening with the family members, lawyers, police, and others related to the case. Inside the jail, Aditya has to learn the ropes of the trade and survive so as to save himself and his sanity. He is helped by Mustafa Bhai played by Jackie Shroff against another influential criminal inside the jail named Layak played by Dibyendu Bhattacharya who constantly is after the life of Aditya. How Aditya prepares himself with the help of Mustafa and other characters as the case runs from days to months to years is showcased in the 10 episodes of Criminal Justice? 

The web series is based on the BBC Crime Drama of the same name written by Peter Moffat and is adapted for Indian markets by Shridhar Raghavan and is directed by famous movie director Tigmanshu Dhulia. The series was renewed for Season 2 and I hope it won't be canceled due to this Covid-19. Mita Vashisht plays an important character and reminds of the roles she used to do during her active years in the film industry. Pankaj Saraswat also plays the role of the police who catches Aditya Sharma and is hell-bent on bringing him to be hanged till death. This web series is not a kind of happily ever after kind of series but gives hits you hard in your heart, mind, and soul too. It raises a lot of questions about who is your actual friend, whom shall you trust, and who do you take help from as media, lawyers, and police start vulturing out the victim and his family members. Do watch it on Disney+ Hotstar and it will be difficult to binge-watch but on a weekend in 2 days, you can definitely watch it all. RATING 4/5

Namaste!!!

Contact Aashish Rai Jain at thelifesway@gmail.com or editor@thelifesway.com to send your products, launch event invites, and services to be consumed. #TheLifesWay #PhotoYatra #7YearsofTheLifesWay. Follow me on www.instagram.com/thelifesway for all travel-related photo posts. Namaste!

#TheLifesWayReviews SPECIAL OPS @DisneyPlusHS #HotstarSpecials #Thriller

Hi Friends,

It all started with the SPECIAL OPS and as I watched the same back to back during this weekend, I was taken away from the focussed study I was doing into the minds of criminals and actions of spy agencies to protect their country's important information and people. Special Ops is an 8 episodes season where the names of the episodes are on the famous Bollywood movies. It ranks highly on the web series network due to its face pace, tom and jerry kind of chase, and great storylines with great actors and performances by stars like Kay Kay Menon, Parmeet Sethi, Karan Tacker, Vinay Pathak, Gautami Kapoor, Sana Khan, Meher Vij, Saiyami Kher and many more. 

Spanned over a storyline of several attacks on India from the last 19 years, director Neeraj Pandey (Special 26 fame) convinces the audience that a single man is behind the attack and Himmat Singh played by Kay Kay Menon is looking for him in these long years despite everyone saying that no such person exists. The series is great just for the acting of Kay Kay and Vinay Pathak who plays a senior police officer. The chase and the office politics are well played by Himmat Singh as the government changes as he continues to work on the leads provided by his 5 agents in the field in various countries. 

The secret agents showcased are more of a flashy kind of setup and the whole focus comes down to a single one Farooq played by Karan Tacker. The rest are provided with an initial insight into what they know and the skills they have within the first 5 minutes each without any information. The web series is more focussed on Himmat, Abbas Sheikh (Vinay Pathak), Naresh Chadda (Parmeet Sethi), and their reactions to all the events happening as Himmat tells them about the expenditure of Rs 28 Crores in the past many years in an 8 hours flashbacks and present-day story. Sajjad Delafrooz (Tiger Zinda Hai fame) plays Hafiz Ali, a Dubai based entrepreneur working for Ikhlaq Khan and running his businesses around the world. 

It's a story with a lot of style and flaws but the overall story will keep you glued to your mobile or tv screens till the last episode as they keep on trying to catch the missing Ikhlaq Khan. But as a viewer, you will be able to identify him before it will be revealed on screen as to who is Ikhlaq Khan way before the episode it's shown in. I would watch it again just for the acting of Kay Kay Menon as Himmat Singh taking down the various terrorists with his mind, courage, and spying skills. Himmat Singh thinks on the go and in situations where he is caught in the middle, he escapes just because of his sharp mind and thinking at the moment or what we call as the presence of mind. 

In the end, some of the new characters are added just to create interest as the identity of Ikhlaq Khan is revealed but they fail to create an impact like Divya Dutta and Sharad Kelkar with one more national tragedy event added to the script. Overall, if you leave these logics behind and just want to enjoy your weekend just binge-watch the SPECIAL OPS and fall in love with Kay Kay Menon and Neeraj Pandey's fast pace storyline. It definitely deserves your 8 hours or so as you enjoy this thriller spying drama on Disney+ Hotstar platform. RATING - 4.5/5

Namaste!!!

Contact Aashish Rai Jain at thelifesway@gmail.com or editor@thelifesway.com to send your products, launch event invites, and services to be consumed. #TheLifesWay #PhotoYatra #7YearsofTheLifesWay. Follow me on www.instagram.com/thelifesway for all travel-related photo posts. Namaste!

#TheLifesWayReviews HUNDRED Season 1 @DisneyPlusHS #HotstarSpecials #Comedy

Hi Friends, 

I have been staying away from all the web series for quite sometime but then since the past many days I have been watching a lot of them and in a single sitting I am watching them from start to finish. After watching some of the many hit and miss web series I came across HUNDRED on the HOTSTAR Specials with a great cast including Lara Dutta and Rinku Rajguru (Sairat movie fame) in comedy and drama to the fullest. This is the first time they are coming together and also Lara is making a comeback using this platform since we last saw her in Welcome to New York movie in 2018. At the start of the year, I thought that I will only watch the web series once the same becomes a hit rather than investing my time to watch them all. This one I didn't check for the popularity and IMDB ratings etc as I was tired of watching horror, thriller, and crime-based web series and was looking for some comedy time. 

The story is linked amazingly well and how the character played by Lara and Rinku joins together to achieve what they have never achieved before. Lara Dutta plays an ACP in Mumbai Police and given low profile jobs despite her sharp mind, honesty and capabilities. Rinku plays a next-door girl Netra Patil who lives for her family day in day out and always does as per their wishes to make everyone happy. Once she comes to know that she has only 100 days to live, she meets the ACP Saumya Shukla and she gets inspiration from her to do whatever is on her wishlist. Together they help each other catch big criminals as Rinku transforms into various roles as ACP's Police informer along with changing her personal life on the go.

The first season shows various great police action stories as the characters are introduced from police department as well as Netra's family members and boyfriend. Each character has something unique through which lives of Netra and Saumya are getting impacted everyday and how they challenge the world in their unique ways is the storyline you need to watch through the 8 episodes in the Season 1 of this web series available on Disney+ Hotstar OTT platform. The series start great as the characters are introduced in the first episode and then the chase to catch various criminals begins in other episodes and the last episode gives you a great ending waiting for another Season to see what happens next. 

In all the seasons you will have something to laugh about and the acting of both Lara and Rinku are amazing as they imbibe the characteristics of their characters very well. Karan Wahi who plays as DJ Maddy as also one of the informers working for Saumya with Haryanvi accent which doesn't suit his personality but he tries his best. Parmeet Sethi has played a good role as Saumya's boss and gives her a hard time at the job. Sudhanshu Pandey has played Saumya's husband role and friend of Parmeet Sethi. Rohini Hattangadi also plays Saumya's mother-in-law role to bring some comedy but there is nothing great for her to do as she comes on the screen for only 15 minutes in total. The best character is played by Rinku's boyfriend who is eccentric in his own way and brings a lot of fun whenever he is on screen. Rinku's love interest is played by Rajeev Siddhartha who has played many roles in various web series and TV serials too. Makarand Deshpande makes a comeback in this series as Rajeev's business partner and sees a future for Rinku in his company. 

Enjoy this web series of about 5 hours 6 minutes for 8 episodes without your common sense, expectations, and judgments and enjoy the acting of Lara and Rinku and roller coaster ride in their lives. Rating 3.0/5

Namaste!!!

Contact Aashish Rai Jain at thelifesway@gmail.com or editor@thelifesway.com to send your products, launch event invites, and services to be consumed. #TheLifesWay #PhotoYatra #7YearsofTheLifesWay. Follow me on www.instagram.com/thelifesway for all travel-related photo posts. Namaste!