New Year Resolutions - Week 16 Achievements & Failures #TheLifesWay

Hi Friends,

Let's write about Week 16th which was unique in many ways and all the weeks so far have been unique in their own respective ways. I am sure you will be able to enjoy the series which is going on for all the weeks. I intend to do a lot of other posts too in the near future with at least 2-3 posts per week and 2-3 videos per week along with a multitude of Youtube shorts and other photos etc on other channels as well. 

Week 16 - 16 Apr 2022 (Sat) to 22 Apr 2022 (Fri)

1. Walking - I don't know what happened this week that I was only able to do 9.5 kilometres in total. The weather also turned colder as out of all the long weekend holidays only one-day sunshine was there. 

2. Hanuman Chalisa - I completed the 40x Years of Hanuman Chalisa which is the most awesome thing for the week. It took me so many years to reach this stage and also now I only have less than 600x Hanuman Chalisa left to reach my current age of 42 before 22-July-2022. I am looking forward to finishing it as soon as possible but it's all controlled by the Almighty Lord and how consistent you are? 

3. Entertainment - I totally enjoyed the Apharan Season 1 - a web series on ALTBalaji and totally loved the thrill of the same. The star cast is nice with Arunoday Singh, Nidhi Singh, Mahie Gill and Saanand Verma, and the storyline keeps you engaged too. I am sure if you like the mystery kind of series with a lot of action you will fall in love with this one. 

4. Thank You - After completing 100k last week, I closed this week at the 52000 mark which is also good in terms of not going to walk to keep the counter running also. Just by doing it regularly at home also I did achieve this number which is a nice thing to do. I still have to see the impact of all these Thank You resonances with the Law of Attraction and the Universe listening to it. Let's wait and continue the process and maybe soon I will have some celebrations for myself. Thank you!

5. Long Weekend - I created those racks to keep the toys for Reyansh and also changed the colours from white to Grey. It really looks nice and is so easy to assemble so we have our own version of IKEA furniture at home now especially bought from LeRoy Merlin. In total it cost me around ZAR 1500 for 2-3-4 boxes and I bought 3 colourful portable boxes which fit in these cubes which were worth R100 each. 

6. Equity Mutual Funds - The Global stocks market is something to remain careful about and it took me a lot of time to again start investing in the stock markets though through the Mutual Funds route. I bought some worth ZAR 2000 this week from a long term point of view. I need to create wealth for my kids and family so Financial and Time Freedom takes the top priority in my future days on Planet Earth. 

Always remember that your time is limited so don't spend it living someone else's life. If you think about it you only have 4000 weeks which equates to an average of 80 years of age which is also not a guarantee and I have already lived the 53% of my life till now. Considering I only have around 1400 weeks left, I need to nurture each and every week with great respect and gratitude. Thanks!

WEEK 15

Cheers!!!

Contact me at thelifesway@gmail.com to collaborate on your services and products. Subscribe to my YOUTUBE Channel for product reviews and mystery unboxings. #TheLifesWay #10YearsofTheLifesWay. Namaste!

SUNFLOWER @ZEE5India #Mystery #Comedy #SunflowerOnZEE5 #TheUncooperativeSociety

Hi Friends, 

SUNFLOWER is the latest murder mystery and comedy built into a web series on the ZEE5 Online Platform featuring Sunil Grover as Sonu Singh who lives in a society in Mumbai where murder happens and all the tenets, maids, guards etc are seemed to be the suspects for the same. Sonu is also living in one of the houses where the murder of Mr Raj Kapoor played by Ashwin Kaushal takes place. The suspects are basically Mr Ahuja played by Mukul Chadha and Sonu Singh. Mrs Ahuja is played by Radha Bhatt and the interactions between them are the most amazing part of this web series as they cover their tracks of murder as they were shown doing something which was going to kill Raj Kapoor. They had a regular fight for a number of reasons like Kapoor parking his Mercedes in Ahuja's parking lot and also Kapoor playing Table Tennis on the wall while Ahuja is making love with his wife. I think the character of Mr Ahuja whose first name is not known and the same goes for Mrs Ahuja too is more of a psychopath who sees good in scratching the car of Mr Kapoor. But the actor looks more irritated, tired and doesn't convince you as a psychopath whom you are afraid to go in front of as a Professor. Beard won't make you look and act like the Professor in Money Heist if the character is inspired by the web series. 

As it happens in so many building societies based web series or TV serials, this one also has a lot of fights and love between various tenets and owners living in the society. This one has a lot of comedy sequences where everyone has to go through some kind of interview process and admission form to stay in the society in the backdrop of the election being held for Chairman of the Sunflower Society. There are two candidates who want to stand for the same - one is our main actor Sonu Singh and another one is Dilip Iyer played by Ashish Vidyarthi. Ashish is central to the moral police they have in their society while her own daughter is not following the steps he wants her to follow. As shown in several other serials, the building will contain all kinds of tenets and they will have their own kind of behaviour and selfish intents - this web series too focussed on many of those and the age-old thinking affecting us in the modern world. It's a great direction by Vikas Bahl to retouch those small peculiarities of the society in a nice way so that people can think about the same. It's like watching Queen movie but on a different topic. 

Sonu Singh also has some hidden agenda which was showcased in the last two episodes but the conclusive end of murder is not shown as the story is left hanging for the next season if it arrives. Raj Kapoor's wife had an affair with his younger brother played by Shonali Nagrani and Arav Chowdharry. Then there are the police guys investigating the murder as DG played by Ranvir Shorey and Girish Kulkarni as Chetan Tambe. There are a lot of girls whom Sonu wants to impress in society and at his workplace too played by Saloni Khanna, Pallavi Das, Dayana Erappa, Ria Nalavade and Simran Nerurkar. 

A lot of focus is given to the day to day lifestyle of Sonu Singh where he spends a lot of time talking to tele-callers in the evening calling him for some kind of Credit card, Data SIM or various other insurance products. Basically, it's shown he doesn't have a lot of friends and talks to his mom three times a day. He orders food from various eateries especially Chinese noodles and also is fully organised. He even keeps his doormat in a certain order matching the line of the flooring. He befriends some of the girls from the office and his neighbours from the opposite door and keeps cracking these PJs from time to time. Guthi reference does come up once or twice in the show but Suni Grover is nothing unless he is accompanied by Kapil Sharma. Together they are awesome and separated they are not something people will enjoy. 

Sonu Singh as showcased in the 8 episodes is shown as a loving cute character by everyone and his good side is shown so far but there can be a real psychopath building up who loses his girlfriend due to Mr Raj Kapoor's influence as she used to work for her and he convinced her to marry someone else. Sonu follows strict principles in his day to day lifestyle and says that no sex before marriage. He is a top employee at his previous job as well as the current one at Ladies Makeup manufacturing company. The best scene is when he tries to take his trouser back from the office boy in the conference room. There are some funny moments in the story with a lot of adult angle also imbibed in the web series. Ranvir Shorey has made his character of Inspector DG interesting. Girish Kulkarni seems to be a real police guy with the mannerism he has in certain of his characters played in various web series. 

In the end, it's a combination of a lot of different stories happening in each and every person related to the Sunflower society where a murder mystery is being solved by the viewers as well as the police. There is the removal of evidence - incidental or intentional which have not followed the police protocol to come to a conclusion which is showed as Sonu Singh to be behind the murder of Mr Raj Kapoor but whether he is a murderer or not will be shown until there is a season 2 of the Sunflower on ZEE5 platform. This is something intentional that the director and Reliance Entertainment has done to its viewers as the story is not closed after 8 episodes. Watch it if you are a fan of Sunil Grover who in several scenes tries to copy Shahrukh Khan's character of Surinder Sahni from Rab Ne Bana De Jodi keeping his face shut while smiling etc. RATING - 3/5

Cheers!!!

Support me if you like reading this blog post by buying me a cup of tea or coffee - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/TheLifesWay Contact at thelifesway@gmail.com to collaborate and promote your services and products. Subscribe to my YOUTUBE Channel for giveaways, product reviews and mystery unboxings. #TheLifesWay #9YearsofTheLifesWay. Namaste!

LUPIN Season 2 @NetflixSA #Lupin #Crime #Drama #2300Post

Hi Friends, 

Lupin Second Season or the next 5 episodes were released on Netflix yesterday on 11-June-2021 and I have been waiting for the storyline to complete and eagerly people must have been wanting to see the conclusive end to Diop's revenge story. I loved watching the show but the show this time was not as engaging and everything was so clear that you could predict what's going to happen next so easily. I think it was a marketing strategy of the Netflix team to divide the show into 2 parts considering the first 5 episodes are really something worth watching and the next five are not up to the mark. 

Coming to the second season, it consists of 5 episodes where they start of the beach in France and Raoul gets kidnapped. The story of chase begins which continues for some episodes and then the next episodes bring the same old story of making a girl fool as we have seen in multiple movies via chance encounters where everything is planned. This series also focussed on the friendship between Assane and Benjamin Ferel as police and Pellegrini's men both try to catch them. Some new characters are also introduced in these episodes which doesn't leave as much impact and they seem to be fake from the start and you could predict what they are up to. 

A lot of flashbacks are shown as to when Assane Diop's character as a kid starts to do the first small robbery for someone he loves i.e. Claire and gets caught. Some scenes are showcased about his father getting recruited by Hubert Pellegrini. A lot of focus has been showcased on the voice calls and using some software to do the changes and making anyone fool using the extractor tools. Youssef Guedira is able to find Assane but unable to get hold of him along with the other police officers. He then becomes a whistleblower within his police force to catch all the participants in the murder of Diop's father. 

The second season is more about daring and less about the classic theft and using the charm as showcased in the first one. There is nothing that will inspire you out of curiosity as to how Diop will perform the next robbery but it will be something you will be able to calculate and think about by yourself. But you should definitely watch the same so as to get the conclusive end of the story. It's not something you wished for but it's something that's practical and more physical. I think the director's focus has been inconsistent as far as the second season is concerned though the trailer looked good. It always happens as when you try to close some story, you try to tie us all the loose ends and in that process sometimes you are not able to create as remarkable as season 1 was where the story was building up. 

It may happen with the other series Money Heist too as they are still building up the storyline in the last 4 seasons and the final season is divided into 2 parts which will give conclusive end needs to be checked if it matches the intelligence level of the professor or not? Meanwhile, we can definitely go and watch this one on our favourite platform of Netflix. 

RATING - 3/5

Cheers!!!

Support me if you like reading this blog post by buying me a cup of tea or coffee - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/TheLifesWay Contact at thelifesway@gmail.com to collaborate and promote your services and products. Subscribe to my YOUTUBE Channel for giveaways, product reviews and mystery unboxings. #TheLifesWay #9YearsofTheLifesWay. Namaste!

MAHARANI @SonyLiv #MaharaniOnSonyLIV #Political #Drama

Hi Friends, 

MAHARANI is one of the latest web series launched on Sony Liv Online Platform on 28-May-2021 featuring Huma Qureshi, Sohum Shah, Amit Sial, Pramod Pathak, Atul Tiwari, Vineet Kumar and various others in an action-packed Indian Political Drama featuring Bihar State as the background and its related problems based on caste and creed. It's one of the states where everyone thinks he is the Kingmaker of the government and can make or break the whole legislative assembly of the state along with a substantial amount of say in the Parliament of the Indian Government. 

The series has 10 episodes and the names of each episode come from Quotes from Sant Kabir Das and are written and created by Subhash Kapoor whom we famously know from the Jolly LLB movie series. He has captured the nuisances of the Bihar state quite well and focussed on the various problems the state faces. The timelines showcased is inspired by the real-life events when Lalu Prasad Yadav made his wife Rabri Devi the Chief Minister of the state. Huma Qureshi has acted really well and Amit Sial is the one who rises above all with his constant fight to be the state CM and trying hard missing it at every moment by a small margin. Karan Sharma is the director of the web series. 

Rani Bharti is well supported by her Secretary Kaveri Sridharan played by Kani Kasruti. There are a lot of special moments between her as she tries to teach Rani how to sign and raises her confidence and helps her along the way. Similarly, Sohum's character CM Bheema Bharti is supported by Satyendranath Mishra played by Pramod Pathak and a lot of camaraderie is being shown between them too. They grow and fall together as a team. Amit Sial played Navin Kumar a leader who is in the ruling party but leaves to join the opposition party after having some differences with CM Bheema Bharti. It's being showcased that Bheema and Navin used to be classmates in college and both come from different caste structures and Bheema winning the race to woo the Governors and other important top leaders in a better way. Underlying all the drama, there is an investigation into the Chara Ghotala or Fodder Scam being led by Parvez Alam played by Inaalmulhuq. 

Some funny characters are also introduced in the series played by Vineet Kumar as Gauri Shankar Pandey and Mohammad Aashiq Hussain as Prem Kumar Chaubey. There was no need for the Baba or Ashram kind in the later part of the series which seems out of place as the character didn't get enough build-up and we have already seen a great performance of Bobby Deol so this was looking all fake and not required. Just to complete the background story it is introduced and I think it could have been omitted by the editor or could be shown as some other politician negotiating the deals out of all the kingmakers. 

It's a story of a housewife coming out of age and taking the top position of Chief Minister of the state and then learning the ropes of the trade despite her limited education. She follows her heart and takes all decisions towards correcting the wrong into right and making bold decisions along the way. She goes against what society thinks about her and creates a path that is rightful in her own mind despite fighting an internal battle of wife, mother, power, fame and continues to take responsibility towards the poor and needy of the state. The best thing is they didn't try to copy-paste the setup completely from real-life events and the oratory style of Shri Lalu Prasad Yadav which really brings in the director's unique way and style of storytelling. 

It's really something you can binge-watch as you would want to know more about the state, how a homemaker entered the politics and took the charge of things in her hands and learned her way to really deserve the top spot and remain there for a long time. Some of the scenes showcased are really difficult to digest between the Naxalites vanishing the whole village to prove a point to the government and the political parties supporting their activities by providing them money and ammunition. Also, as told earlier in Politics there are no relationships of blood but of loyalty to the chair and the kingmaker controls the whole money and fame game so here there is a big twist that will keep you engaged in the background story in the last two episodes. Overall, it's a must-visit show on Sony Liv and I totally loved watching the same after another one on the platform named Scam 1992. There are a lot of dialogues but the best I remember is ''Haathi chale bazaar aur kutta bhaunke hazaar'' meaning Elephant walking to the market and thousands of dogs barking at him. 

RATING 4/5

Cheers!!!

Support me if you like reading this blog post by buying me a cup of tea or coffee - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/TheLifesWay Contact at thelifesway@gmail.com to collaborate and promote your services and products. Subscribe to my YOUTUBE Channel for giveaways, product reviews and mystery unboxings. #TheLifesWay #9YearsofTheLifesWay. Namaste!

LUPIN Season 1 @NetflixSA #Lupin #Crime #Thriller

 Hi Friends, 

LUPIN caught my attention due to the Louvre museum and the theft happening around the same and I was missing the Money Heist so thought of watching the same. They also showed Monalisa painting on the show in one of the scenes inside the Louvre. I also saw that this was only 5 episodes long so thought it will be finished soon but little did I know that the story won't end in the first 5 episodes and I will have to wait for 11th June 2021 for the second season to watch the next 5 episodes. Also came to know that the third season is also in the making considering its huge success after the first season came out in the French Language first in Jan 2021. 

You will definitely fall in the love with the main lead character played by Omar Sy and the story from the famous novels Master Thief named Arsene Lupin which is a character created by Maurice Leblanc. The novel even was compared with the Sherlock Holmes trying to find Lupin in one of their novels is what I could gather from the material available on the internet. I am definitely going to go through the English version of the books. For the time being, I am reading the Complete Adventures of Feluda by Satyajit Ray which is printed by Penguin Books. 

The whole series is shot from flashbacks to the present moments and keeps you glued to your seats. The characters are nicely developed during the first 5 episodes and it all starts with the guy trying to find the real reason behind his father's death who was framed for the theft of an expensive diamond necklace. The main lead is Assane Diop which has his unique way of living his life despite all the bad happening around him. He tries to master the book on Arsene Lupin gifted to him by his father on his birthday just before his death. He secretly imbibes all the characteristics, behaviour and thinking pattern of the master thief from all the books written on him. He starts living his life as a gentleman and develops a charismatic personality and is being helped to gain the right education from a secret person providing for all his expenses to go to a good school after being an orphan. Meanwhile, it's shown that he does a lot of robberies as a con man fooling the whole people around Paris and making a living out of the same. Then came a time after the initial 25 years, when he starts to plan for an act of revenge as he is able to decode the last letter from his father where he gets a confirmation that his death is a forced murder rather than a suicide. The story starts building up from there and the first episode keeps you glued as there is a theft involved while some parts of the other episodes throw some light on his childhood and other parts of life to date. 

I really loved watching the whole series but the first episode is much more fast-paced as the diamond necklace is stolen once again as compared to the later parts of the episodes where the whole process is explained and then again the story starts picking up speed from time to time as the main protagonist picks up several clues about his late father and similarly slows down too as the main character always stays in control and one step ahead of the police and other parties i.e. Pellegrini family who is behind the death. This keeps on happening until the final episode where he is taken aback as his son gets kidnapped and the viewers are left wanting for more action and mystery to be disclosed. Definitely worth your time on a weekend or if you want to wait till 11th June 2021, you can binge-watch the whole 10 episodes then on Netflix South Africa. Till that time -  keep reading and stay safe! RATING 4.5/5

Cheers!!!

Support me if you like reading this blog post by buying me a cup of tea or coffee - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/TheLifesWay Contact at thelifesway@gmail.com to collaborate and promote your services and products. Subscribe to my YOUTUBE Channel for giveaways, product reviews and mystery unboxings. #TheLifesWay #9YearsofTheLifesWay. Namaste!

BETAAL @NetflixSA #WebSeries #Horror #Thriller

Hi Friends, 

Netflix launched another original web series in the Hindi language on 24th May 2020 and I binge-watched the 4 episodes released yesterday for around 3 hours in total. Betaal is a horror-drama from the house of Red Chillies Entertainment in collaboration with Blumhouse Production and SK Global Entertainment. The web series is directed by Patrick Graham and Nikhil Mahajan. The web series stars Vineet Kumar Singh, Aahana Kumra, Suchitra Pillai, Ankur Vikal, Manjiri Pupala, and Jitendra Joshi in prominent roles.

Betaal is about an old curse on a tunnel where the villagers protect the tunnel and government wants to connect the tunnel to the main highway. A fictional police force by the name of CIPD (Counter Insurgency Police Division) is called to stand against the assumed Naxalites protestors and the villagers are removed by force and their homes burnt. A tribal woman Puniya played by Manjiri Pupala lives to tell the story of the curse on the Betaal mountains. All other characters play some of the ranks in the CIPD namely Vineet (Vikram Sirohi), Aahana (DC Ahluwalia), and others all reporting to Suchitra (Commandant Tyagi). The actors and their body languages look totally fictional to make you convince as they belong to some kinds of force or uniform. That thing becomes visible by the look Vikram has on his face when he says bye to his boss Commandant Tyagi. It's basically a force without any brains whatsoever till the end of episode 4.

The story continues as they dug the tunnel and when some of the workers go inside without their JCBs or any kind of big lights, the already fully built tunnel, they don't come back and then the force goes and some come back infected. Again the main lead of the show Vikram goes inside to see that these are British Raj Military soldiers turned into zombies which he doesn't agree to while Commandant Tyagi is now fully controlled by the head of Zombies Colonel Lynedoch played by Richard Dillane. A lot of superstitions are showcased as Zombies won't be able to run past the Haldi-ash-salt lines but they can fire with their guns, play drums and even fly. Their bullets can also infect the people whom it hits. That's zombies on the next level but they all look kind of IT movie eyes but in red color and look really clown-like. In one sequence they say that all zombies have one eye, one instruction, one mind, and one order but they completely miss the chase when Aahana turns into a zombie and sees the 5 remaining characters running towards the village without getting any support from the other thousand zombies.

The dialogues are totally crap too where one soldier whole firing at British zombies says that this is for Jallianwala Bagh and this is for Bhagat Singh if only revenge and crime such as those will give some peace to the hearts of Indians by killing already dead British soldiers. More logic comes, when they get surrounded by a lot of British zombies so a guy said that he used to be a brilliant student before turning personal assistant and can repair anything and there was a canon by which they then kill the whole range of zombies in the room. Despite killing so many zombies, the dead forces keep on coming as if the mountain holds an unlimited supply of headcounts. The CIPD tries to save themselves and enter the British barracks where Jitendra Joshi (Ajay Mudhalvan) finds the diary of Colonel Lynedoch where he finds that he wants the sacrifice of his daughter Sanvi (Syna Anand) and tries to trade her in.

Overall, the horror audio is nice but not that spicy which will bring you to tremble in fear, and the overall performance of all the artists is just average. None other than Suchitra Pillay and Aahana looked somewhat convincing as the CIPD force. The only shrill that brings you is the mysterious character of village girl Puniya (Manjiri Pupala) as the story slowly unfolds. Vineet has acted just like he acted in Saandh ki Aankh with so much of heart in a force that is totally in the hands of politicians and whosoever pays them as they start to crack and break hierarchy just in the first few minutes of under pressure inside the barracks. In the end, web series making is not the game for everyone and you should not watch all of them until and unless they become super hit by word of mouth. Red Chillies has not been able to convince us with this one also after the Bard of Blood extravaganza. The story did have potential with all the right kinds of mysterious zombies and a storyline of the British Raj but the execution, acting, and production really beat the whole context. RATING 1.5/5

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. Namaste!

#TheLifesWayReviews Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan Season 1 @PrimeVideoIN #JackRyan #Thriller

Hi Friends, 

My wife motivated me to watch this amazing Crime, Thriller, and Espionage kind of series on Amazon Prime Video and man I totally loved Season 1 where Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan tries to find this imaginative criminal named Suleiman. The series has 8 episodes and was released on 31st August 2018 so it's been there for a while. I earlier watched the movie on my flight from India to Johannesburg but didn't find it much interesting so I had an opinion about this web series without giving it any other chance. So are our perceptions built on first impressions and it takes a lifetime to break them too. 

Dr. Jack Ryan is played by John Krasinski who is a Financial Analyst in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and a Marine Veteran earlier deployed in Afghanistan. The man not only looks great in this season but well built too. More reading told me that he is married to Emily Blunt and they were together in the movie A Quiet Place and also Director, Writer, and Producers. His strong personality is showcased greatly in the movie along with his conviction and self faith on truth and what's best for the greater good. 

Jack reports to his boss James Greer at T-FAD played by Wendell Pierce and together they go on a journey showcased for the viewers as they get glued on the edge of their seats. The first season is totally worthy of binge-watching and I spent my weekend on the same starting on Friday night and the first season ended by lunchtime on Saturday. Ali Suliman plays Mousa bin Suleiman and Dina Shihabi plays his wife role of Hanin Ali. Abbie Cornish plays the love interest of Dr. Jack Ryan as Dr. Cathy Muller. The chemistry between them is totally worth watching and keeps you engaged throughout the series as it slowly unfolds. Haaz Sleiman plays the younger brother of Suleiman along with several other artists who have played their part really well in the series. 

The story takes you on the life-changing events as Jack Ryan finds himself in action once again after a job behind a desk analyzing the financial transactions and overcoming his past inhibitions and the ability to speak up even in front of the POTUS for what he thinks is right. Go on the journey of how a series of financial transactions can lead to finding the location of the terrorists and what they are planning next? The overall acting and action mix together to create an enigma which audience will enjoy and the storyline never becomes tiring to watch. The events keep on happening in all the 8 episodes which makes you watch from one episode to another and you will definitely enjoy this thrilling ride of Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan in Season 1. RATING 4/5

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. Namaste!

#TheLifesWayReviews Panchayat @PrimeVideoIN #PanchayatOnPrime #Comedy #Drama

Hi Friends, 

Panchayat is a web series on Amazon Prime Video and I was waiting for the same but somehow got delayed to see the same as my family was busy using the TV for a long time and then I had to see the same on my laptop. I totally loved watching the series because of the acting of Jitendra Kumar, Raghubir Yadav, and Chandan Roy day to day workings of Panchayat Office in a remote village of Phulera, Uttar Pradesh, India. Neena Gupta, Faisal Malik, and Biswapati Sarkar play another important role in this web series. Each episode follows a new challenge thrown to Abhishek as a Gram Sachiv and its a roller coaster ride. 

The story revolves around Abhishek Tripathi played by Jitendra who completes his engineering exams and take up a job as an Office Secretary for Panchayat Office working for the village Pradhan Manju Devi (Neena Gupta) but the whole decision making is done by her husband or Pradhan Pati Brij Bhushan Dubey (Raghubir Yadav) who also gets a verbal beating from his wife from time to time on many of his decisions and actions. The chemistry between them reminds me of Mungeri Lal Ke Haseen Sapne TV serials where Raghubir Yadav plays a similar role with Ruma Ghosh as his wife. Neena Gupta gets her share of acting in the last 2-3 episodes primarily and what a performance! 

Abhishek characters take inspiration and advice from his best friend Prateek who works in a corporate sector and at various times he is the person behind many troubles Abhishek faces in these 8 episodes on Amazon Prime Video. As he continues to fight the system along with the personal challenges of staying in a village and how he adapts and learns about the same forms this situational comedy web series. He also starts preparing for MBA CAT exams and faces many troubles which he overcomes. Vikas (Chandan Roy) working as Assistant in the Panchayat office compliments Abhishek and helps him from time to time and brings in a lot of fun and laughter to the show by his cuteness and honesty. The camaraderie between the main characters is what's best portrayed in this series and the scene where they are challenged by nearby town goons and four of them go and beat them up. 

The web series is written by Chandan Kumar and Directed by Deepak Kumar Mishra and produced by TVF (The Viral Fever) who has created around 20 more youtube and web series since 2010. Panchayat is their 21st venture streaming now on to the Amazon Prime Video platform and what a lovely series they made. The overall web series is really hopeful and all the characters fit perfectly well and the series opens up for a second season to look forward to as the last episodes come with a beautiful mystery character. Go watch it this weekend! 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 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 Paatal Lok @PrimeVideoIN #PaatalLok #Crime #Thriller

Hi Friends,

Paatal Lok was launched on Amazon Prime Video in India on 15th May 2020 and the very first day I binge-watched the whole series and really could not sleep after watching the same. The crime drama is worthy of your time for the superb acting performance of Jaideep Ahlawat as Hathiram Chaudhary who plays a Delhi Police Inspector and assigned the task of an investigation into the assassination attempt of a News Journalist named Sanjeev Mehra played by Neeraj Kabi. Just like his other characters in several web series Neeraj will have an extramarital affair with another reporter played by Niharika Lyra Dutt as Sara Matthews and the various equations between them till the end of the ninth episode. Ishwak Singh played the role of Sub-Inspector Imran Ansari beautifully and totally supports Hathiram in all his endeavors despite some of the comments marked by his colleagues from time to time on his religion. 

The web series goes into finding the flashback stories of all the four accused persons and how they became what they are and how they are joined together to do this assassination attempt. The web series is really real and raw in terms of the story outlined and showcased. I don't think any other web series has shown so much cruelty and real-life truth that is happening to the oppressed in various communities in various states of India on the name of caste, creed, and religion. I am still not able to take this out of my mind as to how politicians and people in power play with the lives of everyone around them. The dual-edged sword of media is showcased really well as they play with the sentiments of the accused and the victims from time to time for their benefits. Abhishek Banerjee has played the role of Hathoda Tyagi one of the main criminals and didn't have much to do other than showcasing some anger with his eyes. The others are forgettable and only their stories are being showcased using some other character artists. 

Gul Panag plays the wife of Hathiram and mother of Siddharth Chaudhary played by Bodhisattva Sharma but couldn't do any justice to her role. She doesn't seem convincing as a Haryanvi wife of Hathi Ram. Swastika Mukherjee plays the role of Sanjeev Mehra's wife Dolly and does her part well as she suffers from anxiety and depression. The web series has 9 episodes at an average length of 45 minutes each and took me around 6 hours to watch the same. I was too tired by episode 8 but carried on as I didn't want to watch it the next day and slept at 1am in the night.  

I don't think this is a mythological web series like ASUR as here the topic is just referred in 2-3 scenes and dialogues just to represent the events and attaching them to astrology and devils. It's just referred to do justice to the chosen name of the web series though I agree that Planet Earth is the place where heaven, hell and all other in-between places exist. The flashback stories of the criminals are really powerful and it is difficult to see those sequences. The web series has touched various topics behind all these crimes - the fight for land led to the rape, the fight for respect led to the murder, the fight for voice led to the backstabbing, the fight for love led to a place where you will be jailed for life.

The web series is produced by Clean State Films whose owner is a famous Bollywood actress Anushka Sharma and directed by Avinash Arun and Prosit Roy. The story is written by Sudip Sharma, Sagar Haveli, Hardik Mehta, and Gunjit Chopra. They have showcased the three states especially UP, Punjab, and Delhi where it all happens. Overall this web series requires courage to see the same but can be seen just for the acting of Jaideep and Ishwak and their camaraderie as they try to find the past of the criminals and above all the man behind this overall scheme of things. The chase from one end to another - one background to another - one state to another is really what will keep you glued to your seats in this Police-based crime thriller with various angles added and removed in the overall schemes of things. 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 ASUR #YourDarkSide @VootSelect #AsurOnVoot #Crime

Hi Friends,

I watched ASUR on VootSelect in a single day and totally loved the story intertwined just like reading one of the Amish Tripathi or Ashwin Sanghi's novel combined with James Patterson serial killer novels. ASUR brings Arshad Warsi on the video on demand platform web series for the first time and what an amazing comeback as he brings his powerful performance as a Senior Forensic Expert Dhananjay Rajput (DJ) in CBI. Also worth mentioning is the amazing background music this web series has which not only brings focus but also a thrill in your heart while the crimes are being committed by the serial killer.

The way the storyline mixes Indian Mythology with the present-day technologies along with the serial killer on the run makes this a worthy binge watch. You will be taken back to the ghats of Benaras and to the Hindu scriptures about the origins of Sura and Asura. All these are then connected with the astrology and chemistry setting up the plot for the serial killings which are done at separate locations in India. Season 1 consists of 8 episodes totaling 5 hours 43 minutes at an average length of 43 minutes per episode.

Barun Sobti plays another Forensic Expert Nikhil Nair who has a family in the USA working for CBI earlier and joining the FBI and then becoming a University Professor for the last 7 years or so. His wife's role is played by Anupriya Goenka which is one of my favorite heroines. To be frank I was searching for all her TV and web serials when I found this one and thought of watching the same seeing Arshad Warsi in the main role. I think I am attracted to her screen presence in various movies and web series. Ridhi Dogra also plays an important character as Nusrat Saeed also working for CBI along with Sharib Hashmi who plays a Police Inspector assisting CBI.

The storyline starts with the crime locations sent to Nikhil in the USA which he then forwards to someone at CBI and a third crime is showcased in full in the first episode of the series. DJ maps the crime with the earlier done crimes and comes to the conclusion that it's done by the same person making it a serial killing. Nikhil leaves his family and job in the states and comes back and joins the DJ on this mission to find the criminal and in the same episode found that the evidence points to DJ as the criminal behind the third murder. DJ is sent to Jail and in the very next episode, Nikhil gets kidnapped by the serial killer making him work for the serial killer to kill other victims and finding strategies to do the same. Now DJ has to work from inside the jail to work on the case and save Nikhil. How DJ and Nikhil communicate with each other and how the flashback brings the history into their own lives is what ASUR - Your Dark Side is based on?

This series will keep you on the edge of your seats and if you love mythology you will enjoy the series very much with power-packed performances from all the main characters especially Arshad, Barun, Sharib, Anupriya, Ridhi, and Vishesh Bansal as Shubh a highly intelligent priest on the Banaras Ghats. I do love reading novels based on mythology written by various Indian writers and this web series brought back all those memories of Amish, Ashwin, and various other writer's famous novels. Do watch it asap but currently, Voot is only available in India, and in the end, you will want more as the story doesn't end at Season 1 with much more unanswered questions flickering in your mind just like Stree or Andhadhun movies from the last year. 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!