BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S ( HOLLYWOOD ROMANTIC COMEDY)

Starring: Audrey Hepburn & George Peppard. Produced by Martin Jurow and Richard Shepherd. Music by Henry Mancini, Screenplay George Axelrod. Directed by Blake Edwards

Genre : Romantic Comedy

Storyline: Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn) was a aspiring and hyperactive social escort girl who left her husband ending her child marriage in search of wealth and fame to support herself and her brother Fred, working in Army. Her long cherished wish was to buy something at Tiffany’s, an up-market jewellery store in New York. She tries to get into relationship with rich men of USA always and in the meanwhile be-friends her neighbor, Paul Vajrack (George Peppard) a small time writer. Paul falls in love with Holly but Holly never accepts the same due to her long cherished wish of becoming rich. She fails in all her attempts to hotfoot rich men and finally gets into a drug racket unknowingly due to which her sure shot marriage with a rich Brazilian falls apart. Just then even her brother Fred dies in an accident. The movie ends with a happy note when Paul explains her that the path she chose to become rich was wrong and would finally end up nowhere. She then realizes her mistake and accepts Paul’s love after she was left with no-one in the world.

Pros:  One of the best Classics of the 1960’s which brought name and fame to this Hollywood actress from Belgium. The shy and introvert actress in real life shows her real talent with her eccentric performance that can be remembered for a long time. The Director was quite successful in portraying the truth of anyone not being successful through short cut methods, through this beautiful story. I liked the way the actress’s emotions were shown in the climax rain scene in the car when Paul reads out the letter from her Brazilian fiancée and he makes her understand everyone belong to each other and no matter wherever she runs, she would finally end up in her own cage and that’s ‘nowhere’. That’s how she rediscovers herself and runs back to Paul. Loved the way Holy’s life was compared to that of her cat in the end, both having no meaning to their lives, without belonging to someone who love them. Music and Screenplay were one of the best anyone could experience, in this movie.

Cons: There were many speculations about Holly’s role as a Call Girl or Social Woman. Her choice of path after breaking her marriage in this film was not accepted by many of her fans worldwide. Though there were many instances where her role was portrayed as a ‘call girl’, it was always shown as narrow escapes from such highly objectionable sexual encounters, in those days.  But I would like to ask the author as to what’s the real character of Holly? Was it a ‘sense of insecurity’ or ‘inferiority complex’ that drove her behavior?

My rating is 4.25 out of 5

Love, Fate and Afghanistan by Tony Thomson

“Afghanistan is not a country in our sense : It is an attitude, a collection of ethnic groups with powerful shared customs and a feeling of being Afghan in some general way but with no willingness to sacrifice local or ethnic interests to higher national goals”

This is the best quote from the book written by Tony Thomson, majorly a travelogue than a book by itself. His passion in 1971 to travel from London to India and re-discover himself from an aimless life and career, made him journey through Austria, Yugoslavia, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan and finally India. And this entire journey in a pre-used Volkswagon alongwith a couple of female counterparts who share the same passion, though for a different reason. During the journey he experienced different lands with equally different people, cultures, historic monuments, landscapes, food habits, dressing, climatic conditions and ofcourse living patterns. Primarily, the author seemed to have taken more interest and love towards Afghanistan more than any other country he visited. Reason behind which he visited the country again in 2009 nearly after 38 years of his first visit. He seems to have been spell bound by the way this country, popularly known as ‘Graveyard of Empires’  withstood the onslaught of many invasions and widespread looting but never succumbed to any of the World’s greatest invaders, even Alexander the Great. I loved the way the transformation of Afghanistan from way back in 1971 to 2009 was clearly elicited explaining each and every aspect about the country’s culture, politics and economy.

Pros : A fine travelogue for a passionate traveler who loves to travel long distances, enduring the hardships of tiresome journey by road. One can find some astonishing facts recorded from ground zero about the historical aspects across Turkey, Iran, and Afghanistan. Getting to know the minutest details about every place one visits in his/her journey and recording them for future generations is one of the best and most important quality of a good travel writer. Loved the way some humor was included inbetween to lighten the mood of the reader. The author could also sync his love story and marriage inbetween this travelogue which added flavor to the reading. The title well suits the book wherein Love and Afghanistan is the main course and rest are starters with desserts !

Cons: The hard facts of criticism when it came to India and its lifestyle was a little objectionable as I don’t think India was so bad as it was described here. The author’s knowledge about the Indian subcontinent and its rich heritage dating back to Indus Valley Civilization seems to be limited and it reflects only on the few places he visited in a hurry. The author’s sudden return back to Cleveland for his cousin’s marriage during his first visit could have blocked his further insights into the better parts of the sub-continent’s historic glory.

My rating is 2.5 out of 5