[#Fashion] The Tilting Heads Phenomenon: Why Women Tilt Their Heads in Photos and Selfies

The latest fashion trend amongst women is an interesting tilt – women are increasingly seen tilting their heads sideways while taking photographs or selfies. It seems the conventional pose of facing the camera straight has been left for the bewildered men while women have started tilting their heads at varying degrees and looking at the camera in some mischievous ways which others can’t understand at all. Men are totally baffled about what has gotten into the female head. They could understand the ‘duck face’ as well as the ‘fish pout’ but now these tilting faces? It does not make any sense at all!

I tried to read what others think about it. Majority of observers say that it is just a body language which sends out a message of being ‘non-threatening’. But I think this is an 18^th century explanation to a 21^st century phenomenon. If women needed to indicate ‘non-threatening’ sign this way, they would have invented the ‘tilting head’ pose hundreds of years ago. Why wait for the Selfie cameras to arrive? Also, who are the girls sending ‘non-threatening’ signs to while they tilt heads in ‘selfies’?

When we tilt our head, it naturally makes our face appear leaner. So can this ‘tilting head’ phenomenon be attributed to a cover-up act by those with round faces which in turn indicates a ‘healthier’ person? (Btw, in the world of fashion, looking ‘healthy’ is a sin. To fit into those latest dresses, you need to appear a bit sick to get closer to your skeleton which is ‘size-zero’. When your mother or grand-mother starts worrying about your health you can be assured that your friends and peers would have started envying you.)

I used to believe in above theory until I saw my nephew. He is a cute little angel but when he appears in a photograph he tilts his head at one side and gives an expression of immense love and affection. Learning from his pose I came to conclusion about why women would tilt their heads. They think that the ‘tilting head with a smiling face’ pose sends out love and affection! But then why didn’t women of previous generation invent this pose? May be because they were too conventional – and looking straight in camera is a conventional pose.

For women of previous generation, the most important priority of life was to appear and lead life of a ‘good woman’. And hence even a slight tilt of head could be seen as digression and better be avoided. Women of this generation are least bothered about what others think of them while most bothered about how they are looking (which may appear ironical but it is not).

We can also look at it this way. Once upon a time, women lived under strict discipline and kept their heads ‘low’. Then came a generation of well-educated career women who kept their heads ‘straight’. And now comes a generation of women spoilt with choices like never before and hence they are tilting their heads ‘sideways’.

In the end, I think the most convincing answer would be – it is just a stupid craze. That is what most fashion trends are. After a while women would get bored tilting heads and they would start looking straight again. And then life would be simple again for some time.

- Rahul

[#Movies] Sarkar 3

There have been hundreds of gangster movies in the past and what new could the latest addition to the Sarkar Trilogy bring? And that is where Ram Gopal Varma and Amitabh Bachchan prove our doubts unfounded and have brought together another fine movie having all the brilliance of a thriller.

Sarkar series is our own Godfather series. Our Subhash Nagre has perhaps got more shades in his character than the legendary Vito Corleone had got. In Sarkar 3, Amitabh has become even more intense. Being the master patriarch and hero of the masses is not an easy job and it asks for sacrifices and subjects one to innumerable pain. Can a Don be as sensitive as Subhash Nagre is? Could a Don feel the pain of the poor mother who lost her child in a bomb blast, or goes through mourning because of some event in the city? Even Don Vito Corleone cared - but I doubt if he actually felt pain in the same manner as our "human" Don Subhash Nagar does. And that is perhaps the beauty of having come from the city of Mumbai.

Amitabh Bachchan has also sung one "Ganpati Aarti" in this movie and how brilliant it has become! It can be compared to Agnipath song "Deva Shree Ganesha" but is notch higher since Amitabh Bachchan is its singer.

One very interesting aspect of the movie is how brilliant other characters have also been in it. Ronit Roy as Gokul is as intense as Ajay Devgn used to be in some of his most brilliant movies and has proven him as one gem of a an actor. Manoj Bajpayee as Govind Deshpande, a sly politician reminds us of Rajneeti. And how about Jackie Shroff - a legend in himself? He has grown old but his charisma is still intact. There will never be another Jackie Shroff in Bollywood. Amit Sadh as Subhash Nagre's grand son is also brilliant - and this may be his one of the best acts. Yami Gautam as Amit's girlfriend is in a very different role from what she does, but she has done it very well. Another interesting character is Parag Tyagi as Raman - Ronit's mute brother. He should have joined WWE fighting with this Physique!

The best thing about Sarkar 3 is that it surprises you and keeps you guessing all through it and till the very end. Such brilliance is not often seen. The plot is balanced on its emotional quotient as well as has spirits of a crime thriller. The movie avoids showing graphic details of crime scenes and that is a welcome change. There are a lot of brilliant dialogues in it and there are several scenes which are acted just by eyes and expressions without any word spoken. Nothing about it is mundane. The coordination between camera, actors' expressions and the environment is just brilliant.

Sarkar 3 is another gem from the Sarkar series - perhaps even a notch better than the earlier ones.

- Rahul

[#Fashion] Thick Rimmed Geeky Glasses

So everyone is wearing "Thick (Black) Rimmed Glasses" these days. These are certainly the ongoing fashion trend. These glasses give a "Geek Look". And being "geek" is once again cool thanks to these glasses. Think of Satya Nadella - apart from his bald head what comes to your mind first when you remember him? Thick rimmed glasses! This is the revenge of the geeks.

I got my glasses when I reached high school. Studying long hours in the night under lamps and lanterns at home would naturally strain the eyes. But even without my brown carbon frame glasses I would have a serious "studious" look. But in the 80s when the air was pure and kids did not go to playschools, young folks seldom had glasses; and hence my specs created a buzz. So once I heard a friend talking to another - "I am also going to the Optical Shop tomorrow and I will also get one such carbon frame made for me - but with normal glass since my eye sight is alright". And guess what - in due course he indeed started wearing glasses! So much for the fake studious "look"?

Except these insecure kids who wanted to look geeky by wearing glasses, initially glasses were seen as unwanted burden. Look at our virtual heroes - from Super Man to Iron Man to Shaktiman to Rahul Gandhi - none of them wear any glasses at all, forget about wearing geeky glasses. Think of Salman, Hrithik, Ranveer or Ranbir - no one wears glasses. Hence the trend moved from carbon frame to slender silver /golden /titanium frames to half-frames and then to the "frame-less". The idea was to make the glasses subtle or unnoticeable. But then fashion trends move on a circle. And my friend who donned fake geeky glasses would have reached the corporate world and perhaps became insecure again and decided to do something about it.

The idea of black/brown thick rimmed glasses is to make those prominent and noticeable. These glasses would be the first thing to make an impression once you look at a person. Hence these glasses are also good for people with no natural facial feature being better than these specs; unless if you are Satya Nadella who has got his splendid shaven head. These thick glasses are also good for people of all types of complexions - whether light, dark or 'pimpled'. No wonder the trend is catching everyone like a flu!

The basic psychology behind these glasses is still amusing. Everyone wearing such glasses does not become geeky and intellectual just by the very act. But if wearing these gives them the self confidence and comfort which they seek, then what is wrong in it? Are not most other fashion trends from wearing high-heels to eye liners to keeping beards and wearing male-bracelets and getting tattoos of lions and tigers on our skin - all about trying to appear what we are not deep inside?

True intellectuals like Salman Rushdie, Arun Jaitley or Urjit Patel still do not wear such glasses. But then these are not men known for their fashion sense. And real fashion is not about being honest; it is always about being differentiated and confusing.

I still have no plans to wear these thick glasses. But not everyone is as self-content and unfashionable like me. And hence we shall have more people wearing these glasses in coming days, until one day when someone will recycle the trend of half-frame and no-frame glasses again.

- Rahul N. Tiwary