Bollywood's Version of An Affair To Remember

Mann is a delightful movie. It stars Aamir Khan who is a really good actor. If you like An Affair to Remember, this movie has all the right moments for you. The opening is a bit different, as our womanizer (Aamir) is shown to really be a womanizer. It does not endear you to him at all. However, it turns out these extra scenes help fill out the character so that when he figures out he is in love, it is a deeply movement moment.

This is Bollywood so there are songs and some dancing. All delightful. The scene where they meet the grandmother was spot on. And when I say spot on, I mean that literally, it could have been the same set. The grandmother even looked the same. My favorite parts where with the grandmother. She doesn't promise a shawl, she promises anklets, which become all the more important at the end because our female isn't just paralyzed, she has lost both her legs. (And no, I don't consider that a spoiler, because if you haven't seen An Affair to Remember, you shouldn't be reading this at all.) Anyway, when Aamir tries to put the anklet on, that is when he realizes who she is.

The movie translates well into Bollywood. They plan to meet at the Gateway to India for instance. However, I have to say, the ending wasn't as powerful as the one between Grant and Kerr, mostly because Manisha, who plays Kerr's character, while she is delightful in the rest of the movie, just doesn't play this in as satisfying a way as Kerr did. Also, the dialogue transitions to Aamir asking her why she didn't show up, rather than the way Grant's dialogue goes on for a while where he is talking about how he didn't show up. What I did like is that after the climatic scene, they show their wedding and that scene makes up for the lack of emotion in the climatic scene.  I did expect to cry more at the end than I did. But I still completely enjoyed the movie.

If you like An Affair to remember and Bollywood movies, this is a remake worth watching.

An important history for the freethought movement

I really enjoyed John Emerson Roberts: Kansas City's ''Up-to-date'': Freethought Preacher . It follows the life of John Emerson Roberts, who was a Freethought preacher in Kansas who also spent time in Chicago. I am active in the freethought movement being a Humanist and having worked for a Humanist organization. I am well aware of the problems our movement has with respectability, infighting and more.

What was interesting about this book was to find out that these are the same problems the freethought movement had back in the late 1800s early 1900s. It's depressing to think we haven't progressed since that time. This movement is still largely a movement of intellectuals.

What I did find really cool was that there were several freethought preachers giving regular services in the major cities. At one point Chicago had 3 freethought preachers who you could get a lecture from on a weekly basis. We don't have that anymore, but I think it is definitely needed. The only group I can think of is the North Texas Church of Freethought.

I think the reason these freethought churches" died out is because they were largely totally dependent on the preacher. When they weren't available, there were no replacement for lectures. As we move forward, we need to ensure our communities have an ample supply of speakers and "preachers" so that our communities don't die when the leader does.

On a personal note, my family was involved in the freethought community of Chicago so when the story takes John Roberts to Chicago, I kept thinking about the fact that my relatives probably had gone to see him preach, or they had been involved with one of his competitors. That was neat.

All in all a very enjoyable read and I really think that anyone who is active in the secular community would benefit from reading this book because of just how important it is to understand our history as a movement. A lot of people are under the impression this is a new movement, but it isn't. We have a history and we should learn it so that we can build upon that history instead of reinventing the same history and making the same mistakes.