[HerStory Recommends] Read Manisha Koirala’s moving account of battling cancer in Healed, and enjoy the return of Grace and Frankie – our top picks of the week
In HerStoryRecommends this week, we bring to you a heartwarming read of actor Manisha Koirala’s battle with cancer in Healed, and supernatural mystery with the Malayalam movie, 9.
Battling cancer, head-on
Cancer is hard on everyone, more so for celebrities as it puts them in the spotlight and makes them vulnerable because of all the attention, especially on social media. When actor Manisha Koirala was diagnosed with ovarian cancer six years ago, she was shattered. The cover of her book, Healed – How Cancer Gave Me A New Life, explains this emotion well. She writes, “The fear of being abandoned had chased me all my life. This fear, however, was unlike anything I had experienced before. It was the fear of being abandoned by life itself.” The book is powerful, moving and a deeply personal account of the actor’s battle with cancer where she traces the journey from diagnosis to being cancer-free after six years. This story is also one marked by apprehensions, disappointments, and uncertainties – and the lessons she learnt along the way. It also talks of faith and hope and conquering fear, emerging alive and victorious.
They are back!
The mad hatters are back! At least one of them is slightly level-headed than the other, but together they make you laugh, cry and tear your hair out, at one time or the other. We are talking of Grace Hanson and Frankie Bergstein’s return in the highly-anticipated Season 5 of Grace and Frankie. The retired business mogul and the hippie art teacher whose lives are torn asunder when their spouses reveal they are gay and in a relationship with each other go through many ups and downs before becoming a formidable pair. In the new season, the duo run away from the retirement community to return to their former beach house to find that an anonymous celebrity is the new owner. They try hard to convince the precocious assistant to let them stay. It turns out the anonymous celebrity is a pop star named Kareena G. There are hilarious moments throughout the series like when Frankie attempts and also convinces others to cross a sidewalk so that they can get more time… and she can reach the snow crab buffet… Frankie’s spunk and Grace’s alternating emotions make this season a must-watch like all the others. Go on, binge!
(Grace & Frankie Season 5, now streaming on Netflix)
The power of nine
I haven’t keenly followed Malayalam cinema lately, but this one definitely caught my attention. Claimed to be the industry’s first science-fiction film, 9 stars Prithviraj as Albert Lewis, an astrophysicist who must fight supernatural powers at play to rescue his son, Adam. When science and mystery come together, it can make for a compelling story. Which here rests on nine days during which a red comet passes over Earth, and the entire humanity loses electricity. Albert announces that it’s time to be human again. Or is it? What dangers lurk behind this mystical phenomenon? How does it affect Albert and Adam? This forms the crux of the movie as it plays out amidst a background of ominous colours, strange characters and diverse themes. Watch it for the incredible “newness” in theme and some great acting.
(9 running in theatres now)
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