PREDICTIONS FOR JAN 2017

BY NANCY JADE ALTHEA

ARIES March 21-April 19

Things have been a little unsettled for you of late. The cards are indicating a time when you will be trying to sort out matters from the past. There will be some f inancial issues to organise and there will be new opportunities to bring in funds. There will be some unsettling discussions around family relationships. Try to keep calm and positive. You will be thinking of moving to another area, and will be making plans for the coming months.

TAURUS April 20 - May 20

This month you will be looking at new opportunities and making plans to climb higher up the corporate ladder. The cards are indicating a time when you will be concentrating on finances your career and progression. Romantically, you will be wanting movement within a relationship or someone you like. You will plan a holiday and there will be some good news regarding tests you have had recently. There will be a great feeling of energy and determination around you this month.

GEMINI May 21 - June 20

You have started the year feeling slightly tired and under the weather. It would be a good idea to look at your diet and start eating more fresh food. There is a feeling of optimism when you and your partner start sorting out your relationship which has been a little stressful of late. The cards indicate you will be doing well financially and at work. You may decide to buy a new car and help a friend in trouble.

CANCER June 21- July 20

There may be some re-organisation at work and you may be asked to take on more responsibil ity this month. This will come with benefits and might well lead to a promotion. The cards are indicating you will be feeling a little restless in your relationships. You need to start relaxing more and communicating better with your partner. There will be some interesting revelations with regard to a matter that has been bothering you for a while to do with the family.

LEO July 21 - Aug 22

- yr.1 You need to keep an eye on your health this month as there may be some ups and downs. The cards are indicating you may be thinking about moving to a new career. Take some time out and decide what you would like to do. There will be some interesting developments in the love area of your life and you will be feeling quite content. Take time out to go for walks and get some exercise included into your routine.

VIRGO Aug 23 - Sep 22

A very passionate and fiery month will be enjoyed between you and your partner. There will be some discussions with regard to where and when your next vacation will be. There is some important paperwork that you need to sort out. Make sure that your car is checked at the mechanic. The cards are indicating you will have a ., hectic and productive time. There will be a lot going on, but progress in business and finances is expected this month.

LIBRA Sept 23 - Oct 22

As usual, you wi ll have started this year with a l ot of thinking and planning. You wi l l be making sure you have arranged your nex t holiday, finances and affairs. The cards are indicating you wi l l be able to take hold of opportunities with success and ease. There will be some int erest ing developments with an ol d friend you have reconnected with. Your partner may not be feeling very well, so it is a good time to go on that much needed break together.

SCORPIO Oct 23 - Nov 21

This month you wi l l feel passionate, renewed and full of energy. You will be feeling extremely loving and h ighly sensual. The ca rds are indicating you will want your love l ife t o be sorted out and contentment to prevail. There will be successful negotiations at work and you will be abl e to obtain what you desire most. It will be a month of kindness and excessiveness at times. You will have to exercise restraint and make sure you do not spend unnecessari ly.

SAGITTARIUS Nov 22 - Dec 21

You will be making some important resolutions with regard to your relationship this month. You may also have to make some difficult decisions with regard to financia l aspects of the relationsh i p. You have been working very hard lately and you will be at the point of feeling that you efforts are going unnot iced. The cards are indicating a time when you will speak up and get what you desire and deserve. A good time to meditate on your issues.

CAPRICORN Dec 22 - Jan 19

This month you will be deciding what you would like to do wi t h regard to your career. You have a mindful of ideas and plans. There will be some dizzy spells of excitement and your head w ill be spinning. In your love lif e, you may be heading towards a more settled committed phase of your union. The cards are indicating you need to think about your health more. Plan to wa l k and take some outdoor holidays to rev ive your motivation.

AQUARIUS Jan 20 - Feb 18

This month will start with bold plans and decisions. Your current job is very busy and hectic. There will be new superiors hired and there may be some upset around the workplace. Ideas and plans may be a little muddled but there is an indication that things will settle down. Finances will be healthy. The cards are indicating a time when you will want to get back in touch with people from the past and start the year with positive energy.

PISCES Feb 19 - March 20

You may be feeling a littl e up and down with your moods this month. There wi ll be definite p l ans wi t h regard to career and rel ationships, and you are determined to make everything work just how you want it to. There may be conflicts with colleagues as you ' re not in the mood for soft words. You need to get your point across and you know how to do it. You need t o look after your spending and not exceed your limits.

Dangal

STARRING: Aamir Khan , Sakshi Tanwar, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Sanya Malhotra

DIRECTOR: Nitesh Tiwari

There are outstanding films. Then there is Dangat. A film so rich in the f lavours of home-grown emotions you feel you are floating in a field of aromatic sensation for close to three hours without feeling manipulated. You come away from this experience so moved and so much wiser that you wonder why cinema can't be so rewarding more often.

But then again, if every other fi Im was a Dangal how would we know the difference?

There I go, raving about a f ilm which, let me state right away, will be remembered by posterity as one of t he landmarks of Indian cinema in the same breath as, say Mother India, Sholay or Lagaan. Yes Dangal has that kind of an impact. Not because it has anything new to say. On the surface it is another rags-to-riches sports film where a girl, Geeta Phogat, from a small dusty town of Haryana brings the gold medal in wrestling to India.

No. It is not the theme. It's in the heartbreaking directness and artlessness, the absolute absence of artifice, in the narrative that we discover that mysterious oft-abused entity known as the Real India. These are places and people with real dreams and ambitions. These are characters whom we live with, sometimes within ourselves. It takes a Mahavir Singh Phogat and his mulish obstinacy to pull India ' s perverse patriarchy dragging kicking and screaming out of its heavily cordoned lair and to say, enough is enough.

It takes an Aamir Khan to bulk up to the extent of looking like a tired but undefeated has-been to play the I wrestler whose determination saw his daughters break through the masculine bastion of wrestling to prove women can do anything men can. Aamir lives the role of Phogat, sternly manoeuvring

Urgently required

• Create jewelry from precious metals and stones

• Must know bangles and ring making

• Solder pieces together

• Smooth joints and rough spot s and polish smoothed areas

• Model new pieces with carved wax and then cast them in metal

• Shape mntal to hold the gems in pieces of jewe lry

If you know any of the above, p l. call now on his daughters' destiny to a glory denied to a lot of women in this country. ls this his best performance? Can 't say whatever he has done earlier pales into insignificance.

Significantly, Dangal doesn' t play the feminist card at all. There are no speeches tirades and pushy homilies on feminism. The men in fact are not shown to be excessively sexist for the sake of aggrandising the dramatic impact of girls' ultimate victory. While Aamir plays the epitome of gender equality, Aparshakti Khurrana who plays Geeta and Babita Phogat's goofy kind -hearted cousin is a feminist even without knowing what the word means.

No one in the cast and crew - not even the eternal attention-seeker Aamir Khan and not Sethu Sriram' s cinematography - seeks attention here. Not even when fighting so ferociously in the wrestling akhaada. These people do what they have to. They fight inner and outer adversaries because - well, they are there and they must be fought.

Danga/ neatly and nimbly avoids all classifications and isms and emerges as one of the strongest cinematic statements on women ' s empowerment in recent t imes. The performances go a long way in imbuing a sense of unrehearsed classicism to the simple tale of a simple father who lives out his sporting dreams through his daughters.

As simple as that.

And such doughty daughters! The two sets of actresses who play the younger and older vers ions of Geeta and Babita Phogat are so liberating in their spontaneity that t hey at some point, cease to draw attention to their skills at character assumption and simply invite us to follow the girls' journey to victory.

While the younger Phogat daughter Babita , played ably by Suhani Bhatnagar and Sanya Mal hotra, does have her say in the expansive script, this is clearly the other elder daughter Geeta 's story, her blow-hot-blow-cold relationship with her father and her ultimate triumph in the wrestling ring. Aamir and Zarina Wasim/Fatima Sana Shaikh (the two girls who play Geeta ) play against each other with vivacious credibility. While we watch Geeta wrestle her way to t he gold medal - and she fights her opponents in the wrestling ring like a true pro - we also watch Geeta and her father wrestle in ways that are not manifested physically.

Geeta's change as she becomes famous is mapped with no judgmental regret. This is not a film that wastes time trying to slot judge or condemn h uma n failings. It breathes with t he characters and lets them exhale at their own wi ll. That is the real beauty of Dangal. It is what it is not because it tries to be great. but because the story it has to tell is effortlessly ensconced in excellence.

Director Nitish Tiwari simply plucks the fruits of a tree whose roots go deep into our culture penetrating societal biases towards the girl child , with a cluck of the tongue that is barely audible.

The climactic wrestling bout shot with adrenaline-pumping immediacy could have avoided reducing Geeta' s coach to a scheming villain. Neither the film nor Aamir's timeless portrayal of Mahavir Phogat needed to be propped up and peppered with scriptural spice.

Dangal has no patience with judgement values. It is so precious and so va luable because it lets us look at home-truths with wisdom rather tha n cunning. This film will be remembered by posterity as one of the landmarks of Indian cinema, not because it tries to be one.

Thank you Geeta Phogat, Nitesh Tiwari, Aamir Khan. India is proud of you.

Phogat's sake, Dangal must be watched.

Subhash K. Jha