RIFLE RANGE BOY

Material (South Africa, 2012) Netflix Now that there is much discussion on racism and plenty of accusations of one group of people showing superiority over the other based on the colour of their skin, the time is ripe to look at ourselves and ask, "who amongst us is not racist?"  Generally, we would admit that we are all inherently racists. From our time as cavemen and hunters, we had always found comfort in those who looked like us and practise our way of life. Life was hard, food was scarce, and the weather was gruelling, to say the least. We had always been suspicious of other tribesmen. They could take away the food that we had kept for the winter or a rainy day. Fast forward, many many generations later, we had been indoctrinated of a particular way of doing things. We have been taught that daily tasks must be done in a certain way. All these were thought by our elders to ensure law and order and to provide a place for all in the community. Pretty soon, we though...

Manto (2018) Netflix We always try to portray the world as a place of hope, of joy, dream, and the sky is the limit of our achievements. This is just hogwash. In the real world, Mother Nature is particularly hostile towards its creations. And we, the products, are no different towards each other. We sugarcoat the world around in perfect harmony with apple trees, honey bees and snow white turtle doves. In reality, it is ruled by bigots and kleptocrats who use their Machiavellian techniques to hoodwink everyone to fill up the world with their preset agendas. They paint an image of heaven on Earth, but deep in their pockets, they have conceived a plan of chaos and entropy. But still, these flag-waving jingoistic cabals have only one thing on their agenda - control and the power that comes with it.  As if to entice its followers, they create an imaginary enemy and a promise of an unproven paradise. Consequently, the conforming automatons think with their brain; not with their hea...

K.G.F. Kolar Gold Fields, Chapter 1 (Kannada, 2018) It is touted as the highest-grossing Kannada film, the fourth highest-earning Hindi-dubbed film after the Bahuubali movies and 2.0, an international success and was feted at the National Film Awards. It was dubbed to Hindi, Telegu, Tamil and Malayalam almost immediately after its Kannada release with much success. And Chapter 2 is in the making. Am I missing something here that everyone else seems to enjoy? And, to say that this is one of the films that give people a reason to watch movies coming from the South, as quoted in a blog and recommended to me, is just too much. Just how many times have we seen a child wronged at childhood to grow up with vengeance against the rich and the powerful as mighty as Sri Rama himself to be a Robin Hood to the poor? How many times have we seen unknowns infiltrating into gangs just to disintegrate the whole setup from within? Think Nayagan, Thalapathi and the umpteen Bollywood and Kollywood pro...

Axone (Akhuni, Hindi/English; 2019) Netflix It is a question of one man's meat being another's poison, just like the King of Fruits, Durian, being compared to putrefying and decaying cheese by visiting Europeans. Closer to home, a regular feature of Wednesday nights around the vicinity of the Taman Connaught Pasar Malam (night market) used to be, before the Covid-19 lockdown, the pungent and fermented, almost nausea-inducing stench of stinky tofu. At least that was what I was told, and there is always a long queue at the stall. The secret of the dish, it seems, was that the smellier it smelled, the tastier it tasted! In the early days of the night market, it was a common sight to see passersby discreetly covering their noses as they passed it by. Over the years, however, the odour has become a trademark of Wednesday nights giving a sort of a nostalgic feel to it. Many Malaysian students have had similar experiences with cooking belacan (shrimp paste) ,  frying anch...

Sir Robert Hutchison Father of clinical methods A friend, during our stint as house officers, told me about an incident that happened during his medical student days when he was studying in Manipal, India. An American elective medical student had joined the group's ward rounds. The old Professor of Medicine was showing them the correct technique of examining the respiratory system. He laboriously punctuated the teaching rounds by asking basic science questions and snarling occasional sarcastic remarks, for not understanding the basics. He was showing the green medical students the art of inspection, palpation, percussion and auscultation. The American student, failing to see the point of such a laborious examination of a single patient, raised his hand. "Professor, wouldn't it be better if we just send the patient for a chest X-ray?" he quipped. That is the state of medicine now. We have lost the art of practising medicine. It is just about diagnostic proc...

Sathyathai Thedi  (Seeking the Truth; @ Asothoma Sathgamaya,  2013) First, it was Zakir Naik who was heard telling his congregants that the old Hindu scriptures did indeed quote of the arrival of a messenger of God. In his usual style, he went on ranting his references to the said inscriptions. Just that people are too set in their mindsets to accept that, he alleged. Now I hear the same pitch being repeated. This Christian evangelist film tries to sell the idea that the Ama Veda did hint of Prajapathi, the Lord of the Universe, being Jesus Christ himself. Somewhere in it, it was apparently mentioned of the Creator who needed to be sacrificed for atonement. In their eyes, it fits perfectly in their narrative that Jesus, who is God himself, had to be sacrificed to wash the sins of Man. The whole film can be described as a hermeneutical gymnastic as the protagonist goes on rattling verses after verses from the Veda, Upanishads and even Kural to drive home the message that...

Hindi Medium (2017) The apparent difference in outlook in spirituality between the Western and Eastern philosophy is quite visible. The former revolves around its fixation on following preset rules to appease the Maker. In the case of the latter, it appears to be more like an eternal quest. It is a lifelong journey to hunt for the secrets of the Universe. The whole teachings in the Vedanta, Buddhism, Confucianism and the Tao scriptures are towards this end. In simple terms, Eastern cultures are seekers of knowledge. Sometimes, this also became their own undoing. When the Western cultures first hit the Indian shores, the natives slowly neglected their age-old wisdom. They plunged head-long into their newfound obsession of acquiring erudition from the visitors, only to be led astray. This hunger for knowledge has not been quenched after all these years. The world over, Asians, armed with their right discipline and dedication, are slowly but surely making their presence felt once agai...

Bangalore Days (Malayalam, 2014) The stories of the silver screen and fairy tales make us believe that it is worthwhile to grasp that one chance at love. They convince us that it the single most crucial fight that one has to win. Overcoming that would translate to eternal bliss. It is happiness afterwards, forever and ever. Err... wrong answer. In a very entertaining way, combining the scenic backgrounds of Kerala and Bangaluru, as well as the pleasing youthful features of the good looking actors, the story tries to tell us in a subtle way that it is not all hunky-dory when and especially after one finds love. It is an eternal struggle to keep the flames alive. Even if the ember stays aglow, there are too many interferences that threatened its harmony. In modern living, with the relaxation of rigid social restrictions that used to prevail and the scream of empowerment, no one can be pinned down anymore. Everybody is free to do what he (or she) wants. Is that daring to be different, ...

Vaxxed - From Cover-up to Catastrophe (2016) Vaxxed II - The People's Truth (2019) It must be difficult being educated in the 21st century. With the plethora of information at our fingertips, we are left not more well versed but on the contrary, more confused and unsure about almost everything. The more knowledge we seem to acquire, the more we seem to be wanting. The influence of visual media and the persuasive power of raw human emotions make us buy any story and rethink that perhaps conventional wisdom perhaps needs reassessment. For aeons, people succumbed to communicable diseases. Entire civilisations have disappeared in our not so distant past. The advanced Aztec and Mayan cultures were probably wiped out by the smallpox viruses brought in by looting Spanish sailors. Barring some viruses kept in laboratories for bio-weapons, we have managed to eradicate smallpox from our list of the leading causes of mortality. Vaccination used to be hailed as one of the fifty of mankin...

K.D. @ Karuppu Dorai (2109, Tamil; கேடி என்ற கருப்புதுரை) This story reminds me of the many stories that I discussed with my fellow partner-in-crime in the not so distant past. Quite many a time, seriously ill patients with advancing age with the myriad of medical illnesses that complements the geriatric population often gets admitted to his unit. Invariably, the patient's children would insist that their moribundly ill elders get all the best treatment that money can buy. The oft-repeated dialogue would be, "money is not a problem". My friend knows it is no use flogging a dead horse but like a good servant he is, he obliges, every time.  The tide would be going against the acutely ill patient. The next of kins would, however, stay hopeful. The life is literally hanging on a thread, living on a prayer. But hope lies eternal in the human heart.  Days move ever so slowly but the patient's condition doe not improve. Slowly, the number of visitors hanging around th...