RIFLE RANGE BOY

The 4th Beatle? Paul is dead? 🐕 A successful Bollywood star was once interviewed for a podcast. The star had apparently struggled to climb the ladder of success without any connections or dynastic lineage to boost. He delved deep into his humble beginnings as he cosied up to the interviewer. Soon the whole conversation became up, close and personal. The Tinseltown star started reminiscing the times he grew up pathetically poor. The family lived on the poorer side of town. Five family members, parents and three siblings squeezed into a tiny bedroom. A slight cough, hiccup or even sigh would alert the others to inquire whether things are alright. Besides pacifying each other, they would prepare some kind of concoction. Whether the home remedy worked or not, the love shared obviously did the trick. They were closely knit. Jackie Shroff Lady luck dropped in, and stars sparked brightly. With fame and fortune came a big mansion. Each family member had a private bedroom and attached fittings...

Aftershock (2022) Director, Producer: Paula Eiselt and  Tonya Lewis In the 70s, active labour management was the craze in the Obstetrics circle, especially amongst the countries that looked at the UK as their point of reference. This kind of treatment was first tried out at the Royal Dublin Hospital, promising short labours, lower caesarean section rates and safer outcomes. It soon became the golden standard of managing parturient mothers in most labour rooms. There had been debates on whether Dublin's figures and definition of labour were only agreeable to some. Many argued that the system tends to over-medicalise something quite natural that people have been doing for aeons. Medical intervention tends to involve surgical intervention, it is alleged. Unfortunately, with eyes constantly scrutinising for clues to stir dirt when a medical outcome is not to their liking, medical practitioners tend to practice defensive medicine. Better be safe than be bogged by handling complications,...

Monalisa No Longer Smiles (2022) An Anthology of Writings from Across the World Editor: Mitali Chakravarty My father had an uncanny ability to read faces. No, he does not identify people's medical risks, personality traits or even the prediction of their future. He could tell a person's origin, caste and creed. He was proud of his achievement and held steadfast to the idea that caste division is a necessary tool for society to progress.   He would choose where he ate and sometimes refuse invitations to people's homes or even functions of people with questionable status in the caste hierarchy.   My mother tried to knock some sense into him that the whole world had moved on and things had changed. But he was having none of it. She even reminded him about Periyar EV Ramasamy's speech when he visited Malaya, to leave all the bad discriminatory habits they acquired in India and move forward. But no! He was unmoved and reasonably contended with his way of pigeon-holing people...

Wind River (2017) Director: Taylor Sheridan We are all seekers. We want to understand things. Our brains have been wired to try to understand things around us. As children, we feel insecure with unfamiliar faces and environments. We wonder about the darkness that we see outside. We try to find out when exactly the light goes off when we shut a fridge door. We eavesdrop to find out where babies come from. We want to know what actually happens when we die. Looking at the stars, we wonder if they are any intelligent life forms there.   Did Santa Claus put those presents under the Christmas tree? Did God help himself to Prasadham that we offer? As we grow older, everything will fall into its place. We learn biology, geography, theology, astronomy, and so on.   Biology gives glorious explanations to all the burning questions we want to know but are too shy to ask. Geography demarcated the lines drawn between humans. Theology told us to limit our inquiries to things that our simple ...

Black Mirror (2023; Season 6, E1-5) Created by: Charlie Brooker A mirror reflects the light wavelength that hits it. That is what it is meant to do. Logically a black mirror cannot exist. A mirror that absorbs light (appears black) will not be much of a mirror. The way I look at a black mirror is that it is like a two-way mirror. When the viewer views a conventional mirror, he sees a reflection of himself and his antics, plain and clear. In a black mirror, however, unbeknownst to him, his duties, actions, inactions, body language, facial twitches and grimaces are noted, not by himself, but by a third party. A two-way mirror is a misnomer, actually. It cannot be viewed both ways, as it is reflective on one side and transparent on the other. It gives the appearance of a mirror to those who see the reflection but allows people on the clear side to see through, as if at a window. Interestingly, even a conventional mirror is viewed with scorn by traditional societies. They were worried that...

Sometimes you wonder. Is it just you, or is everybody going a little mad? Are people increasingly indulging in self-defeating activities which will, in a matter of time, blow up right in their faces? Why do they open themselves up to vulnerability? Is their desire to express themselves so important that it has to be imprinted digitally to the end of times. Why is there a pressing need to be with them or against the rest? Is there no middle ground? Why do they think it is a test of love to exhibit bedroom antics to the full view of the public? And still call it expression, even when others call it exhibitionism. You know there is no wrong or right answer? Truth is a multifaceted son of a gun with the last laugh when it finally comes to the fore. Your time is getting near, and you want to ride in the sunset, hurting fewer and fewer people every day. You want to thank your lucky stars for the times in your life, which you had in your own right, which had been unpredictable, but in the end...

Old (2021) Director: M. Night Shyamalan This may not be the best of his movies to watch. After The Sixth Sense (1999)  and Unbreakable (2000), his films have been unremarkable. The dialogue is much to be desired, and the plot may have a few holes here and there. Nevertheless, it stays true to most of Shyamalan's movies that explore the paranormal. It even makes one think. In this offering, one is made aware of the dangers of freebies, the subversive nature of Big Pharma and the triviality of our holding of ill feelings and grudges.  The main protagonists, Guy and Prisca Cappa, are going through a separation. To break the news to their two preteen children, they thought the family could have one final memorable outing together. Prisca is delighted to have found a fantastic bargain for a beach vacation online. Interestingly, as the movie involves Time and ageing, the couple has contrasting occupations - Prisca is a curator in a museum (purveyor of ancient relics), and Guy is an ...