50 years on, it is the SAME Queen!

Pistol (Disney +, miniseries; 2022)

Director: Danny Boyle

Thanks to my English language in Form 1, my friends and I were exposed to this British punk band. That, I think, is the role of a teacher - to expose the young minds to the real world, not just what is in the syllabus. Most teachers just wanted to finish their teaching plan and ensure that students were prepared for the public exams; KSG (Kiss Some Girls, he boasts) went that extra mile. He would tell us quickly excitable 13 and 14-year-old pubescents about the birds and bees. Somewhere along the way came the story of 'The Sex Pistols'. That was my first exposure to the Pistols, but only in name. The fact it was banned by the British Broadcasting Corporation made it even more fascinating. The jester of class JL used to croak out 'God save the Queen' with an obvious sexual connotation, much to the annoyance of KSG. At that juncture, I wonder if KSG thought that he should have stuck on to the syllabus. To this and much related non-academic exposure to the real world, I thank KSG.

Looking back, I understand that the late 70s were watershed years for the then not-so-great Britain. After the Sun decided to set on the British Empire, Britain was in the doldrums. The century of the English had ended. One by one, the colonial subjects had broken free. It was more about economics. Actually, the East Indian Company and the Colonial Offices had brokered deals that finally made it ever so expensive to maintain the colonies. The final straw came when the Indian Navy mutinied against the Masters.

With a bleak future to look for, with no job opportunities and the baby boomers basking in the glory of the past, the youngsters were filled with pent-up emotions waiting to explode. Against this background came a punk band composed of boys from dysfunctional families. 

Punk rules OK!

The story tells the tale of a shoplifting teenager caught redhanded at a boutique in King's Road in London. From there started a foul-mouthed band with an eccentric manager and a fashion designer who just wanted to showcase her creation. The punk group, Sex Pistols became the mouthpiece of the new generation. They had no filter and were forthcoming with what they thought of the Queen, what they felt inside, and the social pressure the average Joe or Jane was going through. They speak frankly about unwanted pregnancies, anarchy and destruction. Their version of Frank Sinatra's 'My Way' is just their way of saying this is our way, take it or leave it!

The miniseries narrates the decadent descent of the band of boys into alcoholism, drugs and depression. A good collection of 70s songs would jog our memories of the past when our chests were filled with hope for a more fantastic future, and politicians were honest.

(P.S. Thanks DA for introducing)

50 years later, it is the same Queen!

Prophetic or what, ask dwellers of Luton!

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Any news is good publicity?

Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979)

At the time when the movie was about to start production, many financiers pulled out. They feared that Christians worldwide would be offended as it makes a parody of the events around the birth, life and crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Luckily for the filmmakers, George Harrison arranged for the finances.

It is a true and true parody of the Saviour. It starts with three wise men going to the wrong manger in Bethlehem, only to greet by a ferocious sounding whiny mother. This child is Brian. The wise men soon realise their mistakes and proceed to the real Son of God. 

Brian grows under the thumb of his domineering mother to become a timid adult. The rest of the story is made up of dry British humour, centred around Brian's involvement with a resistance group out to oust the Roman occupation of Judea, called 'People's Front of Judea'. Brian is mistaken as a Messiah; long story short, he is off the Calvary for the crucifixion. The movie ends with a chirpy song, 'Always look on the bright side of life', as Brian and the others on the nearby cross whistle away to the tune.

After its release, the film got plenty of unwarranted attention from the censor boards the world over. As they say, any publicity, good or bad, is good for show business. It was even restricted screening in certain localities in the UK. All this notoriety just spiralled at the box office as cinemas promoted the film as 'too funny that it is banned in Norway'!

The initial hullabaloo was initiated by people who had not viewed the movie. Over the years, people started to accept it as artistic expression. It is even considered one of the greatest comedies of all time, grossing record ticket sales over either side of the Atlantic. 

Like many of the religion-themed movies that came out after this, so much uproar surrounding their release eventually proved to be non-events. People soon went to the daytime duties, and the producers laughed all the way to the bank. Remember the controversies surrounding 'The Message' (1976) and 'The Passion of the Christ' (2004)? 'The Message' caused such a hue and cry as people thought Prophet Muhammad was depicted in the movie. In reality, he was neither seen nor heard. 

But looking at the current environment and easily triggered stance upheld by most parties, a similar portrayal of the Prophet is undoubtedly not a good idea. Just for interest, the other day, I was watching an abbreviated version of Dante Algieri's 'Inferno'. (Thanks, Danny.) The makers of this animated presentation were so fearful of offending the sentiments of Muslims that they decided not to mention by name one of the occupants of the 8th circle of Hell but hinted in not so many words.

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A walk into the past!

Roaring Thunder Revue (Netflix; 2019)
A Bob Dylan Story (Directed by Martin Scorsese)

In a way, it looks like a mockumentary. It captures a specific time during Bob Dylan's tour of Northern America. It was 1975 and Dylan did a hodgepodge musical tour with no preset number of performers. Artistes of the era joined in as they landed in various towns. A diehard Dylon fan may know these people by hard, but to me, only Joni Mitchell rings a bell.

This film puts forward the actual 16mm footage of this tour with present-day Dylan giving interviews. Over time, probably with the state of intoxication that the musicians were in, many of the information remains a blur. The real reason the title of the tour is one instance. One says it is an honour to a Native American chief, Rolling Thunder. Yet, one cites the weather at the start of the planning of the trip. Could it be that it was about the open secret North Vietnam carpet-bombing by the American Forces during the Vietnam War? After all, Dylan's songs were mostly carried social messages and injustices in society.


But wait. I got my bearings all crossed when the documentary started talking about American bicentenary celebrations and Nixon's resignation which happened in 1976 and 1974 respectively while the concert was in 1975! 


Even if one is not a Dylan fan or a neophyte, he would surely appreciate the Kabuki-esque painted Dylan and sometimes his ex-beau, Joan Baez, belting out meaningful songs with social messages. There were songs about Ruben Carter, the middleweight potential World Boxing Champion and his wrongful arrest for murder. Then there was a song (the Lonesome Death of Hattie Carrol) about deadly assault of three black hotel workers by a drunk white male. The assailant went scot-free.

Sure, intoxicants were used left, right and centre. It is interesting how, in some people, these substances managed to open a new window to shows them things from another angle. It is a known fact that hallucinogens, naturally occurring or synthetically produced ones, open portals into a totally different realm that is rarely assessed by the conscious mind. Some individuals managed to harvest knowledge from here for the betterment of mankind while others just succumb to the persuasion of the Maya.

History of Mankind has thought us that every intoxicant is this world, if not treated with respect, will lead to destruction. Tobacco, even though the Native Americans had been using it during their entire early civilisation in the continent that was later called the Americas, they never had any problem with it. The smoking of pipe was a sacrosanct ritual with a specific purpose. When the European explorers brought it back home for leisure, it became a problem. The same scenario with the coca plant and the Aztecs. Workers were chewing coca doing backbreaking jobs without a fuss. When the pillaging Spaniards brought it home, and soon the physicians recommended it as the panacea for all ailments from morning sickness to migraine and alcohol addiction, it became a social problem. Alcohol which was unknown amongst the Native American became an issue when it was introduced there.

The take-home message is to treat everything with respect. No single substance is without side-effect. It is just that it is yet to be discovered. Sugar is sweet but try drinking concentrated syrup. You would not stomach it!

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Numbers for Offence and Defence

The BlacKkKlansman (2018)
Director: Spike Lee

About a year ago, I heard on a podcast called 'Snap Judgement' about a black undercover cop in the late 70s masquerading as a white guy wanting to join the KKK. The police wanted to investigate the involvement of the clan members in the defence ministry. The policeman, Ron Stallworth, was so convincing that he managed to become a card-carrying member of the Ku Klux Klan. Of course, he did most of the talking via the telephone and his colleague, whose identity is hidden for security reasons, was the one who appeared in person when the need arose. 

With artistic licence in hand to spice up the suspense, the screenplay must have been rewritten to be set in the early seventies. The fictitious duel between the revolutionaries Black Panther and the KKK was created. The cop who appeared in person was chosen to be Jewish to further spruce sweet revenge. A black and a Jewish cop defeating the self-professed members of a superior race sounds more dramatic.





There was a time in our civilisation that we needed to leave in tribes for strength and protection. It was a time when might and sword did all the talking. Even though we are supposed to have evolved to have moral standards and social mores, deep inside the tribal spirit lives on like a caged animal waiting to be unleashed. When things are working our favour, we maintain harmony with our surroundings. When our personal space is invaded and is threatened, we recoil into our shell, invoke race, religion or any common trait that binds us into greater numbers for offence and defence.

https://asok22.wixsite.com/real-lesson 

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Bohemian Rhapsody | Official Trailer [HD] | 20th Century FOX

Nobody can be so headstrong!

Bhuvana Oru Kelvikuri (Tamil, Bhuvana is a question mark; 1977)

The question mark in this movie, starred by two powerhouses of the Tamil cinema, is whether a lady should stay chaste to one man even though he had wronged her willingly? The title suggests that Bhuvana would play a pivotal role in the story, surprisingly she only appears in the second half of the show.

Rajnikanth acts in one of his first roles in the positive light as before this, he was usually cast as a villain. Sivakumar, for a change, assumes a negative role. This film must have interested directors to put Rajni as their hero after this film. His unique mannerism and stylish stunts must have started here.

Rajnikanth (Sambath) and Sivakumar (Nagaraj) are street pedlars selling garments. Even though they are close friends, there are like different like night and day. Nagaraj is a sweet-talking businessman who works hard with a strong ambition for the future. He is also a womaniser who lives for the pleasure of the moment. Sambath, on the other hand, works only to get enough money for his daily fix of alcohol. He is a one-woman man. Tragedy hits Sambath when his girlfriend falls into a well and drowns.

Sambath and Nagaraj's friendship strengthens during tumultuous times when the Nagaraj saves the depressed Sambath from a suicide attempt. Their fate changes on a trip to Chennai when a man in the compartment they were travelling, carrying a load of money, dies of heart attack and they decide to keep the stash!  This is where Bhuvana comes to the picture. She is the dead man sister and the money was actually temple's money.

Nagaraj befriends Bhuvana to keep her silence, just in case, their trickery is discovered. Things become complicated when she gets pregnant whilst Nagaraj is more interested in marrying a rich merchant's daughter and Bhuvana refuses to undergo a termination of pregnancy. Sambath moves in to save her honour!

That is when the real drama starts. Bhuvana refuses to have conjugal relationships with her fire-ceremonial sanctioned husband but wants to stay faithful to one man whom she had given her heart to. A lot of things happen along the way and finally, Sambath dies. Now, Bhuvana dons a widow's attire of white saree and the accompaniments.

So, what the storyteller seems to be telling is that all the external appearances are all facades of the society. We do things just to pacify society and live within its ambits. What goes within the heart or mind is anybody's guess. But are people so steadfast in their beliefs anymore? Times are changing and peoples' outlook on life and their values alter with the time.

As the years roll on by...

Sesudah Subuh (After Dawn, Malay; 1967)

A gem from the Malay silver screen's bygone era where national integration was high on the agenda. The cast is a multi-ethnic one, and the spoken language include Cantonese, Tamil and English. Life is depicted as it is in real life, almost.

Times were terrible for P Ramlee and the gang. Out of Singapore, in Kuala Lumpur, with few hit movie to brag about, fighting a losing battle with colourful movies from Hollywood and Bollywood, the going was tough. The coffers understandably were dry. 'Pop Yeah Yeah', and 'A-Go-Go' rave filled the air. These were bad times.

Then came A.R. Tompel, his partner in crime with a story true to the times. Life in the city with western influence and how the dynamics of modern family changes. With a skeleton cast of mainly newbies and a couple of famous icons, Ramlee thought he could rekindle the audience's interest.

Ms Vera Wee, 1964, Ms Singapore, who withdrew at the Ms Universe pageant, came in a significant role. Even though she was pleasing to the eyes, star presence was sorely lacking. V.I. Stanley, the veteran Malaysian comedian who used to act in many radio dramas, stage shows and even a Malaysian Tamil movie, gave a stellar performance. I remember seeing him in another P. Ramlee movie, Gerimis.

The mind goes awandering...

With this type of sombre background, P. Ramlee acts as Ariffin, a 50 something unimpressive man with thick-rimmed glasses and a pipe. Ariffin leads a boring life, gets early to work in his book shop and returns home late. He is more of an outcast in his own family, shunned by his children (Salim and Salmiah) for being too preachy, miserly and not hip! Ariffin's wife, Salmi, is not too keen to take care of her husband's welfare but instead, seem to find bliss in performing charity work and lazing around. Ariffin just carries on with life like a zombie, not wanting to upset his family's status quo. As long the family is happy and does his filial duties, he seems pretty content. Actually, what Ariffin really wants is some respect in the family. The only soul who shows any care for his well being is his Javanese gardener, Diro. Now, Diro is quite a comical character. He stole the show with his bumbling antics and his ramblings in Javanese. After P. Ramlee, in my view, the only characters who shined were Diro (Raden Sudiro) and Krishna Moorthy (V.I. Stanley). The other stars were quite stiff.

Who needs him?

Everything changed by Ariffin's chance meeting with Ms Alice (Vera Wee). Being given dignity and recognition, as she moved in to work in his shop, she also moved into his life.

Ariffin's fiery son is Ed Osmera, who went on to star in many of the Malay movies in the 70s. In this movie, his love interest is an Indian girl, Chandra (Surya Kumari), and her household banter are spoken in conversational Tamil. In fact, there is plenty of Cantonese spoken too. Ramlee also strings sentences in quite an impressive Cantonese!

In the end, Ariffin decides to leave the family and migrate to Sabah. In the final scenes, we see a scenic view of Federal Highway scarce of concrete and lush vegetation leading to the Subang International Airport.

The film ends predictably on a happy note, with Alice admitting that it was all a conspiracy to get the family together again. Hence, starts new dawn...

A family that eats together stays together!

Aummm…Shri…Sound…Music!

21.5.2010

Aum…Shri…Sound…Music!

In most cultures, music is synonymous with joy, celebration, victory and worship. In Indian folklore, I have heard of divine music healing the moribund and maybe raising the dead. Probably, only in the Indian (particularly South) subcontinent do you have songs sung to denote melancholy, tragedy and helplessness!

No wedding, birthday celebration, church service, temple prayers, funfair, circus, street celebration or even sports event is complete without music accompaniment. Hence, one can say that the story of music is the story of the evolution of mankind itself. Now, have you heard of the Dark Forces using their subtle ways to pull us over to the Dark Side?

From the turn of the 20th century, people have associated certain music with Satan's dark forces. Islamic fundamentalists like the Taliban also link music to evil, as it is addictive and hinders mankind from fulfilling their obligations to God. Hence, radio transmissions in Taliban Afghanistan can only comprise Quranic recitals. When 'Rock and Roll' started rolling into our radio transmissions, purists started preaching on moral decadents, Armageddon, and so forth. Elvis Presley (The Pelvis) was condemned for his socially unacceptable gyrating pelvic movements. Publications of negative news on singers' behaviour further flared up the hell-like flame of despair, e.g. with the spread of tabloid information like Jerry Lee Lewis marrying his 13-year-old first cousin and John Lennon announcing, in 1966, that at the time, the Beatles was more famous than Jesus Christ!

"Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue with that; I'm right and will be proved right. We're more popular than Jesus now; I don't know which will go first - rock and roll or Christianity." - said John Lennon in a 1966 interview.

In that era, the news was rife with certain Beatles songs (if played backwards) that would glorify drugs and the devil. Their association with the mystical cultures of the East gave the Believers a field day at their assault. (e.g. Lucy in the Sky of Diamond and LSD, Let it Be refer to the carefree attitude after indulging in drugs –Mother Mary denoting a colloquial term for heroin etc.) Soon after the flower power days and its sexual liberation came the lack of inhibition days of punk rock and the decadent behaviour of the heavy metal bands.

The phenomenal successes of certain songs were attributed to the fact that their performers have sold their souls (pun not intended) to the devil! In this category are songs like Stairway to Heaven (Led Zeppelin), Heaven is a Place on Earth (Belinda Carlyle) and The Ballad of Yoko (Beatles)- where the lyrics mention 'They are going to crucify me'.

In 1978, a country-rock band named 'Eagle' led by Don Henley, came up with a massive hit song called Hotel California. This song has stood the test of time and has remained evergreen and a classic to date. Its melodious catchy song and equally skilful guitar work make it one of the most popular songs of the 20th century. Well, and okay. Do not ask the naysayers…. They will have a different story to tell you!
Here is the story now…

Apparently, the whole song and album cover are about Satan worship! The band members are allegedly members of the Church of Satan, situated in the Navajo desert in California, commonly referred to as Hotel California by its members. The album cover supposedly depicted a picture of a hotel lobby with the image of the founder of the Church of Satan (Anton LaVey). In the song, they sing of decadent lifestyles, drugs and human sacrifice (? cannibalism). Let us peruse the piece…

"Hotel California"

On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair
Warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air
Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light
My head grew heavy, and my sight grew dim
I had to stop for the night
There she stood in the doorway;
I heard the mission bell
And I was thinking to myself,
'This could be Heaven, or this could be Hell'
Then she lit up a candle, and she showed me the way
There were voices down the corridor,
I thought I heard them say...

It is alleged that they are talking about a confluence of its congregation at their church in the Navajo desert, coming from all over the country.

Welcome to the Hotel California

Such a lovely place (Such a lovely place)
Such a lovely face
Plenty of room at the Hotel California
Any time of year (Any time of year)
You can find it here
Her mind is Tiffany twisted; she got the Mercedes bends
She got a lot of pretty, pretty boys she calls friends
How they dance in the courtyard, sweet summer sweat.
Some dance to remember, some dance to forget

Is this about cross-gender dressing, decadent lifestyles and drug addiction?

So I called up the Captain,
'Please bring me my wine'
He said, 'We haven't had that spirit here since 1969'
And still those voices are calling from far away,
Wake you up in the middle of the night
Just to hear them say...

Wine refers to the Holy Spirit. 1969 is the year of the establishment of the church of Satan. The voices refer to sacrificial souls?

Welcome to the Hotel California
Such a lovely place (Such a lovely place)
Such a lovely face
They livin' it up at the Hotel California
What a nice surprise (what a nice surprise)
Bring your alibis

Alibis – new intakes?

Mirrors on the ceiling,
The pink champagne on ice
And she said, 'We are all just prisoners here, of our own device.'
And in the master's chambers,
They gathered for the feast
They stab it with their steely knives,
But they just can't kill the beast

Are they talking about drugs, amphetamines? Killing the body, not the soul, the Holy Spirit?

Last thing I remember, I was
Running for the door
I had to find the passage back
To the place I was before
'Relax,' said the night man,
'We are programmed to receive.
You can check out any time you like,
But you can never leave!'

The Eagles have categorically denied all of the above. It is supposed to be telling about the changing materialistic American lifestyle. To quote…
Members of the Eagles have described the album as a metaphor for the perceived decline of America into materialism and decadence. In an interview shortly before the album's release, Don Henley said:

This is a concept album, there's no way to hide it, but it's not set in the old West, the cowboy thing, you know. It's more urban this time (. . . ) It's our bicentennial year, you know, the country is 200 years old, so we figured since we are the Eagles and the Eagle is our national symbol, that we were obliged to make some kind of a little bicentennial statement using California as a microcosm of the whole United States, or the entire world if you will, and to try to wake people up and say 'We've been okay so far, for 200 years, but we're gonna have to change if we're gonna continue to be around.'

In the meantime, let the conspiracy theories come and go while we sit down and enjoy the music without a care in the world while the world outside cracks its head about nothing. Let there be eternal peace …Aum……………. Om, Shanti, Shanthi, Shanthihi….