RIFLE RANGE BOY

Vadh (Slay, Hindi; 2022) Written and  Directed by: Jaspal Singh Sandhu & Rajiv Barnwal Whilst watching this film, I was curious about its title. I knew 'Vaada' in Hindi meant 'promise' and 'waqt' in Urdu meant 'time', but 'Vadh'...? So I asked my resource person. As her mother tongue is Hindi, she was quick to say 'chop', like chopping mutton! Only after watching the movie did it come to my collection that the correct word I was looking for was 'slay'. In my dictionary, 'slaying' is justifiable 'killing'. A saviour slays a demon. A mortal just 'kills' or 'hacks'. This is a very interesting film without the usual flair and over-the-top hero-worshipping that is often found in most Bollywood movies. Unlike most movies too, the protagonists are no spring chickens. They are neither drop-dead gorgeous nor need to strut their sculptured six-pack torso to tell their story. A retired teacher and his ho...

Nine Hours to Rama (1963) Director: Mark Robson This movie is based on a novel of the same name written by Stanley Wolpert. Both the book and the film were banned in India when they came out. Nehru and his government at that time thought that the story created a human out of Godse, justified his crime and did not give enough dignity to Gandhi. This was even discussed at the Rajya Saba level. Throughout our childhood, my sisters and I could not help but see an imposing statue of Gandhi in our living room. My mother had bought it from a Thaipusam fair to remind her kids to be a person who brings glory to family and nation. At that tender impressionable age, we took in all my mother's Gandhi stories of his tenacity and eloquence. We were reminded of his vow to his mother to stay vegetarian upon boarding the steamship to England, the land of beef eaters and gin. And staying true to his word, he allegedly stayed vegan, this Mahatma (great soul). Alas, when we grew, one by one, the onion...

http://www.sanskritimagazine.com/india/why-i-killed-gandhi/ By  Sanskriti on February 2, 2014 Nathuram Godse’s Final Address to the Court Nathuram Godse was arrested immediately after he assassinated Gandhiji, based on a F. I. R. filed by Nandlal Mehta at the Tughlak Road Police station at Delhi . The trial, which was held in camera, began on May 27, 1948 and concluded on February 10, 1949. He was sentenced to death.  An appeal to the Punjab High Court, then in session at Simla, did not find favour and the sentence was upheld. The statement that you are about to read is the last made by Godse before the Court on the May 5, 1949. Such was the power and eloquence of this statement that one of the judges, G. D. Khosla, later wrote, “I have, however, no doubt that had the audience of that day been constituted into a jury and entrusted with the task of deciding Godse’s appeal, they would have brought a verdict of ‘not Guilty’ by an overwhelming majority” W...