There is a reason why leaders stay atop!

Grahan (Eclipse, Miniseries E1-8, Hindi, 2021)
Director: Ranjan Chandel, 

based on the book 'Chaurasi' by Satya Vyas.

I remember some workmates who were in India studying in 1984 during PM Indira Gandhi's assassination. They described it as scary times when many Sikh students took refuge in their non-Sikh friends' homes. Some have them actually had to crop their mane very reluctantly just to stay alive. A turban sticking out in a mob situation where Sikhs were targeted must be a chilling affair. 

It was at a time following Operation Blue Star when Mrs Gandhi ordered the Army to march into Amritsar's Harmandhir Golden Temple complex to neutralise Bhindranwale, who stocked weapons there. His faction wanted to fight for a separate state called Khalistan. His endeavours were supported wholeheartedly by Pakistan Government.

For desecrating the august temple with military boots, many members of the Sikh community were apparently hurt. So, when Mrs Gandhi's personal bodyguard, a Sikh, assassinated her, the general public was livid. They thought it was a tit-for-tat reaction to the temple invasion. Almost overnight, civil unrest spread all over India. Three areas badly hit by disturbances were Delhi, Kanpur and Bokaro, which is now in Jharkhand. Bokaro is an industrial city that used to be part of South Bihar, but since 2000, it is under a new state.

Bokaro saw 70 (some say more) Sikh deaths in the unrest, which some allege is a genocide. It is often compared to other heart-wrenching moments in Sikh history, i.e. Jallanwala Bagh massacre and Partition. Many Sikh families in Bokaro who were affected by this 1984 anti-Sikh riot still have not been given proper closure, explanation or compensation for their loss. No one had been identified officially as the perpetrator. At most, it had been described as a spontaneous display of emotion by the aggrieved public of the death of the nation's leader. The talk at the ground level is that it was the instigation of Congress and the willful inaction of the police that is to blame.

This web series made it to my radar when I read about a group of family members of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots who put up a legal against Disney+ Hotstar for screening a twisted version of the riots in a deliberate attempt to hurt the sentiments of the Sikhs. Funny, after watching the whole show, it appears that the Sikhs are portrayed as victims and are painted as caring members of the community. 

This show tells the tale of a policewoman appointed to head a task force to re-look into the Bokaro massacre 37 years after the fact. She soon realises that not everyone is forthcoming with information regarding the going-ons of the fateful night, which saw a bloodbath, Sikhs in the hands of Hindus. The local politician is feeling hot under the collar, so is the Chief Minister. Her father, it seems, has a dark secret that he is trying to hide.

Times 
37 years on, wounds run still deep.

The show is quite entertaining with its excellent acting, pacing and cinematography. The story paints a very bleak impression of the conduct of Man. The people in the lower rung of society (the ruled) are easily riled up by fear of the unknown. At the very thought that their position in society, their right, is threatened, they recoil into the most primal instinct of all lifeforms - violence. People with similar aspirations or cultures will flock together to ward off opposition from perceived enemies in ancient times. Now, as people are individualistic, their psyche is infiltrated via social media.   

The ruler also is one step ahead of the ruled. Sticking close to Machevellian teachings, he is always equipped with Plan B, C or even D. It is no wonder that the Ruler in most localities can use adversities for their own benefits. At the end of the day, it is always the poor who will lose.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Yet to see the labour of her fruit...

Diari untuk Prasana (2017)
Director: Norhayati Kaprawi

What does an average person want in life? He wants his place under the sun to do what he pleases, to continue his biological demands of life and to see the products of his efforts blossom to fruit as he himself withers into the sunset.

Life does not always provide level playing field for all to compete. The weak, the handicapped, the fragile minded and the economically challenged are always disadvantaged. Hence, to give hope to the downtrodden, Man created a way of life which provided social justice for all, religion. Everyone found a purpose in life doing justice for the fellow humankind with the hope that they would be rewarded handsomely in another place, space and time. Somewhere along the way, things got confused; living became for the uncertain after-life, not the present. Dichotomy formed. The believers thought of themselves as superior beings hand-picked to enforce Divine Law on Earth and to usurp as many followers as they can to improve their spiritual standings as they enter afterlife! The message of Peace of Earth and Justice for all got lost in translation.

The producer and director of the short documentary embarked on this flick to highlight the effect of a unilateral conversion of a minor by a father on the mother and her two siblings. It dwells into the daily life of a kindergarten teacher, her mother and her two children who are now young adults. The cameras followed them into their everyday lives and their untiring pursuits and umpteenth journeys to the Palace of Justice in Putrajaya in the hope of being together with the lost member of the family. The courts and the people in power seem to be dragging their feet to do what appears as politically acceptable and not to hurt their supporters. They do not care if justice is done. They just retreat into a safe cocoon uttering gibberish to fill airspace and news columns. Eight years have passed since as the mother, with her legal team, fight an uphill battle against a lethargic system which is only worried about their own survival.

The politically charged film shows the daily struggle of an average middle-class citizen wronged by her loved one who kidnapped her child, goes into hiding and is protected by a system which just defies a direct order. Nobody can anything about it, and the mother misses the crucial years of motherhood - seeing her child make baby steps and do all the things make the excruciating labour pains worth the while.

What has the whole imbroglio shown to the nation? That religion divides, no recourse for the underprivileged, politicians are a conniving lot who are only interested in the next election results and everybody just wants to be politically correct. Nobody actually cares, everyone for himself.