RIFLE RANGE BOY

Manjummel Boys (Malayalam/ Tamil; 2024) Director: Chidambaram I was intrigued by this movie after reading two articles. The first detailed a legal dispute between Ilaiyaraaja's side and the producer. The dispute arose when the producer used Ilaiyaraaja's song composition as a background without obtaining permission. This incident added an exciting layer to the movie's production. The second article discussed the Tamil Nadu Home Secretary's directive to the Kodaikanal Police to investigate police brutality against complainants, which also played a role in the movie's plot. This is a gripping tale of a rescue mission that took place in 2006. A group of young men from Majummel, Kochi, embarked on a trip to Kodaikanal in Tamil Nadu, a popular tourist destination. While exploring, the men made a fateful decision to venture into a restricted area. Tragically, one of them fell into a seemingly bottomless pit. The story unfolds as the remaining men, faced with a group of ap...

The Kerala Story (Hindi, 2023) Written & Directed by Sudipto Sen   This movie is kicking a storm in India right now. It is outrightly banned in West Bengal by the ruling party. In Kerala and Tamil Nadu, the courts have allowed screening for the time being, but the case is due to be reviewed in the Supreme Court soon.   Some cinema hall operators have voluntarily decided not to screen the film for fear of reprisal from angry mobs. They cite not wanting to offend Muslim sentiments and the possibility of property damage. This only shows the schizophrenic nature of society. On the one hand, people talk about freedom of expression; simultaneously, there is a need to control the narrative. The controversy stems from the story's theme - love jihad and forced conversion. A Malayalee Hindu nursing student tells her life story. A bubbly student dabbles with Islam and is lured into marrying a Muslim man after inadvertently getting pregnant. She is brainwashed to hate her roots and fa...

Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham  (Marakkar: Lion of Arabian Sea, Malayalam, 2021) Screenplay / Director: Priyadarshan Of late, many movies seem to highlight and bring to the fore the many freedom fighters in India who had been lost in the annals of history. They failed to make it into the mainstream history books as the syllabi were written either by colonists or the sympathisers of their colonial masters. It seems many of the non-Muslim empires that ruled valiantly with impressive CVs like the Cholas, Pandyas and Vijayanagar just remain in the folklores and children bedtime stories. Luckily, the current generation of scholars appears to be digging deep into the dusted palm leaves and forgotten scripts to remind everyone of the nation's fallen heroes. Long before Jhansi Rani rode to fight the tyranny of the East India Company in 1857, there was Queen Velu Natchiyar from Sivagangai District, who holds the reputation of being the first Queen who fought the British. In 1780, with the ...

The Great Indian Kitchen (Malayalam; 2021) After being denied by many OTT channels, because of the Sabarimala Trials' running narration in the background, it made its presence in an obscure platform, NeeStream in Kerala. No, this is not a cooking show showcasing the numerous mouth-watering cuisines from the Indian kitchens. Instead, it is an India bashing film to portray the slave-like conditions in which some Indian brides live as 24/7 cook, wife, servant, and gardener. Simultaneously, in this particularly orthodox Hindu household, she is locked away in a small room away from everybody view for a good one week every month. She is considered dirty and should not be allowed to prepare food, as it is regarded as a divine duty to feed the family's males.  Coming from a family with liberal views on women empowerment (the protagonist was a traditional dancer in a previous life!), she flips one day. She was done with making adjustments to fit in every time. She called it quits and re...

Sufiyum Sujathayum (Sufi and Sujatha, Malayalam; 2020) It started with a slow but discernable sporadic increase in reported cases of Hindu girls eloping with Muslim boys. Then came in the honour killings. The media picked it up. Everyone else then came out with their experiences of so-and-so female members of their families ex-communicating from the rest in pursuit of true love. To these girls, it finally meant embracing a new religion, new name, erasing themselves of their past lives and age-old traditions. People started calling this phenomenon as 'love jihad' -  a supposed form of religious warfare by  Muslim boys to e ntice Hindu girls into conversion through marriage. It was a numbers game. They allege that that was another modality to increase their representation in the community. In 2009, it garnered national attention   with claims of widespread conversions in  Kerala  and  Karnataka . There were also similar accusations by British Sikhs an...

Gowri (2016) Author: V G Kumar Das As our leaders frantically try their level best to rewrite history as they seem fit, to satisfy their personal agendas, there is no better time than now for books like this one to come out. In fact, books of this kind are long overdue.  Family narrations of this nature must surely be a regular feature in most Malaysian Indian family circles. In fact, it is the story of economic immigrants the world over. The push factor drives a brave group of fortune seekers to go beyond their shores to explore greener pastures. Accommodating to the demands of their new found lands, with the trust in God Almighty, these new sojourners persevere.  Losing everything and gaining nothing by becoming sluggards, they know that hard work is the only way to unshackle themselves from the clutches of poverty. Inadvertently, their labour pays back in their and their offspring's standard of living. The incidental beneficiary of all these...