RIFLE RANGE BOY

Amar Singh Chakila (Hindi, Punjabi; 2024) Director: Imtiaz Ali Whilst self-proclaimed intellectually minded individuals peruse the internet for minute-to-minute updates on the situation in Gaza, the masses are pretty contented sneaking into the WhatsApp communication between Aliff Aziz and Ruhainies, the latest two-timing pair of the Malaysian showbiz scene. Netizens feel for the wounded wife, Bella Astillah, who used to be Ruhainies' bosom buddy.   Neither party, the 'intellectuals' or the regular people, can do anything to change the trajectory of the event. In no way do these events bring them their bread or make their lives more fruitful. But it allows the masses to divert their attention from their mundane lives. They do not want their lives to be complicated, but they find solace in finding how much muck goes on in people's lives. And how virtuous is theirs, until, of course, the readers' own story becomes the topic of the day… Look around us at regions ruled ...

Kohrra (Fog, Punjabi-Hindi; 2023 Miniseries S1E1-6. Shrouded in fog, that is how it is. It used to be the food basket of India and the provider of the country's most significant tax returns from its businesses and income earners. Punjab used to be prosperous. People of the diaspora have been instantly recognised worldwide for their resilience, entrepreneurial skills, confidence and ability to adapt and integrate.   Sadly, the situation in their home state now is a far cry from what it used to be in its pre-independence days. The downward spiral started when a large chunk of the State was sliced away amid bloody butchering to satisfy specific political ambitions. Just as they recoiled back to health with the erection of a dam and the introduction of Green Revolution initiatives, they were the envy of many, including their poor Eastern cousins, Haryana.   Religiosio-linguistic politics dictated that Hindi-speaking Hindu Himachal Pradesh and Haryana be cut off from the predominan...

Sardar Udham (Hindi; 2021) Director: Shoojit Sircar One always wonders how a cult started by a group of semi-literate fishermen at the fringe of the Roman Empire by the Sea of Galilee could eventually grow up to impress the whole of the Empire, including its rulers. This rebel's rhetorics soon triggered justified wars and legitimised usurping of lands to claim their hegemony. The belief system garnered potential believers because it targeted the oppressed or the persecuted. The marginalised and the dying were given the dignity to exist with others on Earth. In return, the converts were willing to trade in their lives (or, in their words, sell their soul) for the religion. Yes, martyrdom played an essential role in recruiting more new members.  As India goes on a spree to rewrite its national history, more and more heroes of yesteryears come to the fore. Sardar Udham Singh (@ Sher Singh @ Ram Mohammad Singh Azad) is one such example. He had been conferred the title Shaheed-i-Azam Sa...

Sardar ka Grandson (Hindi, Sardar's Grandson; 2021) Netflix Somebody was comparing two pieces of land that were carved out of a more significant portion of land, circa 1947-48. See how the parent state reacts to the other. What a contrast!  In 1947, the Muslim state of Pakistan (1,030,000  km² ) was carved out of a large piece of land that was essentially Buddhist/Hindu for thousands of years. Despite all the bloodshed and emotional trauma that accompanied this creation, India, by and significant accepted the turn of historical events and carried on with life, trying to improve itself. In contrast, the tiny Jewish State of Israel  ( 22,000  km² ) was  reborn in 1948 after 2000 years in a place where their forefathers, thousands of years previously before, were exiled. Yet, their neighbours and their yeomen are hellbent on the state's annihilation. The problem is where to mark the beginning of history and selective bias of record to determine who was there first....

Salam - The First ****** Nobel Laureate (2019 Netflix) His tombstone was defaced. The epitaph which read 'The First Muslim Nobel Laureate' had, with the Government decree, the word 'Muslim' be removed from the headstone. Professor Abdus Salam, the first Pakistani and Muslim scientist to win the prestigious award, was of the Ahmadi faith. The country felt that he was not Muslim enough to claim to be one. Even Pakistani textbooks do not mention him as a national hero. The younger generation has not heard of him. His story is of particular importance to a country like ours as we seem to be pursuing the same rabbit hole as their Big Brother Pakistan took when they clawed themselves off Hindustan back in 1947. Instead of speeding forward from the race-line, they took a backward trajectory that may send them back to the Stone Age. Rather than investing in human capital and knowledge-based activities, they have only successfully managed to shoo off intellectual away fr...

Udta Punjab (Punjab on a High; Hindi-Punjabi, 2016) The world is a stage, and we are all actors, or rather we are puppets whose strings are tightly spun around by the puppet-masters. The masters here are people in power who control one thing that everything is clamouring for - money. The people are the big business magnates and conglomerates who work in cahoots with the politicians to put forward their agenda - more profit. They do not care it causes decadence of the society or that it brings social inequality or problems. They do not care if it breaks down families or wreck marriages. They do not care if those productive years of a youngster go down the drain. People all over the world are miserable and yearn for a way to be happy. The entrepreneurs have a way. Ever since Columbus and his jolly men found the happy Aztecs climbing the high plains of Andes to build temples for the Gods, whistling like the Seven Dwarfs marching to the mine, things were never the same. The Coca p...

Thanks to RS for opening my eyes to show me that there are many more things unknown to me... The fascinating tale of Maharaja Daleep Singh who relinquished the Koh-i-Noor to become the most prominent fixture in Queen Victoria’s court. But his Indian past came back to haunt him, writes Ammar Ali Qureshi – A young Maharajah Daleep Singh Maharaja Ranjit Singh is arguably the most remarkable figure in Punjab’s history. His son and last ruler of the Sikh Empire, Daleep Singh, is perhaps the most tragic. Ranjit succeeded his father as head of a small confederacy at the age of ten and, owing to his military genius, became the ruler of Punjab when he was twenty-one. He turned the tide of history by taking the battle to the land of the invaders on the western front, and conquered them; His empire, which lasted for fifty years from 1799 to 1849, stretched from the southern districts of Punjab to Afghanistan in the west Kashmir (which also included Ladakh and Gilgit and Baltistan) in the no...