RIFLE RANGE BOY

Lucky Baskhar (Telugu; 2024) Director:  Venky Atluri There are different rules for other players. The rich have it good. The system ensures that they stay wealthy. Money begets money. The law provides that the bulk of wealth remains within the confines of those with them. There are different rules for other players. The rich have it good. The system ensures that they stay wealthy. Money begets money. The law provides that the bulk of wealth remains within the confines of those who possess it. T he legal system makes justice swifter for all the money that can be bought. The middle class stays put in a self-imposed restrictive loop. The middle class is trapped in a cocoon by concocting rules of morality as well as divine and social justice. Grabbing an obscene wealth escapes them and can only be an unattainable dream.  The middle class is often used as a scapegoat to show society that the system is fair. By periodically using them as sacrificial lambs, society sets an example t...

Kalki 2898 AD (Telegu; 2024) Director: Nag Ashwin Why is it that every culture predicts a nihilistic future where annihilation is the final outcome? Almost all paint a picture of chaos where morality is down the drain, virtue becomes an alien feature, and pandemonium is king. According to Hindu culture, time is cyclical in Nature. A time unit, chaturyoga, lasts 8.64 million years. It is divided into four yugas—Satya, Treta, Dwarpa, and Kali. We are in Kaliyuga, which commenced in 3102 BCE and will last for 432,000 years.  Each yuga depicts further deterioration of human behaviour. Like the four seasons on Earth will repeat indefinitely. By the end of Kaliyuga, human behaviour will be despicable, with total anarchy and chaos, reaching the point of entropy. Decoiry, emphasis on external beauty, false divinity, fakery, greed, and the list go on about what can be expected by the end of Kaliyuga. Nature would need to reboot and restart the system, returning to Satya, the golde...

Bhama Kalabam (Telegu, The Dance of Fate; 2022)  Written and Directed by: Abimanyu  I learned two things from this movie.  Increasingly, crime is a funny business. This film falls under the genre of comedic crime thriller. The Indian cinemas have graduated from fake fighting with comedians pouncing on villains with their most hilarious bumbling moves. Now, it involves quirky investigators or their blundering assistants. Violence is a necessary mainstay, as, after all, it is a crime drama. So, nitty gritty grizzly details of the killing, striking the jugular and bundling a dead body into a suitcase are accepted as the most natural thing to do. Get a 13+ rating, and everything is kosher. Do not question dragging dead weight around with ease and the ability to keep a deadpan face after committing a heinous crime. If you pass all that, you should, as it is a comedy, remember, then you will enjoy this movie.  Filmed during the pandemic, the moviemakers managed to pull thr...

Baahuballi 2 (The Conclusion, 2017; Telugu) My friend was understandably excited when the news of its release and its phenomenal smashing of records of sorts for a Tollywood production. He was over the moon as the news had made it to the desktops of the BBC World Service TV. After making quite an impression with the first instalment, I felt that this film is quite a letdown. The awe factor seems missing. There is only so much of long shots one can take of the set to impress us on gargantuan portions of the wealth and power of Sivagami and her Mahishmati kingdom. We totally get it. The wide angle aerial shots of CGI-enhanced castles, beasts and savage battle scenes are too many by far. They are only so many flying tackles one can stomach. There is a limit to human imagination. Ok, this is a fantasy film set in medieval India when they were the richest nation on the planet with the intellect beyond yonder and military prowess to match, but stringing three arrows fro a ...