Of integrity, coinage and inner devil of Man.

Naanayam (நாணயம், Tamil; Integrity/Coin, 2005)

It is ironic the very thing that makes one loses his integrity bears the very same name that gives confidence. In the Tamil language, நாணயம் (Naanayam - the title of the movie), could indicate either integrity or coins as well as currency. The root word tells it all; coin/currency works based on trust. Once someone loses his trust in the economy of a, say banana republic, its whole financial institution collapses.

There is no problem that a little moolah cannot solve, they say. In a Tamil saying, it is mentioned that even a corpse would open its mouth at the mention of money. There is no stronger bond than the love for money. Even motherly love can be bought over. At the same time, money unleashes all the evil feelings that have been suppressed over the million years of our civilisation and the code of conduct that evolved from it. At the sight or suggestion of easy money, all integrity goes out of the window. When wealth is small, Man is its master. Conversely, money becomes the Master to man when it is humungous.

This movie came to the limelight after passing of the legendary SPB. He plays a pivotal character in the film and his son, SPB Cheran is the producer.

The plot of the film is nothing new. We have seen the same theme in umpteen Hollywood offering in various twists and turn. Here, the storyline gets marinated with lots of masala and music to whet the local appetite. It is a forgettable feat but makes one realise that any full proof security system is as good as the last. Sometimes one wonders, like the makers of COVID vaccine who could have conjured up the Wuhan virus in the first place, perhaps the security firm break their own 'unbreakable' system to market their next product.

The desire to usurp wealth is so great that positive human virtues like integrity, honesty, loyalty and such just get thrown off the window. Money buys everything. The similar attraction must apply to hunger, power and erotic ambitions.

Ravi, an ambitious young man, has his future set when he helps a banker in trouble. The banker employs him and plans to use the young man's security proposal for his bank. Ravi thought everything was falling in place when he met a pretty journalist. The next thing he knew was that her ex-husband appears and makes a ruckus. The ex-husband ends up dead, and Ravi is blackmailed and accused of killing the ex-husband. Then starts the cat-and-mouse game for Ravi to find out what was going on and hence prove his innocence. 

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

Living on the edge

The Big Short (2015)


At the entrance to Aristotle’s Lyceum where intellectual discourses were in progress, a banner apparently read, 'Those who do not know geometry need not apply’! It only goes on to show how much mathematics was needed to grasp the finer aspects of human intellect. Intelligence and ability to articulate is of paramount importance to understand philosophy which in turn is the bedrock to comprehend the meaning of existence and purpose in life. On the whole, philosophers of the yesteryears, in unison agreed that our life on Earth is basically to appease the Agent Intellect. Some look at service to mankind as the way to reach divinity. In short, Mathematics were used to make life comfortable for everyone. And some things are pre-determined while others are malleable with free will.

Fast forward to 1990s. The world has only one master to feed, greed. They use mathematics and the knowledge of chance and probability to hoodwink the general public to fulfil their own bloated agenda of taking the money and running! The people in the system who are trusted to hold the fort to assure fair play is instead in the game and setting their rules as they go along. The invigilators are all sleeping on the job and are playing hokey-pokey with the people they are supposed to be looking over. When the bubble bursts,  the affected parties are the general public who are clueless on the operations of monetary system but the only persuasive factor is greed and the desire to save for old age and loved ones. The bankers and the manipulators get away scot free and plot their next new conniving scheme.

This 2015 film tries to explain the events preceding and leading to the 1998 financial crisis. It shows the banking sector which operates rudderless under credit. 

Bank heist: A political statement?

Dog day afternoon (1975)

What makes this bank robbery movie different from others of the same genre? We have bombarded with too many stories with nitty gritty technical details of planning and execution. DDA, however, appears to me like a satire of sorts. By the way, DDA just a poetic way of saying 'a scorching hot afternoon'.

The bank heist shown on screen these days are so high-tech. The amounts planned to be robbed are in gargantuan proportions and their modus operandi is usually much bigger - including world domination, anarchy, terrorism and even nuclear warheads. In the 70s, it was a political statement. It is about the small man fighting a system dominated by greedy enterprises and politicians. This film is based on a real story. 

It starts with 3 bumbling amateurs holding up a bank. Just as they unleash their weapons in the premises, one of the gang of three get cold feet and requested to be out. And off we goes, walking out the bank! The bumbling remaining duo - Sonny (Al Pacino) and Sal - were in for bad luck. The armour truck had come early to collect the bank money early, leaving only $1100 in the vault! So they started taking petty cash and travelers' cheques. To squash evidence, Sonny, the dominant and mastermind, started burning the register book. The billowing smoke alerted a passerby and within minutes, the area around the bank was sprawling with cops.
The  startled robbers took the bank employees as hostages. Negotiations over negotiations happened with the police to release the hostages. In came the TV crew eager to interview, and he did, of the robbers. Taking pity on the robbers who seem to be getting bad luck, one after another, the hostages develop Stockholm Syndrome! At some point, they even give suggestions to them what to do next.
The taped area outside become theatrical as the spectators cheer for the robbers as they deem that their action was heroic -the oppressed Vietnam veteran fighting the establishment, as Sonny goes on TV.
When Sonny requests to meet his wife, the police discovers that Sonny was a homosexual and brought him his gay 'wife' whom he had recently married (in a church!). Now, the gay community started lobbying their plight in front of the bank. They claim that the heist is a statement, to highlight their course!
Sonny's annoying mother and later his first wife appear at the scene. They, of course are no police to persuade the robbers to disarm as they are more interested in washing dirty linen in public and highlighting their own problems.
Sonny and Sal, who are at wits end on their escape route, demand for a free passage to Algeria on a jet.
Even though the whole stories may appear comical, the excellent direction and acting by the stars managed to maintain the suspense.
In the end, they only made it to the airport. Sal was shot dead by FBI and Sonny was captured. He was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment.
A classic film with subtle jibes at modern living. It pokes fun at people's herd mentality, media craze and media manipulation of people. A good one.

(N.B. Dog Day Afternoon just means 'a scorching hot afternoon')