RIFLE RANGE BOY

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 sma...

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 o...

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 -...