RIFLE RANGE BOY

Vanvaas (Exile, Hindi; 2024) Director, Screenplay, Producer: Anil Sharma Zee5 global I was watching this Hindi film with my wife. It was a melodramatic production in true Bollywood style, driven by filial piety or at least making children feel extremely guilty for not housing or caring for their parents. Sending elderly parents to specialised institutions to cater to their specific needs has never been part of any Indian dictionary.  The aged father, a widower who still lives in the memory of his deceased wife, suffers from worsening amnesia. Despite his physical limitations, he remains a proud man with his own ways of doing things, often caustic with his words. He has done well for himself, having built a beautiful house and acquired other properties. He lives with his three adult children, their respective wives, and children.  The father remains resolute in his role as the head of the extended family and makes vital family decisions. Likely due to their upbringing, the sons...

AK vs AK Director: Vikramaditya Motwane At first look, it looked promising. The idea was revolutionary. The layout gave the feel of reality TV, an idea that probably arose from the makers of ‘The Blair Witch Project’. This is where the camera person is not stationary but will be running with the actors, how a paparazzi would chase its prey. The characters used their original names, and it looked like the audience would have a peek into their private lives, which they did, to a certain extent. Trouble brews when Anil Kapoor shares the stage with Anurag Kashyap during an interview. In the course of their conversation, Anil (an actor) and Anurag (a director, mostly)  argue about whose role is crucial in the success of a movie. As they defend their respective stands, things start becoming personal. Anurag accuses Anil of being an ageing actor on his decline, while in retaliation, Anil downplays Anurag’s directorial skills and success in the film industry. It leads to a bust-up, much t...

  Maharaj (Hindi; 2024) Director:  Siddharth P. Malhotra There was no big hoopla to announce the arrival of one of Bollywood star's son, Aamir Khan's Junaid Khan, to the silver screen. The film, however, had to be cleared by the courts for allegedly hurting Hindu sentiments before making a quiet screening on Netflix. From the get-go, people started demonstrating in front of Netflix HQ in the USA, accusing them of defaming Lord Krishna. Many of the demonstrators had not even viewed the show. Still, they demonstrated anyway, seeing the OTT platform, as in previous instances, had repeatedly been releasing movies that tend to ridicule or put Sanatha Dharma in a bad light. In their eyes, Hindus were like dodos, easy prey for target practice. For instance, no one would dare make a movie that even gives a hint of ridicule or as much questions Islamic figures or practices using modern-day yardstick. It is an unwritten rule that Islamic bodies had to give their nod before such a story ...

Animal (Hindi; 2023) Director: Sandeep Reddy Vanga The mafia controlling Bollywood used to dictate to the Indian diaspora the whole over what constituted Indian culture. For a long time, they determined what ought to be screened as art and indirectly influenced the Indian way of thinking. They said songs are a must, so be it. They handpicked heroes and heroines and defined what Indian beauty was. They ensured dynastic continuity by continually launching doyens' offspring's careers. More often than not, the juniors tanked at the box office. Nevertheless, actors with real talents lost out due to a lack of patronage. The paymasters, aka mafia, chose who would be the main star and who played second fiddle. Preferential treatment was the order of the day for heroines. OTT platforms became a shot in the arm for second-rank filmmakers and actors not under the umbrella of the mafia. Movie themes became varied and more thought-provoking to accommodate Indians, who were clearly becomi...

Who Painted My Lust Red? Book #2 Who Painted My Future Bright? Book #3 Author: Sree Iyer (2020) There must be a reason why politics is labelled the second oldest in the world, after the flesh trade. Anything goes if the price is right. At least, that is the perception these books give an impression on politicians and people in power who make decisions that could steer the country's direction. Money determines everything. It lubricates, moves and generates more wealth. There is a dire need to push as the window of opportunity only opens briefly. Wealth needs to be accumulated in the short time power is handed on a platter. In the meantime, vultures and hyenas will hang around to scavenge or perhaps initiate the kill themselves.   In this fiction, Sree Iyer tells an account of a dog-eat-dog world of Indian politics. It is not all about Indian politics either. In an environment where everyone is yearning towards that one thing in life, money, nothing really matters anymore. The end ju...

Ardh Satya (Half-truth, Hindi; 1983) Director:   Govind Nihalani This Indian movie is said to be a benchmark upon which other police dramas are compared. Acted beautifully by doyens of the silver screen of Bollywood then, Om Puri, Amrish Puri, Smita Patel, Naseeruddin Shah and Sadashiva Amrapurkar, it paints a multidimensional view of the job of a policeman.  Our social system is flawed. The very system that had been devised to be law and order is anything but orderly. Things that go under the guise of upholding the law are anything but by the book. There is an unholy alliance between law enforcers and law breakers. The political dogs who made the gangsters their running dogs have made a lapdog of the police. The police, it seems, under the pointers of the politicians and the umbrage of the baddies. In a world where money can right a wrong, the brunt of law enforcement is only felt by the poor. The rich can literally get away with murder. They can quash evidence or buy the bes...