RIFLE RANGE BOY

Ponniyin Selvan Part 1( பொன்னியின் செல்வன் , Tamil; 2022) Director: Mani Ratnam Kalki first published these fictionalised historical stories back in the 1950s in a weekly magazine. The stories were penned by Kalki Subramaniam and printed in Kalki magazine in Chennai. These stories were hugely popular and had developed a cult following. People were fascinated with the vivid narration and witty dialogue. The publication's readership at one time was 71,366 - a formidable number in newly independent India. Kalki Subramaniam had been a freedom fighter. As early as the late 50s, attempts have been made to make a movie of Kalki's 'Ponniyin Selvan'. MG Ramachandran bought the rights to the story but failed due to financial constraints. Mani Ratnam attempted it in the 1980s and 2010s but failed again. After the delays posed by the pandemic, it finally hit the silver screens in 2022.  Now, this film is said to be the fourth highest-grossing Tamil movie of all time, and people are...

Last Film Show (Chhello Show, Gujerati; 2021) Director: Pan Nalin Growing up in a lower-middle-class Asian family, the last thing we were allowed to do as children was to indulge in too much time watching movies. Movies were considered evil, deterrents that would derail us from our purpose in life. In their eyes, the purpose of life hovers around getting into the fields of law, medicine, engineering or teaching (if you are a female). Anything else would not just cut it. As we grew up in our own time, we realised that life is neither black nor white. Straying away from the top four noble professions did not make one a failure, and following religiously along the pre-planned path would assure success. This Gujerati film is a surprise nomination for the 2022 Academy Award Best International Feature Film Category, instead of 'R.R.R.' or 'The Kashmir Files'. This movie, by all means, is not an original one. It is inspired (or plagiarised, depending on which camp one is) by t...

Pakistan or Partition of India (1940, Revised 1945) B.R. Ambedkar Dr Ambedkar  is often voted as the single most important icon of India, surpassing Gandhi and the members of the Nehru clan. He has been described as one of the most erudite people from the subcontinent. He is credited with the drafting of the Indian Constitution. One of his many books that seem to be ahead of its times and is especially relevant in these trying times of identity politics is this one.  It was written at the tumultuous times when India was fighting a war for the British while at the same time, in the local front struggling for self-rule. Like two siblings fighting for the coveted candy from their parents, it was a time when Muslims were fighting for a separate nation. The Hindus wanted to keep it that way as it had been since time immemorial. As early as 630AD, through the writings of the travelling Buddhist monk, Hsuan Tang (Xuanzang), the Indian subcontinent had been described to sprea...

The Seventh Seal (Det sjunde insegle, Swedish; 1957) Written and Directed by Ingmar Bergman A classic regarding the filmmaker's favourite topic, The Silence of God. As usual, people in power would always decree that this is God's decree and one should lead their lives by His Book. Despite what appears like acts of barbaric and inhumane nature, some things need to be done for the greater good of humankind, so they say, even though it makes no sense. These types of nonsensical actions seem to continue till today. The Seventh Seal is a film with a heavy theological reference set in medieval time Sweden. Antonio Block is a disgruntled knight who is returning from the Crusade War to be with his wife. As he and his errand Gian, discover a country plagued with the Black Death and cruelty done in the name of God. Block is visited by Death, but he managed to postpone his time after a game of chess which would go on intermittently throughout the length of the film and end at the ...