Just hanging on...

Ugly (Hindi; 2013)
Written and Directed by Anurag Kashyap

A cursory look at modern relationships may suggest that they are held together loosely by threadbare bonds. Everyone seems to be unhappy and cannot wait to be out. They hang on, just barely, on flimsy excuses, just buying time. Looks like everybody is experiencing existential crises and is looking all over the place for the reason of their existence. They say they are trapped. Some feel smothered, unable to express themselves. For some, it is tradition and social norms that bog them down. Others still find their passion in waiting for Prince Charming to sweep off their feet. Amidst all these uncertainties, pops out an offspring to further complicate the relationship. Each party wants to do right yet wish to do the best for themselves in their personal development. Life just gets more complicated. 

Life has a funny sense of humour. Just when everybody thinks that they are high and mighty, life tries to play the game of humility. When siblings do not see eye to eye or cannot stand the sight of each other, it would create an emergency where, like it or not, they have to come together and make it all right. I am thinking of the death of a family member or some kind of medical emergency. The events also bring out how weak our bonds are and how vulnerable human life is.

'Ugly' can be described as a crime thriller. It starts with Rahul losing his preteen daughter during his visitation outing. Rahul's estranged wife, Shalini, is a depressed lady who had big ambitions in life, like appearing on the silver screen, but nothing really materialised. Shalini is now remarried to her college sweetheart, Shoumik, who used to be bullied in school by Rahul, hoping for better times, but zilch.  

The problem is that Shoumik is the Police Chief in charge and has a bone to pick with his old foe. As time ticks and the lost child is nowhere to be found, Rahul and his best friend, Chaitanya, are accused of staging a kidnapping instead. Things get more twisted as everyone tries to outdo and outsmart each other to get the girl first. Then there is another party who is eyeing the ransom money.

It is a fast-paced thriller with real everyday people with all their good, bad and ugly qualities, warts and all. Viewers can really feel the hopelessness felt by the father as the police start looking at him as an aggressor rather than as a victim. 

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Bleak future ahead?

Bleak Future Ahead?

The Financial Curse (2018, Nicholas Shaxson)
How and Why Global Finance Makes Us All Poorer

Being rich is a curse. When an impoverished third world nation gets a potential windfall, its leaders will become greedy and would want to usurp all the richness fo themselves, their family members and cronies. When a prosperous nation (read former Imperial power) has access to wealth, nothing is ever enough. After living in comfort with a particular lifestyle for all these while, the national coffers are forever in the want. In both cases, the average citizen is at the receiving end. He is the one who has to tighten his belt to meet the demands of the rich and those in power.

The world is ruled by bankers. Ever since banks started functioning and people developed the insatiable appetite for money and megalomaniac industries, these cherubs with horns have been in action. Through slews of business manoeuvres, the creation of shell companies, accounts in tax havens, the evil empire of bankers, auditors, accountants, and politicians have created a smokescreen to hoodwink the general public. Many ventures are proposed to the leaders of nations, both small and big, to invest monies. With legitimate approval of the people, using rhetorics which naturally hide many detrimental clauses, the self-serving leaders dupe their citizens to sign off the national wealth to finance megaprojects. These projects, failing to live up to its expectations, had to be bailed out. Where does the money come from? From the already impoverished people of the state, of course.

The philosophy behind the banking seems to be, "give the people a longer rope, easier for them to hang themselves", meaning lure than more than they can pay. "Heads we win, tails they lose" is another one of their mantras. 

It is a paradox. Amidst the sea of plenty, poverty is widespread. Smart people who are very capable of bringing ground shattering breakthroughs to the society are by lured by the glitz of the financial market. Science and technology which had brought many positive changes to mankind take a backseat whilst they use their intelligence to re-package debts into yet another money-making scheme that is bound to fail. Of course, this would happen after enriching the wealthy and eventually, the taxpayers would end up paying up for the debacle.  The wealthy, however, would have their cash stashed nicely in the numerous countries whose existence is to be a tax-haven to crooks. 

It is an open secret that these shelters are aplenty - the list goes on and on; Bahamas, Panama, Luxemburg, Cayman Islands, St. Kitts, Lichstentein, Jersey and many more. 

The City of London is controlled by a group of businessman, bankers and accountants who primarily run the city like an independent state. They elect their own mayor, Lord Mayor of the City of London. This is an apolitical appointed post. The Lord Mayor represents the city at the Parliament. This post is not to be confused with the Mayor of London. Interestingly, the people who elected the Lord Mayor's position include businesses from Communist China who heavily parked their spare cash to splash into capitalistic ventures elsewhere. Through the City of London, Britain is building its Second British Empire.

We are living in a material world, that more one where everyone lives and spends money that they do not own. And the bank loan money that they do not have; print money that has no value. The financiers of the world control the media, showbiz and telecommunication. They dictate what truth is and what is fake news. People buy their stories and get fascinated with mundane things like what the Kardashians are up to!

Economics as we know it has evolved over the years. We are still trying to understand how it works. It seems that every model introduced by man fails because it cannot satisfy the greed of man. From one where the economy is controlled by the 'invisible hand' - the market to laissez-faire one to one with government supervision, now we have countries competing with multinational companies to thump their invisible fists.

Expansion of businesses made giant mergers inevitable. Unfortunately, it is also accompanied by undercutting rivals through monopoly. It is alright if mergers mean more employment and return of investment through taxes back to the society. Unfortunately, profits find their way to off-shore accounts. Smaller retailers go bust. It is affluence on the outside by poverty of majority.

The state of the economy is pathetic at best. Outsourcing was supposed to cut costs, but it does not. The only beneficiaries seem to be lawyers, bankers and consultants who still get their fat cheque no matter what. Instances of megacompanies going bust with preceding years of a clean bill of financial health endorsed by the infamous big accountancy firms are aplenty.

All these things are nothing new to the average Malaysian. Recent events before the 14th Malaysian General Elections peeled open our eyes of ignorance on the scandalous nature of the union of politicians and businessmen. It is akin to asking Big Bad Wolf to take care of the sheep and Little Red Riding Hood.


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