RIFLE RANGE BOY

financialexpress.com Society wants us to believe that it is progressive. It gives the impression of being open to new ideas and radical changes. It uplifts us when we think outside the box and are bold enough to express the unthinkable. It encourages us to break unspoken societal barriers. In the modern era, where clicks and likes determine financial returns and the popularity of a social media channel, subscribers cheer and indirectly push the boundaries of what can be spoken and done.  The presenter on the other end will be enveloped in the illusion that he is the most significant discovery since Columbus found the New World. This is what fame offers us: an inflated, infallible feeling that nothing can go awry. We believe that our entire fan base has our backs covered. Sadly, the opposite is true. This, Ranbeer Allahwadia discovered the hard way. After ascending the ladder of fame through his informative podcasts and YouTube videos, he went as far as to receive national awards fo...

Elvis (Disney +; 2022) Director: Baz Luhrmann Elvis experts generally agree Baz Luhrmann's depiction is sprinkled generously with artistic licence and liberal truth-bending. It can be said that the movie was made to appease the woke generation and to rebrand Elvis to the newer generation who had not heard of the King of Rock and Roll. The message behind the movie was that Elvis Presley appropriated black music and the real heroes of rock and roll were the numerous black legends who never had their moments under the spotlight because of the bigoted attitude of the people then. In reality, Elvis did sound like a black singer. Growing up in the deep south, he drew inspiration from the black gospel church and helped popularise rock and roll music. The narration of the whole story is from the point of view of Elvis' notorious long-time manager, Colonel Tom Parker. Colonel Parker is a shady character who had allegedly illegally immigrated from Netherland and was not a colonel. He, ho...

Judy (2019) When the mythical Pandora Box finally opened, all the evil virtues flew out, leaving only hope. Well, one can assume that when everything is gone, and one is down and out, there is always hope for one to start over.   But then, conversely, one could ask why hope is there in the first place among unsavoury traits like jealousy and gluttony. Is it that sometimes, even hope gives a false sense of surety that masks the situation of the ground? Could hope, after the initial useful jumpstart progress to some kind of obsession? The dream to excel becomes so essential that one forgets to slumber. One needs to sleep to dream but then what ensues is just a nightmare when several self-defeating means are deployed to hope against hope to keep the dream, which is now only a delusion, alive.   ‘Judy’ is the story of a child prodigy, Judy Garland, at the tail end of her sad life. Coming from a showbiz family, she and her two sisters were in a vaudeville called Gumm S...