RIFLE RANGE BOY

Ramprasad Ki Tehrvi (Ramprasad's Final Rites, Hindi; 2019) Written and Directed by Seema Pahwa All families will have their own internal politics. Over property, money or ego, family members may squabble and refuse to descend from their high horses. They refuse to see common ground. Nature sometimes play games to remind everybody of how fragile each of us is and tries to put us in our respective place. The easiest way Nature does this is to invoke death within the family.  The scurrying of family members gives an opportune time to meant fences. The warring factions may rescind, albeit for a short time, only to return to their old ways once the mourning period is over.  Human relationships are so fragile. More often than not, we do not say what we mean and mean what we say. Everything is sugarcoated to maintain harmony on the surface, but beneath it all, resentment brews. Everyone is concerned with their own survival. Family dynamics have evolved over the generations, and the e...

The Stranger (Novella by Albert Camus, 1942) Feature Film (Italian; 1967) Director: Marcello Mastroianni The last few years of his existence were not particularly pleasant. It started with diabetes which progressively affected his night vision. His occasional falls off his motorcycle, and a fracture shook his confidence. Progressively, the Penang roads appeared too hostile to his liking. He lost his independence when his children did not allow him to renew his driving and bike licences. From then on, things only went south. Two episodes of strokes later and a urinary bladder's tumour afterwards with the ensuing therapy made life more miserable. If that was not enough, the accidental falls, lacerations and worsening eyesight added to his misery and the people living around him. Many unsavoury words were hurled out of frustrations.  So, when the day of reckoning finally came, it was a relief of sorts. At least, that is how I looked at it. Released from the distresses of the mortal li...

Aelay (ஏலே! Hey You! Tamil; 2021) We always complain that our fathers are not expressive enough, that they are not touchy enough. We allege that they are relatively economical with their display of affection. We despise their approach to solving problems. We say they are too laid back, sometimes also detached.  In our minds, our fathers exhibit all the traits of how a father should not be. We resolve to be just the opposite of what they were. We spend a great deal of our adulthood not seeing eye- to-eye with our fathers.  We tell ourselves we will not be like him when we grow older. Slowly, with the lessons learnt from the School of Hard Knock and Life, we soon realise that he managed, with and despite his knowledge and experience, to hold the fort for others to prosper. In the traditional sense, he looked at himself as a material provider. As for their deeds and misdeeds that he has under his belt, they cannot be held against as he did with his family's best interest at ...

Oh, dear, oh, dear! First, there were the vultures , perched high up on the branch waiting patiently for their preys to fall. Their spirits rise with every heaving of the chest, hoping that that would be the last. Is the soul protected by the soaring eagles seen way up in the skies? Even as the body is failing, the spirit is clinging and refuses to go. Even as the remains remain warm, White Rabbit is already scurrying around, muttering, "Oh dear, oh dear. I'm late for an important date!" peeking at the watch ever so often. The Mad Hatter is not needed, but he likes to think that he is indispensable. Are the hyenas'  scream decibels too loud for comfort? Mourners want a time of peace to reflect, not hear noises that evoke madness. Minesweeper Then came the owls with their eyes opened so vast that they scrutinise every shortcoming and scrouge source material for their next gossip session. With stereoscopic vision and 360° movement of the cervical region, they manage ...

Ee.Ma.Yau (Malayalam: ഈ.മ.യൗ, R.I.P.; 2018) Director: Lijo Jose Pellisery. Parents always think that children are dumb; that there are unaware of the 'adult' kind of stuff that happens around them. Our parents thought so too. Sometimes, they would talk in codes and other times they would say in our absence. We were not living in a mansion for the void to absorb all the vibrations of their speeches; hence, we pretty much heard everything. During one of these instances, we heard of the death of a respected man in the community. He was a pleasant Tamil school teacher who was generous with his smile and was often consulted to aid in dealings with the local authority. Naturally, the community was shocked one day when news spread of his suicide. He had apparently decided to jump off the balcony of his 13th floor flat. Everyone was there at his funeral. Some came to show their last respect, others probably came to catch a glimpse of how a mangled body of a jumper would look like. The ...

Wiki:   Markandeya, a boy born of worship of Shiva, was given the boon of profound wisdom but a short life. Markandeya, himself a devout Shiva devotee, could not be taken at the time of his supposed death. He was in deep prayer in front of Shivalinga. Yama's noose trapped the Shivalinga, incurring Siva's wrath. A war ensued. Yama was defeated. People reached immortality and were acting with impunity without the fear of death. Yama was reinstated but, Markandeya was bestowed to stay forever young. This is what my father must be feeling right now. Completing his eighth decade of existence on Earth, he would be soon entering his ninth. By now, he must have got used to seeing his friends falling down like flies, one after another. Until about a few years ago, my contemporaries and I were only used to seeing pictures of relatives donning the obituary columns. Pretty soon, like him, we would start seeing more familiar faces of friends, buddies and soul mates. That, my friend,...

You called me cheat and hurled me names, That I am self-centred, to fill my coffers, Surrounded by sycophants to blow my horn, Our race was epic, spicier than the Vedas. We raised our game to make Kurushetra a child's play, You took my dignity, I took your sanity,  tit for tat, this for that, we took politics to dizzying heights, I was in chains, you were behind bars. We were neck to neck, shoulder to shoulder, My swan song so sweet, To put on a pedestal, to the petals showered by the plebians, Sweet victory keeps on coming,  when you bow in humility to my lifeless cadaver, my soul sees you as asking forgiveness. I will clean the slate,  Now that I am a saint, I will set a duel, When I see you, in no time I will! Guess, I'll win again!

Friday February 10, 2012 By ANDREA FILMER Photos by ASRI ABDUL GHANI LONG-SERVING soldier William David Dass (pic) was given a fitting farewell at his funeral at the St George’s Church in Penang. He was acknowledged with military honours at the funeral service where his casket was led by bag-pipers from the 8th Royal Regiment based in the Terendak Army Camp, Malacca. Solemn affair: The casket of the late William leaving St George's Church in Penang. The retired Warrant Officer II, who died at the age of 77 on Sunday, was later cremated at Batu Gantong. He had served 29 years with the Malaysian Armed Forces and participated in several high profile military operations. William, who was also named a Universal Peace Federation ambassador of peace, is survived by his wife Sundari Gopal Iyer, five children and seven grandchildren. His eldest son, Kapt Christopher Ravindran, described his father as an active celebrant of life and a man who was a “true believer in the value of com...

It is one of those Arty movies that I picked up (DVD) while waiting to go in to watch another film in the cinema (Bodyguard, Hindi). Boy! I am sure watching more movies than I should. Actually, I was only a bodyguard to my daughter to watch the film 'Bodyguard' (starring Salman Khan with his senseless ala Matrix kind of unimaginable stunts only to be bettered by Vijaykanth!) which is not worth mentioning in this posting! I have departed from my narration of Departures, a full-length Japanese movie, subtitled in English, about the departed. Departed? Departures? Confused? That is how our hero, Kobayashi, got entangled in this mess in the first place. Kobayashi, a cellist in a symphony orchestra, returns to his hometown when the orchestra winds down due to bad business. A good movie to watch to appreciate the sheer pleasing picturesque view of the interior colder parts of Japan. And I have definitely fallen in love with the finesse and the mild-mannered natured trait of the ...