RIFLE RANGE BOY

Money Monster (2016) Director: Jody Foster That it is. There is no shortcut to making that first million. First, one must realise that one's journey to the land of gold and honey may meet impassable obstacles and not reach the intended destination. Or, he may be skewed away from the path and end up in a ditch. Or, he may be swallowed by a beast (or troll under the bridge, if you still believe in fairy tales!) Wealth is finite. It is a zero-sum game. For one to make a million, somebody else must lose a million. The way advertisers do their thing, prospectors buy the idea that no one is a loser. They entice you into the gravy train, which never runs short of curry! With the advent of complex algorithms, the unholy union of data scientists and conniving dupe masters never had it better. Speaking in incomprehensible jargon that they do not understand, they create a smokescreen that can cleverly hide their true malfeasances. Their spick appearances and polished social etiquettes belie t...

Inventing Anna (Miniseries, 2021) Netflix Believe it or not, this miniseries is based on actual events. Between 2013 and 2017, a young German heiress of Russian descent by the name of Anna Delvey was seen in the social circles of New York. She was moving around the company of who's who in the art scene and the rich and famous. Everybody was excited about her ambitious plan to create an ultra-exclusive club where the exceptionally wealthy clientele could partake. Soon every banker, lawyer, designer and leeches was dying to be in her company. The only perennial problem is that his apparently flamboyant young lady has problems mobilising her money from Germany. Her strict father is insistent that Anna earns her every single penny herself.  People soon realise that Anna was spending way too much than she actually managed to show. Not wanting to be embarrassed, her many famous socialites and supporters of Anna's plan to build a foundation instead stay anonymous and would not like to...

Money Explained (5 episodes, Documentary, 2021) Netflix Looks like the old adage 'there is no such thing as a free lunch' still holds true. The system is there so that the well-heeled is always at the top of the food chain at the expense of the poor. Whichever way one looks, the little man will always stay poor, and the rich man will always the last laugh.  Money, wealth, luxurious lifestyle and aesthetically pleasing environment are dangled in front of those who can ill afford to own or even anywhere around it. Everyone wants to be rich as that is our measure of success. The first carrot that is dangled upon us is the get rich quick scheme. Even as early as the time of the expeditions to South America, the designs have been going around. Gregor MacGregor, a professional trickster, managed to sell land and bonds of a supposedly heaven-on-earth kind of a paradise territory in Central America after their discoveries. The trouble is that such a place was non-existent. Gullible peo...

The Battle of Kurukshetra: Bhima killing the King of Kalinga,  from  1605 illustrated manuscript of the Razmnama, the Persian translation of the Mahabharata,  Birla Academy of Art & Culture,  Kolkata . Being a historian must be quite scary; seeing everyday events unfolding in front of his very eyes just as it happened many times before in history. From time immemorial, the issues are the same. Even the language used is eerily the same. The end point is the same; usurping of power, wealth and dominance being the intent. Modus operandi remains the same; coming as friends or liberators with goodies beyond compare. Little do the recipients realise that it is just a bait to fish bigger catches. Your enemy is my enemy, they say. They speak of new incomprehensible lingos, the marginalised, the minority, the downtrodden, the outcasts and they embrace you despite the wart and all.  The setting may be different. The tool may vary. It would happen a...