RIFLE RANGE BOY

Salakab (Fish Trap, Tagalog; 2023) Director: Roman Perez Jr. Do we help others because it is just the most human thing to do? Or do we do it because we may need their help someday? Just because somebody had helped us at one point in time, are we duty-bound to return the favour as and when our help is needed? Should this be done even if it means it would crush our plans to succeed? When we are in a slightly comfortable zone, are we considered ungrateful when we do not reciprocate their request? Do we deserve all the curses hurled at us for being an unappreciative dog? Society has many names for these types of 'traitors'. On the side of the one who helps others, do all the great deeds performed become a fixed deposit that can be broken on a rainy day? Do parents care for their young in anticipation of care in their twilight years? Is the spouse (partner) duty-bound to pay back for services? The film asks the same question in a graphically explicit, eye-pleasing presentation that ...

I remember a time in my early teenage when I was assigned to pay off debtors. As the sums involved were pretty substantial, and I had never handled such large amounts in my life, a number of 'supposed' trustworthy relatives were assigned to act as bouncers. After pawning some dear jewellery that my mother had accumulated on the sly over the years, we headed off to pay the creditors. With a heavy heart for money lost, one by one, the names on the list were struck off. I thought that was the end of it, until a few more emerged out of the blues 12 years later. That is another story. After the unenviable job of distributing the dues to the creditors, the relatives who were given the task of standing guard during the work thought it was time for their contributions. After all, it was lunch time. A job 'well done' needed remuneration, they thought. And off the two assigned relatives decided that they should retire to have a good meal for mission accomplished. I, the timid ...

Thulabaram (Sacrifice, Tamil; 1968) I do not know why but I keep watching this movie over and over again over the years. Maybe because it draws me back to the time of RRF and the time that steamed with hopelessness and helplessness. At the same time, I do not agree with the melodrama and the self pity that is exhibited in full glory in this flick. So, psychoanalyse me! This was one of the first movies that Amma took me to watch back in the days. Perhaps, she needed to reminisce her trying times of early adulthood. Even after all these years, its songs, especially 'Kaathrinile Perum Kaathrinile' sang beautifully by K.J. Yesudass, still makes my hairs at the back of my neck stand. This movie skyrocketed in popularity in the South that remakes were made in Tamil, Telegu and Hindi using the same main actress, Sharadha. The original film was made in Malayalam based on stage show. Sharadha went on to receive the National Film Award for that year. Sharadha Coming from a s...

Set in the Negro heartland of Mississippi and the 1960s, at a time when it was a crime for a white to be seen eating together with a black and the law required the black maids to use a separate wash room outside the house, this film showcases the story of a young modern female journalists, who unlike her mates who are falling dying to be contend with hitching a husband and having kids, tries to interview a few domestic maids for a paper. We are talking about a time when it is all right for the maid does all the raising the kids while the white bosses do all the socializing and raising funds for kids in Africa when they treated their helpers like dirt. And their helpers have no right even though they are the first to fend for the babies and do all the cooking and chores. It is okay from them to cook and raise their child, but even the law at one stage required households to have separate toilets for domestic helpers as they were feared to harbour many communicable diseases! Amongst t...