RIFLE RANGE BOY

Emergency (Hindi, 2025) Story, Direction, Starring: Kangana Ranaut https://www.imdb.com/title/tt21279420/ The first thing my language teacher told me in essay writing class was to stay on topic. Therefore, with a title like 'Emergency,' I expected to learn about the events leading up to the 1975 black mark in Indian democracy. I wanted to understand how the Opposition and civil society responded to Indira Gandhi's iron-fisted rule. Instead, I received a mini biopic of Mother Indira, the so-called Mother of India. The Emergency was rushed through, I thought. It would have been better if the film had started with the events just before 1975 and given some credence to the audience to know a little bit of Indra's background. I recall that in 1977, my classmates and I, the so-called Backbenchers of the Class, engaged in lengthy, recurring debates about India, Indira, dictatorship, and democracy. Our teenage minds, albeit somewhat precocious, concluded that for a vast and com...

Chhava (Lion Cub, Hindi; 2025) Director: Laxman Utekar The debate centres on whether Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was simply a minor chieftain seizing small territories in the Deccan, an opportunist, or a Hindu nationalist. Additionally, the crucial question is whether Aurangzeb was a fair ruler or a religious bigot. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27922706 / Depending on who authors the history book, one will be portrayed as a saviour, while the other will be depicted as an opportunistic villain. Shivaji's kingdom was once characterised as a vassal territory of the Mughal Empire, and he was even said to have undertaken military campaigns on behalf of the Mughals. In his later years, his father, Shahaji, reportedly had a somewhat complex relationship with him, having formed an alliance with the neighbouring Bijapuri Sultanate against Shivaji. In the wake of numerous military clashes post-1657, Shivaji's once amicable relations with the Mughals soured. This shift coincided with Aura...

Sorgavaasal (Heaven's Gate, Tamil; 2024) Director: Siddharth Vishwanath  Youtube clip The one thing that man is granted in this life is free will and the freedom to act at his discretion (within the confines of social mores and the boundaries of the law). Therefore, when someone commits a crime that is deemed an affront to society's wellbeing, he is stripped of this privilege. Confined in isolation, it is believed that he will reflect on his waywardness and be spurred to make amends.  The reality, sadly, is not so clear-cut. We know of many innocent people incarcerated for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, doomed for life for crimes they did not commit. Then there are those who make jail their second home, moving in and out for petty crimes. I suppose imprisonment was no hindrance to the continuation of their daytime trades. Not to mention those who wear their jail sentences like badges of honour and the select few who still exert influence and control over activitie...

Growing up in the later part of the 1970s, kids of my generation were drilled into us that India was a subcontinent of poverty, filth, and pickpockets. Even our history books taught us that it was a land of darkness, living in its myths, superstitions, and cults, waiting to be civilised by the mighty European race and their scientific discoveries. https://borderlessjournal.com/2024/12/16/how-dynamic-was-ancient-india/ This work is licensed under a  Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License .

Everything was hunky dory when others ruled them. Kingdoms after kingdoms came and went. Everybody lived within their space and thought they had everything taken care of. Then, they even shared a sacred region, Katargama or Kathirgama. Each community claimed the local deity, Murugan, as their own. The Buddhists are told that Lord Buddha himself sanctioned Lord Murugan to protect Sri Lankans from the elements. The Tamils, with their ancestral affiliations, brought in their own diety and gave him his divine status. Even the local aboriginal people there, the Veddas, the island's earliest inhabitants, claim the sacred area as theirs. Their DNA studies revealed their commonality with the tribals in Malaysia, India, and Myanmar, which is more apparent than their Singhalese and Tamil Indian brothers. The Muslims did not want to be left out. They built a mosque nearby to avoid missing out on the blessings. So, they had a giant compound with a collection of temples of worship in a single a...

12.12: The Day @ Seoul Spri ng  (Korean; 2023) Director: Kim Sung-su South Korea had a tumultuous political past. After the end of WWII, the Korean peninsula was divided by the 38th parallel between the Soviets and the US. Small skirmishes led to the North Korean army attacking their Southern neighbours and the Korean War. The Americans elected their corrupt man, Syngman Rhee, president. Student revolt brought him down. Dictators Park Chung Hee took over till he was assassinated in 1979. This film narrates the time after Park’s assassination and that time when two factions of the army try to gain control of the helm of the rule. Martial law is instituted after the demise of Park. One group feel it is not right for the Army to enter politics, while the other wants to form a new government. The Prime Minister was elected to the post of President by default on 6th December 1979. Six days later, on 12.12, a coup d’etat by a rogue general, Chun Doo-hwan, brought the government down. Thi...

La Haine (Hatred, French, 1995) Screenplay, Direction:  Mathieu Kassovitz This hint has been present throughout our history. Contended people make peaceful nations. Peaceful regions bring prosperity, meaning wealth. When people have money jingling in their pockets, they can fill their stomachs and are happy. They are kind to each other and respect each other. I still remember my history teacher, Mr LKK, in his theatrical manner, describing the scene in France in 1789 before the Bastille invasion. The peasants were hungry, while King Louis XVI and Mary Antonette were busy enjoying their cakes. This resentment eventually, as we know it, changed world history. This film tries to highlight the same point: Resentment among the people brings hate, and hate begets more hate. The people in the lower socioeconomic strata will always get the raw end of the bargain. Any new legislation or taxation will affect the poor more than the affluent. Understandably, they are the community with the low...