Just hanging on...

Ugly (Hindi; 2013)
Written and Directed by Anurag Kashyap

A cursory look at modern relationships may suggest that they are held together loosely by threadbare bonds. Everyone seems to be unhappy and cannot wait to be out. They hang on, just barely, on flimsy excuses, just buying time. Looks like everybody is experiencing existential crises and is looking all over the place for the reason of their existence. They say they are trapped. Some feel smothered, unable to express themselves. For some, it is tradition and social norms that bog them down. Others still find their passion in waiting for Prince Charming to sweep off their feet. Amidst all these uncertainties, pops out an offspring to further complicate the relationship. Each party wants to do right yet wish to do the best for themselves in their personal development. Life just gets more complicated. 

Life has a funny sense of humour. Just when everybody thinks that they are high and mighty, life tries to play the game of humility. When siblings do not see eye to eye or cannot stand the sight of each other, it would create an emergency where, like it or not, they have to come together and make it all right. I am thinking of the death of a family member or some kind of medical emergency. The events also bring out how weak our bonds are and how vulnerable human life is.

'Ugly' can be described as a crime thriller. It starts with Rahul losing his preteen daughter during his visitation outing. Rahul's estranged wife, Shalini, is a depressed lady who had big ambitions in life, like appearing on the silver screen, but nothing really materialised. Shalini is now remarried to her college sweetheart, Shoumik, who used to be bullied in school by Rahul, hoping for better times, but zilch.  

The problem is that Shoumik is the Police Chief in charge and has a bone to pick with his old foe. As time ticks and the lost child is nowhere to be found, Rahul and his best friend, Chaitanya, are accused of staging a kidnapping instead. Things get more twisted as everyone tries to outdo and outsmart each other to get the girl first. Then there is another party who is eyeing the ransom money.

It is a fast-paced thriller with real everyday people with all their good, bad and ugly qualities, warts and all. Viewers can really feel the hopelessness felt by the father as the police start looking at him as an aggressor rather than as a victim. 

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See a red door, paint it black!

Hotel Mumbai (English/Hindi; 2018)
Indian-Australian co-production.

You say Islam is a peaceful religion, and these terrorist activities do not represent the true essence of the faith. But, why is it that the cry of an enraged suicidal jihadi bomber and the prayer of desperation and helplessness of his intended victim who is at the cusp of death is one and the same? And it is too numerous to a dhimmi's comfort. There is a huge problem, and the believers have to do a lot to resurrect the right image of the religion. Pussyfooting around it is wrong for PR.

This is what goes through a kafir's mind when he sees a scene from the movie where a terrorist is about to execute his hostage point-blank on her head. He is confused as she recites the Islamic prayer usually gets a mention at the time of death.

'Hotel Mumbai' is an Indo-Australian production which tries to re-enact of one India's worst nightmare when coordinated shootings happened around Mumbai. It was the 26th of November 2008 when ten young Pakistani men landed assumingly alighted a dinghy at a secluded fishermen's wharf. With them, they had automatic rifles and explosives. In a coordinated fashion, as if they had planned this all their lives and with constant communication with their Pakistani contact, these Lashkar-e-Taiba members proceeded on their shoot at six over avenues, Hotel Taj, being one.

Ajmal Kasab, the only captured

perpetrator of the attack.

The city was unprepared to such coordinated attacks, and their police force was ill-prepared for this. They had to wait for the Special Forces from New Delhi for assistance. So, the guests and staff of the hotel had to fend for themselves, dodging the bullets of four gunmen on a shooting spree. Only ten hours after the first shot, did the rapid-action personnel slide down the roof from a helicopter to put an end to the mayhem.

The screenwriters fictionalised three or four characters based on real people who were caught in the hotel. It revolved around a waiter, Arjun Singh (Dev Patel), the chief chef, Hemant Oberoi, a haughty Russian businessman guest and a husband-wife couple with a newborn baby and nanny. It is an extraordinary gritty tale of how ordinary people rose to the occasion to become heroes. It was done in a down to earth manner minus the melodrama of Bollywood and the display of heroic rescue often associated with international pictures. Even though the viewers knew how the siege would end, the element of suspense was held until the very end.

More than ten years after the disaster, many old wounds remain unattended. The ease in which these Pakistani men slipped into the Mumbai fishing wharf is a puzzle. The local fishermen, who by nature are protective of their turf, did confront them of their intentions but were told to 'mind their own business'. A police report made about them by the fishermen remained unresolved.

The attackers were in contact via their mobile lines with their puppet masters in Pakistan all through the siege. The young gunmen were given a minute to minute instructions and even given moral support to stay true to their divine missions. Despite their evil, destructive planning and execution, their ringleader in Pakistan remains at large. Pakistan who admitted playing a role in the attack seems apathetic towards amending their caustic relationship with their neighbour and continue exporting or sponsoring terror activities.

The Indian Police and the previous Indian government administration had a lot of questions to answer for their lack of urgency, inefficiencies and mismanagement. In an interview, Ratan Tata, the Chairman, mentioned that the police had received advance warning of the attacks and that some countermeasures had been taken. Obviously, it did not bear fruition.

1908 Taj Hotel
symbol of strength and resilience of the Indian people

At least 170 people perished in the attack. At least 50% of the victims were the employees of Taj Hotel. It is said one of the reasons why so many employees died is due to their work culture. One of their work ethe is 'guest is God'. Tata employees are said to have a profound attachment to their work, much like how its Chairman, Ratan Tata, treats all levels of his employees - like family. He is easily the richest man in India but does not appear in the who-is-who list of India's most affluent. He gives a huge chunk back to society.

It is ironic that even though Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving perpetrator, had one mind of giving up his life in punishing the infidels who squandered the wealth of his people, he went against all the odds to escape execution. He failed his appeals and clemency from President. His last helpless words were "I swear by Allah, won't do such a thing again". In a single sentence admitting his guilt and regretting his actions.

The often unspoken reason for their mindless activity is poverty. Religion is just a tool to hoodwink the helpless with the promise of monetary assistance to their families and a blissful afterlife in heaven. In this particular episode, there is a hint that even the promised money did not reach the family. The ecstatic afterlife? What a deception?

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Get Back!

Aruvi (Tamil அருவி; 2017)

This is a compelling sociopolitical drama which must have surely been written by a card-carrying member of the socialist/communist party. Who else would paint such a bleak picture of modern life and the self-defeating trappings that line every aspect of our lives? Human values take a back seat. A pre-set path is made for us to follow and feel contended. Any deviation from the norm is frowned upon. The whole purpose of life is to promote consumerism, be awed by materialism and to fatten the multinational conglomerates.

This is an absorbing saga of a young girl, Aruvi, who acquired HIV most unconventionally - at the roadside coconut vendor as she savoured a probably contaminated freshly cut coconut! Long story short - she falls seriously ill, is diagnosed, hurled abuses of promiscuity and is chased away by the previously loving family. She wanders around, living with friends and working menial jobs. At every corner, the men in her life misbehaved. They demand sexual favours in return for help.

Lakshmi Gopalaswamy

Aruvi befriends a fellow HIV victim, a transexual, Emily. Together they plot an act of appropriate revenge to expose the hypocrisy of the society, the wolves in sheep's clothing in community and the foolhardy of the people in the business of peddling news who are more interested in sensationalism than actually highlighting the plight of the people.

Aruvi and Emily walk into a television studio in the pretext of exposing the plight of the society's transgender population. Cleverly, they hoodwinked a self-absorbed talk show compère and took the studio staff hostage at gunpoint. 

It takes a swipe at a TV reality-justice talk show of the Tamil little screen,  'Solvathellam Sathyam'. It works along the same line as 'Jeremy Kyle Show' and 'Jerry Springer Show' where people wash dirty linen in public. The movie, even though, uncredited is supposed to be based on an Egyptian 2011 film, 'Asmaa' as alleged by some critics. It is obviously not copied as we will find out later.

A refreshing story with completely fresh faces and a debutante director. 4.5/5.

Also, see: on Asmaa https://www.riflerangeboy.com/2019/07/walk-mile-in-her-shoes.html 

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