Who is the Master, really?

Ekõ (Malayalam; 2025)
Director: Dinjith Ayyathan

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt36616410/

Just how much unquestioning loyalty is any good to anyone? 

Do you want your guard dogs to be consistently vigilant in the task you assigned them, or to be lured away by bone-throwing intruders? Do you want your Army to follow your orders blindly or have a mind of their own and do as they please? You want them to be obedient automatons, in the name of discipline, while showing their unquestionable loyalty to the piece of cloth that represents the Nation. After all, the Army is not your personal Army. It is owned by the Nation. Unless you are in Pakistan. Unlike other countries, which each own their respective Army, the Pakistan Army owns the country!

Once an equilibrium is disturbed, peace is shattered. You will find yourself trapped in a dog-eat-dog world. There will be a law-and-order issue. 

On the other hand, absolute control of a certain power, without checks and balances, can be equally damaging. Stories of generals taking over countries in the name of liberation are aplenty. Even the democratically elected leaders risk abusing their power for personal gain. 

Without a proper check and balance system, citizens may be gaslighted into thinking that they are under siege and the enemies of the State are crawling free within the country.

Under the cloak of protecting national secrecy and maintaining peace, indiscriminate punitive laws may be instituted to counter dissent.

This is quite an engaging thriller which has an unexpected twist at the end. The story starts in Malaya during World War II. It tells the story of dog breeding, guard dogs, and a missing criminal. There is a story behind the guard dogs who would do anything for their master. But who is the master, really?

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Loyalty, only so much!

Viswasam (Loyalty, விஸ்வாசம், Tamil; 2019)

I was ushered into this movie through word of mouth. The ardent Tamil movie fan who recommended this film allegedly cried through many scenes and promoted it as a good Fathers' Day promotional film as well as to showcase the love between a daughter and her father.

It appears that I am either emotionally blunt or that I have watched way too many movies to appreciate any new ones. It seems that all storylines followed three and four pre-set time-tested formulas. In intermingling plots and changing setting and actors, the moviemakers think they got a winner. Something must be wrong with me. Even though I do not think highly of this film, apparently the film is a certified blockbuster, broken box-office and is approved by the Broadcast Audience Research Council, an organisation that owns and manages a transparent, accurate, and inclusive TV audience measurement system as surpassing many records!

Is it just me or has this story been told and re-told in many presentations generations over? That two people of contrasting background should tie the knot only for one party to discover that mistake has been made. With a child to seal the relationship, later on, they go separate ways. Circumstances require re-kindling of bonds. Ego comes to picture to prevent each party to admit mistakes. Tragedy in the form of threat to life binds all together. This happens with and in spite of humanly impossible feats. We just have to accept the fact, without question, that an oversized greying man could do flips and fight scores of known bad-ass gangsters, be fit enough to wrestle hoodlums despite being in ICU just minutes before the encounter and the jumbling up of time and space in the perspective of the story! The audience is becoming an educated lot. With the ease of information at their disposal, they are becoming well-versed with what the rest of the world has to offer. Loyalty, like the title of the movie, only lasts as long the fun quotient lingers on. 

Using the same melancholic tunes, using a soft lens in filming to stir nostalgia and sad, helpless facial expression to kindle emotions only can work so much. The fan base will get fed up and start looking elsewhere for thrills.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.