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?

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How to spur nationalism?

Dhurandhar (Stalwart, Hindi; 2025)
Director: Aditya Dhar

https://www.filmbooster.fi/en/film/1703284-
dhurandhar/overview/

How does one stir up a country against its enemies? How does one remind them of the wrongdoings their enemies committed? This is it. Make a film like Dhurandhar. It is so good that even the supposed enemies enjoy it. Pakistan and the Gulf States have banned it, yet it remains the most illegally downloaded Hindi film by Pakistanis of all time. Even in the 70s, when Amitabh Bachchan was at the peak of his anti-hero era, Hindi films did not attract many Pakistanis. 

At an official event, Pakistanis were observed dancing to a song featured in the 'banned' movie, much to the dismay of the leaders. The movie's catchy soundtrack, performed by a Bahraini rapper in Arabic, is causing a stir among viewers. Fans are creating their own clips and dances to the song. Reels from Pakistan show Pakistanis highly praising the film, calling it top-quality and realistic! Some Pakistanis may have experienced the vibrant days of 2000s Karachi, particularly in Liyari Town. Even now, Karachi remains labelled as the second most dangerous city after Caracas.

The entire film is a summary of blaming Pakistan for all of India's problems. And they succeeded significantly. It begins with disastrous concessions to the demands of the Kandahar hijackers in late 1999, when Mazood Azahar had to be released. Mazood went on to establish JeM (Jaish-e-Mohammed) and was the mastermind behind the 2001 Parliament attack and subsequent unrest in Jammu and Kashmir.

Ajit Doval, who first gained prominence during the Kandahar hijackings, makes a notable appearance in this film. His role is superbly portrayed by R Madhavan, who is unrecognisable beneath all the makeup. Through a fictional operation, Dhurandhar, an Indian spy, is inserted into Pakistan. In real life, Doval, while serving as a staff member at the Indian High Commission in Islamabad, went undercover to gather intelligence on Pakistan. On one occasion, he disguised himself as a beggar to retrieve hair from a barber's shop to assess radioactive traces in scientists' hair, aiming to determine Pakistan's nuclear activities. Like Doval, the film's protagonist, Hamza, enters Karachi as a Baloch vagabond, attempting to infiltrate Liyari town.

Liyari was controlled by warlords involved in various illegal activities such as Indian rupee counterfeiting, extortion, and drug trafficking. They were feared even by the Karachi police. A fact: turf wars made Rahman Baloch @ Dakoit the de facto leader. Through a deal with the Pakistani government, Rahman Baloch established his own police force, school, and social justice system for the residents of his territory. It was a country within a country, as President Musharraf acknowledged in an interview.  

In reality, a dedicated Police Superintendent, Chaudhry Aslam, was determined to end the violence in that part of Karachi. The story skillfully weaves Hamza's assistance into the Superintendent's plan to eliminate Rahman Baloch. Also drawn into the unfolding events is the ISI chief, Major Iqbal, who might be connected to the 26/11 Mumbai attack.

The writing on the wall is very clear. This film aims to foster patriotism among Indians, whom they see as having been too meek under the previous government. A quote from Zia ul Haq, following their 1971 defeat in the civil war, is evidence of this. He is said to have vowed to 'bleed India with a thousand cuts'. All the minor skirmishes happening around India serve as proof of this.

If you think this three-and-a-half-hour presentation is too long, it isn't over yet. Be prepared for Part 2 in March 2026.

 

The stunts and violence, although quite gruesome, are carried out professionally, comparable to those in any blockbuster on the international stage. The continuity holds well despite the complex plot and side tracks. The recreation of Liyari is fantastic; even the residents of Liyari are demanding a share of the box office takings. Meanwhile, Dhurandhar continues to gross more at the box office and is likely to set a record of some kind soon.

Flipperachi (Hussam Aseem)

Hanumankind

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Papa, don’t preach?

Kappela (Chapel, Malayalam, 2020)
Written & Directed: Muhammad Musthafa

Another Malayalam movie that makes its viewers think.

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/kappela

Growing up, I often saw my mother hovering over my sisters. She would insist on having the final say on how they should dress, behave, and interact with others. My sisters believed that my mother was just a typical conservative mum, thinking her daughters were like beauty queens and that the world was an overly testosterone-charged place waiting to target them. Throughout their teenage years, they disliked my mother for that, but, being obedient girls, they simply complied and focused on their studies.

Later in life, they would tell me about the harassment they endured, as I had already left the house for further education. In hindsight, however, they thought she had to do what a mother must do to guide her children in the right direction. Perhaps they would not be so comfortably settled in life now if not for our mother's vigilance and, perhaps, paranoia. 

Again, when we, the children, became parents ourselves, we also had to balance giving freedom, being modern parents, and educating about predatory behaviours to our own. It became even more difficult with access to the outside world through social media and the spreading of anarchic values celebrated by the leftists as progressive. Whatever Eastern values were promoted are seen as outdated and discarded. 

People who have not been parents themselves might not understand the storyline. Scolding a young girl for sitting as a passenger on her male classmates' bicycle may seem old-fashioned, but her parent had his reasons. After hearing stories of children going astray, parents naturally become cautious. 

A misdialled call leads to romance between an older teenage girl who has failed her public school examinations and a random auto-rickshaw driver. The driver seems like a kind and well-meaning chap. After frequent exchanges of calls, the lovers decide to meet when her parents are away. 

At their rendezvous in another town, there is a frustrated and angry young graduate who is unable to find a job. This young man is seen as a violent individual who does not hesitate to fight for his cause. 

In the story's intriguing development, the audience is shown another side of the nice guy, who is not so nice after all, and the anti-hero is actually a saviour of the naive girl. The nice guy is a predator, and the angry man is a do-gooder. 

How many times have we witnessed these stories unfold repeatedly? The spring of youth, with its hormones impairing rational thought, may have lifelong consequences. Stalking is mistaken for care, and touching is seen as unrestrained passion and a way to express love. Sadly, only hindsight offers perfect clarity.

(P.S. Thanks, JM, for the recommendation.)

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In Bad Taste!

The Shameless (Hindi, 2024)
Written & Directed by: Konstatin Bojanov

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15437986/

The director initially aimed to make a documentary after acquiring the rights to William Dalrymple's book, 'Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India'. Due to financial constraints, he ultimately produced this feature film instead. The subject of this film was drawn from one of the nine stories (lives) in the book.

This multinational production has been hailed as a bold, provocative queer movie that highlights the challenges faced by the modern Indian woman. It even gained recognition at the Cannes Film Festival. Of course, it did. Any film that presents a bleak view of India tends to succeed internationally, just like Danny Boyle's 'Slumdog Millionaire' in 2008. Portraying India as grimy, lawless, lacking culture, and saturated with toxic masculinity appears to be a favourite pastime. Nothing has changed since Columbus 'discovered' the New World, and the Portuguese were accompanied by Gujarati seafarers from Durban to Kalikat. The colonists assume the role of bearers of truth, burdened with the task of educating the 'less civilised'.

A sex worker named Renuka escapes from a brothel after killing a police officer. The worker lives incognito next to a Hindu religious family. The family belongs to the devadasi community and is preparing to 'send off' their teenage daughter, Devika, to the highest bidder to serve at a temple. 

In the historical context, during the pre-colonial era, it was customary to 'marry' pre-pubescent girls from lower castes to Goddess Yellamma, dedicating their lives to the goddess's service and temple duties. These girls often became concubines to wealthy men and, in some cases, accumulated wealth themselves. Since 1988, this tradition has been outlawed, and the temple has distanced itself from their plight.

So, the filmmakers decided to portray a non-existent problem as significant. Essentially, they equated the drug-addicted, hard-drinking prostitute with the girl from the devadasi community, who is handed over to the temple—both as sex workers, one due to social circumstances and the other in the name of an archaic religious practice. Coincidentally, the two girls develop a romantic attraction and plan an escape, with the police and the girl's mother close behind. A Hindu nationalist party is also involved in this complex situation. 

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The tale of a superstar that was not!

Kaantha (Tamil, 2025)

Director: Selvamani Selvaraj

https://www.myvue.com/film/kaantha-tamil

The film marketed itself as a fictionalised account of the life of the first Tamil cinema superstar, MK Thyagaraja Bhagavathar (MKTB). However, when I watched it, I realised it had nothing to do with MKTB, his downfall, the crime, or the tragedy that befallen him. 

Just to clarify, MKTB was the first Tamil megastar at a Beatles level. In the conservative Indian society of the time, women would gape and faint at his first appearance in a film. During the curtain raiser of a particular film, he is said to have winked at the camera, causing a row of enamoured young women to faint. One of the qualities many prospective brides listed was for the groom to have long hair and a cropped MKTB-style cut. One of his films, 'Haridas' (1944), was screened for over three years, spanning three Deepavalis and filling the cinema to capacity. It holds the record for the second-longest-running Tamil film after Chandramukhi (2005), at 784 vs 890 days respectively.

As MKTB was riding high, he, along with NS Krishnan and Sriramulu Naidu, a renowned director, was charged with the murder of a notorious tabloid owner, Lakshmikanthan, in 1944. Lakshmikanthan specialised in publishing sleazy half-truths about movie stars, and many enemies sought his downfall. The trio faced trial in India, and Naidu was acquitted. MKTB and NSK appealed to the Privy Council in London, which is equivalent to the present-day Supreme Court of India, and were acquitted in 1947.

 

The multiple trials drained most of MKTB's finances. To add insult to injury, he was ostracised as a criminal, even after the courts cleared him. His popularity plummeted. Even his singing performances were shunned. The public felt that he was too tainted to sing the divine songs, and his music was fit for Goddess Sarasvathi. He died a broken man at 49 due to complications of diabetes.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0245145/

On the other hand, Kaantha's story, undoubtedly set during the golden days of Tamil cinema, depicts the ego clashes between a popular actor and his mentor, the director who introduced him to the screen. Caught in the middle is a new actress, brought in by the director to complete his long-overdue project. She is torn between following the director's instructions and her growing feelings for the main actor, who is, however, married. The actress is shot dead, the police move in, and the rest of the story revolves around discovering who the killer is.

The film is quite enjoyable, nonetheless. One should not, however, ask absurd questions like what a 1970s transistor radio is doing in the set of a 1940s period drama. For the record, the first transistor was invented in late 1947 at Bell Telephone Laboratories in New Jersey. The first transistor radio was released in 1954.

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The superficial veneer!

Paradise (Malayalam; 2024)
Director: Prasanna Vithanage

https://www.filmibeat.com/malayalam/movies/paradise.html

This is one of those movies that keeps viewers in a loop, wondering about the film's trajectory and guessing the message it is trying to convey. A tale of a loving young yuppie Malayalee couple celebrating their fifth anniversary in Sri Lanka, just as Sri Lankans muster the will to protest against widespread price hikes, is refreshing. Like most tourists, they indulge in a certain amount of poverty porn as they go on a peeking at the countryside during their Ramayana tour. Listening to the tour guide narrate the local folklore about what happened where and when, they cannot help but sneer at his explanation. As smart alecs often do, these IT professionals mock his outdated, condescending explanations of what transpired during the events surrounding Ravana's abduction of Sita. 

Their arrogance, particularly the husband's, becomes evident in the way he answers his phone during the tour and in his dealings with the guest house staff. 

The real story begins when a group of robbers break into their room and runs away with their laptop and mobile phones. The police are seen dragging their feet amid the ongoing citizen unrest, with no sign of their devices. The climax occurs when the relatives of a suspect, who dies after police brutality, arrive to seek vengeance. As the relatives throw stones and shranels, the police and tourists defend themselves. In the chaos, the tourist's husband is shot in the head by the wife, possibly deliberately — who can say?

Then everything falls into place. All the earlier ramblings about different points of view and women blaming when something goes wrong make sense now.

In the Sri Lankan version of the Ramayana, Ravana never died but remains in a slumber, waiting to spring forth when Sri Lanka needs help. Many versions of the Ramayana exist, but the one attributed to Valmiki is regarded as the authentic account. There is even a non-violent version in the Jain Ramayana. In some variations, Sita is not the demure maiden in distress waiting for rescue but a fighter herself. It all depends on who is telling the story. The hunt story would be incomplete without the lion's account.

After the robbery, the husband begins blaming his wife for possibly leaving the window open, which gave the robbers an opportunity to enter. That initiates a rift in their relationship. A few minor issues here and there cause them to drift apart to the point that the wife starts to despise her husband. That could have led her to shoot him. Sometimes, doing the right thing can push someone towards the wrong end. Under extreme pressure, the superficial veneer that protects a bond can shatter just like that.

(P.S. Thanks, JM, for the recommendation.)

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A language war!

Parasakthi (Tamil, 2026)

Director: Sudha Kongara

https://letterboxd.com/film/parasakthi-2026/watch/

2026 is an election year for Tamil Nadu. The year started with a bang with two Tamil movies with explosive political themes. The highly anticipated Vijay of the newly minted party TVK, and his alleged last film, Jana Nayagan, is stuck with the censors for unknown reasons. Some insiders reckon that the dialogue is highly spiced with political innuendo or outright condemnation of his opponents, such as the DMK and the BJP.

The second movie, which did not pose a threat to Vijay’s heavyweight, not surprisingly, was cleared easily. This movie, starring Sivakarthikeyan, the game show host who found fame through sheer grit, is a historical drama based on the 1965 riots in Tamil Nadu against the imposition of Hindi as the national language. This film turned out to be a propaganda movie through and through, putting DMK and their former leaders as the sole defenders of the Tamil language. As DMK controls the whole of Kollywood, movies are and have been the mouthpiece of the ruling class. By controlling movie distribution, production and theatres, they maintain cultural and political dominance in Tamil Nadu. Through this movie, the ruling party hopes to present a false narrative to new voters, the Gen Zs, that only DMK can keep the Tamil language 'alive'.

DMK and its predecessor, DK, have been thriving on the same ‘divide and rule’ policy that the British employed to quell Indian resistance. DMK makes the Northerners their bogeyman. They subscribe to the now-defunct Aryan Invasion theory and create an aura that the Hindi-speaking people from North India are out to wipe out the Tamil language and culture. Within the state, they also accuse Brahmins of usurping others' opportunities with their perceived oppression of the rest of Tamil Nadu with Brahminical ideologies. 

The scenario for the 2026 state election is like this. With the spate of BJP wins in recent state elections, increasing the BJP’s popularity and the entry of actor Joseph Vijay into politics, are making DMK stakwart Stalin feel hot under his tall collar. His party has promised to eradicate Sanathana Dharma, but continues to be seen performing poojas for blessings. 

Recently, the perennial issue of teaching Hindi in schools resurfaced. DMK, the self-appointed defender of the Tamil language, had categorically put their foot down to deny compulsory teaching of Hindi in government schools. 

With the same rebel yell that they shrieked in 1965, DMK is entering the latest elections, and this movie lays the groundwork of their campaign.

Resistance to the introduction of Hindi into the Tamil Nadu school system has persisted for the longest time, even when the region was under the Madras Presidency. In 1937, under British rule in India, the Indian National Congress ruled this region, led by Rajaji. Congress, in preparation for self-rule, was toyying the idea of Hindi as the National language. The issue came up again just before Independence and again when the Constitution was drafted in 1950. Nehru promised Tamil Nadu that a grace period of fifteen years would be given before Hindi was made the official language. 

EV Ramaswamy, revered by DMK as the champion of Tamil, is also affectionately known as 'Periyar' (the Elder) and is anything but a bastion of the Tamil language. He had once condemned the language as barbaric¹, and it is not compatible as a modern lingua franca or for scientific purposes. 

It is ironic that in the 1930s and throughout the 1960s, the Dravida Party was hell-bent on opposing the Indian Congress Party over the language issue. Now, it has joined forces with Congress and is opposing the Central Government led by the BJP. Regardless of which party is in power, the DMK will oppose the Central Government. Remember, in the years before Partition, the Dravidian Party wanted to accede to Pakistan? And EV Ramasamy declared 15th August 1947 as a day of mourning.

https://www.reddit.com/r/IndianHistory/comments/1qcmlrf/1
965_tamil_student_protest_against_hindi/

This movie tries to retell events that led to the 1965 Hindi imposition riots. Nehru died in 1964, as the deadline to make Hindi the official language of the country approached. University students, instigated by Annadurai and Karunanithi, initiated demonstrations in multiple cities. The story tells a romanticised version of a docile elder brother who tries to save his young brother from harm. The elder brother has a violent past that resurfaces as a vengeful IPS officer who wants to squash the Tamil rebellion once and for all. In the midst of all this, a few figures from the past are shown, painting a DMK-friendly picture of them saving the Tamil language and its culture from being overrun by enemies from the North.

Historians and people who lived through the 1960s vehemently oppose the movie's alternative history of what actually transpired during that time. Others, including the Youth Congress group, are 'up in arms' about the negative portrayal of their former leaders. They scream for the film's banning.

(P.S. In the modern world, people are expected to learn as much as they can, including all the languages of the world. Alternatively, use Google Translate! Also, language is not everything, as seen in the later years. Andhra Pradesh, which was created along linguistic lines, was divided into Andhra Pradesh and Telangana because of economic imbalances.)

1. https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/nirmala-sitharaman-says-periyar-dismissed-tamil-as-a-language-his-was-a-push-for-reform/cid/2088564#goog_rewarded

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