So much for women empowerment

Suzhal 2: The Vortex
Season 2, 8 episodes

https://www.indiatoday.in/entertainment/ott/story/
suzhal-the-vortex-season-2-trailer-kathir-takes-on-
gripping-murder-mystery-with-aishwarya-rajesh-
2682271-2025-02-19

This is not a continuation of the previous season, even though the main characters resume their roles, but with a new mystery to solve. While the accused remains behind bars awaiting trial, her defence lawyer, a vocal activist, is shot in the head. While the police are investigating along the lines of suicide, new evidence emerges indicating that the lawyer must be part of a paedophile ring racket. Just then, eight young teenage college girls turn up at various police stations, admitting to having killed the lawyer.

In the background is a month-long local temple celebration honouring eight local deities. At the temple, the activist lawyer, a devout believer, had stopped some toes when running the temple celebrations. 

Further investigations suggest that a well-executed kidnapping and transport of young girls to international waters using local fishing boats may indeed be occurring. Additionally, the unhealthy liaison of a school principal with this entire affair adds intrigue. It is quite an interesting series, filled with plot twists, mind-boggling dead ends, and infectious emotions, set against a backdrop of symbolism that venerates the feminine power of the Universe, namely Amman/Sakti.

It is perhaps quite startling to see that in a country which worships feminine powers and has millions of temples in her honour, some of the members of the society treat their female counterparts. Even ancient Indian history abounds with tales of brave female consorts and queens who led armies against invaders. Literature is aplenty with the works of female writers and thinkers. In contemporary times, the brutal rape-killings of young women do not speak much of their civilisational development. And the existence of colonies, infamous centres of flesh trade in most big cities targeting impoverished females, is nothing to be proud of.

https://www.riflerangeboy.com/2022/07/like-whirlwind-story-swirls.html

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Could have done better?

Adolescence (2025)
Miniseries (4 episodes)

https://kinocheck.com/show/s23/adolescence

This miniseries has everyone buzzing. It is likely regarded as the most surreal creation to grace screens since 16-year-old Linda Blair portrayed Regan MacNeil in the 1973 film, The Exorcist. This is Netflix's latest blockbuster offering. The subject matter is undeniably dark, involving a 13-year-old student murdering a fellow female student as a result of cyberbullying. 

The miniseries features the filming of each episode in a single shot. While it may feel sluggish at times, this approach enhances the story's immersion as the case unfolds.

The essence of the story begins with a police raid to apprehend a teenager suspected of murdering another teenager. From that moment, it evolves into a police procedural drama as the legal system processes the accused. It showcases the overwhelming emotions experienced by everyone involved: the police officers, the supportive staff, the lawyer, the social worker, and the psychologists. For most of them, it is their first encounter with a young person embroiled in such a heinous crime. This situation is a devastating blow to the accused's parents and sister, who struggle to comprehend the idea that their beloved son could commit such an act.

As the series progresses, we learn more about the family dynamics and the atmosphere within the school. Much has changed since our own school days. Children now possess a private portal to the outside world, a realm filled with malevolence and deceit that threatens to ruin their futures. No matter how much strict discipline and guidance are instilled in them, they lead lives of their own. Cyberspace offers a secluded environment where anything goes. The thin line separating decency from insanity becomes increasingly blurred. What was once considered taboo has now gone mainstream. Children are vulnerable; they possess the illusion of agency and believe they can make their own choices. They misuse privacy for all the wrong reasons, constructing an impenetrable barrier around themselves. The adults' words of wisdom can sound harsh, digging them deeper into the abyss. With alien neologisms like incel (involuntary celibacy) culture, the manosphere featuring harmful gender ideologies, and themes such as the '80-20 rule', schoolchildren are lost in their quagmire of finding a place in their universe.

When the proverbial excrement hits the fan, everyone will be in for a shock. They will ask, "How did our innocent little child transform into such a monster?" Parents will start to question where they went wrong. Could they have done better? These parents faced greater hardships from their own upbringing and external pressures, yet they turned out fine. Why can't their offspring, with all the modern conveniences at their disposal, manage to be resilient and not easily triggered? No one seems to understand.

Nothing really changes...

Squid Games 2 (Korean; 2024)

Miniseries, E1-E7.

Continuing with Season 1, Squid Game (SqG) moves into a new set of games featuring a fresh group of players. Admittedly, SqG 2 is not as captivating as its predecessor. The storyline is predictable, and viewers can easily discern who will survive and which characters will likely be eliminated.

 

Nevertheless, while engrossed in the miniseries, I noticed that the entire storyline symbolises the challenges Malaysia's thinking voters face regarding democratic governance under their duly elected government.

To provide context, the games in SqG2, much like those in SqG1, involve teamwork and lethal consequences for the losers. An amendment was made to the clause allowing players to vote on whether to proceed to the next game. After each match, the accumulated betting money increases. If the players, by majority, choose to discontinue, the funds would be divided equally, and the games would be halted. Humans, being inherently human, are rarely satisfied with their earnings and are perpetually convinced of their invincibility, leading the majority to vote in favour of continuing. Despite the awareness that death is imminent and high probability with dwindling numbers of players, they do this. Not only are the losers killed, but players also engage in combat against one another to maximise their returns.

Most players are aware of their futility. Still, the lure of wealth and their hopelessness in solving various personal monetary issues push them further into the game's abyss.

 

After the shock of discovering 1MDB and the brazen ways the ruling elite manipulated the nation's wealth and sovereignty, Malaysians took to the streets to change the status quo. They believed they had the best candidate in Malaysia's disgraced former deputy Prime Minister. Citizens with differing ideologies on how a country should be governed united to oust Goliath from his throne. In this struggle, natural prey and predators joined forces. The prey wished their predators would turn vegetarian, while the predators hoped their food could live another day.

 

Thus, individuals with various financial issues were lured into the Squid Game as players. They convinced themselves they would only partake in this dangerous game until they had sufficient money. Once that was achieved, they would return to their everyday lives. Only when the moolah began rolling in did they reveal their true colours. Some are inherently malevolent, but the rest tolerate them. When push came to shove, their true forms manifested in full glory.

In Malaysia, once power started coming into their hands, the newly elected leaders, who were supposed to be flagbearers of the new dawn, recoiled into the malaise of their predecessors. Like the pigs in Animal Farm, they soon appeared as bipeds, forgetting their usual struggle to stay aground on all fours. The pigs use the same lingo, address the issues in the same manner, and continue the same oppressive laws. The intoxicating plunge into power gives our leaders the compulsion to stay in power forever, using whatever is available at their disposal, race, religion, distorted history, money or the convincing nod from the divine powers.

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Chopping the hands that feed?

Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez (2024)
Netflix miniseries

I learned a new word today: parricide. It is the act of killing one's parents, sometimes as a universal term to include murdering relatives.

It is not peculiar to our modern times by no stretch of the imagination. All through human civilisation, children have been killing the hands that fed them, directly or indirectly. Ancient Indian scriptures have numerous accounts of patricide. The Greeks, Babylonians and the Norse were not far behind. Even though the Mughal emperors had to kill to grasp the throne, the most they did was kill their siblings, like how Aurangzeb, the militarily savvy son of Shah Jahan, is said to have masterminded the brutal killing of his brother, Dara Shukoh, the tolerant one liked by the subjects. Aurangzeb did not kill Shah Jahan. He merely dethroned him and kept him in prison till he died.

King Asoka, who advocated the Middle Path of Buddhism, did not follow the path of passivity. He had to kill his 99 siblings to be the Supreme King. Recent studies suggest that Asoka was already a Buddhist before his victory in Kalinga and a change of heart towards nonviolence and banning animal slaughter.

In modern times, however, parents are killed off due to psychological or neurological reasons. Besides the occasional cases when an explanation can be elucidated, most despicable crimes escape reasoning. In 1968 Japan, in Tochigi, a daughter one day decided to put an end to her father's 15 years of rape which resulted in 11 pregnancies and three children. The Japanese law at that time advocated the death penalty as a blanket rule for parricide. After this case, the courts determined that each case needed to be handled individually.

In 1966, in Texas, an ex-marine went on a shooting rampage, killing his mother and many others. An autopsy revealed that he had an amygdala tumour that would explain his violent behaviour.

US figures show that at least six parricide events happen on their soil weekly. A large proportion of them involve youths and early adults. The often quoted reason for this is usually psychological reasons: parental abuse and control, or occasionally over money.

This miniseries narrates the case of Lyle and Erik Menendez, who both killed their parents in 1989 due to fear their parents were plotting to kill them. They also cited self-defence after enduring years of emotional, physical and sexual abuse. They show that everything was not as it seemed, as there was premeditation in their actions.

The duo currently serve life sentences.

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No cats or fishes were used!

Sweet Bobby: My Catfish Nightmare (Documentary; 2024)

Director: Lyttanya Shannon

This is an unbelievable case of catfishing that went on for ten years. It was initiated by a close relative for no apparent reason. For those out of the loop, catfishing is a new way to deceive the unwary by creating a fake online profile and building a relationship. The profile will use fake pictures, and the final modus operandi is to swindle people of their money. No money was transacted to add more perplexity to the situation narrated in this documentary. 

Kirat Assi invested her ten youthful years in a long-distance relationship with a social media character whom she thought was an acquaintance with whom she had one casual face-to-face contact. The guy, Bobby Junda, was the brother of her second cousin's boyfriend. 

All the people in the story are from the small Kenyan Indian Punjabi community in the UK. Kiran had a fallout with her childhood boyfriend when she was about 30. She had her life in order, though, working as a DJ on a local radio.

Kirat starts communicating with Bobby online. Over the years, Kiran sees him meeting up with his wife, having a child, and separating from his wife and then suddenly, Kiran is told that Bobby has been shot. Then, again, through communication with other 'common friends', it is said Bobby was in New York under the witness protection programme. 

What followed after that were prolonged hospitalisations, multiple surgeries and loss of ability to speak. The question of how a person under the US witness programme could still be with acquaintances was raised but was given a wish-washy explanation. Love soon blossomed, and both confessed their devotion to each other, all online, one in the UK and the other in New York. Soon, Booby's toxic nature manifests, affecting Kirat's mental and physical health. Nevertheless, she lingered on. The pressure to be married was palpable as her biological ticking, so she thought.

Almost a decade into the relationship came the much-dilly-dallied meeting in London. Again, Bobby delayed his meeting even though he was already in London. Kiran engaged a private investigator to track him down. Hold behold. This leads to the home of a particular gentleman named Bobby Junda, whose resemblance to the social media profile is uncanny. He appears to be still married to the same girl he is supposed to have divorced with a child. This is the real Bobby Junda, and Simran, Kirat's cousin, stole his identity.

Then came the police reports and investigation. Kirat's cousin had been using Bobby's profile with a fake account. Not only that, but she also created multiple fake profiles to build a big group to outwit Kirat. When confronted, Simran refused to comment but apologised in private.

For all her shenanigans and the emotional and physical trauma she caused, Simran got away scot-free. Simran herself had to endure embarrassment when her mischief was exposed, not to mention the community's gossip. In those ten years, Simran lived a whole life with a high-paying job, getting married, and having a child. Kirat, now in her mid-40s, feels she has missed the boat of finding a life partner and having kids. These are important to her. She thinks that all the pointless waiting and the building of a hopeless dream happened because of Simran's actions.

Unfortunately, the UK legal system does not have a provision to prosecute someone for catfishing. It is not a criminal offence.

* Catfishing is the fabrication of a false online identity by a cybercriminal for deception, fraud, or exploitation. It is most commonly used for romance scams on dating apps, websites, and social media platforms. The 2010 film Catfishing popularised the term. It is said that catfishes used to be placed in the same tanks while transporting cod. Catfishes are natural enemies of codfish. By keeping them together, the cod will swim around, scared for their lives. Hence, the cod will appear more energetic and fresh.

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A biopic or fiction?

IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack (Hindi, miniseries. Ep1-6)

Director: Abhinav Sinha

It was the last Christmas season of the 20th century. The airports had not yet begun instructing passengers to remove belts and shoes before check-in, as the Twin Towers had not yet fallen. A simple hand wave would suffice to get one to the boarding area. That was the situation at Kathmandu airport on Christmas Eve 1999, when Indian Airlines flight IC841 departed for Delhi at around 4 p.m. 

Forty minutes into the flight, as they were entering Indian airspace, a masked passenger entered the cockpit (yes, it was not a security zone then). Just as a steward entered to serve drinks, the masked passenger put a knife to the steward's throat and announced that the plane had been hijacked. Indian air traffic control was informed; however, the information did not filter down through the chain of command appropriately. Bureaucracy and apathy were to blame. After all, India had just fought a war in Kargil a few months earlier, and security was supposed to be on high alert. Many high-ranking officers, meant to be on top of things, only learned about it from the media. 

The hijackers wanted the plane diverted to Lahore, but the Pakistanis outrightly refused landing rights. Even the efforts of the Indian High Commissioner proved futile. With critical fuel levels, IC841 had to land in Amritsar to refuel. The plan was to keep the plane on Indian soil while negotiators struck a deal with the hijackers and potentially incapacitated the machine. Sensing something was amiss, the hijackers fled before refuelling, leaving Indian officials staring at an empty tarmac. 

In the meantime, pandemonium was the order of the day on board. Passengers were cowed into submission. Two passengers were stabbed, one fatally. The flight captain pleaded with Lahore to allow the Airbus to land with hardly any fuel. It was again denied. The runway lights were turned off. Only when the pilot was about to land on the national highway did the airport permit landing. Again, Indian representatives failed to arrive on time to negotiate. After refuelling, the plane left Lahore. 

Now, the hijackers wanted to go to Kandahar in Afghanistan. As we remember, Afghanistan in 1999 was a pariah state, ruled by a ruthless Taliban administration. Many countries, including India, did not recognise its government. Kandahar Airport could not handle night landings, as it did not have the necessary facilities, so the hijackers' request was denied. IC814 was hovering around the Arabian Sea, hoping any Gulf states could take them in. They stopped at a Dubai airbase and refuelled in exchange for 27 hostages, including the 2 stabbed passengers, with one dead and left for Afghanistan. 

The plane finally landed in Kandahar on Christmas morning. The next seven days involved intense negotiations. The process proved complex, as India did not recognise the Taliban government. Therefore, it could not send its representatives there and depended on the Indian High Commission in Islamabad and the United Nations. Mediation was complicated with the Taliban since they were not in total control. Osama Bin Laden and ISIS also ruled over a large part of the country, having a say in the running of Afghanistan.

The dilemma faced by the Indian government and its agencies was how to balance giving too much to the terrorists while ensuring the safe return of the passengers. 

For the safe return of passengers, three dangerous terrorists in Indian jails had to be released. The five hijackers were never captured. The released terrorists (Masood Azhar, Omar Sheikh, and Mushtaq Zargar) were later found to be instrumental in many terror activities in India and around the world. The eternal question is whether releasing these nearly 200 passengers in exchange for freeing the three infamous criminals was worthwhile. The criminals ended up killing many more innocent people, causing immense destruction, and being the catalyst for all the chaos we face in the world today. In 1999, with tremendous pressure from the media and the public, making a deal with the hijackers seemed like the most logical thing to do.

Since this web series was released, Netflix has faced significant backlash. The authorities summoned even the Netflix Head of India to address specific queries. The general Indian public has been outraged over two issues. Firstly, intelligence investigations into the entire incident suggested that the whole hostage event was orchestrated by the ISI of Pakistan. The ISI's fingerprints were evident in the planning and execution of the act. Nowhere in the series were the ISI or Pakistan depicted as the antagonists.

Secondly, it is common knowledge that religion provided an essential foundation for the hijacking. The hijackers were all Muslims, and their demand was the release of Islamic extremists. In the eyes of viewers, the filmmakers downplayed this fact. The hijackers' religion was obscured by the use of their codenames throughout. Surprisingly, Bhola and Shankar openly refer to Lord Shiva, the Lord of destruction, while the other codenames—Doc, Chief, and Burger—were secular. Are they attempting to convey to the unassuming, ignorant audience that the hijackers were part of the Hindu terrorism that the opposition to the BJP's rule is trying to promote? Later, Netflix published a disclaimer listing the hijackers' full names in the credits, but this notice was only provided for the Indian audience. The rest of the world can continue believing that the whole incident was part of the Hindu terror that the leftists are propagating. When their co-conspirators were changed, the court documents mentioned the hijackers' codenames as one of their many aliases.

Additionally, the series attempts to humanise the terrorists. Picture the hijacker offering a concerned flight attendant his phone so she can call and check on her sick father in Delhi. In another scene, a romantic connection between a stewardess and one of the hijackers is suggested. After witnessing two passengers being stabbed before their eyes, it seems unreasonable to depict, in one scene, the passengers and hijackers clapping and singing together in a game of antakshari. (It's too early for Stockholm Syndrome to settle in, right?)

The producers claim the entire offering is based on actual events and have no qualms about using footage from yesteryears. Yet they thought it was essential to change the names of the airline crew and the government officials. ISI comes out squeaky clean from this whole fiasco. They bask in depicting a grossly incompetent bunch of bumbling Indian bureaucrats awkwardly trying to defuse a volatile situation. Anyway, the experience of handling such situations was lacking in that era. The director failed to show urgency in their efforts, some of which are even comical.

Furthermore, the event occurred in a hostile foreign land, unrecognised by the government of the day. Is it a coincidence that the ruling coalition then was the same one ruling today? What are they implying—that the present government is also weak?

** The 2001 Indian Parliament attack, the 2002 kidnapping and murder of Daniel Pearl, the 2008 Mumbai attacks, the 2016 Pathankot attack, and the 2019 Pulwama attack. Azhad later founded Jaish-e-Muhammed (JeM) in 2000, which gained notoriety for the deaths of hundreds of people and armed forces personnel. Sheikh was arrested in 2002 in Pakistan for Daniel Pearl's abduction and murder, and played a role in planning the September 2001 attacks in the U.S. Zargar has actively trained Islamic militants in Pakistan-administered Jammu & Kashmir.

Also, the story's production value needed to be more compelling. The urgency felt by the hostages' fear and apprehension was not adequately transferred to the screen, and the desperation of the whole event was not palpable.

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How they converge and diverge?

Lady in the Lake (Miniseries)
Season 1, Episodes 1-7.

An intriguing miniseries set at a time when Black Americans had an understanding with Jewish Americans. Even though Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation to declare all slaves to be free, in reality, the Blacks still received the short of the stick. In so many instances, they were discriminated against. The law was not in their favour either. The Blacks had to prosper by themselves despite the restrictions. Some beat the systems and joined the mainstream, while others prospered through an alternative economic system. The evidence of their successes includes the Harlem Cultural Renaissance in the 1920s and the numerous legislative gains through the efforts of the NAACP (North America Association of Colored People).

Many of the African-American associations worked in tandem with many Jewish bodies. The Jews also felt the discriminatory vibes of the predominantly Anglo-Saxon majority of America. The earlier interactions between Jews and Blacks were not cordial. Many Jews became land owners and were ruthless businessmen who earned the wrath of the poor Blacks. Things changed later. 

During the Civil Rights Movement, many of the laws of the day, including the Jim Crow laws, were challenged by the movement with Jewish lawyers. Jewish leaders participated in numerous marches organised by Rev King and others. The 1955 to 1966 era is sometimes called the Golden Age of Black-Jewish relationships.

After 1966, the cooperation turned cold as the Jewish community moved higher in the economic class whilst the majority remained poor. Another possible explanation for this rift is the popularity of Islamic-based groups like the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X and the Panthers. The 1967 Six-Day War in the Middle East made many Black leaders and personalities, including Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali, express solidarity behind the Palestinians and condemn Israel and the Zionists.

Set in the 1960s USA, this miniseries is mainly the story of two ladies trying to prove to themselves that they make something out of their lives. A 40-year-old Jewish lady who had to give up her writing ambition to get married and raise a child in a conservative, suffocating Jewish household gets an epiphany of sorts to break free from all this bondage. This happened after the much-published murder of an 11-year-old Jewish girl. She itches to investigate the case on her own accord. Through the episodes, we see the challenges she has to face to break from the mould of what is expected of a mother and a lady of the era.

In another parallel story, a young, ambitious black lady of about 30 tries to break from the clutches of poverty and the mob to make something out of her singing and provide a promising future for her kids. She needs to extricate herself from the crime-inducing society and the lure of the gangsters and their promise of a good future.

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