RIFLE RANGE BOY

Naalu Policeum Nalla Irundha Oorum (4 Policemen and a peaceful town, Tamil; 2015) Directed by N. J. Srikrishna This full-length comedy came and went without creating much of a storm. Naturally, it received little rave review. All the actors were very green, except for Yogi Babu, who did not play a vital role here, anyway. The story is a comedy of errors, poking fun at how the police's assertion of their importance screws up the peace of an already peaceful village. The small township of Porpandhal is so peaceful that it has received Best Village awards for years. There is no crime, and the police station sees no need to open on Sunday. The four policemen there lead cushy lives, working from 9 to 5 and playing board games all day. The police HQ takes notice. It plans to shut down the station and transfer its staff to Ramnath, an area notorious for serious crimes. The policemen panic. They try to justify their presence by creating petty issues here and there. Little did they expect ...

Escape from Mogadishu (Korean; 2021) Director: Ryoo Seung-wan We go to bed at night knowing jolly well that we will get a good night's sleep. We can get up the next day to go to work, self-assured that our workplace will still be standing. We queue at the checkout counter to pay for our goods because it is the civil thing to do. We do not go around breaking into premises because we know that the long arms of the law will finally catch up with us. This peace of mind is what we, as a society, gave up for law and order. The powers-that-be promised to care for us, and we, in return, would sacrifice some of our liberty to suppress our inner desires to do what we wanted. When the government loses its grip on power, all hell breaks loose. The evil side of mankind surfaces. The respect for law takes a backseat, decorum disappears, and mayhem will ensue. All special privileges vanish into thin air. The law of the jungle takes over where the rule of law fails. The diplomats of two warring na...

420 IPC (Hindi; 2021) Director: Manish Gupta So that is how it is. Everybody claims to be adhering to the rule of law. For a simpleton like me, that sounds like sound advice. The law is there to protect the little people against the tyranny of the deep-pocketed. I was nurtured to believe that the Truth will always prevail in the end. Lady Justice is supposedly blind to coercion, they say. As I grew older, I realised that all these are just bunkum.  The people who frequently invoke the phrases 'rule of law' and 'by the book' do not mean what they say. What they actually mean is that they have masterminded the nooks, corners and loopholes in the legal system that they can literally get away with murder. They can legitimately proclaim that they can legally needle themselves away from being caught in a comprising position. They have got all their sides, frontal and posterior, all concealed. When and if ever they are queried, they have the fortitude to use the same law used ...

I always wondered what is it that maintains order in our lives. What ensures total silence in the cinema when the movie is starting? What is it that assures that the viewers in an art gallery do not go around touching their exhibits with their dirty stubby fingers? What forces a patient to pay at a clinic after a consultation and the customer settle his bill after enjoying (or hating) his meal? They can jolly well just scoot off, now that their mission is accomplished.  Well, it can happen with the occasional client who refuses to pay, but that is not the norm. Perhaps he is dissatisfied with the service or just because he can. Rather than creating a scene and draw unwanted publicity, the service provider would probably write it off as miscellaneous loss of doing business. To the rest, they know the long arm of the law would get them. They know that as the majority support orderly running of life transactions, they would not garner support against a sea of law-abiding supporters no...

Disgruntled expression by citizens after the second  wave of  COVID linked to free movement of  politicians during the  recent Sabah state election. This banner prompted the cops to spring to investigate the maker of this banner. The law (specifically the police) is supposed to serve and protect the public. They are there to maintain law and order so that the general public can perform their society-sanctioned duties - earning an honest living and caring as well as providing for the loved ones.  Of late, these duties (by the police) have been questioned. Are they there to protect the laypeople? Is their presence purely to serve? But to serve whom? Who are their masters? We all know that the BLM movement that stemmed from policemen's mishandling of black suspect is nothing more than a brain-child of self-serving parties trying to court anarchy to push forward their agendas. One thing led to another. Compilations of previous police brutalities over the years soon ...

U-Turn (Tamil, 2018) We think that rules only apply to others. We simply break the rules without batting our eyelids. We want the lawmakers to just close one eye, give leniency or forgive with a slap on the wrist. Somehow when the same law is broken by others, we are quick to throw the full might of book at them. How many times have we seen drunk driving and the sequelae of such acts? How often have we seen friends cajoling their buddies to have 'one more for the road'? This must be what is meant by the saying that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. This film is a sort of drama with a social message - 'Don't take things for granted!' It is a public service announcement to remind us that every single, seemingly useless regulation means something in the long run.  Many road users take an illegal U-turns atop a flyover by moving the laid-out concrete slabs. After making the intended turn, they do not re-adjust the concrete layout. Many accident...

Captain America: Civil War (2016 ) #Scenario 1: At the edge of Sahara Desert, in front of a small district hospital.  After a whole month of travelling on camel backs in a convoy with no untoward incidents, a Bedouin lady just collapsed much to the excitement of the entire village. Long story short, the lady had a ruptured tubal pregnancy, underwent a laparotomy and went back home smiling. #Scenario 2: FG was draughted to help out in a small town at the edge of the country when a cholera epidemic hit the state. After attending to the needs of the ever-escalating number of victims, it was snooze time. At an unearthly hour of 3 am, the ethereal time between slumber and wakefulness, the phone rang off the hook. A desperate sounding staff nurse was frantically looking for helping hand. A parturient mother had been laboriously trying to expel her offspring since midnight but in vain. The elusive endpoint appeared so near yet so far. Hearing that a new young doctor from the to...