RIFLE RANGE BOY

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013) Director, Actor: Ben Stiller We are told that routine is good for us. We as human beings are easily swayed by our primal instincts that we need a laid-out plan and to follow a ritual to explore the fullest of our potential. The path paved by people before us gives the best assurance that our purpose of existence will be met.   Essentially, we are told to lead dull, predictable, mundane lives. Nothing new is bound to come out of this type of arrangement.   But then, life is as usual, not so straightforward. “Carpe diem, Horace had said. Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow you will be dead for eternity”. You have one life to experience everything. Miss this, and you have lost it forever. You cannot step into the same river twice, said Heraclitus.  For that flash-in-the-pan, out-of-the-box idea, one has to be spontaneous. Otherwise, the human race will not have that occasional vertical peaks of scientific and social discoveries that p...

Laal Singh Chaddha (Hindi;2022) Bollywood version of 'Forest Gump' Director: Advait Chandan Even before Aamir Khan's latest film made it to the silver screen, a large portion of India's population, or at least those vocal on social media platforms, went on a crusade demanding its boycott. The threads #banLallSinghChaddha and #BoycottLaalSinghChaddha gave the impression that the movie was demeaning to the Indian psyche.   It all stamped from the time following the events of the Gujerat riots. Aamir Khan, an essential icon in the average day-to-day Indian's going on, as all Bollywood of is and movie stars are, made a public statement that he, a Muslim, and his then-wife felt unsafe in intolerant India. Khan later earned the public ire in 2020 when he was photographed with the First Lady of Turkey, Emine Erdogan, after filming in Turkey. President Recep Tayyib Erdogan, at that time, was quite vocal about the aberration of article 370 in Kashmir and had clearly stated h...

Ode to My Father (국제시장, Korean, 2014) You see a grumpy old man seeming to be hitting out at everything around him. You ask yourself, what is wrong with him? Was he always like that? What life event changed him? If one were to look deep enough, he would discover a reason for the way he behaves. The old man would have his own long life story to share. In his narration, one would find aches, joy, disappointments, achievements, unfulfilled ambitions and unbelievable feats that would make his life worth the while. He must be lethargic fulfiling all his duties in life. Perhaps, his self-sacrifice is not appreciated. He is taken for a fool for still living in the past and being sentimental about trivialities that mean little to the newer generation. 'Ode to My Father' is South Korean's fourth highest grossing film of all time. Even though, filmmakers may look at this production as a 'low-class tearjerker', low brow with the dearth of the finesse of modern filmmak...

Bharat (2019) They say this film is based on the blockbuster 'Forrest Gump', but the only similarity to the Hollywood counterpart is that the story goes through certain landmark events that are deemed necessary. For a starter, there is Partition and Nehru's death. In keeping with the general theme of nationalism that sells these days, this offering is another one of those that spur people's patriotism. The film is also supposed to be based on a South Korean movie, 'Ode to Father', but the Indian props are way too colourful to portray melancholy that vibrates in the background - of the family cruelly divided during the Partition in 1947. The protagonist amongst the attendees at Nehru's funeral Putting all that pomp, colour, splendour and gyrating bodies aside, there is a subtle lesson that is put forward through the narration. Forget the implausible storyline. Keep mum when you know it is humanly impossible for a 70-year-old Salman Khan to beat up...