RIFLE RANGE BOY

Crimes of Future (2022) Director: David Cronenberg Despite all the good deeds attributed to Tipu Sultan in fighting the British and planting the seed of nationalism amongst the people of Bharat, the Muslim monarch is infamous for signature torture. He would slice off his enemies’ noses. There was a time in South India when many defeated Hindu soldiers with gaping nasal openings on their faces.   It is said the peddlers on market squares of old India were trying to insert prostheses to correct the victims’ nasal defects. Two visiting surgeons from the UK saw this during their visit to exotic India and decided to write it up in medical journals. That was the birth of rhinoplasty and the conception of cosmetic surgery.   Tipu Sultan Soon everybody found something wrong with their appearances; too fat, too plain, too Asian-looking, too unalluring, lines of ageing or even too short. Everything could be corrected if one were daring enough to go under the scalpel. The fear of surgery...

Star Trek: Picard (2020) Miniseries, Season 1, E1-10. I did not grow up appreciating the original Star Trek TV series. Hence, I do not qualify to identify myself as a Trekkie. I, however, managed to catch up Star Trek: The Next Generation when it made its way to the terrestrial TV channels. I remember the series not as much of an action-packed series but more of a cerebral one discussing life issues. I never did follow the ensuing Trek series or the silver screen productions. So, to me, Picard is only Starfleet Captain that I know. More than a decade after his last mission and his unceremonious departure from USS Enterprise, Admiral Picard has to go to back to space. He does this clandestinely against the orders of the authorities, with a ragtag assembly of crew and space ship. In his previous mission, Data had caused the destruction of Mars. Because of that, androids, or synthetics as they were known in 2399, were banned. Picard had resigned in protest. Enjoying his retirement...

Kalai Arasi (கலை அரசி, Queen of Arts, Tamil; 1963) Even when extra-galactical adventures, wars of astronomical proportions and extra-terrestrial visits in vimānas are mentioned in the Hindu scriptures, somehow, science fiction movies never really had a following at the silver screen level. A 1952 Hollywood collaborated film 'Kaadu (Jungle)' is the first Tamil sci-fi movie. Many alien visitation film ventures have failed, including Satyajit Ray's effort. 40 years before 'Koi Mil Gaya' burnt the silver screen hailed as the first successful Indian science-fiction flick, Kollywood did indeed release an epic saga of alien visitation, flying saucers and alien abduction. Keeping with the interest of viewers of that era, the elements of romance, songs, dances and swashbuckling scenes were kept very much alive. This movie almost did not make it to theatres. The project was apparently started in the last 1950s as evidenced by choice of leading actors. MGR and Bhanumath...

Moon (2009) You work day in and day out with the conviction that your purpose in life is to do your job. You perform at your best from 9 to 5 or 24/7 or as and when you are required to do. You give your 101%'s effort with the gumption that you are the man for the job; with the motto, to serve is divine. Hold behold. At the blink of an eye, it dawns on you that you are indeed not indispensable. You are made to just to serve as a cog in the wheel of time. When your time is up, the task will still go on, with or without you, upon somebody else purview! You are just a pawn in the master plan of existence. That is how life is. You give your life and soul. You think the system would collapse without you. Believe it or not, everything just goes on, with or without you! This 2009 sci-fi nihilistic drama was directed by debutante Duncan Jones (son of David Bowie). It was set in an unspecified time in the future when the world's energy crisis is a thing of the past. Man has dev...

Interstellar (2014) Looks like science fiction movies these days dwell on philosophical topics rather than display wizardry of pyrotechnic prowess and special effects. They tend to question the meaning of life and begs to find the question of what is life and what we are we doing here! As in most futuristic movies, Earth is depicted as a depressing place mutilated by man's own activities. With no future to carry on, in the film, people are mainly farmers trying to feed themselves in hostile weather. Even though Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) is a retired NASA pilot, his children are taught in school that the whole space expedition was a hoax and that it was a ploy to bankrupt the Russians who were making headway in the field during space chasing era. Cooper lives his father-in-law and two kids. As a single parent, he is finding it tight with the lousy sand storm and the kids who are under-performing in school. His daughter is also perturbed by the presence of poltergeist i...