For a fistful of rupees?

Farzi (Fake, Miniseries; 2023)

Created, Written &Directed: Raj & DK

It said that Pakistan is on the brink of bankruptcy. It has gone with a begging bowl to IMF for aid. After securing massive loans with low interest from China and investing in projects that never saw daylight, Pakistan found itself in trouble deep. The creditors came knocking on its door. The pandemic and local political turmoil tilt the economy further into hopelessness. Even God was not kind. Massive flooding, almost unheard of in desert-like Pakistan, took many lives in the densely populated regions of the country. 

The real reason for Pakistan's predicament, India likes to believe, is Modi's demonetisation policy. It is alleged that Pakistanis were actively printing fake Indian rupees and using them to fund terrorist activities across the border. With the help of corrupt politicians, civil servants and the Mafia, these monies made their way to the Indian marketplace. It is the grey market; a fake ₹100 is equivalent to ₹30 in real money. It is sanitised once it is fed into India. Everyone is happy. Politicians are free to utilise these easy ill-gotten gains to bribe constituents and for campaigning. Other avenues for this foolhardy are cricket betting schemes and Bollywood financing. 

The new size of the new notes made it difficult for the counterfeit industry to keep up. With the increased use of digital currency, physical money is also slowly losing its place in daily cash handling. The fake note industry took a severe beating, which shows in Pakistan.

The movie 'Farzi' is said to be based on Amazon's bestseller book by Sree Iyer, 'Who painted my money white?'. After reading the book and viewing the miniseries, I see that the theme is similar, but the premise is different. 

Sree Iyer's book is more about dirty politics and the shenanigans of politicians. It tells about everything going wrong in India through his lens - fake currency, Islamic terrorism, love jihad and more. The climax is the attempted assassination of India's Prime Minister. For those familiar with Indian politics, readers can immediately identify that all the characters in the story obviously carry an uncanny resemblance to present-day politicians.

The miniseries tell about a street-smart artiste with a neck printing fake Indian notes in his grandfather's newspaper printing press. His fake turns out so accurate that an international terrorist based in Jordan wants to use his services. And things get complicated as governmental enforcement is hot on his trail. 

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

Follow

Follow

Follow

Follow

Follow

Follow

A recoil after the peak of civilisation?

Cunk on Earth (BBC Documentary S1, E1-5; 2022)

Creator: Charlie Brooker

If you find the following joke particularly funny, you will enjoy Philomena Cunk and her caustic below-belt deadpan British comedy.

FG asks X, “where have you been? ... haven't seen you in a while.”

X replies, “Oh, I have just been to Amritsar.”

“But why did you go there?” asks FG.

“...it was just on my bucket list. I always wanted to go there,” said X.

To which FG, with facial expressions a poker player would envy, blurted, “so now that you have fulfilled your bucket list, does that mean now you can happily kick the bucket?”

Diane Morgan appears as the persona of Philomena Cunk, a clueless TV comperè who interviews high-level scientists and academicians in this mockumentary. In a nutshell, it narrates the evolution of mankind and civilization as they progress from cave dwellers to their current status as the most successful species on Earth.

At the end of the five episodes, the viewers go off with the idea that humankind is actually regressing after all that leaps and bounds. Gone are the days when innovations, scientific discoveries and technological advancements were feted. Now we tend to reward people for mediocrity and for things that border on stupidity.

The highlights of this docuseries are the interviews between Cunk and the highly erudite guests of their fields. Cunk erroneously thinks very highly of herself. She is set on her ideas; her reference points are her ex-boyfriend, Sean, her flamboyant tarot card-reading aunt, and perhaps her intellectually challenged mates. She asks the most embarrassing questions to her guests and openly disagrees and argues with their opinion. The facial expressions of these guests are priceless. I am sure it is all part of showbiz, but how they responded to Cunk’s dumb statements is classic.

A light-hearted presentation with British dry humour laced with profanity. It may be interpreted as a swipe to the working class or the nouveau riche who climbed the social ladder, not by class and education but by their sheer ability to make money and command power.

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

Follow

Follow

Follow

Follow

Follow

Follow

Where, what to eat?

No, they are not distributing free food.

It is the long queue outside a high-end 

South Indian restaurant in Kuala Lumpur.

The food is good but expensive and packed,

but that did not deter foodies near and far

from gathering in droves to satisfy their 

gastronomic desires.

Some Singaporean study determined that hardly anybody cook in Singapore anymore. Almost everyone has their meals at the many food outlets around the island. For the other privileged consumers, delivery services are willing to bring gourmet to the doorstep at a small fee.

Economic downturn or not, ever since the lockdown was lifted, people swarmed in droves to patronise the food outlets like there was no tomorrow. They have no qualms about waiting for hours, salivating, and standing in rows around the corner.

It does not matter if the quality of food is suspect. It is impossible for all foods ordered online to be monitored for hygiene as they mostly escape authority scrutiny. It is not possible to quantitate food that will be supplied beforehand. Estimates are estimates. If the food provided is too much, what does one do? Since it is politically incorrect to dispose of unwanted food, they may consume more than they require to survive.

There is no price control. It is the market forces that would determine the suitable price.

With their busy schedules, wearing multiple hats, and performing many roles, the present generation finds it impossible to incorporate cooking as one of their list of duties. Gendered assignment duties do not come into the equation.

If cooking is difficult, try choosing a food outlet to meet your constantly fickled appetite and craving for variety. And not to forget the partner who will accompany you for lunch, dinner or whatever. Worried about losing culinary art? Who cares? That stuff, one can pick it up right off Youtube!

Eating out is convenient, affordable, less time-consuming and offers many choices in food selection. 

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

Follow

Follow

Follow

Listen, hear and sleep on it!

Good evening everybody. In case you are wondering, we are gathered today to commemorate the matrimony of our daughter Tania and the new addition to the family, our son-in-law, Durgesh. This sounds like the flight attendant announcing over the speaker that we are seated on flight so-and-so to wherever after the extensive checking at the counter, immigration, departure hall, blah, blah. I am waiting for someone, just one day, to jump out yelling, "damn, I'm on the wrong flight!"

Firstly I would like to extend a big welcome to the Ahirwar family from Jabalpur. Also to friends and relatives from near and far. Family members have no choice, there have to be present here today.

Life used to be much easier those days. Tarzan saw Jane, and he said, 'I, Tarzan, you Jane!' And they started a family. Then the young men had to kidnap their brides. They had to ride on horseback and kidnap a girl they fancied in the cloak of the dark and ride with their bride into the night. And now you have all these rituals and obligations to fulfil. Life becomes more and more complicated every day.

Someone mentioned during my wedding that a wedding celebration is a public declaration of one's private intent. Whatever the purpose of the celebration is, it is the upholding of the institution of marriage that matters at the end of the day.

I would like to tell a little secret to the newlyweds to maintain mental health. To Durgesh, hearing and listening are two different things. Sometimes you need to hear only, not listen, to have a peaceful sleep. However, the problem is, to reply, you need to listen. Think about it.
To Tania, whatever problems may crop up, just sleep on it. Things will usually appear clearer after a good night's sleep. Thinking becomes easier. And sometimes, problems have a funny way of solving themselves. But sometimes, not all the time.

To the newlyweds, a happy, fruitful married life. May you prosper and have all the nice things in life.

Thank you.

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

Follow

Between 'slaying' and 'hacking'...

Vadh (Slay, Hindi; 2022)

Written and Directed by: Jaspal Singh Sandhu & Rajiv Barnwal

Whilst watching this film, I was curious about its title. I knew 'Vaada' in Hindi meant 'promise' and 'waqt' in Urdu meant 'time', but 'Vadh'...? So I asked my resource person. As her mother tongue is Hindi, she was quick to say 'chop', like chopping mutton! Only after watching the movie did it come to my collection that the correct word I was looking for was 'slay'. In my dictionary, 'slaying' is justifiable 'killing'. A saviour slays a demon. A mortal just 'kills' or 'hacks'.

This is a very interesting film without the usual flair and over-the-top hero-worshipping that is often found in most Bollywood movies. Unlike most movies too, the protagonists are no spring chickens. They are neither drop-dead gorgeous nor need to strut their sculptured six-pack torso to tell their story.

A retired teacher and his homemaker wife lead a lonely and miserly life after sending their only son off to the USA. It had been six years since he last visited them. Even their calls to him are often anything but cordial. They are still paying for the loans they took to send him, including one from the local loan shark. The debt collector becomes increasingly more menacing as he brings booze, meat and hookers to their vegetarian household. In one such intimidating visit, the debt collector actually threatened to rape the teacher's 12-year-old tuition student. One thing led to another, the old teacher jabbed a screwdriver into the gangster's neck. In an intelligent storytelling manner, but maybe too tall to be believable, the old teacher chops the victim's body into pieces and disposes them far away and makes any evidence disappear.

A corrupt local police officer is hot on the teacher's trail. So is the local godfather whose henchmen the teacher had slayed.

The question is when does one slay another person, and when does he kill, mutilate, hack or murder? When Krishna kills the Asuras, he does it to save mankind. He slays the demon, not murder them. When Rama kills Surpanakka or Ravana, he slays the evil in them. In the same vein, Nathuram Godse feels justified to gun down an individual he thought was instrumental in carving the nation into two. Godse exerted that he slayed the demon that broke up the Indian subcontinent.


So, if someone is so invincibly evil and cannot be defeated, can the murderer be reclused of all charges? The problem is that the common law is not applicable to the common man. Law is a weapon used by the powerful to suppress the powerless. The law makes the powerful more powerful and the powerless less so.

The ending of this film manages to tie all the loose ends and, in a way, makes the killing of the 'powerful' debt collector justified. In the end, the teacher and police officer end up in a 'win-win' situation as his death brings more 'Shanthi' to more people than otherwise.

.

Krishna Slays Bakasura, the Crane Demon sent by Vamsa.

Putana, a powerful witch, was summoned by Vamsa, Krishna's uncle who was told that a male child in that land would dethrone him. Putana manifested as a beautiful damsel to enter the house. Upon entering, she let Krishna suckle her poisoned nipple. Baby Krishna bit her so hard that he sucked the life out of her. 

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