Anti-Brahmin sentiments ?

Ghatashraddha (Kannada, The Death Ritual; 1977)
Director, Screenplay: Girish Kasaravalli

There must be a reason why Martin Scorsese's World Cinema Project, George Lucas' Family Foundation, and Film Heritage Foundation decided to restore the film from the original negatives in 2024. In 2002, it was voted one of the 20 best films in Indian cinema. It also snatched the Best Feature Film award, among other awards, in 1977. Looking at current world sentiments about India, the elephant in the room is that the film is about Brahmin bashing.

The colonial masters are to be blamed for anti-Brahminic feelings running high among the Indian public at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th. The British wanted to understand how the Indian society was spread out. For simplicity, they used the European class system when they commenced their census taking. The varna system in India was too complicated for the Europeans to comprehend. Hence, a hierarchical system was devised with the Brahmins at the top of the food chain. The British had a vested interest. They wanted to dismantle the gokul schooling system and the teaching of Sanskrit. The Brahmins were held for fort for Sanskrit and knowledge. There was a compelling need to paint the Brahmins. So, it came to be. 
 

EV Ramasamy and many South leaders had a beef with the Indian Congress Party during the pre-Independence era. They saw their lack of opportunities to partake in the Independence struggle as a Brahmin-controlled problem. Through the Self-Respect movement, they marketed themselves as anti-Hindu. Their brand of politics persists today. As the world sees leap by bounds economically and socially, the enemies of India look at this distorted interpretation of Sanathana Dharma as the perfect weapon to run India down.

To say that caste discrimination is non-existent may be an understatement, as evidenced by the writings and experiences of many scholars and writers.

The movie is about the experience of a young student, Naani, at a dilapidated  Vedic school. The teacher's daughter, Yamuna, is a sad young widow. Yamuna has an affair with another teacher and gets pregnant. She tries to conceal her pregnancy from the inquisitive neighbours and tries to get it aborted illegally. She is exposed and is humiliated. Her father ex-communicates with her by performing Ghatshradda,  a death ritual signifying that his daughter is dead to her.

 

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Another Martyr...

Amaran (Immortal; Tamil, 2024)

Director: Rajkumar Periasamy

A Tamil movie of the same name was made in 1992. It was a full-scale gangster movie that was initially banned from Malaysian theatres but finally screened after the censors went on a snipping spree. It was deemed too violent. The film ended suddenly as the final showdown between the hero (Karthik) and the baddies had too much gore. The Malaysian Censor Board butchered it so much that I watched a movie that was left hanging with an abrupt end, and the hall lights turned on, much to the audience's confusion about whether there was an emergency of sorts.

This time around, there was violence, gore and death, but it is a legitimate form of ending one's life; that is the government's sanction war against ideologies which are hellbent on destroying peace. We call this patriotism, not turf war.

I think one particular scene in the movie highlights the whole business of war and the use of religion in justifying war. An Indian soldier of the Muslim faith is captured by Islamic terrorists in the stone-pelting areas of Kashmir. The soldier is kneeling, with hands tied behind and head bent, waiting to be beheaded. He is chanting Holy Quranic verses. Holding a sword above the soldier's neck is a young jihadi who is cheered by a mob reciting the Islamic verses too. Which God are they fighting for anyway? If there is one up there, God will have a hard time choosing sides.

Maj Mukund Varadarajan

As a movie, it is produced in a very high-quality way. It narrates the life and times of now deceased Major Mukund Varadarajan of the Indian Army's Rajput Regiment. He fell during a counterterrorism operation in Jammu-Kashmir in April 2014. He posthumously received the Ashok Chakra award. His widow, Indhu Rebecca Varghese, tells the story, depicting their initial meeting at college, marriage, and long-distance relationship through his services in the Indian Army. It is a compelling movie which would definitely raise the spirit of any Indian worth his salt. 

There was nothing terrible about the movie. The chemistry between the actors Sivakarthikeyaan and Sai Pallavi, who portray Mukund and Indhu, is spot on. Watching the film without subtitles, one realises that the message gets clear and crisp, even when speaking Tamil and the other Malayalam. It is a truly Indian film, as Hindi, English, Tamil, and Malayalam are spoken within the same verse without causing any confusion. 

Detractors found nothing to complain about the movie. So they stooped so slow to complain that the film went beyond the call of duty to portray Muslims as the bad guys. Hello, the Kashmir issue has been initiated by a country that carved itself out of India on religious terms. Then, they complained that Major Mukund's caste did not get any prominence in the story as the filmmakers showed his family and the wedding celebration. It was an understanding between the family and the producers not to highlight their Brahmin caste.

This good Diwali movie will wet the eyes of those with sensitive souls. It is based on the book series India's Most Fearless: True Stories of Modern Military Heroes by Shiv Aroor and Rahul Singh.

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A time when stalking was normal...

'96 (Tamil,  2018)

Director: C. Prem Kumar

I remember a time in the 1980s when many Tamil movies had a particular storyline. A boy would fancy a girl, but circumstances would not allow them to fall in love. Most of the time, it would be because of different social and economic statuses, or they could be from feuding families, akin to Romeo and Juliet's story.

The Family would come to know. They would put up blockades, but against all odds, the boy would persist. He would look at his beau from afar, her every move, and she would fall flat for him. She thinks he loves her so much that he finds nothing more worthwhile in life than looking at her 24/7 like a lunatic. In most modern societies, that is called stalking.

In 1983, it was perfectly normal for Sting to watch his gal's every breath and every move. In the 2000s, however, that would warrant a police report and a restraining order.

Somehow, in this 2018 Tamil nostalgic movie, the girl regrets that she missed all the stalkings. She would have married him if only she knew he was there in every important moment of her life, spying on her. How bizarre. I do not think it would work on any millennial or Gen Z anywhere in the world. 

Ram, a travel photographer, takes his students on a field trip. After finishing the trip, he makes an unscheduled stop at the town where he used to stay until the 10th standard. He meets up with the school guard, the same person who used to work 22 years previously. Ram gets the contact of one of his classmates and gets himself included in a private WhatsApp chatgroup. That leads to a reunion.

Everyone is happily married with kids except for Ram. He leads life with a dark cloud shadowing over him. He had soft spots for his classmate, Janu, in 10th Standard. Family financial problems caused Ram's family to move suddenly in the dark of night without bidding her farewell. The crux of the story is about the Ram-Janu love story and to continue from where they left off. The problem is that Janu is also married with a preteen child.

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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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All starts from India?

The Golden Road - How Ancient India Transformed the World (2024)

Author: William Dalrymple

The author is quite unapologetic that his book would sound like an episode from the famous British desi sitcom, 'Goodness Gracious Me'. In fact, Sanjay Bhaskar, the main character in the above sitcom, was the invited guest to launch Dalrymple's latest book on Indian history.

This book is a joy to read. Packed with information from cover to cover, extensive research must have been conducted into the world of the Indosphere before waves of invaders destroyed it and rewrote its history.

Its cultural influence spread beyond its borders. Indian advanced navigational skills, using the seasonal monsoon winds to bring goods, knowledge, and culture to adjacent regions, were assets for mankind. India was a big brother figure to the Southeast Asian region, as far as the present Indochina region and even to China.

As early as the first century CE, the trade imbalance was so great, favouring India. A third of India's business was with the Romans. They traded pearls, gold, spices, diamonds, incense, eunuch slaves, ivory, perfumes, and even exotic animals like elephants and tigers. Imagine the sheer size of Indian ships that could carry elephants. Proof of these was found in the drawings in the Ajunta Caves. The Buddhists, contrary to the austere life that Buddhists are assumed to be living, encouraged trade and mercantilism. A Roman Emperor in the 1st century was reported to be incensed with his subjects' fixation with Indian spices (which he found distasteful) and almost transparent Indian cloth (that left nothing to the imagination). The image of Buddha in the Kushan Era had Greeco-Roman features.

It is said that British hunters' discovery of the Ajuntha Caves led to the discovery of India's long-forgotten tryst with Buddhism. Ironically, Buddhist monks have been found as far as Libya (sent by Asoka) and Alexandria. The Buddhists, it is said, had an influence on the Christian monastic movements.

It is perplexing that India was looked upon even by the Chinese as a cultured region. Its scholars endured treacherous land journeys to acquire knowledge from renowned universities like Nalanda and Taxila to learn and translate Buddhist scriptures. Sanskrit was viewed as the language of the elite. Travelogues of Xuanzang's 16-year journey against the restrictions imposed by the Sui Dynasty returns tells about a well-developed India with high intellect and culture. Buddhism was no longer popular in India and had moved eastwards.

There was a well-coordinated shipping line from the Bay of Bengal throughout the Straits of Malacca to Indonesia and China. Indonesia was a Sanskrit centre where scholars stopped over to master the language before going off to India. Buddhism soon competed with Confucianism and Taoism as the state's official way of life. The first female Empress of China, Wu Zetian, was instrumental in building innumerable Buddhist shrines in Loyang, China, in the third century CE. This colourful figure ruled for over 50 years. Many sculptures, scholars and astronomers from India were invited to set up offices in China.

By the 7th century CE, the likes of Brahmagupta and Aryabatta brought mathematics and astronomy to a different level. India's competence in architecture and science and its Ayurveda made it the most advanced country in the world at that time. Ujjain, in central India, had a space observatory centre then. They had advanced ideas of keeping time, the meridian, and shipping. 

Sailing sailors from Southern India mastered shipbuilding and navigational techniques. Their seamen brought Indian culture, influence, and civilisation to faraway lands like Indonesia, Cambodia, and beyond. Testimonies of Indian expertise are seen in many mammoth temples there—Angkor Wat, Borobudur, etc.

Observatory in Ujjain,

built by Maharaja Jai Singh II, 1725

When the Muslim invaders started attacking the northern part of India, the wealth of knowledge found here also fascinated Muslim scholars. An influential Buddhist family from northern Afghanistan, the Barmakids, are credited with bringing Hindu knowledge to the Abbasid Empire. They converted to Islam and helped to build the city of Baghdad. The Barmakids' descendants became important advisors to the rulers, but one fell out of favour with Harun al Rashid, and their legacy ended there. 

After falling out of favour of things from India, the Abbasids had sourced knowledge from Greek scriptures. 

Andalusia was a vital region which showcased the golden age of Islamic civilisation. With its serene gardens irrigated with advanced water pumps, it was heaven on Earth. In 1085, the Christian King Alfonso VI conquered Toledo. King Alfonso's attack left the libraries undisturbed, unlike the Muslim and Mongol invaders who destroyed everything in sight. European scholars found the Indian knowledge there profound. The earlier translated Indian wisdom was translated again into Latin and made its way to Oxford. They were erroneously labelled Arabic numbers. Fibonacci, credited for the numbers (of his namesake), apparently learned it from these books. He picked up the wonder of numbers from Algeria. Of course, the discoverers of trigonometry, zero and negative numbers were Indians. 

The New India has woken to the awareness of its glorious past. After being a leading force for thousands of years, it is amazing how it had fallen off the pedestal. With new leaders who vow to return the nation to its past laurels, it is marching towards a new dawn.

(PS. When I was young, I was curious to see Roman coins being part of the ornaments adorning my Amma's thali chain. How did Roman symbols come to be part of Indian jewellery? When we learnt history in school, it was so fragmented and compartmentalized, and the two regions were different like night and day. Of course, there were huge trades between Tamil Nadu and the Roman Empire then. And possessing foreign goods must have been an item to flaunt around. Hence, the desire to thread it into the thali chain and inadvertently let it slip out  occasionally for full view of others to be jealous.)

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Nothing is important?

About Dry Grasses (Turkish, 2023)

Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan

According to the movie, that is what we are: the dry grasses seen paving the hillside over Eastern Turkey as the frost melts at the start of spring. They look lovely, adding a hue to the mundane colour of nature. Walking over the hill, we step over the grass as they give us a grip on the ground. We do not bother about the grass. They are insignificant. They serve a purpose to their existence, which is not apparent to us. The dry die only to be replaced by the next generation only to whither away, yet again.

Is that symbolism of human existence here on Earth? We think very highly of ourselves, that we are indispensable, that our existence means a lot, or perhaps we are God's answer to mankind's problems. We fail to understand that, like the dry grass on the hill, our presence is temporary. Like many before us, we will disappear away one day, often forgotten by annals of time. All the seemingly big problems we are embroiled in are insignificant in the greater scheme of things. All the jealousy, ill feelings, shame, power balance and intellectual mediocrity that bog down our day-to-day living will all disappear one day.

What, then, is the purpose of all these? That is the question humans have been asking since time immemorial.

This Turkish slow movie narrates just that in a convoluted way that lasts three hours, but not in a draggy way. The protagonist gets embroiled in many life indecisions, troubles, animosities, and hardships, but all appear not so crucial later in his life.

The film is set in the remote and coldest part of East Turkey in the height of winter. If the teeth-chattering cold is not bad enough, there is a lack of economic activity and disturbances from the Kurd rebels.

Samet, who considers himself a dedicated school teacher, drags himself grudgingly back to school in the thick snow. He cannot wait to return to Istanbul after completing his compulsory rural posting.

Where's the line between care and inappropriate?

He is an art teacher who takes great care of the welfare of his adolescent students, unlike the other teachers in the school who run down their students, or so he thought. In the movie, we can see that Samet is quite pally with his students, perhaps too pally and touchy sometimes, bordering on a teacher's inappropriate behaviour. 

 All that came crashing down one day when the headmaster did a classroom spot-check and discovered a love letter in one of a female student's schoolbags. Samet tries to save the day by intercepting the letter. He thought he was doing something good for the student, but instead, the student accused him and his roommate of inappropriate behaviour of the teacher.

The movie is not so much about the high psychological drama of addressing the issue of teacher burnout or paedophilia. The complaint is tackled amicably by the school. Nevertheless, Samet is devastated. He and his roommate start questioning their whole life purpose, dedication, and hardships they have endured throughout life. At the same time, Samet is introduced to a young, pretty schoolteacher. She has her sad story, surviving a terrorist's bomb blast but losing her leg. However, she is optimistic about life and lives on her own terms. Samet introduces her to his roommate, thinking he would find her fascinating. Samet starts developing feelings for the teacher when he sees them romantically linked.

The rest of the movie is about these three people resolving their issues as Samet prepares to get his transfer out of the school back to the big town.

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Good to know!

How I Became a Hindu (1982, Third Reprint,2008)
Author: Sita Ram Goel

Trigger Alert. Readers' discretion is advised. 

Sita Ram Goel, Ram Swarup, Koenraad Elst, David Frawley and publications linked to the RSS may not be hailed as literary marvels or considered literature pieces by the mainstream. Yet, the knowledge is there for all to scoop.

The mainstream always labels right-wing writers as rabble-rousers out to tip the serenity of public harmony. Everything they say and write is painted in the same stroke, as venomous. I decided to look at one of Sita Ram Goel's early writings.

For the uninitiated, Goel is revered as a formidable Indian historian, religious and political activist, writer, and publisher known for his influential contributions to the literature on Hinduism and Hindu nationalism in the late twentieth century. With his direct, unapologetic presentation of facts and provocative book titles, he has stirred the psyche of the Hindus and many Indians to look at India and its history with a new lens, the one previously tinted by leftist historians of the yesteryears.

Goel and his publication house, Voice of India, have had complaints issues against them for his writings on comparative religious studies, specifically Hinduism against Christianity and Islam. His research on Hindu temples in India was hailed by Hindus but criticised by the mainstream. He asserted that many of the iconic religious buildings in India were initially Hindu temples, the famous one being the Ayodhya Ram Mandir.

Goel is vehemently opposed to the idea of evangelism.

I think it is essential that everyone indulges in other alien ideologies to open their minds. Just the other day, a very dear childhood friend, for who I have only high esteem, who happens to be an unapologetic Muslim, asked me a daft question. He had earlier introduced a book on high-level science to me and my circle of friends. The author compared what the scientific world knows now to what is written in the Old Testament, Bible and Quran. He showed a fantastic similarity between the two. The daft question was how many scientists had converted to Hinduism after reading the Hindu scriptures. Of course, everyone knows that no one converts to Hinduism. One can scrutinise, embrace or reject some or all of its scriptures. One does not need to pledge any allegiance to be a Hindu. One can check in, check out or leave anytime they like.

Forget that knowledge from the cradle of Islamic civilisation originated from the Indian subcontinent anyway.

Like most people in the Indian-Hindu diaspora, Sita Ram Goel, too, grew up confused. They were fed myths and fables about the Hindu religion that seemed detached from reality. They soon became ashamed to be associated with Hinduism. In keeping with their friends and to speak the same lingo as the elitist circle, they looked at Abrahamic religions as their saviours. Goel grew up at a time when India was in its march to Independence. Gandhism initially made a lot of sense. Dogmatic beliefs and stickling to ritualism made him explore the Arya Samaj movement, which rejected idolatry practices. He again felt awkward when everyone around looked down at the Harijans and shunned away from their worship. As a student, he explored Marxism, Communism and Socialism. In his assessment, Leninism and Stalinism swayed far away from Marx's teachings. They are merely rebranding of Western capitalism. The final endpoint is material gain. In capitalism, wealth is controlled by the wealthy few linked to the ruling class. In Communism, it boils down to the same at the end. In Goel's mind, the Abrahamic religions are no different from Communism, as indoctrination is the mainstay. Goel fell very sick once. A Reverend took him in and nursed him back to health. Goel got disillusioned when the holy man kept pestering him to accept Jesus as his Saviour.

Living through the age of Nehruism, he noticed that Hindus have evolved into apologists. They have resigned themselves to the fact that they can be a punching bag to everyone, and yet be careful not to offend others. The Hindus, when they are the majority, they have to keep Christians and Muslims happy. Conversely, Hindus as minorities in Muslim-majority nations have to endure so much discrimination. But no one is bothered. As Muslims have a propensity to do street demonstrations, Hindus have been conditioned not to offend but to maintain the peace.

People in his circle have described Sita Ram Goel as an 'intellectual Kshatriya'. His pet projects include researching the history of temples and mosques built on top of pre-existing ancient temples, including the Ayodhya debate. To answer the question of how he became a Hindu, after experimenting with all philosophies and religious teachings, he found the Abrahamic teachings quite dogmatic and restrictive. The Marxists, Leninists, Stalinists and Capitalists are one and the same, rebranded differently. Sanathana Dharma, despite its man-made rituals and divisions between people, is actually more inclusive. A Sanathani can pray to his God in whatever way he feels fit. His God may or may not have a form. He may even be a non-believer of Gods and still a Hindu.

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