Message Is In The Medium

It started with  Simmba , I believe, that Indian audiences began venting out frustration through revenge drama-comedies. (Dramedies?) It was triumphantly carried forward by  Uri: The Surgical Strike . The trend of the protagonist with all his swagger avenging injustice is toxic. The injustice, in the plot, is also what our hero decides and revenge, of course, is justice. It is a one-man show (reflecting politics, maybe). This trend furthers in upcoming Amitabh Bachchan starrer  Badla . Read: Is Uri: The Surgical Strike a propaganda film. (Movie Review) Read: Simmba- The great Indian aspiration of bullying. (Movie Review) There isn't anything wrong particularly in the movies due to their revenge theme. It is reflection of the society after all. But the trend in itself is quite dangerous. It speaks of the general anger and frustration in us all. Considering the earlier two movies were little more than escapist crowd pleasers, the state of people is all the...

The Great Indian Novel  by Shashi Tharoor sits on the shoulders of two mammoth Indian fables everyone discusses still no one really knows about. The epic myth Mahabharata by Vyasa and India's historical struggle for freedom, that come together in this book, are both tales so far behind in the past they might as well be the same for the  young  India of today. Tharoor binds the two sagas, dwindling between facts and myth, which feels like a fading memory or an elaborate dream, to create this masterpiece. But one must not consider it religious just because it follows the plot of a Hindu epic; the book tells the history of India. The epic myth Mahabharata provides the satirical vehicle for the story. The Great Indian Novel  tells the tale of India's freedom struggle and the subsequent culture of majoritarian democracy in the country through the characters and events of the Mahabharata. The characters in Tharoor's novel lie somewhere between their counterparts in ...

Skimming through popular news and avoiding rampant hateful opinions, I stumbled upon a trivial news about filmmaker Tigmanshu Dhulia. He found grand success of films like  Total Dhamaal  worrying. Tigmanshu Dhulia has directed films like  Paan  Singh  Tomar  and  Sahib Bibi Aur Gangster.  He played the famous Ramadhir Singh in Anurag Kashyap's crime opus  Gangs of Wasseypur . It seemed unlikely an artist of that statute be jealous of a fellow filmmaker's talent. Yes, he could be jealous of a fellow filmmaker's bank balance, of course. So, I dug in. You see, I need to give out a long introduction for Tigmanshu Dhulia. He is not famous enough. Though, this could be a reason for him to crib about  Total Dhamaal , it surely was reason enough for the news portal to not give him even 200 words to explain his side. Nevertheless, it got me thinking. He says success of such films talk of poor state of the audiences. Poor state. Not poor taste...

Uri: The Surgical Strike theatrical poster Well, the answer is yes. Just not in the way you think. It saves you a lot of time and you can leave right away if you cannot read beyond the headlines. Also, if you were looking for some confirmation bias and don't have patience to listen to the other side. And honestly, both  for  and  against  groups on this topic have gone deaf to other side. But let's not blame anyone here. It is the standard these days. In the world of today, arguments are not meant to explain your point with reason but to please those who already agree with you. Confirmation bias blooms on all fences. Opinions become content and there exists an audience for whatever side you pick. So what side do I pick? Well, no points for guessing; none.  Uri: the Surgical Strike  is propaganda but not in the way it portrays the events but the way it depicts the army. If I still have your attention, we could be friends. Uri: the Surgical Strike...

With elections on our head every time, it becomes difficult to avoid them. I know I shouldn't care about other state elections, but it's all over news. Besides, it's fun! So I watched one of these discussions on YouTube which tried to decipher what Indian politics is. They are all useless but fun, really. But then it hit me. Indian politics is just like the popular reality TV show, Bigg Boss. Up until a few years ago, I followed Bigg Boss quite religiously. To an extent that I had to ban myself from watching any more. Yes, I peeled myself off from the TV a few years ago when I realized it took too much and gave back absolutely nothing in return. Even after that, I accidentally(Hehe!) viewed a few episodes of Bigg Boss and got involved in some of the issues of the contestants, which really were non-issues. I got sucked right in. I could come out of that madness only when I began consuming even crazier acrobatics: The Circus Of Indian Politics. And literally thi...

Simmba  is not a landmark Hindi film of recent times. Let's get this out if our expectations first. Despite the fact that the movie dabbles into a number of relevant issues of our times and is a major box office success, it gets written off by most film critics as another rape-revenge drama with obligatory comedy for Indian "masses". Why comedy with other serious issues? Otherwise who'll watch the film? Besides comedy, there is another important element common in our Bollywood action dick-flicks , namely, bullying. Success of Street food Cinema Critics and "industry insiders" and maybe even a large chunk of audiences like to call the  Simmba -cinema Bollywood masalas or mass entertainers; westerners call it "fan service". And asshole liberals  like me call them dick-flicks where whoever has the biggest penis wins in the end. It is called  Masala  because it supposedly has something for everyone, and mass entertainers because it is meant ...

Hardik Pandya and K L Rahul on Koffee with Karan Ever since Hardik Pandya appeared on  K offee  with  Karan , the opinion outlets have overflowed with opinions on feminism and social patenting. The cricketer's unrestrained confessions of his own life have tingled the debate on morality for celebrities. Why talk about it? While most outraged social warriors find Pandya's comments sexist, they don't have much issue with what he does in his private life. In fact, they appreciate the "all-rounder" for having safe sex. Their isn't even a problem with him having multiple sexual partners as long as it is consensual. The hidden sneaky sexism lies in  talking  about it. This is bizarre. Weren't we fighting for movies like  Lipstick Under My Burka  just last year which  showcased women owning and expressing their sexuality? Can we not see the social parenting that prohibited women from expressing themselves is at work here? Or is it because w...