Thoughts in and out of reason

My friends had told me to watch this movie. And I did, without biasing myself by reading about it. And I was mind - blown. Tumbbad is a 2018 Hindi movie set from the 1918 to 1947 in and around Tumbbad village in Maharashtra, India. Along with the arc of our pre - Independence era to liberation from the soulless drug cartel looting our country, this story traces the journey of 3 generations of a family who has built a temple for "Hastar", first born of the Goddess of prosperity. Spawned before the 16 crore Gods and Goddesses, Hastar is cursed as he wanted all the grain and gold bestowed by the Goddess. While he was able to lay his hands on the gold, his siblings stopped him before his greed could touch the grain, rendering him hungry and ostracized.  Trailer. Source In my all- time favorite movie, The Matrix , Agent Smith delivers this mind - bending monologue which is 100% gold: Source Tumbbad is also talking about the same topic in it's own way. Each one of us, once the ...

In probably one of the most tense first scenes I have watched, the sequel takes off from the same time and space as the original. Part 1 was released in 2013 and the sequel came in 2021 (bummer as it was released on OTT platforms, rather than the big screen), and in the movie too, the characters have gone through a similar number of years. The kids have grown up. George Kutty is now a theater owner and producer. He seems to be working on a movie script for a long time. Folks in town are still talking about him..  Trailer.   Source While part 1 concluded with a glimpse of what might actually be going on, one would think that Drishyam 2 isn't really required, as part 1's ending satisfied everyone. The legacy of a great movie would have stayed on. BUT the makers decided that they have to continue the storyline. And it is a brave decision indeed, given the stature of the first part. And we all know how sequels turn out. So actually thinking about it, everything seems foolhardy. Wh...

 I had heard about Drishyam, and how awesome it is, for a few years now but I got an opportunity to watch it only recently. It is a 2013 Malayalam movie which takes us through the travails of a middle class family that gets entangled in an unexpected event involving the son of the Inspector General of police. The setting is a picturesque town in Kerala, where everyone knows each other. It is a small community with a police station and a few small businesses. Trailer . Source The movie starts off slowly, getting us familiar with the family of 4, and the other folks in town. There is a small hotel where people meet up and socialize over tea and snacks.  Mohanlal (as George Kutty) is well - respected but it looks like everyone is curious about him, courtesy the event under question. He  is crazy about movies. He stays overnight in his cable - Tv business office to watch movies. He is a practical person and despite not being highly educated, he is street - smart. Being a keen...

When I saw the poster of this movie and saw that Raj B Shetty  RBS (as Shiva) and Rishab Shetty  (as Hari) were in the lead roles, I knew I had to watch it. As lady luck was in my favor, it was playing in a theater near me so off we went. Check out the  Official trailer  here.  Brahma-Vishnu-Shiva is the Hindu trinity, also called the trimurti. The Supreme Spirit or Universal Truth, called Brahman, is represented in three forms, each corresponding to one cosmic function: Brahma (the creator), Vishnu (the preserver) and Shiva (the transformer/destroyer). A child with an apocryphal past is taken up by a family who has a son of a similar age. This is the story about the evolving relationship between the boys of contrasting personalities who grow up to become gangsters. Most of the movie is shot around Mangaladevi temple, Kadri. and other locations in Mangalore city, India. The unique language, flavor and rich culture of the region have been distilled beau...

Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code: Defines rape as “sexual intercourse with a woman against her will, without her consent, by coercion, misrepresentation or fraud or at a time when she has been intoxicated or duped, or is of unsound mental health and in any case if she is under 18 years of age.” We watched this movie as it was recommended by home minister. Section 375 is a 2019 Hindi movie featuring  Akshaye Khanna ( as senior lawyerTarun Saluja),  Meera Chopra (as defense lawyer Anjali Damle), and Richa Chadha (as accuser Hiral Gandhi) and Rahul Bhatt (as accused, Rohan Khurana). Rohan is accused of rape by Hiral, and the movie takes us through the trial, providing flashbacks as those involved in the case provide their recollection of the events surrounding the alleged event. Source . Rape is an extremely serious matter in India and the world over. In our country, we have been witnessing with a disturbing frequency, the lackadaisical approach of the bureaucracy and law ...

We watched a crushing story involving the Jallianwala Bagh massacre , one of the most cold - hearted war crimes of the 20th century. The last hour was too gut - wrenching to even watch. I'll never be able to fathom the kind of evil responsible for this mass murder, and for smugly rationalizing it automatically reserved a special place in hell for those responsible, right on satan's lap.  And later I realized that the story of the person shown in the movie, the avenger of Jallianwala Bagh, Shaheed-i-Azam Sardar Udham Singh is true. I'm ashamed, shattered and angry that there is no mention of the history surrounding this glorious martyr in our school books. How is it that we had to memorize random useless crap and that this amazing tale of the indomitable spirt eluded us? This is nothing short of treason. Source He was one of those profoundly affected by the calamity that fateful day, and vowed to exact his revenge, no matter what, no matter how long it would take. The events...

 To be frank, we watched this movie randomly, as it looked interesting. And we're glad we did! The movie is directed by Deviprasad Shetty sir and features  Vijay Raghavendra  (his 50th film), Ninasam Sreeharsha Gobhatt, Devi Prakash, Sathwik Hebbar and Bindu Raxidi. Bonus = there are 0 songs. Yes, that's right. This is a crime thriller involving cops and a serial killer, and another level of characters, which makes this story so innovative. The story and acting carries the movie all along. Source Initially this movie looked to be quite predictable. You'll be like "ok, I feel x and y is going to happen next:" and you might be right. This is the rabbit hole the narration wants to take us through. Vijay plays the thinking cop, who goes beyond the superficial and dives into the meta - level information which makes the story so good. He makes use of the resources available to him to the best possible extent.  When you feel you have everything figured out, you might ...

Although I had heard of this movie from friends, I hadn't watched it for a long time. Not sure why. Ugramm (Furious) is a 2014 Indian Kannada gangster /action / thriller film directed by Prashanth Neel  sir and produced under the banner Inkfinite Pictures. There are a few familiar names from  KGF  here. This movie is about a reformed gangster who is left with no option but to harness his dark side, because of his principles and the prevailing situation. Source The movie begins on a serious note in the present day, introduces some of the main characters and then moves to a phase of attempted light - heartedness. I understand the reason behind this but in my opinion, if things were modified, the movie might have been unstoppable. I pretty much ignored this phase. After this, the pace picks up substantially, especially onto the second half where the real fun begins. It gets relentless and puts you on the edge of your seat as you proceed . Check out the movie trailer  he...

 This movie is an outlier. It has just one song. And the song is not thrust upon us like an unpleasant memory. It is a meaningful one penned by Kaikini sir, and talks about the common man and his resilience. Act 1978 depicts the path carved by the reaction of a pregnant widow ( Yajna Shetty as Geetha) and an old man who chooses not to speak. Their calculated crusade is against the unjust "system", the bureaucracy and stifling monotony of red tapism that infests our government offices. Me and you are too familiar with this plight, where money speaks and nothing happens without "influence" or "contacts". It is an honest depiction of a painful experience, a choice made by an individual devastated slowly by life and then by this blood - sucking machinery. Source This movie touches upon multiple topics extremely pertinent to this day and age. One I have spoken about above. The other is about the media, and how much of an influence they have over public sentimen...

  Source. This was the first book I purchased from my first salary almost 15 years ago, so this is a re-read for me. While the book remains the same, I and the world have changed drastically. It is the best and worst book to read in this time. 1984 is a dark, depressing novel about a dystopian world where everything and everyone is controlled by the state ( Big brother is watching). Orwell creates a terrifying world where the food is bland, everything is in short supply, the country is always at war, relationships are non existent, and the sex is without pleasure. This is a state which tell everyone what to do, who to speak to, what to eat, how to behave, who to sing praise to, and what the "truth" is. e.g. 2 + 2 = 5. Does this ring a bell? Such has been the book's influence that many words from it such as newspeak, doublethink, thoughtcrime, Big Brother and Room 101 have entered the English language.  Source There are only a handful of characters in the novel. Winston, a...

The last couple of weeks have been shattering. The epidemic wrecking unimaginable havoc all over the world. And then events which happened at the Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem spiral out of control and a war breaks out between Israel and Hamas. I know quite a bit of the history of the region and the reasons for the continuous conflict, but I always like to understand more. These days YouTube has become a good source, apart from of course reading. So I dove into learning more about the history of the region.  I stumbled upon  this  6 - minute long video. It is based at Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem. You might have heard of this place as it is in the news these days. This is an Arab neighborhood, and the residents who have been living there for decades there are now facing eviction by the Israeli state. You might know that this region has an extremely complicated history which I do not want to go to. ...