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Guns and Gulaabs

 Netflix has delivered a punch in ‘Guns and Gulaabs’. As many of noted, it drags a bit, which lowers the fun somewhat. But still, it is a thrilling ride, of taut storyline which has unbelievable but perfectly anticipated coincidences. More importantly, it unleashes the violence, right in the style of acclaimed directors who tell such violent tales yet manages to keep the humour alive. It is a difficult mixture, violence with humour, and perhaps it should be forbidden considering the how easily people are coming to blows, bullets, and killings. Barring the end, where everyone knows how to drive a truck, the story manages the internal consistency of the plot well. Like a true profit maximiser, certain interesting threads are kept dangling, to provide material for the next season if finance demands so. If not, it is a tale well told, over and out. Apart from being a heady mixture of humour and violence, there are some aspects of ‘GG’ (Guns and Gulaabs) which made me like it more. Firs
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Black Mirror for the local train

 Black Mirror is the poison I look forward to consuming. The ideas of humanity in the increased scope of technology are sometimes so well-portrayed that the mark of philosophical deadlock stays on one’s mind for long. With these expectations, I was bit disappointed with the first two episodes of the latest season (released in June 2023). First one was fine, though utterly predictable for those with long association with series. The second one is not even a Blank Mirror episode. By just being a psychological thriller, it doesn’t even the fit to the theme Black Mirror has explored. Finally, it hit home with the third one. There it is, a question, who we are, staring in our face as the story unfolds. The episode reminded me of a cynical imagination I have nursed for long. While commuting in suburban local trains of Mumbai, I have always wondered about it when I have felt crushed right at the start of the day by a giant wave of increasingly homogenous human existence. What if two ind

Darlings, frog, and scorpion

  'Darlings' is a dark comedy worth your time. It might be even more worth if you have a part that enjoys philosophical churning about human behaviour.  Against the run of play, Darlings turns somewhat preachy at a very critical moment in the movie. Perhaps there was no other way to go about. The critical moment gives us an intriguing question: Will we be permanently haunted by our conscience if we choose to commit an evil act consciously and when committing such an act is against our nature? By evil act, we can assume an act that leads to physical, very likely a bodily harm to others. The argument goes as follows - sooner or later your conscience will make you aware of the evil act you have committed. And once we are aware, we cannot be at peace. And then the utilitarian implication follows- if you do not want to lose your peace, do not commit evil.  In some sense, the argument is demeaning. It asks us not to be evil because that is better than being an evil. If somehow, being

Ozark and the underlying moral question

 Somewhat famous Netflix series ‘Ozark’ has come to an end. Right from the start, Ozark has been hailed as next in the line from ‘Breaking Bad’. Ozark does not come close to the cold-blooded excellence of ‘Breaking Bad’, but it managed to create a world of its own, mostly due to impactful portrayal of Wendy Byrde. The end was quite classic, where Wendy has dialogues which capture the essence of her and Marty’s actions and of the theme of the series.             What captivates us in series like ‘Breaking Bad’ and ‘Ozark’ (and spin-off likes ‘Better Call Soul’) is supposed descent into the cesspool of immorality of the characters, the way they break into world of being bad. The way central character makes apparently ‘wrong’ choices, starting with justified ends like self-survival or helping the family, but eventually realizes the power that such wrong choices can confer and then takes that path to the end story has. The story is clearly not for those who can divide world in neat secti

Camus’ ‘The Plague’, a podcast and some thoughts about religion

For last 100 days, I am living in the shadow of epidemic. What exactly is this shadow? Part of this shadow, a small part, is death. For my age, the threat of death is not large. The great part of the shadow is possible agony of being helpless if I or my dear ones must access the health facilities. From what neighborhood WhatsApp and Social media gossip is, the hospital bed is new elite consumption. It is only one’s access to influence that can fetch a Covid-19 patient in my town a hospital bed in my town. Patients are being admitted to hospitals in other towns, sometimes 60 or more km away. Relatives often have to frantically call hospital after hospital, seek any outlet for help, all the while worrying about prospect of the patient. Possibility of this experience is the great part of the shadow. The remaining part is the boredom induced by being stuck at home.             Plague is not really a great metaphor for Covid-19. Covid-19 is far too less lethal than what Plague was. But we

The binary auto wallah and the escapist

This is the conversation I heard between two auto-rickshaw drivers who were just fooling around. One of them have made a negative remark about other, say B.  B: Your name will be put in the NRC list. And then you will be standing on the Pakistan border.  A: I have all the documents. How will I be on the NRC?  B: Anyone who is not with us is against us. And anyone who is against us will be on NRC.  An onlooker, C, who was standing and listening to this exchange nearby jumped in discussion, asking A about how right it is to beat the students. (The incident has occurred previous night.)  A: It is a quarrel between left and ABVP regarding registration. Left has shut down the sever. ABVP made it work. Left closed it again.  C: But who were the masked ones?  A: The masked ones came later.  I had to leave the lively scene for livelihood reasons. Yet, I cannot forget the striking piece of conversation. Why?  1. The binary notion of ‘us’ and ‘them’ and extent of hatred expressed e

Too much of an individualism?

For last two years or so, I am watching serials, more than movies. It started from GOT, and now I am really hooked up. I look forward to what I am going to watch in my homeward train journey. I typically watch episode or two daily.  On the day, when I don't have to travel and work, I watch more episodes.  I was watching 'Transparent' because I read about it in one of the articles that was discussing shows for LGBTQ+. I watched it mainly for how it has treated the sexuality. The sex scenes are like toppings, they attract, but they can't retain viewers to the series unless they are backed by a captivating storyline.  'Transparent' is not the series I will typically watch. I do not like serieses where an individual's messed up decision making is the concurrent theme. Most likely these messed up individuals are sufficiently rich and that's what makes their messing up visually beautiful and consequences stay mostly emotional.  'Transparent' is no