Encounters with Reality

 The Odyssey leaves a trace of disappointment when one goes in with the expectation of being stung by a poison whose effects will last longer. It is the work of a master who knows his medium — an intellectual mastery of storytelling that keeps you engaged, shifts tempo deftly, and ties witty loose ends together for key plot points. It is a film that won’t leave the engaged, curious viewer without deserved fun. And yet, the departure from the original plot, and the burden of making a commentary on civilizational fall, mean that what we get is not a lasting kick to our worlds of thought. The choice of putting Xenia, or Zeus’ law, as the central plank on which the story stands does not come off convincingly. It makes the ending of an otherwise good story fall away from the crescendo it had built so well. Odysseus’ lament about his acts in the war is a typically modern, individualistic, analytical perspective — a defining feature of modern literature, a point of departure from the clas...

                It happens that we choose we do certain things because of FOMO. That is how I ended up watching All We Imagine As Light (AWIAL). And somewhere in the first half, I realized that I should not have been movie hall to watch this move. I could have waited for it to appear on OTT or even other chance encounter. I liked the movie. I like the detailing of reality in the art form. But may be because of age, I seek an escape through the stories that I interact with, a shock to my senses, an intellectual or moral puzzle that stays with me. AWIAL contains nothing of this sort. It is a story of temporary closures, shown beautifully and marketed even more successfully. Image from internet                It has its own moments of magic, a part where we must choose to believe whether a certain character is indeed what it seems to be. The movie turns there and one of the leadin...

 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. ...

  '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,...