Movie Murmur

A blind monkey at the center An edifice can only be as efficient as its base. There is no point admiring a fancy well made facade, if it's foundation itself is shaky. This is precisely what is felt about the movie, 'Andhadhun'. The protagonist who is a musician sets up an experiment on himself by acting blind - so that it enables him to compose his tunes well. This seems to be the starting point of the movie - an aspect that is half halfheartedly told in a voice-over right at the beginning; and then later somewhere in the middle, when the protagonist desperately explains about this dialogues in a few dialogues, as his game is exposed. Not giving enough screen time to set up the intensity of the 'why' of this experiment that needs him to go blind, is one reason why the pedestal of this movie seems unsteady. Of course, we know that he wants to create a musical piece for a competition that could let him into the greener pastures of a foreign land, but that just becom...

Selfies with Siri (ಸಿರಿ ಒಟ್ಟುಗು ಸೆಲ್ಫಿಲು) A short 20 minute movie in Tulu language with English subtitles on the back story of the benevolent spirit (Bootha) of Coastal Karnataka called Siri, directed by Ramchandra PN. This movie was created during the Covid 19 lock down period; sitting at our homes self-shooting on mobiles, using existing footage and minimalist illustrations. The ballad version used in this short movie is the one documented by Late Rama Manjeshawara and Dr. Amrut Someshwar. When possible, watch this with a headphone plugged in. Cast & Crew: Illustrations: Manoj Mundayat Siri Mask: Sateesh Acharya Singer: Shailaja Shetty Background Music designer: Shrikant Prabhu Line Producer: Surendra Kumar Marnad Music editing & Remixing: Santosh Kumar Producer: Sushma PN Editing, Screenplay, Direction & Sound Design: Ramchandra PN Banner: Sonk Films Featuring: Aruna Raje, Ranjita Jhadav, Akshataraj Perla,, Sushma PN, Shailaka Shetty, Prathiba Pasricha, Batul Mukhtiar, A...

Click to watch  Haal-e--Kangaal (The Bankrupts) Though I have always fathomed myself as an eager digital migrant,  like some of us from my generation I have been in the fumbling mode while grappling with possibilities that this medium holds. The medium has empowered me in the making of all sort of independent movies which otherwise I would have found it difficult to create and produce in an previous era. The one pertinent aspect of digital movie making is that it is democratic in nature - in the sense that you don't have to necessarily depend on the exhibitor - distributor lobby to raise funds to make them. Today anyone in any remote part of the country having access to affordable machines and tools can make a movie; unlike before where one had to physically shift to select film making centers like Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore or Hyderabad to make movies. But it is the second aspect of the medium whose dynamics is what I have been trying to grapp...

A still from 'Gully Boy' The last sequence of the movie 'Gully Boy' shows the rising rap singer from the slums of Mumbai, walking up on to a glittering stage, attended by various aides on his way, to face a cheering audience. The lights illuminating the upstage area (the one furthest from the audience) suddenly switches on to reveal a two dimensional cardboard cutout  of a slum set, in front of which Gully Boy is supposed to successfully rap. That is when the end credits appear and that is when it struck me that 'Gully Boy' the movie is just that - the voyeuristically captured 'harsh' and 'depressing' milieu of the Mumbai slums evident in the beginning of the movie before even the plot begins to crawl, is just a cardboard cutout stage setting meant to be where it is meant to be - in the background. What is the foreground? The movie is about an angst ridden rap singer who wants to escape up from the 'harsh' realities of a class t...

A boy with his steel plate The taali and thalli bajao is an expression in animism of the Indian public that is peeing in its pants, shit scared of an alien powerful force that is hard to control. The Pradhan Choukidar / Shaman has managed to direct people into this tribal ritual primarily for these reasons, it would seem. 1. He can later ask people for example to eat baked human shit if he convinces people that they are doing so for their own good and for the country. 2. More pertinently he shifts the responsibility of solving the issue in hand to the people themselves. By a mere collective animistic ritual we have now forgotten to ask questions as to what the government has done to tackle the issue - things like how are additional beds, ventilators and other respiratory machines, health care personnel, safety equipment are being managed; how is the money being managed for the next coming weeks when there might be a deluge of sick old people wanting medical attention. T...

A man peacefully sleeping in the times of COVID 19 virus. A doctor told me today that there are just about 1,50,000 testing kits in India to detect COVID 19 virus in the country. Each kit tests around 10 samples. And these kits are not made in India. For one, we had two whole months to get prepared since it the virus breached China, we just laughed at people who warned about the impending threat. In two months our preparation was only that much. Therefore we are relying on banging taalies and other theatrics. This virus is bound to spread and it spreads very rapidly than the other Corona viruses  that we have encountered in the past like SARS etc. But unlike the last time, the death rate with this virus is only about 2-3%. But since the infection rate is very high, even the three percent would weigh heavily on our (also the world) health care system. Now, over the years thanks to the neo liberal politics that we have been witnessing the world over the public health...

Amulya's photo from her social media wall One of Amulya Leona's social media posts explains how wishing good for any other country does not mean that you wish your country bad. In that post, she had raised the 'long live' slogans for all the neighboring countries; maintaining that such slogans would not take away her duty to respect her own nation. A few days after the post, in a protest rally against CAA-NRC in Bengaluru, Amulya probably wanted to explain this aspect to her audience. In what looks like a penchant for a 'bang on' opening remark she - almost sensationally - started of her speech wishing 'Pakistan' good, saying 'Long live Pakistan'. She could have started off by wishing well to say Bhutan or for that matter to India, as she did it on her social media post. Unfortunately, she didn't. It was Asaduddin Owaisi's reaction that first did her in. He wanted Amulya to stop her speech then and there for raising that slogan ...

  Gandhi arrested under Sedition Laws Section 124 (a) of the Indian Penal Code deals with Sedition. It states - Whoever, by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise, brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards,   the Government established by law in   India, shall be punished with   imprisonment for life, to which fine may be added, or with imprisonment which may extend to three years, to which fine may be added, or with fine. This section gives three explanations. Explanation 1.—The expression “disaffection” includes disloyalty and all feelings of enmity. Explanation 2.—Comments expressing disapprobation of the measures of the Government with a view to obtain their alteration by lawful means, without exciting or attempting to excite hatred, contempt or disaffection, do not constitute an offence under this section. Exp...

Over the last few years some of us, in our honorary capacities, have off and on been involved in the selection, script and rough cut evaluation process at Films Division, India's prime organisation that makes documentary films. In this process we have been active witnesses to many a concept being turned into insipid movies. I mainly fear that this is primarily due to the fact that we have a default form of building up a documentary movie imbibed into our blood streams - the one that has a 'god's voice' of a narrator guiding us in a predetermined manner or off late the one that endlessly 'observers' and 'follows' the main characters at times to their death bed. Yet, a few of the documentaries commissioned by Films Division had stood out to me for their sheer brilliance of form, ie... the innovative way in which the content has been narrated. I would mention a few made in the last two-three years that were experiential in nature; and have also bro...

The amendment to the Indian Citizenship Act 2019 lets minorities of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan to become Indian citizens. While justifying the Indian Citizenship amendment Act, it is often sad that the three countries are theocratic states and that because it is so it is assumed that the 'minorities' are persecuted. This assumption might be flawed. The "honorable" theoretical assumption that the Constitution of Bangladesh does not treat all religions equally on effect of the state having its own stated religion is far from truth. Clause 2A of the Constitution of Bangladesh states: The state religion of the Republic is Islam, but the State shall ensure equal status and equal right in the practice of the Hindu, Buddhist, Christian and other religions. Further Part 2, Section 12 is on Secularism and freedom of religion. I t states: The principle of secularism shall be realised by the elimination of - (a) communalism in all its forms ; (b) t...

On an apparent level CAA seems to be independent. It wants convert Hindu, Parsi, Christian, Buddhist and Jain (and not others) illegal immigrants / refugees from the Islamic states of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan into Indian citizens with a 2014 cut off date. The National Population Register (NPR) is a list of usual residents in India (people who have been residing in India for six months or those who have intention of staying). The National Register of Citizenship (NRC) is a list of all citizens of India. The law says that to have the NRC, the basis of it will be NPR. In the process of making NPR / NRC there will be lakhs of names that will not get into the list because of name mismatch, lack of documents etc. rendering genuine citizens of India nation less. I would assume the CAA would facilitate the hand picked Hindu, Parsi, Christian, Buddhist and Jain (and not other) settlers from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan among those identified as foreigners, to become I...

Article 14 of the Indian Constitution deals with equality before law. It states " The State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India Prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth ." This does not mean that a classification or division cannot be made amongst the people in the process of making any law. We can, for example, make a law for only for the Hindus, like the Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) Act and make it not applicable to a Christian. Article 14 does not allow what is called 'Class legislation' - which means that you cannot apply the HUF Act to all Hindus who are having five children and not otherwise. While presenting the Citizenship Amendment Act in the Loka Sabha, Home Minister declared that the classification or distinction made amongst the people for the purpose of the bill is - paraphrasing him - "Religiously persecu...