An upsetting incident

 

We common people are facing onslaught of misinformation and disinformation on daily basis. You really don’t know what to trust hence use critical thinking and try to get information from credible sources before trusting it. What if there is no credible source? Rumor of Dharmendra’s (iconic hindi actor) death was disinformation, maliciously worked without any concern or responsibility but for the stampede of viewership. Afterall how much time does it take to verify and crosscheck, they don’t need to send a horseman over mountains and across rivers, and unlike common people they have access at the highest level. Consider, this is how they deal with every ‘news’, they don’t really seem to have internal fact checking body nor are they bothered. Also, imagine how much distress it causes to people close to purportedly dead and flashed all across the media. Meanwhile social media primed in horrendous value system has started meme, AI created horror and what not. Also, there are some (not very famous, scheming from sidelines) who use even death for self-promotion. When I first became aware of it, I really couldn’t believe people could be such low life. What a horrible world we live in.

I too was carried away by the rumor and almost posted this writeup. So, after a delay and much consideration I am posting it verbatim to underline and tag the disinformation that affects us and must be dealt with all urgency. Meanwhile I hope Mr. Dharmendra lives many more years in peace.     

The age of innocence

Nowadays they call it movie, they call it paddam or cinema, but when we were young, we knew only the word picture. And in picture things were quite clear, there will be hero, heroin, villain and funny people. The template was quite fixed. What we would look forward to was good ‘fight’, which we emulated in slow motion, including open eyed death scene! Dharmendra was right at the top. His snarling dialogues were rage. I really liked enacting him. When I became aware of him, he had already passed his prime, weekend movies on television revived his glory. His death is passing away of slice of childhood.

Those were age of innocence that also coincided with my life (I wonder if I were an adult I would watch). Movies as sophisticated expression of art came quite late. Even when I was in my early 20s I would be watching movies like Cliffhanger in Chennai big screen, not once but three times, in the back row, the middle row, and right in the front. Watching movies like Cliffhanger from the front row was a unique experience! It was much later that I got into film festival circuit, as also printing fake entries (those days it was fun -trolling the system, in the present context with increased security concerns it is a serious crime). Nowadays with online access things have become convenient as also better options from array of brilliant international movies and old classics that give new meaning and understanding to art as an expression of life. There are ofcourse lots of mediocre nonsense on offer but these can easily be chaffed through. Indeed, finding a good movie (like a good book) to invest your precious time and effort has become an arduous task. Many a times when I am in a mood to watch some good movie in the afternoon, I spent more time in trying to find out what to watch! And only after finding strong recommendations from multiple reliable sources do I settle to watch. Sometimes having started to watch a movie after much scrutiny you realize that it is not matching the standards. Watching best from all across the world for many decades evolve sensibilities and you know within 15-20 minutes whether the movie is worth the time. Nobody is really interested in stories (the template is quite limited) but the nuance and depth of complexities and expressions. Even in crime thrillers stories influence is quite limited, it is how narration handled and image worked that leaves abiding impact and adds layers of meaning. For instance, High and Low made in 1960s (Akira Kurosawa) is such a brilliant movie while the recent remake (Spike Lee) such a shoddy attempt.

*What I find charming in Indian movies (ofcourse apart from reminiscence of childhood innocence) are some really soulful well sung songs and brilliant (indeed sometimes embarrassing) play of colors. Many memorable songs were filmed with Dharmendra. The thing about movie songs is that they work in limited frame of simple language so as to connect to the mass. This simplicity that touches millions of hearts is profound. What makes it further dear is life embedded in these moments of listening hence vivid association with memory. Some of Dharmendra movie songs clearly presents early teen years in mind’s eye. Ofcourse there were lots of garbage in Indian movies but some precious gems stand out. The other day I was listening to Malayalam song while driving (Olichirikkan from Aranyakam movie by ONV). O such a beautiful deceptively simple song (lyrics are amazing and well sung -Chitra, the music though is seriously lacking), it increases my happiness index every time! What I specifically find adorable is this exquisite line Thotta vadi ninne eniku enthu ishtum annanno – “touch-me-not (plant) how much I love you you-know”. What really takes this line to quaint beauty is the word enthu, the line could’ve been Thotta vadi ninne eniku ishtum annanno “touch-me-not (plant) how I love you you-know”. As also the word annanno, instead of annu. Ofcourse it creates musicality but the difference is much deeper, from annu to annanno makes it adoringly innocent. These words really change it into something very precious.