झूंड - zhund [Hindi] (7/10) 2022

zhund has been shot in and around Nagpur, mainly its poorer areas and slums. That will help maintaining Nagpur’s hidden secret of livability. The movie is more a message rather than concentrating on a single person’s story. But it has been done without preachiness, or a holier than thou attitude anywhere. In fact most characters stand out for not overacting even when they are playing stereotypical roles of a minister or of a police inspector. The story of privilege (and its absence) is there for everyone to see.

Photo courtesy: The Indian Express 

Because it is not a story of a single hero out there to solve a single problem, some people may not much like the arc - after all, it is something that you see around you all the time - if your eyes are open. It has many subtle references to behavior that is considered normal (when not), and hence not acted upon. In short, of normalized behavior. Especially the baggage one carries, and often needs to leave behind for a fresh start (either for yourself or for someone else).

There are other subtle aspects like the scene where an idol needs to be uprooted and moved to another location. I loved it.

It touches upon practical problems of the downtrodden who have not had a way to get out, if only because they haven’t realized there is a way. I hope more of them see the movie as a positive and try to get out of it, or at least help their children do so. After all, a majority from the privileged class may choose to try to increase the divide rather than reduce it.

The story is based on real incidents that happened a few decades back. I do not know if that included the rivalry shown. That definitely seemed a bit far-fetched, just as the love angle seemed a bit premature.

Amitabh is stellar as usual. He is 80, and yet has done the role of a just about retiring teacher very well. I am glad he did this role.

Nagraj Manjule has shown once again that he is a director to continue looking out for not just for his Marathi movies, but also for his Hindi movies.

In some sequence (and in the credits) the camera focus/sharpness leaves a bit to be desired …

Among real life connections, I would like to call out Ganesh Birajdar who is currently working along with his team to educate children from Nagpur and surrounding areas through the Learning Companions initiative.

झूंड - zhund [Hindi] (7/10) 2022

OK Computer (8/10) (2021)

My current favorite series is the Hindi tongue-in-cheek sci-fi comedy set in India of 10 years from now. It is very nerdy, and low budget, so not for everybody. But think of ‘District 9’. In fact, I will put it closer to ‘Love, Death, and Robots’ but with a more extensive social commentary through comedy. In fact it starts with a self-driving car smashing a person into pav-bhaji. 

Writers include Anand Gandhi, and actors include Vijay Verma and Radhika Apte who have played their roles well, but the highlight is Kani Kusruti who has an interesting background (Kusruti means mischievous in Malayalam, a name she took for her board exams), and it almost seems as if some aspects of her real life, twisted for the story, are intertwined. Jackie Shroff features in half the episodes, and there are cameo’s by the likes of Tanmay Bhat, Kunal Kamra, and hell, even one of my science idols V S Ramachandran! It has not-so-hidden references to organizations in the US,  and aspects from Three Body Problem and or Ready Player One. It would almost seem like a spoof, and yet it is not given the subject it is tackling.

It is like one of those special series that have become a popular format these days, with the first season being 6 episodes. All 6 episodes were released in Mar 2021 on Disney/Hotstar. IMDB mentions Season 2, but I have not seen any details …

I have not finished the series yet, and may update the review later.

OK Computer (8/10) (2021)

Star*Men (2015) (7/10)

I had the pleasure of watching the movie directed by Alison Rose at Caltech’s Beckman Auditorium, followed by Q&A with two of the stars Donald Lynden-Bell and Nick Woolf, and the director. These two along with Roger Griffin and Wallace Sargent formed a quartet of British astronomers in their mid-twenties who found themselves together at Caltech in Pasadena the 1960s as postdocs and went on to become shining astronomers, through, what Wal would call hard work. Their passion for astronomy and travel saw them do many road-trips then. Fifty years later they decided to revisit some of those places, and Star*Men is a documentation of that.

Watching it at Caltech with fellow-astronomers was special. It was good to see Donald Lynden-Bell on stage answering questions about what he would do today and what he thought of space explorations and humanity and all that. I first met him about twenty years ago at IUCAA, India when I was a graduate student myself, and he does not seem to have aged a bit. That is what is also reflected in the movie as they travel and talk about some of their thoughts about, well, the life, the universe, and everything. I had the privilege of interacting with Pandit Wal at Caltech with whom I could chat about quasars as well as cricket. While there are many great astronomers, as also other professionals in different fields, the story shows how the bond of friendship between these four and the world outside astronomy - if connected by astronomy - stayed strong for five decades. Though they do not discuss much science, I hope it conveys to the young watchers their fascination for it and perhaps helps them gravitate to it. 

Star*Men  (2015) (7/10)

The Game (1997) (7/10)

Riveting, compelling at the start. Then for a little bit it seems a bit like those internet puzzles where all you are supposed to do is to figure out going to the next step. But this is not exactly like that since the next step comes to you. Its too elaborate, and has too much confidence in the deductive and follow-up powers of the victim. The initial seduction to the idea is of course based on curiosity, and the ability to be sucked in no matter how aloof you consider yourself to be. A few twists, but again a bit too elaborate and big and too realistic. One wrong turn and poof. But no, everything seems well executed. The victim does not realize whats happening at all.

The Game (1997) (7/10)

The Man Who Knew Infinity (2015) (7/10)

A biopic about Srinivas Ramanujan (born 1887), the story had to mostly stick to facts. But there was enough drama in Ramanujan's life, not to mention the dramatic mathematical formulae he conjured one after another. Liberties have been taken about relative ages of people involved but that seems to help in keeping the focus on his life and mathematics. Only a little discussion of actual mathematics ensures that people will not get repelled by it. There is enough broad-stroke discussion to try to give the general audience a rough understanding of what Ramanujan managed despite troubling conditions.

At one point Hardy says: 'We can not converse in Tamil', to which Ramanujan replies: 'But you would want me to converse in English'. All the characters do use English in the movie, and the retort is ironic because Dev Patel playing Ramanujan does not speak Tamil.

The balance of proof (necessity of) and intuition comes out nicely. Ramanujan wants to run away with intuition but Hardy would like to reign him for the sake of concrete progress within Ramanujan's life-time. Intuition, or drawing together diverse facts subconsciously, happens best when you are at ease. Ramanujan though, seems to have managed it despite troubles of all colors. I guess it is the focus that he could muster would have played a large part.

Its a pity that a journey through the lost notebook can not be shown to all like Indiana Jones going after the lost arc. But I did feel after seeing the movie that it would be fun to dabble again a bit in Pure Maths. The abstract joy of even rediscovering connections known for a long time is unparalleled.

The recent - and continuing - story of Mochizuki's work on the abc conjecture tells us how the world has drawn away from purely intuition based works. Clearly Mochizuki would have had intuitions about his Frobenioids, but he had to also put together a proof for his solution. No more isolated romanticism as the world is too connected. Or is it?

The Man Who Knew Infinity (2015) (7/10)

Dharm (2007) (6/10)

The movie is set in Varanasi, the point which connects heaven and hell through Earth, a place that transcends the three worlds. It is a place of highest religious ordeals on the one hand, and a place with dense hindu and muslim localities with not infrequent skirmishes on the other (and the Buddhist Sarnath is not too far off). The city (a town really) is junk if you are not looking at it from Pauranik goggles. I have personally talked to priests there who speak nothing but Sanskrit, and I have seen dead rats on narrow alleys, and calfs tied to one of the umpteen Shivlingas that the city is home to.

The story is about a Brahmin who is staunch and genteel. His life is somewhat changed when an infant is left at their doorstep and they have to take care of him. It changes even further when the mother shows up a few years later to reclaim the child. Without leaving his dharm, his stringent vows he learns to transcend the narrow interpretation of some of the scriptures he has been following. For him its a journey which justifies the change in his behavior. For some others its not so obvious.

The acting of the main actors is great, and the story line is timely. Worth a look. 

Delhi Belly (2011) (7/10)

The Delhi, The Belly. I hate you like I love you. Many people may find it a bit crass due to its language (really?) or perhaps due to the anatomy figuring - no, not raw, just figuratively, and, yes, a bit audibly. But its a fast paced, well acted, case with some simple but interesting twists. It has all the interesting parts - smugglers, airlines, hotels, guns, love, break-up, blackmail, policemen, burquas, diamonds and a few other things that are needed for a twisty, fast, irrelevant movie. There is Amir Khan thrown in the end as well. Hate him, or love him, you can't ignore him.