A MESSAGE from 777

I was amused by the message tone of my mobile; rather annoyed by it. I had taken leave from office for the day. My mental stature was nowhere near peace. In the last two days I got enough scolding from my manager, for I had never been so pathetic at work; my concentration and focus were nowhere seen. There was a reason. My roommate; Rocky, demised a week before, in mysterious circumstances. He was attacked on the road that connected the foot-over bridge to our PG Hostel; by some unidentified hooligans. Initially it was believed as an act of robbery; as a Punjabi restaurant near to the spot was also attacked at that night. But further investigation found nothing was stolen. I went to his home and stayed there till the cremation procedures were done. Even after a week; I couldn’t get over his loss. We were like brothers. The PG owner brought a new occupant to his space, and I hated that person like hell. To have a little time to myself; trying to regain the composure I had lost; I took off for the day; turned on airplane mode in phone and stayed at the room with bolted doors. I was at complete peace before this message tone surfaced. I stood up to take the phone.

The screen showed a number; an unknown number; in fact a 3-digit number ….  7 7 7.

I almost knew it could be those online prank messages which would offer you a 3BHK house for free on clicking a link. Within the notification bar I just clicked on the message pop-up; that allowed us to glim through the initial lines of the message. It was written ‘Hi Ajmal Its me…..’ It was from somebody who knew me. I unlocked the phone; still having the thought undergoing in my mind how the message got delivered to the phone! I started reading the message. On Reading the first line; I was shell-shocked!! I thought of not going further; but when I read two more lines, they were so original that I felt the person was talking in person to me. It was a message from Rocky!!!!!!

“

        Hi Ajmal,

                        It’s me, Rocky. How are you man? It’s been a week right? Yeah, a week. How’s it at our room? All good? I’m fine here. Here means; at Michael’s Inn. After my death at the hospital I was brought to this place. You know that place; which we used to hear in fairy tales; the divine haven for the good souls. Same kind of place. A lot of good people are here. Like millions of them. And this Michael’s inn is an endless street with a countless number of castles. I was also given one of them. I met few people around here. And you know; here, all of us can surpass our thoughts to each other; without doing the talking. For the same reason; I don’t know which language the people here belong to. I interacted with a few of them by this time and one thing I found common in them was that they all died while doing something for others' well-being. So I think I’m among the right people here. The care-taker of Michael’s inn is a person called George. He is a very nice person; and it’s with his help I could send you this message. Initially, he disagreed. But when I told him what the message was, he agreed. I had permission to send this message only to one person. I chose you because I know you’re worth it….

You remember the night I died? I had called you by 11 right? I had a busy schedule on that day. My manager had given me hell amount of work that day that hung me up till 2am at the office. I was half sleeping while returning to our P.G. And you know our service road; there are no street lights to aid us; only the faint moonlight. I hesitated to put on my mobile flashlight; as it might attract those unseen robbers who might pounce on me from nowhere. So I tiptoed through the asphalt being as much sober as possible.

When I reached near that large sheet metal barricade, which enclosed the site for construction; I heard some unusual sound; a very low sound. I stopped walking at once and kept my ears attentive. The sound remained mild and constant. I thought it would be some dog crying at some distance and continued by silent steps. I felt my guess was right; when I saw a dog right in front of my eyes; which was searching food from a plastic bag lying on the ground. And when I moved a little closer, I could see a motorcycle which was left to support by the barricade and a scooty Pep lying on the ground; as if somebody parked them in some hurry. For a moment I got that eerie feeling of premonition from my heart and my innards asked me to move fast and reach the room ASAP. I looked around; there were no signs of a human being. The sound again resurfaced; and this time it occurred to me like a muted sobs of a woman, with somebody holding out her mouth from going loud. I moved closer to the barricade and kept ears on the metal. Now the sound became louder and more audible. It was a woman’s muted cry for help. Without panicking I stealthily stepped across the barricade to find a gap or a breach to enter to the site. The gate made of sheet metal that used to remain closed; had its lock broken. I peeked through the gap; but nothing was visible in the darkness. Opening the gate of metal would be nothing but giving an open warning to whoever people there inside it. I took my mobile, switched on the flashlight and in a trice pushed the barricade with all the strength I had. Probably startled by the sound I could hear the mail voices coming into action. Pointing the flashlight to the direction in which the sounds came; I finally found them; the culprits and the victim. A woman was lying down, with her clothes stripped off; and two men beside her; one holding her hand in a twisted position; and other squatting astride over her. It was a freezing moment. All of us in the scene was too startled to fathom what was going on. Even the woman forgot to seek help; for she might have lost the hope for the same. But in the next second she shouted “Help!” but her sound was not loud enough, probably because her throat had gone soar from the frequent muted screeching.

I was completely blank on what was to be done. Adding insult to the injury, the man who was holding her and turned towards me. I realized that trouble has arrived. Involuntarily I took a step back; but found it hard as I was standing over a heap of crushed aggregate stones. I pointed the flashlight and took three round stones. Within no time I threw one right at the face of the person who squatted over the woman. My aim was with me; the man fell to the ground with a painful mourn. But the other person went running back to the woman who was struggling to stand on her foot. I aimed the other stone on to his head with the help of my flashlight; but to my surprise the woman stamped right at his stomach pushed him to the ground. She took her clothes lying on the ground and came to me. She was probably injured in her resistance that she couldn’t move in faster steps.

        “Come fast!!!!!!”

I helped her to walk over the stones. We rushed to the ajar gate. I let her go first and put on her clothes and meanwhile, with the help of flashlight I found an iron rod from the ground, so as to lock the gate from outside. I could hear the sounds of those men coming towards us. I almost got out from the barricade, when something sharp pierced onto my back. It almost touched my spine that I felt I got a stroke on my head. I fell to the ground; failing to lock the door. I could see the wooden handle of knife standing erect on my back. The woman was looking at me, sobbing at the sight. And the one who back-stabbed was standing victoriously behind me. I heard the footsteps of the other one approaching towards us. I shouted to her at the maximum alto possible;

        “Just Run!!!!!”

She ran towards the nearest streetlight visible from the spot. The men ran towards her. It was sure that she would be caught before she reached her bike. I mustered all possible energy; stood up on my legs and staggered towards her.

No….. No….. It was never possible for me to reach her. And even if I reach; I had only a meager resistance left to fight. A stone, a knife adhered to my back, and a mobile phone; that was all I had. To call someone was out of option at this point of time. I tried to take out the knife; but it pained like hell on a slight jerk. I looked at the stone in my hands. I looked around. I couldn’t see any houses or buildings. I pushed myself to the other end of the road. And I saw it…… The kitchen of that Punjabi restaurant. And moreover I could see the glass exhaust window in the faint moon-light. Again investing on my aim, I threw the stone right on the window. I heard the sound of breaking glass while falling down the ground. I felt too tired that I wanted to sleep right there; on the road. I turned back to see if the woman was safe. And I saw the two bastards escaping away on their motorcycle’ probably the restaurant people would have switched on their lights. And I also saw the woman rushing in her bike…. Yes….. She was safe.

The restaurant people came running to me with their torch-lights. The last vignette I remember is one of them whispering in my ears while lifting me;

        “Everything is fine”

I don’t want you to tell this to the police; I don’t want you to tell my parents, and I never want you to make me a hashtag joker in the online media. These won’t help in catching those skunks; rather it would sympathize that woman in the name of support. She will go to the police, if she wants to. I just want you to know that I’m happy now. And your friend didn’t die because some rookie maneuvered his knife across my spine. I protected a woman. And I did that because it is the duty of men to ensure the women are safe; especially from the men themselves. At least that woman would pray for my soul in her daily prayers; that is more than enough for me.

And one more thing. Ajmal; if you encounter such a situation in your life ever; never refrain yourself from taking a step in the name of fear. You should fight. Even if it costs your life. For the eternal life after; is most beautiful. And if you don’t act; the remorseful life awaiting you would be nothing better than hell.

In the hope of everybody on earth living a life similar to ours; I’m concluding. Godspeed Brother…..

                                                                                                   “

I read the message… twice … thrice… and many more times. His words reverberated in my ears and each time I repeated reading the message; his face seemed smiling at me. I stood up and walked towards the road where he took his final breath. I saw the lock of the gate; it was repaired. The workers of electricity board was lodging street lights across the road. And some private firm was busy setting up poles for CCTV cameras. I smiled… My friend would be watching this; the least which could be done as homage to his sacrifice. Returning back to the room; I took the oath… 

     I WILL FIGHT TILL MY LAST BREATH TO PROTECT ANY WOMAN FROM DANGER. I PROMISE.

                                                                          /LAMA SIGNING OFF/

ANGAMALY DIARIES – A perspective

As the tagline says; the move is an utter crude depiction of the famous town’s unknown interior suburbs. Angamaly is famous to all Keralites as the Kochi International Airport is within the town’s vicinity. But the film doesn’t highlights the sugar-coated face of the city, rather the hype of tensions that would occur in such a locale. Malayalam Cinema; in comparison with other industries of Indian Cinema has its new-age directors and screen-writers thriving to bring in fresh out-of-the-box concepts that their predecessors failed or feared to experiment on. And this time; it’s Chemban Vinod Jose; the Nawazzuddin Siddique of Malayalam Cinema; who came up with the story and screenplay of his home-town with the utmost sincerity possible to each scenes. And the maestro of Malayali neo-realism; Mr Lijo Jose Pellisery again proved his mastery in film-making; making impeccability in every frame that projected on the screen. The talent this man possess is epitomised through the performances of 86 new faces in the film; from the hero, to the sidekick of the sidekick of the sidekick of the villain. And glad; on a personal note that this man is back after his stoner bomb; Double Barrel; a product well executed but placed in a wrong place.

Antony Varghese; who debuted as the protagonist; Vincent Pepe, has marvelled his character from the first show-time shot till the end. In the countless fight scenes the movie has, the affairs he possessed and other high-octane sequences; Antony has put in his 100% to emend put maximum reality an Angamaly hotshot would possess. So was the other members of Palliyangadi Gang.

The movie starts with a connected comical sequence; a welcome freshener to the viewers; something similar to the starting of AMEN; to settle themselves into the city called Angamaly First half of the movie was quick, crisp and engaging with the narrative flying through the protagonists’ life since their high school times. A new arena that the movie has dwelled on; is the depiction of a productive phase, a friend-gang would possess within their locality; which most movie-makers forget while busy focusing on the love and revenge sagas. And it’s the misunderstandings in this business that elevates the embers of hatred into a rapacious fire; a treat to watch on!!!

With the interval coming on the decline of the protagonist gang to the villains, and the latter half starting with a flip in the hero’s love life; the movie loses its pace to almost a quarter of the second half. But the revival of the gang and their unity to save their brother regains the tempo, fast and intact. And here, Chemban Vinod tries to showcase how the bureaucratic underworld can settle the sins of a common man; with money and mediators playing their part.

And then comes the climaxxxx!!!!!!. When the rivals unite at the higher levels of Hierarchy, the lower levels induce their own plans to avenge their individual loss in the former’s fight. And the avenge of the underdogs on their masters is shown in a 12 minute single shot sequence; something Malayalee viewers would have never experienced before; a standing ovation to Girish Gangadharan, the cinematographer. Here a complete street is decorated with people of all age groups; roaming around in high altos to create a festival mood on-screen. Amidst of this; a blood-shed sequence is also depicted where the newer villains execute their show on the newly bonded friends. Such a convincing climax Lijo and team has executed; the hole theatre had their backs kneeling forward to go in tandem with the pace of the movie. And what better way to bring an end to the tale of arrogance, belligerence and malevolence – THE ANGAMALY DIARIES…….

Surely a proud moment for all Malayalees to swagger on; and surely an inspiration for the movie aspirants. 

Once again Hats Off to the makers.......

ALIA BHATT'S TRYST WITH BROKEN CHILDHOOD - A Perspective

----  Alia Bhatt is one among those actresses of Bollywood who has that element of evolution in the blood. Since her first movie, Student of the year, taking a peak on her acting graph, one might not find a dip but rather spikes that are unrevoked. And among the minuscule number of movies she had acted, the finest performances; those which established her as an actress rather than a Bollywood actress; came in those movies where she portrays a character who had undergone a dark childhood. It’s an unknown fact if there exists a coincidence in her acting and the characters; but so far she performs magnanimously in the portrayals. Though the lucrative aspects of the movies might not be much into Bollywood-ish, the characters and the movies had proved that they are to stay; unlike the $-figures which would be revisited then and there. A retrospection of the characters is done here; and a sheer scrutiny for nuances is tried to decipher the Alia element in these characters. -----

• VEERA TRIPATHI – HIGHWAY - The Magnanimous

Alia Bhatt was under-privileged to portray a modern day dimwit rich girl going to school in Student of the Year. But the movie proved to be a good opener for her. An evident break after that; for more than a year before her next release was paid of extremely well in the masterpiece; HIGHWAY. The character of Veera Tripathi; a once in a blue moon type of role for any actor; was bestowed to her by the Maestro Imtiaz Ali. Though it was a bold decision; to give such a dense character to a comparatively new artist like Alia; she portrayed Veera in such a magnanimous way, that no other actress at present could put up a mere challenge.
Veera; a well-bred daughter of a powerful personality; brought up in the patriarchal society; fed with manners and social values rather than love and affection; is being abducted amidst a mess, by a rebellious low profile criminal. Veera, who initially follows the normal petrification suffered by any human being who gets kidnapped; finds an odd liking to the situation. She supersedes her fear and anxiety; rather finds her comfort zone. Alia had put her soul into the character, that each vignettes of modulations in Veera is portrayed without confusion.
In the song, “Tu Kuja Mahn Kuja”, where Alia runs through a drought-struck field trying to escape from the kidnappers, without a tint of dialogues she enacts the fear of an abandoned girl, helpless and clueless in the lurch. The scenario in the movie is so beautifully crafted; that Veera realizes her escape would end in vain and returns to her kidnappers, as she couldn’t survive the fear alone.
The anthropophobic Veera forms an unintentional bond with her kidnappers; who in-turn is moved by the childish deeds of Veera. She literally enjoys the freedom from her family and the allied society; or it seems so to the viewers until she reveals about the grave mishap that had occurred in her childhood. Oh!!!!…… the mascot scene of HIGHWAY. Alia almost performed the whole scene; like a 2-minute revelation; in a single-shot. And no one would surpass this 2 minutes in the movie without a deep gulp in the throat. Alia also excels in those instances when Veera gets muddled between the way she acts and the way she is supposed to as per her parental society demands. Numerous instances abetting to the soaring character graph includes those when Alia pampers Mahabir with the lullaby; when she bullies with him in front of a police station; when she consoles a heartbroken Mahabir in a dilapidated mountain house where she reminisces him of his long lost mother.
Veera’s Stockholm syndrome’s dream run ended when the patriarchal society again reappears; with guns and microphones and orders to shoot the Kidnapper; who had become the best companion for Veera. And then comes another gem from Alia; a blood-clotting scene where she confronts her paedophilic uncle and shouts in front of all family members about the devilish acts from him. A sheer show of excellence and substance in that scene; credits to Alia and Imtiaz.
The banquet of excellence sums up with Veera shifting to her favourite place; the mountains, which apart from being her childhood dream; also bears her unforgettable memoirs of Mahabir. The ending scene; the most disturbing frame of the movie, where Alia/Veera finds herself and Mahabir as children playing in the mountains; recreating a childhood which they had lost; they had longed for, but was snatched by the people around them; the society.
Alia had the best of her acting sequences; when there was no dialogues in the scene. And so was the importance of body language in those scenes; that Imtiaz Ali employed a body language specialist for the movie. The excellence went overwhelming when Veera sits on a rock beside the river; confused and dazed on her own behaviour; or when she gets down in the middle of the road to cry out Mahabir’s name; and never forgetting her catch on the viewer’s mazzard when she steps in for ‘I’m a hot Tamale’ song. In total, it was a signature acting from Alia Bhatt saying it out loud that she is here to stay; unlike the other bolly-girls.

• KAIRA – DEAR ZINDAGI - Captivating

Kaira of ‘Dear Zindagi’ also bears a childhood emotional baggage. And the movie makes a surgery into those teenagers, who loves to be independent because they were not well-treated in their dependence. Gauri Shinde’s movie is a visual therapy that tries to cure confusions, a young mind would find while being or intending to be in a relationship; especially for an attractive girl who has a lot of options in her kitty and not to the mediocre struggling to find a partner. But Alia got into Kaira’s shoes to bridge that gap; to make the movie’s message to be flaunted as a universal one. Hats off to her for that.
And the only one thing the character demanded; to behave in the situations, is what exactly Alia had done. Easiest instance an actor might go unreal is when he is to do something really real. Bollywood had witnessed such characters; as a side hanger to the lead or as a support cast; but not to the depth Gauri has crafted Kaira.  To justify such a character with utmost perfection is a luxury to the director and a boon to the viewers. The unusual implications like; to move on in a relationship, to point your finger against your parents, to be open-ended in choosing people, to be carefree; and last but not the least, to love yourself no matter whatever price it pays, Alia’s Kaira survived all these situations in ease without any hiccups.
Alia in the movie can be classified as pre and post therapy Kaira. And she had this exciting challenge in the movie to dwell from sulk to serenity. Kair bears the representation of a large population of India; those having no REAL problems in their life but are undergoing depression; REAL here referring to the mundane problems. Not only that she sulks when she is suffering a break-up and sees other couples enjoying, she covers her tears in front of her best friend in the shade of mirchi’s spice, she hates to admit her inner depression to her therapist or to seek help in direct. And all could see a mirror kept on the big screen when these vignettes passed over. That was the scale of depiction Alia delved into.
Now coming to the childhood part, unlike Veera in Highway who had a cruel counterpart to mash the childhood; Kaira had the hapless destiny to suffer depression from her own parents. And abandonment is the act. How deep this act would destroy a child not only in the childhood but in her later age is the soul of Dear Zindagi. This soul of the movie completely bestowed in Alia’s hand, when she reveals about this innermost conflict in about a 7-min long conversation to her therapist. The abetting scenes of a little Kaira and younger parents; coming in the flashback portrayals, tried hard to spoil Alia’s take on the scene; but her exponential glide of emotions in that scene is poignantly inexplicable.
Even when Shah Rukh Khan stood beside her; Dear Zindagi is an Alia Bhatt showdown; establishing her name in the industry for performance and not skin appeal; once again

• Tia Malik – Kapoor And Sons - The Soothing

Alia had a justified portion in this male dominated family movie; where the central characters belong to a family of. ‘Tia’ she came out to be a rich loner enjoying her stance in her ancestral property, which is awaiting a buyer. And in her course of carefree life; a jovial watch by itself, she encounters the young Kapoors; the two brothers, in different situations. Tia came out to be a solace-lit attraction to the younger descendant, Arjun; who considers himself as a runner-up to his brother in life. With Tia being a supporting cast in the movie; Alia’s character had no great moments to leave cherished unless the childhood despair scene; where she unveils the reason of her loneliness; the death of her parents in a plane crash; a coincidental mishap in lest of her curse, where little Tia woes her parents off from coming home. Among all beautiful scenarios in Kapoor and Sons; where an ensembles cast is already excelling, Tia’s revelation stands out to be the cherry on the cake where carefreeness attitude being abashed by the insecurity burning in her heart since childhood. She still remains as that small child regretting her words.

• ALIA ARORA – SHAANDAAR - The misfire

Alia enacted the ‘Aila Alia’ in Shaandaar, a romantic comedy bearing all the available reasons to misfire; with only miracle left to save it. And when the movie released, that too followed misfiring. This movie is the picturization of a weak script and performances in a commotion of confusions. But when you find order in the chaos, there is this Alia Arora; an adopted child in an extremely rich family, who is hated and despised throughout her childhood and youth. And insomnia adding insult to injury, this Alia character depicts broken childhood in more of a sugarcoated portrayal, where orphanhood becomes the reason; the major reason, for the male protagonist to fall in love with her. She literally sleeps with him; or better, sleeps when he’s beside her, showing that they are made for each other. Unlike other Alia characters aforementioned; this role is a disaster in terms of character framing, portrayal and relevance. In terms of performance too, Alia was offered very little to do other than being a chubby presence in the screen to prevent people from running away; a justifiable reason to cast her in the movie too..

---- The actor in Alia excelled in all the four characters; with some giving her intense opportunity to define her skills, while some offering very little to. And the feat that stands out is Alia’s artistry in revisiting each character; Veera-Alia-Tia-Kaira in the chronological order; reassuring that none was portrayed in similar manner, though they had similar traits. A real tough to accomplish and Alia does that with ease and excellence. When other rudiments, the co-actors, the story-line, the direction, the time of release etc. fell out into position, the movies came out to be a grant success. The broken childhood is a past and Alia is not depicting the childhood sequences. But the aftermath of a dark past and how it would affect the present, a psychological prerequisite placed before her to delve with. Each character among the four is affected differently by their childhood experiences, one being moody, other being bold and another being carefree.
Virtue comes with excellence and so is Alia’s tryst with hardwork in these characters. And in each of them, she proves that she’s not a survivor in Bollywood. But one among the rulers….