“No place, indeed, should murder sanctuarize. Revenge should have no bounds.” — Shakespeare compounding ignorance with ignorance in Act 4, Scene 7 of Hamlet Mildred, the middle-aged mother at the center of Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, is a one-woman Justice League out to avenge the murder of her teenage daughter. She’s got a spectacularly vulgar mouth, a fearless[Read More...]
I am the son of a 'criminal' who died on the tree.
I am also the son of a 'bitch'
I am the son of a Pulaya woman
that Parayan you wanted to ditch
I am crucified
I am resurrected
Few could have colonised a role as comprehensively as David Suchet playing Hercule Poirot, that pedantic, fastidious figure of sleuthing fame created by Agatha Christie. Manner, affectation, and delivery all seemed immaculate, read, and even delightful. Invariably, this sort of thespian appropriation and adaptation creates its hordes of admirers, zealots who refuse to accept rivals, pretenders, or usurpers. Kenneth Branagh,[Read More...]
In your heart of hearts, a heart-shaped mirror. Mirror of peace between wings of fire. In that living crucible—a gleam of blue light. Light is your soul: Angel of Life. Soul is as hard to follow as footsteps of God. Soul is as easy to affirm as trust. Soul is felt. She is shared. The same as when lovers share[Read More...]
- Remember what I asked you first?
- ‘Do you have parents?’
- One of your eyes is huge and red – do you know this?
- No
- Don’t you look at mirrors?
- Looked at one long ago
Silence.
This month marks the 70th anniversary of the death of Wolfgang Borchert, a young German writer who was seriously wounded in World War II then imprisoned for resistance activities. Physically destroyed, he lived only two years after the war. During that time he wrote antiwar literature that is widely read in Germany but little known in the USA, where it[Read More...]
During a stay at the American Academy in Berlin some years ago I was standing in the library at a window looking out over the troubled morning waters of the Wannsee when from the shelves near me a book title leapt to my eyes. It seemed like a stroke of providence for me to find in that north European setting[Read More...]
Elippathayam (The Rat Trap) is a 1981 Malayalam film written and directed by Adoor Gopalakrishnan. It tells the story of a man trapped within himself unable to understand the changes taking place around him. It seems Indian Cinema also is caught in rat trap. No, it would be a bit flattering for Indian Cinema to use the rat trap metaphor.[Read More...]
Rajputs are very upset over film Padmavati which they feel has wrongly depicted her story. I am not fascinated by Hindi Cinema’s treatment with history as without romance Hindi Cinema does not exists. The Bombay films have rarely given any justice to historic characters or should I say they are incapable of making period films. They can only create[Read More...]
