To Labor!

All of those who will read this post belong to a fortunate bunch of people. Not because of the obvious awesomeness of the post but because of the fact that you got a chance to go to school and to college as a result of which you are enjoying a comfortable work culture sitting in a cozy chair in an air-conditioned room.

But what about that unfortunate lot. They are left with only one choice. Physical labor. They pull rickshaws, carry commodities and so on. It would still seem reasonable if they get enough remuneration to lead a decent life and get a chance to send their kids to school. But that is miles away from the reality. After a strenuous long day of work, they don't even get near the amount which we spend often on a Pizza. Even a regular size one. Sometimes they don't even get paid. Forget about sending their kids to school.

Is it their fault that they could not go to school? Is it their fault that they had to work in a restaurant when their peers from affluent sections studying in International schools were bunking their classes to watch 'Madagascar 3' ? It's a vicious cycle you see. If the Government lacks the will to intervene and uplift such unfortunate sections then this would go on forever. Perpetual exploitation of the labor class is a bitter reality.

There is this guy at work. I see him working non-stop over the clock on a meager salary. I asked him," After all this hard work, you should have a good meal and should wake up late the other day". He smiled innocently and said to me,"Sir, this salary is not enough for my family, so I wake up at 4 in the morning and distribute newspapers". I could not react. Suddenly this relative deprivation of labor class overwhelmed me. It's so unreasonable to give them so little just because they are not white-collared. Labor throughout all the professions should be given decent wages so that they can live with dignity.

Lets respect the work they do. Take a bow, to labor!

Shanghai * * *

Dibakar Banerjee's latest is a political thriller based on the contemporary question engaging the best in the country regarding how and where development should happen? And to facilitate this very 'development' what sacrifices are to be made?
But everyone knows who has to make the sacrifice. The lower strata. The movie revolves around this very central idea and comes at a time when there are so many real time agitations to relate to. Post Oye Lucky Lucky oye & LSD, the transition to this genre is not discomforting and Dibakar's fast paced plot makes it look easy.

Setup in a fictitious city called Bharat nagar, it is the struggle between various strands of it's social fabric as a result of a flagship program of the State Government which intends to make an International Business Park(IBP) after relocating the local people.  This IBP is branded as the panacea for the local people giving them everything they ask for. But only a faction of the people can anticipate the truth that it would rather take away whatever they have. Rest is the struggle for justice. On one side we the the govt. and the lobbies that fund them. And the poor and a few good men on the other. And in between is the sandwiched bureaucrat who has a lot of potential but is overdone with the political games. The screen play is very mature and one has to be quite alert to keep up with the pace. Dibakar speaks more with actions this time rather than words. But the first part comes out as a little vaguely edited collage and the audience would find it hard to relate or to get attached. But as we move on one would realize that nothing was random. Everything was part of a brilliantly scripted political thriller. And the climax is just icing on the cake.

This film has many new things to offer. A new and improved Imran Hashmi who finally resorts to acting as he apparently gets time off from the kissing-spree. His wicked smile and his mannerism are the only things that comprise the comic space of the flick.Abhay deol plays the South Indian bureaucrat and boy he does that in some isstyle. Hats off DevD. Kalki does the regular, no special mention. Summing up, an intense fast-paced political thriller with top class direction and some good acting.And a must for those who are aiming to reach the realms of bureaucracy or politics.

Jai Pragati !

Prometheus * *

The legend returns. No not Nolan as we still have 42 days to go for that. We are talking about the Alien fame Ridley Scott. But apparently the 75 year old director is suffering from dementia as he forgets to answer the many questions which starred as the USP of the marketing campaign. People bored with Darwinian theories were expecting an innovative answer as they thronged the theaters on the opening day but were only flooded with more questions.

The first frame goes back thousands of years where a human-like creature drinks some toxic liquid degenerating his body and possibly sowing the seeds for the evolution of life on planet Earth. Then in 2089, humans discover some pre-historic inscriptions pointing to a distant planet at various places on Earth. Out of no where, the diggers start to believe that these creatures termed 'engineers' created humans and have left signs so that we can reach our creators some day. They could have just stayed you know. It seems even they had a close connection with our 'Riddley' Scott.

Sponsored by a rich old psycho, a human crew along with a humanoid start off a journey on a ship 'Prometheus' to this planet with the so called answers about the origin of life on Earth. The initial screenplay and the resulting tempo is breath-taking. The idea of witnessing a new theory of origin of life is fascinating. The part where Prometheus lands on this alien planet and when humans go scouting inside the puzzling cavities is full of thrills and gives you a high. The first half of the movie takes our expectations sky high and the latter part is like the upcoming bond flick. Sky fall. Meanwhile humans discover dead bodies of creatures which resemble human beings. Later on, the DNA match confirms the link between the two. But we have made our ancestors angry for some reason and now they want to destroy the human race with a fleet of biological weapons. But somehow we humans always manage to survive irrespective of the magnitude of alien forces.

Apart from raining questions on the viewers, Scott also manages to show a lot of Chutiyaaps. A bunch of scared nerds who cried all the way, find the alien funny when they confront it. When a ship is failing down why would you run in the direction of it's falling head. Then, what the hell was the cave all about? Why our creators wanted to destroy us? Who created them? Why did they leave Earth? And blah blah. How can you end a movie on such a note without a promise of a sequel. Forget sequel, you should have given some closure to the audience. All the grandeur and fanfare about being alien savvy is fruitless without a closure. With all due respect Mr. Scott, if you die before Prometheus 2 (which is nowhere on the cards) we will rescue you from the grave. We want fucking answers!