Liam Neeson takes it ALL
There are a few people in this world who can get pissed off and then cause a carnage single handedly. Liam Neeson in “Taken” is one of them.
The story begins slowly with scenes of an estranged father trying to come to terms with this alienation from his daughter. Liam Neeson is an ex-CIA agent whose specialty was “prevention”. While “preventing” he lost his family to some rich bloke who pays more attention and money to his ex-wife and daughter. Having established the relationships, the audience is shown some absurd trip that his daughter has planned and which he squarely objects to. As our luck would have it – the daughter takes the trip, and we get to see an awesome trip of gore and bloodshed.
The movie has an absurd quality at times – scenes like some stalker attacking a singer back stage is quite a cliché. Also the bad guys seem to have all the guns but no shooting skills. They miss Liam all the time ! Famke as the high profile mother does her bit but is barely convincing – not because of her acting which is okay, but because the script fails to give a solid feel to her character. For most of the movie she looks like an extra. Also the image of the “crooked arab sheikh wanting to fornicate with kidnapped white girls” is a bit over used already to give any extra fillip to the storyline.
The best part about the movie is Liam – and he does a good job of showing a concerned father who will go to any lengths to get his daughter back. He doesn’t look like he is “acting” at all. Its some times so real that you feel sorry for the guy when he gets knocked down once. Liam also has this very earthy quality about him – a raw screen presence that does not need glamorous settings to grip your attention. For his age he does the action sequences exceptionally well !
About the action sequences – they were a revelation really. Jason Bourne could take a few tips from Liam. The pace is fast and the action is filmed in constricted places. All manner of props are used to take down the bad guys. It almost feels like you are in the same room and the next piece of furniture is gonna hit you square on the jaw. Liam shows off his reflexes and presence of mind – and makes it quite believable at that.
Maggie Grace as the bird-brained daughter (its not surprising that she wants to be a singer !) is average at best. She shows fright well on her face but the other emotions seem pasted on. Also her character in the movie is like that of her screen mother – extra. Somehow I wished they had shown a more gritty daughter given the fact that the father shows such presence of mind – perhaps a lesson in genetics might do the script -writer some good. Or maybe she got it all from her mom – who knows !
The movie shows a multitude of decrepit rooms filled with drugged (American ?) teenagers waiting to get auctioned off. In reality I guess any criminal activity of such proportions would get the attention of George Bush who would order a “nucalear” strike ! The sheikh at the end is a little comical – holding a knife to ward off a guy who just beat the s**t out of twenty or more hardcore thugs with UZIs. The cinematography is great – no rolling hills and valleys – but well placed cameras and good editing. The script is a little shallow to begin with but is a non-issue towards the end. Paris is not shown as the land of art – but rather full of refugees waiting to kidnap and sell single nubile women from the US of A. The music is non-intrusive and complements the action well.
To sum up – a great action flick to watch from the unlikliest of actors – Liam Neeson ( yeah the same guy from Schindlers List !). The story never bores you and in the end you do feel that his daughter’s freedom is hard won. If you can excuse the american arrogance of treating all non-americans as vile insects, and the lack of satire or irony (except a small interrogation scene) – you will fully enjoy watching the “baap” of Jason Bourne !
A quantum of soul-less …
Theres one thing that Austin Powers should realize … he aint nothing without James Bond.
However this fact has apparently escaped the most unexpected of people – the makers of the latest Bond flick. No doubt its very real and you can almost feel the shrapnel in your face, but some of the unreal magic is lost in the process. Its like a very real story waiting for the bit of the magic that usually came packaged with the previous line of movies.
- Bond Movie Digested !!
Casino Royale still remains a high point in the franchise. And for good reason also. Firstly there was the new Bond. So we got to see the “new” grimace of pain. We saw the “new” passion to follow people in the French style of parkour. We saw a “new” love story involving our man and a very “modern” depiction of a Bond woman. But apart from the “newness” there was a sense of realism in the movie. A subtle moving away from the gadgets to the raw sex-appeal of sweat, blood and devious espionage.
Quantum of Solace moves on the same trajectory but the story is not as tight and the music is a little frayed. Although we see a return to some “advanced” gadgetry, the effort to retain the isolation of Bond from technical excesses is evident in the movie. We usually see Bond in the thick of things with just a high-tech cellphone. While most of the funky stuff remains in M’s office.
It begins a little too fast and stays that way for most of the movie. Alicia Keys is a letdown with the opening song – trying to pull out octaves like Sheryl Crow or Shirley Bassey, but only managing a weak croak in the end. And the opening car chase (although filmed in great realism) is just too arduous to begin with. Well we all know that espionage is hard work – but we like to see our Bond using a bit of his noodle to get things done. Realism doesn’t have to mean bone-headedness.
The rest of the story is a little “unexplained” but still bearable. The famous Bond Villain is also more real – like our hero. He doesn’t have a facial tick or a funky island with lasers all around. He is an everyday weasel who made it big by selling his friends on the way. Well so much for that ultimate villain we keep waiting to see every time.
The movie saver is Olga as the new Bond girl … no wait … the she-Bond. She is not a sex kitten or some lethal arm candy for the Bond Villain. Shes just a woman who wants to get some personal joy in killing a parallel character in the movie. I say parallel because the character of the General (wanting to become the Ruler) is exactly like that. I cannot really understand why he was very important in the scheme of things and I presume the director also felt the same way. That is probably the reason why he put in a two dimentional character to complement the main villain.
To come back to the character of Olga – it is at the least very refreshing to see a Bond girl having an obsession other than Bond. And she does justice to the role as well, painting the nuanced picture of a determined woman who doesn’t mind being vulnerable. For his part, Craig also has immense screen presence and those beady expressive eyes. He is more like a reluctant hero, carrying out the dirty work in spite of his personal loss. And as usual he is good at the “physicals” – running and jumping around so much that I was having difficulty imagining how he “could not sleep” in that bar room scene with another parallel character. This guy gets murdered in the end, but not before giving a good “the last words before dying” routine. The audience is shown a soft Bond who hugs a close friend (wasn’t he responsible for his love’s death in the previous flick ?) as he is dying on a deserted city street. Aint that sweet ?
All in all an average Bond movie. Not because Craig is unbelievable. Or Olga in the new she-Bond avatar. But because the action set pieces seem to have been added only for effect and the music fails to impress. A realistic story which like reality seems quite boring in the end.
Lets applaud Craig and Olga and throw out the script writer. Also the crew needs to do some magic to get Bond’s mojo back into him. Alicia Keys singing symbolises the movie – tried hard but failed to impress !
Limmericks – In the Style of Ogden Nash
The first one is about stocks and market turmoil
“I put money in your stocks
And now my a** is in the docks”
Said the investor with a shudder
To the petulant Lehman Brother.
This one kind of gets my frustration out with Delhi traffic
Oh Dilli wala why do you hurry ?
You turn the roads to chicken curry !
One day when your car runs into a wall,
I’ll open the door and kick your ba** !
Who can ever forget her ?
Mamta Banerjee sat in Singur,
Behaving like a stupid boor …
While corporate CEOs take a call,
And stop investing in Bengal.
Traffic Signals are for the feint hearted !!
Our traffic signal has no flaw
Except for the errant autorikshaw.
He will go whatever the light
Always ready to pick a fight.
One day we’ll beat him till he’s raw,
Until he understands the law.
The Fear Within
I am lucky to be in India – the land of festivals. There are a million of them here and at all times of the year. And each one has its own essence – a special context. Every community participates in all these festivals, their involvement varying with the perceived congruence of the particular festival with the religion, customs and traditions of the community.
So to come back to the question – what is a festival about ? Various answers come to mind. Celebration of a historical or mythical event. A traditional gathering of people with a common purpose. A place to sell your wares maybe …
But behind all the stated objectives of the festival – is the one important and subliminally understood objective. And that is to let go of the daily drudgery and enjoy the company of like minded and happy people. To elevate ourselves from the constructs of our daily routine and give vent to our primal need to feel joy.
And so it was during Durga puja. At least till the last year. But before I go ahead with my story – let me explain a little about Goddess Durga and her mythical essence.
Once upon a time the Asuras ( read the diabolical beings ) became so strong that even the gods were unable to overcome them. So they approached Lord Shiva for a solution. Lord Shiva in all his glory opened his third eye and conceived of a female being of immense power. She was Durga. And she overcame the strongest of the Asuras – Mahisasur. Thus the gods were able to regain control over heaven and earth.
Goddess Durga symbolizes shakti, the raw unimaginable power of goodness which can overcome the greatest of vices.
But sadly the message was totally lost on our population during this years Durga puja. Coming at the end of a series of bomb blasts and terror attacks – this years puja was a celebration of fear and not of the forces that overcome fear. Yes there was the usual shamiana with the huge idol of Durga. There were also a multitude of stalls selling food of all kinds. There was music and people danced on makeshift stages. However, among all this there was another very incongruous entity.
The gun toting law enforcement people. And they walked proudly among the revelers with their three foot guns, glaring at everyone that came in their path. And with them came gloom. More than the terrorists, the sight of commandos with their Ak-47s struck fear into the heart of every reveler.
Some said it was necessary – that the safety of the revelers was most important. Some said that it was a bit too much. But all agreed that the revelry had almost but disappeared. And all that was left was the drudgery of our common lives. It was the same policeman breathing down everyone’s neck. It was the same standing in line to get frisked. It was the same shutting down everything by the midnight hour. And most importantly it was the same fear that we felt for the past many weeks.
As the puja ended – it left a queer feeling in my mind. Suddenly it seemed that we can never go back to enjoying our festivals like we did before. As if all our senses had been over powered by the fear emanating from within us. A fear that cannot be cured by twenty policemen or one hundred commandos. The overwhelming fear of knowing that death awaits us whenever and wherever we get together in large numbers to celebrate.
The festival season has almost come to an end this year. But the festival has ended a long time ago. We are now like shadows of our joyous selves. Treading with cautious steps, awaiting our end in the form of that mysterious packet of explosives left in the midst of us. And the gun-toting policemen just keep reminding us of this fear within.
Lehman Brothers files for bankruptcy …
I had heard this in the movie Apocalypto – an awesome movie if you ask me !
The news of Lehman brothers filing for bankruptcy makes me remember that little sentence again. The nature of a great corporation today is so similar to the “great civilizations” of long ago. They have their work cultures, they have their own hierarchies, and they have their dedicated ground staff defending the institution.
The fall of companies like Lehman brothers is an eye opener for us. We have trusted the system of massively incorporated companies and banks to produce productive sustenance to the people employed as well as for the population in general. We believe that these companies with their immense work force, hierarchy and accountancy departments cannot go wrong in evaluating their self-worth and can in fact change the course of money to make the ends meet. But how wrong we are – and more often than not.
In a structured multi layered corporation it is quite impossible for every employee to have personal knowledge or interest in what the corporation is all about. They, like little ants fulfill their little tasks – all the while trusting their work-masters to have all the answers.
But that is so far from the truth in the present times. In these times when 
we have quantified our resources into an abstract concept called money. Hence we often get deluded into making these “billion dollar deals”. We believe that the coming together of a lot of money means a lot of nodding heads. So wrong, so very wrong. Its like believing that “The Blair Witch Project” is about some real footage – just because the video is as shoddy as from a hand held videocam.
How can we avoid an impasse like this ? This questions begs asking – as we boldly march into the age of Corporations. Well the answer is neither simple to comprehend or to implement. First of all its imperative that the corporation has an ideologue – could be a loose one – but should atleast exists. It should be obvious to an outsider as to what this company will do and what it will not do – in effect the ideologue. Secondly every employee should be made aware of the “ideologue” and asked to acquiesce or leave. (In this case there will be arm-twisting with money and lollipops – but at the least the employee will be aware of the circumstances he made his decision in). Thirdly anyone who contracts/deals with the corporation should also be asked to have these practices in place.
These three simple steps might one day prevent such disasters. To quote Alan Greenspan, the former chairman of the US Federal Reserve – “Let’s recognize that this is a once in a half-century, probably once in a century type of event.” He continued by saying that it was the worst “by far” he has seen in his career.
We are at a very real crossroad now. This is not a Rambo movie where “with grit and brutal determination” the “good” in the end overcomes the “evil”. There is no clear enemy here – the devil they say lies in the details. We have put our money behind these corporations for a long time now. Its time we examine the authenticity of these institutions and question the malpractice which is evidently inside most private corporations. Money and its accumulation in one place – can no longer be the best yardstick for the “free economy”.
In the present context we should now start a new “economy of choice” – a place where the participants are aware of their personal as well “corporational” responsibilities. That would be a truer testament to the will of the masses. In fact it may lead to some good social evolution.
Bad governance and public apathy …
Let us see an example of what I am talking about. It is something every one knows about and yet would like not to think about. Its called traffic and its one huge phenomenon in India. Traffic in India is probably like no other. Its a unique mix of humans and cattle. The occasional dog spices up the scenery further. But its not the traffic that peeves me often. Its the way its managed. And the central theme of traffic management(or mis-management) is zero-accountability. It starts with the police. They think its their birthright to break the red-light. We can understand if they are on a hot chase (unlikely but still possible). But even when there is no hurry they will ..
- drive on the wrong side of the road
- break the red-lights
- approach a traffic island in the wrong direction
- drive over the speed limit
- stop in the middle of the road and yap on the radio
- you should like to drive faster than a sports vehicle
- you should be able to drive in the middle of the road and leave enough space on both sides for the two-wheelers
- you should break as many red-lights as you can
- you should have at the least, run over one person
- you should have gone to jail and be out on bail most of the time
- you should have a license which has either expired or has been issued in a far-off village
- you should smoke “bidi”
- you should be able to take a sharp turn without turning on the blinker
- you should like to play “chicken” with other big buses
- you should have no qualms about stopping in the middle of the road to pick up the next abomination on this list.
- you can walk anywhere on the road
- while you are waiting for a bus you can eagerly occupy all the road
- if you get hit by anything while you are doing the above the law will ask the “culprit” to pay up
- you can sleep on the road if you are poor (in fact being poor gives you the license of doing almost anything on the road)
- you can hold your hand up boldly at approaching cars so that they will stop, while you gallantly cross the highway
- you can cross traffic intersections diagonally at rush hour traffic
- you can speak on the mobile phone while doing the above
- you can plead the buses to stop for you anywhere you wish to
- you can jump of a moving bus (in the middle lane) onto the bonnet of the car on the left
- you can hurl an abuse at the car after you have finished doing the above
In between all this is you. And you will wish you weren’t there in the first place. Some times you see cops flagging someone down for speeding. Or breaking a light maybe. But they are not serious. They are just trying to “make up” the daily quota of fines. The same cops will turn a blind eye at other times to the same crimes. They are the human equivalent of chameleons. Changing color everyday … maybe every minute.
And now some questions for all of us “Indians”. Why don’t we have the right to question a cop when he breaks the law ? Why cant a pedestrian be held accountable for his crimes ? Do we really care about how its going to look like on the road a few years from now ? Can you predict the escalation of lawlessness that his about to take place ?
Sometimes they catch a rich fool for driving over some bum on the road. It might be his fault ( and in a drunk-an-crazy place like Delhi its highly probable). But do we examine everyones fault. Do we check if the traffic light was working. Do we check if the pedestrian was walking on the middle of the road. Do we understand that everyone has a right – and not just the underdog.
Given the trend we will soon have a deluge of vehicles on the road. And sadly the people sitting and making the “future plans” are the bottom of the pile students who joined the civil services for the lack of any other job (not all but well, mostly …) . And we … well we don’t really care. Even if we did … we are afflicted by a paralyzing fear. The fear of the powerful politician. The fear of the corrupt police. The fear of stepping outside the “status quo”. As a country we symbolize that word. We like things as they are – forever. But it will not be this way always , unfortunately … it will only get worse.
Void Human
The Neurons in our Brain
What if we were a product made by a superior intelligence … and there was a void human test … something like the void comp test in blade runner … to determine the humans from among the more endowed …
Can we beat the test knowing its purpose … what is the limit of our “mind” ?
What is the limit of intelligence … of the highest order ?
Can a machine be someday more intelligent than us ? Do we become secondary then …
Can we bear the fact that we might be looked after one day as relics of “intelligent beings” – like well-fed monkeys in their cage ….
Can we presume all the above will never happen ? Can we be sure that the evolution of intelligence will always be routed through biology ?
Mighty Python
Learning to use Python today … oh no , I am no snake charmer … python happens to be a programming language.
Worst case scenario ?
Was reading a book … Bill Bryson’s ” A Short History of Nearly Everything ” …
So on the last day … as the population on earth notices the first clear unaided image of a black dot in the sky … the reality sinks in … the first crisis i presume will be of faith … almost everyone among us has faith in “something that nurtures life” … given various names and incarnated as various gods … we also have faith in knowing that nothing like “this” is ever going to happen in “my” lifetime …
We all watch as the dot grows larger … the reality sinks in … we could do nothing … our governments have failed us … our famous bombs failed us … the fabled secret weapons failed us … the alien technology failed us …. “how cruel can god be” … “why would he want to build all this and destroy it in a flash “… there is no end to this paranoia … and paranoia coupled with a crisis of faith is a heady cocktail.
However intelligence i believe is more powerful than the atoms that make it … once all hope is lost … we become gods ourselves … we relieve ourselves of our burden of existence … some choose death ahead of the event … others feel free and unfettered …. as if the ropes that bind us to be “ourselves” are suddenly gone … some of the depressed start feeling happy … they suddenly don’t feel unjustified … some with extraordinary faith will never loose it … knowing that dead or alive doesn’t matter as long they are happy …
There will some of us who will head for the liquor store ( especially in Delhi ) … and some of us will head for our near ones … some will hide in deep bunkers with timers in their hands … continuously checking the dials to make sure the life support systems are all working … TV crews will have various levels of coverage .. Barkha Dutt will probably fly close to the action on a chopper … she always “has it in her to do that kind of thing” … Charu Sharma will put a brave smile and take it in his stride ( i mean really !! .. the guy can take his dads demise , bad performance of his “team” as well as getting kicked out of his post at IPL all in a months time ) … anyway he will blabber away at the studio all the while wishing he was with his wife … a very painful scenario of bone-headedness i might add …
To continue …. now its visible to everyone … some of the people will start singing together … the “common intelligence” taking over the individual “mind” … the religious will pray and wish for miracles …. the drug addicts will get “high” …. the boozers will get their “buzz” … celebs will take barbiturates … Britney Spears (in dowdy midriff revealing sweatshirts) will break car windows with umbrellas and other assorted items – as a mark of her individuality ….
The first world countries will have the biggest crisis of faith … its almost like they are so dependent on the “government” to solve all their miseries … like noisy but faithful kindergarten kids … checking their blackberries nervously … others will load their best guns with the best bullets … or fire up their favorite Mozart piece (depending on which side of the Atlantic) … a great majority will “wager” …
“In other Asian countries people have started looting stuff from the big shops …” – kind of summaries the evergreen images of the Asian outback … well in reality people here will handle it much better …. they are more used to such failures of the government ….
Well … the thing hits the ground …. the streak of light across the sky ends over the horizon for most … we were “told” that the shock wave is to be expected at “x” time in our area … and we wait … in absolute awe … the first pics of the impact will come in soon ( an interesting question would be – will the tv images reach us before the shock wave or vice versa ? ) … a brilliant flash in the distance …. people doing “aahhhs” and “ohhhs” in the background of the tv feed …. the iconic mushroom cloud but this time larger than anything ever before …. the immense waves traveling at breath taking speeds on faraway shores … the shudder as buildings are toppling one by one … people becoming hysterical … the lonely musician playing a guitar on the sea-shore … enjoying the music as he waits for the “wall of water” …
The shock will soon reach the mantle and then the liquid outer core …. and then their will be fireworks …. as the magnetic field running this planet changes orientation in seconds …. small changes in magnitude but immense in effect … the pent-up pressure under various tectonic plates will start releasing … dormant volcanoes open up like dragons spewing mile high streams of rushing super hot magma … the surface shock will crumble most high rises for many thousands of miles around the zone of impact …
Then there will be the “black cloud” … the Queen’s men will not rue the weather … theres normally very little sunlight they see anyway …. the Mediterranean shores will see the most drastic changes … from good sunny blue sky to dark thunderstorm like scenario in a few hours …
Well i fear to imagine what comes next … other than a whole lot of death among the mighty humans … there might be survivors till a few years later … but most of us are going to perish in the first day itself … as a flicker of hope some of us may get free of our mother Earth and head to space in ramshackle rockets … knowing all too well that only some alien can save us …. our technology being totally incompetent at preserving life outside earth for prolonged periods …
Some of us will send movie cds and other data in satellites so that some other “intelligent being” will get to know about us … someday … maybe billions of years later …. when they get to load our USB drives ..
In the parlance of cosmic space, this event would be called a firecracker going off next to an assortment of exploding nuclear bombs …
Well thats how fragile we are …. and yet how sure we are that nothing like “that” is going to happen in “my” lifetime …. and we go through the grind of our daily routines … with a nonchalance of diabolical proportions.
Racket Fun
I got a new racket ….
My old racket was for playing tennis …. the new one is a mosquito killer.
I plan to take this racket to the Dabri fish market ( or Dabri housefly market) … and try to play god with the flies. Hope they understand this “divine” intervention.
My oscars love dead flies. They gobble them up in no time. I wish my oscars could fly. That way I could live without the aquarium and also have a no-fly zone in my house.
Talking about no-fly zones … do animals know about these zones. Do the ruling governments of various countries tell the birds that “if you fly here … we will shoot you down.” Do they have special heat seeking missiles that can follow and kill birds, which pass flatus. ( A flying object passing flatus is called a flytus.)
