The End of Saga

This was published in the Hans India, a reputed daily in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Delhi

From the very first release of ‘First Blood’ to possibly the final one ‘Rambo:  Last Blood’, the series comes to a full-circle. Sylvester Stallone can only be admired for his gutsy spirit in delivering hit after hit throughout the ‘Rambo’ franchise. ‘Rambo: Last Blood’ is still a movie that could give best action heroes a run for their money.  The Rambo series has left a legacy of its own with its five audacious movies. First blood (1982), Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985), Rambo III (1988), Rambo (2008), Rambo: Last Blood (2019). The hiatus between the third movie and the fourth movie is two decades, astounding, isn’t it?! Yet, there’s not a trace of audience losing their steam for Rambo-craziness! However, the fifth installment, which is considered to be different from others, is hogging the limelight, much against the critics’ predictions.

How is ‘Rambo: Last Blood’ different?

The movie doesn’t hurry down the beaten path, but sidesteps Rambo’s routine gun-wielding fights with the armies, and brings to fore ferocity and viciousness that’s unseen so far. Unlike its other movies, in this one, there’s drama created to touch the audiences’ hearts. To an extent, one could feel the poignant humane connect and Rambo’s emotional cravings to exonerate himself of the war ghosts of his past! The father-daughter relationship builds a subtle rapport with the audiences and the pain of daughter wandering off is quite palpable.

The drift

Last Blood’s plot, though loosely and predictably strung, holds the audiences’ attention with several captivating features. Few moviegoers are debunking the originality of the movie’s plot, comparing it to two other ‘English’ movies. They could be on mark to some extent, but one can’t take away the soul of the movie that puts Rambo in fiery action, which the audience loves to bits. At 73, Rambo is fit as a fiddle and knows how to deliver a death-punch with military ease. There’s no telling, he looks his age. The bulging veins and the stagger in the walk somehow can’t hide it. But one doesn’t sense he is up against the odds when put into violent-action against svelte young men.

The twist in the tale

All it takes is a shift in the winds. Rambo peacefully lives on a ranch in Arizona. He resides with a family friend, Maria (Andriana Barraza) along with her teenaged granddaughter Gabrielle (Yvette Monreal), who is like an adopted daughter to Rambo. But, Rambo’s daughter, acting against his advice, gives him a slip and goes to Mexico to meet her actual father – who doesn’t want her back. When she doesn’t return, Rambo gets into gear to trace and bring her back. Will he get her back is what drives the story forward.

Rambo’s guerilla tactics!

When the drug lords underestimate Rambo’s prowess and leave him with a mark on his face instead of killing him, one can only pray death comes sweetly to them. But, nah, it doesn’t. Revenge-taking is what seems to be flowing in Rambo’s blood veins. Rambo decapitates the head of a drug lord and trails the road with blood towards his home. The drug cartel falls for this and arrives at his doorstep to seek revenge.  

It’s too late for the loony goons to realize the whole ranch is rigged. The tunnels Rambo builds meticulously become a hunting ground – to trap, hunt and prey. At which game, Rambo excels. Will the fight go in Rambo’s favour is what makes for a nail-biting finish!

The conclusion!

The movie ‘Rambo: Last Blood’ has more brutality and intensity than any other movie in the series. What starts as a slow-going movie, turns into a bloodbath, leaving behind carnage of bodies.  Will Rambo die? Or will he live to do another ‘Rambo’ movie are few things that are sure to bother restless souls. Whatever critics say, one must view this movie to witness Rambo’s chaste action. It’s a flick definitely worth a watch.

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Batman Forever

This was published in the Hans India, a reputed daily in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Delhi 

Celebrating the 80-year success of Batman. The caped crusader, super detective, and vigilante of Gotham City continues to fight crime in dark alleys, shadowy streets and seedy roof tops.Time to pay tribute to the super hero who ignites hope among Gothamites that good will win over evil eventually!  As the unruly, gun-wielding crime perpetrators run loose in Gotham City, the only solace the citizens hold is that there’s Batman with his stockpile of jaw-dropping, hi-tech gadgetry at his disposal to fight crime. But what poses a super big problem is that Gotham City’s villainous tribe is of a truly high-order merit: Riddler, Joker, Penguin, Catwoman, Ventriloquist, Mister Freeze, Scarecrow, Egghead and others, who are not only harder to fight against but also harder still to dispose of. Will Bruce Wayne, aka Batman, emerge as a victor?  Is that what the edge of the seat excitement for Batman-obsessed fans has always been! Frankly, the thrill has never been so chillingly dark and feverish. 

Conversely, could you believe, Batman has been fighting crime since 1939, when he first made his appearance in the DC comics? Over 80-years gone by, Batman is still doing what he does best – getting rid of the syndicate organized crime in Gotham City. Any complaints?! No, none at all. If any ‘Jokers’ disagree, they may. Remember. Remember again, Jokers, Riddlers, Eggheads, hold no chance against the genius-level, martial arts trained, dark-hooded, Batman. 

For those in the dark; who raise eyebrows when questioned on how Bruce Wayne became Batman? Here’s the sad but compelling story. Joe Chill is a well-known mugger in Gotham City. One day, Dr. Thomas Wayne and Martha Wayne are out with their son, Bruce, when Chill tries to steal Martha’s necklace. Unfortunately, Dr. Thomas Wayne intervenes. To avoid confrontation, Chill, having no second thoughts on his mind, shoots at Dr. Thomas. Martha screams for help, Chill pulls the trigger once again and Martha is dead too! Shocked at the sudden turn of events, little kid, Bruce, sits and mourns at the unfortunate demise of his parents; but not before he takes a vow to strike terror in the hearts of these hardcore criminals of Gotham City. 

Batman - a billionaire by day; dark knight by hours of darkness. Hidden beneath his sprawling estate is an ancient network of caves (batcaves) which stand as inventory to his technology and ammunition. Batman is aided by butler, Alfred, and by Jim Gordon, a police commissioner, who sends ‘batsignals’ to get Batman’s attention during crime situations. Robin, his sidekick, with his dapper look and flashy costume, does a darn good job in aiding Batman catch crooks!  

The master creators of “Batman”, artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, fashioned the character on the likes of Superman. When first launched in the Detective Comics #27 in 1939, “Batman” gained swift acceptance and roseto instant fame. In no time, he got his own comic book title. The comics became a huge rage, selling in millions of copies. Batmania, caught on like wildfire, cutting across barriers of age, language, and culture and was on a steady climb to the top! 

Inspired by the explosive success of comics, a Television series “Batman” was launched in the mid 60’s. Adam West donned the role of Batman and Burt Ward, the role of Robin, the Boy Wonder. Both these fictional characters stole audiences’ hearts, laughter and common sense. That’s because William Dozier, the producer, intentionally made the TV Series into a slapstick comedy! The witticisms, the senselessness, the over boarding of scenes was deliberately cooked up to heighten pleasure. The result: Kids loved it. Adults jumped at it, while women didn’t give two hoots. Shot in colour originally, Batman and his villains donned zillion flashy colours that would blur the eye-sight, but it worked wonders on audience who saw humour in it and nothing else. Guess they all have gone bat-blind! Additionally, what threw in the extra punches were the witty puns delivered with deadpan faces. Adam West and Burt Ward were matchless when it came about to indulging in side-splitting humor without ever breaking into a laugh. 

Talking of silver screen, though there were several Batman movies prior, it was in 1989, under the director, Tim Burton, the “Batman” movie characters dazzled like true stars. Michael Keaton is still hailed as one amongst the best Batmen to be featured. Tim Burton somehow carries a noire merit in his exploration of characters. Jack Nicholson, who stars as villain, portrays the character of a clown and psychopath with some devastating effects on audiences. Tim Burton also came out with a sequel “Batman Returns” which played to packed houses.

Close on these two colossal successes, Joel Schumacher directed “Batman Forever” with Val Kilmer which received mixed reviews. A sequel, “Batman and Robin” starring George Clooney unfortunately turned out to be a huge dampener. However, Batman franchisee received a shot in the arm, when Christopher Nolan directed “Batman Begins” starring Christian Bale. The movie turned out to be a decent success. In a sort of quick succession, Nolan directed two more movies “Dark Knight” and “Dark Knight Rises” which were super-duper hits, making them block-busters! Batman Trilogy was how they came about to be known.

Batman character was in fact envied by countless individuals. Ben Affleck too stepped into the shoes of Batman under the direction of Zack Snyder in the movie “Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice”. Later, he also starred in a crossover movie “Justice League” which featured other DC comic heroes as well. 

Batman films brought about a certain kind of seriousness and maturity to the Batman character, while lending him a celebrity status in the mainstream culture. As Batman completes his 80 years, let’s raise a toast to this super hero character who fastidiously built up a fanbase of millions and millions of “bat” fans!

As Batman completes his 80 years, let’s raise a toast to this super hero character who fastidiously built up a fanbase of millions and millions of “bat” fans!

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Music for free! Death, at a cost.

No life is worth living without a passion for at least one thing - a philosophy I always held close to my heart. The more leisure pursuits one has, the richer his life is guaranteed to be is the general notion that binds the heart strong. But, hold the breath, not all leisure pursuits are healthy. Hobbies like smoking and drinking could be costly. Drinks are usually laced with subtle poison that only draws you closer to death. Every sip is a walk in that direction of the dark recess of hell. I realized this, when I looked in the eye of death, which danced on my friend’s face long time ago. The memories are still fresh in my mind.  

  

Flash back – 2008 I was working for an ad agency, where I met Benji who was an ace copywriter, I envied the way his words formed sentences and the paragraphs, of course, literally blew me away. That’s when I drew close to him to draw on some of his wisdom and replicate his magic on the paper. But, he was genius who danced to a different beat - a man given to too many whims and fancies. A few include women, drinks, smoking, and songs.

Married, yet, his eyes always ogled around for more flesh. I hoped his scales on the eyes would drop and his inner eyes would open, making him realize that there’s more to life than woman’s flesh. But, he preferred to keep his scales on. And I was left with no choice but ignore his wretched heart but hang on to his every word of writing. Of course, his music collection was another thing he held close to his heart. That only heightened our bond of friendship since music was my “love” too!

His taste in songs swung from one end to the other, including remotest Spanish groups to hardcore rock bands. Gypsy kings to Metallica he had a taste for heavenly as well as ungodly music. I loved to talk to him when he was sober, which was extremely rare. This was usually towards the end of the month, when he had philandered away his money and had money only to buy food, not enough for smokes or drinks. That’s when philosophy poured out of him unabated.

That’s also when he shared me what books he liked to read, how he had come to craft copy that had the hearts of the clients and customers with equal ease. He was boastful; I felt no offence, because with writing skills as his, I thought he was entitled to! When he spoke of writing he had a glaze in his eyes, he was lost in thought, and his body acted strange. Anybody, looking at him would immediately scream he is on a high. Yes, if it weren’t the smokes and drinks that couldn’t give him the high, it was the writing he seemed to snort on to get that high. I once took his works to a client; the client screamed in elation and said, “Damn, here’s someone who can really write, someone who knows how to translate thoughts!”

I loved to stare at his work; in fact, I stole his notebooks from him, so I knew how to draft copy that looked like his but was actually mine. I would have given my arm and a leg to write like that. If you think it’s too much, leg it! ;) Nevertheless, all was not well in Benji’s camp. Once, in the dead of the night, I got a call.  Benji’s voice whispered, “Dan, where are you man?” I screamed, “Benji, its 2 am in the morning what the hell’s wrong with you? Calling me at this unearthly hour?”

But, I could hear him breath hard and heavy. “I am not feeling well, man. Can you take me to a hospital, he blurted out. I scrambled out of bed. Put on something    warm as it was in the middle of chilly winter, drove to his place in a matter of minutes. Benji was lying on the bed mourning with pain. One look at him told me he was in bad shape. We hired a car and went to the nearest hospital.

But, as it was night, no facilities were available, so we had to wait till morning to get the tests done. When the results came out we hurried back to the doctor. The doctor looked at the results and said, “Benji, You are in an awfully bad shape, one drop of whisky or alcohol of any sort will kill you. Be careful. Be very careful. Don’t touch alcohol.” Knowing Benji, I knew this would be impossible.

In fact, when I first joined the agency, I had a dream that Benji was going to die, and in that dream, it may sound strange, but God wanted me to warn him. It was quite scary. When I told him that he was doing something wrong and god was not in synch, he instantly put his finger on the weakness. He said, “I only drink, Dan. How can god be offended at that? I am not harming anyone”, he explained.  

I exchanged the Biblical gyan that our body is the temple of god, one who destroys it, him will god destroy.” He got scared, “He said, “Dan, you are scaring me, man. I am going home now, if boss asks, tell him, I am not feeling well. He scooted out of the office, hopped into an auto and disappeared into the crowds. The next day, he was usual self, chirpy and slightly drunk.  This was all before our trip to the doctor when he was unwell.

However, as days passed, Benji stopped coming to the office, having a vague feeling, I scurried to his house, I could see him sleeping from the window, after I rang the bell a couple of times, I asked the servant, “Why isn’t he answering the doorbell?” He replied, “He does the same to me, sometimes, he answers, sometimes he doesn’t.”

I left the house, knowing he is drunk stupid to open the door. After a couple of months, I got a call again from Benji. Dan, I am not feeling well.

I scuttled to his house and could make out that he was drunk as usual. Then, realizing that things are not in his favour, I asked him where his family stays. He said, “My sister stays in Mumbai.” I called her up, she was receptive, “we actually advised him not to go to Hyderabad, since we would have no control of stopping him from drinking, but he wouldn’t listen” she replied.

She then sent me an air ticket from Hyderabad to Mumbai for Benji to my mail iddy, I dutifully handed it out to him saying he might think of returning to Hyderabad once he gets alright, knowing pretty clear it was a mammoth task. He agreed, next day, with a new zest, he swung his bag of belongings over his shoulder and walked and got into the car waiting for him to take him to the Hyderabad Airport.  That was the last I saw of Benji.

Months passed, one day, I thought of calling him. After a lot of rings, a voice came over, “Hello?” “Hi Benji, this is Dan, you remember?”  “Yeah, yeah. How are you doing man?” he replied. His slur in the speech spoke clearly of his unabated drinking.  He was inebriated as usual, I chit-chatted for some time and hung up. I was pretty cross at him for not giving up his darned habit as could literally see the writing on the wall that he is headed the wrong way at full throttle.

One afternoon, I was industriously caught up in some church work, when the mobile rang, I said, “Hello?” The voice on the other end answered, “Hi there! This is Benji’s sister, I have a bad news. Benji is no more”. I stopped in my tracks. I knew this would happen, but not that soon. “Oh, I am sorry”, I replied.

She then asked me for help.  “Can you please settle Benji’s bills at Hyderabad as he wouldn’t be coming back? Please sell off everything he owns (which were bare necessities) and pay off the rent, the servant salary, etc.” I wholeheartedly offered help out. After everything was put on the market, there was still the music system and a good number of CDs. I asked Benji’s sister what I I should do with them. She said, “Danny, I think you can keep the system and the CDs. That’s the least I can do for all the assistance”. That came as a complete surprise as he had an awesome collection of music CDs - at least a 100 and above. More than the system, it was the CDs that drove me mad. It was a windfall of fortune. Nevertheless it was all a mixture of pain and happiness. 

After all these years, I still miss Benji. He had a gem of a talent but he couldn’t harness it to its full potential. The bosses too, knowing him as a drunk, paid half of what he was worth. But, he didn’t mind as he just needed money for drinks.

Though I miss him, there’s this particular CD of his which had a beautiful mix of numbers like “Sweet Caroline”  “Hit the Road Jack”  “Pretty Woman”  “Hundred Miles Away from Home”  “Oh Carol” …and others that  remind of the good times we have had when Benji was sober. I play this CD often in my car when I am on a long journey and the good old memories come right kicking in. Those were truly awesome days! 

Jersey

Rarely, you come across movies that spin your mind at an RPM of 1000 or more. Jersey, the newly released Telugu movie, is one such type that takes you on a roller-coaster ride. Sometimes the feelings are so hysterically good and at other times, so hysterically sad; it’s like you are shedding tears one moment and laughing aloud the next. 

Arjun (Nani) may not be blessed in the looks department, but certainly makes it up in the acting one. Gowtham Tinnanuri, the director, caught the pulse of the 1990’s, the movie’s background, and portrays it flawlessly with HeroHonda CD 100s, auto rickshaws and Ambassador cars crisscrossing the not-so-crowded roads. The feeling is distinctly palpable. If you are a 90’s person you can’t but help feel nostalgic. 

Shraddha Srinath, the heroine, has staged a fabulous job as the nonchalant wife, who is frustrated at Arjun's laziness and indifference. The presence of Arjun's coach, coach Murthy (Sathyaraj) is a constant hope and reminder that Arjun would resume cricketing. His role hugely supports in building the movie’s plot through occasional and unexpected interventions and reveting performance. His friends, who are constantly egging him, spice up the moments while staying empathetic, adding that pinch of salt!

All in all, Jersey basically is a cricket themed movie, but goes beyond cricketing, stirring emotions like no other.  

The story is a narrative in the past, giving inside dope as to what threw Arjun away from the game and away from the arms of his love life. The plot: Arjun, who is an ace cricket player, falls in love with the Christian girl, Sarah. Initially, the bond is strong as Sarah deserts her family and marries Arjun. But things start falling apart, when Arjun quits playing cricket and loses his job as a result of wrongly placed corruption charges. The family goes through a thick turmoil, leaving Sarah no choice but to take up work to support the family. This seems like the breaking point as she feels Arjun is avoiding shouldering the family’s responsibility and she is the only one pulling the family’s cart.

On the flipside, what constantly plaques the audience’s minds is why is Arjun reluctant to take up a job as an Associate Coach, which is offered by his coach, or for that matter why he left playing cricket suddenly. Ten years passed, he hasn’t touched his cricket bat. Not once.  For what reason? Is a question that keeps bobbing up in the audience’s minds!

The story moves into action when Arjun’s son asks for a Jersey. And Arjun doesn't have Rs. 500 to buy it. Arjun sees an opportunity when his coach Murthy asks him to play a charity match between Indian and England. Thinking it could net him Rs 1,000, he agrees to play only to discover whatever is earned  would be given away in charity, including his Rs.1000.

Ironically, his performance in the charity match is greatly appreciated. His son becomes a huge fan seeing him in this new avatar. Bearing in mind his son’s joy, and his wife’s constant worry that she is the cause for him to leave cricket, Arjun plans to stage a comeback to cricket.

Armed with a renewed aggression, he decides to play cricket for India at age 37. His coach disagrees; his wife disagrees; and the selectors disagree; but his steely resolve won’t give in to pressures.

His performance on the training pitch proves his detractors wrong as selectors pick him up for the Hyderabad team to play the Ranji Trophy.

Thereon, in every match, Arjun puts on an envious performance. But with the earlier sudden twists and turns in the plot, one is doubtful whether Arjun would deliver the goods or not towards the conclusion;

However, beating the odds, the Hyderabad team slowly pulls into the semi-finals aided with Arjun’s brilliant knocks. Will the final match be a death-knell or life saviour for Arjun?

This is something one should watch since it would be inappropriate to run a spoiler here for a movie so good. The ending comes as a total surprise, pulling on everyone’s heartstrings. So for those who haven’t watched the movie, it is a mix of laughter, tears and elation! Go watch it before this movie gets clouded by other mediocre ones!