Serious Men: A captivating satire on caste and class that will make you smirk

by
serious men

One can never miss a single film or series by Nawazuddin Siddiqui. Of them, Netflix Original Film – Serious Men directed by Sudhir Mishra is one. The actor is once again playing a sly underdog who will keep you glued to your screens till the end. He has his way around bringing a stroke of wonder to the ordinary.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CGAJbH3hJQ5/

Based on the book by Manu Joseph with the same title, the film is likely to invoke lingering thoughts in one’s mind. With his years-long expertise, Director Sudhir Mishra vividly portrays the socio-political issues of Indian society in the film. He delves into several arenas and showcases a wide range of characters whose lives are interlinked. But what has been talked of the most that it’s a satire on caste and class.

From its title, one can make out that the film is about ‘serious men’. But how do you define a man being serious? Though Nawazuddin and his son played by Aakshath Das are the protagonists, the storyline equally focuses on the serious men played by Nassar who enacts as Dr.Arvind Acharya and his entire scientific team and colleagues at the National Institute of Fundamental Research. Ayyan Mani (Nawaz) is a personal assistant of Dr.Acharya (Nassar) who is treated like slime every single day. This very treatment in which Mani is undermined makes him think of the title serious men. Okay, that was a spoiler. But I am sure you would still watch the film.

The film sketches the yearning of a Dalit employee who struggles to meet his ends. It is his struggle that makes him dream to make his son a serious man. For the same, he adopts every single method that he had grasped from his observation of the serious men.

Aakshath Das has surely made his impression as a child artist with his first film. He convinces you that he is a genius in the beginning and also shows you his regular side as the film advances.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CGEsqzRJpd9/

There is an avid mockery of the rash attitude of the serious men (the ones who are intelligent and powerful) in the film. One can always mimic a serious man but can they be one by doing so? You need to watch the film to find out.

Coming to the film’s focus on caste, Ayyan Mani is a shudra who lost his mother for the same reason. On growing up he terrifies people by questioning their discrimination. He never loses his self-esteem to what he is. He is blunt and ferocious. He even turns down his conversion of faith for upliftment and talks freely about his wife who belongs to a caste of sex workers. This way the storyline brings the best spirit out of the downtrodden. The film comes at a time when the nation is hit hard by the Hathras case and so it’s striking the right chords with its timing.

Indira Tiwari in the role of a Dalit mother effortlessly transforms from a docile wife to a vociferous woman convincing her part rightly. Likewise, Shweta Basu Prasad as Anuj Dhavre speaks up for the women who are subject to domestic violence. She shows that class has nothing to do with one’s mindset.

I am sure you are going to enjoy watching the film. I found it entertaining, thought-provoking, and completely out of the box. Five out of five stars from my side.

 

American poet Louise Glück receives Nobel Prize in Literature 2020

by
Louise Gluck

After several years of scandals and controversy for the world’s pre-eminent literary accolade, the Nobel Prize for Literature has been awarded to American poetess Louise Glück on Thursday.

The Nobel Laureate made her debut in 1968 with ‘Firstborn’ and was soon acclaimed as one of the most prominent poets in American contemporary literature. To date, she has published twelve collections of poetry and some volumes of essays on poetry.

“The 2020 Nobel Prize in Literature is awarded to the American poet Louise Glück “for her unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes individual existence universal,” the official Twitter feed of the Nobel Prize wrote announcing the results for the 2020 Nobel Prize.

Here are some facts about the poet:

  1. Louise Glück was born in 1943 in New York and lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
  2. She is a professor of English at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.
  3. Glück seeks the entire universe, and in this she takes inspiration from myths and classical motifs, present in most of her works.
  4. The poet is not only engaged by the aberrancies and shifting conditions of life, she is also a poet of radical change and rebirth, where the leap forward is made from a deep sense of loss.
  5. In one of her most lauded collections, ‘The Wild Iris’ (1992) which received the Pulitzer Prize, Gluck describes the miraculous return of life after winter in the poem ‘Snowdrops’.
  6. The voices of Dido, Persephone, and Eurydice – the abandoned, the punished, and the betrayed – are masks for a self in transformation, as personal as it is universally valid.

Gluck

Back in 2018, the award was postponed after sex abuse allegations rocked the Swedish Academy and sparked a mass exodus of members. Established by Alfred Nobel in 1895, the Nobel Literature Prize is one of six awards that also span peace, physics, chemistry, medicine or psychology, and economic sciences.

 

 

Washington DC to get world’s first museum for language – Planet Word

by
Planet Word

Planet Word, a revolutionary museum dedicated to the power, beauty, and fun of language and to showing how words shape the human experience, will open for the public on October 22nd. Housed in Washington, D.C.’s historic Franklin School, Planet Word will be the world’s first voice-activated museum, featuring immersive galleries and exhibits that will engage visitors in experiencing words and language from a wide range of perspectives. General admission to the museum will be free.

All precautions were taken during the construction of the museum with regard to the pandemic.

“During the corona virus pandemic, our focus has remained on the health and safety of our employees, contractors, and future visitors. We’ve continued the work of designing immersive and interactive galleries, curating content to feature in our exhibits, and revitalizing the historic Franklin School, with deference to guidance from public health officials. Now, as we prepare to open Planet Word in October, I want to again thank the Planet Word staff and all of our partners for their tireless commitment to this project. I will be thrilled to finally – safely – open the world’s first museum dedicated to bringing language to life, ” said Planet Word Founder and CEO Ann Friedman.

The mission of Planet Word is to renew and inspire the love of words, language, and reading as the foundation of a strong modern democracy. The same has resonated with supporters throughout the nation. Since breaking ground in June 2018, Planet Word has been able to meet its initial $20 million goal to cover the creation of the museum’s exhibits, experiences, and start-up operating costs. Planet Word’s generous donors include – AT&T, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Carolyn Bucksbaum, the Diller-von Furstenberg Family Foundation, Ann and John Doerr, Microsoft Corporation, and Christine and Stephen A. Schwarzman. The rehabilitation and restoration of the Franklin School as a home for the museum was funded and is being overseen by Ms. Friedman herself.

The word museum plans to open on a limited basis, requiring visitors to register in advance for timed tickets. Masks will be mandatory, and access to galleries will be controlled to maintain social distancing. Stylus pens compatible with its interactive exhibits will be made available to avoid the need to touch surfaces. Ticketing information and details of Planet Word’s guidelines can be found at PlanetWordMuseum.org.

Planet Word has also announced a multifaceted partnership with Shared_Studios, a global collective that creates meaningful human connections between people separated by distance and difference through transformative conversations in both immersive and virtual environments.

The museum will be home to one of Shared_Studios’ famed Portals, shipping containers outfitted as studios featuring immersive AV technology that enables visitors to converse and interact with people from around the world as if they all are in the same room. Visitors to the Planet Word Portal will make connections with others across the globe – and in doing so discover the richness of languages and how words shape our lives, our decisions, and even our relationships.

Planet Word and Shared Studios are also going to launch DIVERCITIES, a program that will explore the commonalities – and the uniqueness – of languages in cities and cultures across the world. Each month, through moderated conversations with comedians, poets, artists, journalists, educators, and activists, DIVERCITIES will connect locals with peers in cities in the Portal network, including Lagos, Erbil, Milwaukee, Mexico City, Berlin, and Dallas.

 

Ratched Netflix: A Wretched Series That Fails To Strike Chords As A Prequel

by
Ratched

Based on the character of a Nurse, Ratched Netflix, from the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey and from the Saat Zaentz Company motion picture of the same name, the Netflix web series has been hugely disappointing.

As pointed out by many, the protagonist doesn’t match the character it has been preaching to portray. Ratched is more like a B grade psychological thriller or horror film like American Horror Story though the latter could be rated far better.

Spanned over 8 episodes, Ratched is played by Sarah Paulson, an Emmy and Golden Globe awardee. Yet it is unclear if it was a fault on part of the director Ryan Murphy or Paulson herself that she failed to show the true motive as the lead. Even if you try hard, you will still miss on the plot as all you can see is psycho sex scenes and gory imagery all across the season. You don’t really know what’s going on in their heads. In a few scenes, Ratched sleeps with an assassin and recollects absurd things, which is way hard to comprehend even if it is evident that she is mentally unstable. Clearly it is hard to square this Mildred Ratched with the Nurse Ratched she’s supposedly the precursor to.

Moreover, the plot fails to do justice to the portrayal of psychopaths as well. Finn Wittrock who played Edmund Tolleson in the series appears unconvincing although it is visible that he has done his bit to appear as a serial killer.

The series failed because of these major characters yet all other characters acted very fine. Be it Judy Davis as Nurse Bucket, Cynthia Nixon as Briggs, Jon Jon Briones as Dr. Hanover, I found each doing a wonderful job. But perhaps their part was all in vain as the leads failed to drag the story.

Besides this, the portrayal of taboo over same-sex relationships deeming it as madness that needs to be treated prevalent in the 1940s is also strong and commendable imagery that has been shown in the series.

Another good thing apart from the supporting actors is the set of the series and also the costumes. One can only drool over the precision. But like they say – “All that glitters is not Gold.”

In my opinion, don’t waste your time watching it. I rate it 2 out of 5 stars.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZU9ZtlkSnnE

Warner Bros. To Adapt Comic Based On Black Lives Into A Feature

by
Black

Conforming to the #BlackLivesMatter movement, motion picture production giant Warner Bros. has acquired the feature adaptation of the Black Mask comic series, announced Studio 8 on Thursday. The feature film which is to be named Black is to be co-created by Kwanza Osajyefo and Tim Smith 3. The comic speaks of a world where only Black people have superpowers.

As per reports, Jeff Robinov, Guy Danella, and John Graham will produce from Studio 8 with Black Mask Studio’s Matteo Pizzolo and Brett Gurewitz to serve as producer and executive producer. Creators Osajyefo and Smith are co-producers as well. They are yet to assign a director.

“We became involved in the development of this story over a year ago. Black represents a new generation of storytellers and creators who can accurately tell black stories with the type of care the industry has lacked for decades. The thought-provoking concept caught our attention early on, and we’re proud to play a role in bringing this story to the screen,” said Studio 8 CEO Jeff Robinov to Deadline.

The plot centers on one young man who survives a violent past and realizes that he is part of these extraordinary people. But a secret consortium wants to control these abilities and those who possess them, and he soon finds himself at the center of a war over the future of mankind itself.

The script of the series is written by Bryan Edward Hill, who is a producer on DC’s Titans.

Over a decade ago, Osajyefo came up with the concept for the comic and it gained widespread recognition after its Kick-starter campaign raised over $90,000. Black has launched an entire universe of comics and books that are originally drawn and written by Jamal Igle, Khary Randolph, Jennifer Johnson, Vita Ayala, and Liana Kangas.

“Part of the inspiration for Black came from my experiencing the lack of representation in comics publishing and how that directly relates to the scarceness of black characters. For most of comics’ history, white outcasts have been used as allegories for marginalized groups while claiming to reflect the world outside our window. BLACK strips away this veneer to juxtapose superpowers with race while allowing black people to see ourselves authentically in media and inviting wider audiences into parts of our experience. We’re excited to bring this story to everyone through film and thankful to Studio 8 for believing in it,” said Osajyefo.

 

Rape Nation: Meena Kandaswamy’s poem on Hathras Horror that trembles one’s soul

by
rape representational image

Once again India is horrified with the brutal gang rape and death of a 20-year-old Dalit girl in Hathras, Uttar Pradesh. To add to the nation’s dismay, after she passed away the state police cremated her remains without allowing her family to see her for the last time.

Recent reports have further buried the case with claims of no assault being done. Politicians who showed concern were manhandled and arrested.

The world is now talking about how the lower castes and largely women are undermined in our country. Besides women, anti-caste and Dalit activists have been urging people to use the victim’s name while protesting, in order to highlight her caste activity.

The same was picked by poet Meena Kandaswamy, also known for her book on domestic violence – When I Hit You. A Ph.D. holder in literature, Kandaswamy irks her readers to delve into the pain of lower castes in our country. She stresses on the fact that the ostracization and oppression will never end. A novelist, translator, and rebel of a woman, Meena’s words have shaken the entire nation.

Below is her poem.

 

In Hathras, cops barricade a raped woman’s home,

hijack her corpse, set it afire on a murderous night,

deaf to her mother’s howling pain. In a land where

Dalits cannot rule, they cannot rage, or even mourn.

This has happened before, this will happen again.

What does that fire remember? The screams of satis

dragged to their husband’s pyres and brides burnt alive;

the wails of caste-crossed lovers put to death,

the tongue-chopped shrieking of raped women.

This has happened before, this will happen again.

Manu said once, so his regiment repeat today:

all women are harlots, all women are base;

all women seek is sex, all they shall have is rape.

Manu gives men a license plate, such rape-mandate.

This has happened before, this will happen again.

This has happened before, this will happen again.

Sanatana, the only law of the land that’s in force,

Sanatana, where nothing, nothing ever will change.

Always, always a victim-blaming slut-template,

a rapist-shielding police-state, a caste-denying fourth estate.

This has happened before, this will happen again.

She tweeted the same on her twitter profile.

Netizens have been sharing the poem over social media and stirred by her words.

https://twitter.com/bismay_inc/status/1311216395867156482

Enola Holmes: A Fresh Gust of Wind that Replaces Age-Old Male Detectives

by
Enola Holmes

Enola Holmes, sister of Sherlock Holmes on the way to be a world-famous detective like her brother is all the film about. Yet there is more to the film than what meets the eyes.

The literary and cinematic trend of retelling stories from the perspective of a character other than the original protagonist of a bestseller has gained quite a popularity these days. The same has been followed in the very plot of the film. While detectives have been largely portrayed as men by authors, Nancy Springer, the original book series writer, decided to bring forth a female detective who could trick any man with her wits. And she chose Sherlock Holmes as the backdrop. Who on earth would have imagined that the famous fictional detective had such a happening family other than Springer who brought them to us.

Enola has humor, knowledge, intelligence, physical strength, and everything that a woman in the 19th century could only dream to have. She is a misfit amongst the ladies of her time embodying a glimpse of the female movement that started during the period in England. Thanks to her mother, Eudoria Holmes played by Bonham Carter, the matriarch (a single mother) of the Holmes family who trains her to emerge as a fierce feminist.

I was completely taken aback by Millie Bobby Brown as Enola. Playing the weird super-kid has perhaps become her favorite prototype since she stunned us earlier with a similar role in Stranger Things. What I found most entertaining and humorous in the film are the monologues by Millie aka Enola. I have a funny feeling that Millie is going to be the upcoming female superstar in Hollywood just the way Emma Watson did – from Hermoine to Belle. I want to watch more of Millie Bobby Brown in the coming days and I am sure even you will after you watch the film.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CFc-zhUnMmT/

Though Millie is the protagonist, all the female eyes have been caught by Sherlock Holmes played by Henry Cavill. This man is just too hot to handle and has played Sherlock so rightly. His chemistry as a brother to Millie is just amazing. There’s news that Henry is going to play James Bond in upcoming Netflix ventures. Fingers crossed.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CFe5MrZBhLJ/

Coming to Bonham Carter, largely known for playing Lestrange in Harry Potter films, she has yet again chosen a script that matches the crazy lady prototype. Only this time, she is not exactly evil but whimsical to bring a revolution. The inclusion of characters like these is commendable as misfits badly need to find a fit amongst the stereotypes who otherwise judge the whole time.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CFheOPoB5l4/

If you feel that I’m missing out the guy Enola fell for, chuck it. She deserves better and she knew it right from the beginning. I couldn’t find anything striking about his performance either.

I would rate the film 4.5/5 with a deduction of 0.5 for Sam Claflin as Mycroft Holmes, the eldest of the three children. I did not find Sam to be doing justice to his role. He could have been a bit more grave and strict to match the description of the character.

Director Harry Bradbeer recently mentioned that he made the film for little ‘fleabags’, referring to the award-winning series by the same name. He rightly said so as he connects wonderfully with women who are judged every day by the patriarchal world out there.

More sequels to this film, please!

 

+ More