Death by Lightning: Netflix's Contribution to U.S History & Politics 101

President James A. Garfield, the college educated farmer & Congressman from Ohio should have played a transformational role in U.S history and politics than the couple of months fate had allowed to helm United States of America in 1881.

Netflix's latest historical offering, "Death by Lightning," brings this forgotten giant of American politics into sharp focus. If you're a student of history and politics, especially of U.S. history like me, we should be thrilled by these contributions Netflix is making towards our historical and political education showcasing some of the forgotten figures that shaped the United States. Garfield holds the unique distinction of being the only sitting member of the House of Representatives to be elected president, and his resume reads like a greatest hits of 19th-century American achievement - preacher, lawyer, Civil War general, and finally, a tragically brief POTUS.

The mini-series, based on Candice Millard's exceptional book "Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President," doesn't shy away from the complexities of both Garfield and his assassin Charles Guiteau. The casting choices are nothing short of spectacular. Michael Shannon's portrayal of Garfield is so convincing, his beard looks eerily similar to the president's historical photographs. Matthew Macfadyen's Guiteau made viewers genuinely uncomfortable each time he appeared on screen - which is precisely what a good portrayal of an unhinged assassin should do. Betty Gilpin delivers a convincing performance as Garfield's wife Crete. Nick Offerman as Chester Arthur is so amazing that Netflix, if you want it, you could almost tease out a sequel based on Arthur's presidency.

What strikes you most about this series is how faithful it remains to historical facts. I am sure the personal moments probably didn't occur exactly as depicted or might not have happened at all, but they help building context and fleshing out each character. Guiteau really did join a free-loving commune and failed spectacularly at everything he attempted in life. Garfield truly was one of the last "log cabin" presidents, rising from poverty through sheer intellect and determination. The assassination attempt itself unfolds with disturbing accuracy - Guiteau hiding the gun in his pocket, the black physician being one of the first doctors on the scene, the pioneering use of the first metal detector on the wounded president.

While the series does not really capture the magnitude of Garfield's popularity and the nation's grief on his assassination, that did not stop me from going digging after binging on this engaging mini-series. His inauguration drew 100,000 people to Washington D.C., while his funeral in Cleveland attracted 150,000 mourners - one of the largest presidential funeral turnouts in U.S. history up to that point. He was mourned as a national hero, his death marking a pivotal moment in American political consciousness.

The 4-part series does take some liberties with period-appropriate language - the liberal use of f-word and phrases like "quality time" that wouldn't appear for another century and feels anachronistic. But these minor quibbles don't detract from the overall impact of seeing this transformational figure brought to life.

Interestingly, Garfield's legacy extends beyond politics into pop culture. Jim Davis named his famous cartoon cat after his own grandfather, James A. Garfield Davis, who was himself named after the President Garfield following his Republican nomination in 1880. The score, composed by the same talent behind Game of Thrones and Iron Man, perfectly complements the dramatic tension.

One of the reasons "Death by Lightning" succeeds is its perfect length. Four episodes allow enough time to develop these historical figures without overstaying its welcome. Perhaps a deeper dive into Garfield's impressive Civil War career would have strengthened our connection to him, but the focus remains laser-sharp on this pivotal moment in American history. As a student of history and politics, this series got me digging deeper into both Garfield's and Chester Arthur's presidencies - exactly what good historical drama should do.

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Baramulla : A movie by Aditya Jambhale (Netflix)

Baramulla, what could a film about Baramulla possibly be about? Other than being another film about the decades-long disputed-territory status of Kashmir. But I was happily surprised, and in the best possible way.

Before diving into the movie, here's some backdrop: Baramulla is this town up in Jammu and Kashmir, India's northernmost state that's still a bit of a hot mess. Kashmir has been like an open wound ever since India's independence, when the Hindu king of this Muslim-majority region decided to throw his lot in with India. Both Pakistan and India have been picking at this wound ever since, and one of the most brutal chapters was the displacement of Kashmiri Pandits - that's the majority Hindu group in Kashmir, back in the late eighties and nineties. Not exactly feel-good material for your average weekend movie night. Baramulla, the movie, comes from director Aditya Suhas Jambhale and stars Manav Kaul and Basha Sumbli as a Muslim couple. The husband's a cop, deputy superintendent of police, freshly posted to Baramulla to investigate some politician's kidnapped kid. The director and both lead actors are all from the displaced Kashmiri Pandit diaspora which adds a layer of authenticity. The family moves into this gorgeous, rambling old house that screams traditional Kashmir architecture. And man, does this house work overtime in the atmosphere department. It's pretty in that old-fashioned way that makes you want to book a vacation there, right up until the creepy stuff starts happening.

Now, I'm not sure if this counts as a Bollywood film. Sure, it's in Hindi and features Manav Kaul, who's done his share of Bollywood gigs, but it feels like something else entirely. We're seeing this whole new parallel cinema thing happening - movies produced by Netflix, Amazon Prime, and their streaming cousins, using local crews and native languages but breaking free from the tired old Bollywood formulas which have not been hitting the mark lately. I'll admit, I was dragging my feet about watching this one. The producer, Aditya Dhar, made his directorial debut with Uri: The Surgical Strike, which wasn't exactly my cup of tea, so much so that I never even watched it. But then I caught wind of some chatter about Baramulla being supernatural horror, not just political drama. And you know what? Sometimes the best surprises come when you're least expecting them. What we get here is a quality film that somehow manages to mash up history, politics, horror, drama, and actual ghosts without turning into an emotional train wreck or an over-the-top melodrama. For an Indian film to pull that off without the usual histrionics is genuinely refreshing. Shot entirely in Kashmir, with top-notch acting, editing, production design, and direction across the board. Jambhale has crafted one of the most creative supernatural films to come out of India in recent memory, and here's why it works: it's anchored firmly in reality, history, and the real suffering of real people. The genius move here is making us experience the horror through the eyes of a Muslim family - the same religion as those who perpetrated the Kashmiri Pandit exodus - and forcing us to realize that regardless of religion, we all feel the same outrage when faced with atrocity, no matter who's dishing it out.

The sequences where history bleeds into present-day attacks where the veil thins between the dead and the living are masterfully interwoven, creating a storytelling and editing exercise that's both haunting and enlightening. A well-made film that doesn't preach but provokes thought. Perfect for lovers of history and supernatural storytelling who aren't afraid of confronting uncomfortable truths.

 

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Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein (2025) : A review

I had been meaning to watch Guillermo del Toro's 2025 adaptation of Frankenstein ever since it dropped on Netflix. As someone who has never actually read Mary Shelley's original novel (yeah, literary sacrilege!), I went in with zero expectations except knowing it was a del Toro film, which usually means visually stunning and emotionally complex storytelling. This is quintessential del Toro - all dark aqua blues, deep greens, and rich browns creating that Gothic atmosphere he's famous for. The production design is absolutely marvelous, every frame looking like a painting, if you were into that whole moody Victorian vibe art. This is definitely a movie that deserves to be seen on the biggest screen possible because of its sheer grandiloquence. Del Toro has this thing about redeeming his monsters, and this newest retelling of Frankenstein fits perfectly into that pattern. Oscar Isaac plays Victor Frankenstein and he's irresistibly handsome in that tortured genius way. Isaac's Victor is portrayed as a complete egotistical dickhead, which apparently has some book purists up in arms. I read in various forums that readers of Shelley's original have major issues with how this adaptation simplifies both Victor and the Creature's characterizations. The consensus seems to be that in the book, Victor is indeed a piece of work for abandoning his creation, but he was also just a naive young guy who couldn't fully grasp the magnitude of what he'd done. Similarly, while the Creature is tragic, he's also a stalker who intentionally murders innocents in his quest for revenge against Victor - far from the blameless victim we see in this movie version.

 

The script-writing deserves special mention here. There's this moment where the monster, still learning human speech, says something like "Perhaps this was the way of the world, the world would hunt you and kill you for the way you are." The philosophical poetry woven through the simple words of a creature learning to speak is just brilliant. There are several such dialogues that stay with you long after the credits roll.

The female lead had me scratching my head a bit. She's written as this very righteous, empathetic character – maybe that's how Mary Shelley, daughter of philosopher Mary Wollstonecraft, intended it. Women are often more empathetic than men, sure, but this lady thinks she's wise when she's really just displaying the foolishness of her immature young age. She was literally the only character who could have made Victor see the truth and helped redeem his ways, if only she would get down off her high horse and actually engage with the complexity of the situation instead of just being judgmental.

She falls in love with the creature ridiculously quickly, professing something like eternal love after what feels like two meetings. And wasn't she flirting a bit with Victor, her fiancé's older brother? The whole love angle felt forced, maybe they were staying true to the book, I wouldn't know.

 But sometimes a good story doesn't need to be complicated. Del Toro delivered something gorgeous to look at, Isaac brought his brooding good looks and acting, and Jacob Elordi as the Creature got some genuinely moving dialogue. 

The Arctic scenes alone are worth the watch. There's something haunting about that ship stuck in the ice, with the Creature framed against a pale sun that looks more like a dying moon. "I am malicious because I am miserable," the monster tells his creator, and you feel every word of that misery in the frozen wasteland that mirrors his isolation. Not every adaptation has to be exactly as the book, sometimes it just needs to be good television.

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Parichay (1972): A movie by Gulzar

All the stories that we could ever tell have already been told. Or we are at a point in human history with our hyper-connectivity that the stories that might have been viewed as fresh in the past are weak sauce now. All our sources have been exhausted or told and retold to death, and my attention span for long-form movies, like the rest of urban humanity, is fleeting-every-thirty-seconds if I'm being generous. When I'm watching these older films, there's usually nothing that rivets me to the couch, not that such a contraption is necessary. I'm usually glued there without any artificial means to achieve that state.

Gulzar's 1972 film Parichay is essentially The Sound of Music transplanted to an Indian setting, complete with a male live-in tutor tackling a bunch of unruly kids who happen to be the grandchildren of a wealthy zamindar. The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources, and back in 1972, The Sound of Music had probably only been seen by a handful of Indian elites who could travel abroad or lived in Bombay.

Jeetendra steps into the Julie Andrews role here, minus the singing on mountaintops but with plenty of his own charm - many times featuring his signature white on white outfit, white shirts and white pants. What makes Parichay stand out from your typical Bollywood fare of the early seventies is Jeetendra's character and his unusual narrative device. Our hero has what he calls his "second track", a mental monologue that surfaces as intermittent voice-overs throughout the film. This internal commentary feels surprisingly fresh and modern for a movie that's over fifty years old. The film follows the familiar template: stern patriarch, rebellious grandchildren who've turned the household upside down, and the arrival of a tutor who's supposed to whip them into shape. But Gulzar, being Gulzar, adds layers of nuance that elevate it beyond a simple adaptation. The kids aren't just mischievous for the sake of plot convenience; their rebellion stems from genuine grief and abandonment issues following their parents' deaths. Jaya Bhaduri plays Jeetendra's love interest, though calling her one of the "unruly kids" feels like a stretch considering she's clearly a legal adult who's completed her high school education. The romance subplot unfolds predictably but with enough genuine emotion to keep you invested. The supporting cast reads like a who's who of veteran Hindi cinema - Pran as the stern zamindar, Asrani as the loyal family servant, A.K. Hangal as Jeetendra's uncle, and Leela Mishra as his aunt. Sanjeev Kumar and Vinod Khanna make guest appearances, which speaks to the film's pedigree.  

Parichay might be a retelling of a familiar story, but sometimes the comfort of the familiar is exactly what you need. Gulzar takes the bones of The Sound of Music and gives it an Indian soul, complete with the emotional complexity that comes with joint family dynamics. For a film that could have easily been a lazy adaptation, it manages to find its own voice through that clever narrative device and solid performances from its ensemble cast. 

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A Cursed Man: A documentary by Liam Le Guillou

Liam Le Guillou's documentary "A Cursed Man", available on Kanopy (thanks public library streaming services), follows the documentary filmmaker on his quest to get cursed by practitioners of dark arts. While most sane people actively try to avoid hexes, jinxes, and supernatural misfortune, Le Guillou travels around asking witches, shamans, and voodoo priests to put the whammy on him.

The premise is fascinating in that train-wreck sort of way. Le Guillou genuinely needs to be convinced that magic exists, and apparently the only way his skeptical mind will accept supernatural phenomena is if something genuinely awful happens to him via a curse put on him. He travels the globe looking for a shaman or a witch who would put a curse on him. Many sincere practitioners try to dissuade him, but that is not stopping Le Guillou.

As Voodoo priest Divine Prince Ty Emmecca astutely observes, “The norm is to be cursed. And so [what you’re doing] sounds, without being disrespectful, almost entitled," It's a fair point – here's this guy demanding bad mojo when most people are just trying to get by without additional (evil) cosmic interference.

What saves the documentary from becoming a complete vanity project is the quality of the conversations Le Guillou has with his subjects. The practitioners he meets are invested, honest, and well-intentioned people who take their craft seriously. Their insights into belief systems, spirituality, and the nature of reality make for genuinely thought-provoking viewing. These aren't carnival fortune tellers or charlatans – they're people with deep convictions about forces beyond our current scientific understanding.

Still, there's something oddly self-indulgent about the whole enterprise. Le Guillou reminds me of a male Elizabeth Gilbert, though thankfully without the insufferable privilege tourism of Eat-Pray-Love. Like Gilbert, he's a white person with enough time and resources to go soul-searching across continents, but at least his journey involves potential supernatural consequences rather than just some trite self indulgent and shallow observations we could have come up with, without leaving the confines of our couches. The most puzzling aspect is Le Guillou's insistence on curses rather than blessings. Multiple practitioners suggest that positive magic might be equally convincing proof of supernatural forces, but he's adamant that only bad things will make him a believer. It's an oddly masochistic approach to spiritual exploration. Despite its self-centered premise, *A Cursed Man* succeeds as an exploration of belief, faith, and the human need for meaning beyond the material world. Le Guillou puts his own well-being on the line for his documentary, which takes a certain kind of commitment. The result is an intriguing look at what lies beyond conventional understanding, even if the journey feels unnecessarily focused on inviting trouble.

 

 

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Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging, a book review

TRIBE: Why Your Great-Grandmother Was Happier Than You (And She Had to Churn Her Own Butter)

I have been thinking about our pursuit of happiness. Not a particularly original thought. Everyone thinks about happiness. We have apps for it. TED talks. Life coaches who charge $200 an hour to tell us mindful gratitude is the answer while we sit in traffic behind a guy texting and driving a Cyberjunk.

Sebastian Junger has written a book that suggests the problem might be simpler than we think. Junger’s 2016 book Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging is essentially 150 pages of anthropological evidence that modern civilization might be the longest-running practical joke in human history, and the punchline is us sitting alone in our climate-controlled boxes wondering why we feel so empty.

The central thesis hits you with the realization that your great-grandmother who raised nine kids during the Depression was probably more content than you with your meditation app and ergonomic desk chair. Junger presents the mind-bending historical fact that white settlers captured by Native American tribes - even those taken as adults - often refused to return to "civilized" society when given the chance. These weren't Stockholm syndrome cases; they genuinely preferred native American life to their former European-American existence. Meanwhile, the reverse almost never happened. Junger discusses how the human experience is profoundly shaped by our need for genuine community bonds that modern society has systematically demolished.

Modern loneliness has a particular quality. It's not the loneliness of being actually alone, say, a lighthouse keeper or a long-distance runner. It's the loneliness of being surrounded by people who don't really see you. Your LinkedIn network of 500+ connections is probably making you lonelier than a hermit.

Another interesting observation is modern western culture is the only culture in human history that forces babies to sleep alone. This started with Northern European societies. Now it's standard Western parenting. We put newborns in separate rooms so they can "learn to self-soothe." We buy monitors to watch them from another room. We have apps that track their breathing patterns.

The rest of the world thinks we've lost our minds.

Every other society lets children sleep with parents until the children decide they don't want to. The idea of making the most vulnerable humans on Earth sleep in isolation strikes other cultures as cruel. We call it independence training. We begin the separation process before babies can even hold up their heads.

Even more disturbing is Junger's documentation of how crisis brings out the best in people, and how much they miss it when it's gone. During World War II, something unexpected happened in London. As the Blitz intensified, depression rates plummeted. Suicide dropped. Crime decreased. Mental hospitals reported fewer patients intake. The most dangerous neighborhoods saw the biggest improvements in mental health. This is not because suffering is good. This is because shared suffering creates bonds that individual comfort cannot.

Consider the modern American male. No initiation ceremony. No rite of passage. No moment when the community says, "Congratulations, you're officially not a boy anymore, here's your man card."

So he joins the military. Or doesn't, and spends his thirties playing video games while his mother does his laundry and wonders where she went wrong. Then we end up living in cities where we don't know our neighbors' names. Survival depends on credit scores and whether our health insurance covers therapy. 

The uncomfortable truth Junger presents is that we've created a society optimized for individual comfort and security while accidentally destroying the social bonds that make life feel worth living. Junger argues that we're all suffering from a kind of cultural PTSD. Not from trauma, but from disconnection. Not from what happened to us, but from what we've lost.

The solution is not to romanticize the past or abandon civilization. The solution is to understand what we've traded away. And maybe, occasionally, to trade it back. To choose inconvenience over isolation. Community over comfort. Interdependence over independence. To remember that humans are tribal animals and that our cellphone cannot substitute for the pack.

It cannot. We know this. We've always known this. We just keep forgetting to remember.

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Pat Tillman, Jon Krakauer and my forays into Americans writing about Americans

The last couple of years I've been trying to read more writing by contemporary U.S. authors writing about contemporary U.S events. Since reading had taken a backseat with most of my time spent perusing the world using the prosthetic extension of a cellphone attached to my body at all times, the exploration of American literature had not been really successful until the last few weeks. 

I started with one of my favorite non-fiction authors, the mountaineer from Massachusetts, Jon Krakauer and his book about the all American hero, Pat Tillman, 'Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman'. 

More than twenty years ago, I had followed the story of Pat Tillman when he made national headlines ditching a lucrative NFL career and signed up in the Army and got sent to Afghanistan along with his brother Kevin Tillman. I knew nothing about football, but I had cable TV and Netflix movies were being delivered as CDs in red envelopes which was slower than cable content delivery. 

Tillman seemed like an interesting guy - an All American boy, a footballer who read books and sounded deep! A very interesting and rare combo and he was close to me in age. If he had an Instagram or YouTube channel, I would have been a subscriber.

But when things went horrifically wrong for Pat Tillman, I stopped following the story. The man was gone. A human being with so much potential for changing humanity whose life has been cut short and people were bickering to profit and spin his story into something it was not. I felt bad for his poor family, but the world moved on, so did I. While I knew Jon Krakauer had come out with his book about Tillman a few years later, for some unexplainable reason I didn't want to read it, maybe I didn't want to read about a good man's story with a fatal irreversible ending.

I read/listened to and finished "Where Men Win Glory : The Odyssey of Pat Tillman" yesterday. It was everything I thought it would be and more. It is a splendid homage to Tillman and I appreciate Krakauer writing it. Just like he wrote about Christopher McCandless's life and story in 'Into the Wild'. These men and women's lives are the stories that need to be told and heard, to enrich our human experience and for us to understand and be guided by these unique people. These are our contemporaries who went down these daringly different paths so that we do not have to, but yet left us with valuable life lessons. I am glad to have lived during the time these men lived. 

For the fact-hoarder that I am, the book also provided a lot of setting-the-background type of historical information like the 2000 Bush-Gore election, Afghanistan being the graveyard of empires - with focus on Soviet occupation and American presence, the tribalism of Afghanistan, the Pashtun code (Pashtunwali) , the different factions of Islamic fighters in that area and their history, US deployments, US bases and their involvement since 1980s till mid-2000s in that region.

Salute, Pat Tillman, for choosing the difficult path rarely chosen. Krakauer had to rely on Pat's journal entries and notes as Tillman family refused to contribute to Krakauer's effort. Pat's mother had her own book published about Pat. 

Maybe I will move onto Krakauer's Missoula or Under the Banner of Heaven next. Although I am about midway into Erik Larson's rundown to the start of the Civil War, 'The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War.' I need to finish that first.

“Man, supposing you and I, escaping this battle, would be able to live on forever, ageless, immortal, so neither would I myself go on fighting in the foremost nor would I urge you into the fighting where men win glory. But now, seeing that the spirits of death stand close about us in their thousands, no man can turn aside nor escape them, let us go on and win glory for ourselves, or yield it to others.”
- Homer, The Iliad

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Stree 2: Sarfire ka Aatang - A Ghost of a Good Time in Stree-verse

Sequels make me suspicious. They’re full of potential but equally capable of ruining all the good feelings from the first one. Thankfully, Stree 2: Sarfira ka Aatang didn’t leave me ghosted (pun intended). Directed by Amar Kaushik, who had directed Stree, it picks up where the first film left off, gives us more of what worked, and somehow doesn’t trip over itself trying to outdo the original.

Rajkummar Rao, our everyman hero with just the right amount of his fast-talking neurotic energy is back, navigating the chaos with a mix of vulnerability and street-smart bravado. Shraddha Kapoor keeps the intrigue alive, walking that tightrope between enigmatic and relatable without missing a beat. But it is the supporting cast that steals the show. Aparshakti Khurana and Abhishek Banerjee bring their A-game, nailing the kind of chemistry that makes even their silliest antics feel genuine. And then there’s Pankaj Tripathi, whose deadpan delivery could make a grocery list sound profound. Together, they form the comedic backbone of the film, which is more comedy than horror.

The script is a win. It’s snarky and clever without trying too hard, which is rare these days. There are enough jokes and funny elephant scenes to keep you entertained and just enough twists to keep you engaged. I won’t pretend it’s groundbreaking storytelling, but it doesn’t feel lazy either. And yes, they’re expanding the Stree universe, bringing in hints of Bhediya and other movies. I’m cautiously optimistic about that, universe-building is a slippery slope, so far there are no mis-steps.

The music surprised me.  Bollywood soundtracks have been stuck in a forgettable loop for a while, but Stree 2 breaks the curse. Every track is a banger. I have been listening to the Stree 2 playlist while typing this. 

But here’s the kicker, beneath the slapstick and spectral antics, Stree 2 has layers. On the surface, it’s a horror-comedy romp. Scratch a little deeper, and you find a sly commentary on patriarchy, freedom, and the headless monstrosities we’ve built to keep women in their “place.” It’s Barbie meets Tennessee Williams meets that one anthropology class you took because you thought it’d be easy. The titular “aatang” is more than just a ghost; it’s a metaphor for every institution that tells women what they can and cannot be. But don’t worry, you can still laugh your head off even if you miss all that.

I did notice some Stranger Things' influence. From the eerie “upside-down” world visuals to the atmospheric, neon-lit poster that looks like a discarded draft of the Stranger Things poster. It adds a pop-culture nod and playfulness to the film and I plan not to read much more into that.

So, should you watch it, if you have not already? Absolutely. Go in with your brain on low power mode, laugh at the absurdity, and let yourself get swept up in the chaos. And if you feel like diving into the metaphors later, that’s a bonus. Stree 2 isn’t trying to change the world, but it’s definitely here to make sure you’re having fun while the world keeps spinning. I ended up watching Bhediya (it is on Tubi, Stree 2 is on Prime) too not to be left out from this budding universe building happening in Bollywood.  Grab your popcorn, suspend your disbelief, and join the madness. The Stree-verse is just getting started.

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Best of 2024: Movies, Music & Reading

Here are some movies, music and books that caught my eye/ears in 2024.

Movies: Most of the movies in the list are from Malayalam. Malayalam movies have seen a remarkable resurgence in the last decade. In contrast  Bollywood or Hindi movies appears to be in a state of creative stagnation, trying to lift themes and stories from the Telugu industry (Tollywood) and miserably failing. 

I found myself struggling to recollect any Hindi movies I had watched in the past year, let alone any that left a lasting impression. This is a far cry from the vibrant era spanning the early 2000s to the mid-2010s, when Bollywood flourished with an array of memorable works.

Some of the movies in my list below were not released in 2024, I happened to watch them this year. But most of them are.

Bhoothakalam (Malayalam, 2022): One of the best paranormal movies in Malayalam that I've ever watched. Here is my review.

Premulu (Malayalam, 2024) : A chick-flick, a light-entertainer, third in a series - you decide. My review is here.

Civil War (English USA, 2024) :  I have been burrowing deep into the annals of American civil war, abolitionists and Abraham Lincoln this year. Coincidentally I watched this movie, which is unrelated to 150+ year old original version of civil war, months before I started down the rabbit hole of the 1860s civil war. Same land, different time, similar divides. My review.

Kishkindha Kaandam (Malayalam, 2024): Probably one of the best films that Malayalam produced this year. 

Bramayugam (Malayalam, 2024): Shot in the same location as Kishkindha Kaandam, but set centuries apart and brilliantly shot in black-n-white. Mammootty lords over a mad dark mansion and the movie, my review is here.

Bougainvillea (Malayalam, 2024): A stylish movie from Amal Neerad with his wife and actor Jyothirmayi rocking grey hair and her character and Kunchako Boban presenting new dimensions to his actor persona. Both actors have given great performances in an unconventional story which fails to hold together towards the end. But I loved the slick, urbane presentation. Maybe the allure of Jyothirmayi's silver strands will urge older folks, esp. Malayali men with sagging jaws and creased cheeks to abandon the harshness of jet black hair-dyes and embrace the timeless sophistication of grey hair. Sthuthi!

Barbie (English USA, 2023) : Barbie is a visually captivating and cleverly subversive film, blending playful nostalgia with sharp commentary on identity and societal expectations. It’s a whimsical yet thought-provoking exploration that transcends its toy-doll origins, offering a refreshing take on modern femininity

Society of the Snow (Spanish, Netflix, 2023): Alive by Piers Paul Reed was one of the books that I read in my teens that left a deep impression in my mind. It was about a team of Uruguayan rugby players whose plane crashed in the remote Andes and narrated their resilience in the face of unimaginable odds. Hollywood made a version of this real life survival story in the 90s starring Ethan Hawke. But Netflix's take on this incident, Society of the Snow, is the best and gripping version of this raw survival tale till now.

Sector 36 (2024): This is the only Hindi movie in my list, a Netflix production starring Deepak Dobriyal and Vikrant Massey. 

Music:  One of my favorite bands from the past released a new album this year, after long. Linkin Park's From Zero has head bangers like Emptiness Machine and Heavy is the Crown, along with many other great tracks, which makes it an almost no-skip album.

Shaboozey is my discovery of the year. It is like he found a place in music we didn't know existed and made himself at home there, at the confluence of hip-hop, country and pop. My favorite song of Shaboozey is Let it Burn.

Books : I hardly read any books this year and I am yet to finish the last two, but do plan to finish them 

1. And There was Light  - Jon Meacham
2. Circe - Madeline Miller
3. The Covenant of Water - Abraham Verghese
4. How to Hide an Empire - Daniel Immerwahr

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Thadakam (The Lake, 1982)

Before Pavanai, there was Jabbar Khan. Captain Raju makes his appreance as Jabbar Khan in an almost comical but imposing getup of a Pathan in Thadakam (The Lake), an I.V.Sasi film set in Kashmir. I.V.Sasi is true to the locations and the culture, unlike the Punjabi Houses produced twenty years hence. Thadakam is extensively shot in Kashmir, some local characters are portrayed by local actors speaking Hindi (not Kashmiri though) and there are even Hindi songs sung by Kashmirir characters in this Malayalam movie. 

Thadakam (1982) must have been I.V.Sasi's second outing set in Kashmir, after Thusharam (1981) having caught the Kashmir bug. Script and screen play are never the strong suite of I.V. Sasi movies, there are also unnecessarily sleazy situations as was required for early eighties Indian movies. Seema, Mammootty, Sumalatha, Ratheesh, Captain Raju and Balan K.Nair play some of the main characters in a movie that deals with a reincarnation episode in the life of its leading lady. There must have been a spate of reincarnation movies after the blockbuster success of Karz (1980), this must have been one of Malayalam's contributions during that cinematic season of rebirths. 

It is a low effort movie from the director after Thusharam, with a lot of B-grade sound and camera effects. It almost makes me wonder whether they did back to back shoots of both the movies at around the same time with the effort and the money put more towards the earlier movie.

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Lists : Podcasts I listen to

Podcasting is twenty year old this year having christened by Ben Hammersely with a broadcast-worthy name in 2004 and gone mainstream with a little help from iPod  & Steve Jobs right after. I never had much of commute more than 10 min to my work (thank you, universe) and due to my preference to visual media for entertainment I had been able to stay clear of podcasts for the first ten years of their existence. Then I realized I could listen to podcasts when I did chores around the house or while stewing in a bath or while on my evening jogs. 

Here below is a list of my favorite podcasts I listen to while I cook or clean or lounge in a bath. I am yet to find any podcasts I can listen to while running, so I have not started my jogging/running routine yet. I do not have much attention span anymore to commit to listening to serialized podcasts like Serial, so those type of famous, serialized podcasts are not in my list. I use podcasts to expand my understanding of the world, for learning new things or to light up my way down the rabbit holes I accidently find myself in every so often.

Philosophy, Economics, History: I do not know whether everyone becomes a philosopher as they grow old, I certainly have become very interested in Philosophy and Economics in the last decade. If I was the kind who cared about framed certificates and laurels I would have gone back to school (online or evening college?) to get a degree or two in these subjects. But I am not, these podcasts are more than enough for me.

Philosophize This: This beginner-friendly podcast by Stephen West is where I started my learning-philosophy journey. I still have many episodes left to listen and I do not listen to it in chronological order. West is a bit of a smart-a3$, and you have to remember he is opinionated too, just like the rest of us, but it is an informative guided tour nevertheless, from the early beginnings of philosophy in Greece, pre-Socrates.

The History of Philosophy without any gaps: I got to this podcast after Philosophize This, which is probably the right progression. Prof. Peter Adamson, is much more detailed and extensive than Philosophize This while presenting the same content. I am slowly chomping away at this podcast as time permits.

History of Philosophy : India, Africa China : Most of the philosophy podcasts only have a few episodes for Eastern philosophy and it is always the Western perspective of Eastern Philosophy. This one bridges that gap.

An Economic History of the World since 1400s: This is technically not a podcast, but a college course or a book by Prof. Donald J. Harreld or a TV documentary series, I watched (listened) it as the latter, using my public library account, on Kanopy. For someone who developed an interest in economics after living for decades in a world created and controlled by economics, this was a great intro to 600 years of human economic history presented by the writer himself. Unless you cared about the occasional illustration, photographs and drawing, the whole series can be consumed just through audio,

The History of India podcast : A very in-depth podcast about the history of India from 6th century BC onwards, hosted by Kit Patrick. I am yet to find another podcast that covers the range of time this podcast covers, from 600 BCE to 700 CE, about India's history.

Fall of Civilizations :  Learning from failures is always a wise idea. Even though I am not in charge of an empire, I seem to be living in a failing one. This podcast looks at the collapse of a different civilization in each episode.

Arts, Architecture, Design .....  including things peripherally related to architecture like urban planning. 

99% Invisible: From one of the best podcast hosts/producers in the US, Roman Mars, this design podcast examines our every day environment and objects from a design angle. A top design, architecture and art podcast featured in many best-of lists.

Memory Palace: Nate DiMeo's voice is mesmerizing and soothing as he tells the stories of long forgotten people, places, things. Memory Palace is Podcast Americana at its finest and Nate DiMeo is how every podcaster should sound like if you ask me.

Articles of Interest: A podcast about what we wear. It is a "sub"-podcast of 99% Invisible.

Thinking Transportation: A podcast from Texas A & M Transportation Institute about transportation and planning. As a public transport enthusiast with some urban planning connections, I listen to keep it up with the world of transportation.

The Daily Poem : A poem a day is a podcast from the Academy of American Poets which present a previously unpublished poems from contemporary American poets, followed by a description of the poem and a re-read of the poem. A short and a calming podcast.

Science: All things under the wide umbrella of science.

Sean Carroll's Mindscape: While Carroll's own expertise is in physics, quantum mechanics, philosophy and cosmology, Mindscape dabbles in a wide variety of subjects talking to experts in pretty much every subject under the sun.

Redefining CyberSecurity: Working in technology, it is hard to escape the talk about cybersecurity and AI. This Sean Martin podcast covers the cyber security piece for me.

Stuff You Should Know : The title. I am not usually a fan of podcasts where there is more than one host with distracting banter and chuckles. This is one podcast I will excuse, even if it has two hosts, Charles W. "Chuck" Bryant and Josh Clark.

Brain Lenses : Hosted by Colin Wright, it is a podcast about how we see the world, ourselves and each other.

There are more podcasts to list like Reply All or Darknet Diaries. Maybe another day.

 I listen to podcasts on TuneIn Radio or AntennaPod, an open source podcast app. I don't really care for the podcasts that are only available on Apple podcasts(not an iPhone person) or Spotify. All these I've listed above are available in the two apps I use.

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Kummatty - A G. Aravindan Masterpiece

G. Aravindan's 1979 masterpiece, Kummatty is on Youtube, looking better than the original. The painstaking restoration effort, jointly done by World Cinema Foundation in the US, India’s Film Heritage Foundation and the Italian archive Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna has paid off. The vibrancy and the life in the restored print is unbelievable. The restored print is better than the original I had watched at least half a dozen times in my childhood. The restoration is a testament to the resolution and sharpness of the original analog film (Eastman color stock), even after all the negatives were lost and the restoration team had to rely on the positives, location shots and on the recollections of the original cinematographer.

Piper Kummatty and his band of followers.

Kummatty is a beautiful visual poem. A poem from a bygone Kerala, a Kerala that ceased to exist around the time the movie was made in the late seventies. It is the kind of movie you can show your American/western movie-buff friend representative of native Indian folklore on celluloid cautioning her/him the India depicted in this movie is as far removed from the present day India as snake-charmers and climbing rope-tricks.

A theyyam in the movie.

I first saw the movie when I was in 3 or 4 years old. It was promoted as a children's film. Although the director, G. Aravindan was of the opinion that he didn't consider it a children's film as he didn't like typifying his films, he said children may like it. Kerala state government went ahead and awarded it the best children's film for that year. Not to lose the opportunity to promote a world-class children's film, it was screened (almost) every weekend we visited the outdoor movie theater at the children's park at Napier Museum. I was traumatized every time I watched the movie. It was definitely not for little kids.

The mysterious figure of Kummatty, the dark vibe of the movie and the story (no spoilers) where one of my own kind (child) was thrown into deep 'existential' trouble and had to stay in that 'troubled' state waiting for the Kummatty to come back distressed me no end.

A real stray dog that landed a lead role in Kummatty.

G. Aravindan was not the most talkative of film makers. His films were contemplative visual poems. Kummatty is no different. When your main lead is a dog for the half the movie, dialog becomes dispensable. 

Aravindan's movies also served as vehicles for other talented people. Kummatty must be one of the finest cinematography projects ever helmed by Shaji N. Karun. In almost all of G. Aravindan's films, except the last couple, the camera was handled by the talented Shaji N. Karun. Well schooled in the mid to late twentieth century art house movie making techniques of long meditative shots and sparse dialog, Shaji N. Karun went on win Camera d'Or at Cannes with his own directorial debut composed along similar lines, Piravi, in 1989. 

G. Aravindan, Shaji N. Karun (photo courtesy Ramu Aravindan, son of G. Aravindan.)

The folk songs composed for Kummatty by Kavalam Narayana Panicker, set to music by M.G. Radhakrishnan have found a permanent place in the Malayalam cultural encyclopedia, with rebirths in the form of popular and rock songs by bands like Avial, decades after the movie was released.

Vilasini in one of the beautifully framed shots from Kummatty.

The only familiar face for me in this movie is of (Kuttyedathi) Vilasini. The choice of unknown actors or having common folks play part in his movie is also signature G. Aravindan. His movie, Kanchana Sita had tribal people from Andhra (location where it was filmed) playing main roles in that movie. Ashok who played the lead (kid), Chindan in Kummatty recently showed up at a screening of the restored version. Kummatty was the only movie he had ever acted in.

Kummatty's stash of animal crackers.

Kummatty sharing animal crackers treats with kids.

Kummatty is translated as 'the bogeyman' in the subtitles. I would disagree. Kummatty is not exactly a bogeyman, but he is more like a pied piper, luring kids with his songs, music, magic and animal crackers. Animal crackers are pretty symbolic in this story which is closely connected to animals. Unlike the piper from Hamlin, Kummatty has no ill intentions, he is an eternal child who finds joy and magic in the small things in life. The best compatriots he finds in his expeditions are children who share his sense of wonder and joy. 

Temple pond where Kummatty takes his bath, banyan tree and the temple in the background, where Chindan and his friends are seen watching the mysterious magic man.

Aravindan said Kummatty symbolized spring. He is a force of nature who visits a place according to his own schedule, like seasons. He comes after the rains, in spring, when lakes and ponds are abrim with water and nature is green and bountiful wearing its finest.

Evening market on the street, a common scene in mid twentieth century rural Kerala. Chindan played by Ashok is seen buying fish for his family's dinner.

Re-watching this timeless classic at the end of the first quarter of twenty-first century, it offers us a window into rural Kerala from half a century ago. None of these scenes will be naturally occurring anywhere in present-day Kerala. 

The social, political and cultural landscape of Kerala has irrevocably changed. The physical environment - built structures and the nature surrounding them, if they still exist untouched anywhere, are flanked by updated buildings and inundated with signs of progress like tin-sheet roofing or neon lighted billboards.

Chindan, with a pot of water, framed against the doorway of a typical Malabar home or temple, built of hewn laterite.

Kummatty was shot in my favorite part of the world, north Malabar. The rolling grasslands and sun burnt laterite hill tops of Kasargod where Kummatty frolics with his band of child followers is reminiscent of my childhood summers. The crimson faced theyyams and the local architecture in hewn laterite brings back memories of grand-parents and the cool interiors of ancestral homes. 

Kummatty takes us back to a lost world and a lost time,  where the pagan spiritual rituals, theyyams, bare chested grandmas and seasonal magic men co-existed with evening village markets and centuries-old banyan trees. At the discerning age I am now, Kummatty is no longer disturbing, the beautiful work of art has revealed itself, speaking of love, nature, (wo)man and the interconnectedness of it all. Thank you, G. Aravindan!

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