Aham Brahmasmi

Ever since I read the original First they came... about the collective cowardice of certain German sections against the rising power of Hitler's Nazis, I have always been haunted by it. It is dark, it is ominous, it is prophetic, and yet it is poetic. And given that our current Prime Moron and his bunch of thugs started the process of culling years ago to suit their particular brand of chest-thumping, barbaric, hate-mongering, pig-headed Hindutva, I have been dwelling on what that particular post-war confession portends for our nation. So, here’s what I think –  First they came for the Muslims. And I did not speak out because I was not a Muslim. Then they came for the educationists. And I did not speak out because I was not an educationist. Then they came for the liberal-minded and nonconformists. And I did not speak out because I was neither. Then they came for the rational thinkers. And I did not speak out because I was not a rational thinker. Then they came for our souls. And...

The Netflix descriptor of this movie reads “Bound by the law, he let them walk free. He’s no longer a judge – but he’ll stop at nothing to seek justice.” The idea of a retired judge going rogue kind of drew me in, especially in the light of our current societal structure where the rich and the well-connected get away with pretty much anything under the sun. And when I saw that Anupam Kher was playing the protagonist, I thought it’d be a decent movie. Boy, was I mistaken!   The lingering, bitter aftertaste of this movie is that of bad acting. And I mean really bad acting, even from the likes of Rajesh Sharma who is generally so convincing and relatable. Anupam Kher tries very hard to oscillate between the retired-judge-relaxing-with-family and the calculative vigilante, failing monumentally in both. Esha Gupta’s awful supposedly-Haryanvi accent (which disappears completely in a few scenes) and appalling acting results in a lousy caricature of a strong, no-holds-barred woman polic...

Maybe one day, you and I will look into a mirror and see the cracks between us. Maybe one day, the vacuum inside me will resist the call of your eyes. Maybe one day, I will scream into the void and lend my ears to the echoes of despair. Maybe one day, the cost of dying will be lesser than the price of love.