The House of the Dragon

From Game of Thrones to The House of the Dragon

George R. R. Martin’s most celebrated work “A Song of Ice and Fire” was adapted to HBO Drama series in the year 2011 and since then “GOT” had nailed manifold controversial sparks at every corner of the globe. Game of Thrones was in fact a league of its own and has brought a revolution with its flagship western world. The tectonic map of the multilayered characters which are beyond human perceptions have been put to numerous debates and discussions since then. Peppered with the distinctiveness of characters and contextual arcs, GOT has contributed immensely to the depth of human psychology as well as the insinuation of political correctness and poetic justice. From Dragons to Dire-wolves, from incest to patricide, from bastards to natural heirs and from Myths to fantasies, Game of Thrones is a saga of human lives and human rights within the plethora of kingdoms, dynasties and clans in the land of Westeros. Game of Thrones is all about unfolding the psychological blankets of the countless characters thereby decoding the pulse of justice that was meted out during the medieval age of Legends, Swords and Divine Law.

The curvature of the plot of Game of Thrones suggests that the story takes place in 298 AC. However, the cultural benchmarks and architectural designs along with the costumes rope us into the middle ages where Knights’ tournament and Trial by Combat are common amidst the Divine Law of the King. Nonetheless, Human Rights and Balance in justice can be the most slouching elements in A Game of Thrones. Inhuman treatments coupled with torture like the Red Wedding, Purple Wedding and Proclaimed assassinations are part of the Throne Game. Slavery as seen in the Slaver’s bay, the abuse of the unsullied warriors, unfair trials and unending discriminations speak volumes about the cruelty and barbarism behind unchecked power during this dramatic era. Game of Thrones is incontrovertibly far away from the contours of justice and legitimacy and it definitely bends the very many sympathetic characters to the role of antagonists in the global viewer perception.

However, he release of the House of Dragons have put the global fanbase to more curiosity. Season 1 has revealed the first 3 episodes pushing the fans from the slow pace to more actively oriented battlefields. There is yet to wait and watch.......!!!

Dr. Krishna Sunder 

Chimerica

Chimerica - Lucy Kirkwood

Act One - 8 scenes 

Act One, Scene 1 begins with the image of the Tank man (a Chinese man in a white shirt with two shopping bags) at the Tiananmen Square. He is a young Chinese protestor and his photograph was captured by an American reporter named Joe Schofield through a Hotel window. (This happens in the year 1989) Scene 2 describes the conversation between Joe Schofield and his editor Frank Hadley. While Joe is at Tiananmen square at China, his editor is in America. As the Tank Man appears, Joe captures his pictures and meanwhile gets attacked by the Chinese Police as the scene closes. However, 23 years later, Joe conducts another investigation to trace the history of the Tank Man. Act One is juxtaposed between two time frames 1989 and 2012. (Tiananman square protest and American Elections respectively). His return to Beijing and his meeting with his old friend Zhang Lin makes him realise that the Tank man is still alive. Zhang Lin’s brother Zhang Wei, whose son Benny is studying at Harvard is also mentioned in the scenes. According to the brothers, the Tank Man’s name is Wang Pengfei and he is still alive in the United States. Joe’s return to New York forces him to conduct his investigation on this Tank Man. He meets another journalist named Paul Kramer to get more details as his earlier article mentioned the execution of the Tank man. However, his attempt goes futile. He decides to continue his search. The act also introduces two other characters Mel Stanwyck, a colleague of Joe who accompanies him during his trip to China. We also meet a lady character named Tessa Kendrick whom Joe meets from the airplane during his journey. The first act also exposes the past incidents in the life of Zhang Lin in the year 1989 during the hunger strike along with his wife Liuli. We also hear about their coughing neighbour - an old lady named Ming Xiaoli.

Act Two - 8 scenes 

Act two begins at Colarado. The year is 2012 with the United States Presidential Election going on. As Joe scuddles through his investigation for the young Chinese protestor, he gets a call from Frank informing about two advertisements placed by a woman in the Beijing Evening News. One is “in memory of the mothers who lost on 64” and the second is “ To Wang Pengfei, the unknown hero of the square”. 64 refers to June 4th, 1989 when the massacre happened at the Tiananmen square. As the censorship part of every country wants their history of atrocity erased from every paper, the girl named Mary Chang who published the news got fired and ends up in a strip club. Hearing the turn of events, Joe and Mel meet Mary Chang to get the identity of the woman who placed the add and her name is Feng Meihui. Meanwhile Zhang Lin in his apartment keeps recording the past events of 1989 through a microphone. He narrates his love story as a young man and how he saw the beautiful Liuili in an Appliance store opening the door of a brand new refrigerator. He goes and buys the refrigerator and his fantasy makes him think that the beautiful girl is inside the refrigerator. Joe somehow finds the address of the woman who placed the add and meets her along with her daughter Jenifer. She speaks about her lost son who got killed in the crib with a bullet. She confesses that the second add was given by her for an unknown person as he offered her money. She remembers his name as Jimmy Wang. She also adds that he should be working in a flower store now. As per this information, Joe and Mel visit the flower store and meet a man called Pengsi, but unfortunately couldn’t gather more ideas on the Tank man. 

Act Three - 7 scenes

As Act three opens, we find Joe, Mel and Tess involved in a political conversation from Joe’s apartment. Soon after this, Frank meets Joe and asks him to drop the story of the Tank man which makes Joe completely frustrated. In Beijing, Zhang Lin sells the refrigerator he bought in the year 1987 to a young businesswoman named Deng. Xioli dies and Zhangh Lin continues his writing about pollution and smog. Joe continues his hunt for the tank Man. 

Act Four - Eleven Scenes

As Election work happens in America, Zhang Lin’s apartment in Beijing is searched by security men. Lin’s online writings on party corruption and smog was noted by the party officials. His laptop is seized, he is handcuffed and is dragged out of the apartment. It is understood that his article was firewalled as it was illegal to incite unrest through online articles according to Chinese Law. As he had passed the same write up to Joe in New York, he too suffers the consequences. Zhang Lin is now tied to a chair and his whole body covered with wounds and electric shock is administered. The scene then shifts to 1989 where Zhang Lin and Liuili wait at Tiananman square for the protest. He keeps Luili at a hidden zone to protect her from rubber bullets as she was pregnant and tired. The scene again shifts where David hands over an address slip to Joe and Joe goes in search of the Tank man again. Joe reaches the earlier flower store of Pengsi and kicks up a row. At the end he realises that the soldier in that picture was in fact Pengsi’s brother and Pengsi is not the Tank man’s brother as Joe had thought. Pengsi also adds that his soldier brother was executed for his soft hearted nature. His brother was the soldier who drove the tank. Soon after this, the police arrests Joe and he is bailed out by Frank while Tess along with Benny wait at the Restaurant for Joe.  

Act Five - 4 Scenes 

The Act begins with a conversation between Zhang Lin and Zhang Wei. Zhang Lin plans for an American trip. On the other side in New York, Joe meets a pregnant Tess. Tess is dating Mike but Joe realises that it is his child. The very next scene begins with a gallery Exhibition by Joy at Midtown Manhattan which includes the eponymous picture of the Tank man. Mel comes to the gallery and during the conversation between Mel and Joe, Benny - Zhang Lin’s nephew appears along with his father. Their talk gives a hint to the real identity of the Tank man. Zhang Wei hands over a recorded audio from Zhang Lin to Joe and he listens and he understands that the real tank man is none other than Zhang Lin. Lin was wounded in the Tiananman square protest and Liuili, his pregnant wife was killed. A nurse offers him a new white shirt and she packs all the remaining belongings of the dead Luili in two grocery bags to Lin. He carries it and walks towards the Tank. The men look at one another as the story comes to an end. 

Dr. Krishna Sunder A. 

Kuruthi - Malayalam Movie Review

Kuruthi -  Malayalam Movie Review

Manu Warrier’s “Kuruthi” is definitely a brilliant take on the destabilisation of communal harmony with a phenomenal star cast. As the subtitle goes, the crux of the story is the eternal chase to win one’s cause from two diverse perspectives - ‘a vow to kill and an oath to protect’. Now what if one could twist, twirl and topple these abstract concepts of spilling blood and offering refuge within the window of one’s own judgements? From script to screenplay and from cinematography to background score, “Kuruthi” has treaded on with a new facet in the Malayalam Film industry. The topic being much controversial and sticky to its core, the director has meticulously mesmerised the audience by depicting the majoritarian hegemony as well as the minoritarian insecurities in an unbiased, neutral way. 

The movie is all about how the labyrinths of perspectives can wash you down according to the lens of your faith. The story unspools in the current socio-political scenario with a deepening message to the audience. The movie mirrors how subtle shades of faith can unroot and derail one’s own self within the larger context of the community to which one belongs to. The story begins with the protagonist - Ibrahim - in his bereavement as a man in the woods and features him within the thin contours of fragility. However, his character takes shape into its complete vigour as the story unboxes. Despite the odds, his frailty dilapidates into an aura of strength confronting the sinister backdrop in which he gets placed. The tangled layers of relationships and the subtle nuances of individual ideologies are interwoven in such a way that the shades of what is right and what is wrong often get blurred in multiple dimensions. The script ingeniously triumphs in portraying the fact that the hues of intimate relationships can sway when tested through the doors of belief systems and religious convictions.

A major share of the story happens within the murky confinement of a house in darkness and the string of incidents through which the plot unfolds have been pictured in a beguiling way. Being a debutant director in the Malayalam industry, Warrier nails it with a logical and convincing layer of lucid action. There are perfectly no extraneous scenes and each dialogue contributes to the cohesive binding of the plot. With no loose ends and with a strategic chutzpah, the movie has indeed set an indelible mark in the recent history of Malayalam Movie industry. With a couple of recent movies making futile attempts in portraying the communal divide, “Kuruthi” gets it completely right with its coherent effort which doesn’t look as ‘thrusted upon’. On the other hand, it glides instrumentally to a framework of farrago to build its concepts and messages gradually. 

It is strikingly hard to describe the star cast as each character has tried to surpass the other. Prithviraj Sukumaran hits the spot with his entry and exposition with his unprecedented diabolical presence which runs with the same balance throughout. The obnoxious ambience that he splits open, coupled with the miasmic reactions, pull the spectators through tough times in their attempt to locate his moral correctness. Roshan Mathew’s performance turns striking as the character Ibrahim is psychologically complex amidst the convoluted ball game. The grandeur of his character unravels through the inconsistency that he consistently portrays. Words would take a backseat to delineate the character Moosa, played by Mamukoya. Moosa is so akin to the ideologies of brotherhood despite the differences to which he puts up with and Mamukoya has in fact stolen the entire show with his artful dialogues and crispy punches ranging from myth to history. His name as Moses (The prophet) is befitting in every sense as a lion’s share of preachings come from this character. The only woman character - Suma -  played by Srindaa makes it more adorable with an equally demanding role along with the male star cast. Shine Tom, Murali Gopy and Manikandarajan too make the cast memorable with their roles. Their roles were equally captivating considering the lesser screen time they met with. 

“Kuruthi” is not just a movie, but an experience to realise how certain religious nuances can make and break you in a flicker of seconds. In addition to this experience, the two hour movie is a visual extravaganza.The story that begins in a windswept manner slowly picks up the pace and works wonders with Ramanujam’s cinematography combined with Bejoy’s musical score. The question of poetic justice and the counter arguments of being right and being wrong is further dissected within the movie. The movie juxtaposes social and individual stances and converges at a point where "rights and wrongs" remain inextricable.The movie has in its web the power of vengeance, the incertitude of promises, the conflict of emotions, the contradictions within religion and the vacillating flow of anger and hatred.

This is indeed a perfect action thriller and will definitely keep you glued to your seat till the last scene. The cliffhanger ending is in turn a writing on the wall to the insane roads humans travel in the name of religion and faith and the director narrates it in an incontrovertible way, swaddled in an illusive maze of intense dramatic scenes sans picking sides.

In short, a masterpiece coordinated to its perfection with a gripping plot which in turn is merged with an outstanding rendition by its cast.

Dr. A. Krishna Sunder

Sufiyum Sujatayum - Movie Review

Sufiyum Sujatayum - Movie Review

Being the first ever Over The Top (OTT) release in Malayalam movie Industry, “Sufiyum Sujatayum” was a much anticipated movie of the year despite the covid-times. The released trailer unquestionably induced a temporal shift towards a magical haven where the unseen would wrap the unheard. This movie definitely is a chronicle of an all-pervasive romance that implants a sense of ubiquity cherishing the trails of amorous roots within an individual-spirit. However, the movie could not fulfil its promise to a greater extent considering the strength of its plot in its unified blend. The overwhelming musical cavalcade and the picturesque serenity of the locations were indeed traded with the internal consistency of the plot. 

“Sufiyum Sujatayum” is definitely a visual treat and the experience would have definitely doubled undoubtedly with a theatrical release.  Nevertheless, the plot in its complete sense does not flame up to extricate the seeds germinated within this potent romance. The exceptional romantic fervour somehow droops down and gets arrested for a further reverberation of its fierceness. Dev Mohan, as a debutant fits flawlessly for his role of Sufi as a detached, distant character whose expression begins and ends with his legend of love. Aditi Rao becomes a paramour of grace and an icon not through the way in which her character unfolds, but with her refined, emphatic Kathak subtleties. The veterans of the industry, both Jayasurya and Siddhique handles their roles in the most convincing and unexceptional traits. Wean them out of the plot and the integration of the work automatically falls flat. 

Though the movie is an unsurpassed tale of love, it digresses at occasions many and takes a wild turn protruding into nothingness. The contemporariness of the society could be pulled in convincingly but the communal fractions or the spasms of a long-lost love could not be sketched well enough. The redundancy of the sequences which girdled the love between them turned to be one of the factors which placed the strength of the work at jeopardy. The romance turns sloppy further in its progressive track and loses its preciseness towards a well-knit structural purity. 

The final question that remains in the mind of the audience is what this Movie was all about. The emotional solidarity which could have been well established in a romantic tale gets confused with manifold digressions and extraneous impacts. Nonetheless, the Background score as well as the musical nuances by M. Jayachandran was mind-blowing. Anu Moothedath, on the other hand, deserves a great applause for his Camera frames and Cinematography. The editing by Deepu Joseph  also stands commendable. The directorial part too had done justice to the way in which the movies takes a very engaging turn. Despite these peripheral charms that entice the audience, the final take-away from the movie remains as a huge question mark. 

All said and done, the movie is a quintessential magical tale depicting a relationship which soothes your eyes as well as your ears and captures your attention till the end. If we are to pertain ourselves to the motto of Sufism, the film fails to find its “inward dimensions” to the real effect. Despite the panoramic frame of visions and mesmerising background score, the plot withered in many areas and could not fringe the solitary vigour of the romance on which the entire story had been hooked upon. Engagingly crafted and masterfully directed, the movie will surely keep you entertained despite its lack of coherence with the theme it upheld. It does supply the catalyst for entertainment, but not the subject. 

A. Krishna Sunder