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Seldom do movies celebrate fatherhood. At least not in a way where the loving, compassionate, sacrificing, vulnerable and frail side of a father is portrayed on the big screen without glamorizing the stereotypical ‘manliness’ of screen dads. “Appa” is a movie dedicated to all the fathers. By the end credits, the audience agrees that the common perception of fathers is grossly wrong.

Written and directed by Darjeeling-based filmmaker Anmol Gurung, “Appa” has Kollywood’s own Daya Hang Rai playing ‘Birkhey driver’ and ‘appa’ (father) to Siddartha (Siddhant Raj Tamang). Birkhey, a happy-go-lucky driver who ferries tourists around the treacherous Siliguri-Darjeeling road, causes a fatal accident one day, partly because he is drunk. The accident kills a whole family of Bengali tourists with only Sid and Birkhey surviving the crash. Ridden by guilt and with natural protective instincts, Birkhey gets close to Sid, who in turn starts calling him ‘appa’. What follows in their lives is what “Appa” is all about.

The plot is simple and organic, so is the casting and the production. Rai as the loveable Birkhey finally makes an impact he had initially achieved in “Loot” (2012). After a string of movies that had him in repetitive and forgettable roles, Appa provides his fans a breath of fresh air. Birkhey, despite his drinking habits, is an affable chap, someone you’d love to know in real life. Rai has put so much life into the character that you feel every bit of emotion with him.

Also commendable in their roles are the youngsters Lama and Allona Kabo Lepcha as “Kavya,” his high school love interest. The couple look cute together and the best part is that they do not overdo the romantic bits. The innocence around ‘first love’ is rather sweetly maintained. Legendary filmmaker/actor Tulsi Ghimire also makes a comeback on the silver screen as a catholic priest/teacher with suiting dignity. Albeit in a supporting role, Aruna Karki as the friendly “anggie” (auntie, in local dialect)—a Sherpa woman who runs an eatery on the highway—is another kind-hearted, caring and immediately likeable character you’d want to meet for real. She’s a veteran and that’s how veterans should act. (Pun intended post-Dal Bhat Tarkari and Kumva Karan.)  

The best thing about Appa is that the young filmmakers from Darjeeling manage what most seasoned producers and directors in Nepal fail to—capture the essence of their location as well as of the local dialect. The cinematography is amazing and proves why Darjeeling is called the ‘Queen of the Hills.’ But more admirable is the characters in the film internalizing the ‘Daarj lingo’, which is quite popular even in Nepal for its unique diction and embedded humor.

The hills of Darjeeling resonate with music and director Gurung, who also takes credit for the film’s soundtracks along with Saikat Dev, has been able to capture the musicality that nature has given them. The songs in Appa are beautiful and the background score just fitting.

The film is evidently a low-budget production but Gurung has done a commendable job of holding together the screenplay for 1h 40m. The second half does get irritatingly Bollywoodish and at times lacks creativity, but all the good things about the film make up for these minor lapses.

Who should watch it?

Daya Hang Rai’s fans who have never lost their faith in him since “Loot” will definitely be proud of his role in “Appa”. Also, this is a family entertainer with an important message. It’s thus for everybody.

Rating: 3 stars

Genre: Family/Drama

Run time: 1 hr 40 mins

Director: Anmol Gurung

Actors: Daya Hang Rai, Allona Kabo Lepcha, Siddhant Raj Tamang, Tulsi Ghimire, Aruna Karki

In the geopolitical competition between global powers, it is hard to differentiate democracies from dictatorships. The Americans, the supposed global torchbearers of democracy, have repeatedly intervened in other countries to remove democratic governments and install their own puppet rulers. In this they are no different to the totalitarian Soviet Union that in its heyday dotted the world with its own puppet communist regimes, or the modern-day China trying to ‘buy’ influence abroad. By the same token, nor is the democratic India’s desire to maintain its absolute hegemony in South Asia out of place.

This is the central thesis of ‘How They Rule the World: The 22 Secret Strategies of Global Power’, a new book by Pedro Baños, a Spanish army colonel and an ex-member of the EU’s counter-intelligence corps. With the help of his knowledge gained working for various security organizations, Baños says powerful democracies and dictatorships alike use one or many of the same 22 strategies to get a leg-up on their competitors. He argues that on the global stage there are basically two types of countries: “the dominant” and “the dominated”. The first group “exerts control on a regional or global scale” while the second group is “controlled… in various ways—militarily, economically, culturally or technologically”. As the big powers try to get even more powerful, to avoid being devoured by this rivalry, the comparably smaller powers have no option but to fall in behind one of the big powers, or to join an alliance of like-minded countries.

But what are the strategies the big powers use to remain ahead of the pack? They may use the strategy of deterrence (‘winning without fighting’) or the strategy of encirclement (‘outmaneuvering adversaries’). Or they may feign and conceal (‘mastering deception’) or sow seeds of discord (‘defeating enemy from within’). The bottom-line is that these powers have the military and economic strength to compel smaller powers to do their bidding.

Baños says every geopolitical decision, from forging alliances to declarations of war to imposing economic sanctions, has an ulterior motive. “Concepts such as ‘human rights’ may be referred to, but countries will always act out of self interest.” What is ‘good’ or ‘bad’ is highly subjective in international relations, he says, and wants us to know of how we are being systematically manipulated. The author’s end-goal, however utopian the idea, is to build an international order “that strives for and prioritizes human security over national security.”

It’s an interesting, breezy read for anyone interested in big power politics. But the book is also a little disorganized. The 22 strategies comprise just one of the four parts of the book and they don’t always mesh well with the other three parts, each of which analyzes this politics through its own framework. A useful primer on the subject though.

After a series of career speedbumps, Shahid Kapoor is back on the highway riding his Royal Enfield Classic in and as ‘Kabir Singh’. And fueling Shahid’s Enfield is Telugu director Sandeep Reddy Vanga, who has secured this Bollywood remake for his first and only film ‘Arjun Reddy’. The ‘A’ rated movie revolves around its lead, Kabir Singh (Shahid Kapoor), a medical surgeon who follows a very strict diet plan: two loaves of toxic male ego for breakfast, three slices of anger issues for lunch, and two shots of drug abuse for dinner. And Kabir Singh is a 172-minute outcome of that diet.

In essence, Kabir Singh is a fifth year medical school ‘Harami’ who doubles as a teacher for the Delhi Institute of Medical Sciences. The film tries to portray Kabir as a genius macho chick magnet. But he actually comes off as this shallow, deplorable ego maniac who’s got zero respect for others. After a rough altercation with the college dean, he decides to leave the college, until he meets Preeti (Kiara Advani), a first year student. Like a typical Bollywood Romeo, he falls in love at first glance and instantly decides, yes, decides, that Preeti is his, and his only.

He then threatens every boy in the college not to even lay an eye on her. I was taken back by the simplicity and cuteness of Preeti, maybe even remotely crushing, until she surrendered to the whims of Kabir Singh like an ‘obedient loyal wife’. She never speaks out—not even when he randomly kisses her in front of the school, not when he makes her skip classes or takes her out to dates or even when he forces her to live with him. But I guess at some point the Stockholm syndrome kicks in and they’re in love.

Yet soon, their romance takes a wrong turn when Preeti’s father rejects their romantic affair and stresses that Preeti must marry a Sikh. Kabir, obviously, cannot handle the rejection and pours his anger on Preeti, emphasizing how she’s nobody in front of him, and even slaps her—and yet she comes back to him. I do not know what is more disgusting: the character of Kabir Singh or the fact that Preeti gives in so easily to his plastic machismo? 

Kabir Singh then goes into a self-destructive spiral to cope with the heartbreak. From treating patients under the influence of chemical substances to pulling out a knife when a women changes her mind about having sex with him, Kabir brings out the demon in him. And that is pretty much the whole movie, the life of Kabir that follows his big heartbreak with Preeti.

I can’t help but appreciate Shahid Kapoor’s acting in this film. Kabir Singh is easily one of his best roles. Nobody else I can imagine could have carried it off better. Kiara didn’t really get to experiment much in terms of acting but she’s graceful when she needs to and persuasively emotional.

A Holi scene stood out for me. There’s a party at the college, and Preeti doesn’t show up, greatly worrying Kabir. “What are you saying? Who is that guy,”—someone has done something terrible to his girl—Kabir shouts on his phone as the camera pans to him on his Royal Enfield, furious, as people around watch in awe, riding towards the girls’ hostel as the movie’s best soundtrack is playing in the background. The cinematographer, actor and the sound director are in perfect symphony.

Kabir Singh, as a piece of cinema, is a solid entertainer. You will enjoy the ace acting of Kapoor, the melodious voice of Arijit Singh and the action sequences. The only problem with the movie is the blatant normalization and glorification of a ‘manly’ (actually sick) character like Kabir Singh. Movies like Kabir Singh should exist though; they stand a testament to the fact that our society is still full of people who idealize the Kabirs of this world. But ‘Kabir Singh’ does exactly one thing perfectly: it constantly reminds you of the original movie, frame to frame, dialogue to dialogue.

Who should watch it?

An ‘A’ rated film, it’s a no-no for children. For the rest, watch the movie, no problem. It is a solid entertainer. But pray, resist from glorifying the character of Kabir Singh as you get caught up in red-in-tooth-and-claw cinematic spectacle.

Kabir Singh

Run Time: 2h 52 m

Director: Sandeep Reddy Vanga

Genre: Action

Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Kiara Advani, Arjan Bajwa

3 stars

 In the autumn of 1612, in the courts of Lancaster (a county town of Lancashire) in England, 12 people were tried for witchcraft and hav­ing familiar spirits—a demon that appears to obey a witch, usually in the form of an animal. This was perhaps the most notorious witch trial of the 17th century where only one was found not guilty. One died in custody, and the rest were hung. What went on to become the legend of the Pendle witches is a dark tale of execution that only makes up just two percent of all the people, mostly women, executed over three centu­ries in England.

Set against the backdrop of this Pendle witch trials, ‘The Famil­iars’ is Stacey Hall’s debut novel in which many characters are based on real people. Fleetwood Shut­tleworth, mistress of Gawthorpe Hall, has had three miscarriages and she’s pregnant for the fourth time. She has inadvertently read a letter from her doctor, addressed to her husband, Richard, which says she might not survive childbirth. And so she hires a midwife, Alice Gray, to ensure she and her baby both live.

Alice, though having a “low social status”, is a gifted midwife who has learnt from her mother all about delivering a baby. She believes she can safely deliver the child and keep the mother out of harm’s way as well. But her use of different herbs and potions to do so is seen as malev­olent magic and Alice is accused of practicing witchcraft and taken into custody. By then, Fleetwood and Alice have formed a bond and are like sisters and Fleetwood vows to save Alice from the fate that awaits her.

Though many of the characters in The Familiars are historical figures, Halls goes beyond a fictional retelling of the legend of the Pendle witches. Through Fleetwood and Alice, she explores what it means to be women and how they are capable of the impossible when their love and limits are tested. Historical fiction can be tricky to get right especially as you have to make sure the facts aren’t distorted while keeping things exciting, and this is where Halls shines. She manages to provide an engaging viewpoint through her protagonist Fleetwood and keeps you intrigued and at the edge of your seat till the very end.

Book: The Familiars

Genre: Historical Fiction

Author: Stacey Hall

Publisher: Zaffre

Published: February 2019

Language: English

Pages: 420, Paperback