Revenant_A Titanic Realisation

The name of Leonardo di Caprio is known to all and foremost because of a great tragedy where a flock of rich people set on a cruise died as their ship sunked and drowned into the sea. The reason is well-known.  The sole accused of it all was a huge iceberg hidden underwater in the North Atlantic Ocean  standing there like a rock, unmoved. And Leo had to die.  Although the love story in the movie was a fiction but his role must have been of many of those lovers who had to go through the same.  After a 100 years and more of the incident and decades after the movie,  Hugh Glass shows you that those icebergs cannot break ships now.
He is very concerned about how the entire world has found a way to melt those icebergs and left only a few standing but fortunately not big or strong enough to break another Titanic.
Ladies and gentlemen he very much means the Global Climatic Change.
Although the Oscar winning movie for best director and actor is about a legend of a rarely known Native- American myth. But during the long enduring hours of shooting in natural light and the number of places he had to roam to find snow as they desired to shoot the conditions of the 18th century, he had a Titanic Realisation. A realization of the rise in the global temperature, that could be extremely felt in those polar regions.
He was so moved that he made his most awaited Oscar winning speech about this very matter. He said:    
" Making  The Revenant was about man's relationship to the natural world. A world that we collectively felt in 2015 as the hottest year in recorded history. Our production needed to move to the southern tip of this planet just to be able to find snow. Climate change is real, it is happening right now. It is the most urgent threat facing our entire species, and we need to work collectively together and stop procrastinating. We need to support leaders around the world who do not speak for the big polluters, but who speak for all of humanity, for the indigenous people of the world, for the billions and billions of underprivileged people out there who would be most affected by this. For our children’s children, and for those people out there whose voices have been drowned out by the politics of greed. I thank you all for this amazing award tonight. Let us not take this planet for granted. I do not take tonight for granted. Thank you so very much."

I only have to say that this man chose a time when the world was watching him to stand for this cause. Isn't it late for us to realise our part to do with this terrible change in the planet that they have to make a movie and then an Oscar speech about it, so that  we get the severity of it.

THE EPIC TV

It's been long since I was with a TV remote in my hand and I am not in a dilemma of what to watch. I always end up with the Home Box Office or Travel & Living or one of those other channels, mostly with eyes on American Soap Operas or British Reality Shows. When I turn to maybe look over the Indian TV channels, what could be seen are copies of the those British Reality Shows and then pricey Indian TV dramas and melodramas all round the clock. Some tried to go a different route and started sensationalizing crimes in the country instead of really making an attempt at awareness. One can be amazed at the level of journalism that can be noticed in the News Channels lately.It's clear that the competition is fierce as they always have that urge to be the first on spot and to spot.      

I'm really sad that I no longer have TV shows that I long to watch, not even on weekends.Unfortunately, there are far too many channels and production houses that don't feel the same.

Thank Heavens and Man for YouTube and Google for being there when someone really wants something meaningful. Being born in the 90's which also means I was a witness to the time when there was only one TV channel called DOORDARSHAN and then another was added later called DD Metro. Although I was a little late for the first series broadcast of Ramayana and Mahabharata but caught hold of them while I still had time. There used to be Gyan Darshan and Bharat Ki Khoj and Tenali Rama and Vikram Betal and Rangoli on Sundays. Everyone had their show and everyone had their time. 

Times change and so do we and we always want more and we were given so much more. There are almost 200 TV channels now in different languages although it's still difficult to comprehend if we got exactly what we wanted from Television. I do not indicate that we have all those good old shows now in the 21st century.I only strongly suggest we have originality and native character and stop taking inspiration from Hollywood for once. I love Hollywood but they have enough of their own and they don't really need us to back them up and to mimic their movies and shows.

Although since I don't stay home and happen to be a victim of hostel incarceration, I haven't frequented TV since two years now. Then when I came home in December, 2015 my sister recommended EPIC (TV channel) and seemed confident I would develop an inclination towards it. This is a Hindi Television station with a focus on Indian history, folklore and mythology. Attempting to make the Indian Native genre contemporary ,this channel has won the hearts of many. Personally, I am liking this a lot. The channel has been broadcasting shows that I yearn for. 

The non-fiction shows that deal with Forgotten Indian Spies

 and places of Historical Importance

and lost Recipes and the Bandits of British India

and the shows that feature stories of Tagore and folklore from different parts of the country. 

There are other favorites hosted by Indian greats like Naseeruddin Shah narrating 

Mid-Wicket tales ,

Javed Jafri takes us back to the reminiscent songs of the 90's and Mahesh Bhatt comes with evolution of landmark cinema studios and the dreams that made Indian Cinema a reality.

The best bit is the short and pretty videos that come in between two shows, called EPICGRAMS that exhibit amazing and unknown tales of Buddha Sutra and Itihaas and forgotten currencies of the Indian mainland in just 5-10 minutes. 

For the history freak that I am this is my dream come true from Indian Television.The collection and line-up are a treat. And I can't get enough of it already.Makes me happy that the kids have something to look up-to as well as the parents and the grand parents. This is a new channel and I hope it stays and prospers and keeps exploring the load of native creativity and history and the stories of the mainland from times now and then. 

THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW

  I don't know whether to call it a coincidence but there couldn't have been a better time for "The Day After Tomorrow" to be featuring on Star Movies demonstrating the extreme weather conditions and the somehow exaggerated but possible consequences of the deranged conditions of today. 

Having just a tiny bit or absolutely no idea of how the climate is making it's mind to change, but I can't possibly deny the catastrophic conditions all around the planet. Every part is suffering its bit without really knowing whom to blame. 

Supposedly and hopefully the Ice Age will take centuries and maybe a millennium to strike but even then the current state of events in Chennai and all of Tamilnadu experiencing up to a 150% increase in rains than normal , the mining disaster in Brazil destroying cities and rivers, rendering people homeless and jobless, the disappearance of the Kiribaki islands, the absurd drop in temperatures everywhere and the glaciers that have been forever trying to scare us with the threatening melting scale scares me or at least concerns me. 

Then there was a dust storm that caught me yesterday followed by continuous heavy rains that trapped people in the nooks of the city disrupting all traffic and power lines. And hence there was a certain degrees drop in the temperature I wasn't comfortable adjusting to. Well, belonging to a place frequented by rains, people don't see rains nor floods as a concern for climate change. Maybe they are innocent rains paying a visit or maybe reminders of our doom. But in places that don't get  much rains that may be a sign to worry about . 

While the 21st Climate Change Conference goes on in Paris on this day, thousands of deaths by lightning in India is discussed. Although, the World Leaders think there are much bigger problems than the climate.They say that the climate has been changing forever and it will keep on that way and that we shouldn't be concerned. A host of leaders in the U.S think ISIS is a greater issue than Climate Change. Some of them maybe got confused between weather and climate and others well they are political leaders.

Trains are getting cancelled and airports are closing for undetermined time beings, that pretty much makes a movie scene, doesn't it ? With war, and floods and rains and cold and heat, it scares me like the most of us and puts me with a question. What if all we've been preparing is for a future that doesn't exist. I mean for the Syrian refugees having nothing at all, the people in the Kiribass can't even see the land where they once lived,what do you suppose of a future they are rooting for? 

We have always been inside a safe cocoon and dreaming of luxuries of life and putting aside the slightest possibility of Armageddon to strictly fantasy. The IIIrd World War would start in a century and the sun would burn us up in a million years but it looks like we and our ignorance will pull us to that black hole of darkness much faster than we aspire to.. if we don't really man up now. The winter is coming and its gonna bring along its own set of white walkers too, we need to get some lot of dragon glass if we hope to defeat them.

THE SONG CALLED GERUA.

Talking about catastrophe and "Dilwale" being compared to "Inception", I am sure the brand new song release Gerua from the upcoming movie Dilwale has grabbed your precious attention as well, as it sure has mine. I have no idea what the movie is all about but the song seems quite intriguing to me.

For a personal opinion, I think it is a beautifully shot song in a number of beautiful locations.

Born in the 1990's, I cannot say I am not an admirer of the pair of Shahrukh Khan and Kajol but that's not what I am trying to say. The cinematography is gorgeous. They are so good that people condemned the production saying that the locations are not real and that they are a product of Computer Generated Imagery. Then a video surfaced showing the making of the song proving all those allegations wrong.But that is also not what I am trying to say here.

When I first saw the song on YouTube I had absolutely no idea of where the song was shot. But what I thought was that it was beautiful, there is art in the compositions , the colours and the locations seemed too good to be true. But what I also thought that it was quite a bit catastrophic or should I say apocalyptic at the same time. There are a number of instances in the song telling me that. Like the one where they are standing amidst what looks like hail the size of a football and some smaller to the size of a golf ball maybe. And then there is a rainbow resulting out of the hailstorm that just passed.

The Skogafoss Waterfall.

There is a boat in a dried up or seemingly dead sea with black sand. Like they are lost and crying out for help. Although those colours couldn't have been more appealing.

The Black Sand Beach (Vik, Iceland)

then there is a crashed plane in the middle of nowhere,and not a soul is to be sighted in like what a kilometre radius or more maybe.

The abandoned DC plane in Solheimasandur.

They are also singing their hearts out standing on the clearly melting Icebergs. 

The Jokusarlon Glacial Lake.

              and to top it all a lake so shallow that there is only enough water to show that it's a lake.

The Shallow Lake in Stokknes

To show that theirs is an eternal "Jodi" I don't know what could have been a better depiction. This song also aptly depicts that the times have changed from the lush yellow-green fields of DDLJ to the crashed planes in Dilwale. More so, the climate has changed quite a bit too. The fact that they went from cliche Bollywood locations to deep dark exotic locations in Iceland shows a transformation. 

Having said that, I should also say that there are a few instances in the song showing rainbows and waterfalls and Kajol in a red saree too but what the heck, it is after all a Bollywood song. Also, all those locations are the true natural wonders of Iceland and none of them are a result of any kind of disastrous activity. Iceland is one of the countries which have managed to keep the demon of pollution at bay so far. 

I don't know if you'll agree but I can at least ask to take another close look at the video and let me know if you feel the same.