Dhurandhar

I went to watch the movie after much hype induced due to its huge positive feedback but also supplemented more by the negative ones. I had a hunch that this movie will be different as I found the Director's last movie being a Genre redefining stylized Military movie riding on some techno thumping soundtrack. If was a mix and mash of pop Military action. Dhurandhar got dissolved over a weeks' time in the membranes. It evoked a recall value even though there was a thought pulling me aside and telling me it was just an ok movie. But what are the barometers which define it as ok. 

The comparison was with earlier movies produced by the industry (YRF movies) which were weak contextualized copies or filtered down versions of the Western stylized spy movies like James Bond. They also had their own audience who were ok with its universal good vs bad conflict without thinking much even when it has storylines where two arch nemesis agencies RAW and ISI collaborated to defeat a bigger enemy who was essentially a rogue agent who had gone astray. It would have still been an ok movie if it had followed the same trope, along with the real-life incidents it interspersed with. But it went bit different. 

Dhurandhar infused certain rawness and ruggedness associated with a life of a spy trying to make his way through the animal kingdom of the Underworld - Terror nexus. It showed that you can't reach to the top without actually starting right at the bottom of the pecking order, clawing your way up by intensely faking loyalty and still might get defeated or found out on the way. Espionage is a process, sowing oneself deep in the enemy network is a painstaking effort where confidence to endure is tested at each stage. As the older spook tells Hamza " I had to wait tables and wash dishes for 6 odd years and then slowly built a network". A covert operation is probable only if the land is ploughed and ready for seeds to be sown. Hamza got sown in the network only because Alam had ploughed the land for years to make it ready and yet it was not easy for the former at first go. It also showed the nexus and gulf between the hardened but lowly crime gangs of Lyari and politicians in the larger Karachi landscape. Even an underworld gang lord like Rehman or Uzair had to tow in line with low life political intermediary like Jameel.  Even if the former had to reach right at the top (read Bhutto-Zardari), likes of Jameel fiercely guarded those pathways. And when Rehman tried to trespass, it invited unscrupulousness of Jameel who bought in Rehman Choudhary, the bad ass cop to defang Rehman. The hardcore and scornful Cop is the only one who seems to be aligned with the audience in it common purpose to see the enemy defeated, in this case it being the Rehman/Uzair gangs of Lyari.  But the cop is also painted as a person of mixed intention when it becomes apparent that his allegiances are also tied to one in the top who is yet to be names. Within the nexus you have the ideologically bent hard core religious extremist led by the wily ISI Major Iqbal. It shows that how the state or non-state of Pakistan decentralizes powers in the hand of deranged actors like Iqbal who will go to any means close the loop between the jihadi terrorist and the underworld to carry out violent terror attacks. The torture scene of a spy may have been hard for the eyes, but it symbolized the visceral hate against India that is enmeshed in the minds of certain agencies and groups across the border. The assembly of the entire Terror-Underworld gang including the financers Khannani brothers, the religious extremists during the 26/11 scene where Hamza finds himself unwittingly in middles of the "feast of the Jackals", triggered a fire of vengeance which had been slowly building as per plan till now. The Politician's daughter who Hamza courts becomes an innocent pawn in the act of retribution indicating how even people who have nothing to do with crime get drawn into the schemes unknowingly.

It almost fell like the character of Ajay Sanyal was Ajit Doval by exterior but actually Aditya Dhar by intention. It was the Director's way of telling how things should have played out even if there might be iota of truth in the Black Ops Spy training as mentioned in few scenes of the movie and backstory of Hamza which is waiting to be unraveled. The pain and agony of Sanyal is the Director's reaction as much as it is the audience emotions as well. One could see the pattern in the recent YRY spy verse (hate the aping, Marvel Universe!!), where movies barring Pathan - which was successful more due to the charisma of the comeback start SRK - none of the movies have worked out well. It also signifies the changing mindset of the audience who are much more exposed to the current affairs thanks to X, Facebook and Instagram, feel disconnected from the make-believe world which the earlier spy movies propagated. In the past there were movies like the well-made "D Day", relatively successful "Baby" & Phantom which ventured into more real and hard-hitting spy genre, but those were still the early days, and the likes of "Tiger" franchise made hay.  These are the times where Pakistan and its delusional narrative is laid bare. Its policy of state sponsored terrorism to counter India seems very visible under the thin linen of Terror-denial which Pakistani establishment again and again voices out. Hence audience is more receptive of a narrative where calling a spade a spade makes more sense rather than being wishful and aspirational about harmony. 

Dhurandhar has aptly packaged this narrative well by incorporating the composite elements which create the mindset of the terror sympathizers along with dollops of fiction , a bevy of smart hard-hitting minor characters who have a screen presence of their own , aspects of Shakespearean betrayal with an uplifting and reverberating music which make alive each and every scene and character keeping the tempo of the movie obstacle free . And finally, the unrequired hate for India in the key negative characters which makes the purpose of likes of Hamza, Sanyal and Alam not only theirs but also of each Indian, who are ready to wreck spite with extreme spite which will be played in the upcoming part.

how to think like a proxy investor

 

The dilemma in a post-modernist world

It has always been identity of nations which have been driving them. The US always looks to itself as upholder of moral ethics associated with libertarian values and democracy. Even nations like India have a policy of being restrained and non-aligned as much as possible in the world conflicts. 

But today we are living in a hyper interconnected world not only in terms of economic interdependence but also on the social platform between individuals across the world. And this is something the nations who rules the roost till now constantly undermine.

For example, US was always tied in its identity of being the guiding light upholder of democratic values which is as per the Constructivism playbook. It was able to plant a discourse, using the Post structuralism school of thought, to the effect of us vs them in fight against terrorism or during the Iraq war. It had relatively successful in this moral framing up until the last decade where it waged wars in Libya, Syria albeit with a more covert method or Smart Wars as coined by Obama. But the same framing is not working in today's time.

In Ukraine war it finds it itself against odds with Russia which it has labeled as them and fits its moral framing. But in the same frame it also has likes of India which is dependent on Russian oil and somehow don't fit the us/them moral framing of the United States. The ensuing tarrif wars has put US in loggerheads with the Global south collectively which has nations who call themselves ally of the US and gain the framing goes wrong here. 

So, the post modernistic world is causing lot of problems to constructivist led framing of the identify and associated binary of nations especially the US. The world is much more entangled with deep network of economic and social webs which can't be unwrapped into different boxes.

From Internation Theory Class of 22-10-2025 - Dependency Theory - Marxism - Constructivism

Dependency Theory

We are living in times of dependence where the global south is dependent on the global north for technology and industries in turn supplying them with raw material for finished goods and human resource for services. The theory talks about subjugation of a periphery country by a core company economically (in today's terms) which give rise to inequality which harkens back to the main tenets of Marxism. Hence many countries stay with poor wages, exploitation by elite who act as intermediary for core countries in the peripheral countries who over a period of time run the entire country into chaos as can be seen in many African countries and the Latin America of the 80s specifically.

India is also a case where huge masses of population are poor with low wages, where there is the rich middle class & BPL divide. But India was also a case where it was imposed with conditions to improve its structure as part of the World Bank bailout in 1991 which ushered economic reforms. Our principles value system, social structure helped us tide over the phase. So, it also depends on the country on which such conditions are imposed to try break the dependency cycle.

Marxism

Marxism talks about no boundaries, open migration policies. It is against boundaries as it talks that boundaries create dependencies. It says the capital is free to flow but people are not able to move freely. It talks about migration will help economies as economies need labor. But doesn't this in turn cause income equality. It is important to look at what's happening in Europe and even China which is having rampant income inequality.

Constructivism

Based on the quote: " A state can thus not act contrary to its identity because this will call into question the validity of the identity, including its preferences. This issue might explain why Germany, despite being a great power with a leading global economy, did not become a military power in the second half of the twentieth century. Following the atrocities of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime during the Second World War"

As per constructivism, despite being economic powerhouse, Germany and Japan are shackled to their perception as pacificist state. They had committed grave war atrocities during WW2 post which they were imposed with a structure which made them more economy focused rather than military. So how can countries unshackle? Can we see Grexit? Can Germany become a militarized power? Does Japan re arm itself to counter threats from China or be dependent on US to come to rescue? How such countries go against their own public opinion to change their image or does their public want the image to be changed? This seems a very grave psychological issue as well

Intelligence of Countires

Let your friends overestimate you, because they will invest in your relationship & let your enemies underestimate you, so that you are ready for the sucker punch when they come for you

Belief

The erudite Javed Akhtar gave a useless answer to a question about Ramanujam being taught mathematics by God/ Gods utterances and his position on that as an Atheist. 

While won't belabor on the answer he gave, but there can be a better way to answer. An atheist is a belief system and if his belief in that helps him in his career, write good lyrics, win accolades then it's good for him. Similarly, if Ramanujam was devout Hindu, chanting Mantras of Vishnu, Shiva or Devi and it helps him formulate unparalleled Mathematical concepts, then his belief system is good for him. 

Again, even if you don't believe others belief, even that is a belief, till the time you are not pinching the other person. Even pinching is under tolerable limits for some religions particularly the eastern religions. 

Problem happens when the physical response goes towards picking knives and swords and inflicting grave harm and even death, which some belief systems have ingrained in them.  

Potential Maritime conflict: China & India

Due to the recent bonhomie evinced by Pakistan and US, instability in the CPEC corridor, China seems to be moving towards a maritime strategy.

Now China may be looking towards the Coco islands for a inroad via Myanmar to Soth China for its Energy lanes. India is also setting up its Nicobar base with eyes on Malacca strait and Chinese supply lines.

This might make the BoB very busy with Naval overlap, with both India and China trying to fight for a Naval Hegemony thereby raising a scenario of potential flashpoint in the zone.