Priya Yadav,
In the year 1989-90, a film was being shown in a township in North India. As the villainous character of Shakti Kapoor started raping the character Anita Raj on the screen, the people in the haul started shouting and enjoying the screen. Then suddenly the power went out, by the time the generator was run and the screen lighted again, the audience started creating an uproar. And when electricity came, it was said that the scene should be played again.

A large number of male viewers of that era loved the rape scenes. Such scenes were deliberately planted in the corners of the posters installed here and there in the market so that people can know that this film also has a rape scene. “Paan” shops just outside the theater used to complain that the rape scene was shown, but the clothes did not tear properly, something did not show properly, it was not so much fun. However, there were also some such audience present in the cinema, whose sympathy was with the character of the victim. It is difficult to say that the filmmakers of that era started to capitalize on this trend by understanding the mindset of the people, or that the interest and mentality of the people were created due to the scenes served by the filmmakers.

Read the news every day, and be ashamed, because now we have no choice but to be embarrassed. Every half an hour a ‘baby girl’ is being raped and every hour humanity is shaming. So we need permanent solutions. Counselor Anuja Gupta says that ‘sexual harassment of children is a forced act. If a criminal sexually abuses a child, then it increases the chances that he should do all this with other children as well. So if we want to stop sexual abuse, then we really have to stop it. Instead of being jailed, we should treat them.

1. HUSBANDS AND WIVES (1992)

Husbands and Wives (1992) is about a New York based couple, Gabe (Woody Allen) and Judy (Mia Farrow) who are shocked to discover that their best friends, Sally (Judy Davis) and Jack (Sydney Pollack) are splitting up. The news of their divorce makes them question their own relationship.

This film is so close to reality. The characters are very human, this film captures the complicated nature of people like no other. Like us the characters make stupid decisions and fuck up a lot. One of the examples of this is Woody’s character falling in love with a certain type of women. Even though he knows that they’ll bring him down, he cannot resist them.

It also shows how our mind functions in weird ways, how we would feel that we are capable of doing a certain thing or we imagine a specific type of future to be better than the present but actually things do not always pan out that well. It portrays the struggles of being human in a very authentic way. “Nobody’s got it perfect” is a line that the characters repeat several times, a lot of it sounds like the self talk that I give to myself when I’m facing going through shit.

This film is chatty, full of free flowing conversations like all of his films. And there are a lot of references to pop culture and literature. Woody Allen is more of a philosopher here. He deals with heavy subjects with a lot of humour. The writing is one of his finest, his eccentric and genuine style of showing middle aged people facing adversity in life makes him stand out from other filmmakers. His characters are full of charm, and of course he himself brings a lot of charisma on screen. Special props to Carlo Di Palma, his handheld cinematography is mesmerising.

Overall Husbands and Wives is amongst Allen’s best works. It’s edgy, deep, realistic and a lot of fun.

1. POINT BLANK (1967)

Point Blank (1967) is about a mysterious crook named Walker who is double crossed and left for dead. He Survives and now he goes after the money that was stolen from him.

One of the most influential films of the 60s this film splendidly mixes the styles of noir and the European New Wave. While the film has most elements of a noir – an intricate plot, an existential hero, a femme fatale, witty dialogue, use of flashbacks, high contrast lighting and claustrophobic settings, the excellent composition will remind you of European cinema. Every frame is brimming with visual metaphors.

Lee Marvin steals the show as Walker, his presence is frightening. He’s given a subdued performance. Walker is a very interesting character, he’s calm and silent but he knows his shit. I loved how John Boorman has created this dreamy atmosphere. The way he’s used colours, lighting and music to elevate that dreamy feeling is truly masterful. One example would be this night club brawl, the way Boorman has utilised these technical aspects makes it look really trippy. Boorman has gone with an unconventional narrative style for that time, alot of plot details are kept ambiguous and I really appreciated how Boorman has made a ballsy film for intelligent viewers.

Overall Point Blank is an extremely stylish noir about revenge, betrayal and passion that has stunning visuals and a trippy style along with a terrific performance by Lee Marvin.

1. THE FRIENDS OF EDDIE COYLE (1973)

The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973) is about a small time Boston gangster who’s about to serve a few years in jail. In order avoid jail time he becomes an informant for the authorities and snitches on his friends.

This underrated gangster flick takes it’s time to tell the story, the slow pacing helps in creating this sense of reality. This is one of the most REAL gangster films I’ve ever seen. The way it portrays the working class of the Boston area is truly astonishing. It also makes commentary on an important subject – the gun laws of the United States. A huge portion of the film is about the illegal buying and selling of guns.

This film is about this washed up lonely middle aged guy who has a lot of friends but they are not actually his friends. We are shown that there is no loyalty even amongst thieves. They would betray each other for selfish reasons without the blink of an eye. While watching the film I could see how it has influenced quite a few recent movies/ shows of this genre. Mostly it reminded me of The Sopranos and a little bit of The Departed.

Robert Mitchum has given an excellent performance as Eddie Coyle, he’s this existential and courageous low life. He underplays the character, and I think that’s what makes Eddie Coyle believable. Every word he utters has this cold weight. Peter Yates has done a phenomenal job with the direction, there are these two sequences, one involving a heist and the other involving the authorities tailing a guy that almost made me applaud.

The Friends of Eddie Coyle is a meditative gangster film with a great script, edgy dialogues and a killer performance by Robert Mitchum.

1. PEPPERMINT CANDY (1999(

Peppermint Candy (1999) is about a guy named Yong Ho who commits suicide. The film shows 20 years of his life leading to his death in reverse order.

This is such an original concept, showing five phases in a guy’s life, that too in reverse. While showing the different timelines the director also shows the political environment of that specific period. We see the state of Korea and how it changed. It captures how tragic political events can affect a person. It tells us how corruption in the system can have a massive impact on the everyday life of a common man.

At the beginning of the film, we see that Yong Ho is a disturbed man. He’s depressed and cynical, the film very astutely shows us the events in his life that made him this way. It shows how even the most mundane things can cause a big change in our personality. In every phase of his life, we see that he’s slightly different from the previous phase. We see how all the different experiences add up and define why he is a particular way. The writing does a very fine job at tying all the timelines together.

Lee Chang-Dong is one of the finest Korean directors and he knows how to capture human emotions. He knows how to flesh out complex characters that you empathise with. It looks effortless the way he does it. Even though the lead character comes off as unlikeable, you feel for him because of how the excellent storytelling portrays his unhappy life.

Peppermint Candy is an extremely poignant and moving film about an innocent soul who loses himself because he’s corrupted by society. I could not find a single flaw in it, it’s hands down one of the best films I’ve ever seen.

Students and children are basically considered as the next generation of a country. The major motto of any country should focus about the students their needs and problems. The problem faced by the students are quintessential to be listened about as they are the problems which if not solved can lead to disastrous issues.And the major issues faced by the students nowadays is demotivation,lack of importance given to them , the stress which is caused due to many unambiguous reasons and there are really many more unknown issues which a student face in their day to day life. But they really don’t know whom to consult,from where they will get the solution of their problems,why they are facing these kinds of problems,how can they come out of the problems? Sometimes it happens that they face lots of problem and those problems leads to a major demotivation which ultimately results into their lose of interest in studies.

If given a thought we can actually figure out some basics points which actually leads to all these problems. One major point that is to be noted is that nowadays parents are busy with their lives,their career or other problems which indirectly or directly hampers their kids. The child does not feel connected to them which resist him to share his piece of problem with them. On the other hand there are parents who are overprotective about their child which makes him feel that if he shares his problem then his parents ,ay feel that they have not taught him how to deal with a small problem. Parents actually play a major role in a child’s life because what a kid sees in his home is what he learns and that’s where his critical thinking starts . The way a problem is faced in home is the way a child accepts and tries to solve a problem. That’s the reason why different children address same problem in different ways. The way parents address failure is the same way a child alos faces a failure. It’s somewhat the duty of the parents to teach their kids how to deal with the problems. But majorly parents only teach the kids how to celebrate success but underneth this they just ignores the fact that their child could also fail and its their duty only to tech them how to deal with that.

Secondly , there are not appropriate knowledge or help from where help could be seeked. If there’s any kind of help it come on the basis of money. Being a student its difficult to arrange money and if asked from parents they would definitely ask why we need money. The unknown kind of pressure of achieving something big, be successful in life,the fear of failure, the fear of losing the near and dear ones and many other fears and ambitions in the mind of a student is creating unnecessary pressure. Nothing just a hope a little motivation and

“A healthy mind breeds a healthy body” – Zig Ziglar

When my friend recalled how her family reacted to the news of her anxious and depressive state of mind, it lead me to think that among many other things, Depression is still considered a taboo among many middle class Indian families. Coming from one, I could relate how and why her parents were more concerned about “what people will say?” rather than how to help their child. They further aggravated the situation by questioning how could she “get” such a thing when no one else did? It was a slap in the face for me as well, when on asking my family as to what their view were on depression, they responded by saying-” It’s all nonsense, you kids suffer from a little stress, and you name it as depression. We’ve seen tougher times than you, yet we never faced such an issue. You need to learn to be strong”. What my parents, and several other people fail to realize is that those suffering from depression, anxiety or stress, are not the victims, but fighters, who try to reason out with themselves that today is not the day to Quit.

World Health Organization defines depression as a common illness related to severe mental health issues, affecting approximately 264 million people, and resulting in the deaths of roughly 8,00,000 people every year due to suicide. Despite the presence of several effective treatments, most people in middle and low income countries do not receive or seek help for their disorders. The root cause of this problem has been linked to multiple factors, psychological, social or biological- surrounding the individual. The recent being the Covid-19 pandemic and its resultant effects on people from across the world. Millions lost their jobs while helplessly watching their savings dwindling away while being isolated from any social interaction. Those who lost their loved ones to this disease, lost their peace of mind as well. The result? – rise in cases of problems related to mental health.

In one of the surveys conducted by Sangath – an NGO dedicated to mental well being, surge in levels of stress and depression due to Corona virus were reported. This pandemic has caused a mayhem not only in terms of physical health issues, but also increased psychological trauma in many. Though it is understandable as to why anxiety levels are escalating, the growing cases are still of concern. Nearly half of American citizens complained of increased mental health related problems, with 43% Indians suffering from similar issues. The mere fact that people are losing interests in hobbies and are experiencing continuous drop in energy levels, indicate that work load or our fast paced lives, are not always responsible for depression.

The current scenario has forced the medical facilities to prepare themselves for not only the Covid pandemic,but also the behavioral issues associated with the mind. Instead of regarding it as a stigma, the need of the hour is to focus on solutions for this major problem. A mental disorder leaves a deep gash in the mind of the sufferers, leading to life long a impact. If we fail to do anything about this now, we will fail to control it in the future.

There has been good news in the area of coral conservation as a newly developed genotyping chip has been launched which is the first in its kind and has the potential to save corals by identifying them genetically.

The chip can differentiate between corals and the symbiotic algae which lives in corals, thus providing researchers in stepping towards restoration of genetic diversity of coral reefs. It will further help in extracting DNA and analysing the data from the corals. A paper which describes all about the chip in the Journal Scientific Reports.

It is also known as micro-array uses more than 30,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms which are locations present in a coral genome. A single letter in the DNA alphabet can vary among distinct corals. It was designed using Caribbean corals which can also be used to analyse Pacific species. The scientists are very enthusiastic with the arrival of the chip and are looking towards it as a game changer in the field of coral restoration. 

We all know that donating blood is one of the most noble causes on this earth and it helps in saving lives. According to American Red Cross, a single donation can save three lives. But blood donation also has some cons, which include:

Bruising, continued bleeding, dizziness, light- headedness, nausea, pain and physical weakness has been noticed in some of the cases. Though it is a safe process, there are some points which should be kept in mind before donation. Now, we will look from a closer perspective at how blood donation can negatively affect those who are donating.

The first point is bruising, there is a fair amount of chance that a donor can get bruised during insertion of a needle, which ranges from yellow to purple to blue. Where normal bruises are okay and we should not worry about and can treat it with ice packs but if the bruise changes its colour, then we should definitely go to visit the doctor.

The second demerit is continued bleeding which may happen in some cases after the removal of the bandage which is applied by the nurse at the hospital after s/he removes the needle. We are told to keep the bandage for four to five hours as bleeding stops in some time. But in some cases, bleeding continues even after five hours then it is suggested to keep the bandage for a longer duration. And even after that, bleeding doesn’t stop then it is the time you go to see the doctor.

In some cases, dizziness, light-headedness and nausea was observed in donors after donation. After blood donation, the donors are told to sit and have energizing snacks and juices to not feel any after effect of donation to give their body rest. The feeling subsides in some hours but in some cases, it continues and in such cases the donors should call their centres and go to see the doctor.

Then comes pain. We all know that donating blood is not painless as a needle is inserted to take out the blood and removed when the process completes. Though the pain is not of high level but in case of bruising it aggravates, then it is suggested by the doctor to take some pain reliever medicines to alleviate the pain.

In some of the cases physical weakness was also experienced by the donors especially in the arm in which the needle was inserted. It is the reason; the nurses tell donors not do any heavy activity five-six hours after the donation.

But we should never forget how blood donation is necessary for humanity and how it has the ability to save a dying person. It is an act of humanity and can do a lot of good and save millions of hopes. As one blood donation can not only save only one life but it can save up to approximately three lives. It is totally up to a person to donate or not but if you are ready to donate then analyze pros and cons and whatever you are comfortable with, you can go for that.  

The Indian Rebellion in 1857 represented an important, but eventually unsuccessful, revolt in India between 1857 and 1858 against the British East India Company, a sovereign power in the name of the British Crown. In the garrison town of Meerut, 40 mi (64 km) northwest of Delhi (now old Delhi), rebellion began on the 10th of May 1857 as a mutiny of corporate army troops. It then broke out in other rebellions, mainly in the upper Gangetic plains and central India, although there were also more northern and east incidents. In that area, the rebellion posed an extensive threat to the British power and was only contained in Gwalior ‘s defeat on 20 June 1858. The British gave amnesty on 1 November 1858 to all non-assassinated rebels, even though they did not formalize their hostilities until 8 July 1859. His name is disputed, defined in different ways as Sepoy Mutiny, Indian Mutiny, the Great Rebellion, the 1857 Rebellion, the American Rebellion, the First War of Independence.

Indian rebellion was nurtured by resentments emerging from diverse perceptions, including intrusive social reforms of the British type, harsh taxes on land, a gradual withdrawal by rich landowners and princes, and uncertainty about improving British rule. However, many Indians fought also for the British and most of them tended to be in line with the British law. On both sides, British officers and civilians, including women and children, were targeted by rebels and their allies, including sometimes whole towns, on terror, sometimes betraying unprecedented brutality, by British.

Following the outbreak at the Meerut mutiny, the rebels soon arrived at Delhi, which was proclaimed emperor Hindustan by its 81-year-old Mughal ruler Bahadur Shah Zafar. Eventually, large tracts of the North-West and Awadh provinces were occupied by the rebels. The response of the East India Company also came quickly. Kanpur and Delhi were recovered by the middle of July 1857 with the aid of reinforcements. It took the rest of 1857 and the best part of 1858 for Jhansi, Lucknow, and particularly the landscape of Awadh to suppress the rebellion. Other corporate managed regions in India — Bengal, Bombay, and Madras — have largely remained calm. In the Punjab, the Sikh princes supported the UK decisively by supporting and supplying troops. In the words of Governor-General Lord Canning, the large princely nations, Hyderabad, Mysore and Kashmir, and the smaller Rajputana, did not join the uprising, serving the British as “breakers in a storm.”

The revolt took on the characteristics of a patriot revolt against the British oppression in certain regions, especially Awadh. The rebels, however, did not declare articles of faith for a new constitutional structure. However, the rebellion proved a significant pillar in the history of the Indian and British empires. It caused the East India Company to split and compelled the British, in the passage of the Government of India Act 1858, to reorganise the army, the financial system and administration in India. The British government directly administered India in the emerging British Raj thereafter. Queen Victoria released a declaration on 1 November 1845 to the Indians, who promised equal rights to other British subjects, though lacking the legitimacy of a constitutional clause. Over the next decades, the Indians had to make strong reference to the Queen’s proclamation with the admissions of a new nationalism, when they were not always admitted to such privileges.