120 Bahadur: A cinematic tribute to Rezang la war heroes

 

A new Bollywood movie – 120 Bahadur starring Farhan Akhtar as Major Shaitan Singh will be a cinematic tribute to the Indo-China war happened in 1962. 120 Indian soldiers were pitted against a Chinese army of 3000 soldiers.  Though Shaitan Singh and his comrades perished in the war, their guts and courage succeeded in overpowering the marching enemy. The upcoming war movie : 120 Bahadur is a homage to the fallen heroes.

A glimpse at the Rezang la war :

Saragarhi, Kondana, Ladakh, Kargil, Galwan…The list is endless. Some battles were fought for forts, some for nation and some for honor. Every time a battle took place, blood spilled on both sides. The 1962 Indo-China is a horrifying reminder of carnage. The Rezang la battle of 18^th November 1962 claimed lives of several Indian soldiers who fought till the last man against Chinese. Though Indian army lost the battle, it succeeded to overpower the marching enemy. The Rezang la battle is incredible story of courage, hope, patriotism, will and sacrifice. Today’s generation idolize fictional heroes on screen but haven’t heard anything about Major Shaitan Singh and his platoon who took a might against 3000 Chinese soldiers.

The 123 soldiers at Rezang la were deprived of winter clothing and weapons to face the severe chilled weather and the advancing enemies. What they didn’t lack was courage. Under the leadership of Major Shaitan Singh, the soldiers took a might against huge Chinese army that were equipped with automatic guns. While the Chinese soldiers had modern ammunition, our Indian soldiers had vintage rifles. Despite the odds, Major Shaitan Singh and his troops fought till the last man and perished on the battlefield. It is been said that Major Shaitan Singh kept inspiring his men, running from post to post even when he was bleeding severely by a bullet. His stomach had burst open. Though the Rezang la war was a defeat for Indian army, it had been victorious by displaying raw courage even in adverse situations. The care free attitude of Indian government claimed the lives of several brave army officers like Major Shaitan Singh and Subedar Joginder Singh. Only Major Dhan Singh Thapa lived to tell the story. He had defended the Sirijap sector with his raw courage but was overpowered and taken as prisoner of war by Chinese. Who can forget the sacrifice of Rifleman Jaswant Singh Rawat who single handedly killed 300 Chinese soldiers in battle of Nuranang on November 1962?

 

I had read about the valor and sacrifice of Major Shaitan Singh and his brave troops in the book – The Brave: Param Vir Chakra Stories written by author Rachna Bisht Rawat. The story literally made me break in tears. A soldier doesn’t die when he is shot by a bullet, he really dies when we forget his sacrifice. Our history textbooks won’t give you any information on the forgotten heroes of Rezang la war. That is the sad irony that today’s young generation hardly know about the Rezang la war and the soldiers who fought for India’s honor. The Kumaon regiment led by Major Shaitan Singh was one of the bravest regiments who taught the world what courage really meant. Major Shaitan Singh was awarded Param Vir Chakra posthumously for his courageous stand and sacrifice. Today, only two soldiers – Havaldar Nihal Singh and Captain Ramchander Yadav who survived in battle of Rezang la can tell you in detail what a great soldier Shaitan Singh was. If you travel to Ladakh, do visit to Rezang la war memorial where you will read the lines written in memory of war heroes.

 

How can a man die better
than facing fearful odds,
For the ashes of his father,
and the temple of his gods.

If I hadn’t been a writer, I would have been a soldier, facing bullets and driving away the marching enemy who dared to cross the border of my nation. I have the regret that I couldn’t be a part of Kargil war in 1999. Through this writing platform, I am trying to pay my tribute to the fallen heroes of Indian army.  

After Lakshya, 120 Bahadur will be the 2^nd patriotic movie with war as the backdrop. The movie will be produced by Excel Entertainment in collaboration with Trigger Happy Studios. I am happy to know that Bollywood is making movies on our war heroes and their courage in battle of Rezang la and Longewala.

Stree 2: The terror of headless ghost

 There is lot of buzz circulating about Stree 2. The first part of the movie was based on the urban legend of Bangalore – Na le ba. There was a rumor that a ghostly woman haunted the streets of Bangalore, targeting men. The mix of horror and comedy elements in the Stree movie struck a chord with the audience. The 2018 movie Stree has its own fan base. Shraddha Kapoor’s mysterious character who is responsible for overpowering the witch of Chanderi returns back in this sequel to solve a case of new urban legend.

The new urban legend in the movie will be about a headless ghost who will terrorize the town of Chanderi. The urban legend of headless ghost is inspired by classic short story – The Sleepy Hollow written by Washington Irving. The 1999 Hollywood horror movie – Sleepy Hollow starring Johnny Depp was based on the legend of headless horseman.  Johnny Depp played the role of Ichabod Crane, an investigator who is assigned to solve the mysterious killings committed by a supernatural entity. Apart from being inspired by headless horseman from Sleepy Hollow, Stree 2 is also based on an urban legend from India about a headless ghost. Now it will be interesting to see how the villagers of Chanderi will get rid of the headless ghost in the sequel of Stree. According to recent news, Akshay Kumar will appear in a cameo role. He will reprise the role of Dr. Aditya Shrivastava from 2007 movie – Bhool Bhulaiyaa. Even Varun Dhawan’s character Bhaskar will appear in Stree 2. How is Varun Dhawan’s character connected to Stree is connected will be revealed in this sequel. To know more about Varun Dhawan’s character, watch the 2022 movie - bhediya based on wereolf phenomena.

My fascination for super-natural genre inspires me to come up with refreshing stories on ghosts and spirits. Since I enjoyed watching Stree, I am keen to see the paranormal events unfold in Stree 2. Stree 2 is scheduled to release this Independence Day.

To know more about headless horseman, do read the short stories by Washington Irving. Do watch the 1999 movie – Sleepy Hollow starring Johnny Depp.

Munjia: A timeless scary classic by C.A. Kincaid

 The recently released Munjya (2024) horror comedy movie is a glimpse into the urban legends of Maharashtra. The (Munjya) malevolent spirit of an ancestor scares the daylight of the protagonist when he unknowingly awakens the spirit trapped in a peepal tree of Konkan. The Munjia unleashes his ghostly terror on the protagonist and orders to find his long-lost love Munni. The Munjia won’t be calm until the protagonist searches Munni. How the protagonist succeeds to overcome Munjia forms the crux of the story.

These Munjias – tormented spirits of Brahmin boys who untimely died 10 days after the thread ceremony turn into a ghostly presence. Author C.A. Kincaid’s short story – The Munjia is also about a brahmin boy who dies an untimely death due to plague. His parents’ plan to get their son married take a tragic turn with his demise. To their horror, they discover that their son will turn into a Munjia as he has died untimely before his marriage. Thus begins the terror of the Munjia who terrorizes the village residents of Nashik. He even possesses a British officer and creates a havoc in the regiment. The short story ends with British officer getting killed and the salvation of the malevolent spirit. This short story was my foray into the world of supernatural elements and writings of C.A. Kincaid who had written several spooky short stories like ‘The Werewolf’, ‘The Panther People’, ‘Graveyard at Sirur’ and ‘The Kathi Robinhood’. Despite being a foreigner, Kincaid was well verse with Indian culture. His short stories are set during the times of British Raj. Even the short story Munjia is set during the British era. While reading the short story of Munjia, I had literally got scary goosebumps of watching Tumbbad on print. Such was the powerful impact of Kincaid’s writings. The rural settings, the gothic atmosphere and the spooky vibes are thrillingly described by Kincaid. The peepal tree is the refuge of the malevolent spirits like Munjia. They scare and terrorize humans from the confines of the peepal tree.

 The 2024’s horror movie – Munjya is set in 1952 in a fictional place called Chetukwadi where the ghostly presence of the deceased boy Gotya haunts the area. The accidental death of Gotya turns him into a Munjia. The evil spirit even kills its own sister who happens to be the grandmother of the protagonist. I found the short story of Kincaid more terrifying than the movie. The urban legend of Munjia is similar to Blair Witch Project, Na le ba ghost from Bangalore (remember movie Stree) and ghosts of Bhangarh fort. Konkan is a tourist spot for aspiring photographers, travel bloggers, foodies, tourists and writers. It is truly heavenly destination during times of monsoon. Besides its scenic beauty, it is also destination of ghostly presence. The origin of Munjya or Munjia is rooted in Konkan. My fascination for supernatural genre inspires me to write about the other side of nature which is full of fear. Do such ghostly beings like Munjia exist is a topic of debate. I will end this blog post on the famous lines written by Shakespeare in the play Hamlet.

‘There are more things in heaven and earth Horatio than are dreamt in our philosophy’.

Kalki 2898: The epic fantasy movie everyone is talking about

 A lot of hype is created around the upcoming sci-fi action with dose of mythology. The story revolves around the 10^th avatar of Lord Vishnu who will take birth as God Kalki. The teaser gave a glimpse on a futuristic world where Prabhas will be seen in role of Kalki. But what excited is me more is the introduction of the character Ashwathama in the small teaser. The role of Ashwathama is played by none other than Superstar Amitabh Bachchan. Draped in white robes, his face is covered by veil which reflects his enigma. What is Ashwathama’s connection with Lord Kalki?

The teaser also showed a digitalized young version of Amitabh as Ashwathama. I was awestruck by the visuals of young ashwathama in the teaser. Ashwathama was cursed by Lord Krishna to stay alive in the world for eternity. It is been said that Ashwathama is still alive even today, the only person from Mahabharata who was witness to the Kurukshetra war. He was the son of Guru Drona, the acharya who trained both Pandavas and Kauravas. There are speculations that several people have seen Ashwathama roaming in forest but there is no photographic evidence supporting the claims made by the people.

Author Kevin Misal’s book on Kalki is based on tenth avatar of Lord Vishnu. I have yet to read the book about the origins connected to Lord Kalki. Will the 2024 movie on Kalki shed a light on the avatar of Lord Kalki? The recent mythology book – The Hidden Hindu is a thrilling book based on the immortals from Indian mythology. Ashwathama is one of the immortals from Indian mythology who lives in seclusion.

The scenes from the teaser of Kalki 2898 remind me of movies like Dune, Avatar and Star Wars. It is exciting to see how Ashwathama will guide Kalki in establishing righteousness and justice in the world. More teasers and a main trailer are yet to arrive, creating more buzz around the storyline of Kalki 2898.

 

Urban legends from India – Na le ba

 What will be your reaction when someone calls from behind in dark of night?

 Will you keep moving or turn back to see? Especially if it is Amavasya or Friday 13^th, no one will dare look behind. Supposedly, if one turned back to see, he is doomed to die. Sounds absurd? Isn’t it!! In fact, such instances have happened in Karnataka, India. Long back in 90’s, a witch haunted the streets of rural side of Bangalore. She mostly targeted men. Any man, if mistakably roaming the streets of night was sure to die if he sighted her. Such was her terror that people used to write ‘Na le ba’ (Come tomorrow in Kannada language) on walls to drive her away. After reading this sign on walls, the witch used to go away and return back to haunt the streets. This cycle continued for several days.  This ghostly terror was short lived. Afterwards, such ghostly instances stopped happening in Bangalore. No one knows how much truth was in this supernatural phenomenon.

The 2018 Bollywood horror-comedy movie – Stree was based on urban legend of ‘Na le ba’. Only the location of the ghost story was shifted to Chanderi, a small town based in Northern India. The witch haunting the streets in movie had her back story. She was a prostitute who longed for true love. When she had found her true love, the prostitute and her lover were killed by the villagers.  To avenge her death, she stalks the streets of Chanderi village, targeting men. There was no backstory of witch stalking the streets of Bangalore. No know could trace the origin of her existence and the purpose behind targeting men.

 There are many urban legends and haunted places in India which have their own back story. Author Rudyard Kipling had once written about an urban legend of Shimla in his short story ‘The Phantom Rickshaw’ which revolves around a ghostly figure of a woman who is seen haunting the streets of Shimla, searching for her love. 

To know more about Na le ba, do watch the 2018 movie – Stree and for further reference, do read the 2019 ghost story collection - India’s most haunted: Tales of Terrifying places written by K. Hari Kumar. I am keen to pen down more stories on haunted places of India in my upcoming stories.

The tragic life of Hollywood diva Natalie Wood

 Natalie Wood is an unheard name to Indian movie audience. She was a Hollywood legend who rose to success by working as a child star to her ascent as a highly in demand star of 1950’s. Today Bollywood’s young actresses throw so many tantrums after one hit movie. They presume themselves to be Goddess of cinema. On contrary, Hollywood artists are humble, hard-working and dedicated and Natalie Wood belonged to that league. 

I stumbled upon Natalie Wood’s life, career and her untimely death while researching on an article related to Marilyn Monroe, the timeless diva of Hollywood. After publishing my story on Monroe, I learnt a lot about Natalie Wood’s difficult childhood, her heartbreaking relationship, her disturbed marital life and the stardom that tormented her. A gypsy woman had once predicted that Natalie would be successful movie star, but may lose her life due to drowning.

After learning about the prediction, Natalie’s mother became too much over-protective and controlled her life. It is been said it was her mother who pushed little Natalie into movie business. She was never allowed to play with other kids like a normal child. Since Natalie’s father made a meager earning, little Natalie was the bread earner of the family. Natalie Wood was not her actual name. Her actual name was Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko. Fondly called as Natasha, Natalia went on to become a child star in classics like ‘Miracle on 34^th Street’, ‘Tomorrow is forever’ and several other movies.   

Natalie’s mother was so obsessed with movie career of her daughter that she never allowed her daughter to mingle with male friends. According to sources, Natalie was forced to have a break up with a boy named Jimmy with whom she vowed to marry during her teen days. Her first crush, the boy Jimmy committed suicide by shooting herself. Jimmy’s death shook Natalie to such an extent that she shut herself in her room for a week. In later days, Natalie focused on her movie career to work as a full-fledged actress. Her breakthrough role earned her both fame and recognition in movie – Rebel Without a cause opposite the 50’s heartthrob James Dean. She became a close friend of James Dean during the filming of movie. Sadly, James Dean didn’t live to see the movie. His untimely death in car crash was a big blow to Hollywood. Natalie not only lost a great co-star, but also a great friend and confidante in James Dean.

Natalie’s name was linked to many Hollywood biggies including Elvis Priesley. Her personal life was equally stormy as her screen life. During her struggling days in Hollywood, Natalie is been said to be raped by a big Hollywood actor in a hotel. That incident was one of the tragic episodes in life of Natalie. She never revealed the name of the molester in public as she was too feared to mess with a Hollywood top notch actor. In Feb 2020, it was been disclosed that it was actor Kirk Douglas (father of actor Michael Douglas) who had molested Natalie. On death of Kirk Douglas in Feb 2020, it was been trending on a social networking site that it was Kirk who was the molester.

Though Hollywood gave her fame, success, money, it couldn’t give back her childhood innocence. Natalie won Oscar nomination thrice for her notable performances.

Mysterious death on November 29, 1981: Her fear for water remained a phobia and a nightmare throughout her life. The prophecy came true when Natalie drowned during a boat trip on a personal yacht. How did she drown? Did anyone pushed her in water? Why did Natalie get into water? Was Natalie murdered? Prior to drowning, Natalie had a big quarrel with her husband Robert Wagner. How could Natalie die when there were so many people on boat? Didn’t anyone hear her scream? Her body was discovered one day later. There are many speculations that it was her husband Robert who had drowned Natalie. The case of Natalie’s death was reopened in 2012, but nothing concrete conclusion came out of it. Like Marilyn Monroe’s mysterious death due to sleeping pills, Natalie too died a mysterious death due to drowning. Natalie’s life would have been a happy one had she not been a star. As predicted, she made a big fortune as actor, but lost the best years of childhood.

The inspiration to write this biography blog post came to me while I was penning a memoir on the Hollywood actor James Dean. This memoir on Natalie Wood is a sequel or follow-up story connected to 50’s Hollywood legends like Marilyn Monroe and James Dean.

To know more about Natalie Wood, I would highly recommend watching the biopic: The mystery of Natalie Wood and the documentary – What remains behind.

James Dean (2001) – Biopic of the Hollywood’s rebel

 When it comes to making biopics, no one makes it better than Hollywood. Indian film makers make biopics only to en-cash their pockets. There is neither any heart nor soul in Bollywood biopics. While researching info on a celebrity, I stumbled upon the biography of James Dean, the 50’s heartthrob and an Academy award nominee who created a benchmark in acting with movies like Rebel without a cause, Giant and East of Eden. He starred in only 3 movies. His stardom was tragically cut short by his untimely death due to car accident on September 30^th 1955. Had he survived the car crash, he would have set new milestones. 

Dean is only the star who is idolized, worshipped and looked upon as inspiration even several years after his death. The 2001 biographical TV movie captures the intimate moments happened in life of the rebellious actor James Byron Dean. His troubled childhood, his tensed relationship with his father, his affairs, struggles, stardom and his untimely death are vastly researched and presented in the biopic.  James Franco who portrays Dean on the screen not only physically resembles the character, but also lives the role through his powerful performance. The movie begins with narration of James Dean where he recounts his early childhood and his efforts to win the heart of his father who neglects him. After his mother’s death, James is sent to live with his uncle and aunt in Fairmount.

 As James grows up, he aspires to become an actor. His realistic performance helps him bag a role in Broadway and Television movie. Happy with his progress in acting career, he longs to meet his estranged father, but only to discover a cold approach. It is irony that James’ father Winton never encouraged his son in any stage of life. James Dean kept his personal troubles ahead to focus on his movie career that catapulted him to stardom. His passion for cars and bikes was infectious. He had numerous affairs which include a failed relationship with actress Pier Angeli. Pier Angeli’s mother never approved the relationship of James with her daughter.  It was been said that James Dean was bi-sexual. The 2001 biopic doesn’t shed any light on this dark side of Dean. The biopic does highlight his relationship with Christine White, a struggling actress who supported Dean during his struggling days. Despite the box-office success, prestigious contracts with studios and a lavish lifestyle, Dean is unhappy that he can’t win the heart of his father. It is later revealed that James was not the biological son of Wanton, but a child born from the affair of his mother with other man. The biopic ends on a tragic note when James Dean dies in car crash. Dean’s untimely death shocks the whole Hollywood, creating an emptiness which cannot be filled by any artist. 

I was blown away by this heart-touching biopic on the Hollywood’s biggest star whose rebelliousness won him many accolades and praises. To prepare for the role of James Dean, actor James Franco started smoking cigarettes and brought the mannerisms of the late actor in this biopic. What brought me to tears was the scene where James Dean literally cries to win the heart of his father. Sadly, James’ father realized his son’s love only after his death. 

Only few actors could capture the rebellious nature of James Dean and later actor Heath Ledger was one of them. In a short span, Heath had made Hollywood take up notice of his works with movies like Monster’s ball, Brokeback Mountain, The Patriot and his academy award winning role as the Joker in the Nolan’s movie – The Dark Knight.  Unfortunately, Ledger passed away in 2008 due to overdose of drugs.

James Dean (2001) biopic premiered on TNT channel in August 2001, earning praises for Franco’s portrayal. If you are a fan of James Dean, I highly recommend watching this emotional biopic on the Hollywood’s most loved actor.