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Welcome, it is me here, Rahul Sankalpa & I welcome you to my world of imaginations, deeds and ruminations...
So, which one do you think, is the best News Channel in India?
17 Feb 2024
ഭ്രമയുഗം : കാഴ്ചയും, ഉൾക്കാഴ്ചയും - രാഹുൽ സങ്കല്പ
6 Aug 2023
Nolan's Oppenheimer on the 78th Hiroshima Day - Rahul Sankalpa
On this day, ie on 6th August, 1945, the US dropped the Uranium 235 nightmare called the 'Little Boy'- over Hiroshima city and the dreadful memories still haunt the world. Well, Christopher Nolan's OPPENHEIMER based on the biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer is stealing the theaters right now with a lot of buzz across the globe.
Apart from the normal non-linear storytelling pattern, Nolan brings about certain relevant piece of thoughts through his movie. The film is shot brilliantly on i Max and there you see killing and convincing performances from Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr. and others. What makes OPPENHEIMER relevant in today's world? It discusses the superimposition of politics over scientific temperament. It shows the life of a scientist who gets entrapped within the clutches of petty bureaucracy and corrupt politics. It shows how far man can go with his disastrous inventions. It proves how dangerous knowledge can be. It shows how far the Human wisdom can traverse on a negative quadrant. Whatever part the fiction could be, one cannot deny the Hiroshima and Nagasaki days from the history of modern world as it was never a fiction at all!
The movie was made based on the book called "The American Prometheus :The Triumph and Fall of J Robert Oppenheimer". The movie holds no pre conceived notions. It just shows Oppenheimer, his scientific experiments, his possible introspective mindsets, set backs, hallucinations in the backdrop of the US, Soviet, German and the Japanese politics amidst World War II. The movie is left open where Nolan makes the audience think about the realistic aspects of misused technology. It shows the repercussions of human brains that traverse on egoistic politics. Here, it takes reference from Bhagvad Gita, where Oppenheimer is found quoting : 'Now I become death, the destroyer of worlds'. As Indian mythology says, here it discusses the 'samhaara' bhava of the human mind as a whole. The vast perspective of creation and destruction is found here.
"They won't fear it until they understand it and they won't understand it until they use it":- could be an extended interception from Mahabharata. One can easily draw parallels from a Nuke Bomb to that of 'Brahmastra' in the Mahabharata. It's shouldn't be read as if the ancient people had the idea of splitting U-235. But, it should be deciphered in such a way that human imagination were always seeking the lines of diabolic schemes as that of today since inception! This is where Oppenheimer becomes relevant today. The movie is recommended for future kids! The movie becomes relevant in today's world of AI, which could become the next man made blade with an infinite potential. Nolan, depicts Oppenheimer with least CGI and maximum effort, throwing light into the issue of overused technology, and the movie takes no sides and one can think over this philosophy for the future years for sure.
Oppenheimer, shows that human beings are just victims of their own previous survival acts and they are just afraid of their own strengths to make themselves extinct!
- ©Rahul Sankalpa
5 Aug 2023
A visit to the Roerich Museum in Naggar, Himachal Pradesh and its significance in the current world- Rahul Sankalpa
Rather the museum, it's the concept behind that the modern world should adhere to. 'Roerich Pact' is the Treaty for the protection of artistic and scientific institutions and historical monuments. The idea was initiated by the famous Russian scholar, philosopher, artist and scientist- Mr. Nicholas Roerich who struggled for the preservation of cultural monuments and scientific institutions after his travels through the Russian cities during 1903-'04. He had this thought much before the advent of the UN. Roerich Pact was formed after the WorldWar II. In the 21st Century, the issue of irretrievable loss of cultural heritage is still just relevant.
10 Jul 2022
ROCKETRY: by R Madhavan: Nothing but a genuine tribute to the real Nambi Narayanan
Actually, the espionage case and the struggle of Nambi Narayanan begins from 1994. It covers about a couple of decades, with immense legal fight for justice amidst the tumults of dirty politics and the yellow media. Of course, the end result of Nambi Narayanan's lengthy fight for justice is well known to everyone. At the end, Mr. Nambi gets justice from the Supreme Court of India, with a huge compensation, and that is what actually happened. However, prior to 1994, there was yet another series of exciting events and dramatic activities in the life of Nambi, which eventually could have made him fall into the trap of the fake case as a result of butterfly effects or whatever! Here, R Madhavan chose to focus on 'That Nambi', who had a brilliant and admiring career as a scientist in his golden age. Nambi Narayanan, the blue eyed boy of Vikram Sarabhai, who apparently had a contemporary career with legends like APJ Abdul Kalam, Prof Yashpal etc.. The movie includes his journey as a struggling student at the Princeton University and a scientist with the ISRO, developing the VIKAS Engine and the adventurous journey in bringing the machinery from the USSR. The movie unfurls a bit deeper into the scientific and technological aspects of Rocketry and cryogenics, which can hardly be seen discussed in any Indian movies. Even the words like 'NASA', 'Rocketry', "ISRO'', "Satellite", "cryogenics" etc seems to be appearing in an Indian movie for the first time, probably after Ashutosh Gowariker's 'Swades' (2004). This itself shows how distant, the popular Indian media is, from such topics.
Glad to see an Indian movie showing scientists as patriots, giving yet another sense of patriotism apart from being loud like 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' slogans. Obviously, Rocketry, like any other biopic, tells the story of an unsung hero. What makes it different from the others is nothing but who the 'hero' is. The hero is neither an actor, nor a politician. The hero is neither a soldier, nor a sportsperson. The hero is neither a freedom fighter, nor a musician! The hero is an engineer, a scientist, whose life in no way can be dramatized easily on usual aspects. R Madhavan uses drama, just as a method of storytelling with apparently no songs, no fights and no masala added! Cinematographer Ravi K Chandran has done a brilliant job in visualizing 'Rocketry' which contains a different set of visuals compared to usual commercial cinema. Sam CS did well with the BGMs to make it more exciting. Viewers, would enjoy it very much if they have a bit of scientific temperament and an understanding of actual events as pre-requisites.
What we see in popular media is nothing but their own versions of Nambi Narayanan. What we see in the movie is from Nambi's perspective, where the media, politics and all the dirty games played behind him, takes a back seat in the film as well. The life of Nambi as a scientist, and the way his family dealt the situation is what the movie puts forth, which gives a different picture of the events altogether, from an 'inside out' perspective. In Nambi Narayanan's perspective, probably the yellow media and politics have got no much role to play compared to science! This can also be considered as a reverse example to emphasis the phrase: 'even if you ignore politics, politics will never ignore you', and politics affects you and here we see, 'the Nambi effect being affected by politics', thereby slowing down the Indian rocket science!
Suriya / Shah Rukh Khan played a worthy cameo which personifies the entire nation. R Madhavan, as a director, did a brilliant job. In the movie, all we see is Nambi and not Madhavan. The reel hero Madhavan gets replaced by the real life hero- Nambi Narayanan and as a director, Madhavan succeeded in executing it brilliantly. Packed with mixed emotions and goosebumps, people forgets Madhavan, and the cameos and only Nambi Nrayanan is left to be placed within the minds of audience and there, it becomes a genuine tribute to the real Nambi Narayanan! Hats off to the entire crew!
© Rahul Sankalpa
15 May 2020
'നോർത്ത് ഇന്ത്യ അല്ല, നോർത്തീസ്റ്റ് ഇന്ത്യ'-സേമയിലൂടെ ഒരു ചരിത്രയാത്ര - Rahul Sankalpa (Rahul Sharma)
3 May 2020
സി.വി. രാമൻപിള്ളയും, നോവൽത്രയവും- ഒരു വായനാചിന്ത- Rahul Sankalpa (Rahul Sharma)
13 Apr 2020
മോഹൻലാലിന്റെ രണ്ട് സിദ്ധാർഥന്മാർ! - Rahul Sankalpa (Rahul Sharma)
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On this day, ie on 6th August, 1945, the US dropped the Uranium 235 nightmare called the 'Little Boy'- over Hiroshima city and the...
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Rather the museum, it's the concept behind that the modern world should adhere to. 'Roerich Pact' is the Treaty for the protecti...
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Kannada movie "DIA" by KS Ashoka is something pure and fresh for sure. A 100% romantic movie with absolutely NO SONGS and NO FIG...