Fosla

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Avengers (2012) - Review

Avengers (2012) was one of the most awaited movies for me and all those comic fans who spent a large part of their childhood in the fantasy world of superheroes. The other super hero movie releasing in the latter part of the year is ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ by Christopher Nolan. The ‘Dark Knight’ also by Christopher Nolan, in my opinion, was the bench mark against which all superhero movies of the future are supposed to be judged upon. I was always a loyal fan of DC comics. Superman, Batman, Green Lantern and all the others taught me good always triumph and evil ultimately fails. I caught up with Marvel comics very late but once I was through with the X Men Movies and Spiderman I became a devoted fan. So the battle always raged in my mind every time a movie was released by both the camps (DC comics vs Marvel Comics). DC comics had already proved their point with The dark knight and now it was Marvel Comics turn to dazzle us.

Avengers did not disappoint me at all. It was a perfect fit for all the super heroes coming together to protect Earth. As Iron Man says “If we can’t save the world, we will make sure we avenge it”. Robert Dawney Jr in particular was superb in the role of Iron Man. As Heath Ledger immortalized the character of Joker in the Dark Knight movie Robert did the same for Iron Man in Avengers 2012. His one liners were superb and so were his actions stunts. All the characters had ample scope to do justice to their characters. However I did get the feeling that perhaps Hawk eye could have been better used.

The film starts with the usual villain threatening to take over the world. Tom Hiddleston as Loki did a tremendous job trying to bring the human world under his control to avenge the humiliation he suffered when he was thrown out of Azgard. The avengers do come together finally to fight against Loki but not before they had to fight each other. The Avengers are individually heroes but as a team they had let off their ego and finally the death of a Shield Officer motivated them to fight united against Loki.

The movie is a complete blockbuster and has set a new level for the upcoming superhero movies to match especially as The Dark Night Rises releases in June.

Friday, May 4, 2012

The Quest for the First Man of the Nation

The current flavor of the season is the next presidential elections coming up. The current President Prathiba Patil is set to retire in another three months and the government needs to choose a successor.The current incumbent president is herself involved in many controversies regarding her extended foreign tours with families at the expense of taxpayer’s money but that is a different topic. The President of India is a symbol of the Republic nation that we are. The President is the Head of the state and also the supreme commander of the armed forces. We won’t look into here who was the best President but we will discuss some of the current ground scenarios regarding the presidential election.

The election process has many flaws. If the likes of Lalu Prasad and Mamta Bannerjee dictate the terms of the presidential candidates then the system surely is faulty and needs a revamp. Also the President is elected by a secret vote cast by our elected representatives ( It includes all the MLAs and the MPs). The voting power of an MLA from a region with more population will be greater than those from smaller states. I believed this system in itself is flawed and needs to be looked into. The MLAs of the larger states are already compensated as they have more members then why do MLAs from smaller states have less voting powers. Also considering that there are more MLAs than MPs MLAs voting scores can be reduced in accordance with their number.

Now let’s look into the selected nominees. Pranab Mukherjee and Hamid Ansari are the front runners for the coveted post. I have always argued that a politician should not be elected as President. This is justified by the numerous conflicts between governors nominated by the central government (usually people from their own party) and states where there is a government by the opposition. I believe that currently we can give former President APJ Abdul Kalam an extended term for the top job. He is a man with vision and someone who is widely respected by all.

Lastly the main issues of regional parties having a larger say in the Presidential elections have diluted the significance of the election process. Do we really want Lalu Prasad or Mamta Bannerjee or even Jayalalitha deciding our next President? Regional parties are bound by regional issues and regional politics. They don’t see the larger national picture. Also instead of the MLAs and MPs blindly following the party diktat a consensus can be arrived among the elected representatives to choose the Head of the Nation.

But as we all know it is easier said than done. However we all do agree that we definitely need a change in the process.