If Not Mine, Not Anyone's

The recent news of a female associate pastor being shot dead by a man whose marriage proposal she rejected shocked me. I didn't grow up in Nagaland hearing such crime patrol wali type of news. What was more surprising was, none of the top read newspapers' op-ed columns of the state came up with a full-length piece expressing dismay over this news. This is not a banal topic, you see.  The matter should concern us, if you agree with me.

While I don't know the whole story but on the surface of it, it looks like the wrath of a man who could not take "no!" for an answer. There are numerous newspaper and academic articles and papers written on why man cannot handle rejection and the cycle of frustrated lovers turned killers. Various psychologists, sociologists and feminist thinkers have made an attempt to understand the root cause behind such behaviour. Some find the connection to the individual's interpretation of 'rejection'. Some highlights the way boys were brought up in a patriarchal society where they are 'conditioned to think, the best belongs to them and the best is reserved for them in life, especially from a woman.' With such privileged feeling when they pursue a woman later in life, they are subjected to think, a woman cannot turn them down or be indifferent to them. If the result turns out to be ugly then things take a turn for the worst and people witness (see/hear/ read) events like the above stated incident. 

However, there are numerous men whose proposals have been turned down and they don't seem to have gone into the killer mode, at the maximum level, they might have spread rumours of the girls, if only they have the time and the evil creative energy. Which makes me think, there should be enough debates and discussions about this issue. Hence, in my limited capacity, I am writing this post. I hope incidents of such kind doesn't happen again in our land, at least not in our lim. 

Indeed, rejection is a painful event, some need therapy to get out of this trauma and some who cannot indulge in this costly session take comfort in confining their heartache to their friends and family members. Life is beautiful, although, it can't be pink always, there will be shades of blue, black and white. In my case, colourblind.  

Why Did Anek Fail At The Box Office

To be honest, I was excited to watch Anubhav Sinha's Anek with the ultra-talented Ayushmann Khurana in the lead role. It was supposed to be psychological- political- fast paced action thriller. Moreover, it had Andrea Kevichusa, our very own home girl. But sadly, the film didn't do well in the box office. I am sure there will be numerous reasons for its failure. However, to me, these are some of the reasons which might have contributed to the bombing. 

Firstly, the separatist movement of the NE region of India is not a thing which can be told in 2 hours and few minutes, the topic is vast, complicated and complex. The film clubs all the NE states as one, the car's number plate bears the witness. Each and every NE states have different political history and some of the states are now free from the political issues which once plagued the region. It would have been better if they selected one of the states from the NE region and focused on it rather than taking up the entire region. It could have saved the movie from ending up like a superficial-half-baked project, which it sadly did, eventually. 

Secondly, Aido (played by Andrea) who aspired to win gold medal for India in boxing was also the love interest of Joshua (played by Ayushmann) the under covered cop. The story of the movie was already burdened with the insurgent problem and burdening it with another sub plot- sports drama, was too much for the audience to focus on. Unlike KRK, I won't be saying how unsuitable Andrea was in the role of a boxer. She did her best and it's for the casting director to keep the requirements in check, no?

Thirdly, maybe the mainland audience are not well aware/ or not at all aware of the political issues happening in the NE region of India and must have failed to connect to it even on awareness level (forget about emotional or intellectual level). Hence, they might have opted out from giving it a try, when the word of mouth failed miserably like the promotion. 

Anyway, I am glad, Anubhav Sinha, at least made an attempt in directing a movie on a controversial subject which has often been neglected by the mainstream film makers.