Almighty Courage

The other day, i manage to catch a screening of 'A Mighty heart' starring Angelina Jolie. I did not know what to expect from the movie, considering that it was based on a real life incident. However, the movie was made like a taut, slick thriller, and with excellent direction. Indeed, there were times when you felt you were not so much as watchin, but were actually participating as a silent observer in the various attempts to try and get to Daniel Pearl. After the movie, as is customary for me these days, i visited IMDB to give my own rating and take a look at the message boards. A particular thread i saw there, brings me to the point of this post.

There was a post which was started with the mailer stating that he/she did not feel that Mr. Pearl was a hero, and that he actually should be blamed for putting himself and his family at such a risk, depsite knowing how dangerous it was for a person of Jewish descent as him, in these places. The responses for this varied, from those who were shocked with the writer, to those who were downright cynical...some even going so far as to say that Marianne Pearl is using her husbands death for her own ends.

As for me, i feel the above statement is one of the most insensitive things i have heard. We have to understand here that, nobody is really trying to make Pearl into a hero here. And nobody is really trying to discount the millions of other lives that may be getting lost to terrorists around the globe, by just focussing on one American murder. If one were to go by the argument that we cannot feel sorry just for one person, just because his story has been shown, while the others have not, i would like to say that, it is through these isolated stories of brutality that people can truly become aware. In my opinion Daniel Pearl was a hero, if simply for the fact that he believed in doing his job to the best of what he could, despite the fact that he probably knew that there was always a danger. I have heard somewhere, courage is not the absense of fear, its the knowledge that there is something more important than your fear. And Marianne Pearl is a bigger hero. She chose to make her husbands story heard, and in a very impartial manner. While i have not read the book, if the movie is anything to go by, we would realise that she herself says (in this case, Angeline Jolie) that thousands do get killed by terrorists, including a lot of people from the local population. And the movie itself portrays characters like the Inspector(Irrfan Khan, in a wonderfully realistic portrayal), good men, who just want to do their job right and just. If nothing else, this is one thing i greatly admired about the movie. The absence of stereotyping of any particular community. I have heard that the lady now travels to war torn places and tries to get other peoples stories heard. Definitely a hero, if i have ever heard of one.

Getting back to some of the lighter aspects of the movie, a lot of the filming took place in Pune itself(Aundh, to be precise), because the producers felt that certain areas of this city could pass off as Karachi. I have to admit, i had an element of curiosity because of this.

So, finally...is it worth it? Does it get across what it wants to say? I would say...a big resounding YES...or better yet, get the book. I sure am planning to.

Bhagat Singh opines...

The past weekend, i met up with a friend who used to work in my office, and who has now gone on to better things(good for him! :-) ). While it was wonderful to catch up after a long time, one of the things i love to do is talk about or listen to a passionate outpouring of one's ideals, especially if it is of interest to me. And that afternoon, sitting in the pleasant Pune weather, that is what we did. It started of as a discussion on religious beliefs and atheism, and ended up into one covering almost all aspects of Indian civilisation and beliefs. To be more precise, i did most of the listening, with genuine interest. I am pretty passionate about ideals and people i believe in, and it was refreshing to talk to someone of like mindedness, who just wanted to genuinely get his views across.

This took my mind back to earlier in the year, when the same person had sent me a link to an article by Bhagat Singh, citing his views on Atheism and why he follows it. A truly mind numbing one, in which the intelligence of the man shines through. While i am not exactly an atheist(yet!), i do have a general feeling of disillusionment and almost scorn to all practises in the name of religion and tradition. The last time i actually put together my hands and prayed to the almighty is a hazy memory by now.

Anywayz... i wanted to share the link to this fascinating article here, in the hope that people will try to read it with an open mind. Thanks, Shivs.. :-)


http://liveindianhistory.googlepages.com/bhagatsinghopines