Read TIme – 6 min

Wandering Time – ∞

I recently watched Dhurandhar 2.

Initially my brother and I wanted to watch it in a theatre, but I kept postponing it. It could be because of some communication gap between us regarding when to watch it.

Maybe this is in the family that we are unsure or not in sync on how much important a things or an activity is and how much or what should we prioritise.

So in that gap, the feeling to watch the movie kept building and we were not able to close when to watch it. So out of this to and fro, my brother suggested that we watch the movie over torrent.

We were skeptical about the quality of the movie at torrent, but after a look at it, seemed bearable.

The movie was fun. It is truly a pop culturally resonant movie. The music, rap, story building, dialogues, actors, everything about it is apt.

While watching the movie, there was this watermark that kept bothering me, after sometime we both realised that it was a company’s watermark. They were trying to advertise their company.

Since piracy is illegal in India, so my thought took me to a place where I was imagining this company buying the whole theatre tickets and recording the whole movie on camera. And later putting it platforms like online torrent streaming platforms like the ones we used.

Now here I ought to assume and to give this thought a massage, that the kind of people or audience who watch movies like Dhurandhar 2, which is such a culturally resonant movie, such a patriotic movie and it has absolutely hyped up people across places in India, be a village or be it a town, they either have money or not. If they had money they must have gone to theatres, and if they don’t, they, out of their restless or out of excitement would’ve tried to watch it via torrent. And the kind of people who do not have money, they are the one who are extremely susceptible to quick money making tricks. I think I’m incorrect here. Those kind of people are present everywhere regardless. I think, the trait of being susceptible is present in the kind of people who haven’t had a lot of experiences in life.

I happen to have seen a lot of it in Bengali villages where this lottery ticket business was being ran at every corner of the village. And people were also buying it.

Let’s call it gambling for the conversation.

The movie not only had a watermark of a betting app, it also had the very steps to invest, as a watermark. It came few times in the movie, around the end.

There were ads also in the movie. And I was a little surprised to see ads at pirated movie streaming platform. It had a regular interval of ads. It also had those horizontal banners at the bottom of the frame, they came sometimes.

And what’s more surprising was that the ads were very much targeted to the village people. It had clear visuals of farmers. And the ads were also quite touching, I have to add.

I, a well read, educated, a person who understands this industry’s tactics, and can spot small-small signs or symbols deliberately put in media, movie or any medium as an unconscious introduction to the brain. Even for someone like that I was taken a back and it actually stayed with me and it is still in my head.

If it moved or let’s use one of those corporate buzzword, ‘impact’. If it impacted me so much, then I can only imagine the impact it would’ve had on someone who is sitting in a village, haven’t had enough experiences in life form a framework or paradigm of life, is very susceptible to gambling and is watching this movie via pirated platforms.

What’s more fun is that the company was based in Middle East. I could tell by the way the ads were made. And I would make more assumptions that the person who must have thought of this idea must definitely be from India.

It’s extremely disgusting to see something like this. Don’t such people think of the consequences it would have on people’s live. What are they thinking when they are making or thinking of such ideas. Are they thinking of their own families then, that they have to feed them?

Like someone said, ‘Does it not frighten their soul when they are thinking of such ideas?’ I guess thinking is fine, since all of us are innately evil. But to actually execute this in the external world? It definitely takes one to sacrifice the opportunity of being good. They deprive themselves of the opportunity of giving water to a ‘Good Complex’ in them and ultimately depriving themselves from growing.

Funnier is, the entire civilisation right now is made to escape such mental atrocities done by people.

Can I do something about it? I don’t think I would want to sacrifice myself to become a social activist who fights for people’s mental peace. I don’t want to live like that, although it would be enjoyable but I don’t think it would be good for my own conscience. If I try to become one then my state would be very much similar to those ants circling around an object until they die, where the object is the thought and I am the ant, stuck around the thought with no space for other thoughts and people. I wouldn’t want to live like that. I find it failing at living itself.

I can only choose for myself and I would want to choose to externalise ideas that are good for the people around me, which makes their lives better, even if they can’t see it.

And if they can’t see it, I can externalise ideas that would make them help see it.

I will always want to choose that. Will you help me choose better?

But what would happen on the days when I have to feed my family?

On days like those, I will always help you choose better for the people around you. If a situation like that comes I won’t directly help you for the ideas.

Instead, I will help you, muster the courage to take a decision and live with it whether it be good or evil.