Opinion Overdose

Cliche is the foundation of society, and opinion its soul. 'Opinions are like...', goes a very cliched saying that doesn't end pleasantly. Let's be uninterested in that cliche for a while. Let's just consider the aspect of opinions. Opinions are shaped by multiple factors like upbringing, economic and social class, independent thinking and judgement, tastes, likes, perceptions and many other such factors. Opinions are often not honest. At least on social media. One may have a secret life with a different set of opinions running inside him but often finds himself playing to the galleries because that's what is considered acceptable or posh or hipster or just because everyone thinks it is good. 

I remember my friend and I visited Providence Bakery in Neredmet X Roads, Hyderabad when was in seventh standard when someone asked me, 'What's your favorite drink?' I replied, 'Maaza', without hesitation. The man asked the same question to my friend and he said, 'Thums Up'. After a brief chat, the guy left. I knew my friend had lied because he and I loved Maaza and detested any drink that caused difficulty in swallowing because of the gas. I asked my friend, 'Why did you lie about your favorite drink?'. My friend nonchalantly replied, 'Maaza is a sissy drink. What will he think of me if I tell him him my favorite drink is Maaza?'. Then I asked him, 'But you had Maaza in your hand when you said Thums Up? What about this hypocrisy?'. My friend had no answer. He just looked at me and said, 'Oops' as he stuck his tongue out. 

What I see today  in adulthood is no different. Quickly adjusting an opinion to match up to that of whom one is jealous of, is the oldest trick in the holy book of hypocrisy. One of the other things people do is to state opinions that will or are most likely to offend other folk who you don't like. Now this one too, finds its origin in the same book. Third is the standard, non-existent high-standard claim-emphasizing opinion that undermines the others and their opinions. Now this is the deadly lot. This is the bunch that markets and circularizes sadness in the society.

With social media emerging numero uno as a communication tool, opinions are being shoved down our throats with or without our consent. The sad part is not the shoving that happens without consent - if you're unwilling, you can always log off. The sad part is the opinion consumption that is happening with our consent. There are so many layers of opinions and thoughts that are masking the original thinking capability that I sometimes wonder what my opinion on a subject really is! 

The other day I expressed my major disappointment with a very popular film because I seriously found it shadily hammy and insanely moronic. I got pounced upon by people. There was a time when I would simply join the bandwagon and just mute my inner voice. Then there was a time I would fight and defend my case. Not anymore. I would still like to have my own opinion. But this time, I will not express it. And that is where I have found the sweet spot. Opinions stress you out. They make you tired. I don't want to get tired because of something that is not fun. In the master George Carlin's style, I have realized, peace lies in the commandment, 'Keep thy opinion to thyself'.

- Deepak Karamungikar

The Human Side of Interstellar

Interstellar is not a film. It is a divine marriage of philosophy, science fiction and essential life lessons. On a vehicle called Physics, Christopher Nolan takes you on a visually stunning journey through human emotions. When I watched it the second time, I was pleasantly surprised to find some of the scenes didn't register when I watched it first – something Christopher Nolan mentioned in one of his interviews. The science aspect of Interstellar has already been overdone. Let’s look at the amazing life lessons and basic human nature Christopher puts across with great sophistication.


Image Source: bustle.com
Father-daughter relationship: The first human aspect about the film is the father-daughter relationship which is the strong foundation on which the whole plot is meticulously constructed.  A daughter doesn't want her father to leave and a father’s regret about leaving her to save the world. The most touching among them all, is the scene where Cooper says, ‘I’m coming back…’ and Murphy asks, ‘When?’ .

Smallness of humanity: Among other things, one thing I found striking is the clarity with which Nolan has put across a point we always knew – how insignificant we are.  Billions of galaxies, each with a billion stars. And Among those, is Milky Way, with billions of stars, each with a solar system of its own. Around one such star revolves our planet. The vast emptiness of the universe is breathtaking, but our insignificance in it, is scary. When Romilly says, ‘There's only a few millimeters of aluminum between me and nothing for millions a miles around’, I felt the punch on my soul.


Image Source: rogerebert.com
Nothing is impossible: At the risk of sounding like a self-help book, I would like to bring up two instances which re-emphasize the message. First, Cooper says, ‘We will find a way, Professor, we always have’. Second, during my favorite docking scene, while Cooper is about to dock the just exploded endurance, CASE says, ‘It is not possible’, to which, Cooper replies, ‘It is necessary’.  In spite of the stunning visuals and dominatingly brilliant background score, this dialogue blew me away. Just try to put in context, the things we do, to get what we want. The one explanation for why we do certain things in life – it is necessary.

Positivity: The whole movie rests on one word – hope. They start the mission hoping to find something that they are not certain about in the first place and risk everything. Every sub-mission is a risk they play out with just a four letter word acting in their favor, as they tread the unknown path. When Murphy grows up, Dr. Brandt says to her, ‘Not sure of what I'm more afraid of, them never coming back, or coming back to find we've failed’.  To which, she replies, ‘Then let’s succeed’. These are lines you cannot come up with, unless you have a very deep understanding of life. And an extremely positive outlook is a mandatory condition. Positivity is the soul of Interstellar.

Discovery: ‘Accident is the first building block of evolution,’ says Dr. Brandt. Right from the first few frames, Nolan has stimulated the spirit of discovery in the viewer. When a young Murphy discovers books falling from her shelf, she realizes there’s some intent behind it and that an unknown force is trying to send a message across, which she fondly names it ‘ghost’.  When I watched Interstellar first time, possibly owing to the visual and audio extravagance, I failed to register the essence of few scenes. But a very important thing it teaches you is discovery. No visual in the film is straight forward. Be it the shreds of corn plants in the farm that fly away meticulously while they chase the surveillance drone on a flat tire or the pieces of Endurance that are stochastically falling away from the ship after the explosion. Pause every scene, every frame and see how there’s so much to discover in Interstellar. Right from the bar codes that get transmitted through gravity in the form of thin and thick lines gathered by a dust storm, till the unending pursuit of Murphy to save the mankind, it’s a discovery, discovery of Nolan’s brilliance. Should we all be a little more observant in life, and fuel our sense of discovery, is there magic waiting to happen?

Imagination: Throughout the film, Nolan expands the boundaries of your imagination by galactic proportions. Interstellar teaches you to imagine. It is a cold reminder of the capabilities of human brain. Certain scenes leave you stunned to your bones. When a very tiny endurance was shown passing by an extremely giant Saturn on the IMAX screen, I was searching for a word to describe what I felt. I am convinced that no adjective befits the grandeur. But it leaves you richer, for, you have better imagination than when you entered the theater.

Love: We all have people and things we love around us, and those who are not around us. Nolan very impressively introduces us to the reality that we have always failed to recognize, simply puts forward the truth in the most profound manner, through Amelia Brandt, when she very intensely delivers the line, ‘Love is the one thing we're capable of perceiving that transcends time and space’. We perceive love. That is the truth, a truth that has struck me more than any other.

Murphy, at the end, holds Cooper’s hand and says, ‘Nobody believed me, but I knew you’d come back’ and Cooper asks, ‘How?’, she has tears rolling out of her eyes and says, ‘…Because my dad promised me’.

Beyond the physics, wormholes, time dilation, space ships, time travel and extra-dimension tesseracts, Interstellar is the story of a father who travels through a wormhole, stops by on a couple of planets, escapes death and a spaceship explosion narrowly, goes back into past, comes back after about seventy years to keep a promise he made to his daughter.
   
- Deepak Karamungikar