Author Archives: Abhinav Bhatt

So I recently watched: The Boys

Brash. Brutal. Brouhaha!

I have seen Superhero themed TV shows and movies in abundance by now. There have been amazing openings in numerous shows which hooked you from the word go. But there has been no show which opened like ‘The Boys’. Within the first 5 to 6 minutes, you are introduced to the Queen Maeve (Wonderwoman) and The Homelander (Superman/Captain America) in all their slow-motion glory. You say to yourself, okay another Superhero show, let’s see how it goes. Then all of a sudden, another Superhero A-Train (The Flash or the Quicksilver counterpart) runs through the protagonist’s girlfriend Robin. Read the last sentence again. Then you realize what just happened. One has to see it to believe it. It is like you are just served a good looking delicious plate of food. And as soon as you pick it up to take your first bite, it bites you instead.

You thought that Nolan’s Batman was quite realistic. Then you thought, no Snyder was more realistic. Then Marvel movies took you away from realism and bowled you over with fantastical imagery while their TV shows tried to keep the tone as dark and grittier, going the DC way.

Meanwhile, few other Superhero related themes were running and creating their own places as the undercurrent. Case in point: Watchmen. But then, there comes a new show based on Comics of the same name, which shakes every pre-conceived notion about Superhero movies/TV series.

The Boys, available on Amazon Prime Video, is a Superhero show in which Superheroes are people who have gotten immense power and that has corrupted them like anything. They are managed by a corporate ‘Vought’, they star in their own movies, and they use their powers to do anything unimaginable, utterly horrifying, and unspeakable. In fact, some things are even un-writable. They are pitted against normal humans without any superpower and the group which takes on the corrupted Superheroes is named ‘The Boys’, even when there is a girl in the team.

The Superheroes, led by Homelander (and the team is called The Seven like the Avengers or the Justice League) are almost unconquerable. They have power, money, people behind them, and access to all the possible ways to cover their misdeeds. On the other side, we have The Boys, led by the most-amazing Billy Butcher (Karl Urban), a group of underground, ex-convicts, ex-military/CIA, poor victims, and an Asian girl who like to talk with her hands instead of her mouth. Basically, a bunch of misfits. The fight is one-sided and the situation is pretty much a David vs Goliath fight.

That’s what makes it super-fun to watch.

The Boys is a gory and dark tale where humans take on superheroes and try to pin them one by one in unique ways. It is totally unwatchable while having food, and I mean it as a compliment. It takes blood spilling to a whole another level as they try to up the ante episode after episode. I am pretty sure that people who easily tolerated Game of Thrones’ violent scenes, just because everyone was talking about it, will not be able to handle The Boys. That actually makes the show more worth.

The ensemble cast is just brilliant. Homelander, the main superhero but also the main antagonist, played by Anthony Starr, is deeply menacing and he represents all the wrong political and social connotations that come with power. Billy Butcher, the main protagonist is a 100% scene-stealer, and each time he is on screen, you are bound to have deadly one-liners, in a Kiwi-English accent, are thrown at you with the speed of light. The CGI is top-notch which is a huge thing going in the favor of the series. BG music is easily worth saving as a playlist. Thank you for officially introducing me to Billy Joel.

There have been 2 seasons out yet and it demands all your attention, comic-book shows lovers. Go watch!

Desperate House-Husbands

Let’s directly talk about the Elephant in the room. Has anyone ever spared any thoughts about Husbands who are still stuck at homes while their wives go to office daily if the wives work in the Essential Services Industries (can have acronym Esi., but jobs aren’t that easy, of course)?

I doubt! House-Husbands (in these times specifically) are a rare breed. Most families where both Husbands and Wives went to the office are still Working from Home (how are people still tolerating each other is beyond me). Might have gotten rather used to it! Households, where wives were predominantly home-makers, are in a dilemma, whether to be happy that husbands are at home full time or be sad that husbands are at home full time. But, House-Husbands are not in large numbers, are they? They need to be appreciated for their efforts, isn’t it? But poor House-Husbands don’t know anything because they didn’t choose their lives to be this way. This just happened. Who can help them out? Who can put them out of their misery? Who can empower them and alleviate their pains? Nobody.

Continue reading “Desperate House-Husbands”

Charity Conundrum

About a decade ago, there was a certain period when I was unemployed and the level of frustrations was at an all-time high. There were very few jobs available and the future was unclear.

One day, I was in a market out for some chores. There I met a fakeer (not exactly a beggar, but someone who has taken up religious preaching as his job and asks for money from any passerby). He could somehow sense from my face my low levels of confidence and he stopped me. He asked me if I was feeling low. I don’t know why but I responded and nodded.

Continue reading “Charity Conundrum”

Ghoti

In Steven Pinker’s book, The Language Instinct, (How the Mind Creates Language), I came across this interestingly mentioned thing which had me in splits (figuratively):

“George Bernard Shaw complained that fish could just as sensibly be spelled ghoti (gh as in tough, o as in women, ti as in nation)—and that only institutional”.

English is indeed a phunny language. Next time you correct someone’s grammar, think again.

There’s never a free lunch

While the Internet and Tech World is an allegedly-free-buffet of delicacies, the number of choices we have, revolves around only a handful of flavors.

We are so much accustomed to fighting over Android and iOS, we haven’t realized that these are the only 2 choices we have today. We do have other choices, but they are so poorly marketed, that even trying them deliberately is like making all the effort to go to Antarctica and then getting disappointed to see no Gol-Gappa stall.

Continue reading “There’s never a free lunch”