FIROS BF

When renowned writer-poet Madhavikutty (rechristened Kamala Surayya at the twilight of her life following her conversion to Islam) died, she was buried as per Islamic customs. And her sons showed no qualms in standing in the front row to offer the customary final prayer to the departed soul. While it is a measure of their sublime sensibility and dignified equanimity, it is also a testament to the great tradition Kerala is known for which essentially bred such finer souls.

India’s apex court has – thankfully – put an interim break to the brouhaha over the much-publicized Hadiya conversion-and-marriage case. Whatever will be the final verdict in this case to be pronounced by the Supreme Court, there is one section, the key benefactor, that is rejoicing with a perverse pleasure from the rooftop.

How would you take a police story without the usual masculine derring-do or hifalutin dialogues that appeal to lowbrow tastes?Unda, the Mammotty-starrer Malayalam movie directed by Khalid Rahman, is not a police story per se. There is no mystery involved, nor is there an investigation that keeps you on tenterhooks. The plot is simple. A contingent of nine-member policemen from Kerala travels to Chhattisgarhas part of election duty and lands in Bastar, a Maoist-dominated region.