Samuel Beckett and 67

 I read that '67' has been chosen as the word of the year 2025. Well, I searched for its meaning but it is nothing. Well, the word rather digits stand for nothing. It's a joke on us, I presume. Long ago a man named Samuel Beckett made the word 'absurd' quite fanciful. Well, at least it was a word and not some crazy two digits. The word 'absurd' also stood for nothing - the nothingness of life, the absurdity of existence and related ideas. His famous play, Waiting for Godot, was a play that signified nothing! Nonsense and absurdity was the tagline of the play.

Many playwrights of that era - early 20th century which was the post II World War period where disillusionment and the meaninglessness of human existence was explored and analysed. Well, it made us question our very existence and the purpose of life. If after studying the Theatre of the Absurd, one doesn't change their perspective of life then I would say that the whole English Literature is a futile exercise!

Well, reader that was the nothingness of Samuel Beckett. Now coming to 67 - at least 69 means something but that wasn't added to any dictionary but an absolutely meaningless two digit has been added. As I mentioned in the initial paragraph, the addition is a grand joke on the people. I wonder what Beckett would've thought about this; maybe he would have linked it to the Theatre of the Absurd and Martin Esslin would've  coined 'Absurd 67' - a great combo which would have at least brought some honour to the new addition.

However, you see it, I cannot accept 67 as a word! 69 is better any day. What's your take, dear reader?

Picture courtesy: Internet

Two crime thrillers which could've been shorter

 The past week, I watched two Indian crime thrillers on Jiohotstar - Search: The Naina Murder case and Murder in Mahim. While Search is adapted from the Danish series, The Killing, Murder in Mahim is an adaptation of a book by Jerry Pinto with the same title. Both the series had excellent actors in the title roles - Konkona Sen Sharma, Ashutosh Rana, Vijay Raaz among others who were outstanding in their performance.

                               

The two thrillers started off quite promisingly with the right cliffhangers between episodes and good twists and turns - which kept the viewer on tenterhooks. But somewhere in the middle of the series, one gets a feeling that there are unnecessary plot twists and while we think that finally the killer is trapped, the evidence is shaky and the trail is left. 

While I am not someone who leaves a series mid-way, I was more often then tempted to abandon the series and check out some other ones to spend my time (which at present is ample). The writing though started off at a good pace with catchy plot twists become slack and lazy where the viewer is taken on a merry-go-round which never stops albeit slowly without the needed thrill.

But both the stories are more of relationships and personal narratives more than the actual murder solving itself. For example, somewhere while watching Murder in Mahim, one forgets that a murder mystery is in progress while watching the homosexual subculture in the underbelly of Mumbai. I got the same feeling while reading Jerry Pinto's book which also lost the murder plot somewhere while taking the reader on a tour of the lesser explored aspects of the city that never sleeps. While the detour was equally interesting, the details were done with great care forgetting that the murderer had to be caught. 

I am happy that Murder in Mahim stopped with eight episodes while Search has a second season in the Naina Murder Case (yawn) which could've been avoided. Ah well! the series are a great platform for wonderful actors to be featured in the OTT platform while they aren't seen much in films.

A special treat for me was seeing Ashutosh Rana interact with transgenders which reminded me of his role as a transperson in Sangarsh, where his character sent shivers through my spine. To seem him as a soft and caring character was quite a different experience.

Have you watched these two? What was your experience?

Images: Internet (Wikipedia)