I got thinking while watching a movie today. Hmm… it would seem I am doing a lot of that recently. But believe me you, it is nothing new and has always been so. Something or other, sometimes stray comments or actions by the characters on screen, or in books, or even people in real life, makes me go off on a tangent.

Anyway, back to the thought that crept in while I was engrossed in a movie that had the main protagonist, a black police officer, a rookie, set against the corrupt ones in her department. Note that what I am going to prattle about obviously has nothing to do with the main story line.

So, there is this guy in the movie, a gangster kinda one, and another guy comes along and tells him that our rookie officer is responsible for the death of someone very close to him, the gangster guy. Well, I don’t have to spell out for you that it is not the truth. Far from it. The one pointing fingers is the trigger happy fella in the movie. The gangster guy though swallows the story hook, line and sinker and promptly turns his anger, and all the men under his disposal, to finding the officer and killing her.

This is exactly when my mind started wandering off, while still watching the movie, of course. Why do people accept what others say at face value? I mean, come on. you have a brain of your own, We all do in fact, brains perfectly capable of independent thought, analysis and evaluation.

Why would a clearly street smart guy like the one in the movie, the gangster guy, believe anything told to him by someone? Had he sent his brain to the drycleaners? And what about the guy who lied, to save his own skin let me add? He is a corrupt police officer to boot. Anyone who has an ounce of sense would take whatever HE say with a pinch of salt and go around making his own enquiries. But did the gangster guy do that? Nope. Where is the sense in that?

My observation: The writers of movies and books from time immemorial are all too lazy. Someone wrote a story about misunderstanding and the rest followed suit. To this day, most fiction writers thrive on misunderstanding as the crux of their stories. There will be A, along comes B, says something about C and A is either livid with rage plotting revenge, or teary eyed and heart broken and goes into depression, or goes and jumps-off a cliff. A story is born. No misunderstanding? No story!

Like really?

It must have been ‘cute’ and something novel initially. Now it is boring and predictive as hell. How about changing the scene a little bit? Route maatti pidikku (change the route) as they say in Mallu slang. I do admit there are people in real life who are so gullible as to swallow whatever is dished out to them. Yup. I personally know quite a few of them. It is a wonder my eyes haven’t fallen off their sockets considering the eye-rolling I do, surreptitiously of course, at them and their believe-anything-told nature.

But

There are ALSO those who are like, ‘Wait a minute. Why should I believe you?’ We all have instincts about people. We are smart enough to interpret body language. We have reasonably good memory and can easily scan past history to remember who is capable of falsehood. Many of us do use the information wisely and take what is said with a pinch, or if it is someone like me, with a sackful, of salt.

Why does no one write stories about people like us, those who refuse to accept what’s told them at mere face value and have the intelligence to add two plus two and arrive at four instead of believing it is either three, five or twenty six? Think of it. What if the gangster guy told the corrupt officer outright, ‘Like I’m gonna believe you, you poor sod! I know you and your kind. What is it you are hiding from me?’ and then take the story on from there?

Oh well. Maybe I will have to do write one on my own.

©️ Shail Mohan 2024