Black Panther (2018)

Place: Mumbai
Year: 2019

Mode: TV

The sibling and her husband are huge fans of movies featuring superheroes, and after watching Black Panther in the theatre, she excitedly recommended the movie to me. I couldn’t watch it in the theatre, but my interest in the movie grew after watching Naomi Osaka gush over Michael B Jordan. 

pls block me 😩

— NaomiOsaka大坂なおみ (@naomiosaka) October 16, 2018

When Black Panther played on one of the TV channels last year, I watched it. The sibling had specifically mentioned that the brother-sister relationship is portrayed well, and the music is fantastic. I agree with both her points. 

In recent times, there is much debate around the poor representation of Black characters in Oscar nominations, and I was glad that this movie got made and did as well. While quizzing this year, I got to know about another special feature in this movie – that of the presence of Tolkien white guys, a pun on token white guys.

I was happy that I could finally watch Lupita Nyong’o – I still haven’t watched her Oscar winning performance. What I wasn’t prepared for is Chadwick Boseman’s performance as T’Challa / Black Panther, and Letitia Wright’s performance as his sister Shuri. Both characters are written so well, and I was mesmerised with how inspiring they are. Since yesterday, post Chadwick’s untimely death, I am remembering the movie. Actors will pass on, and yet I suspect that the passing on of popular superheroes is going to hurt a lot more.

pic.twitter.com/aZ2JzDf5ai

— Chadwick Boseman (@chadwickboseman) August 29, 2020

Writing this post makes me realise how I have small stories connected with movies, and I hope to be more frequent here. For now, I leave you with the trailer. Do watch the movie – it is a delight. Wakanda Forever!

Too fast to live, too young to die

And so goes the tribute by Eagles to James Dean.



James Dean was 24 when he passed away, and I get reminded of him during the Formula One season – he was a movie actor who liked to race, and he died while racing. He went to the legendary Lee Strasberg acting school and received two posthumous Oscar nominations.

If he had been alive, he would have turned 80 years old on Feb 8.

I must have been 10 or 11 years old when Levi’s advertisement featuring him came out and I went gaga over his looks. Recently, I saw a sparkle in the eyes of the 60+ lady who works in my office when I mentioned him.

From present days, an actor who reminds me of James Dean is Heath Ledger. He was 28 when he died, and was awarded an Oscar posthumously. Incidentally, Heath’s father is a racing car driver.

I had earlier written about what attracts actors to negative roles – there is speculation that Ledger’s role as Joker resulted in his untimely death. Additionally, do a few young men have intuition that they will not be around for long and hence want to try all that they can before their time is up? James Dean was experimental and had sexual relationships with men and women. Ledger was always thinking and had difficulty sleeping – he resorted to medication finally.

Talented, good-looking, well-appreciated – both of them had it all. Their untimely death will forever make us think of their untapped potential. If they had been alive, what else could have been possible?

R.I.P