DO WE 'KNOW' OUR CHILDREN?











Two days ago, my wife and I watched the English movie, ‘Searching’. When my wife went to the ticket counter, fifteen minutes before the show, the young boy at the counter said to her, “Sorry ma’am, not a single ticket has been sold till now. Can you wait for another ten minutes to see if anyone else comes to buy?”

We waited. Just before five minutes, two TISS students, who wanted to kill some 80-minutes time they had in their hand, and who didn’t mind watching any movie, were cajoled by my wife to watch this one. They asked no question and, with that, they two and we two landed up inside the theatre… Just before the movie started, a middle-aged couple walked in… And, that’s about it. Six!  The TISS boy and girl, who had only 80-minutes time to kill, left before the movie got over… and, that left four of us to do the honours!

“Which movie did you say?” This was how a couple of my friends reacted when, later, I told them about the movie. Obviously, they had not heard about this movie. Not to blame them. Even my wife and I hadn’t heard about it. Just that, when we had some to kill and wanted to watch some good movie, I chanced upon it… I read some reviews and watched the trailer… and, there we were. I am sure, most of you, too, are clueless about the movie…

By now, you may not be able to watch it anywhere in Mumbai…

So bad!

Not the movie, Sir. So bad I feel when I see a priceless movie like ‘Searching’ goes unnoticed and unappreciated like this.


“Searching’ is an amazing thriller. Most of us have never seen a thriller made in this manner - shot from the point-of-view of smartphones and computer screens.  The pace is a bit slow in the start… But, it gains pace eventually and, then, keeps us on the edge of our seats till the end. 25-year-old, Aneesh Chaganthy, an Indian-American, has made his directorial debut with this movie. John Cho and Debra Messing play the lead roles…

David Kim (John Cho) becomes desperate when his 16-year-old daughter Margot (Michelle La) disappears and an immediate police investigation, headed by the police detective (Debra Messing) leads nowhere. He soon decides to search the one place that no one else has - Margot's laptop. Hoping to trace her digital footprints, David contacts her friends and looks at photos and videos for any possible clues to her whereabouts.






I am saying ‘Searching’ is an amazing thriller because of its story’s relevance to our time. We live in a time of unimaginable dependence on, rather addiction to, smartphones, tabs and computers. The kids are baptized with technology and the kind of access they have got to the outside world – which can be faceless, fake and dangerous at times – is just scary. The age of tender young ones is a very susceptible one… It’s easy to slip badly. And, when that happens, most of the parents just do not come to know about it… It’s a familiar terrain of today’s world. With each one of us lost behind the doors in our own digital faceless-world, where we hardly ever talk to each other – how can we ever know what our kids do behind the doors on their laptops and smartphones? “You do not know your children,” there is a line in this movie, “And you cannot be blamed for it.”

Why? Why can’t the parents be blamed for not knowing their children?

Well, I am still asking myself: “Do I know my own 26-year-old son?”

I think, we only pretend that we know our children. Maybe I am wrong… Maybe I am not.

If you can, please watch this movie. And, if you can succeed in watching it alongside your young ones, that would be not only a great achievement, but also a great soul-searching experience…

Well, I am only guessing... searching!


GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic.: Internet

Video: YouTube

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