This is a comment I pasted on Arun "Vlad" TP's blog http://aruntp.wordpress.com/2009/04/06/the-misadventures-of-the-muscle-gang-a-pim-and-the-fuheads. Kindly go through it too.
Hey,great job mate. Such things piss one off when one is organizing a quiz. It pains to see good quizzers who come to your event for your sake and end up giving way to lesser worthy people because of malpractices.
I would use this forum to talk about what has happened thrice during Informalz quizzes including "Weakest Link and "Jeopardy". I am not giving names here, but people can figure out who I am referring to.
The best lady quizzer of our batch (who's the best BOB BITS never had IMHO) always graces our quizzes and as expected cracks the prelims. What's always queer is that the person sitting next to her always gets through to the finals having the same marks. What's even more queer is that the answers too match. These are obvious cases of cheap cheating which ensure that out Lady Quiz has one less opponent to deal with during the finals.
In events like "Weakest Link" where participants are eliminated after every round, this works to the favour of these slimy quiz swindlers as they get to sit next to each other. This ensures Mother Quiz doles away answers to her undeserving sidie in the quiz, creating a cartel on stage and eliminating better people on stage.
Many quizzers who I respect, including Psyche have been denied of an entry to the finals because of this con-women.
Finally, i must congratulate Uncle Sid, who while conducting "Weakest Link 2k7" pissed her off on stage so much (including questioning her questionable sex) that she left the quiz in a huff with her lackey, upon which, he recalled a guy who had been eliminated the previous round back tho the quiz saying "We now will have a true quizzer on stage!".
That I've written so much speaks strongly about how affected I am from these incidents of malpractices. People should sit down and find ways to eliminate this shit.
Ajay
PS: Hell, Ive written so much I think I'll post it in my blog and link u too.
Monday, April 06, 2009
Friday, December 19, 2008
The Strength of a Thousand Elephants
In my school days, occasionally there used to be these story-writing competitions. The major incentives these contests offered included a free set of pens, the chance to look cool before lesser-read classmates and more importantly a legitimate excuse for bunking classes. An early crushing truth that a well meaning English teacher revealed to me was that I would never be able to win any of these competitions as the judges weren't exactly known for their patience in deciphering Hieroglyphic scribblings of the students before evaluating their work. But with the carrot of incentives mentioned before dangling in front of me, I used to still go and give a shot at them. These competitions involved writing a Story with the Title or the Moral-of -the-Story or a sentence which should appear somewhere in the story being given. Sometimes, I used to reach the end of my story before realizing I had forgotten to include the sentence I was supposed to, so I would end the story in a convoluted manner with some character mouthing the singular sentence.
Gautam Vasudev Menon's Vaaranam Aayiram, touted as a film which surely would bring back nostalgic memories of pieces of your own life succeeded in bringing back this quirky detail from my schooldays when in the end mother Simran looks at son Suriya and mouths some incomprehensible "Thoozha-Tamizh" phrase beginning "Vaaranam Aayiram...". At that moment, I realized what a feel-good movie was, for I really felt good that I was not alone in having problems with including titular sentences in my works. Apparently Gautam suffers from it too.
"Vaaranam Aayiram" meaning " The Strength of a Thousand Elephants" is the starting line of a stanza in Aandal's "Naachiyar Thirumozhi" where she dreams of being carried by a procession 1000 elephants strong to her beloved Lord Ranganatha. A poetic title for a Tamil film in these times of "Pandi", "Villu" and "Dindugul Sarathy". Surely suggested by Gautam's default "aasthaana" lyricist ThamarI (that's her new spelling) like she suggested the other figurative titles of his works like "Pachaikili Muthucharam", "Vettayaadu Vilayaadu" (from old MGR songs) and "Kakka Kakka" (from the Kanda Shasthi Kavacham shlokas).
But Gautam had to do it. He had to make Simran blurt out the film's title in the end lest the audience is left wondering why the title was chosen in the first place.Though the paradox is, the prospective candidates who could end up liking the movie, the bourgeois urban youth who think in English and address "Mattu Pongal" as "Cow Pongal", wouldn't just get what she was hymning. As for the masses, it would be the last nail in a nail-infested coffin, if they remained seated till then that is. Had he simply left the title in the end, or as a song in the end- credits, it would have brought the film to the smooth flowing end it deserved. After all, people didn't protest to find out why his previous fare was called "PachaiKili MuthuCharam (PKMC)"
Having said that, I must point out that Gautam has made a film to which he has poured his heart out. The film works because it is intensely personal, we can literally feel Gautam's yearning for his lost dad. We can feel the intensity of the emotions that he must have gone through while crafting this tribute to his father, just like we feel Shah Jahan's love for Mumtaz oozing out of every minaret of the Taj Mahal. And it is this conviction of the director that turns our eyes blind to the film's follies.
We choose to ignore the native sensibilities (or the lack of it) of the director who makes the Dad Surya call Son Surya as "Kiddo" and the Mom Simran telling her children their dad "swept her off the feet". We choose to disregard the fact that the story offers nothing new in terms of story and content; its just old wine packaged in one nice glittering bottle called "First Half." But post-Interval, the director finds his bottle of sparkling wine has emptied itself and he has no stock left. But he has to entertain us for yet another eternity; it's only Interval; " Picture Khatam Nahin Hain. Aur Bhi Baaki Hain". So, not knowing what to do, he sets aside the maxim" If you start trying to please everyone, you'll end up pleasing none" and starts hurling at us, an assortment of small 100 ml soft drinks "Requiem for Sameera", "Hostage Drama", "Good son joins Army", "Another Love Story", "Another Hostage Drama", "Death of a Father" and so on. The end result is half his audience are bewildered and the other half are disgusted. But Gautam can take heart that these small sodas are at least more bearable than the acid of a second half that he threw at the audience with "PKMC".
No doubt, the individual segments are shot brilliantly, but they just don't gel. And the film coming as it is close on the heels of "PKMC", exposes the writing of Gautam once again. Like his previous fare, the film has a brilliant first half, but from there its one big journey downwards. Another failing in his works is that all the characters think like Gautam.As a result, all the characters appear to come alive from the world of Hollywood and English books, uttering phrases like "It was like a Rock Song!". People haven't forgotten his TN-Policemen-shouting -FREEZE antic in "VV". Gautam needs to go the Mani Ratnam way. In the early 90's Mani realized that his characters started sounding similar and the vision driving his stories started to get repetitive, he stopped writing the dialogues and entrusted it into the safe hands of Sujatha. Gautam needs to find a Sujatha for himself too, otherwise he would find his position as a director who appeals to urban sensibilities being usurped by a director whose characters can speak in different tongues.
Some friends of mine felt that the film was just a rehash of "Autograph" and "Thavamai Thavamirundhu". I beg to differ. Though at the surface it might look like "VA" is simply these films written for a hipper crowd, they are not even in the same league. Make no mistake, it is easier to make a "TT" because such gut-wrenching stories of fathers suffering for the sake of the family are available dime a dozen, and the treatment as such was flat in-your-face expression of Fatherly Love. However, Gautam shows his class here by making the father's character more of an inspirational presence. Except for one or two scenes, where it is revealed that he is struggling to make ends meet and where is admonished by a Seth for not honouring his debt payments, we are not really made aware of the trials and tribulations faced by Dad Suriya. The film is about Son Suriya, and the director doesn't get distracted much away from it. And the film is not emotionally manipulative like "TT", there is no warring Daughter-In-Law to make it look like a Mega Serial unfolding on the silver screen.
If at all the film has any value in the legacy market, it must be due to the fact that it is the last film, (at least as of now) of the Gautam-Harris combo. Maybe having realized this before embarking upon this project, the duo churn out song after song in the first half (as many as 5 in the frst half and only 2 in the second) , like a couple lovemaking like there was no tomorrow. The songs are catchy, and hence you are able to sit through the torrent of music unleashed. Harris as usual recycles some of his own work in the songs, and screws up the Background Score like always; but overall a Pass Mark for old time's sake.
But the biggest legacy of the film has to be the emergence of "SURIYA" the dependable actor. Suriya is adequate in the role of the caring Dad, reminding one of the late Raghuvaran in more than one occasion. But it is Suriya the son who carries the movie in his shoulder and walks away with all the honours. The 6 pack may be THE proof of his commitment to the character, but he looks equally convincing as the 17 year old Suriya who dances for the "Yethi Yethi" song (a not-so-apparent tribute to Kamal of the 80's with a poster of Satya and a dance which fleetingly resembles the "Raaja Kayya Vacha" song ). I can't imagine any other actor playing the roles essayed by Suriya with the possible exception of Kamal if he were lot younger. Here's waiting for Suriya's next.
Simran plays her part well, the other heroines Sameera Reddy and Divya Spandana (previously known as "Kuthu" Ramya) are adequate. The campus of University of California, Berkeley, has been beautifully shot by Ratnavelu, the cinematographer of Endhiran. This should please the Endhiran trackers, anxious about the work of this little known technician. Technically, the movie is chic and the songs too have been shot in a flowery manner with lot of sets used, though the graphics deployed to show the Madras of Yore in the "Mundhinam Parthene" song sticks out like a sore thumb like the initial portions of "Paartha Mudhal Naale" song from "VV" did.
Gautam Vasudev Menon gives another promising film with "Vaaranam Aayiram" and cements his place in making niche films targeted at the Multiplex Audiences. His next venture "Chennayil Oru MAzhaikkalam" pairs him up with A.R Rahman for the first time.Looks like the tables have turned since Harris Jeyraj replaced ARR in Shankar's "Anniyan". Gautam is a bold auteur, making films the way he wants to, though often he finds himself succumbing to commercial demands.
"VA" works because of Gautam's deep conviction and Suriya's stellar commitment in bringing his characters to life. When a film touches you like "VA" does, you tend to ignore its failings and emerge out of the theatre feeeling satisfied. So a big thumbs up for "VA".
Gautam Vasudev Menon's Vaaranam Aayiram, touted as a film which surely would bring back nostalgic memories of pieces of your own life succeeded in bringing back this quirky detail from my schooldays when in the end mother Simran looks at son Suriya and mouths some incomprehensible "Thoozha-Tamizh" phrase beginning "Vaaranam Aayiram...". At that moment, I realized what a feel-good movie was, for I really felt good that I was not alone in having problems with including titular sentences in my works. Apparently Gautam suffers from it too.
"Vaaranam Aayiram" meaning " The Strength of a Thousand Elephants" is the starting line of a stanza in Aandal's "Naachiyar Thirumozhi" where she dreams of being carried by a procession 1000 elephants strong to her beloved Lord Ranganatha. A poetic title for a Tamil film in these times of "Pandi", "Villu" and "Dindugul Sarathy". Surely suggested by Gautam's default "aasthaana" lyricist ThamarI (that's her new spelling) like she suggested the other figurative titles of his works like "Pachaikili Muthucharam", "Vettayaadu Vilayaadu" (from old MGR songs) and "Kakka Kakka" (from the Kanda Shasthi Kavacham shlokas).
But Gautam had to do it. He had to make Simran blurt out the film's title in the end lest the audience is left wondering why the title was chosen in the first place.Though the paradox is, the prospective candidates who could end up liking the movie, the bourgeois urban youth who think in English and address "Mattu Pongal" as "Cow Pongal", wouldn't just get what she was hymning. As for the masses, it would be the last nail in a nail-infested coffin, if they remained seated till then that is. Had he simply left the title in the end, or as a song in the end- credits, it would have brought the film to the smooth flowing end it deserved. After all, people didn't protest to find out why his previous fare was called "PachaiKili MuthuCharam (PKMC)"
Having said that, I must point out that Gautam has made a film to which he has poured his heart out. The film works because it is intensely personal, we can literally feel Gautam's yearning for his lost dad. We can feel the intensity of the emotions that he must have gone through while crafting this tribute to his father, just like we feel Shah Jahan's love for Mumtaz oozing out of every minaret of the Taj Mahal. And it is this conviction of the director that turns our eyes blind to the film's follies.
We choose to ignore the native sensibilities (or the lack of it) of the director who makes the Dad Surya call Son Surya as "Kiddo" and the Mom Simran telling her children their dad "swept her off the feet". We choose to disregard the fact that the story offers nothing new in terms of story and content; its just old wine packaged in one nice glittering bottle called "First Half." But post-Interval, the director finds his bottle of sparkling wine has emptied itself and he has no stock left. But he has to entertain us for yet another eternity; it's only Interval; " Picture Khatam Nahin Hain. Aur Bhi Baaki Hain". So, not knowing what to do, he sets aside the maxim" If you start trying to please everyone, you'll end up pleasing none" and starts hurling at us, an assortment of small 100 ml soft drinks "Requiem for Sameera", "Hostage Drama", "Good son joins Army", "Another Love Story", "Another Hostage Drama", "Death of a Father" and so on. The end result is half his audience are bewildered and the other half are disgusted. But Gautam can take heart that these small sodas are at least more bearable than the acid of a second half that he threw at the audience with "PKMC".
No doubt, the individual segments are shot brilliantly, but they just don't gel. And the film coming as it is close on the heels of "PKMC", exposes the writing of Gautam once again. Like his previous fare, the film has a brilliant first half, but from there its one big journey downwards. Another failing in his works is that all the characters think like Gautam.As a result, all the characters appear to come alive from the world of Hollywood and English books, uttering phrases like "It was like a Rock Song!". People haven't forgotten his TN-Policemen-shouting -FREEZE antic in "VV". Gautam needs to go the Mani Ratnam way. In the early 90's Mani realized that his characters started sounding similar and the vision driving his stories started to get repetitive, he stopped writing the dialogues and entrusted it into the safe hands of Sujatha. Gautam needs to find a Sujatha for himself too, otherwise he would find his position as a director who appeals to urban sensibilities being usurped by a director whose characters can speak in different tongues.
Some friends of mine felt that the film was just a rehash of "Autograph" and "Thavamai Thavamirundhu". I beg to differ. Though at the surface it might look like "VA" is simply these films written for a hipper crowd, they are not even in the same league. Make no mistake, it is easier to make a "TT" because such gut-wrenching stories of fathers suffering for the sake of the family are available dime a dozen, and the treatment as such was flat in-your-face expression of Fatherly Love. However, Gautam shows his class here by making the father's character more of an inspirational presence. Except for one or two scenes, where it is revealed that he is struggling to make ends meet and where is admonished by a Seth for not honouring his debt payments, we are not really made aware of the trials and tribulations faced by Dad Suriya. The film is about Son Suriya, and the director doesn't get distracted much away from it. And the film is not emotionally manipulative like "TT", there is no warring Daughter-In-Law to make it look like a Mega Serial unfolding on the silver screen.
If at all the film has any value in the legacy market, it must be due to the fact that it is the last film, (at least as of now) of the Gautam-Harris combo. Maybe having realized this before embarking upon this project, the duo churn out song after song in the first half (as many as 5 in the frst half and only 2 in the second) , like a couple lovemaking like there was no tomorrow. The songs are catchy, and hence you are able to sit through the torrent of music unleashed. Harris as usual recycles some of his own work in the songs, and screws up the Background Score like always; but overall a Pass Mark for old time's sake.
But the biggest legacy of the film has to be the emergence of "SURIYA" the dependable actor. Suriya is adequate in the role of the caring Dad, reminding one of the late Raghuvaran in more than one occasion. But it is Suriya the son who carries the movie in his shoulder and walks away with all the honours. The 6 pack may be THE proof of his commitment to the character, but he looks equally convincing as the 17 year old Suriya who dances for the "Yethi Yethi" song (a not-so-apparent tribute to Kamal of the 80's with a poster of Satya and a dance which fleetingly resembles the "Raaja Kayya Vacha" song ). I can't imagine any other actor playing the roles essayed by Suriya with the possible exception of Kamal if he were lot younger. Here's waiting for Suriya's next.
Simran plays her part well, the other heroines Sameera Reddy and Divya Spandana (previously known as "Kuthu" Ramya) are adequate. The campus of University of California, Berkeley, has been beautifully shot by Ratnavelu, the cinematographer of Endhiran. This should please the Endhiran trackers, anxious about the work of this little known technician. Technically, the movie is chic and the songs too have been shot in a flowery manner with lot of sets used, though the graphics deployed to show the Madras of Yore in the "Mundhinam Parthene" song sticks out like a sore thumb like the initial portions of "Paartha Mudhal Naale" song from "VV" did.
Gautam Vasudev Menon gives another promising film with "Vaaranam Aayiram" and cements his place in making niche films targeted at the Multiplex Audiences. His next venture "Chennayil Oru MAzhaikkalam" pairs him up with A.R Rahman for the first time.Looks like the tables have turned since Harris Jeyraj replaced ARR in Shankar's "Anniyan". Gautam is a bold auteur, making films the way he wants to, though often he finds himself succumbing to commercial demands.
"VA" works because of Gautam's deep conviction and Suriya's stellar commitment in bringing his characters to life. When a film touches you like "VA" does, you tend to ignore its failings and emerge out of the theatre feeeling satisfied. So a big thumbs up for "VA".
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Blogger's Itch
Why do we Blog?
A question that propped up in my mind while reading an article in "The Hindu" about how HR people are increasingly looking up to Blogs to determine their prospective employee's character, personal views, likes, dislikes and what not.
People use Blogs differently. There are people who pour their hearts out into their blog, so much that if the Blog had a soul of its own, it would juxtapose with the writer's own soul. There are those for whom a Blog is a medium to be what they are not in their real life. The anonymity that they get propels some people into developing an Alter Ego residing in Cyberspace, one which can do as it pleases, something like "The Mask" was for Stanley Ipkiss.
Then there are those who have not lost the etymology of Blog as a corrupted portmanteau of WeB Log. These are the people who use blogs to note down things they wouldn't wanna forget. Or maybe use it as a Log of their activities, business and/or personal.
Web-Savvy Journalists use their Blogs to publish their articles, inviting comments from readers. The comment space is often a Warfield, with one set of people justifying the author's stance pitted against another set baying for his blood. The journalist himself makes an appearance, commenting on other's comments of their own comments. Like BITSian Chemical Engineer turned Film Writer Baradwaj Rangan (IMHO the best Film Critic ever to grace Chennai) who feels his blog (http://www.desipundit.com/baradwajrangan/) helps him to connect with his readers like no other medium can offer. He even goes to the extent of questioning the necessity of the passive and inert Print Medium in a time when Television and the Internet have made news "interactive" like never before.
Then there are the "Specialist Blogs" in which a like-minded bunch hang out to pursue their hobbies like Quizzing, Solving Crosswords and the like.
Where do I fit in?
Well, when I started this blog, it was more of an experiment with a medium which was being talked about for the first time. Since then it has matured, along with its author hopefully, to this piece which makes it a compendium of dozen entries.
For me, the blog offers an environment to vent my feelings. It allows me to satisfy one of the most basic needs of Mankind: The need to be heard. Well, I know this contradicts the fact that the 10-15 odd readers who chance through these pages wont count much in terms of being heard.So it must mean more than that. Maybe it's the other basic aspiration of Mankind, Owning Property, Wanting a place that one can call one's own. My blog is a place where I rule, very much like my home. It grants me an unbridled Freedom of Expression, that I can't get elsewhere but at home. My writings are sporadic bursts, about things that move me into writing. Most of the articles are reviews of Movies, as they are stuff I wanna analyze and write about.
The randomness of my Blog Update reflects the fact that I write only when I feel the urge to talk about something. I am not writing to meet deadlines, not writing to do justice to fat cheques or legions of readers. I don't know how much of myself I've poured into this blog. My guess is not too much, there should be a lot more to ME than that meets the eye with this blog. If at all it reveals something, it is the period when am jobless enough to pursue Blogging. Almost all my articles are written during Holidays, when I don't have other things to worry about. Each blog takes nearly a day's labour to complete starting from the itch to write and conceptualization of the matter, though the writing may take an hour or two at the max.Such a luxury of time can't be got at BITS. Well, I guess am prattling too much about myself. So let's stop at that.
This blog is something like an Ergodic Picture of my Mind at the time of writing, albeit an incomplete one.
The reason I am keying this down is as a prelude to another article about something that has been bothering me, and no marks for guessing that is about Blogs too.
A question that propped up in my mind while reading an article in "The Hindu" about how HR people are increasingly looking up to Blogs to determine their prospective employee's character, personal views, likes, dislikes and what not.
People use Blogs differently. There are people who pour their hearts out into their blog, so much that if the Blog had a soul of its own, it would juxtapose with the writer's own soul. There are those for whom a Blog is a medium to be what they are not in their real life. The anonymity that they get propels some people into developing an Alter Ego residing in Cyberspace, one which can do as it pleases, something like "The Mask" was for Stanley Ipkiss.
Then there are those who have not lost the etymology of Blog as a corrupted portmanteau of WeB Log. These are the people who use blogs to note down things they wouldn't wanna forget. Or maybe use it as a Log of their activities, business and/or personal.
Web-Savvy Journalists use their Blogs to publish their articles, inviting comments from readers. The comment space is often a Warfield, with one set of people justifying the author's stance pitted against another set baying for his blood. The journalist himself makes an appearance, commenting on other's comments of their own comments. Like BITSian Chemical Engineer turned Film Writer Baradwaj Rangan (IMHO the best Film Critic ever to grace Chennai) who feels his blog (http://www.desipundit.com/baradwajrangan/) helps him to connect with his readers like no other medium can offer. He even goes to the extent of questioning the necessity of the passive and inert Print Medium in a time when Television and the Internet have made news "interactive" like never before.
Then there are the "Specialist Blogs" in which a like-minded bunch hang out to pursue their hobbies like Quizzing, Solving Crosswords and the like.
Where do I fit in?
Well, when I started this blog, it was more of an experiment with a medium which was being talked about for the first time. Since then it has matured, along with its author hopefully, to this piece which makes it a compendium of dozen entries.
For me, the blog offers an environment to vent my feelings. It allows me to satisfy one of the most basic needs of Mankind: The need to be heard. Well, I know this contradicts the fact that the 10-15 odd readers who chance through these pages wont count much in terms of being heard.So it must mean more than that. Maybe it's the other basic aspiration of Mankind, Owning Property, Wanting a place that one can call one's own. My blog is a place where I rule, very much like my home. It grants me an unbridled Freedom of Expression, that I can't get elsewhere but at home. My writings are sporadic bursts, about things that move me into writing. Most of the articles are reviews of Movies, as they are stuff I wanna analyze and write about.
The randomness of my Blog Update reflects the fact that I write only when I feel the urge to talk about something. I am not writing to meet deadlines, not writing to do justice to fat cheques or legions of readers. I don't know how much of myself I've poured into this blog. My guess is not too much, there should be a lot more to ME than that meets the eye with this blog. If at all it reveals something, it is the period when am jobless enough to pursue Blogging. Almost all my articles are written during Holidays, when I don't have other things to worry about. Each blog takes nearly a day's labour to complete starting from the itch to write and conceptualization of the matter, though the writing may take an hour or two at the max.Such a luxury of time can't be got at BITS. Well, I guess am prattling too much about myself. So let's stop at that.
This blog is something like an Ergodic Picture of my Mind at the time of writing, albeit an incomplete one.
The reason I am keying this down is as a prelude to another article about something that has been bothering me, and no marks for guessing that is about Blogs too.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Dasavatharam - One Legend Ten Characters!
When P Vasu asks Kamal Hassan, "Nee Enna UlagaNaygana? (Are You a Universal Hero)", to which Kamal in his Dalit Christian Avatar Vincent Boovarahan replies in his Tirunelveli slang "Amaanle, Naan UlaganNayagan Then (Yes, I am the Universal Hero), you get reminded not for the first time and definitely not for the last time, what kind of film Kamal has attempted with his latest magnum opus "Dasavatharam".
Dasa is , read my lips, a MASS film. MASS not because the story carries weight (sorry for the bad pun), but because it assumes it has to first and foremost cater to MASSES who usually don't flock to Kamal films as fervently as they would to a Rajni Fare. So it has some of the most "In-Your-Face-Dumbing-Down" sequences, like the one where Balram Naidu looks down at Fletcher from a chopper and watches with some Binoculars, the deadly Virus multiplying, and a scene later, the Tsunami brings with it an Indian National Flag which pierces through Fletcher!
But then how does Kamal appease the "Classes" who form his hardcore audiences? Kamal takes them to a tour of movies that have still not been transliterated from Hollywood to its rhyming K version. Each Avatar caters to a particular set of people. For the Sci-Fi oriented youth and people who have grown up seeing STAR Movies and HBO, there is plenty of action with Bio-weapons, Govind-a Scientist who has to continually run to save himself and the world (somewhat like Will Simith in Enemy of the State),Fletcher- a mercenary with steely nerves whose only aim to retrieve the "vial" containing the deadly virus that I was talking about, no matter what it takes (reminding one of characters with a Singular Mission that Hollywood churns out regularly, like the Terminator series), Car chases shot in the night, etc. For those enamoured by Jackie Chan flicks, there is a Jap out for revenge.
Then for the people who come to Kamal movies for his comedy and timing, there's Balram Naidu, the bungling Gult RAW officer and Krishnaveni Paati, the lunatic nonagenarian lady.
For the devout there's Rangaraja Nambi, A Vaishnavite facing persecution from Veera Shavitie King Kulothunga Cholan (Napolean) in the 12th Century. For the atheists there is Govind, the scientist who also doubles up as the rationalist of the story.
For those in love with Vijayakanth style son-of-the-soil sermonizing protagonist, there is a classier version in Vincent Boovarahan, the Dalit Christian activist out to battle against Manal (Sand) Mafia.
Then there is Bush, who like his real life counterpart doesn't do much except fill space and footage, and occasionally startles you with the close semblance with the real Bush.
And last, if you are one who is neck deep into mega-serials filled with unbelievably binary shades of characters, there are 2 Avatars just for you. One who calls himself Avatar Singh is a pop-singer, wife-lover, and Cancer patient rolled into one.His high in the film is the "Oh Oh Sanam" song, delivered by the mesmerizing voice of Kamal himself, and the low is the way his Cancer is cured by stray bullets.
The other chap is the over 7 Feet tall Muslim Kalifulla Khan, who would probably rank as the most boring thing Kamal has attempted since Maharasan (1993).
So with such a recipe, which caters to all sections of the audience, you are bound to have a surefire hit in your hands. And yes, Dasa has been declared by Kamal himself to be the biggest hit of his career.
But all is not well, that ends well. The film has exposed Kamal the Writer's failings once again. The main problem with Kamal the Writer over the years has been an indulgence to show Kamal the Actor in as many scenes as possible, lest his fans go disappointed. This has resulted in great many wonderful stories going un-attempted as it might have resulted in Kamal the Actor getting lesser screen time.
Kamal the writer has other visible indulgences too, like ranting home his brand of philosophy and every now and then reminding viewers that atheists who are good at heart are better than people blinded by religion into helping others. So much so that one can't help wondering if Kamal wants to be known like that - an Atheist Do-gooder.
Maybe his films are a means for him to glorify his ideals and strengthen his own resolve in them.
This indulgence already cost him dearly with Anbe Sivam. What could have been a subtle but enjoyable Road Movie, dealing with the Culture Shock experienced by Maddy, representing today's go-getter as he meets an ideologically poles apart Kamal and is forced to undertake a journey with him through the "Real India"( with hazardous weather conditions for company), got transformed into a new dimension. One in which the story started dwelling more on Kamal's flashback, his love, his conflict with Padayachi Nambi (Naazar), the devout but merciless Industrialist. We got to see a notorious Umbrella Fight, and a well shot duet song (Poovasam) and a Bus accident. All this looked great, but it drove us away from the point of the story. Or was it the point of story at all in the first place? For such a great movie, the Nazeer character appeared nothing but a well drawn caricature. Just imagine what the story could have become if we removed the flashback portion of the movie and if Kamal and Maddy remained as unconnected in the end as they were in the beginning. The movie could have dwelt more on the bonding that develops between Maddy and him. It would have marked a new maturity for Tamil Cinema. But unfortunately it wasn't to be.
Getting back to Dasa, it's the same story here again. This time it suits the theme better, as the undercurrent here is the tension between various opposing forces, like Religion and Science. But the compulsions of getting back the Crores of money spent, meant that the film could only give a nod to many issues but couldn't go deeper into anything.
A point that was disturbing in the movie was the manner in which Kamal roughed up Religion and believers. When I was watching the movie with my friends, all of them believers, I could see many of them getting disturbed mildly by the dialogues and content in some of the scenes. Making Asin look dumb and having her shout "Perumale Perumale" while making her turning blind to sufferings of others does not qualify her for Moksha. Religion doesn't say we have to be like her. Using her weak character and juxtaposing it with the failings of Religion is akin to hiding its strength and magnifying its failings. If the aim was again to glorify good people who happen to be atheists, again it doesn't work. For the character of Govind turns out inadvertently into an irritating smart ass who gets away with the best lines in repartees and ends up winning any argument that arises. An example is his final statement "I am not saying God doesn't exist, I am only saying it would've been better if he had existed!" . Let me take back to Anbe Sivam where Kamal tells Maddy "Who said I dont believe in God, I believe in God, for me now YOU are God, as you've given blood to a fellow you've never met. That feeling in you is God"
Make no mistake, both the statements are awesome, but the characters saying them make it appear Smart-Ass.
And the Brahmin-Bashing in the film! Oh God! or Oh whatever-Kamal-believes-in! May better sense prevail upon the Dream Merchants of Kollywood into showing a community in a more responsible manner! I wonder how it's only the Brahmins who get charred and made fun of for their ways. Agreed, they were horrendous in the treatment they accorded to the so-called lower castes, but that was like 50 years ago.
Today, people have become more Class Conscious as Marx predicted, and they won't stand any such nonsense. So there is no point in harping around themes that have been overexploited over the ages.
Lastly, the promised Computer Graphics Revolution somehow doesn't seem to live upto its hype. The CG work, though the best in Tamil cinema so far, leaves a lot to be desired, whether in the 12th Century segment or the final Tsunami. But again, it could be because of the scale of the project involved and other budgetary constaints, though with 60 Crores I wouldn't be complaining of lack of funds.
Having said all that, I come to an important part of the discussion here. How to Enjoy Dasa?
Key to deriving happiness of the Rs. 120 spent on the movie, is to know what to expect. Dasa is a MASS film that should be viewed as a means of connecting the 10 Characters played by Kamal Hassan, weaving an interesting screenplay around these characters with a story that touches Chaos Theory, Butterfly Effect, Bio-Weapons, Tsunami etc. It also has an undercurrent of the clash between Science and Religion and to its credit is pretty open-ended in its Conclusion. The songs have been used to carry the story forward nicely. The screenplay is lightning fast, and I couldnt believe it was two hours into the movie already when the interval was announced. The pace slackens a bit post Interval, but that is to create a lull before the Tsunami of a climax. And don't forget the pains the man has taken up for two years to meet the challenges of portraying 10 characters. Seems he has spent more than 500 hours in Make-Up. Imagine the difficult situation for the technicians as they have to create layers and layers of the same shot, when there are multiple Kamals in the same scene. In one scene there are as many as 5 Kamal Hassan, all looking markedly different in their appearance and height!
So fasten your seat belts, have your popcorn by your side, switch off the devil in your mind expecting every Kamal movie to be a Mahanadhi, and get ready for 3 hrs of Entertainment, the way it's never been attempted before in Tamil Cinema!
Dasa is , read my lips, a MASS film. MASS not because the story carries weight (sorry for the bad pun), but because it assumes it has to first and foremost cater to MASSES who usually don't flock to Kamal films as fervently as they would to a Rajni Fare. So it has some of the most "In-Your-Face-Dumbing-Down" sequences, like the one where Balram Naidu looks down at Fletcher from a chopper and watches with some Binoculars, the deadly Virus multiplying, and a scene later, the Tsunami brings with it an Indian National Flag which pierces through Fletcher!
But then how does Kamal appease the "Classes" who form his hardcore audiences? Kamal takes them to a tour of movies that have still not been transliterated from Hollywood to its rhyming K version. Each Avatar caters to a particular set of people. For the Sci-Fi oriented youth and people who have grown up seeing STAR Movies and HBO, there is plenty of action with Bio-weapons, Govind-a Scientist who has to continually run to save himself and the world (somewhat like Will Simith in Enemy of the State),Fletcher- a mercenary with steely nerves whose only aim to retrieve the "vial" containing the deadly virus that I was talking about, no matter what it takes (reminding one of characters with a Singular Mission that Hollywood churns out regularly, like the Terminator series), Car chases shot in the night, etc. For those enamoured by Jackie Chan flicks, there is a Jap out for revenge.
Then for the people who come to Kamal movies for his comedy and timing, there's Balram Naidu, the bungling Gult RAW officer and Krishnaveni Paati, the lunatic nonagenarian lady.
For the devout there's Rangaraja Nambi, A Vaishnavite facing persecution from Veera Shavitie King Kulothunga Cholan (Napolean) in the 12th Century. For the atheists there is Govind, the scientist who also doubles up as the rationalist of the story.
For those in love with Vijayakanth style son-of-the-soil sermonizing protagonist, there is a classier version in Vincent Boovarahan, the Dalit Christian activist out to battle against Manal (Sand) Mafia.
Then there is Bush, who like his real life counterpart doesn't do much except fill space and footage, and occasionally startles you with the close semblance with the real Bush.
And last, if you are one who is neck deep into mega-serials filled with unbelievably binary shades of characters, there are 2 Avatars just for you. One who calls himself Avatar Singh is a pop-singer, wife-lover, and Cancer patient rolled into one.His high in the film is the "Oh Oh Sanam" song, delivered by the mesmerizing voice of Kamal himself, and the low is the way his Cancer is cured by stray bullets.
The other chap is the over 7 Feet tall Muslim Kalifulla Khan, who would probably rank as the most boring thing Kamal has attempted since Maharasan (1993).
So with such a recipe, which caters to all sections of the audience, you are bound to have a surefire hit in your hands. And yes, Dasa has been declared by Kamal himself to be the biggest hit of his career.
But all is not well, that ends well. The film has exposed Kamal the Writer's failings once again. The main problem with Kamal the Writer over the years has been an indulgence to show Kamal the Actor in as many scenes as possible, lest his fans go disappointed. This has resulted in great many wonderful stories going un-attempted as it might have resulted in Kamal the Actor getting lesser screen time.
Kamal the writer has other visible indulgences too, like ranting home his brand of philosophy and every now and then reminding viewers that atheists who are good at heart are better than people blinded by religion into helping others. So much so that one can't help wondering if Kamal wants to be known like that - an Atheist Do-gooder.
Maybe his films are a means for him to glorify his ideals and strengthen his own resolve in them.
This indulgence already cost him dearly with Anbe Sivam. What could have been a subtle but enjoyable Road Movie, dealing with the Culture Shock experienced by Maddy, representing today's go-getter as he meets an ideologically poles apart Kamal and is forced to undertake a journey with him through the "Real India"( with hazardous weather conditions for company), got transformed into a new dimension. One in which the story started dwelling more on Kamal's flashback, his love, his conflict with Padayachi Nambi (Naazar), the devout but merciless Industrialist. We got to see a notorious Umbrella Fight, and a well shot duet song (Poovasam) and a Bus accident. All this looked great, but it drove us away from the point of the story. Or was it the point of story at all in the first place? For such a great movie, the Nazeer character appeared nothing but a well drawn caricature. Just imagine what the story could have become if we removed the flashback portion of the movie and if Kamal and Maddy remained as unconnected in the end as they were in the beginning. The movie could have dwelt more on the bonding that develops between Maddy and him. It would have marked a new maturity for Tamil Cinema. But unfortunately it wasn't to be.
Getting back to Dasa, it's the same story here again. This time it suits the theme better, as the undercurrent here is the tension between various opposing forces, like Religion and Science. But the compulsions of getting back the Crores of money spent, meant that the film could only give a nod to many issues but couldn't go deeper into anything.
A point that was disturbing in the movie was the manner in which Kamal roughed up Religion and believers. When I was watching the movie with my friends, all of them believers, I could see many of them getting disturbed mildly by the dialogues and content in some of the scenes. Making Asin look dumb and having her shout "Perumale Perumale" while making her turning blind to sufferings of others does not qualify her for Moksha. Religion doesn't say we have to be like her. Using her weak character and juxtaposing it with the failings of Religion is akin to hiding its strength and magnifying its failings. If the aim was again to glorify good people who happen to be atheists, again it doesn't work. For the character of Govind turns out inadvertently into an irritating smart ass who gets away with the best lines in repartees and ends up winning any argument that arises. An example is his final statement "I am not saying God doesn't exist, I am only saying it would've been better if he had existed!" . Let me take back to Anbe Sivam where Kamal tells Maddy "Who said I dont believe in God, I believe in God, for me now YOU are God, as you've given blood to a fellow you've never met. That feeling in you is God"
Make no mistake, both the statements are awesome, but the characters saying them make it appear Smart-Ass.
And the Brahmin-Bashing in the film! Oh God! or Oh whatever-Kamal-believes-in! May better sense prevail upon the Dream Merchants of Kollywood into showing a community in a more responsible manner! I wonder how it's only the Brahmins who get charred and made fun of for their ways. Agreed, they were horrendous in the treatment they accorded to the so-called lower castes, but that was like 50 years ago.
Today, people have become more Class Conscious as Marx predicted, and they won't stand any such nonsense. So there is no point in harping around themes that have been overexploited over the ages.
Lastly, the promised Computer Graphics Revolution somehow doesn't seem to live upto its hype. The CG work, though the best in Tamil cinema so far, leaves a lot to be desired, whether in the 12th Century segment or the final Tsunami. But again, it could be because of the scale of the project involved and other budgetary constaints, though with 60 Crores I wouldn't be complaining of lack of funds.
Having said all that, I come to an important part of the discussion here. How to Enjoy Dasa?
Key to deriving happiness of the Rs. 120 spent on the movie, is to know what to expect. Dasa is a MASS film that should be viewed as a means of connecting the 10 Characters played by Kamal Hassan, weaving an interesting screenplay around these characters with a story that touches Chaos Theory, Butterfly Effect, Bio-Weapons, Tsunami etc. It also has an undercurrent of the clash between Science and Religion and to its credit is pretty open-ended in its Conclusion. The songs have been used to carry the story forward nicely. The screenplay is lightning fast, and I couldnt believe it was two hours into the movie already when the interval was announced. The pace slackens a bit post Interval, but that is to create a lull before the Tsunami of a climax. And don't forget the pains the man has taken up for two years to meet the challenges of portraying 10 characters. Seems he has spent more than 500 hours in Make-Up. Imagine the difficult situation for the technicians as they have to create layers and layers of the same shot, when there are multiple Kamals in the same scene. In one scene there are as many as 5 Kamal Hassan, all looking markedly different in their appearance and height!
So fasten your seat belts, have your popcorn by your side, switch off the devil in your mind expecting every Kamal movie to be a Mahanadhi, and get ready for 3 hrs of Entertainment, the way it's never been attempted before in Tamil Cinema!
Monday, June 02, 2008
Kuruvi - Where Eagles Dare and No one Else Should!
Few films leave you stunned, stupefied and fumbling for words when you sit down to write about it. Maybe it's because picking your thoughts and arranging them in a logical order is not possible after being through near 3 hours of massacre of precious Grey Cells. Presenting Kuruvi - Where Eagles Dare!
Let's start not at the beginning of the film but 6 months ago, when Dharanai would have knocked the doors of Vijay (as Bosey would put it Vijay Saar to fans). Presenting a One Act Play on "Making of Kuruvi"
Dharani: Hey, I have a brilliant script in my mind which flashed through my mind after spending 4 years in Gultland and watching nothing but Gult movies.
Vijay: Ooh, Is it a remake of some Gult movie? Nowadays they are charging high rates for the rights.
Dharani: Dont worry, its not a remake of ONE Gult movie, but at least 6 of them at last count. And with each iteration, the count increases (Snorts)
Vijay: That's great! Will it have scope for me to show my acting prowess? Actually I am enjoying every moment of showing off my histrionic skills while shooting for my next film ATM, where you know I play a double role. I've differentiated the two roles brilliantly, there is even a negative shade to one of the characters. I even spoke Hindi lines for the first time like "Andheri Mein Accident Hua, Ambulance Bhejao!" with such ease that it would put SRK to shame. I am sure my fans will lap it up. Finally this will show that eunuch Ajith that I can act better than him. Muhahahahahaha....With ARR composing the music and with my dancing skills, nothing can go wrong....Muhahahahaha
Dharani: (Torn between Laughter, Bewilderment and Diplomacy opts for the last one as it is most lucrative here)
I am happy to hear that. After all, the director is my assistant. The 'Ghilli' team can't go wrong.
Vijay: That's True. That reminds me, some ill-wishers are sneering that I've not given a true blockbuster which everyone enjoyed after Ghilli. They say that the fact that Thirupachi ran for 175 days is proof that man descended from apes. They say Sivakasi ran moderately only because their eyes couldn't bear the dazzle of Vikram's colourful Lungis in Maja. About the fate of Aathi and Sachin, dont even ask. They can't appreciate my generosity in promoting an upcoming hero like Ravi Krishna by acting in a small Guest Role which lasted for only 2 hours in a film that bore my character's name. And they even claim Gults are sneering at Pokkiri and say I am not Hero-Material compared to Mahesh Babu. 'These Gults are Crazy People!' (Tink! Tink! a la Obelix)
Dharani: Yes they are, but we need them to make films which run, so that we can copy it ditto from heroine to costume like Jayam Raja so beautifully does and then claim, we changed the script to suit Tamil Audience like P Vasu said after improvising Manichitrathaazhu.
Vijay: Hmm. OK, I've to get into my character now. Let's meet after ATM releases.
(Scene Shifts to 3 months later; sometime after Deepavali)
Sanjay (Vijay's Son): Dinam Dinam Dinam Deepaavaleeeeee....
Vijay: Shut Up, Sanjay. If you want sing Deepavali Songs, Sing "Deepavali, Deepavali, Deepavali Nee thaandi".
Dharani: Vijay Saar, Happy Deepavali!
Vijay: Ennayya Happy Deepavali, ATM has bombed badly. And worse, the rare breed of honest critics are panning it and raising a hue and cry over my inability to act. They are accusing me of murdering ARR's music. Is that my mistake? My fans love me doing all those gimmicks with my legs during dances. So I complied. My fans are used to Item Numbers after Interval. So i roped in Namitha. Now, Hollywood is threating to sue me for comparing her with Marylyn Monroe. I think I'll fly 2 US and apologize to her before she goes to the court.
Dharani: Uh, Sir, she's dead for more than 40 years.
Vijay: WHAT? Oh, good, one headache gone. And how many years since (looks into a sheet of paper) Jennifer Lopez died?
Dharani: Sir, he is alive and kicking ass.
Vijay: Oh no, I am done for. Even she is in the long list of people threatening to sue me. Not to mention the distributors who are out for my blood for "overpricing this piece of shit" in their own words. (Starts weeping)
Dharani: Dont worry Sir! I have the right recipe for you. The trouble with ATM was You tried to act. It's clear people dont want to put you into such difficulty. That's why I have just the right film for you where you just need to be there. It's called (holds his breath) "KURUVI"
Vijay: Ennathu Kuruviya? ( A reaction echoed later by the CM when he heard the title. The producer is First Grandson of the State) And why Kuruvi?
Dharani: Kuruvi is a guy sent abroad to places like Malaysia to smuggle stuff into an out of the country.
Vijay: Sounds cool. Whats the story?
Dharani: Your father, lets bring in Manivannan. He played the dad's role in Sivaji. So he will be ur Dad 2. Well, your dad is enslaved in a Quarry in Cuddapah along with hundreds of other workers who are subject to ill-treatement and torture under the hands of the local MLA Konda Reddy. Let's bring in Ashish Vidyarthi to play this role. He was villain to Rajni in Baba. On top of all this is Kocha, the villanous multimillionaire from Malaysia, who also happens to be the MLA's partner in quarry and the heroine's brother too. We can make his wife a mother-like figure to the heroine, who is engaged to Konda Reddy's brother! See how smartly I am linking stuff up. No one has tried anything like this. For Kocha's role we can bring in Suman. After all, he was the villain of Sivaji.
Vijay: Sounds just the role for me. Let the people be reminded that Ghilli was our previous outing together. So let's get Trisha as heroine. The movie should have chases with me holding Trisha's hands, just like Ghilli. Let Vidyasagar compose music, just like Ghilli. Let the opening song match my previous intro songs just like any one of my movie. It should not have any reason to be in the movie. So that, latecomers get value for their money.
There should be a theme which is similar to that of Ghili. Al the songs should easily reach across to the common man. Can we have the same songs as in Ghilli?
Dharani: That would'nt work with the urban masses.
Vijay : O, they come to my movie? In that case, we can have all songs almost similar in tune and situation to Ghilli. Make a song similar to Asai Asai from Dhool. In particular, there should be a kuthu number like Appidi Podu. Lets rope in Anuradha Sriram and KayKay again. We can even have the familiar "O-oo-oo" sequence in the song.
Dharani: What else sir?
Vijay: Nothing much. It should have the standard 5 songs, 5 fights routine.
Dharani: Sir, I was thinking about making potshots at our Thala (Vijay frowns), I mean Ajith by having you race on a car which can't move unless pushed and you winning it in style in the end, mouthing provocative statements to satisfying your fans' craving to whistle for anything.
Vijay: That's great! But won't fans complain its another Ghilli?
Dharani: You are overestimating your fans sir. Anyways, to prevent that, we will make Trisha innocent and slutty. Remember she as innocent and homely in Ghilli. We will even tattoo some crap in her boobs and make sure the cleavage gets prominence. We can cover women audience by claiming we focussed a lot on the heroine!
Vijay: TeeHee! This film will surely be a hit! Udayanidhi Stalin is the Producer, which means Kalaignar TV will promote our movie for free! And don't forget the reference to my fans as "Annan Thambi" and also have a scene of me paying reverence to "Superstar" in at least 2 songs.
Dharani: Sure Sir, have already added them.
Vijay: Approm enna, Shooting Start!!!
Let's start not at the beginning of the film but 6 months ago, when Dharanai would have knocked the doors of Vijay (as Bosey would put it Vijay Saar to fans). Presenting a One Act Play on "Making of Kuruvi"
Dharani: Hey, I have a brilliant script in my mind which flashed through my mind after spending 4 years in Gultland and watching nothing but Gult movies.
Vijay: Ooh, Is it a remake of some Gult movie? Nowadays they are charging high rates for the rights.
Dharani: Dont worry, its not a remake of ONE Gult movie, but at least 6 of them at last count. And with each iteration, the count increases (Snorts)
Vijay: That's great! Will it have scope for me to show my acting prowess? Actually I am enjoying every moment of showing off my histrionic skills while shooting for my next film ATM, where you know I play a double role. I've differentiated the two roles brilliantly, there is even a negative shade to one of the characters. I even spoke Hindi lines for the first time like "Andheri Mein Accident Hua, Ambulance Bhejao!" with such ease that it would put SRK to shame. I am sure my fans will lap it up. Finally this will show that eunuch Ajith that I can act better than him. Muhahahahahaha....With ARR composing the music and with my dancing skills, nothing can go wrong....Muhahahahaha
Dharani: (Torn between Laughter, Bewilderment and Diplomacy opts for the last one as it is most lucrative here)
I am happy to hear that. After all, the director is my assistant. The 'Ghilli' team can't go wrong.
Vijay: That's True. That reminds me, some ill-wishers are sneering that I've not given a true blockbuster which everyone enjoyed after Ghilli. They say that the fact that Thirupachi ran for 175 days is proof that man descended from apes. They say Sivakasi ran moderately only because their eyes couldn't bear the dazzle of Vikram's colourful Lungis in Maja. About the fate of Aathi and Sachin, dont even ask. They can't appreciate my generosity in promoting an upcoming hero like Ravi Krishna by acting in a small Guest Role which lasted for only 2 hours in a film that bore my character's name. And they even claim Gults are sneering at Pokkiri and say I am not Hero-Material compared to Mahesh Babu. 'These Gults are Crazy People!' (Tink! Tink! a la Obelix)
Dharani: Yes they are, but we need them to make films which run, so that we can copy it ditto from heroine to costume like Jayam Raja so beautifully does and then claim, we changed the script to suit Tamil Audience like P Vasu said after improvising Manichitrathaazhu.
Vijay: Hmm. OK, I've to get into my character now. Let's meet after ATM releases.
(Scene Shifts to 3 months later; sometime after Deepavali)
Sanjay (Vijay's Son): Dinam Dinam Dinam Deepaavaleeeeee....
Vijay: Shut Up, Sanjay. If you want sing Deepavali Songs, Sing "Deepavali, Deepavali, Deepavali Nee thaandi".
Dharani: Vijay Saar, Happy Deepavali!
Vijay: Ennayya Happy Deepavali, ATM has bombed badly. And worse, the rare breed of honest critics are panning it and raising a hue and cry over my inability to act. They are accusing me of murdering ARR's music. Is that my mistake? My fans love me doing all those gimmicks with my legs during dances. So I complied. My fans are used to Item Numbers after Interval. So i roped in Namitha. Now, Hollywood is threating to sue me for comparing her with Marylyn Monroe. I think I'll fly 2 US and apologize to her before she goes to the court.
Dharani: Uh, Sir, she's dead for more than 40 years.
Vijay: WHAT? Oh, good, one headache gone. And how many years since (looks into a sheet of paper) Jennifer Lopez died?
Dharani: Sir, he is alive and kicking ass.
Vijay: Oh no, I am done for. Even she is in the long list of people threatening to sue me. Not to mention the distributors who are out for my blood for "overpricing this piece of shit" in their own words. (Starts weeping)
Dharani: Dont worry Sir! I have the right recipe for you. The trouble with ATM was You tried to act. It's clear people dont want to put you into such difficulty. That's why I have just the right film for you where you just need to be there. It's called (holds his breath) "KURUVI"
Vijay: Ennathu Kuruviya? ( A reaction echoed later by the CM when he heard the title. The producer is First Grandson of the State) And why Kuruvi?
Dharani: Kuruvi is a guy sent abroad to places like Malaysia to smuggle stuff into an out of the country.
Vijay: Sounds cool. Whats the story?
Dharani: Your father, lets bring in Manivannan. He played the dad's role in Sivaji. So he will be ur Dad 2. Well, your dad is enslaved in a Quarry in Cuddapah along with hundreds of other workers who are subject to ill-treatement and torture under the hands of the local MLA Konda Reddy. Let's bring in Ashish Vidyarthi to play this role. He was villain to Rajni in Baba. On top of all this is Kocha, the villanous multimillionaire from Malaysia, who also happens to be the MLA's partner in quarry and the heroine's brother too. We can make his wife a mother-like figure to the heroine, who is engaged to Konda Reddy's brother! See how smartly I am linking stuff up. No one has tried anything like this. For Kocha's role we can bring in Suman. After all, he was the villain of Sivaji.
Vijay: Sounds just the role for me. Let the people be reminded that Ghilli was our previous outing together. So let's get Trisha as heroine. The movie should have chases with me holding Trisha's hands, just like Ghilli. Let Vidyasagar compose music, just like Ghilli. Let the opening song match my previous intro songs just like any one of my movie. It should not have any reason to be in the movie. So that, latecomers get value for their money.
There should be a theme which is similar to that of Ghili. Al the songs should easily reach across to the common man. Can we have the same songs as in Ghilli?
Dharani: That would'nt work with the urban masses.
Vijay : O, they come to my movie? In that case, we can have all songs almost similar in tune and situation to Ghilli. Make a song similar to Asai Asai from Dhool. In particular, there should be a kuthu number like Appidi Podu. Lets rope in Anuradha Sriram and KayKay again. We can even have the familiar "O-oo-oo" sequence in the song.
Dharani: What else sir?
Vijay: Nothing much. It should have the standard 5 songs, 5 fights routine.
Dharani: Sir, I was thinking about making potshots at our Thala (Vijay frowns), I mean Ajith by having you race on a car which can't move unless pushed and you winning it in style in the end, mouthing provocative statements to satisfying your fans' craving to whistle for anything.
Vijay: That's great! But won't fans complain its another Ghilli?
Dharani: You are overestimating your fans sir. Anyways, to prevent that, we will make Trisha innocent and slutty. Remember she as innocent and homely in Ghilli. We will even tattoo some crap in her boobs and make sure the cleavage gets prominence. We can cover women audience by claiming we focussed a lot on the heroine!
Vijay: TeeHee! This film will surely be a hit! Udayanidhi Stalin is the Producer, which means Kalaignar TV will promote our movie for free! And don't forget the reference to my fans as "Annan Thambi" and also have a scene of me paying reverence to "Superstar" in at least 2 songs.
Dharani: Sure Sir, have already added them.
Vijay: Approm enna, Shooting Start!!!
Friday, December 21, 2007
It Happens only in Tamil Nadu!
Here's a piece of news that has kept me boiling since I heard it. Its not really "new"s as its some 4 months old, but as I was in a time warp zone (to be read as BITS, Pilani) for the last few months, I couldn't get hold of it. So what's it about?
"The Tamil Nadu State Award for Best Actor for 2005 goes to Rajnikanth for Chandramukhi! "
Can you believe it???!!!
Yes, if you are from TN, the only place where such comedies happen and get appreciated too.
Here's something more to tickle that funny bone of yours.
During the post award speech, the "Thalaivar"
(The "ar" is bcos of the respect I give to this 58 year old almost hexagenarian, in fact he's also addressed as "Superst-ar" by his fans respectfully for the same reason. Correspondingly, the evergreen Kamal is still "Ulaga Nayag-an" to his fans! )
of Kollywood thanked the CM for the award, without whose short sightedness and ability to go to any levels for retaining his vote bank, he would have stood no chance of getting it.
But what he spoke later was shocking to say the least. Quoting him, after editing portions resembling bed time stories and sojourns to the Himalayas, he said something like
" I feel the award has been given not to Dr. Saravanan ( the doc character Sunny played by Mohanlal in the original with aplomb and reduced to a quack in this pot-boiler by "Thalaivar" and the primate P Vasu) but to Vetteyan ( the guy who appears for 20 mins in the end, fondling his hair, saying inane stuff like "Thoppi Thoppi" and the more famous "LAKALAKALAKA...")
I feel very honoured because its for the first time that I ve actually researched for any character (admitting that none of his previous characters required any research).
I went through lots of old books and studied the characteristics and lifestyle of the old age ARAVANIS (Eunuchs! ) and have incorporated the same in the character of Vetteyan...."
Whoa!!! So he was acting like a eunuch all the while, and no one knew it! Admitted, the character was quite queer, but was it a eunuch??
Not able to stand my lack of ability to identify characters, I turned Sun Music on, SUN TV's answer to SS Music in its own style of assuming the primary audience to be apes, where the most entertaining things that happen are the SMSes marqueeing in the bottom of the screen carrying stuff like "THALA ROCKS!" "EAST OR WEST VIJAY IS THE BEST" and the less frequent "RAJNI IS ONLY SUPERSTAR" or even more infrequent "PURATCHI THALABATHY VISHAL ROCKS" ( Ya, you caught me...I WAS joking) or the very rare once in a lifetime "AJJU, THONTHARAVU PANNATHA" (the last one was actually sent by my dad showing where I got my lunacy from )
There, if you wait for 20 mins patiently, there will at least be one caller wanting the song that goes "Raa Raa" . You will also be glad to know that he "dedicates" this song to next street sweetheart, whom he presumes is watching this show, but is actually weeping with her mother watching some mega serial in another of SUN TV Group's Channels, this time more elegantly called SUN TV.
Let me digress a bit and talk about this beautiful concept of "Dedication" .
This is not to be confused with hard work, dedication etc. No. This is a different kind of dedication. This is a Dedication of Love.
This dedication of love according to historians has its origins and many parallels with Shah Jahan's dedication of Taj Mahal to his love Mumtaz Mahal.
1) That dedication took 20 years to build, this took 20 minutes of waiting in the queue ( of model 1 ie M/M/1:FCFS/infinite/infinite according to OR - this piece of info is only for the souls unfortunate enough to do Operation Research under CB Gupta in their 3-1. Others can ignore. You are actually better off not knowing this. Trust Me).
2) Taj Mahal cost Shah Jahan Money ( of order GIGA or TERRA Rupees) . This dedication too costs money (of order MICRO Dollars or MILLI Cents).
3)Shah Jahan's dedication needed lots of intermediaries like labourers,huge pool of skilled artisans, architects etc)
This dedication also needs lot of intermediaries like the PCO guy, a whole corporation BSNL is working to carry the message forward, and most important the Handsome (or Beautiful , depending on sex and the reader's orientation) Hunk (or Babe) VJ's of Sun Music who on doing a good job get promoted to anchoring lively shows like "Ilamai Puthumai" in Sun TV, and also suddenly develop histrionic talents leading to roles in the serials needing constant supply of new characters.
4) Shah Jahan was an Emperor , here ....you get it
Right, getting back....so after some nice talk from the lovely VJ, the song was beamed in full glory. Though the music had uncanny resemblences to the original "Oru Murai" from Manichitrathaazhu, and with the better parts of the video being an absolute ripoff, the song is great. Congrats Vidyasagar, you have given a great album.
So there was Jothika, dancing like possessed, albeit ditto to Shobana. Incidentally Jothika got the Best Actress Award, but no complaints there. It's really tough to exactly copy and reproduce it the way she has done. Not so incidentally, Chandramukhi got the Best Film Award too. As for that, the 1 liner in the Raag T Shirt I am wearing now speaks best...
*/ No comments */
Then came Dr. Saravanan, our "Ilayathilagam" Prabhu who in the film had just delivered his most memorable "Enna Koduma Saravanan Ithu" dialogue, which in the future will be used by a character in Chennai 600028, Ajith in Billa (speaking to our own Prabhu) and also by an Orkut Community for promoting like-minded dialogue in Tamil Films as its title.
Oops, I forgot there was a third guy too. But he doesn't need any more words to describe.
Then Dr. Saravanan says "Paaru, Un Manaivi Gangavai Paar" and Prabhu gives an awesome expression of shock and disgust. To prepare for that scene, Prabhu would have just thought of how the film was shaping up, and Voila! (Thanks Koba for the expression) , there it was!
The third guy actually is quite important, as he is the dancer whom Chandramukhi-possesed Jothika is in love with. So he enters the fray and they start dancing. They dance their way to the kings' court, all in Jothika's imagination of course and there amidst sounds of "Rajadhi Raja Raja Gambheera RajaMaarthanda RajaKulaThilaka Vetteya Raja Paaraag Paraag Paraag"(if u think that intro was big, this is just a part of a movie made by the only star who challenged Sivaji by releasing a movie with it - Mansur ALi Khan, who hold the Guiness Record for the longest title)
our Vetteya Raja makes his entry, and sits on the throne...and the rest as they say is history.
Then I started to observe the eunuch-ness in the portrayal and it gathered a respectable 1.5% in my lenient marking scheme. And that 1.5% is because of the inherent eunuch-ness present in every Rajni portrayal, with his trademark "Chi..Po" and "Aaaaaan, Appidiya" dialogues and "biting his fingers" expression. These stunts, usually there to emphasize the innocence of the character, actually look more like eunuch portrayal than Vetteyan.
If this is a portrayal of a Eunuch, then what do you call Ajith's Narthaki in "Varalaaru" or how would you pacifiy Prakash Raj's Maharani in "Appu". If this is how eunuchs behave, then what about the real eunuchs that appear in every odd Vijay film or the ones that danced to "Ooraram Puliyamaram" in "Paruthiveeran". Poor souls. Amen.
Would the jury be able to explain how Rajni's performance was better than Vikram's in "Anniyan" or Suriya's in "Ghajini". The only reason he got the award is same as the only reason his films run - "Kanna, ithu Rajni Ma". Or maybe because they thought they wouldn't be able to give him an award in the future, so better give it now. After al, Vikram and Suriya have many more films left to showcase their acting prowess.
Seriously, the award to Rajni is an insult to the hard work of other actors who have sweated it out and really given mind-blowing performances. Anyone could have done the roles that Rajni did, but I can't imagine too many people who can do an "Anniyan".
Its bad enough that fans are crazy about a guy who was wittingly or unwittingly, pushed Tamil Cinema more into mediocrity than anyone else, by the kind of films that he did and more by the kinds of clones that he has spawned.
Make no mistake, Rajni WAS a great actor. But after one stage, he had to shell himself into a cocoon that prevented him from performing to his potential, and definitely the Vetteyan is not the best portrayal of his, and its definitely not a EUNUCH! Look at Alex Pandian, look at Basha, and look at Vetteyan. You can see why P Vasu remains the only guy in the galaxy who can compare them in the same breath.
On a brighter note, better sense prevailed and
The TN State Award for Best Actor for the year 2006 went quite deservingly to
Kamal Hassan for "Vettayaadu Vilayaadu".
Still, it amuses me that this is the only place where
People get to know what the actor was portraying only after he gets an award for it!
"The Tamil Nadu State Award for Best Actor for 2005 goes to Rajnikanth for Chandramukhi! "
Can you believe it???!!!
Yes, if you are from TN, the only place where such comedies happen and get appreciated too.
Here's something more to tickle that funny bone of yours.
During the post award speech, the "Thalaivar"
(The "ar" is bcos of the respect I give to this 58 year old almost hexagenarian, in fact he's also addressed as "Superst-ar" by his fans respectfully for the same reason. Correspondingly, the evergreen Kamal is still "Ulaga Nayag-an" to his fans! )
of Kollywood thanked the CM for the award, without whose short sightedness and ability to go to any levels for retaining his vote bank, he would have stood no chance of getting it.
But what he spoke later was shocking to say the least. Quoting him, after editing portions resembling bed time stories and sojourns to the Himalayas, he said something like
" I feel the award has been given not to Dr. Saravanan ( the doc character Sunny played by Mohanlal in the original with aplomb and reduced to a quack in this pot-boiler by "Thalaivar" and the primate P Vasu) but to Vetteyan ( the guy who appears for 20 mins in the end, fondling his hair, saying inane stuff like "Thoppi Thoppi" and the more famous "LAKALAKALAKA...")
I feel very honoured because its for the first time that I ve actually researched for any character (admitting that none of his previous characters required any research).
I went through lots of old books and studied the characteristics and lifestyle of the old age ARAVANIS (Eunuchs! ) and have incorporated the same in the character of Vetteyan...."
Whoa!!! So he was acting like a eunuch all the while, and no one knew it! Admitted, the character was quite queer, but was it a eunuch??
Not able to stand my lack of ability to identify characters, I turned Sun Music on, SUN TV's answer to SS Music in its own style of assuming the primary audience to be apes, where the most entertaining things that happen are the SMSes marqueeing in the bottom of the screen carrying stuff like "THALA ROCKS!" "EAST OR WEST VIJAY IS THE BEST" and the less frequent "RAJNI IS ONLY SUPERSTAR" or even more infrequent "PURATCHI THALABATHY VISHAL ROCKS" ( Ya, you caught me...I WAS joking) or the very rare once in a lifetime "AJJU, THONTHARAVU PANNATHA" (the last one was actually sent by my dad showing where I got my lunacy from )
There, if you wait for 20 mins patiently, there will at least be one caller wanting the song that goes "Raa Raa" . You will also be glad to know that he "dedicates" this song to next street sweetheart, whom he presumes is watching this show, but is actually weeping with her mother watching some mega serial in another of SUN TV Group's Channels, this time more elegantly called SUN TV.
Let me digress a bit and talk about this beautiful concept of "Dedication" .
This is not to be confused with hard work, dedication etc. No. This is a different kind of dedication. This is a Dedication of Love.
This dedication of love according to historians has its origins and many parallels with Shah Jahan's dedication of Taj Mahal to his love Mumtaz Mahal.
1) That dedication took 20 years to build, this took 20 minutes of waiting in the queue ( of model 1 ie M/M/1:FCFS/infinite/infinite according to OR - this piece of info is only for the souls unfortunate enough to do Operation Research under CB Gupta in their 3-1. Others can ignore. You are actually better off not knowing this. Trust Me).
2) Taj Mahal cost Shah Jahan Money ( of order GIGA or TERRA Rupees) . This dedication too costs money (of order MICRO Dollars or MILLI Cents).
3)Shah Jahan's dedication needed lots of intermediaries like labourers,huge pool of skilled artisans, architects etc)
This dedication also needs lot of intermediaries like the PCO guy, a whole corporation BSNL is working to carry the message forward, and most important the Handsome (or Beautiful , depending on sex and the reader's orientation) Hunk (or Babe) VJ's of Sun Music who on doing a good job get promoted to anchoring lively shows like "Ilamai Puthumai" in Sun TV, and also suddenly develop histrionic talents leading to roles in the serials needing constant supply of new characters.
4) Shah Jahan was an Emperor , here ....you get it
Right, getting back....so after some nice talk from the lovely VJ, the song was beamed in full glory. Though the music had uncanny resemblences to the original "Oru Murai" from Manichitrathaazhu, and with the better parts of the video being an absolute ripoff, the song is great. Congrats Vidyasagar, you have given a great album.
So there was Jothika, dancing like possessed, albeit ditto to Shobana. Incidentally Jothika got the Best Actress Award, but no complaints there. It's really tough to exactly copy and reproduce it the way she has done. Not so incidentally, Chandramukhi got the Best Film Award too. As for that, the 1 liner in the Raag T Shirt I am wearing now speaks best...
*/ No comments */
Then came Dr. Saravanan, our "Ilayathilagam" Prabhu who in the film had just delivered his most memorable "Enna Koduma Saravanan Ithu" dialogue, which in the future will be used by a character in Chennai 600028, Ajith in Billa (speaking to our own Prabhu) and also by an Orkut Community for promoting like-minded dialogue in Tamil Films as its title.
Oops, I forgot there was a third guy too. But he doesn't need any more words to describe.
Then Dr. Saravanan says "Paaru, Un Manaivi Gangavai Paar" and Prabhu gives an awesome expression of shock and disgust. To prepare for that scene, Prabhu would have just thought of how the film was shaping up, and Voila! (Thanks Koba for the expression) , there it was!
The third guy actually is quite important, as he is the dancer whom Chandramukhi-possesed Jothika is in love with. So he enters the fray and they start dancing. They dance their way to the kings' court, all in Jothika's imagination of course and there amidst sounds of "Rajadhi Raja Raja Gambheera RajaMaarthanda RajaKulaThilaka Vetteya Raja Paaraag Paraag Paraag"(if u think that intro was big, this is just a part of a movie made by the only star who challenged Sivaji by releasing a movie with it - Mansur ALi Khan, who hold the Guiness Record for the longest title)
our Vetteya Raja makes his entry, and sits on the throne...and the rest as they say is history.
Then I started to observe the eunuch-ness in the portrayal and it gathered a respectable 1.5% in my lenient marking scheme. And that 1.5% is because of the inherent eunuch-ness present in every Rajni portrayal, with his trademark "Chi..Po" and "Aaaaaan, Appidiya" dialogues and "biting his fingers" expression. These stunts, usually there to emphasize the innocence of the character, actually look more like eunuch portrayal than Vetteyan.
If this is a portrayal of a Eunuch, then what do you call Ajith's Narthaki in "Varalaaru" or how would you pacifiy Prakash Raj's Maharani in "Appu". If this is how eunuchs behave, then what about the real eunuchs that appear in every odd Vijay film or the ones that danced to "Ooraram Puliyamaram" in "Paruthiveeran". Poor souls. Amen.
Would the jury be able to explain how Rajni's performance was better than Vikram's in "Anniyan" or Suriya's in "Ghajini". The only reason he got the award is same as the only reason his films run - "Kanna, ithu Rajni Ma". Or maybe because they thought they wouldn't be able to give him an award in the future, so better give it now. After al, Vikram and Suriya have many more films left to showcase their acting prowess.
Seriously, the award to Rajni is an insult to the hard work of other actors who have sweated it out and really given mind-blowing performances. Anyone could have done the roles that Rajni did, but I can't imagine too many people who can do an "Anniyan".
Its bad enough that fans are crazy about a guy who was wittingly or unwittingly, pushed Tamil Cinema more into mediocrity than anyone else, by the kind of films that he did and more by the kinds of clones that he has spawned.
Make no mistake, Rajni WAS a great actor. But after one stage, he had to shell himself into a cocoon that prevented him from performing to his potential, and definitely the Vetteyan is not the best portrayal of his, and its definitely not a EUNUCH! Look at Alex Pandian, look at Basha, and look at Vetteyan. You can see why P Vasu remains the only guy in the galaxy who can compare them in the same breath.
On a brighter note, better sense prevailed and
The TN State Award for Best Actor for the year 2006 went quite deservingly to
Kamal Hassan for "Vettayaadu Vilayaadu".
Still, it amuses me that this is the only place where
People get to know what the actor was portraying only after he gets an award for it!
Thursday, October 25, 2007
The Bridge Over Bay of Bengal
Tamil Nadu's politics and its politicians provide great entertainment, wonderful excuses for endless lacha and prophesying doom for anyone of the forward community of Hindus and good reason to shift base to US ("Who will live in this sick place?"). One of the latest issues to crop up is the Rama Sethu Samudram Project - the dream project of Anna which due to various bottlenecks hasn't materialized for 40 years.
The Sethu Samudram Shipping Channel Project proposes to link the Palk Strait and Gulf of Mannar through a Shipping Channel. It plans to cut through the Rama Sethu (or "Adam's Bridge" as T.R. Balu would have it). The benefits include reduction in distance between the ports of TN and Srilanka, reduced time for ships and development of ports.
But the picture is not that rosy. Some environmentalists have predicted destruction of the ecosystem in the region. Shipping experts feel that the project is viable only for ships carrying less than 30000 tonne, while the current trend in the industry is ships carrying anywhere between 60000 to 150000 tonnes. Also it seems the project wont really benefit ships economically in a major way, and would have negligible benefits for ships from far away Africa or Europe. Politically, the shipping canal would end in Jaffna, a territory under LTTE control. So any new port that develops there might benefit the Tigers more than the Sri Lankan Govt. Also it also provides and easy way for Tigers and refugees to come to India, which again bothers Sri Lanka.
But the highlight of the controversy is the religious angle thrown in as the Project proposes to break parts of the bridge built by Rama and the Vanaras and Bears that formed his army.
Subramania Swamy had challenged the government's decision to carry out the project in the Supreme Court citing the above reasons and many. The govt in its reply produced documents from the Archaeological Survey of India which stated "There is no proof that Rama existed or that the Adam's Bridge was man-made". This snowballed into a controversy with parties like BJP trying to get maximum mileage out of the issue.
But the thing that shocked me most was TN CM Karunanidhi's statements which showed total lack of sensitivity towards religion and culture. Karunanidhi openly questioned the belief in the "Aryan God" Rama and claimed that "Valmiki called Rama a drunkard". Truly, only in TN can you get away with such statements. The people of TN, with a history of being ruled for 40 years by atheistic Dravidian parties who came to power by beating Rama's idols with slippers and adorning Ganesha with garlands of slippers just watched as though nothing happened. Maybe 40 years is time enough to numb any religious fervor. Or maybe as Challa puts it, Rama being an "Aryan God" was alien to the TN culture. Maybe a statement about Lord Muruga would have elicited a more ferocious response. But whatever said and done, Karunanidhi's statements were totally unwarranted and betrayed any illusions about his political maturity.
On one of the numerous Lachas on this topic, AP pointed out that as the project promises economic benefits, it should be carried out regardless of other issues as it would benefit the people. I feel it's a very one-dimensional way of looking at things. Economic Betterment should not be the only criterion by which our government runs. The country is more like a home, not some shop looking for profits. Things like culture and religion are something to be proud of and cherished. What religion does basically is that it keeps a check on your activities by imposing concepts like self-conscience, Karma and inspiring stories of Good -Vs-Evil in which Good eventually triumphs after facing tumultuous obstacles on the way. The story of Rama is one such. Religion promotes altruism in today's self-centered world. It assumes even greater significance in today's world where money assumes the central objective of man's life.
We all want our children to grow up to be good men and women. So we tell them all these stories of Good-Vs-Evil etc. All the places of religious significance like Rameshwaram offer a proof before their eyes that the events in the stories really happened. It reinforces belief in the stories in the children's mind - not only the stories but also in all the good values that are packaged in it. The Rama Sethu is one such monument which you can point at and show to your children that Rama existed. If they grow up to be good men, they would find more happiness than they could get from money and the world would be a better and safer place to live in.
Thus, it is not a question of whether Lord Rama existed or not, it is a question of what the belief in his existence can do for the world. Weighing the options is not too difficult. Hope the self professed leaders of the "Rationalist Thinkers' Movement" of Tamil Nadu realize this.
The Sethu Samudram Shipping Channel Project proposes to link the Palk Strait and Gulf of Mannar through a Shipping Channel. It plans to cut through the Rama Sethu (or "Adam's Bridge" as T.R. Balu would have it). The benefits include reduction in distance between the ports of TN and Srilanka, reduced time for ships and development of ports.
But the picture is not that rosy. Some environmentalists have predicted destruction of the ecosystem in the region. Shipping experts feel that the project is viable only for ships carrying less than 30000 tonne, while the current trend in the industry is ships carrying anywhere between 60000 to 150000 tonnes. Also it seems the project wont really benefit ships economically in a major way, and would have negligible benefits for ships from far away Africa or Europe. Politically, the shipping canal would end in Jaffna, a territory under LTTE control. So any new port that develops there might benefit the Tigers more than the Sri Lankan Govt. Also it also provides and easy way for Tigers and refugees to come to India, which again bothers Sri Lanka.
But the highlight of the controversy is the religious angle thrown in as the Project proposes to break parts of the bridge built by Rama and the Vanaras and Bears that formed his army.
Subramania Swamy had challenged the government's decision to carry out the project in the Supreme Court citing the above reasons and many. The govt in its reply produced documents from the Archaeological Survey of India which stated "There is no proof that Rama existed or that the Adam's Bridge was man-made". This snowballed into a controversy with parties like BJP trying to get maximum mileage out of the issue.
But the thing that shocked me most was TN CM Karunanidhi's statements which showed total lack of sensitivity towards religion and culture. Karunanidhi openly questioned the belief in the "Aryan God" Rama and claimed that "Valmiki called Rama a drunkard". Truly, only in TN can you get away with such statements. The people of TN, with a history of being ruled for 40 years by atheistic Dravidian parties who came to power by beating Rama's idols with slippers and adorning Ganesha with garlands of slippers just watched as though nothing happened. Maybe 40 years is time enough to numb any religious fervor. Or maybe as Challa puts it, Rama being an "Aryan God" was alien to the TN culture. Maybe a statement about Lord Muruga would have elicited a more ferocious response. But whatever said and done, Karunanidhi's statements were totally unwarranted and betrayed any illusions about his political maturity.
On one of the numerous Lachas on this topic, AP pointed out that as the project promises economic benefits, it should be carried out regardless of other issues as it would benefit the people. I feel it's a very one-dimensional way of looking at things. Economic Betterment should not be the only criterion by which our government runs. The country is more like a home, not some shop looking for profits. Things like culture and religion are something to be proud of and cherished. What religion does basically is that it keeps a check on your activities by imposing concepts like self-conscience, Karma and inspiring stories of Good -Vs-Evil in which Good eventually triumphs after facing tumultuous obstacles on the way. The story of Rama is one such. Religion promotes altruism in today's self-centered world. It assumes even greater significance in today's world where money assumes the central objective of man's life.
We all want our children to grow up to be good men and women. So we tell them all these stories of Good-Vs-Evil etc. All the places of religious significance like Rameshwaram offer a proof before their eyes that the events in the stories really happened. It reinforces belief in the stories in the children's mind - not only the stories but also in all the good values that are packaged in it. The Rama Sethu is one such monument which you can point at and show to your children that Rama existed. If they grow up to be good men, they would find more happiness than they could get from money and the world would be a better and safer place to live in.
Thus, it is not a question of whether Lord Rama existed or not, it is a question of what the belief in his existence can do for the world. Weighing the options is not too difficult. Hope the self professed leaders of the "Rationalist Thinkers' Movement" of Tamil Nadu realize this.
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Mee Nathuram Godse Boltoy
One of the positive things that happened in the hour or so that I spent watching Vibes – the Culnite of Capitol (Delhi Regional Assoc.) , apart from increasing my IQ was the promo of the EDC ( English Drama Club) play eponymous with the title of this entry. It was slickly made, doing everything that a promo should do- give the basic plot without revealing too much, and also succeeding in arousing curiosity in the minds of the audience. I eagerly waited for a week and finally made it to the audi tonight to witness the first EDC play of the semester.
The whole play hinged on the performance of Arjun P Kumar (APK to friends) who potrayed Nathuram Godse, and he carried it off splendidly like only he could. The whole play was structured in a way that it presented Nathuram’s point of view (The title translates to “Am Nathuram Godse Speaking”) and only his view. Every scene and every character in the play did their bit to elevate the protagonist and his controversial views on Gandhi. Based on a Marathi Play that raised a lot of controversy, it was very bold of EDC to have carried of this adaptation and they did quite a good job of it, their efforts clearly showing on stage.
While watching the play, halfway I started to observe the audience reaction subconsciously, and what I found was one unified bunch of youngsters rooting for Nathuram Godse, the villain of our school textbooks, the guy we were taught to be hated as the murderer of the “Father of the Nation”.
But here we were, 59 years after he pulled the fateful trigger, finding sympathy and reason in his actions. Why the transformation?
I am sure it would have been blasphemous to side with Nathuram in the early years of Independent India, unless one hailed from a hardcore Gandhi-bashing family, who could be easily spotted as those having wide memberships in RSS, Hindu MahaSabha and the like. But come the turn of the century, and we were treated to Kamal Hassan’s Magnum Opus “Hey Ram” (and the finest piece of cinema Kodambakkam has produced, in my opinion). This was followed by the Marathi play that inspired the EDC one, a movie on How Gandhi the Father of the Nation was not such a good father to his own sons (Anil Kapoor produced “Gandhi- My Father”). Even Tushar Gandhi’s biography of Gandhi had some unflattering things to say about him
Why are we, as a nation going back and inspecting our prized trophy and frowning at irregularities, rust and corrosion instead of polishing it? Is it because we believe he had failed in his “Paternal Duties” as the Father of the Nation? Aren’t we able to digest the fact that this Father had a big hand to play in the splitting of our house, when he could have prevented it? Or is it because by the end of his life, his Muslim appeasement had grown in magnitude to eclipse the sacrifices he undertook to get us freedom?
Have we concluded that peace, Satyagraha and Ahimsa are good to speak about and tell children, but not practical to practice it? It’s true that though Ahimsa could win a nation back for us, it wouldn’t help in sustaining it. An Eye for an Eye would make the whole world blind. But if we don’t react, only we would end up getting our eyes gorged out. A similar parable is found in the case of Ashoka and the Mauryan Empire. Ahimsa flourished in the period of Ashoka after the battle of Kalinga, but after him, the Mauryan empire was never able to recover from the inherent lack of self defence that weakend the borders of the empire. Added to that his successors weren’t as able either and within a century and half, the Mauryan Empire crumbled. Was Ashoka’s imposition of his personal beliefs on the empire and its affairs a cause for cracks to appear in the empire? Is Ahimsa a concept that’s fine when followed individually but not collectively as a nation?
All said and done, Ahimsa or for that matter any value or principle won’t help me face the tests lined against me so I return to the more immediate concerns of Ghoting for Exams. So more on this later…
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Kireedom - A Crown in Ajith's Head?
I watched Kireedom today for a multitude of reasons. Primary reason was it was going to be the last Tamil film that i was gonna catch on the silver screen for months to come. Secondary reason was it offered a get together with my BITSian friends. Third (Wonder how it would have sounded if I had used "Tertiary Reason" :) ), as a kid I had fallen in love with Mohanlal's performance in the classic original Kireedom (1989) which won him a special President's Medal for acting. So I wanted to see it just for the sake of curiosity to know how much has been retained in its 2007 avatar and how the Ultimate Star Thala Ajth 's performance matches with Mohanlal's. Another reason was Aalwar-after acting in probably the worst film of his career, I was pretty confident nothing could match its mediocrity.
I had certain apprehensions whether it would end up as another tribute to the never say die spirit of Ajith fans who lap up all his wonderful subjects like Ji, Jana, Anjaneya and Aaalwar. Thankfully it didn't turn out to be so. Of course, there is the unavoidable intro song, which with words like "Thala aadumbothu Vaal Adalaamo" clearly spells who the song is written for. It plays to the gallery of Ajith Fans, who would take it as a slight against Vijay and would stupidly rejoice at that with wonderment at their Thala.
I had high expectations from G V Prakash Kumar (who is incidentally younger than me, that makes me feel old), the music director who gave my favourite album of 2006, Veyyil. I thought he would live up to the name of his uncle A.R Rahman. But I was disappointed a little. The songs are good, not great like Veyyil. Background score is adequate, but cliched at many points. At some points though, his brilliance shows. Maybe i expected too much. After ARR, only Harris Jeyaraj promised much, but now even his music is stale as he always recycles from his own songs and even copies blatantly from some English songs. So after Veyyil, i had pined high hopes on GV Prakash Kumar as another ARR in the making, but after Kireedom, i have second thoughts regarding that. Hope he comes out with another Veyyil in the future.
The intro song was mediocre, the melodies were OK, but the last song Kanneer Thuliye shocked me, it was straight lifted from his own uncle's work Poongatrile (Ey Ajnabee) from Dil Se (or Uyire, as u wud have it). Even the charanam sounded too similar. It may be tough to stay away from ARR's influence after working under him for so long, but surely tat ain't reason to do this. Hope he doesnt go the way of the Yuvans, Devas and Srikanth Devas.
The film remained surprisingly true to the original, except for the initial scenes of Ajith and Trisha, which were romantic and funny too. Vivek was not upto his mark, though his antics when Trisha and Ajith are romancing on the water tank and his dialogues on how tough it is to be a Rowdy these days evoked laughter, even from Challa :) Santhanam was suprisingly better than Vivek, though some of his jokes had double meanings attached (not that I am complaining :) )
The main crux of the story is how the dreams of a father and the life of his son is shattered by the twist of fate that befalls them. How a guy aspiring to be a Sub Inspector, is forced to take the aruvaal by circumstances, which also make him seem like a rowdy to be feared and respected to the people. How some incidents change the way everyone, including his family and his fiance's look at him and what happens in the end. To summarise, there is a Tamil proverb " Panamarathukku adila paal kudicha ellarum kallu kudikurathaa thaan karuthuvaa"
(He who drinks only milk under a palm tree, wud be suspected of drinking toddy)
The various emotions that pass through the protagonist was excellently captured by Mohanlal in the original. Does Ajith recapture the magic? Well, not completely. He is good, and surely much better than most of other actors in that at least he tries sincerely. But still, there is something that tickles me somewhere in his performances, not just in this film but always.
Somewhere he strikes me as being artificial, and forgive me there is still a trace of that eunuch in Varalaaru left in his body language. Maybe a Kamal or Vikram (in their younger days) would have suited the role better.
Trisha is used to carry the story forward in the first half, but disappears for most of the second half. But her character is such, and the story doesnt need more of her presence. Rajkiran performs well as father though he is a shade lesser than Thilakan of the original.
But the film is very much watchable, it is really good that they have decided to stick the original ending which augurs well for Tamil Cinema. A Brave attempt, as the film walks on a slippery pole on one side of which is commercial cinema and the other offbeat cinema. It's in no way boring and Ajith is good, if not Mohanlal enough. Ajith must atleast be congratulated for trying something different unlike Vijay, who thrives giving the same old wine in the same old bottle.
On the whole, the film is watchable and very good by Tamil standards.
I had certain apprehensions whether it would end up as another tribute to the never say die spirit of Ajith fans who lap up all his wonderful subjects like Ji, Jana, Anjaneya and Aaalwar. Thankfully it didn't turn out to be so. Of course, there is the unavoidable intro song, which with words like "Thala aadumbothu Vaal Adalaamo" clearly spells who the song is written for. It plays to the gallery of Ajith Fans, who would take it as a slight against Vijay and would stupidly rejoice at that with wonderment at their Thala.
I had high expectations from G V Prakash Kumar (who is incidentally younger than me, that makes me feel old), the music director who gave my favourite album of 2006, Veyyil. I thought he would live up to the name of his uncle A.R Rahman. But I was disappointed a little. The songs are good, not great like Veyyil. Background score is adequate, but cliched at many points. At some points though, his brilliance shows. Maybe i expected too much. After ARR, only Harris Jeyaraj promised much, but now even his music is stale as he always recycles from his own songs and even copies blatantly from some English songs. So after Veyyil, i had pined high hopes on GV Prakash Kumar as another ARR in the making, but after Kireedom, i have second thoughts regarding that. Hope he comes out with another Veyyil in the future.
The intro song was mediocre, the melodies were OK, but the last song Kanneer Thuliye shocked me, it was straight lifted from his own uncle's work Poongatrile (Ey Ajnabee) from Dil Se (or Uyire, as u wud have it). Even the charanam sounded too similar. It may be tough to stay away from ARR's influence after working under him for so long, but surely tat ain't reason to do this. Hope he doesnt go the way of the Yuvans, Devas and Srikanth Devas.
The film remained surprisingly true to the original, except for the initial scenes of Ajith and Trisha, which were romantic and funny too. Vivek was not upto his mark, though his antics when Trisha and Ajith are romancing on the water tank and his dialogues on how tough it is to be a Rowdy these days evoked laughter, even from Challa :) Santhanam was suprisingly better than Vivek, though some of his jokes had double meanings attached (not that I am complaining :) )
The main crux of the story is how the dreams of a father and the life of his son is shattered by the twist of fate that befalls them. How a guy aspiring to be a Sub Inspector, is forced to take the aruvaal by circumstances, which also make him seem like a rowdy to be feared and respected to the people. How some incidents change the way everyone, including his family and his fiance's look at him and what happens in the end. To summarise, there is a Tamil proverb " Panamarathukku adila paal kudicha ellarum kallu kudikurathaa thaan karuthuvaa"
(He who drinks only milk under a palm tree, wud be suspected of drinking toddy)
The various emotions that pass through the protagonist was excellently captured by Mohanlal in the original. Does Ajith recapture the magic? Well, not completely. He is good, and surely much better than most of other actors in that at least he tries sincerely. But still, there is something that tickles me somewhere in his performances, not just in this film but always.
Somewhere he strikes me as being artificial, and forgive me there is still a trace of that eunuch in Varalaaru left in his body language. Maybe a Kamal or Vikram (in their younger days) would have suited the role better.
Trisha is used to carry the story forward in the first half, but disappears for most of the second half. But her character is such, and the story doesnt need more of her presence. Rajkiran performs well as father though he is a shade lesser than Thilakan of the original.
But the film is very much watchable, it is really good that they have decided to stick the original ending which augurs well for Tamil Cinema. A Brave attempt, as the film walks on a slippery pole on one side of which is commercial cinema and the other offbeat cinema. It's in no way boring and Ajith is good, if not Mohanlal enough. Ajith must atleast be congratulated for trying something different unlike Vijay, who thrives giving the same old wine in the same old bottle.
On the whole, the film is watchable and very good by Tamil standards.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
In Contemplation
It is that time of the year when the Gods of Holidays have conspired with Singara Chennai and decided the city could do with one nuisance less. So they are packing me off to an Azkaban in Rajasthan, away from old friends and family. Which also makes this a time for contemplation, of the times spent together with friends and parents, and also of the times we didn't get to spend witheach other. When i go through these phases, i emerge empty with no thoughts running in my head.
This time around, i spent even lesser time than usual with my friends because of Practice School. Two months were too long for this drudgery to be endured. Of course, i shouldn't complain as mine was the saccest station available. But i will save writing about PS1 at Lasersoft for a different time.
Now, even though I went to work only for few hours a day, it coincided directly with the time i usually scorch the streets of KK Nagar in my Mercedes Zing with Viki, egging me on from the pillion. Naturally, this reduced my outings with Viki and the time I spent with him.
Slowly, but surely I can see contacts with old friends loosening. Not with my inner most circle of friends, but others who formed the "R Section" Gang , "E1" Gang , "Srimathi" Gang, the Quiz Team and various other gangs which gathered around a common place. Common place- maybe that is the answer. There is no longer the common place that united all, no more goin to school, no more goin to enrichment classes (as Srimathi Ma'm would put it), so it becomes more of a chance than necessity to meet these people.
Even among my closest friends, Nishanth is living in Trichy, so he could make it only for a day to meet up, though we made it memorable by watchin Sivaji - The Boss. Anerudh usually comes to my home the maximum, but this time around he came just twice i guess. But i have to see his face in college too, so that's OK. I was spending most of my time with Sunil and Viki, but realised Sunil's presence only in the absence after he left for NUS. Today he buzzed me half an hour before leavin for USA, and again it struck me that i would be seeing him only after an year.
Viki left last Friday, and we more than made the infrequent meetings by oor suthifyin n last 2 days, we even played cricket at Vadai's place for 2 days, but were kicked out of the house on the both the occasions. We also took a daring attempt to see Thullal, but God decided we had sinned too much so he didn't give us a chance to see that neorealistic classic :(
Now Viki is gone too. We were talking on the day he was leaving about how close we were to becoming classmates again in Eswari Engg College. The college is 8 mins from my place, 3 from his. We even fantasized how it wud have been if all of us were reunited as classmates. The disparity in a few enterance tests have flung us apart to different corners of the country-Trichy, Pilnai and Hamirpur. If u consider Sunil, it wud be "corners of the world" as he is in Singapore, rarher in USA now.
Of course, all of us have made new friends in our new place, and life goes on smoothly, but once I came home after bidding goodbye to Viki, the thought struck me: I ve only 3 more semesters left with Koba, Challa, Anerudh. 4 or maybe max 5 sems with the dualites.
After 3 sems, i might be blogging similarly about Koba or Challa, 3 years down the line, Upoo, Booboo, Jinglee, Brownie and S Ga and everyone and everything I met in BITS might be reduced to memories in photographs, reflections in thoughts. At this thought, i shivered: is this what life is all about, about making bonds only to know they would be weakened as time wears on and severed completely after many years. Is the purpose of life to brace these severances to the extent one becomes immune to it? Is to disregard the importance of life and the various bonds that get attached to one's life? Is it to meet the loss of bonds by making new ones? Or is it to know that there are people waiting for you in the life after death...In Contemplation...
This time around, i spent even lesser time than usual with my friends because of Practice School. Two months were too long for this drudgery to be endured. Of course, i shouldn't complain as mine was the saccest station available. But i will save writing about PS1 at Lasersoft for a different time.
Now, even though I went to work only for few hours a day, it coincided directly with the time i usually scorch the streets of KK Nagar in my Mercedes Zing with Viki, egging me on from the pillion. Naturally, this reduced my outings with Viki and the time I spent with him.
Slowly, but surely I can see contacts with old friends loosening. Not with my inner most circle of friends, but others who formed the "R Section" Gang , "E1" Gang , "Srimathi" Gang, the Quiz Team and various other gangs which gathered around a common place. Common place- maybe that is the answer. There is no longer the common place that united all, no more goin to school, no more goin to enrichment classes (as Srimathi Ma'm would put it), so it becomes more of a chance than necessity to meet these people.
Even among my closest friends, Nishanth is living in Trichy, so he could make it only for a day to meet up, though we made it memorable by watchin Sivaji - The Boss. Anerudh usually comes to my home the maximum, but this time around he came just twice i guess. But i have to see his face in college too, so that's OK. I was spending most of my time with Sunil and Viki, but realised Sunil's presence only in the absence after he left for NUS. Today he buzzed me half an hour before leavin for USA, and again it struck me that i would be seeing him only after an year.
Viki left last Friday, and we more than made the infrequent meetings by oor suthifyin n last 2 days, we even played cricket at Vadai's place for 2 days, but were kicked out of the house on the both the occasions. We also took a daring attempt to see Thullal, but God decided we had sinned too much so he didn't give us a chance to see that neorealistic classic :(
Now Viki is gone too. We were talking on the day he was leaving about how close we were to becoming classmates again in Eswari Engg College. The college is 8 mins from my place, 3 from his. We even fantasized how it wud have been if all of us were reunited as classmates. The disparity in a few enterance tests have flung us apart to different corners of the country-Trichy, Pilnai and Hamirpur. If u consider Sunil, it wud be "corners of the world" as he is in Singapore, rarher in USA now.
Of course, all of us have made new friends in our new place, and life goes on smoothly, but once I came home after bidding goodbye to Viki, the thought struck me: I ve only 3 more semesters left with Koba, Challa, Anerudh. 4 or maybe max 5 sems with the dualites.
After 3 sems, i might be blogging similarly about Koba or Challa, 3 years down the line, Upoo, Booboo, Jinglee, Brownie and S Ga and everyone and everything I met in BITS might be reduced to memories in photographs, reflections in thoughts. At this thought, i shivered: is this what life is all about, about making bonds only to know they would be weakened as time wears on and severed completely after many years. Is the purpose of life to brace these severances to the extent one becomes immune to it? Is to disregard the importance of life and the various bonds that get attached to one's life? Is it to meet the loss of bonds by making new ones? Or is it to know that there are people waiting for you in the life after death...In Contemplation...
Sunday, May 20, 2007
I AM BACK !!!
As I promised, " I AM BACK!!!" (in Arnie style). With BITSian life and encouraging net speeds taking it's toll on me, i am able 2 revive this blog only after a time frame associated with the gap between 2 Rajni movies.
Well, at least this post has arrived, unlike S.I.V.A.J.I- The Boss , which last heard was postponed (yet again) to June 15th. This doesn't augur well for Rajni fans or for Shankar and AVM, which has invested almost Rs.50 crores in the film. I don't know, but I've go a bad feeling about the biggest movie of 2007.
First the songs ,though very good, aren't exactly vintage Rahman. If one takes all the movies of Shankar-Rahman combo, this would surely rank the lowest in terms of music quality. The city audience would surely lap it up as the songs play to the latest trends in Tamil film music of including nonsensical verses from languages spoken in Saturn and having jarring background beats with no scope to understand the lyrics of the song which is a futile exercise in itself as they don't have much meaning anyway. Personally, after listening to the songs for hundreds of times, I like it. But I have huge doubts whether a guy from a place like Gobicchettipalayam would appreciate it.
Plus, all the fancy wigs that Rajni sports in the film posters are too comical and make him look silly. What was the director thinking? Maybe it will gel with the song "Oru Koodai Sunlight" on which these weird hairdos are reportedly picturised on.
The reasons given for the regular delay in release is "Technical diffuclties" which should be translated as "Big problems in Shankar's over ambitious inclusion of graphics which in the end as usual have not turned out well." Shankar when asked whether he felt Anniyan could be improved in any one area, promptly replied that he was disappointed with the graphics and felt that it could've been way better. Maybe, he wants to make sure that the same doesn't happen with Sivaji.
All said and done, I hope that the film does well, as I am a big fan of Shankar and and also like Rajni to some extent though he wouldnt come near Kamal Hassan's leg dust (Kamal Kaal Dhoosikku Kitta Vara Mattannu solren... :) ). But surely even if the film does turn out to be a big hit, it would've grossed a lot more had it released on the scheduled date of April 14th as that was one of the main reasons why Chandramukhi ran better than Anniyan.
Well, at least this post has arrived, unlike S.I.V.A.J.I- The Boss , which last heard was postponed (yet again) to June 15th. This doesn't augur well for Rajni fans or for Shankar and AVM, which has invested almost Rs.50 crores in the film. I don't know, but I've go a bad feeling about the biggest movie of 2007.
First the songs ,though very good, aren't exactly vintage Rahman. If one takes all the movies of Shankar-Rahman combo, this would surely rank the lowest in terms of music quality. The city audience would surely lap it up as the songs play to the latest trends in Tamil film music of including nonsensical verses from languages spoken in Saturn and having jarring background beats with no scope to understand the lyrics of the song which is a futile exercise in itself as they don't have much meaning anyway. Personally, after listening to the songs for hundreds of times, I like it. But I have huge doubts whether a guy from a place like Gobicchettipalayam would appreciate it.
Plus, all the fancy wigs that Rajni sports in the film posters are too comical and make him look silly. What was the director thinking? Maybe it will gel with the song "Oru Koodai Sunlight" on which these weird hairdos are reportedly picturised on.
The reasons given for the regular delay in release is "Technical diffuclties" which should be translated as "Big problems in Shankar's over ambitious inclusion of graphics which in the end as usual have not turned out well." Shankar when asked whether he felt Anniyan could be improved in any one area, promptly replied that he was disappointed with the graphics and felt that it could've been way better. Maybe, he wants to make sure that the same doesn't happen with Sivaji.
All said and done, I hope that the film does well, as I am a big fan of Shankar and and also like Rajni to some extent though he wouldnt come near Kamal Hassan's leg dust (Kamal Kaal Dhoosikku Kitta Vara Mattannu solren... :) ). But surely even if the film does turn out to be a big hit, it would've grossed a lot more had it released on the scheduled date of April 14th as that was one of the main reasons why Chandramukhi ran better than Anniyan.
Friday, March 03, 2006
BITS BECKONING...
This info is 4 the millions and millions of my fans who take the pains to regularly visit this blog.
I 've got into BITS,Pilani shortly called Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani.
Actually, it's been quite some time since i got here, 8 months to be exact. All this while, i had forgotten that i had started a blog. I was reminded of it only when i saw the blog of my close friend Nishant( u can see it too- logon to www.nitthistory.blogspot.com and Nishant u owe me one for giving publicity to ur site at the blog with max traffic).
Ok, my wingies want yours truly to grace the bhavan and so iam practically drugged and dragged away frm here.
So till my next post, put up a brave face and dont cry.
Like Arnold Scharzenegger(or whatever his mom named him as) says in "The Terminator"
"I WILL BE BACK"
I 've got into BITS,Pilani shortly called Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani.
Actually, it's been quite some time since i got here, 8 months to be exact. All this while, i had forgotten that i had started a blog. I was reminded of it only when i saw the blog of my close friend Nishant( u can see it too- logon to www.nitthistory.blogspot.com and Nishant u owe me one for giving publicity to ur site at the blog with max traffic).
Ok, my wingies want yours truly to grace the bhavan and so iam practically drugged and dragged away frm here.
So till my next post, put up a brave face and dont cry.
Like Arnold Scharzenegger(or whatever his mom named him as) says in "The Terminator"
"I WILL BE BACK"
Thursday, July 07, 2005
Anniyan
As I am absolutely jobless this afternoon, I thought why not review Anniyan for the sake of millions who visit this page , before I take a nap.
Anniyan
The most awaited Tamil film of 2005
Director: Shankar
Cast: 'Chiyaan' Vikram, Sada, Vivek, Prakashraj, Nedumudi Venu, 'Cochin'
Haneefa, Naseer, Mohan Vaidya,...
Music: Harris Jeyraj
Dialogues: Sujatha
Cinematograghy: Ravi Varman
Manikandan
Choreography: Raju Sundaram, Brinda,...
Produced by : Oscar Films V Ravichandran
I watched the movie on the 4th day of its release along with a gang of 8 friends.
Shankar promised that Anniyan would be a roller-coaster ride. He is absolutely right. The film is astounding in some parts , disappointing in some.
A brief overview of the plot: 'Rules' Ramanujam Iyengar alias Ambi( Vikram) is a lawyer who hates disorder and is aghast when he realises that the world is filled with heartless people who flout rules and that he can do nothing about it. He has a crush on Sada , his neighbour and finally after 7 long years, finally proposes to her in the most idiotic manner and she rejects him outright. Add to his woes is a childhood flashback: He lost his younger sis due to carelessness of govt officials, and saw that, his father , a lawyer, could do nothing about it. His grandmother tells him stories of how the deceased are treated in hell according to the dictats of Garuda Puranam.
All this leaves a deep impression in his mind and inside him explodes 2 personalitites : Rampwalk Model Remo , a debonair who can make women fall at his feet and ANNIYAN, the avenger, who is out to kill all those who do not fit in his utopian world.
12) I would wanna write more, but i think i have proved enough that i am jobless.
So i will stop this post now
Anniyan
The most awaited Tamil film of 2005
Director: Shankar
Cast: 'Chiyaan' Vikram, Sada, Vivek, Prakashraj, Nedumudi Venu, 'Cochin'
Haneefa, Naseer, Mohan Vaidya,...
Music: Harris Jeyraj
Dialogues: Sujatha
Cinematograghy: Ravi Varman
Manikandan
Choreography: Raju Sundaram, Brinda,...
Produced by : Oscar Films V Ravichandran
I watched the movie on the 4th day of its release along with a gang of 8 friends.
Shankar promised that Anniyan would be a roller-coaster ride. He is absolutely right. The film is astounding in some parts , disappointing in some.
A brief overview of the plot: 'Rules' Ramanujam Iyengar alias Ambi( Vikram) is a lawyer who hates disorder and is aghast when he realises that the world is filled with heartless people who flout rules and that he can do nothing about it. He has a crush on Sada , his neighbour and finally after 7 long years, finally proposes to her in the most idiotic manner and she rejects him outright. Add to his woes is a childhood flashback: He lost his younger sis due to carelessness of govt officials, and saw that, his father , a lawyer, could do nothing about it. His grandmother tells him stories of how the deceased are treated in hell according to the dictats of Garuda Puranam.
All this leaves a deep impression in his mind and inside him explodes 2 personalitites : Rampwalk Model Remo , a debonair who can make women fall at his feet and ANNIYAN, the avenger, who is out to kill all those who do not fit in his utopian world.
Prakashraj & Vivek are the investigating officers, who try to unravel the mystery murders & decipher the writings on the site of the murders.
All this boils down to a superb climax fight between Prakashraj and Vikram with Chiyaan changing colours like a chameleon and flummoxing Prakashraj.
Review:
The basic flaw of Anniyan is that it is inspired from many sources and has a storyline vaguely similar to the recently released Chandramukhi.
A list of films/books u would remember on watching this film:
1) Sidney Sheldon's "Tell Me Your Dreams"
2) Flora Rheta Schreiber's "Sybil"
3) Chandramukhi ( I hate to add that crap of a movie in this list- but it released first)
4) The Matrix series
5) Ten Commandments
6) The Passion of The Christ
7) Gentleman
8) Indian
9) Mudhalvan
10) KungFu Hustle
11) ManichitraThaazhu( A Malayam classic made into a potboiler 3rd grade horror flick by that primate P.Vasu )12) I would wanna write more, but i think i have proved enough that i am jobless.
So i will stop this post now
In The Beginning
On this dark cloudy day I start this blog for the sake of killing time and also trying to change the world as a bonus.
Warning: This blog is not meant for children either above or below 18, teachers of PSBB / Sathyamoorthy schools, and not for the weak hearted and NOT for people suffering from scheizophrenia or any such terrible sounding hard-to-spell diseases.
Disclaimer: If you are a Vijay/TRS/Santhanam/Govi/Sundy/Simbhu/Dhanush/Vijayakanth/... fan or any way related to them, do not read beyond this point. Stop. Hit the Back button right now.
Warning: This blog is not meant for children either above or below 18, teachers of PSBB / Sathyamoorthy schools, and not for the weak hearted and NOT for people suffering from scheizophrenia or any such terrible sounding hard-to-spell diseases.
Disclaimer: If you are a Vijay/TRS/Santhanam/Govi/Sundy/Simbhu/Dhanush/Vijayakanth/... fan or any way related to them, do not read beyond this point. Stop. Hit the Back button right now.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)