இப்பதிவு என் அப்பாவிற்கு சமர்ப்பணம்.
ஆண் பிள்ளைகளுக்கு அம்மா தான் எப்பவுமே நெருக்கம் என்பதில் எனக்கு எந்த மாற்றுக்கருத்தும் இல்லை. அன்னையிடம் அன்பையும்,தந்தையிடம் அறிவையும் பெற வேண்டும் என்கின்றனர். ஒவ்வொருவருக்கும் "என் அப்பா தான் சிறந்தவர்" என்ற பெருமையும் ... ஏன் கர்வமும் இருப்பது நியாயமானதே. அத்தகைய எனது உணர்வுகளின் நீட்சியே இப்பதிவு.
அப்பா என்பவர் சிறு வயதில் எல்லாம் எனக்கு வில்லனாகவே காட்சி தந்து பழக்கப்பட்டவர். பல முறை, தவறு ஏதேனும் செய்து விட்டால் - அம்மா மாலையில் அப்பாவின் வருகைக்காகவும், வந்தவுடன் பத்தி வைக்கவும் காத்திருந்தது இன்னும் ஞாபகம் இருக்கிறது. ஸ்கூட்டரில் செல்லும் போது GK கேள்விகள் கேட்பது, கதை சொல்வது, ரைம்ஸ் சொல்ல கேட்பது, Inswinger & Outswinger முதலியன சொல்லித்தருவது என சினிமா அப்பாக்கள் செய்த எதையும் நிச்சயமாக என் அப்பா எனக்கு செய்ததில்லை. அவர் இவை யாவற்றையும் செய்திருக்க வேண்டும் என்பது எனது எதிர்பார்ப்பாகவும் இருந்திருக்கவில்லை.
அப்பாவும் அம்மாவும் ஆரம்பத்திலேயே முடிவு செய்து கொண்டார்களாம் ... தங்களது பிள்ளைகள் இறுதி வரையில் ஆங்கில வழிப்பள்ளியிலே தான் பயில வேண்டும் என்று. அவர்களது சக்திக்கு மீறிய காரியமாகவே இது கருதப்பட்ட காலம் அது. உறவுக்காரர்கள் மற்றும் அண்டை வீட்டார்தம் சிறுவர்கள் யாவரும் அரசுப்பள்ளிக்குச்செல்ல நாங்கள் matriculation பள்ளிக்கு சென்றோம். எனக்கு நன்றாக நினைவிருக்கிறது... எந்த குடும்பசகித விழாவாயினும் சரி அல்லது எவர் வீட்டுக்கு வந்தாலும் சரி, அவர்கள் கேட்கும் முதல் கேள்வி இது தான் ... "உங்க வசதிக்கு இங்கிலீஷ் மீடியம் ஸ்கூல் தேவையா ?" ... இதற்கு சிறு புன்னகை ஒன்றையே பதிலாக தருவார் அப்பா. சென்னை போன்ற பெருநகரங்களில் எப்படி எனத்தெரியவில்லை ... 90களின் தொடக்கத்தில் ஆங்கில வழிக்கல்வி சிறுநகரங்களுக்குள் நுழைந்த புதிது என்று தான் சொல்ல வேண்டும். It's considered ELITE then ...
படிப்பு சம்மந்தமாக எது கேட்டாலும் உடனே நிறைவேற்றப்படும். Rough note books, pencils, refill-pens, inkbottle, India-Outline,political,river maps-50 each என அனைத்தையும் வருடத்தின் தொடக்கத்திலேயே வாங்கி வீட்டில் ஸ்டாக் வைத்து விடுவார் அப்பா. "அவன் திடீர்னு எதையாவது கேட்பான் ... என் வேலைகளுக்கு மத்தியில் நான் மறந்து விடுவேன் ... அதான்" - அப்பா தரும் விளக்கம்.
அப்பாவுக்கு இந்தியா சிமெண்ட்ஸ் இல் Security Departmentஇல் உத்தியோகம். "வாட்ச்மேன் பசங்க படிப்புல என்னிக்குமே கெட்டி தான்" - இன்றும் சாதரணமாக என் காதுகளில் ஒலிக்கும் வாசகம் இது. அவருடைய Chief உடைய மகளும் நான் பயின்ற பள்ளியிலேயே தான் பயின்றாள். அப்பாவுக்கு அதில் என்றுமே ஒரு பெருமையும்,திருப்தியும் உண்டு. நான் பத்தாம் மற்றும் பன்னிரெண்டாம் வகுப்பு பொதுத்தேர்வுகளில் நல்ல மதிப்பெண்கள் எடுத்திருந்ததனை அறிந்து அவருடைய boss அவருக்கு வாழ்த்துக்கள் தெரிவித்ததனை இன்றும் ஆத்மார்த்தமாக நினைவு கூர்வார். போஸ்ட் ஆபீஸ், வங்கி, தாசில்தார் ஆபீஸ் என எங்கு சென்றாலும் "உங்க பசங்க என்ன பண்ணிட்டு இருக்காங்க ?" என்ற கேள்விக்கு பூரிப்புடன் பதில் சொல்லிக்கொண்டிருக்கிறார் அப்பா.
எட்டு ஒன்பது வயதிருக்கலாம் ... '96 Wills World Cup - நாடே சச்சின் டெண்டுல்கரை கடவுளாகவும், இந்திய கிரிக்கெட் அணிக்காக கடவுளிடமும் வழிபட்டுக்கொண்டிருந்தது. எல்லாரையும் போல நமக்கும் கிரிக்கெட் ஆர்வம் ரத்தத்தில் கொப்பளித்துக் கொண்டிருந்த காலம் அது. பக்கத்துக்கு வீட்டு தவமணி டீச்சரின் புண்ணியத்தில் The Hindu செய்தித்தாள் அறிமுகமானது. Zimbabwe எனும் வார்த்தையை உச்சரிக்கவே தெரியாத காலம் அது ... Azharuddin, Manjrekar போன்ற பெயர்களை Scoreboard பார்த்து Rough note இன் பின்புறம் எழுதி வைத்துக்கொள்வேன். அப்பா தான் "The Sportstar"ஐ அறிமுகப்படுத்தினார். சிறுவர் மலர், கோகுலம் என அனைத்தையும் அனாயசமாக படித்துத்தூக்கி எறிந்து கொண்டிருந்தேன். Sportstarஇல் படங்களுக்கு கீழிருந்தவற்றை மட்டும் படிக்க ஆரம்பித்தேன். அப்பா எங்கு சென்றாலும் Sportstar வாங்கி வந்து விடுவார். Olympics, World Cup ஆகியனவற்றின் போது Special Issue வினை வாங்குவதற்காகவே ஈரோடு, சேலம் சென்று வாங்கிவந்திருக்கிறார். அவை யாவற்றினையும் இன்றும் சேமித்து வைத்திருக்கிறேன், 200-250 புத்தகங்கள் தேறும். என்னுடைய படிக்கும் ஆர்வத்திற்கு என்றுமே எண்ணெய் ஊற்றப்பார்த்திருப்பார் அப்பா.
அப்பா கம்யூனிஸ்ட், நாத்திகவாதி. யூனியன், தோழரே என வீட்டுக்கு அடிக்கடி கம்யூனிசவாதிகள் விஜயம் இருக்கும். அவர்களது பேச்சுக்கள் புரியாவிடினும் அருகில் அமர்ந்து கவனிப்பது என் வழக்கம். என்றைக்குமே அவரது நாத்திகத்தையும், கம்யூனிசத்தையும் அவர் எங்களுக்கு போதித்தது கிடையாது. தீக்கதிர், CITU செய்தி போன்ற கம்யூனிசம் சம்மந்தப்பட்ட தினசரிகளும், வார/மாத இதழ்களும் வீட்டிற்கு வரும். எதைப்படிக்கலாம் என துடித்துக்கொண்டிருந்த காலங்களில் இவற்றினையும் நான் புரட்டியிருக்கிறேன். அச்சிறுவயதினில் கம்யூனிசமும், Anti-American bashings உம் எனக்கு புரிந்திருக்க வாய்ப்பில்லை. என்றாலும் எனக்கு பிடித்த நிறம் சிவப்பாக இருப்பதற்கும், பிந்தைய காலங்களில் லெனின், ஸ்டாலின், மாவோ சே துங், ஜோதி பாசு, சே குவரா ஆகியோர் மீது ஒரு சிறு பற்றுதல் உண்டானதற்கும் காரணம் - அன்று CITU செய்தியில் வந்த அட்டைப்பட கார்ட்டூன்களும், V.P.சிந்தன் மற்றும் ஜோதி பாசுவின் வாழ்கை வரலாற்றுப்புத்தகங்களில் நான் கண்ட படங்களும் தான்.
அப்பாவுக்கு அரசியலில் ஆர்வம் அதிகம். News Channels தான் அதிக நேரம் பார்த்துக்கொண்டிருப்பார் (பல அப்பாக்கள் இப்படித்தான் போலும்). கொஞ்சம் முதிர்ந்த பருவங்களில் அவரிடம் நிறைய கேள்விகள் கேட்டிருக்கிறேன். பழைய அரசியல் மற்றும் சினிமா செய்திகள் அவர் மூலமாக எனக்கு கிடைத்திருக்கின்றன. அப்பா எம்.ஜி.ஆர் அபிமானி. எம்.ஜி.ஆர் இன் படங்கள் பெற்ற வெற்றி, கிராமங்களில் எம்.ஜி.ஆர் எனும் பிம்பத்தின் பாதிப்பு என்ன ? என பல விவாதங்கள். இந்தியாவில் ஏன் கம்யூனிசம் தழைக்கவில்லை ?, ஏன் தழைக்கவும் முடியாது ?, எம்.ஜி.ஆர் ஆல் எப்படி மூன்று முறை தொடர்ந்து முதலமைச்சர் ஆக முடிந்தது ?, இந்தியாவில் 1975இல் Emergency அமல்படுத்தப்பட்ட போது சங்ககிரியில் மாணவராக அதனை உணர முடிந்ததா ?, ஏன் வங்காள அரசியல்வாதிகள் தவிர வேறு எவரையும் நீங்கள் அரசியல் தலைவராக ஏற்க மறுக்கிறீர்கள்? போன்ற பல கேள்விகளை விவாதித்திருக்கிறோம்.
அப்பாவுக்கு ஆங்கில மருத்துவத்தின் மீது நம்பிக்கை கிடையாது. அவருக்கு Alternate medicines ஆன floral remedies, Acupuncture, Ayurveda, Homeopathy பற்றி படிக்கவும், சோதித்து பார்க்கவும் ஆர்வம் அதிகம். வீட்டில் இது தொடர்பான பல புத்தகங்களை அடுக்கி வைத்திருப்பார். அவருக்கு பிடிக்காத ஒரு விஷயம் நேரா,நேரத்திற்கு சாப்பிடாமல் இருப்பது. நேரத்திற்கு சாப்பிடுவதனால் ஏற்படும் நன்மைகளையும், அனுகூலங்களையும் பற்றி அடிக்கடி விரிவுரை ஆற்றுவார் (அதில் Salivary glands, Pancreas, digestive juices, hormones பற்றிய அனைத்து செய்திகளும் அடங்கி இருக்கும்).
அப்பாவுக்கும் அம்மாவுக்கும் சண்டை வந்தால் நான் என்றைக்குமே அம்மா பக்கம் தான். அதனாலேயே பல முறை அவர் எனக்கு வில்லனாக காட்சி தருவார்.
அப்பா எதையுமே எங்களுக்கு Spoonfeed செய்ததில்லை. மீனைத்தின்னத்தருவதை விட மீன் பிடிக்க கற்றுக்கொடுப்பவனே நல்ல ஆசானாவான். அதைத்தான் எனது தந்தையிடம் நான் உணர்கிறேன். அவர் நேரிடையாக எங்களுக்கு சொல்லித்தந்ததைவிட, பல விஷயங்களைக் கற்றுக்கொள்ளும் சூழலையும், கருவிகளையும் திறம்பட உருவாக்கித்தந்திருக்கிறார்.
இன்றைய நாட்களில் நானும் என் அப்பாவும் அதிகம் பேசிக்கொள்வது கூட கிடையாது. எனினும் அவர் என் மேல் வைத்திருக்கும் பாசத்தையும், நான் அவர் மேல் வைத்திருக்கும் மரியாதையையும் உணர்த்திக்கொள்ள ஒற்றைப்பார்வையே போதுமானது.
"அன்பிற்கும் உண்டோ அடைக்கும் தாழ்" ...
இறுதியாக விழியன் இன் கவிதை ஒன்று ...
தந்தை எவ்வழி...
நடந்த கோணல் பாதை மீதினில்
புதிதாய் சின்னஞ்சிறு பாதங்கள்...
சற்றே நடுங்கி
நிதானித்து
பத்திரமாய் எழுகின்றன கால்கள்
தொடரப்போகும் அடிகளுக்கு…
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Friday, September 25, 2009
Bharathiraja & his Kadalora Kavidhaigal (1986)
Cast: Satyaraj and Rekha
Directed by: Bharathiraja
Was watching Kadalora Kavidhaigal yesterday. Instead of attempting a review on a film that has been watched by 9/10 people in Tamilnadu, I shall highlight certain good aspects of the film and Bharathiraja's direction, in general.
There's always a big trouble in speaking about the classics. And especially about the films that were released more than 30 years ago and before you were born, as you were simply unaware of the society, the people, the cinema, the politics, the entertainment value etc.
En iniya thamizh makkale ... ungal paasathukkuriya Bharathiraja pesukiren ...
The story looks very simple and has become a cliched subject, these days. But the box office success of the film suggest that it was not a very common story, then. So, As in every Bharathiraja's (henceforth referred to as BR) film, the movie opens up with a salutation to the audience from BR and in a village (Muttom in this case). The male protagonist (Satyaraj) is a rough (but soft at heart, you know that right ?) Sandiyar, beating up people and be in jail more time, than at home (You can imagine, its more like Paruthiveeran's Karthi). There has to be a village belle, uncle's daughter, for whom our hero is everything (Ranjani here). There has to be some person, who should toil and convert our rough-hearted villainous hero to a soft, romantic and lover-boyyish character. In this case, it is Rekha who plays a school teacher. Then there's story, romance, Ilayaraja's wonderful BGMs and a few nice songs, twists, romantic turns, Subham ---.
This is how a beautiful and original story has become a gush-stream of cliches for the next generation because of the lack of creativity and extensive usage of the storylines of successful movies by the later directors. However, I felt the first part (involving the character sketches and romantizations) very interesting and the second half is a bit boring, tears and the usual melodrama stuff.
Satyaraj's looks and acting are so natural and he has performed the role with an effortless ease. Rekha (debutant to Tamil cinema, in this movie) looks sweet and there are no complaints on her performance too. The support cast including Janagaraj (no comedy tracks in the movie,though) and Ranjani (another debutant in this movie) are also impressive. The highlight of the movie and the USP should be Ilayaraja's score for the songs. Songs like "Adi Aaathaadi ... Ila manasonnu" and "Kodiyile Malligappoo" are famous, till this date.
Now, a look at a few general aspects of BR's Cinema ...
I consider the arrival of Bharathiraja in the tamil cinema scene very important for two reasons.
One -- He took cinema to real locations, out from studios.
Two -- His growth in the field can't be seen separately and has to be seen as the growth of a lot of skillful technicians and wonderful actors alongside.
Substantiation follows ...
BR starts his career with 16 Vayathinile which is widely considered the first film that is shot outide the studios and follows up with a lot of scripts on village backdrops. Mann Vaasanai, Kizhakke pogum Rayil, Karuthamma, Kizhakku Cheemayile till Tajmahal - he never needed sets and grand locations for his cinema.
Bharathiraja's films had wonderful music and soulful songs. Ilayaraja as a music director and Vairamuthu & Gangai Amaran as lyricists made it big with BR's films making it big at the box office. No, this shouldn't be seen as an underestimation of the skills of Ilayaraja and Vairamuthu. A good artiste needs no advertisement .. But all these wonderful and creative people from southern districts of Tamilnadu burst into the scene together and created self-made success stories, together. Manivannan (as a scriptwriter), K Bhagyaraj (as actor and assistant director), Parthiban and the list would keep growing. His films never banked on the star value of a particular hero/heroine. He picked up the raw-clay and shaped them into wonderful actors. And, He had this sentiment of christening his introductions with letter "R". Radhika, Radha, Revathi, Rekha, Ranjani, Ravi (Yes, Nizhalgal Ravi), Raja all acclaimed actors were introduced to the scene by Bharathiraja.
Now, Some of the personal observations ...
BR's films redefined tamil cinema, in more general terms. His fresh portrayals of romance were very innovative and his love stories never stood away from life, They are never larger than life.
The film directors, these days run out of ideas in portraying the song sequences and thus run away into the foreign locations to divert us to the scenic beauty of those locations. Contrastingly, BR's song sequences always looked interesting, they explored beautiful village locations and his protagonists, for the most part, never danced to the tunes and diverted us that way also. His films didn't have item numbers also (Yeah .. There might be exceptions).
His films always had a limited set of characters and each characterization would be vivid and lively. All characters, big or small would leave an expression in the minds of the viewer. Silk Smitha in Alaigal Oyvathillai, Rajinikanth in 16 Vayathinile, Vadivukkarasi in Muthal Mariyathai all had a pronounced importance in the build-up of the story. And more importantly, in a hero-oriented industry known for chucking out films that encouraged hero worship, his portrayal of women is something that deserves an applause. Like Shyam Benegal's women (Bhumika, Ankur, Sardari Begum, Nishant etc), BR's portrayals of his lead-ladies were very special and full of life. They are beautiful, they are raw, they are emotional, they are honest, they had love, they had courage ... they carried every part of the human emotional structure. Radhika in Kizhakku Cheemayile, Radha in Muthal Mariyadhai, Rajashri in Karuthamma, Jayasudha in Anthimanthaarai - All stunning characterizations. And More importantly, they are never pointless eye candies and they never stood up in our minds with their sex appeal.
One more high-point of his film direction is the usage of images, symbols and allegories, metaphors & similies in dialogues etc to suggest the idea. Chess boards, small dolls & statues, posters on the wall, flowers & thorns, goats & lambs, umbrellas & rains, all had a meaning in his cinema. And they were not so intellectually complex and were simple enough to hit the minds of an ordinary film-goer.
In the early nineties, BR's films started getting attention at a national level. Karuthamma spoke a social issue - Female infanticide and fetched him a national award. Anthimanthaarai and Kizhakku Cheemayile also won him lots of critial applause. Late nineties were literally the end of his career ... "Tajmahal" and "Kangalal kaithu sei" bombed and "Bommalaattam" looked like he is back. But there was no Bharathiraja touch in it. Nevertheless, his creativity is always original and authentic and I would call him a self-made cinema genius who took tamil cinema to the next level.
Directed by: Bharathiraja
Was watching Kadalora Kavidhaigal yesterday. Instead of attempting a review on a film that has been watched by 9/10 people in Tamilnadu, I shall highlight certain good aspects of the film and Bharathiraja's direction, in general.
There's always a big trouble in speaking about the classics. And especially about the films that were released more than 30 years ago and before you were born, as you were simply unaware of the society, the people, the cinema, the politics, the entertainment value etc.
En iniya thamizh makkale ... ungal paasathukkuriya Bharathiraja pesukiren ...
The story looks very simple and has become a cliched subject, these days. But the box office success of the film suggest that it was not a very common story, then. So, As in every Bharathiraja's (henceforth referred to as BR) film, the movie opens up with a salutation to the audience from BR and in a village (Muttom in this case). The male protagonist (Satyaraj) is a rough (but soft at heart, you know that right ?) Sandiyar, beating up people and be in jail more time, than at home (You can imagine, its more like Paruthiveeran's Karthi). There has to be a village belle, uncle's daughter, for whom our hero is everything (Ranjani here). There has to be some person, who should toil and convert our rough-hearted villainous hero to a soft, romantic and lover-boyyish character. In this case, it is Rekha who plays a school teacher. Then there's story, romance, Ilayaraja's wonderful BGMs and a few nice songs, twists, romantic turns, Subham ---.
This is how a beautiful and original story has become a gush-stream of cliches for the next generation because of the lack of creativity and extensive usage of the storylines of successful movies by the later directors. However, I felt the first part (involving the character sketches and romantizations) very interesting and the second half is a bit boring, tears and the usual melodrama stuff.
Satyaraj's looks and acting are so natural and he has performed the role with an effortless ease. Rekha (debutant to Tamil cinema, in this movie) looks sweet and there are no complaints on her performance too. The support cast including Janagaraj (no comedy tracks in the movie,though) and Ranjani (another debutant in this movie) are also impressive. The highlight of the movie and the USP should be Ilayaraja's score for the songs. Songs like "Adi Aaathaadi ... Ila manasonnu" and "Kodiyile Malligappoo" are famous, till this date.
Now, a look at a few general aspects of BR's Cinema ...
I consider the arrival of Bharathiraja in the tamil cinema scene very important for two reasons.
One -- He took cinema to real locations, out from studios.
Two -- His growth in the field can't be seen separately and has to be seen as the growth of a lot of skillful technicians and wonderful actors alongside.
Substantiation follows ...
BR starts his career with 16 Vayathinile which is widely considered the first film that is shot outide the studios and follows up with a lot of scripts on village backdrops. Mann Vaasanai, Kizhakke pogum Rayil, Karuthamma, Kizhakku Cheemayile till Tajmahal - he never needed sets and grand locations for his cinema.
கரிசக்காட்டு தரிசு நிலங்களையும், கருவேலா முட்செடிகளையும் அவற்றினுக்கிடையில் வாழும் அம்மண்ணின் மனிதர்களையும் வைத்து கதை சொல்ல முற்பட்ட ஒப்பற்ற கலைஞன் அவன்
Bharathiraja's films had wonderful music and soulful songs. Ilayaraja as a music director and Vairamuthu & Gangai Amaran as lyricists made it big with BR's films making it big at the box office. No, this shouldn't be seen as an underestimation of the skills of Ilayaraja and Vairamuthu. A good artiste needs no advertisement .. But all these wonderful and creative people from southern districts of Tamilnadu burst into the scene together and created self-made success stories, together. Manivannan (as a scriptwriter), K Bhagyaraj (as actor and assistant director), Parthiban and the list would keep growing. His films never banked on the star value of a particular hero/heroine. He picked up the raw-clay and shaped them into wonderful actors. And, He had this sentiment of christening his introductions with letter "R". Radhika, Radha, Revathi, Rekha, Ranjani, Ravi (Yes, Nizhalgal Ravi), Raja all acclaimed actors were introduced to the scene by Bharathiraja.
Now, Some of the personal observations ...
BR's films redefined tamil cinema, in more general terms. His fresh portrayals of romance were very innovative and his love stories never stood away from life, They are never larger than life.
மண் மீதான காதலும், மண் சார்ந்த மனிதர்களுக்கிடையில் மலர்கின்ற காதலுமே அவரது படங்களில் பிரதானப்படுத்தப்படுகின்றன.நகரம் சார்ந்த கதைகளையே திரைப்படங்கள் பேசிக்கொண்டிருந்த காலங்களில் சென்னையின் தெற்கே உலகம் ஒன்று இருப்பதையும், அவர்தம் வாழ்வினில் வடிந்தோடிய காதல், வீரம், சோகம், விருப்பு, வெறுப்பு என உணர்வுகள் அனைத்தையும் படம் பிடித்து காட்டிய கலைஞன் அவன்.
The film directors, these days run out of ideas in portraying the song sequences and thus run away into the foreign locations to divert us to the scenic beauty of those locations. Contrastingly, BR's song sequences always looked interesting, they explored beautiful village locations and his protagonists, for the most part, never danced to the tunes and diverted us that way also. His films didn't have item numbers also (Yeah .. There might be exceptions).
His films always had a limited set of characters and each characterization would be vivid and lively. All characters, big or small would leave an expression in the minds of the viewer. Silk Smitha in Alaigal Oyvathillai, Rajinikanth in 16 Vayathinile, Vadivukkarasi in Muthal Mariyathai all had a pronounced importance in the build-up of the story. And more importantly, in a hero-oriented industry known for chucking out films that encouraged hero worship, his portrayal of women is something that deserves an applause. Like Shyam Benegal's women (Bhumika, Ankur, Sardari Begum, Nishant etc), BR's portrayals of his lead-ladies were very special and full of life. They are beautiful, they are raw, they are emotional, they are honest, they had love, they had courage ... they carried every part of the human emotional structure. Radhika in Kizhakku Cheemayile, Radha in Muthal Mariyadhai, Rajashri in Karuthamma, Jayasudha in Anthimanthaarai - All stunning characterizations. And More importantly, they are never pointless eye candies and they never stood up in our minds with their sex appeal.
One more high-point of his film direction is the usage of images, symbols and allegories, metaphors & similies in dialogues etc to suggest the idea. Chess boards, small dolls & statues, posters on the wall, flowers & thorns, goats & lambs, umbrellas & rains, all had a meaning in his cinema. And they were not so intellectually complex and were simple enough to hit the minds of an ordinary film-goer.
In the early nineties, BR's films started getting attention at a national level. Karuthamma spoke a social issue - Female infanticide and fetched him a national award. Anthimanthaarai and Kizhakku Cheemayile also won him lots of critial applause. Late nineties were literally the end of his career ... "Tajmahal" and "Kangalal kaithu sei" bombed and "Bommalaattam" looked like he is back. But there was no Bharathiraja touch in it. Nevertheless, his creativity is always original and authentic and I would call him a self-made cinema genius who took tamil cinema to the next level.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Music - Last week (2)
Yeah...I am gonna make this, a series like thing.
We listen to lots of songs and a variety of musical scores over a period of time...But when you sit down and give it a thought for 2 minutes, some scores flash across ... Right ?? ...
So, I thought of tracking my Listening pattern and introduce or recall some beautiful music and wonderful songs, using this space.
Here goes the list and kutty notes on each of them ...
1) Pemmanae - Aayirathil Oruvan (2009)
Two (or three rather) songs of this movie recalled the tamil grammar and the Sangam poetry, I did in my school. Spellbound by Vairamuthu's lyrics and this musical score is going to be "the break" for GVPrakash.
This song has that "haunting" score and Bombay Jayashree's voice to convey the agony of the protagonists ... No words to desribe that experience ... Very disturbing ...
2) Thaai thindra mannae - Aayirathil Oruvan (2009)
கலம்பகம், உலா, ஈறுகெட்ட எதிர்மறைப்பெயரெச்சம் - all this in a tamil film song - wow !!! Excellent choice of words and I spent some half an hour to decipher, what the song conveys.
சங்கத்தமிழில் முங்கி முத்தெடுக்கும் அனுபவம் அது ... Just listen to it
There are two versions of the song... The Cholan ecstasy and the classic version -
ஈழத்தின் அவலத்தை சிந்தையில் நிறுத்தி கண்ணீர்க்காவியமாய் பாடல்களை வடித்தெடுத்திருக்கிறார் வைரமுத்து ...
Nithyashree Mahadevan's renditions in the Cholan ecstasy version is also simply marvellous..
There should be 'n' reasons for why one (a tamilian, obviously) will be liking this song ...
3) Ippavae Ippavae & Nanba Nanba - Raman Thediya Seethai (2008)
The first one is romantic and the second one is motivational. No reasons absolutely !!! Just liked them as I listened to them, the first time.
4) Vaazhum Varai poraadu - Paadum Vaanampaadi
Yes.. This movie is a remake of "Disco Dancer" (which launched Mithun Chakraborthy to bollywood and was a great blockbuster and its tracks were instant chartbusters) but the tamil version starring Anandbabu bombed badly at the boxoffice.
But this song is a very good one.
Motivational, confidence stuff etc.
SPB's voice period.
5) Megh Peon - Titli (2002)
This is Bengali and hence its lyrics were incomprehensible.
But listen to this beautiful music here and I guarantee for no regrets.
6) Melissa OST - Bilitis (1977)
This is a BGM track and I found some similarities of this tune to Ilayaraja's BGM score for Mouna Raagam.(Might be wrong) - Great music.
7) Rangeela re - Rangeela (1995)
Well...This needs no introduction. Rangeela launched ARRahman and Urmila Matondkar [ :) ] to Bollywood, though they were theoretically present in the field previously also.
Everybody knows this musical piece and there's no point writing pages on it ...
That's all folks ...
We listen to lots of songs and a variety of musical scores over a period of time...But when you sit down and give it a thought for 2 minutes, some scores flash across ... Right ?? ...
So, I thought of tracking my Listening pattern and introduce or recall some beautiful music and wonderful songs, using this space.
Here goes the list and kutty notes on each of them ...
1) Pemmanae - Aayirathil Oruvan (2009)
Two (or three rather) songs of this movie recalled the tamil grammar and the Sangam poetry, I did in my school. Spellbound by Vairamuthu's lyrics and this musical score is going to be "the break" for GVPrakash.
This song has that "haunting" score and Bombay Jayashree's voice to convey the agony of the protagonists ... No words to desribe that experience ... Very disturbing ...
2) Thaai thindra mannae - Aayirathil Oruvan (2009)
கலம்பகம், உலா, ஈறுகெட்ட எதிர்மறைப்பெயரெச்சம் - all this in a tamil film song - wow !!! Excellent choice of words and I spent some half an hour to decipher, what the song conveys.
சங்கத்தமிழில் முங்கி முத்தெடுக்கும் அனுபவம் அது ... Just listen to it
There are two versions of the song... The Cholan ecstasy and the classic version -
ஈழத்தின் அவலத்தை சிந்தையில் நிறுத்தி கண்ணீர்க்காவியமாய் பாடல்களை வடித்தெடுத்திருக்கிறார் வைரமுத்து ...
Nithyashree Mahadevan's renditions in the Cholan ecstasy version is also simply marvellous..
There should be 'n' reasons for why one (a tamilian, obviously) will be liking this song ...
3) Ippavae Ippavae & Nanba Nanba - Raman Thediya Seethai (2008)
The first one is romantic and the second one is motivational. No reasons absolutely !!! Just liked them as I listened to them, the first time.
4) Vaazhum Varai poraadu - Paadum Vaanampaadi
Yes.. This movie is a remake of "Disco Dancer" (which launched Mithun Chakraborthy to bollywood and was a great blockbuster and its tracks were instant chartbusters) but the tamil version starring Anandbabu bombed badly at the boxoffice.
But this song is a very good one.
Motivational, confidence stuff etc.
SPB's voice period.
5) Megh Peon - Titli (2002)
This is Bengali and hence its lyrics were incomprehensible.
But listen to this beautiful music here and I guarantee for no regrets.
6) Melissa OST - Bilitis (1977)
This is a BGM track and I found some similarities of this tune to Ilayaraja's BGM score for Mouna Raagam.(Might be wrong) - Great music.
7) Rangeela re - Rangeela (1995)
Well...This needs no introduction. Rangeela launched ARRahman and Urmila Matondkar [ :) ] to Bollywood, though they were theoretically present in the field previously also.
Everybody knows this musical piece and there's no point writing pages on it ...
That's all folks ...
Friday, September 18, 2009
Engineers' Way
An engineer is an engineering professional concerned with developing economical and safe solutions to practical problems, by applying mathematics and scientific knowledge while considering technical constraints. That's what Wiki says about an Engineer.
Engineers have sculpted this world the way we wanted and as always, we are hungry for new stuff (Necessity is the mother of invention, you see).And No doubt, everthing you imagine is going to get materialised in the near future. Don't worry... this is not going to be on those hi-fi stuff that the engineers have given this world. This is about the day-to-day things that an Engineer will apply himself. And somebody might ask...I did Mechanical but typing out J2EE codes at XYZ now. And the answer is, Irrespective of the branch you belong and the occupation you are at, There is this Engineers' way of looking at and doing things, I beleive. There will be a considerable individuality in the way an engineer looks around and imagines stuff.
I just spurt out a few things I have noted in me (peruma !!!) and my friends, all these years that has an engineer's touch. Me being an Electronics engineer, this article might be electronics centric but you can always post a comment on how you looked at things :)
So feel proud and read ahead !!!
Search of a term in a book - You will always head towards the index pages at the end of the book, rather than looking into a chapter banking on the familiarity of that chapter in the book.
Deletion of a file in Computer - You always know deletion is all about losing the address of a pointer to the first memory location of that file. So, shift-del shouldn't take more than a second but simple deletion will create a replica of that file in the recycle bin - so it takes some time.
Laptop batteries - You know a laptop battery should be used in proper "full charge-full discharge" cycles. I always imagine it to be capacitors charging and discharging - though it might not be exactly what is happening in a battery. But, Its the way you look at things, that matter.
Digital Speedometer - I have seen people complaining the accuracy of the digital speedometer in motorbikes and the superiority of Analog speedometers over digital ones. But I always think it is "Rotation of the wheel - transducer - Analog to Digital Conversion – Digital Signal Processing - Display" in real time. You never feel like complaining about it anymore, Right ?.After all, It’s always about getting better every iteration.
Kitchens – There are instances we discussed how Induction stove works on field principles, eddy currents and all that. It might not be exactly correct but we throw in some techie terms and derive an understanding of it.
Railway Stations & Traffic Signals – Anybody with a knowledge of Finite State Machine (FSM) will realise “it’s not a big deal to design one of those red-green-yellow-light systems” around. After all, it’s only a FSM and We know what it is !!!
Computer Hangs – After working in a ASIC design & Verification environment, I never felt angry when my computer hangs. We are simply aware of how complex the system is...
You watch a movie – seek it to some point – it takes a fraction of a second to resume playing – You realise “Linked list” there.
You have the same set of speakers – But VLC player provides a 400 % volume but the other media players weren’t that loud. You can always google and find the VLC’s technology but I always try to associate it with a loop structure. The more number of times it loops, the more volume it provides. This might be an absurd imagination – But you have started imagining which is supposed to be the purpose of Education.
Flow of signals through an interconnect wire – has always been so magical to me and they suggest a new thing every while.
A plug socket or a tap or an electric stove isn’t working – Instead of panic-ing around and call a technician, you start looking through what’s happening and try to solve it on your own.
Resistive heating, fan regulators, watches, Neon lamps all will convey an engineering sense to you, unknowingly... Even if you don’t give it a thought.
No, I am not saying that you should look everything around with a scientific eye and catch some engineering sense out of it. That way, you lose the beauty of life. You can’t obviously discuss geostationary stuff and Neil Armstrong to your girlfriend who expects some poetic discussions from you on “Moon”. And, my point is this ... Unconsciously you will have that engineering sense in you. Courtesy: Your Engineering degree.
So, this is what I feel is the purpose of Engineering Education, kickstarting the Imagination and creativity. And every Engineer will have it nurtured in him unknowingly and unnoticeably.
This post was supposed to be published on the Engineer’s day, 15th of September (Sir M.Visweswaraya’s birthday). It’s a bit late ... :)
Engineers have sculpted this world the way we wanted and as always, we are hungry for new stuff (Necessity is the mother of invention, you see).And No doubt, everthing you imagine is going to get materialised in the near future. Don't worry... this is not going to be on those hi-fi stuff that the engineers have given this world. This is about the day-to-day things that an Engineer will apply himself. And somebody might ask...I did Mechanical but typing out J2EE codes at XYZ now. And the answer is, Irrespective of the branch you belong and the occupation you are at, There is this Engineers' way of looking at and doing things, I beleive. There will be a considerable individuality in the way an engineer looks around and imagines stuff.
I just spurt out a few things I have noted in me (peruma !!!) and my friends, all these years that has an engineer's touch. Me being an Electronics engineer, this article might be electronics centric but you can always post a comment on how you looked at things :)
So feel proud and read ahead !!!
Search of a term in a book - You will always head towards the index pages at the end of the book, rather than looking into a chapter banking on the familiarity of that chapter in the book.
Deletion of a file in Computer - You always know deletion is all about losing the address of a pointer to the first memory location of that file. So, shift-del shouldn't take more than a second but simple deletion will create a replica of that file in the recycle bin - so it takes some time.
Laptop batteries - You know a laptop battery should be used in proper "full charge-full discharge" cycles. I always imagine it to be capacitors charging and discharging - though it might not be exactly what is happening in a battery. But, Its the way you look at things, that matter.
Digital Speedometer - I have seen people complaining the accuracy of the digital speedometer in motorbikes and the superiority of Analog speedometers over digital ones. But I always think it is "Rotation of the wheel - transducer - Analog to Digital Conversion – Digital Signal Processing - Display" in real time. You never feel like complaining about it anymore, Right ?.After all, It’s always about getting better every iteration.
Kitchens – There are instances we discussed how Induction stove works on field principles, eddy currents and all that. It might not be exactly correct but we throw in some techie terms and derive an understanding of it.
Railway Stations & Traffic Signals – Anybody with a knowledge of Finite State Machine (FSM) will realise “it’s not a big deal to design one of those red-green-yellow-light systems” around. After all, it’s only a FSM and We know what it is !!!
Computer Hangs – After working in a ASIC design & Verification environment, I never felt angry when my computer hangs. We are simply aware of how complex the system is...
You watch a movie – seek it to some point – it takes a fraction of a second to resume playing – You realise “Linked list” there.
You have the same set of speakers – But VLC player provides a 400 % volume but the other media players weren’t that loud. You can always google and find the VLC’s technology but I always try to associate it with a loop structure. The more number of times it loops, the more volume it provides. This might be an absurd imagination – But you have started imagining which is supposed to be the purpose of Education.
Flow of signals through an interconnect wire – has always been so magical to me and they suggest a new thing every while.
A plug socket or a tap or an electric stove isn’t working – Instead of panic-ing around and call a technician, you start looking through what’s happening and try to solve it on your own.
Resistive heating, fan regulators, watches, Neon lamps all will convey an engineering sense to you, unknowingly... Even if you don’t give it a thought.
No, I am not saying that you should look everything around with a scientific eye and catch some engineering sense out of it. That way, you lose the beauty of life. You can’t obviously discuss geostationary stuff and Neil Armstrong to your girlfriend who expects some poetic discussions from you on “Moon”. And, my point is this ... Unconsciously you will have that engineering sense in you. Courtesy: Your Engineering degree.
So, this is what I feel is the purpose of Engineering Education, kickstarting the Imagination and creativity. And every Engineer will have it nurtured in him unknowingly and unnoticeably.
This post was supposed to be published on the Engineer’s day, 15th of September (Sir M.Visweswaraya’s birthday). It’s a bit late ... :)
Cheran's Pokkisham - Review
Pokkisham (2009) - Film Review
wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pokkisham
Directed by: Cheran
Cast: Cheran and Padmapriya
Postal communication is something which doesn't belong to our generation, I feel. How many letters have you written in all your life ??.If you are born after 1985,the number won't even cross 30, I bet and I assume no one is going to communicate a thing via letters here after. And love letters ? :)
Cheran's Pokkisham is all about love letters. One fine morning, a son opens up his father's trunk suitcase and reads the letters that his father has (preserved - got the title !!!) received from his love.Lenin (Cheran) is a marine engineer working at Calcutta (in 1970s, Yeah this one’s a period flick) and Nadheera (Padmapriya) is a Tamil literature student at Nagapattinam.Love blossoms and they reciprocate and express it via letters (Which is the only mode of communication in 70s...Trunk call facilities were in their infancy in India,then).
The movie is more like a novel read aloud... after all it is about love letters read aloud. A few twists, turns, communalism, Sentiments and I am not going to spoil the fun...Give it a watch and enjoy.I just wish to comment on a few aspects of the movie.
Calcutta – Calcutta always has an artistic and literary sense attached to it. May be because,it has been the home of a lot of artists and artistes like Rabindranath Tagore, SD Burman, Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen etc.I don’t know if its universal but a mere mention of this name brings in me the beautiful images of Howrah bridge and Goddess Durga(yellow faced deity). Pokkisham has tried to emulate Calcutta in 70s with the railway trams, hand-pulled rickshaws, Howrah bridge,Victoria Memorial,Durga pooja festive atmosphere and all.
Period Settings – Bullock carts,old-styled motor cycles and the Government bus etc are a few things I noted at the first viewing, with regards to the period settings.One more thing that captivated me is the look of the post box.The post boxes of the olden days are a bit odd in structure and guess what...The IISc (Indian Institute of Science,Bangalore) campus still has one of the post boxes (near the main building) of this style & looks.
Communism – Speak of Bengal and Communism naturally walks in. There has been a lot of mention of the communism and its principles through out. The name of the protagonist-Lenin, discussion of communism by the lead actors - Lenin and Nadheera, Lenin’s father claims that he is a communist, Ilavarasu who appears as Cheran’s neighbour in the movie discusses communism. It gives out a feeling that Cheran must be an admirer of communist principles. Also, 70s are a period of political unrest followed by restructuring in India and Bengal especially. Emergency, Jayaprakash Narayan, Jyothi Basu as CM in Bengal - all happened in 70s.That might also be one of the reasons for the underlining of communism throughout - Personal opinion.
Wavelength match – Imagine you get a soulmate who has a wide panoramic view of the world around. Be it literature, arts, politics, views on society,views on communalism and communism, ideas on the role of a woman in a modern society and lots more.Fit them all in a beautiful damsel and you get Nadheera. Precisely, that’s how her character is shaped in the film.Lenin and Nadheera discuss a lot of these stuff in the movie and you envy their chemistry.This is what I call the “wavelength match”.
Dialogues – Its poetry in simple terms. Lots of refreshing new dialogues and fresh ideas. Of course,the subject of the movie – love letters, offers a lot of scope and Cheran enthralls us with an array of wonderful poetry.Love beautiful romantic verses in tamil ?, then you have got to love the dialogues of this movie.
Songs & Musical score – Songs in the movie never distract you from the course and they just gel with the storyline - they never look like inserted-upons. Introduction song, bar item song, unnecessary duets at foreign locations are something you won’t see in a Cheran film. One of the song situation in the movie is, the protagonist is travelling in a bus or train - his anxiety to meet his love is conveyed by the song. This way,they never looked misplaced.But there were no catchy melodies that will find your memory’s cache.And the background score is less than impressive.
Photography – The cinematography is very impressive. The song sequences picturise a lot of Rains and vivid images.I just felt like it’s raining outside my house.It looks that natural and Beautiful !!!
Cheran ~ Miscast ? – Cheran seemed to be a miscast for this wonderful and poetic script. He tries to portray a young and dynamic youth in his early twenties – but this doesn’t seem to work all fine with his aged persona.I know that no prominent actor of the tamil cinema are willing to do Cheran’s scripts but he can always find a new face and introduce him. And Padmapriya looks fine as a muslim girl.But after watching Maniratnam’s Bombay, whenever I see a muslim girl role in any movie – I always felt Manisha Koirala, the perfect choice – Personal view anyways.
Length of the film – The movie runs more than 160 minutes and rests on dialogues and poetic verses.No doubt, It is intense and gripping but I see no reason an ordinary filmgoer would be interested in this flick. Cheran hit that magical dart in his Autograph (2004) but seemed to have lost touch now. He has to be a bit-more novel to this next gen audience,I feel.
Cheran’s films always have some value attached to it, instead of being a regular masala heap. However the going seems tough for him with his last three films (Thavamai Thavamirundhu (2005), Mayakannadi (2007),Pokkisham (2009) ) receiving a not-so-big response. I liked two of them except Mayakannadi. But,We need directors like him to try out sensible scripts to keep our cinema alive.
Recommended...
Rating: 3.5/5
wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pokkisham
Directed by: Cheran
Cast: Cheran and Padmapriya
Postal communication is something which doesn't belong to our generation, I feel. How many letters have you written in all your life ??.If you are born after 1985,the number won't even cross 30, I bet and I assume no one is going to communicate a thing via letters here after. And love letters ? :)
Cheran's Pokkisham is all about love letters. One fine morning, a son opens up his father's trunk suitcase and reads the letters that his father has (preserved - got the title !!!) received from his love.Lenin (Cheran) is a marine engineer working at Calcutta (in 1970s, Yeah this one’s a period flick) and Nadheera (Padmapriya) is a Tamil literature student at Nagapattinam.Love blossoms and they reciprocate and express it via letters (Which is the only mode of communication in 70s...Trunk call facilities were in their infancy in India,then).
The movie is more like a novel read aloud... after all it is about love letters read aloud. A few twists, turns, communalism, Sentiments and I am not going to spoil the fun...Give it a watch and enjoy.I just wish to comment on a few aspects of the movie.
Calcutta – Calcutta always has an artistic and literary sense attached to it. May be because,it has been the home of a lot of artists and artistes like Rabindranath Tagore, SD Burman, Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen etc.I don’t know if its universal but a mere mention of this name brings in me the beautiful images of Howrah bridge and Goddess Durga(yellow faced deity). Pokkisham has tried to emulate Calcutta in 70s with the railway trams, hand-pulled rickshaws, Howrah bridge,Victoria Memorial,Durga pooja festive atmosphere and all.
Period Settings – Bullock carts,old-styled motor cycles and the Government bus etc are a few things I noted at the first viewing, with regards to the period settings.One more thing that captivated me is the look of the post box.The post boxes of the olden days are a bit odd in structure and guess what...The IISc (Indian Institute of Science,Bangalore) campus still has one of the post boxes (near the main building) of this style & looks.
Communism – Speak of Bengal and Communism naturally walks in. There has been a lot of mention of the communism and its principles through out. The name of the protagonist-Lenin, discussion of communism by the lead actors - Lenin and Nadheera, Lenin’s father claims that he is a communist, Ilavarasu who appears as Cheran’s neighbour in the movie discusses communism. It gives out a feeling that Cheran must be an admirer of communist principles. Also, 70s are a period of political unrest followed by restructuring in India and Bengal especially. Emergency, Jayaprakash Narayan, Jyothi Basu as CM in Bengal - all happened in 70s.That might also be one of the reasons for the underlining of communism throughout - Personal opinion.
Wavelength match – Imagine you get a soulmate who has a wide panoramic view of the world around. Be it literature, arts, politics, views on society,views on communalism and communism, ideas on the role of a woman in a modern society and lots more.Fit them all in a beautiful damsel and you get Nadheera. Precisely, that’s how her character is shaped in the film.Lenin and Nadheera discuss a lot of these stuff in the movie and you envy their chemistry.This is what I call the “wavelength match”.
Dialogues – Its poetry in simple terms. Lots of refreshing new dialogues and fresh ideas. Of course,the subject of the movie – love letters, offers a lot of scope and Cheran enthralls us with an array of wonderful poetry.Love beautiful romantic verses in tamil ?, then you have got to love the dialogues of this movie.
Songs & Musical score – Songs in the movie never distract you from the course and they just gel with the storyline - they never look like inserted-upons. Introduction song, bar item song, unnecessary duets at foreign locations are something you won’t see in a Cheran film. One of the song situation in the movie is, the protagonist is travelling in a bus or train - his anxiety to meet his love is conveyed by the song. This way,they never looked misplaced.But there were no catchy melodies that will find your memory’s cache.And the background score is less than impressive.
Photography – The cinematography is very impressive. The song sequences picturise a lot of Rains and vivid images.I just felt like it’s raining outside my house.It looks that natural and Beautiful !!!
Cheran ~ Miscast ? – Cheran seemed to be a miscast for this wonderful and poetic script. He tries to portray a young and dynamic youth in his early twenties – but this doesn’t seem to work all fine with his aged persona.I know that no prominent actor of the tamil cinema are willing to do Cheran’s scripts but he can always find a new face and introduce him. And Padmapriya looks fine as a muslim girl.But after watching Maniratnam’s Bombay, whenever I see a muslim girl role in any movie – I always felt Manisha Koirala, the perfect choice – Personal view anyways.
Length of the film – The movie runs more than 160 minutes and rests on dialogues and poetic verses.No doubt, It is intense and gripping but I see no reason an ordinary filmgoer would be interested in this flick. Cheran hit that magical dart in his Autograph (2004) but seemed to have lost touch now. He has to be a bit-more novel to this next gen audience,I feel.
Cheran’s films always have some value attached to it, instead of being a regular masala heap. However the going seems tough for him with his last three films (Thavamai Thavamirundhu (2005), Mayakannadi (2007),Pokkisham (2009) ) receiving a not-so-big response. I liked two of them except Mayakannadi. But,We need directors like him to try out sensible scripts to keep our cinema alive.
Recommended...
Rating: 3.5/5
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Music - Last Week
The blog has become more of a diary to document what you like and its a creative medium to share what you liked.I was listening to a few songs repeatedly [தேய்க்கிறது,as we call it..well,it means listening to the same song again and again,till one of the bits of the digital information gets corrupt :) ] last week and am listing them down.
I was trying to derive a common thread that will define my listening pattern,but there has been none.I would be happy if someone reading this gets hit by the famous "Ahh...I also love this track !!" feeling and derive an instant urge to listen to any of these songs.
Over to the songs (And twitter style notes on each of them)...
1) Vaaranam Aayiram 2008 - Oh Anbe BGM
"When I see the love light in her eye,then the darkness fades" - Intensely romantic.
2) Satya 1998 - Baadalon se
This song is just seductive.The male voice is magical...Its Bhupinder Singh's (Just Googled it).Hindi poetry don't make much of a sense to me because of the lack of the mastery of the language,but still this song conveys the sense with its music and Bhupinder's voice.
3) A Beautiful Mind 2001 - A Kaleidoscope of mathematics BGM
"Now,who among you will be the next Morse,the next Einstein...who among you will be the vanguard of democracy,freedom and discovery? Today we bequeath America's future into your able hands. Welcome to Princeton, gentlemen. ".
Princeton University,John Nash,Game theory and what not - this BGM carries everything with it...
4) Happy days 2007 - Oh My friend
This movie as well as its' music gets very special as it connects me to the BH-1 and BH-2 corridors[BITS-Goa Hostels].And My balcony mate is from AP ... :)
5) Panneer Pushpangal 1981 - Kodaikaala kaatre
Sweet tamil song of the golden 80s.Panneer Pushpangal is a beautiful high school romance and this song has awesome lyrics...
6) Mughal e Azam 1960 - Pyar kiya to darna kiya
Watch Madhubala dance to this tune at youtube and this song adds one more fan to its list.This song has really stood the test of the time and this movie also for that matter.
7) Chudalani vundi 1998 - Yamahanagari
Bengal - the Mecca of arts and culture...This song just glorifies Bengal and Calcutta.Tagore,Satyajit Ray,Mother Teresa,Kali, Chowringhee...It speaks of everything.Wonderful music and Vamsi used to describe Chiranjeevi's dancing mastery to me when we were in the second year of college,quoting this song also as an example.
That's all..Comments please !!!
I was trying to derive a common thread that will define my listening pattern,but there has been none.I would be happy if someone reading this gets hit by the famous "Ahh...I also love this track !!" feeling and derive an instant urge to listen to any of these songs.
Over to the songs (And twitter style notes on each of them)...
1) Vaaranam Aayiram 2008 - Oh Anbe BGM
"When I see the love light in her eye,then the darkness fades" - Intensely romantic.
2) Satya 1998 - Baadalon se
This song is just seductive.The male voice is magical...Its Bhupinder Singh's (Just Googled it).Hindi poetry don't make much of a sense to me because of the lack of the mastery of the language,but still this song conveys the sense with its music and Bhupinder's voice.
3) A Beautiful Mind 2001 - A Kaleidoscope of mathematics BGM
"Now,who among you will be the next Morse,the next Einstein...who among you will be the vanguard of democracy,freedom and discovery? Today we bequeath America's future into your able hands. Welcome to Princeton, gentlemen. ".
Princeton University,John Nash,Game theory and what not - this BGM carries everything with it...
4) Happy days 2007 - Oh My friend
This movie as well as its' music gets very special as it connects me to the BH-1 and BH-2 corridors[BITS-Goa Hostels].And My balcony mate is from AP ... :)
5) Panneer Pushpangal 1981 - Kodaikaala kaatre
Sweet tamil song of the golden 80s.Panneer Pushpangal is a beautiful high school romance and this song has awesome lyrics...
6) Mughal e Azam 1960 - Pyar kiya to darna kiya
Watch Madhubala dance to this tune at youtube and this song adds one more fan to its list.This song has really stood the test of the time and this movie also for that matter.
7) Chudalani vundi 1998 - Yamahanagari
Bengal - the Mecca of arts and culture...This song just glorifies Bengal and Calcutta.Tagore,Satyajit Ray,Mother Teresa,Kali, Chowringhee...It speaks of everything.Wonderful music and Vamsi used to describe Chiranjeevi's dancing mastery to me when we were in the second year of college,quoting this song also as an example.
That's all..Comments please !!!
The Bridges of Madison County - Film Review
imdb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112579/
Starring: Clint Eastwood & Meryl Streep
Directed by: Clint Eastwood
Love is that magical string that keeps this world intact,by keeping Everyone's world intact.The Bridges of Madison County is a very mature love story between mature people,based on the 1992 best-selling novel by Robert James Waller with the same title.The film has Clint Eastwood and Meryl Steep,two of the most accomplished actors of the last century,in lead roles.
Francesca Johnson(Meryl Streep),a married lady with children meets Robert Kincaid(Clint Eastwood),a photographer who is on his assignment to the Iowa state for a photo feature.They develop instant affinity towards each other,discuss a variety of things and fall for each other.They spend four days together as Francesca's husband and children are out for a state fair and then part each other.Francesca preserves her love for Robert ,documents her love in her diary and leaves it for her children.The movie actually unfolds as her children read her notebooks.
The film can be aptfully summarised with the following poem by Lord Byron.The poem will be featuring in the film also.Since I liked it so much,I am reproducing it here.
There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but Nature more,
From these our interviews, in which I steal
From all I may be, or have been before,
To mingle with the Universe, and feel
What I can ne'er express, yet cannot all conceal.
-- Lord Byron
The film features some of the intense and beautiful romantic lines you would have ever come across in films.
"I don't think obsessions have reasons.That's why they're obsessions."
"But this kind of certainty comes just once in a lifetime."
"Do what you have to be happy in this life,There is so much beauty...Go well, my children."
offer a few examples.
Clint Eastwood as a director is getting better like a old wine.Ofcourse, there are better examples like "Letters from Iwo Jima" and we all know his Oscar winning "Million Dollar baby"...But this one's no-less.
The cinematography is awesomely great capturing some of the beautiful images of the Iowa state...Poetry on celluloid.I need not substantiate the performances of the lead actors and it would be re-stating the obvious.This is a very mild and dialogue-centric story and doesn't require a lot of acting assignments.However, Meryl received a Academy nomination for the film for "Best Actress in a lead role".
The film is generally slow and you don't have a lot happening on screen except a middle-aged lady and an old-man talk,understand each other and fall in love.
Watch it as Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep share the screen-space and for its insightful and beautiful dialogues.
Rating: 2.5/5
Starring: Clint Eastwood & Meryl Streep
Directed by: Clint Eastwood
Love is that magical string that keeps this world intact,by keeping Everyone's world intact.The Bridges of Madison County is a very mature love story between mature people,based on the 1992 best-selling novel by Robert James Waller with the same title.The film has Clint Eastwood and Meryl Steep,two of the most accomplished actors of the last century,in lead roles.
Francesca Johnson(Meryl Streep),a married lady with children meets Robert Kincaid(Clint Eastwood),a photographer who is on his assignment to the Iowa state for a photo feature.They develop instant affinity towards each other,discuss a variety of things and fall for each other.They spend four days together as Francesca's husband and children are out for a state fair and then part each other.Francesca preserves her love for Robert ,documents her love in her diary and leaves it for her children.The movie actually unfolds as her children read her notebooks.
The film can be aptfully summarised with the following poem by Lord Byron.The poem will be featuring in the film also.Since I liked it so much,I am reproducing it here.
There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but Nature more,
From these our interviews, in which I steal
From all I may be, or have been before,
To mingle with the Universe, and feel
What I can ne'er express, yet cannot all conceal.
-- Lord Byron
The film features some of the intense and beautiful romantic lines you would have ever come across in films.
"I don't think obsessions have reasons.That's why they're obsessions."
"But this kind of certainty comes just once in a lifetime."
"Do what you have to be happy in this life,There is so much beauty...Go well, my children."
offer a few examples.
Clint Eastwood as a director is getting better like a old wine.Ofcourse, there are better examples like "Letters from Iwo Jima" and we all know his Oscar winning "Million Dollar baby"...But this one's no-less.
The cinematography is awesomely great capturing some of the beautiful images of the Iowa state...Poetry on celluloid.I need not substantiate the performances of the lead actors and it would be re-stating the obvious.This is a very mild and dialogue-centric story and doesn't require a lot of acting assignments.However, Meryl received a Academy nomination for the film for "Best Actress in a lead role".
The film is generally slow and you don't have a lot happening on screen except a middle-aged lady and an old-man talk,understand each other and fall in love.
Watch it as Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep share the screen-space and for its insightful and beautiful dialogues.
Rating: 2.5/5
Friday, September 11, 2009
Anthony Hopkins,Ventriloquism - Scared ??
Magic (1978) - Film Review
imdb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077889/
Starring: Anthony Hopkins & Ann-Margaret
Directed by: Richard Attenborough
When I first watched "Avargal" (A tamil film starring Kamalhaasan and Rajinikanth),one of the most important aspects that captivated me is the ventriloquist-dummy of Kamalhaasan.I had a natural inclination for cinema exploring this complex psychological phenomena,Ventriloquism.And "Magic" is one of the rare films that deal with this and will definitely leave you with a horrified psychological experience.
Corky (Hopkins) is a amateur magician performing card-tricks.He is a failure as a magician until he gets the audience's attention with his dummy (Fats - Corky's ventriloquist dummy).He is about to turn pro of some kind but develops a psychological complex and intentionally shy away from his professional success.The story gets personal from here on - he meets his childhood sweetheart Peggy (Ann-Margaret),gets more involved with his dummy that eventually takes control of him - will form the rest of the plot.
There is Ventriloquism,there is Multiple Personality Disorder ... All these are explored in a lot of movies.Fundamentally,they are the same and they only differ in the way it is expressed by the patient(or the victim).Any discussions and debates are welcome in the comments section ... OPEN :)
There's absolutely no cats or crows or ghosts to horrify oneself in this movie.Its the mental trauma of the protagonist and a gripping music that will create a eerie shell around and will develop a mental disturbance in you.The film has to comfortably rest on the performance of the lead actor and Hopkin's performance and facial expressions are greatly appropriate.Ofcourse, we know him through his more popular later films,as Hannibal Lecter.
The film is technically great - Camerawork,Music,Editing - Brand Attenborough throughout.
So...Why Pick up the DVD?
Richard Attenborough - We know him for his biopics and historical films.Watch him direct a thriller.
Anthony Hopkins - Deserves atleast a Academy award nomination and this one is greatly under-rated at the imdb also.He horrifies us and himself as well.Top Notch...
And then there's Ann-Margaret - As gorgeous as ever :)
Recommended...
Rating: 3.5/5
imdb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077889/
Starring: Anthony Hopkins & Ann-Margaret
Directed by: Richard Attenborough
When I first watched "Avargal" (A tamil film starring Kamalhaasan and Rajinikanth),one of the most important aspects that captivated me is the ventriloquist-dummy of Kamalhaasan.I had a natural inclination for cinema exploring this complex psychological phenomena,Ventriloquism.And "Magic" is one of the rare films that deal with this and will definitely leave you with a horrified psychological experience.
Corky (Hopkins) is a amateur magician performing card-tricks.He is a failure as a magician until he gets the audience's attention with his dummy (Fats - Corky's ventriloquist dummy).He is about to turn pro of some kind but develops a psychological complex and intentionally shy away from his professional success.The story gets personal from here on - he meets his childhood sweetheart Peggy (Ann-Margaret),gets more involved with his dummy that eventually takes control of him - will form the rest of the plot.
There is Ventriloquism,there is Multiple Personality Disorder ... All these are explored in a lot of movies.Fundamentally,they are the same and they only differ in the way it is expressed by the patient(or the victim).Any discussions and debates are welcome in the comments section ... OPEN :)
There's absolutely no cats or crows or ghosts to horrify oneself in this movie.Its the mental trauma of the protagonist and a gripping music that will create a eerie shell around and will develop a mental disturbance in you.The film has to comfortably rest on the performance of the lead actor and Hopkin's performance and facial expressions are greatly appropriate.Ofcourse, we know him through his more popular later films,as Hannibal Lecter.
The film is technically great - Camerawork,Music,Editing - Brand Attenborough throughout.
So...Why Pick up the DVD?
Richard Attenborough - We know him for his biopics and historical films.Watch him direct a thriller.
Anthony Hopkins - Deserves atleast a Academy award nomination and this one is greatly under-rated at the imdb also.He horrifies us and himself as well.Top Notch...
And then there's Ann-Margaret - As gorgeous as ever :)
Recommended...
Rating: 3.5/5
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
55th National Film Awards - Highlights
So...It's official...Prakashraj is a better actor than the Khans and Tamil Cinema is frequently under the Awards scanner now...Priyamani last year and Prakash raj this year.Prakash raj has scored the sixth national award for the Best actor,for tamil cinema.MGR,Kamal Haasan(thrice)and Vikram are the others.Its real sad that Kamal hasn't picked up National awards for many of his masterpieces like Pushpak,Hey Ram,Anbae Sivam etc. :(
And Kanchivaram - Best film.Its only the second instance,where a tamil film is getting the Swarna Kamal for the Best Film.And for a industry that produces around 120 films every year... :(
Veterans like Adoor Gopalakrishnan and Girish Kasaravalli are still delivering good and meaningful cinema and Adoor walked with his Seventh National award.For a career spanning almost 40 years,Adoor has directed less than 15 feature films and seven national awards !!!.Kasaravalli's lady-lead in Gulabi-Talkies,Umashree wins the Best Actress award.
And Chak De!India - Popular film - Justified.
Gnana Rajasekaran's Periyar is the best feature film in Tamil.Films like these need to be encouraged,because biopics are a brand of cinema which pass the historical greats to the posterity.Biopics are a rare phenomenon in India...Indira Gandhi,Nehru,Dhyan chand,Kapil Dev,Satyajit Ray,MS Subbulakshmi...Icons galore but no films :(
I don't know how many have heard about Tingya,a marathi feature which has silently made giant strides at many International film festivals.Have been trying to grab a copy of it,in vain.Tingya's lead Sharad Goekar is the Best child artiste.
Shreya Ghoshal is with Three national awards for the best playback-female now and has equalled Lata Mangeshkar.The iconic Asha Bhonsle has only two.However,Our Chinnakkuyil Chithra with Six is still ahead. :)
Buck up Shreya !!!
And last but not least...Sivaji the Boss,with all its big budget and grand production scales has justified them and has won the award for Best Special Effects.
And Kanchivaram - Best film.Its only the second instance,where a tamil film is getting the Swarna Kamal for the Best Film.And for a industry that produces around 120 films every year... :(
Veterans like Adoor Gopalakrishnan and Girish Kasaravalli are still delivering good and meaningful cinema and Adoor walked with his Seventh National award.For a career spanning almost 40 years,Adoor has directed less than 15 feature films and seven national awards !!!.Kasaravalli's lady-lead in Gulabi-Talkies,Umashree wins the Best Actress award.
And Chak De!India - Popular film - Justified.
Gnana Rajasekaran's Periyar is the best feature film in Tamil.Films like these need to be encouraged,because biopics are a brand of cinema which pass the historical greats to the posterity.Biopics are a rare phenomenon in India...Indira Gandhi,Nehru,Dhyan chand,Kapil Dev,Satyajit Ray,MS Subbulakshmi...Icons galore but no films :(
I don't know how many have heard about Tingya,a marathi feature which has silently made giant strides at many International film festivals.Have been trying to grab a copy of it,in vain.Tingya's lead Sharad Goekar is the Best child artiste.
Shreya Ghoshal is with Three national awards for the best playback-female now and has equalled Lata Mangeshkar.The iconic Asha Bhonsle has only two.However,Our Chinnakkuyil Chithra with Six is still ahead. :)
Buck up Shreya !!!
And last but not least...Sivaji the Boss,with all its big budget and grand production scales has justified them and has won the award for Best Special Effects.
Videsh:Heaven on Earth (2008) - Surrealism !!!
Videsh:Heaven on Earth (2008) - Film review
imdb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1146285/
Starring: Preity Zinta and Vansh Bhardwaj
Director: Deepa Mehta
Preity Zinta in an international film !!!...that creates interest,Right ??
Then,there's Deepa Mehta - Fire,Earth,Water ... That should be enough to make the film a compelling watch.
Yeah...Preity and Deepa aren't letting us down and offer a complete cinema,and provide us a great surrealistic experience.The film as such is very imaginative and Preity has delivered her best performance till-date (Has won a couple of awards at International film festivals).
Chand(Preity Zinta) as a young and beautiful (as Moon{dimpled Moon!}) punjabi bride leaves for Canada from India.An abusive husband and not-so caring family - The movie travels along the lines of "47 Naatkal" and "Not Without my daughter" (i.e) Woman trapped and harassed by her husband,in a foreign country.
When you realise,you know the story-line,comes a surprising surrealistic track which you will never imagine.As chand is struck down by despair and loneliness,her friend at her workplace provides her a magical root that is supposed to seduce the one who takes it towards the one who gives it.And then,there is Black Cobra,Surrealism - Both Chand and the audience are trying to comprehend what is happening...And things fall into place towards the end.
We never knew Preity can act to this magnitude.She just fits the role as a punjabi bride,hand in glove (Thanks to IPL and Preity's Franchise Kings XI Punjab...kidding and Preity has that natural punjabi looks in her).You'll naturally listen to the pounding of your heart,when she is harassed by her husband.There are no other well-known actors in the cast department but as an ensemble - they deliver the idea right.
Then,there's a punjabi wedding ceremony in the beginning of the movie.This has become more of a trend in the diasporic films directed by Indian directors.Bend it like Beckam,Mississippi masala,Monsoon wedding offer a few examples.I think,the west really love to see Indian weddings on-screen. Gold,Orange,Yellow,garlands,Marigolds,music and dances have become more of a cliche for us now.See the above mentioned films and you should probably agree my point. :)
Wonderful Cinematography...Alternating Color and grained-Black & White.
Not much of a Background music - yet the movie is not silent - Very lively.
Good piece of art - Don't apply in the logical theories.Travel with it and this one will entertain you .. Recommended.
Rate - 3/5
imdb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1146285/
Starring: Preity Zinta and Vansh Bhardwaj
Director: Deepa Mehta
Preity Zinta in an international film !!!...that creates interest,Right ??
Then,there's Deepa Mehta - Fire,Earth,Water ... That should be enough to make the film a compelling watch.
Yeah...Preity and Deepa aren't letting us down and offer a complete cinema,and provide us a great surrealistic experience.The film as such is very imaginative and Preity has delivered her best performance till-date (Has won a couple of awards at International film festivals).
Chand(Preity Zinta) as a young and beautiful (as Moon{dimpled Moon!}) punjabi bride leaves for Canada from India.An abusive husband and not-so caring family - The movie travels along the lines of "47 Naatkal" and "Not Without my daughter" (i.e) Woman trapped and harassed by her husband,in a foreign country.
When you realise,you know the story-line,comes a surprising surrealistic track which you will never imagine.As chand is struck down by despair and loneliness,her friend at her workplace provides her a magical root that is supposed to seduce the one who takes it towards the one who gives it.And then,there is Black Cobra,Surrealism - Both Chand and the audience are trying to comprehend what is happening...And things fall into place towards the end.
We never knew Preity can act to this magnitude.She just fits the role as a punjabi bride,hand in glove (Thanks to IPL and Preity's Franchise Kings XI Punjab...kidding and Preity has that natural punjabi looks in her).You'll naturally listen to the pounding of your heart,when she is harassed by her husband.There are no other well-known actors in the cast department but as an ensemble - they deliver the idea right.
Then,there's a punjabi wedding ceremony in the beginning of the movie.This has become more of a trend in the diasporic films directed by Indian directors.Bend it like Beckam,Mississippi masala,Monsoon wedding offer a few examples.I think,the west really love to see Indian weddings on-screen. Gold,Orange,Yellow,garlands,Marigolds,music and dances have become more of a cliche for us now.See the above mentioned films and you should probably agree my point. :)
Wonderful Cinematography...Alternating Color and grained-Black & White.
Not much of a Background music - yet the movie is not silent - Very lively.
Good piece of art - Don't apply in the logical theories.Travel with it and this one will entertain you .. Recommended.
Rate - 3/5
Monday, September 7, 2009
Once (2006) - Musical Delight
Once (2006) - Film review
imdb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0907657/
Starring: Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová
Director: John Carney
Original Music: Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová
"How often do you find the right person ?" is the tagline of the movie.That summarises the entire idea of this very sweet musical that runs for around 80 minutes.
The protagonist is a street-singer,guitarist.He meets a girl who develops an instant love for his music.He works in a hoover shop and she sells flowers & works in a musical instruments shop(she plays piano too).Each have their personal problems,yet Music binds them.They convert the love they had(and still have) for their soulmates(ex-lovers) into romance-ridden lyrics and beautiful music.They spend one week together,knowing each other,forming a band,recording songs and then,they part each other.There is no place for this general cliche of both running into each other.
The movie rests on a single thread,the resonance between them.In more general terms,we would have discussed something called "Wavelength Match",that's what it is.Both of them are musicians,they love music and music renders hope,music renders life.The movie ends on a very positive note and each live happily ever after.
There's not much of a technical excellence in the making.The movie looks like shot in a digital camera in a few places and there are quite a few blurs and a lot of shakes of the camera.The astounding strength is the music and the tracks are really good.The lead actors Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová have given the original musical score for the film.
One of the best photographic shots in the movie
The movie,to be more precise,looks like a musical album that has a few dialogue-interludes.The tracks are very simple and melodies,generally.They aren't generated in a computer-mix or with metal & drums.Simple guitar chords and piano mix provides a soothing experience and the music will definitely stay in oneself and will sway you to its tunes.One of the tracks won the Academy award for Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song,too.
Music all the way...Nothing else to boast about.An interesting one-line plot but not a great ending.Start it one hour before you sleep and Just surrender yourself for 80 minutes.Get happily lost into a pleasant musical melodrama.
Film - 2.5/5
Music - 4/5
Dont count the number of times the word music is used in this post..because this movie is all about music.
imdb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0907657/
Starring: Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová
Director: John Carney
Original Music: Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová
"How often do you find the right person ?" is the tagline of the movie.That summarises the entire idea of this very sweet musical that runs for around 80 minutes.
The protagonist is a street-singer,guitarist.He meets a girl who develops an instant love for his music.He works in a hoover shop and she sells flowers & works in a musical instruments shop(she plays piano too).Each have their personal problems,yet Music binds them.They convert the love they had(and still have) for their soulmates(ex-lovers) into romance-ridden lyrics and beautiful music.They spend one week together,knowing each other,forming a band,recording songs and then,they part each other.There is no place for this general cliche of both running into each other.
The movie rests on a single thread,the resonance between them.In more general terms,we would have discussed something called "Wavelength Match",that's what it is.Both of them are musicians,they love music and music renders hope,music renders life.The movie ends on a very positive note and each live happily ever after.
There's not much of a technical excellence in the making.The movie looks like shot in a digital camera in a few places and there are quite a few blurs and a lot of shakes of the camera.The astounding strength is the music and the tracks are really good.The lead actors Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová have given the original musical score for the film.
One of the best photographic shots in the movie
The movie,to be more precise,looks like a musical album that has a few dialogue-interludes.The tracks are very simple and melodies,generally.They aren't generated in a computer-mix or with metal & drums.Simple guitar chords and piano mix provides a soothing experience and the music will definitely stay in oneself and will sway you to its tunes.One of the tracks won the Academy award for Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song,too.
Music all the way...Nothing else to boast about.An interesting one-line plot but not a great ending.Start it one hour before you sleep and Just surrender yourself for 80 minutes.Get happily lost into a pleasant musical melodrama.
Film - 2.5/5
Music - 4/5
Dont count the number of times the word music is used in this post..because this movie is all about music.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Godmother (1999) - Rambhiben ki Jay !!!
Godmother (1999) - Film Review
imdb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0233808/
Starring : Shabana Azmi,Milind Gunaji,Raima Sen.
Most in this world have appreciated Francis Coppola's "The Godfather",in its original form and if not,have witnessed it in some other forms.Such was the influence that this timeless classic has on the filmmakers and it radically restructured the film theory,in general.
Can a woman be a power-center,can she be a influencing political figure,How will she don a mafiosi ... If a marvellous actress like Shabana Azmi can do it with effortless ease on-screen,It's always a treat to watch and mind you,Shabana won the National Award for the Best-Actress for Godmother in 1999,her fifth and the most recent one.
The film starts in a drought-hit village/terrain/plains in Gujarat and offers several dry but colourful and captivating images.The protagonist couple, Veeram(Milind)and Rambhi(Shabana) are planning to leave the village,reluctantly.They reach a nearby town and here,Veeram achieves a cult status and influential & faithful following among his community people with all his saviour acts.There's a lot of communalism portrayed in the film and how this communal unity has been utilised for the political gains of the people at the top,is shown through-out.
Rambhi(Shabana)has been a humble and calm housewife,bringing up her newborn and kitchen-stuff for almost half the movie.Veeram gets murdered and Rambhi becomes the power-center.From here on,Shabana takes control and carries the film with her.The transition from the housewife to a powerful panchayat leader is portrayed in a two-minute sequence and it is awesome.And like "The Godfather" and "Nayagan", there's a vendetta sequence portraying cruel murders of the people,who killed her husband.
Rambhi has a son,his love for Sejal(Raima Sen),Sejal's love with a muslim guy,Communal riots,Rambhi's justice,Rambhi's sacrifice and all that forms the rest of the story.There's nothing great or novel with the film's plot or screenplay.The only thing that is worth discussing is Shabana's performance throughout the film and especially after she becomes the power-center of her village.She has worked well on the walking styles(she just walks like a man,shedding off the female Nalina)and body language.
There are many other impressive characterisations and performances but they get effectively masked by Rambhiben's (Shabana) image and personality cult.It was a real pain to see a naive and amateurish performance from Raima Sen sharing the screenspace with iconic Shabana.Aged Shabana Azmi looking old in the first part of the movie,was a negative aspect.
The cinematogaphy captured everything in its true sense and color and there were lots of close-up shots in the movie,studying the faces of the protagonist and the support-cast.With the actors,emoting right with the eyes and facial expressions,the idea didn't sound bad.
This is not an absolute off-beat film or a serious parallel cinema stuff.The film has its own dramatizations,share of cliches,one or two bollywood-ish song sequences,communal riots and all that.Recommended for Shabana Azmi's fans,who would like to watch her,do a DON.
Rating:2.5/5
Finally, Just for fun...A Maggi ad... :)
imdb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0233808/
Starring : Shabana Azmi,Milind Gunaji,Raima Sen.
Most in this world have appreciated Francis Coppola's "The Godfather",in its original form and if not,have witnessed it in some other forms.Such was the influence that this timeless classic has on the filmmakers and it radically restructured the film theory,in general.
Can a woman be a power-center,can she be a influencing political figure,How will she don a mafiosi ... If a marvellous actress like Shabana Azmi can do it with effortless ease on-screen,It's always a treat to watch and mind you,Shabana won the National Award for the Best-Actress for Godmother in 1999,her fifth and the most recent one.
The film starts in a drought-hit village/terrain/plains in Gujarat and offers several dry but colourful and captivating images.The protagonist couple, Veeram(Milind)and Rambhi(Shabana) are planning to leave the village,reluctantly.They reach a nearby town and here,Veeram achieves a cult status and influential & faithful following among his community people with all his saviour acts.There's a lot of communalism portrayed in the film and how this communal unity has been utilised for the political gains of the people at the top,is shown through-out.
Rambhi(Shabana)has been a humble and calm housewife,bringing up her newborn and kitchen-stuff for almost half the movie.Veeram gets murdered and Rambhi becomes the power-center.From here on,Shabana takes control and carries the film with her.The transition from the housewife to a powerful panchayat leader is portrayed in a two-minute sequence and it is awesome.And like "The Godfather" and "Nayagan", there's a vendetta sequence portraying cruel murders of the people,who killed her husband.
Rambhi has a son,his love for Sejal(Raima Sen),Sejal's love with a muslim guy,Communal riots,Rambhi's justice,Rambhi's sacrifice and all that forms the rest of the story.There's nothing great or novel with the film's plot or screenplay.The only thing that is worth discussing is Shabana's performance throughout the film and especially after she becomes the power-center of her village.She has worked well on the walking styles(she just walks like a man,shedding off the female Nalina)and body language.
There are many other impressive characterisations and performances but they get effectively masked by Rambhiben's (Shabana) image and personality cult.It was a real pain to see a naive and amateurish performance from Raima Sen sharing the screenspace with iconic Shabana.Aged Shabana Azmi looking old in the first part of the movie,was a negative aspect.
The cinematogaphy captured everything in its true sense and color and there were lots of close-up shots in the movie,studying the faces of the protagonist and the support-cast.With the actors,emoting right with the eyes and facial expressions,the idea didn't sound bad.
This is not an absolute off-beat film or a serious parallel cinema stuff.The film has its own dramatizations,share of cliches,one or two bollywood-ish song sequences,communal riots and all that.Recommended for Shabana Azmi's fans,who would like to watch her,do a DON.
Rating:2.5/5
Finally, Just for fun...A Maggi ad... :)
UNIVERSITY & TEACHER !!!
The source for this post is actually an inscription,that I found at one of the walls of Sir M.Visweswaraya Institute of Technology (MVIT),Bangalore.Had been there for the DRDO test.I took a piece of paper and noted it down,there only.
It reads so...(And it was real sad that this gem of a thought was painted there with quite a few spell-errors).
A University is essentially a co-operation of teachers and students and the relation between the two is of a sacred character.A University is not a mere information shop,it's a place where a man's intellect,will and emotions are disciplined.The university is a sanctuary of the intellectual life of the country and pursuit of knowledge is the soul of the university.Magnificent buildings and equipments are no substitute for the great teacher.
-Dr.S.Radhakrishnan
How true !!! and the last line captivated me,so much.
As our country's education infrastructure is under a wonderful phase of development with lots of IITs,NITs and BITS-Pilani campuses,India is facing a real dearth of good teachers.I have one of my friends who is lecturing at a college for Bachelors degree students with a Bachelor's degree.
Let's churn out some statistics ...
The UN Rao committee has pointed out that India had a huge shortage of teachers for engineering. For instance in 2000-01, Indian engineering institutions required Total 60,970 teachers, broken down into: 8,710 professors, 17,420 readers and 34,840 lecturers.
In terms of professional qualifications, what was required were 26,130 Ph Ds and 34,840 M Techs.
What was available however, were 5,862 Ph Ds and 11,035 MTech’s.
That's a shortfall of around 70 per cent, a figure that's more than doubled over the decade. So one can imagine the quality of students being churned out.
Premier Institutions like IITs have a huge number of unfilled faculty positions and I myself have some experiences of being taught by teachers with a Bachelor's degree.A real saddening state and whenever I realise myself,being short technically,my mind would start blaming the teachers I had at my college.Yeah...we can dismiss this one as mere escapism of a lazy student who hasn't done his classwork and learning at college.
But what,then is the role of a teacher at the University ?
Dr.S.Radhakrishnan,again comes to our rescue...
* The teacher's duty is not only to acquaint the students, with the subjects and the subject matter, principles and generalization, but also to inculcate in them a sense of research and habit of free and impartial judgement.
* It is the main duty of the teachers to inculcate interest in his pupil for the subject, which he teaches. A teacher who is not aware of the latest development or advancement and who does not have independent thinking and ideas about his duties cannot infuse the desire of love for truth in his pupil.
The teachers,nowadays fail in their attempt to teach and explain the subject matter satisfactorily,leave apart the research sense and all that.A teacher need not necessarily explain all the syllabus to his students but he should be able to ignite the minds of his students,inculcate passion towards the subject and more importantly,he should be potent enough to inspire his wards.On a saddening note,none of the above are happening at the modern day engineering class-rooms.
IITs and other premier engineering Institutes are having a good number of experienced professors but there is a visible shortage of second rung of good professors.Over the next decade,it may not be a wonder if there's a exponential drop in the quality of student output from our universities.
So...Where do we fall short ?
In a nation which had iconic professors like Dr.S.Radhakrishnan, Sir.C.V.Raman, Prof.Satish Dhawan and the likes, why is this trauma ??
I would like to share a few thoughts on this regard...
1) Research Infrastructure at the University campuses
Have a look at the university websites of premier grad schools like Stanford, Berkeley or any top US university...You are sure to hit a considerable number of Indian professors there.After spending years on a Doctorate,which science-inclined person will be ready to work in a Indian university,which has sub-standard research facilities and infrastructure.Everybody has got to be selfish someways and nobody wants to ruin their careers.Except the IITs and IISc,how many universities in India have a decent device fabrication laboratory in their campuses.So,our brains drain into the west and in-turn our creamy student layer also ends up there,leaving behind a big hole in our education and knowledge setup.
Absence of good professors at the universities will create a sub-standard student community and this becomes a vicious circle.Over 90% of the students complete their coursework and graduate from the college without (any...yeah ANY)understanding of say..Automata theory,Quantum mechanics or Semiconductor device physics.
2) The Information Technology Boom
IT's arrival in the 90s has gradually inculcated a sense of negligence and carelessness in the learning patterns of the student community.Learn Java,code in .NET and do something creative in Photoshop and you end up with a real job that's gonna offer you more than 35k per month.Why to take pains with your coursework...why to understand turbines and gears,Diodes and opamps,Automata and Turing machine.This is a dangerous trend that has already infiltrated the colleges and universities.This way,a lot of people graduate out from college with a very little technical knowledge in their chosen program of study.Simulators and programming languages have really eaten up the valuable teaching,learning and experimentation time,where real knowledge transfer and acquisition will happen.The will and skill to contribute to science and teaching is seemingly absent in even,the top rankers of the university.
So...Somebody might ask...we know all this young man...Got any solution ??
And my answer will be NO.If a 23 year old can provide solutions for these problems of mammoth magnitude,then why is Dr.APJ Abdul Kalam still trying to put forward his dreams of India being all-potent in 2020.
I will take this oppurtunity to thank and gratify some of my teachers who inspired me,all these years.
Mr.Sivakumar - Taught Biology at school - Taught the art and life behind Amoeba and Mammalian heart with astounding ease.
Mr.SAR Arumugam - Taught Physics at school - Spoke Kalam,Universe,Stars and Big-bang theory in an inspiring manner.
Miss.Manimegalai - Taught English grammar - she developed an intuitive way of writing error-free sentences,in me.
Prof.Raghunath Behera - Chemistry at University - he always stresses the research aptitude and scientific temper - Most respectable person in my college life.
A real less Number of people...considering 19 years of learning...Thats the state of affairs.
It reads so...(And it was real sad that this gem of a thought was painted there with quite a few spell-errors).
A University is essentially a co-operation of teachers and students and the relation between the two is of a sacred character.A University is not a mere information shop,it's a place where a man's intellect,will and emotions are disciplined.The university is a sanctuary of the intellectual life of the country and pursuit of knowledge is the soul of the university.Magnificent buildings and equipments are no substitute for the great teacher.
-Dr.S.Radhakrishnan
How true !!! and the last line captivated me,so much.
As our country's education infrastructure is under a wonderful phase of development with lots of IITs,NITs and BITS-Pilani campuses,India is facing a real dearth of good teachers.I have one of my friends who is lecturing at a college for Bachelors degree students with a Bachelor's degree.
Let's churn out some statistics ...
The UN Rao committee has pointed out that India had a huge shortage of teachers for engineering. For instance in 2000-01, Indian engineering institutions required Total 60,970 teachers, broken down into: 8,710 professors, 17,420 readers and 34,840 lecturers.
In terms of professional qualifications, what was required were 26,130 Ph Ds and 34,840 M Techs.
What was available however, were 5,862 Ph Ds and 11,035 MTech’s.
That's a shortfall of around 70 per cent, a figure that's more than doubled over the decade. So one can imagine the quality of students being churned out.
Premier Institutions like IITs have a huge number of unfilled faculty positions and I myself have some experiences of being taught by teachers with a Bachelor's degree.A real saddening state and whenever I realise myself,being short technically,my mind would start blaming the teachers I had at my college.Yeah...we can dismiss this one as mere escapism of a lazy student who hasn't done his classwork and learning at college.
But what,then is the role of a teacher at the University ?
Dr.S.Radhakrishnan,again comes to our rescue...
* The teacher's duty is not only to acquaint the students, with the subjects and the subject matter, principles and generalization, but also to inculcate in them a sense of research and habit of free and impartial judgement.
* It is the main duty of the teachers to inculcate interest in his pupil for the subject, which he teaches. A teacher who is not aware of the latest development or advancement and who does not have independent thinking and ideas about his duties cannot infuse the desire of love for truth in his pupil.
The teachers,nowadays fail in their attempt to teach and explain the subject matter satisfactorily,leave apart the research sense and all that.A teacher need not necessarily explain all the syllabus to his students but he should be able to ignite the minds of his students,inculcate passion towards the subject and more importantly,he should be potent enough to inspire his wards.On a saddening note,none of the above are happening at the modern day engineering class-rooms.
IITs and other premier engineering Institutes are having a good number of experienced professors but there is a visible shortage of second rung of good professors.Over the next decade,it may not be a wonder if there's a exponential drop in the quality of student output from our universities.
So...Where do we fall short ?
In a nation which had iconic professors like Dr.S.Radhakrishnan, Sir.C.V.Raman, Prof.Satish Dhawan and the likes, why is this trauma ??
I would like to share a few thoughts on this regard...
1) Research Infrastructure at the University campuses
Have a look at the university websites of premier grad schools like Stanford, Berkeley or any top US university...You are sure to hit a considerable number of Indian professors there.After spending years on a Doctorate,which science-inclined person will be ready to work in a Indian university,which has sub-standard research facilities and infrastructure.Everybody has got to be selfish someways and nobody wants to ruin their careers.Except the IITs and IISc,how many universities in India have a decent device fabrication laboratory in their campuses.So,our brains drain into the west and in-turn our creamy student layer also ends up there,leaving behind a big hole in our education and knowledge setup.
Absence of good professors at the universities will create a sub-standard student community and this becomes a vicious circle.Over 90% of the students complete their coursework and graduate from the college without (any...yeah ANY)understanding of say..Automata theory,Quantum mechanics or Semiconductor device physics.
2) The Information Technology Boom
IT's arrival in the 90s has gradually inculcated a sense of negligence and carelessness in the learning patterns of the student community.Learn Java,code in .NET and do something creative in Photoshop and you end up with a real job that's gonna offer you more than 35k per month.Why to take pains with your coursework...why to understand turbines and gears,Diodes and opamps,Automata and Turing machine.This is a dangerous trend that has already infiltrated the colleges and universities.This way,a lot of people graduate out from college with a very little technical knowledge in their chosen program of study.Simulators and programming languages have really eaten up the valuable teaching,learning and experimentation time,where real knowledge transfer and acquisition will happen.The will and skill to contribute to science and teaching is seemingly absent in even,the top rankers of the university.
So...Somebody might ask...we know all this young man...Got any solution ??
And my answer will be NO.If a 23 year old can provide solutions for these problems of mammoth magnitude,then why is Dr.APJ Abdul Kalam still trying to put forward his dreams of India being all-potent in 2020.
I will take this oppurtunity to thank and gratify some of my teachers who inspired me,all these years.
Mr.Sivakumar - Taught Biology at school - Taught the art and life behind Amoeba and Mammalian heart with astounding ease.
Mr.SAR Arumugam - Taught Physics at school - Spoke Kalam,Universe,Stars and Big-bang theory in an inspiring manner.
Miss.Manimegalai - Taught English grammar - she developed an intuitive way of writing error-free sentences,in me.
Prof.Raghunath Behera - Chemistry at University - he always stresses the research aptitude and scientific temper - Most respectable person in my college life.
A real less Number of people...considering 19 years of learning...Thats the state of affairs.
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