"Our first short film"
Kaaka Muttai(2015)
A few great things i wanted to share about the film Kaaka Muttai
The film's story in a nut shell is this: Two boys in a slum, who are brothers are fond of drinking yolk from crow eggs. Every now and then, they fetch a few crow eggs from a tree and gulp them. The tree is in a plot of land. The owner of the land sells the land to a pizza shop owner. The pizza shop owner puts down the tree and builds the pizza shop on the land. Where there was crow's eggs there is pizza shop now. Upon seeing Simbu inaugurating the shop, the kids get really fascinated by the pizza. They work really hard to save money to buy a pizza. After a lot of struggle and drama, when they finally get a chance to eat it, they realize that they don't like it at all.It tastes blunt and they wonder how are they going to finish it. They say their grand ma's Dosa was much more tastier.
Now, lets forget the abstract themes and commentaries on modernization. On a more concrete level, the film belittles pizza. I absolutely loved that idea. Because to me, pizza is too definitely overrated. Compared to a lot of Indian cuisine, it is pretty blunt and unimaginative. It is not that i don't like pizza. I would like to have it every now and then. But i think it is highly overrated and bloody expensive.
The film may be about pizza but the core idea is very generic. The film has a slum background but the core idea is classless for us. For example, you can extend the same argument to Star bucks coffee or a CCD coffee. Compared to a strong frothy filter coffee, the Star bucks coffee is nothing but a slightly bitter hot sugar water. I think Star bucks Coffee or a CCD coffee is just as overrated as pizza. But we still pay 150 Rs for that coffee.
Sure we can have a nice chat in a coffee shop. That is a great idea but calling that coffee great is just silly. It only shows our infatuation towards foreign products and their exaggerated perceived values. Yes, a lot of foreign products are definitely good but not all of them are liked for their quality. They are just liked for their "foreign" tag.
While the pizza and the commentary of modernization is the fore front, the back drop of the film is slum life.Unlike, films like Slum-dog Millionaire, this film explores the slum life in a non-romantic and a non-poverty-porn way. It looks at slum life as life on any other socioeconomic setting. It shows the people there like every other community of people.
Then there are few scenes which stuck with me more than others. For example, the scene in which the apartment father orders his son to
come inside while his son was talking to the slum kids. I have to admit that would be my reaction too. I felt bad realizing that and the film's success is in making me feel bad and ashamed. .Also, in another scene the apartment boy gives these kids a half eaten pizza. The younger one is about to eat it and elder one gives it back. While walking away, the younger one asks "why did he give it back?". The elder boy replies "எச்ச பீஸா துண்ண போறியா?(Do you want the half eaten pizza?). That moment pretty us sums up the message of the whole film.
Yennai Arindhaal - A Few Problems...
Let me start by saying that i really enjoyed this film. A lot people are saying that the first half is boring. But i did not find it boring at all, except may be for the first ten mins. A lot of people are saying that the story is very very similar to all the earlier Cop films made by Gautham Menon. I am not going in that direction because i personally don't care, if he tells the same story again and again, as long as it is interesting. But there is one general criticism on Gautham Menon which i too have. That is about the world view he projects in his films. To be precise, i am always baffled by his compulsion to make Tamil speaking but Hollywood type films. But that is an area i don't want to get either. Because i only have very vague opinions about it. So, here I am purely venting out some silly issues i noticed while watching this film.
[Warning: Every thing below is a potential spoiler. But there is no suspense element in the story especially, if you have watched Kaaka Kaaka and Vettayadu Vilayadu. So, nothing would really spoil the plot for you. In any case, do not proceed further if you care about that!]
[Warning: Every thing below is a potential spoiler. But there is no suspense element in the story especially, if you have watched Kaaka Kaaka and Vettayadu Vilayadu. So, nothing would really spoil the plot for you. In any case, do not proceed further if you care about that!]
- Sathyadev IPS is traveling from Boston to Chennai to escort a girl in a bloody business class. I did not get why does he even have to escort her on the first place all the way from USA? Wouldn't it be simpler to escort her from the Chennai airport, considering that he was in Chennai ten days ago? What an unnecessary onsite trip!
- In the flashback, Sathyadev IPS goes undercover to assassinate a gang leader. But he doesn't even change his name. Wouldn't that be the first item on "Going undercover for dummies" checklist,just above "At-least have a beard before entering the gang" item?Yet, his background checks comes out clean?
- Before that, Sathya and Victor escape from court. The next day they go to Victor's girlfriend and in the very next scene Victor is getting married in a big ass ceremony with kuthu pattu and all. Why was the police not chasing? They did not run away to Pakistan like Dawood bai..
- Years later we see Victor in an Audi. Good for him. I don't mind. His organ trade business is going well. But who the fuck kidnaps people in a white Audi? Beloro or Omni Van were invented for these kind of kidnapping stuff, right?
- He also uses a white colored, fancy numbered XUV with AP registration and a red colored head turning sports bike. I wonder how can you do the secret organ trade stuff roaming around in those vehicles. Because the only thing that XUV does not have is a sticker that says "For Used Kidneys - Contact Victor - 9008025261".
- Coming to Hemanika. The day before her marriage, there were only two people in Hemanika's house? Isn't she a famous dancer with goddamn beautiful eyes? As far as i know, girls like that have lots of friends and even more un-attended friend requests.
- The biggest problem that took me by complete surprise is, how did Victor know that Isha is going to school that day? That was a last minute decision and he doesn't seem to be a person who is interested in poetry recital schedules in a private school.
- Finally, what is the deal with the mottai gangster who tips Sathyadev at the very last minute. Where did he come from?
What can we do to prevent rapes and criminal behaviour?
Today, i saw a profoundly disturbing video clip. Two men raped a girl, shot a video and now are on the run. This very short clip from that video is released by Sunitha Krishnan in youtube with the intention to identify the rapists. The victims face is blurred but the rapists
faces are clear. See it for yourself.. But be warned that this can trigger a lot of raw emotions in you.
After seeing this video, i felt enraged. I thought these are animals who don't deserve a life on this planet. I thought of ways in which these bastards can be killed.I thought they should be killed in public. They should die in so much pain and agony that no one should ever think of repeating such an act. I thought we should all stone these bastards to death or set them on fire alive. O my god! At that point i realized what kind of monster i had turned into. How am i any different from the stone age men if can't control and think through my emotions?
So, i took some time and thought through what i saw. I also thought about many many such incidents that had surfaced in recent times .A few important points came to my mind and i am sharing them here.First some significant things in this video.
- The rape was committed by two men together. They feel no shame at all in front of each other.
- They also shot a video of the act. They had no fear of consequences.
- They did it in broad day light and they felt very safe doing it.
- The girl begs and they don't show any empathy.
- The man in the video is smiling.
His act of rape is only an end result of series of continuous bad behaviors. At this end point when he kidnapped the girl, he is a already a gone case.There is no practical hope for reformation for him now. This is because the criminal behavior is already hard wired in his brain now. Also, no amount of harsh punishments is now going to help because people like him started walking this path at a very very young age. He did not start by thinking that he is going to rape a girl one day. What could have pulled him to the right path is early intervention and a healthy family. That could have saved his life and in turn saved the life of the poor girl. That is what we should be doing if we are serious about preventing these horrible crimes.
We, as the members of this society should be educating our children about good and bad behavior. We spend a lot of time worrying that our children are not eating well. We are always worried that they are attacked by germs all the time and they are not scoring good marks. Instead, we should be worrying about their behavior more often. That does not mean we should start beating them for every wrong doing. That would only result in the same thing. Instead of punishing, we should be teaching them the consequences of their actions and how their mistakes can hurt others. It is ok, if they don't become doctors or engineers at-least they wont become rapists and murderers.
Indian IT Industry and the myth called "keeping yourself updated"
My previous blog entry was an attempt to explore the current situation in Indian IT Sector .The bottom line of that article is very simple:"We are not Ir-replaceable and any body's job will be under scrutiny, if profit margins are down". That post mainly addresses the situation in Indian Software Services. But i think the situation is more or less the same in Software Products, BPOs and Call Centers. Yes, there are some Ir-replaceable jobs. But they are very rare and mostly those jobs are retained by the companies who outsourced to India. Also, there are companies where your job safety is much better than the others. But those companies are a very few in number and it is not easy to get into them.
That being said, one of the most common responses i hear from a lot of people is, "If you keep yourself updated you don't have to worry about your job". Theoretically this is a perfectly valid statement. But in reality this is a total bullshit claim and probably it is a hoax created by some "self improvement" junta. So,in this blog entry lets see how "keeping yourself updated" works. My initial claim is that it work pretty much like an "Multi Level Marketing(MLM)" scheme where there are only very few "absolute" winners.
What does it even mean?
First, let see what the hell it means when some says "Keep yourself updated". Everybody talks about it. But no one tells you what it is. So for simplicity, lets assume "Keeping yourself updated" means "Keeping your resume updated". Because if you want to change a job the first thing you are going to do is excavating and updating your old resume.
How do we update ourselves?
In other words, how do we generally update our resumes? The truth is no body updates their resumes consciously. As you continue working through your jobs, the resume updates itself. But the only problem is, most of us are doing mundane, boring jobs which are very constrained to a company. So, there is nothing much to put in your resume by default expect for the projects. Sure, you might be a person who has great project knowledge but that is a useless skill outside your company. I have seen so many resumes which have pages after pages explaining the projects. But the truth is no one reads that stuff. So, obviously this is not going to take your resume anywhere.How can we update ourselves?
So now, lets can see two ways in which one can keep their resume updated consciously so that the job prospects are absolutely great.1) Updating deeply.
2) Updating broadly.
Updating deeply
This means keep focusing on a single skill or a few skills throughout the career. You pick a bunch of skills and year after year you build deep but very generalized expertise in it. For example, if you are a java programmer, along with the project specific needs, you need build a generalized expertise in what you learn. You should also take up projects which will let you explore different areas in Java. In this way, after a few years you will reach a level of expertise where you can design some cool end to end Java solutions. A few certifications on the way is also very useful. This way in your resume you will be a "King of some trade".
Updating broadly
This means keeping up with the latest trends of the industry. You may start as a Java Programmer. But after some time, you switch to Mobile programming because that is the new trend. Then after a point of time, mobile programming becomes old but something niche called "Big Data" or "Cloud Computing" comes in. So, you switch to that. In the end, you not only learn a lot of things but you are also in sync with the industry demands. This way, in your resume you can be a "Jack of all trades"
Will updating ourselves guarantee employment?
Both the approaches sound great on paper. But now lets see the practical difficulties and flip sides of both the approaches.First, lets take the "King" position. The first hurdle in this approach is getting into projects which have the scope for learning. Most of the projects that are migrated to Indian IT Companies are maintenance projects. They do not have any scope for new learning. The second and the most important hurdle here is that there are only a very very few kings needed. There could be thousands and thousands of Java programmers out there in the market but a company will need only a handful of "high paid experts".
Sure, every one can learn Java relentlessly and become experts. Then industry will just up the standards for the experts. Today, you might be an expert who knows how a piece of Java code translates into a JVM byte code, but tomorrow if a lot of people also know that then you may be have to do in x86 assembly to. There is no end to this. Who knows, may be a few years down the line, only people who can Rap in Java or C++ will be considered experts.
Now, lets take the "Jack" position. You become a Jack of all trades by keeping up with Industrial trends. Ofcourse, you cannot keep up with all the new trends in the industry. But you can keep your primary skills in sync with the industry. For example,if you are Java person you can easily shift to IPhone Programming. You can teach yourself some IOS concepts and even try out some iphone apps. But the biggest problem in Indian Job scene is, without having some any real project experience you wont be even called for an interview. This is a classic catch-22. To get an IOS job, you will need some IOS experience. To get some IOS experience you will need an IOS Job.There are ways to break this loop but they are generally very difficult. It also depends on how much time you have in hand.
So, we can see that both the ways have a lot of practical difficulties even though they look simple in theory. They are simple if they happen naturally or if you have ample time on your hand. But lets assume that you are able successfully plan execute one of the above strategies. You might even become safe but what about the others? Because in any industry there are two types of laborers. First the non-expendable laborers. These are the people whom the industry depends on and they are not replaceable. They generally make up 10% of the industry strength. Then there are expendable laborers. These are people who can be easily replaced with some one else. They are the majority and roughly might account to the 90% of the population. This is true for every industry out there and IT industry is no exception. But this is a ruthlessly profit driven industry which can be migrated across geographical boundaries with ease. In India, it is also not completely regulated by Labor Laws or kept in check by Labor Unions. So, unlike the other industries the 90% expendable labor force in IT Sector are extremely vulnerable.
So, are we screwed?
In the end, i am not saying keeping yourself updated is useless. On the contrary, it is very essential to keep yourself updated in the realm of your project and core skills. But the reality is, it doesn't matter how updated you are, if you are not in the elite top 10%, there is no job guarantee for you. There is only space for very less people on the top. Others no matter how hard working or sincere they are will have to stay out. Anyway, most likely nothing drastic will happen and not all 90% will loose their jobs. However, if you keep yourself updated you will not fall into the bottom 10 or 20%,. But that is the max most people can do. Beyond that, if you loose job one day, it is not your mistake. Because that is how this system is. So, either the system has to change by government intervention or we need to be vigilant.Hey.. Senior Tech Lead, What are you doing today?
Back in 2004, when i joined IBM as a fresher, i was put in a migration team. The main objective of the team was to migrate a project from US to Bangalore. The US team had four people. At the end of migration, our team had successfully migrated the project from New Jersey. We ended up replacing four Americans. Out of the four Americans we replaced, one got an internal transfer but the other three had to leave the company.Two people who went out got some job but one of them did not get a job for a long long time.
We are all Clones
Now in 2015, the Indian IT industry seems to be at that same juncture. The senior crowd which is drawing a lot of salary is definitely becoming a burden on the balance sheets. So, the next logical step on this profit driven system will be to replace the Senior Crowd with a less expensive Junior crowd from colleges. This is almost like the movie Moon, where there is an Engineer monitoring mines in the Moon. He soon finds out that he has an expiry date on which he will be terminated and replaced by his clone. But then he then realizes that he himself was a clone to begin with. I think, it is time for the Indian IT crowd to realize that we are all clones and our expiry dates are nearing.
But to come to that realization we need to see a few things. First, lets take a look at the guys we replaced in the US and Europe. Were they replaced because they were less competent? I don't think so. At-least, the guys i replaced were good and some of them were really really good. In fact, they were way more competent that us. We anyway replaced them. After that we have slowly learned the trade and we also have become reasonably good, if not exceptional. We have become more experienced and we are probably making better quality software than the ones we made in 2004. But along with our competency, our salaries have also increased multiple folds. But history tells us that, in this profit driven setup, if you are costly, it does not matter even if you are good. Because at end of day, for the guy who present the balance sheet to the investors there is only one objective in mind.
"I need to show an increase in profits than last year"
To achieve this, he will start adjusting so many costs by cutting down perks and expenses. But once all the obvious expenses are trimmed, he has to start cutting down on people too. Many a times, this will also include some really really good people. But he does it anyway fully aware of the fact that it will compromise the quality.
Quality Matters?
But wait a minute. Weren't we all told that quality is uncompromisable? Didn't we celebrate quality weeks and acquire six sigma, ISO 9001 certifications. But if that is the case, and quality really really mattered,how did a fresher from Bangalore replaced a 20 year experienced DBA veteran in Atlanta? What that means is quality matters but only to some extent. It only matters to the extent where it is visible.If it takes 100 dollars to make a really good quality product, it will only take 50 dollars to make that same product with an "user acceptable" quality.In other words, the engineering scale for quality is very different from the customer scale of quality.
Let me give an example here. The other day i was looking for dining tables. I went to a furniture shop nearby. They had two tables. First a teak one that costs Rs30,000. and then a stylish looking one made of MDF Board which costs Rs.20,000. The 20k one looked really attractive. But i decided to dig a little deeper and did some asking some questions. I found that the teak one comes with 5 year warranty and the other one comes with a 1 year warranty. This according to me says a lot about quality. They also said that they will take the teak table back for the bill amount even after 5 years. So, I asked them what price they will give for the other table after five years. One of the snugged and said, "Saar, it wont be standing for five years..". But he said a lot of people who like the contemporary looks do buy the 20k type. So, what they have bought is a dining table that looks "good enough" but might not stand for more than 3-4 years. The same logic applies to software also. It is very very difficult for a customer to distinguish a "good software" and a "good enough software". Also sometimes, a customer only needs a "good enough" software at a low cost because not every customer is landing robots on a comet you see.
Are we irreplaceable?
According to me at-least 70 percentage of us are easily replaceable with a cheaper talent. It does not matter how "critical resource" you are to the project, you are replaceable if you are costly. And if you are costly, the outside opportunities also dry up..For people who have shifted to full time "management" jobs, this is already a reality.So, what is looks like to me is that, Indian IT industry has come to a point where a lot of senior "resources" might become jobless in coming years. How do we know this? There is an inherent worth every person brings to the company. The more the salary you draw, the lesser the worth you give back to the company unless you are going to keep yourself updated. But there are a lot of dead end projects in which there is no scope for improvement. For example, there is not much worth a person can bring to a project which is running stable for 15 years. All it needs is a good baby sitter. There is also another problem of keeping yourself on par with the pace of the industry. That problem is your age. As your age increases, your personal responsibilities increase and your analytical ability decreases. So, it becomes tougher and tougher to keep yourself updated. With age, you will start getting a lot of health issues which will also eat up your time.
What next?
In an ideal world, corporations will be people driven but not profit driven.But we are not living in a ideal world. But that does not mean, that people driven companies does not exist. For example, take a look at government jobs, they are people driven. The reason why it takes a lot of time to get things done in a government office is that, an average government employee works slower than a private sector employee. But the government is not profit driven. So, it does send these people home because they are working slower. It works differently by compensating with their pay system. It pays average. The increments, bonuses, promotions are all normalized. It does take a hit on customer satisfaction but hey at the end of day, a lot of people are going home happy because their life is secured.I think it is high time, we need to do realize that in Indian IT setup, our exuberant salaries and the performance driven pay system have started to work against us.
Am i saying corporations are evil? Lets play a little devils advocate and find that out.Consider the following scenario. You hold 100 Infosys stocks each worth Rs.2000. Things are going fine but on April 2015, Infy announces that it is taking a hit on profits to retain some of its employees. Within an hour, their stock falls down to Rs.1800. Now, in this scenario will you sell the 100 stocks you have or will you support Infy by keeping the stocks? You will sell the stocks and most sane people will. What this means is that, we are very much the part of this profit driven system. So, we cannot blame this on the corporates or the system before an introspection.
பிசாசு - Pisasu (2014)
Note: Spoilers ahead!
ஏசு கிறிஸ்து ஒரு மனிதனாக இருந்து தெய்வத்தின் நிலைக்கு உயரும் தருணங்கள் பைபிளில் சில உண்டு. அதில் ஒன்று,அவரை ரோம சாம்ராஜ்ய காவலாளிகளும், யூதேயா நகர மக்களும், முள் கிரீடத்தோடு சிலுவையில் அறைந்து தொங்க விடும் போது வருகிறது. சிலுவை ரத்தம் சொட்ட சொட்ட தொங்கும் பொது, அவர் வானைப் பார்த்து சொல்கிறார் "பிதாவே இவர்களுக்கு மன்னியும், தாங்கள் செய்கிறது இன்னதென்று அறியாதிருக்கிறார்களே" என்று. மரண வலியில் தன் உயிர் போகும் , தருணத்தில் கூட , தன்னை கொல்பவர்களின் அறியாமைக்காக இறங்கி வேண்டும் தருணத்தில் அவர் தெய்வமாகிறார்.
தெய்வத்தின் நேர் எதிராக பைபிள் சொல்வது பிசாசு. அந்த பிசாசு என்கிற குறியீட்டை எடுத்து மிஷ்கின் சொல்லும் கதையில் வரும் பிசாசு எப்படிப் பட்டதாக இருக்கிறது ? அதற்க்கு கொஞ்சம் மாயாஜாலங்கள் தெரிகிறது, ஓர் வீட்டுக்குள் புகைக் கூண்டில் புகுந்து வாழும் அதற்க்கு, வெளியில் நடக்கும் அநீதிகளை பார்க்கும் திறன் இல்லை. ஆனால், அந்த அநீதிகள் தன் வீட்டுக்குள் வந்து வீட்டில் உள்ளவர்களை சீண்டும் போது, அது ருத்ர தாண்டவம் கொண்டு, தப்பு செய்யும் ஆசாமிகளை உண்டு இல்லை என்று கிழித்து தோரணம் கட்டி விடுகிறது. விட்டில் உள்ளவர்கள் மேல் அதற்க்கு நிறைய அன்பும் அக்கறையும் இருக்கிறது. ஆனால் எல்லையில்லா தனிமையும் இருக்கிறது.சுருக்கமாக சொன்னால் அது பேரன்பும், பெருங்கோபமும் கொண்ட ஒரு தாயின் உருவம்.
மிஷ்கின் ஒரு பேட்டியில், நாம் அமானுஷ்யத்தை ஒன்று கடவுள் என்கிறோம் அல்லது பூதம் என்கிறோம் என்று சொல்கிறார். அது உண்மைதான். ஆனால்,பொதுவாக இந்த உலகத்திற்கு தெய்வத்தையும் பிசாசையும் பிரித்து புரிந்து கொள்ள திறனில்லை. ஏனென்றால் அது படத்தின் நாயகன் போல ஒரு கண்ணால் மட்டுமே எல்லாவற்றையும் பார்க்கிறது. நாயகன் பார்த்து பயந்து பிசாசு என்று நினைக்கும் அந்த உருவம் ஏன் தெய்வமாக இருக்கக் கூடாது என்பதே இப்படத்தின் முக்கிய புள்ளி(theme)
படத்தின் முடிவிலும் , பிசாசு தெய்வம் என்றே கதாநாயகியின் பெயர் வருகிறது. அப்படியானால் இந்த பிசாசு எப்போது தெய்வமாக மாறுகிறது? என்னதான் அநீதிக்கு பொங்கினாலும்,அதெல்லாம், தன் சூழலில் நடக்கும் அநீதிகள் மட்டுமே. அதெல்லாம் அதை ஒரு நல்ல தாயின் உருவமாக மட்டுமே காட்டுகிறதே தவிர தெய்வத்தின் வடிவமாக அல்ல. ஆனால், அது எப்போது தன்னை கொன்றவனை மன்னித்து, அவன் மேல் அளவில்லா அன்பு வைக்கிறதோ, அப்போதே அது தெய்வத்தின் நிலைக்கு உயர்ந்து விட்டது. கடைசியில் தன் இருப்பே அதன் தந்தைக்கும் நாயகனுக்கும் துன்பமாக மாறும்போது, தன் இருப்பையும் அழித்து காற்றோடு மறைகிறது.
இது ஒரு குழப்பமான நிலைதான். இவ்வளவு அன்பான பிசாசு தெய்வம்தான், நாயகனின் தாயை தாக்கியவனை கொலை வெறியோடு தாக்குகிறது. வீட்டில் திருட வருபவன் குதத்தில் கத்தியைச் சொருகி கதவை சாத்துகிறது, சூனிய காரியின் தலையை உலுப்பி எடுக்கிறது. ஏனென்றால், அதன் நோக்கில் அவர்களை கொல்லாமல் விட்டதே மன்னிப்புதான். ஆனால் அது நாயகனை பரி பூரணமாக மன்னிகிறதே? ஏனென்றால் அவன் அந்த மன்னிப்புக்கு தகுதியானவனாக இருக்கிறான். அவனுக்கு ஒரு நீதியுணர்ச்சி இருக்கிறது. அவன் பிச்சை எடுப்பவர்களுக்காக உயிரைக் கொடுத்து சண்டை போடுகிறான். அவனுக்கு ஒரு தந்தையின் மனம் புரிகிறது. "நமக்கு பிணம் ஆனால் அவருக்கு அது அவள் மகள்" என்று நண்பனோடு வாதிடுகிறான். இதற்கெல்லாம் மேலாக, தன தவறை உணரும் தருணத்தில் அவன் ஓடி ஒழியவில்லை, மாறாக அவன் தன் தவறுக்காக உயிரை விடவும் தயாராகிறான். இதெல்லாம் நமக்குத்தான் மிஷ்கின் காட்டுகிறார். ஆனால் பிசாசை பொருத்தவரை, அவன் எப்போது பிச்சை எடுப்பவர்களுக்காக சிறிது நேரம் வாழ்கிறான் என்று தெரிகிறதோ அப்போதே அவனை மன்னித்து அவன் மேல் காதல் கொண்டு அவன் பின்னால் வந்து விடுகிறது.
ஏசு கிறிஸ்து ஒரு மனிதனாக இருந்து தெய்வத்தின் நிலைக்கு உயரும் தருணங்கள் பைபிளில் சில உண்டு. அதில் ஒன்று,அவரை ரோம சாம்ராஜ்ய காவலாளிகளும், யூதேயா நகர மக்களும், முள் கிரீடத்தோடு சிலுவையில் அறைந்து தொங்க விடும் போது வருகிறது. சிலுவை ரத்தம் சொட்ட சொட்ட தொங்கும் பொது, அவர் வானைப் பார்த்து சொல்கிறார் "பிதாவே இவர்களுக்கு மன்னியும், தாங்கள் செய்கிறது இன்னதென்று அறியாதிருக்கிறார்களே" என்று. மரண வலியில் தன் உயிர் போகும் , தருணத்தில் கூட , தன்னை கொல்பவர்களின் அறியாமைக்காக இறங்கி வேண்டும் தருணத்தில் அவர் தெய்வமாகிறார்.
தெய்வத்தின் நேர் எதிராக பைபிள் சொல்வது பிசாசு. அந்த பிசாசு என்கிற குறியீட்டை எடுத்து மிஷ்கின் சொல்லும் கதையில் வரும் பிசாசு எப்படிப் பட்டதாக இருக்கிறது ? அதற்க்கு கொஞ்சம் மாயாஜாலங்கள் தெரிகிறது, ஓர் வீட்டுக்குள் புகைக் கூண்டில் புகுந்து வாழும் அதற்க்கு, வெளியில் நடக்கும் அநீதிகளை பார்க்கும் திறன் இல்லை. ஆனால், அந்த அநீதிகள் தன் வீட்டுக்குள் வந்து வீட்டில் உள்ளவர்களை சீண்டும் போது, அது ருத்ர தாண்டவம் கொண்டு, தப்பு செய்யும் ஆசாமிகளை உண்டு இல்லை என்று கிழித்து தோரணம் கட்டி விடுகிறது. விட்டில் உள்ளவர்கள் மேல் அதற்க்கு நிறைய அன்பும் அக்கறையும் இருக்கிறது. ஆனால் எல்லையில்லா தனிமையும் இருக்கிறது.சுருக்கமாக சொன்னால் அது பேரன்பும், பெருங்கோபமும் கொண்ட ஒரு தாயின் உருவம்.
மிஷ்கின் ஒரு பேட்டியில், நாம் அமானுஷ்யத்தை ஒன்று கடவுள் என்கிறோம் அல்லது பூதம் என்கிறோம் என்று சொல்கிறார். அது உண்மைதான். ஆனால்,பொதுவாக இந்த உலகத்திற்கு தெய்வத்தையும் பிசாசையும் பிரித்து புரிந்து கொள்ள திறனில்லை. ஏனென்றால் அது படத்தின் நாயகன் போல ஒரு கண்ணால் மட்டுமே எல்லாவற்றையும் பார்க்கிறது. நாயகன் பார்த்து பயந்து பிசாசு என்று நினைக்கும் அந்த உருவம் ஏன் தெய்வமாக இருக்கக் கூடாது என்பதே இப்படத்தின் முக்கிய புள்ளி(theme)
படத்தின் முடிவிலும் , பிசாசு தெய்வம் என்றே கதாநாயகியின் பெயர் வருகிறது. அப்படியானால் இந்த பிசாசு எப்போது தெய்வமாக மாறுகிறது? என்னதான் அநீதிக்கு பொங்கினாலும்,அதெல்லாம், தன் சூழலில் நடக்கும் அநீதிகள் மட்டுமே. அதெல்லாம் அதை ஒரு நல்ல தாயின் உருவமாக மட்டுமே காட்டுகிறதே தவிர தெய்வத்தின் வடிவமாக அல்ல. ஆனால், அது எப்போது தன்னை கொன்றவனை மன்னித்து, அவன் மேல் அளவில்லா அன்பு வைக்கிறதோ, அப்போதே அது தெய்வத்தின் நிலைக்கு உயர்ந்து விட்டது. கடைசியில் தன் இருப்பே அதன் தந்தைக்கும் நாயகனுக்கும் துன்பமாக மாறும்போது, தன் இருப்பையும் அழித்து காற்றோடு மறைகிறது.
இது ஒரு குழப்பமான நிலைதான். இவ்வளவு அன்பான பிசாசு தெய்வம்தான், நாயகனின் தாயை தாக்கியவனை கொலை வெறியோடு தாக்குகிறது. வீட்டில் திருட வருபவன் குதத்தில் கத்தியைச் சொருகி கதவை சாத்துகிறது, சூனிய காரியின் தலையை உலுப்பி எடுக்கிறது. ஏனென்றால், அதன் நோக்கில் அவர்களை கொல்லாமல் விட்டதே மன்னிப்புதான். ஆனால் அது நாயகனை பரி பூரணமாக மன்னிகிறதே? ஏனென்றால் அவன் அந்த மன்னிப்புக்கு தகுதியானவனாக இருக்கிறான். அவனுக்கு ஒரு நீதியுணர்ச்சி இருக்கிறது. அவன் பிச்சை எடுப்பவர்களுக்காக உயிரைக் கொடுத்து சண்டை போடுகிறான். அவனுக்கு ஒரு தந்தையின் மனம் புரிகிறது. "நமக்கு பிணம் ஆனால் அவருக்கு அது அவள் மகள்" என்று நண்பனோடு வாதிடுகிறான். இதற்கெல்லாம் மேலாக, தன தவறை உணரும் தருணத்தில் அவன் ஓடி ஒழியவில்லை, மாறாக அவன் தன் தவறுக்காக உயிரை விடவும் தயாராகிறான். இதெல்லாம் நமக்குத்தான் மிஷ்கின் காட்டுகிறார். ஆனால் பிசாசை பொருத்தவரை, அவன் எப்போது பிச்சை எடுப்பவர்களுக்காக சிறிது நேரம் வாழ்கிறான் என்று தெரிகிறதோ அப்போதே அவனை மன்னித்து அவன் மேல் காதல் கொண்டு அவன் பின்னால் வந்து விடுகிறது.
Linga (2014)
I went to Lingaa with my entire family on the first day. What generally happens is that, if i go with my kid, i will be never able to focus on the film. Because i will be busy buying popcorn and explaining to my daughter why Vijay uncle is beating a lot of other uncles. So, i went to Linga with such mind set. I thought i will watch it again alone later without much distractions. However, to my surprise, my daughter fell asleep with in half an hour. So this time i got to watch the film completely uninterrupted.
But then after coming out of the theater, i realized two things. First, i don't have to come back and i don't want to come back. This is probably the first time i felt like this for a Super Star film. Even for Kochadaiyaan, i wanted to go back atleast for one more time. For Enthiran, i actually went back two more times. Actually now i realize that for most of the Rajini films i have gone back to theater after the first watch. I had seen Padayappa atleast four times in theater if my memory serves correct.There was only one exception to this pattern before which was Kuselan. But that was a sad excuse for a Rajini film.
In Lingaa, Rajini again plays a double role. Infact, starting from Basha, the only film Rajini has not done a double role or almost a double role is Padayappa(ignoring kuselan). Dont believe me? here is the list:
Baasha - Auto Driver/ Don
Muthu - Father/Son
Arunachalam - Father/Son
Padayappa - Padayappa(old/young)
(you can still consider it as two roles)
Baba - Baba, Babaji
Chandramukhi - Doctor,Vettayan Raaja
Sivaji - Sivaji/MGR
Enthiran - Scientist/Robot
Kochadaiyaan - Father/Sons
Lingaa - Father/Son
In all these films, there is a pattern. There is one Rajini who is reasonably interesting and other one is a complete bad ass. Think of Sivaji. The second role is completely mesmerizing. The second Rajini comes only in the last minute but I would say that till that point, Sivaji cannot be technically considered a Rajini film at all. The excitement which he bring in the motta boss role, is what makes you feel that it is a rajini film and you are happy that this is worth the money. Think of Enthiran. Bad Robot, takes the film to a completely new level. Think of Chandramuki. Vettayan entry in the single most badass scene in the film. I always feel that Rajini is at his best while doing a over the top role like Vettayan Raaja.
Linga also follows the same path. There are two Rajinis, Father and Son. The Father Rajini, i thought is actually good and there were a few good moments. For example, in that moment when the villagers drive him out of the Dam and he says "Ellam Avan paathuppan" pointing to the sky, we get to relive the nostalgic Rajini for a few seconds. But those moments are very very few in the film. The second problem is the younger rajini whose scenes i thought were completely carelessly made. What is the with poet scene? Infact, I dont know, why there was even a younger Rajini at all in the film.
I would have definitely gone back for a second time, if the film had been just about Lingeshwara Raaja building a dam. This is because that premise was actually good and the role is actually suits really really well for Rajini. For a few moments, the film also touches upon the various problems we face as a country while pursuing common causes, internal politics etc etc. But those are completely washed away by the silly bomb kick. Why K.S.Ravikumar saar why?
In Lingaa, Rajini again plays a double role. Infact, starting from Basha, the only film Rajini has not done a double role or almost a double role is Padayappa(ignoring kuselan). Dont believe me? here is the list:
Baasha - Auto Driver/ Don
Muthu - Father/Son
Arunachalam - Father/Son
Padayappa - Padayappa(old/young)
(you can still consider it as two roles)
Baba - Baba, Babaji
Chandramukhi - Doctor,Vettayan Raaja
Sivaji - Sivaji/MGR
Enthiran - Scientist/Robot
Kochadaiyaan - Father/Sons
Lingaa - Father/Son
In all these films, there is a pattern. There is one Rajini who is reasonably interesting and other one is a complete bad ass. Think of Sivaji. The second role is completely mesmerizing. The second Rajini comes only in the last minute but I would say that till that point, Sivaji cannot be technically considered a Rajini film at all. The excitement which he bring in the motta boss role, is what makes you feel that it is a rajini film and you are happy that this is worth the money. Think of Enthiran. Bad Robot, takes the film to a completely new level. Think of Chandramuki. Vettayan entry in the single most badass scene in the film. I always feel that Rajini is at his best while doing a over the top role like Vettayan Raaja.
Linga also follows the same path. There are two Rajinis, Father and Son. The Father Rajini, i thought is actually good and there were a few good moments. For example, in that moment when the villagers drive him out of the Dam and he says "Ellam Avan paathuppan" pointing to the sky, we get to relive the nostalgic Rajini for a few seconds. But those moments are very very few in the film. The second problem is the younger rajini whose scenes i thought were completely carelessly made. What is the with poet scene? Infact, I dont know, why there was even a younger Rajini at all in the film.
I would have definitely gone back for a second time, if the film had been just about Lingeshwara Raaja building a dam. This is because that premise was actually good and the role is actually suits really really well for Rajini. For a few moments, the film also touches upon the various problems we face as a country while pursuing common causes, internal politics etc etc. But those are completely washed away by the silly bomb kick. Why K.S.Ravikumar saar why?
Kaaviya Thalaivan(2014)
For some reason, the Tamil speaking internet community is not so supportive of the film Kaaviya Thalaivan. I read Mr.Rangan's review ,vikadan review and few other reviews. To me it looked like they all missed the point. They all seem to have the same usual problem. The problem is that we dont see Tamil Cinema as an extension of our culture. But rather we see it as a part of global cinema culture. We want too see the hollywood production values, European sensibilities and South Korean stories in our cinema.This is the reason why we could not accept Enthiran as an awesome film. We wanted to see terminator type uber-sceintific sci-fi, but what Shankar made is a Tamil Film with all kollywood sensibilities.
I am also a victim to this "world-cinema" syndrome. I have failed to appreciate some of our great films just because they were a little louder or there was an unnecessary song. I am trying to move away from it and in recent times i am able to see Tamil film as a Tamil film. I watched Kaaviya Thalaivan with an ever better mind set because i did not get a chance to see its trailer or listen to its songs. Writer Jeyamohan had mentioned about this film long back in his site and i always liked Vasantha Balan's world. So i simply decided to go for the film when i heard it got released. When i cam back from the film i was really really excited to read the reviews because i liked the film so much. But to my disappointment, the online reviews were not as appreciative as i was.
So, i thought back. Why did i like this film? For starters, it is a complex film with a simple and followable narrative. To me, it was very very clear from the first fifteen minutes that the film is about the tangle between two styles of story telling and performing. First is Gomathi's style whose narrative earns for appreciation and recognition. The second is Kali's style whose narrative earns to understand psych of the charachter he is playing. This style means, he has to understand context of the charachter he is playing really really well. I thought it is well captured in the rehearsal performance where both of them play an asura. While Gomathi's performance is very loud as an attempt to reach the audience Kali's performance is more subtle. It tries to convey the psych of the asura through a variety of body language changes. A few people seemed to have criticised Siddarth's performance. But i thought his performance in this scene was clear enough.
In fact, the central and the pivotal scene of the film comes right next to this. That is the scene were Gomathi's asks Swami, why his performance was rejected. He repeatedly tells that he has done everything religiously and rigorously. He gets two replies 1) Kali understands "Dharma" 2) Certain things cannot be taught but they have to be realized. Gomathi doesnt seem to understand this because he cannot realize what is Dharma, What happens for the next two hours is Gomathi's attempts to solve this puzzle. When he finally solves and realizes what is Dharma, it is way too late and hence the ending to the film.
I think, for the film to make better sense, Vasantha Balan wants us to see everything in this context. If we see in that context, tt will make sense, why Swami dies when Kali curses yet he blesses Kali in death bed. It will make sense why Kali gives a twist Arjun's charachter is Karna Moksham. When Karna dies Arjun gets pissed of with the battle and asks Krishna to stop the war. It is outstanding how Bhagawat Gita would have made more sense at the death bed of Karna. I am pretty sure i can see Thiru. Jeyamohan's hand in it. It will also make sense why Kali is a natural swedeshi but Gomathi is just a by stander commenting about swedeshi people. It will make sense why Kali says he understands what Gomathi is going through.
Since it was very clear to me that the movie is about the struggle of Gomathi Nayagam Pillai, it was also very clear that the rest things like theater dramas, love stories, independence struggle all are back drops. Infact, you can pluck these two characters out put in a futuristic sci fi world and that movie would have a very similar story arc.
Drishyam
Drishyam is running in Bangalore for over a month now. The film has broken a lot of Box office records in Kerala. I saw the film last Saturday and now i can understand the hype behind it.The theater i saw it was running with a packed weekend crowd, even after a month of the release. Drishyam works really well because it is fine blend of entertainment and good cinema. It has a slow build up and the films enters the second half, it keeps you in the edge of the seat through out.
Also, it is not an exaggeration to say that Mohanlal carries the entire film on his shoulders. Because, the central premise of the film will make sense, if and only if George Kutty is a believable to us. He is a simple man living a simple life yet he has an outstanding ability to perceive and plan out situations. You need to play out both the faces really well. He is a romantic husband, caring protective father, strong headed family man, passionate film geek. At the same time, he is helpless and weak common man in front of authority. If the character doesn't sell, no matter how intelligently the story is conceived, the film will not be reachable to us. Lal does it in a seemingly effortless manner.
As i mentioned earlier, George kutty is actually a film geek. In the beginning some one jokes at him saying one day he should make a movie of his own. So, when necessity comes ,he not only comes up with an amazingly cooked up story but also executes it perfectly. But the difference is, it is his life, so he cannot take anything for granted. Like films, we only see glimpses of "behind the scenes" of his story and it makes sense only when it all plays together.And when we his story unfold in front of us, we are indeed stunned by it. But if you really see, he actually has a very shaky start for his plan. He sees the yellow Maruthi Zen and opens in without realizing it is going to trigger alarm. A grave mistake that would haunt him till the end. But, I think it is not a mistake to assume that he is shaken by this mistake and realizes he cannot leave anything unturned. This leads to his commitment to plan out everything to the smallest details like gathering bills and coaching his family.
There are two audience for the story created by George kutty. One is us, sitting outside and the other is the police. We want him to survive and the Police want him to perish. We want him to survive, not because he is the hero but because we can relate to his life. We understand the how precious is this little bubble called life. We understand the justice he is trying hard to imply. That justice is what actually touches the nerve of the audience. We are fully convinced that what he is doing is right, even though it might look wrong in eyes of the law.
That brings us to the most disturbing part of the film. In the very beginning, George explains to a policeman, how an ideal police station should be. He says, it should function as a place which can be approached by the common people who seek justice. But what we see is the opposite. We see police brutality and how they function as thugs for the rich and powerful. We see that the head of Police, instead of seeking justice, uses her power for her selfish needs.
We actually see the exact point where she crosses the line. In the beginning what she does looks justifiable, considering her son missing and all, but at one point even though she realizes that her son has done an unpardonable mistake, she decides to take it though the end. She gets obsessed and gears up to quash this nice little family. Not for the sake of justice, but for the sake of her own obsession and revenge.
***SPOILER ALERT****
Even more disturbing part is even after this ordeal, the police attitude remains the same. They see George as a suspect. The new inspector wows to put him in jail. We know that he will survive that puts our mind at ease.
But the more important thing to think about is, George is actually fine with this tag. He would rather sign in a ledger than seeking justice through the judicial process. Because if you really see, even though it is a murder, what happened is an act of defense. And there is enough evidence that can set him and his family free. Yet, he and his family decides to take things in their own hands. Of-course, it is just a movie, but the situation is not unreal. We see this happening everyday. Day in and Day out, the girls who are the victims of assault and their families, mostly decide to stay mum.They don't have faith on that the society will support, the police will assist and the courts will get the justice done.
The most obvious reason is, such a disclosure would tarnish the future of a girl. This means the victims pay for something which they did not commit. This is an indication that we live in a unjust society where a victim can't seek justice, unless he or she is rich or powerful enough. The second reason is, our police and the judicial system is never people friendly. It takes a lot of power to get the attention of police and it takes an eternity to get the deserved justice.
As George points out in the beginning of the film, people are always afraid of the police. I dont know whether we can change the attitude of the entire society easily, but with some effort we can definitely change the attitude of our judicial system. Hopefully, films like this can open up more discussions on this topic.
As i mentioned earlier, George kutty is actually a film geek. In the beginning some one jokes at him saying one day he should make a movie of his own. So, when necessity comes ,he not only comes up with an amazingly cooked up story but also executes it perfectly. But the difference is, it is his life, so he cannot take anything for granted. Like films, we only see glimpses of "behind the scenes" of his story and it makes sense only when it all plays together.And when we his story unfold in front of us, we are indeed stunned by it. But if you really see, he actually has a very shaky start for his plan. He sees the yellow Maruthi Zen and opens in without realizing it is going to trigger alarm. A grave mistake that would haunt him till the end. But, I think it is not a mistake to assume that he is shaken by this mistake and realizes he cannot leave anything unturned. This leads to his commitment to plan out everything to the smallest details like gathering bills and coaching his family.
There are two audience for the story created by George kutty. One is us, sitting outside and the other is the police. We want him to survive and the Police want him to perish. We want him to survive, not because he is the hero but because we can relate to his life. We understand the how precious is this little bubble called life. We understand the justice he is trying hard to imply. That justice is what actually touches the nerve of the audience. We are fully convinced that what he is doing is right, even though it might look wrong in eyes of the law.
That brings us to the most disturbing part of the film. In the very beginning, George explains to a policeman, how an ideal police station should be. He says, it should function as a place which can be approached by the common people who seek justice. But what we see is the opposite. We see police brutality and how they function as thugs for the rich and powerful. We see that the head of Police, instead of seeking justice, uses her power for her selfish needs.
We actually see the exact point where she crosses the line. In the beginning what she does looks justifiable, considering her son missing and all, but at one point even though she realizes that her son has done an unpardonable mistake, she decides to take it though the end. She gets obsessed and gears up to quash this nice little family. Not for the sake of justice, but for the sake of her own obsession and revenge.
***SPOILER ALERT****
Even more disturbing part is even after this ordeal, the police attitude remains the same. They see George as a suspect. The new inspector wows to put him in jail. We know that he will survive that puts our mind at ease.
But the more important thing to think about is, George is actually fine with this tag. He would rather sign in a ledger than seeking justice through the judicial process. Because if you really see, even though it is a murder, what happened is an act of defense. And there is enough evidence that can set him and his family free. Yet, he and his family decides to take things in their own hands. Of-course, it is just a movie, but the situation is not unreal. We see this happening everyday. Day in and Day out, the girls who are the victims of assault and their families, mostly decide to stay mum.They don't have faith on that the society will support, the police will assist and the courts will get the justice done.
The most obvious reason is, such a disclosure would tarnish the future of a girl. This means the victims pay for something which they did not commit. This is an indication that we live in a unjust society where a victim can't seek justice, unless he or she is rich or powerful enough. The second reason is, our police and the judicial system is never people friendly. It takes a lot of power to get the attention of police and it takes an eternity to get the deserved justice.
As George points out in the beginning of the film, people are always afraid of the police. I dont know whether we can change the attitude of the entire society easily, but with some effort we can definitely change the attitude of our judicial system. Hopefully, films like this can open up more discussions on this topic.
Chennai Express(2013)
I saw Chennai express yesterday and couldn't make much sense out of it. I am not saying i did not enjoy the movie. I enjoyed it throughly but there are a lot of things in the movie which are very confusing. I though about it a lot and here i have summarized the only way in which i think the film can be rationalized.
Chennai express opens with Rahul (SRK) standing with a confused look and a shovel in hand. His shirt is torn and there is blood all over his face. He also sees an image of hundreds of Madarasi gundas running towards him. At this moment a very important question flashes in his mind. "Why the fuck is a standing there in the first place and who are these people running towards him?. He pauses and starts to re-think his past.So, in essence what i am theorizing is that the entire film is deconstruction Rahul's Multiple Personality Disorder and hallucinations.
It turns out, when young Rahul who is actually the only son of huge sweet stall tycoon in Mumbai, looses his parents in a car accident. He starts to suffer from PTSD. .So, when his grand mother, the only other person alive in the family begins suspecting that there is something wrong with the boy, she takes him to a renowned psychiatrist, Dr. Alagusundaram, who discovers that Rahul has developed a lot of alter egos to cope up with the traumas.
He finds, that in his head, first there is Rahul himself, who is an Halwawala. His mental age is of a teenager who is obsessed with cellphones and anthakshari. He also has a deep bitterness towards Madarasi men but love towards Madarasi women after seeing films like Padosan. Like a lot of teenagers and young men, his goal in life is to go to Goa and dance with NRI women.
But to cope up the loss of his parents, his brain creates another personality which is the grand father Rahul has never seen. His mental age is 99 and is a big fan of Sachin Tendulkar. In-fact, this is the alter-ego that created suspicion in Grandma's mind, when Rahul starts acting weird sometimes.
Then there a couple of friend personalities who got developed later, to cope with Rahul's self-esteem issues.This was a result of constant bullying in school for being totaly stupid. The role these friend personalities is to act stupider than Rahul himself so that he can feel confident.
For about 23 years, things were good. Sachin is playing for India, so his grandpa is alive. And whenever he does something stupid, his friends come for rescue, the do even stupider things and Rahul feels confident.
But all of this comes to a crashing catastrophic confusion when in 2012 Sachin Tendulkar announces retirement. Now, he doesn't know what to do with his grandpa. To add to the confusion, Rahul accidentally sees the Tamil film Pokkiri in Sun TV. He could not deal with the fact that a non-dhoti clad, non-vibhuthi clad Madarasi man beating up gundas. So, his brain goes into a limbo state while trying to process these two traumatic problems. In this limbo state he alternatively sees Sachin getting out on 99, his grandpa dieing and he being chased by vibuthi clad Madarasi rowdies.
Again his grandma calls in the doctor and in order to break this limbo state he develops a new method of psychotherapy and names it "Chennai Express". So, what we see in the film is a documentary of what happened inside Rahul's head when he put through this project.
The project begins by his grand mother planting the idea in Rahul's head that he has to go to Rameshwaram to dissolve the ashes of Grand Pa. This way he can actually go to South India and face his fears. And the psychiatrist puts him in a train along with his intern who is supposed to act like a Tamil Girl. This also explains why Meenamma speaks in a fake hindi and as well as a fake tamil accent. From here Rahul's head takes on.
It is a stack that is unwinding. So, it starts with the creation of a few Madarasi Rowdies who continuosly board the moving train. This is followed by a Nokia ad and an anthakshari. After this things go deeper. He start dreaming and in his dreams he creates a vivid image of an non existing village in Tamil Nadu and being chased by thousands of Dhoti clad rowdies. This process does not end till he meets his core "self-image" in his dreams in the form of a dwarf non-speaking boy forest boy.
By the time, he meets this "self-image" , Rahul is able to reverse the most of Madarasi confusion and able to see only Tam Brahms every where. But unfortunately it was never that easy because Tangaballi comes back with an vengence. Rahul escapes and wakes up from his limbo. By this time Rahul has a reasonably fixed mind. So, Meenamma takes him to Juhu Beach to get rid of the Grandpa Personality, which he does by performing the last rites.
The doctor then discovers that Rahul has developed a deep love for Meenamma. So, using this as a weapon, the doctor hypnotizes him back to the village in his head where he fights back all his fears and disappointments. He accepts Pokkiri in all heart and fights the Madarasi Rowdy face to face till he falls down. The doctor finally calls him a brave man and declares him cured as of now.
Chennai express opens with Rahul (SRK) standing with a confused look and a shovel in hand. His shirt is torn and there is blood all over his face. He also sees an image of hundreds of Madarasi gundas running towards him. At this moment a very important question flashes in his mind. "Why the fuck is a standing there in the first place and who are these people running towards him?. He pauses and starts to re-think his past.So, in essence what i am theorizing is that the entire film is deconstruction Rahul's Multiple Personality Disorder and hallucinations.
It turns out, when young Rahul who is actually the only son of huge sweet stall tycoon in Mumbai, looses his parents in a car accident. He starts to suffer from PTSD. .So, when his grand mother, the only other person alive in the family begins suspecting that there is something wrong with the boy, she takes him to a renowned psychiatrist, Dr. Alagusundaram, who discovers that Rahul has developed a lot of alter egos to cope up with the traumas.
He finds, that in his head, first there is Rahul himself, who is an Halwawala. His mental age is of a teenager who is obsessed with cellphones and anthakshari. He also has a deep bitterness towards Madarasi men but love towards Madarasi women after seeing films like Padosan. Like a lot of teenagers and young men, his goal in life is to go to Goa and dance with NRI women.
But to cope up the loss of his parents, his brain creates another personality which is the grand father Rahul has never seen. His mental age is 99 and is a big fan of Sachin Tendulkar. In-fact, this is the alter-ego that created suspicion in Grandma's mind, when Rahul starts acting weird sometimes.
Then there a couple of friend personalities who got developed later, to cope with Rahul's self-esteem issues.This was a result of constant bullying in school for being totaly stupid. The role these friend personalities is to act stupider than Rahul himself so that he can feel confident.
For about 23 years, things were good. Sachin is playing for India, so his grandpa is alive. And whenever he does something stupid, his friends come for rescue, the do even stupider things and Rahul feels confident.
But all of this comes to a crashing catastrophic confusion when in 2012 Sachin Tendulkar announces retirement. Now, he doesn't know what to do with his grandpa. To add to the confusion, Rahul accidentally sees the Tamil film Pokkiri in Sun TV. He could not deal with the fact that a non-dhoti clad, non-vibhuthi clad Madarasi man beating up gundas. So, his brain goes into a limbo state while trying to process these two traumatic problems. In this limbo state he alternatively sees Sachin getting out on 99, his grandpa dieing and he being chased by vibuthi clad Madarasi rowdies.
Again his grandma calls in the doctor and in order to break this limbo state he develops a new method of psychotherapy and names it "Chennai Express". So, what we see in the film is a documentary of what happened inside Rahul's head when he put through this project.
The project begins by his grand mother planting the idea in Rahul's head that he has to go to Rameshwaram to dissolve the ashes of Grand Pa. This way he can actually go to South India and face his fears. And the psychiatrist puts him in a train along with his intern who is supposed to act like a Tamil Girl. This also explains why Meenamma speaks in a fake hindi and as well as a fake tamil accent. From here Rahul's head takes on.
It is a stack that is unwinding. So, it starts with the creation of a few Madarasi Rowdies who continuosly board the moving train. This is followed by a Nokia ad and an anthakshari. After this things go deeper. He start dreaming and in his dreams he creates a vivid image of an non existing village in Tamil Nadu and being chased by thousands of Dhoti clad rowdies. This process does not end till he meets his core "self-image" in his dreams in the form of a dwarf non-speaking boy forest boy.
By the time, he meets this "self-image" , Rahul is able to reverse the most of Madarasi confusion and able to see only Tam Brahms every where. But unfortunately it was never that easy because Tangaballi comes back with an vengence. Rahul escapes and wakes up from his limbo. By this time Rahul has a reasonably fixed mind. So, Meenamma takes him to Juhu Beach to get rid of the Grandpa Personality, which he does by performing the last rites.
The doctor then discovers that Rahul has developed a deep love for Meenamma. So, using this as a weapon, the doctor hypnotizes him back to the village in his head where he fights back all his fears and disappointments. He accepts Pokkiri in all heart and fights the Madarasi Rowdy face to face till he falls down. The doctor finally calls him a brave man and declares him cured as of now.
Udhayam NH4
I guess, the premise of the Udhayam is well known by now. But let me give still give a summary here. It is simple boy meet girl love story. The Chennai guy Prabhu meets the Bangalore girl Rithika. They fall in love in their college in Bangalore. But girls father obviously creates problems. So, they elope from Bangalore to Chennai in NH4. The father of the girl being a big political figure sends a bad-ass policeman Manoj, to rescue his daughter. His major concern is his political image. Manoj starts his chase and the story unravels from there. In the end, i felt Udhayam is a good film. I liked it. But i did have a few problems with certain aspects of the film. I have tried to explain the good points and bad points i noted about the film here.
The film has a total of four flashbacks in it. All the four flashbacks are narrated to the policeman Manoj, from people whom me meets or beats up while pursuing the chase.
The first version of the story is given by the girl's father. He tells him that he had punished a few guys (one of them being Prabhu) from his daughter's college three months back for teasing Rithika. He says he thinks they have taken revenge by kidnapping her.
Manoj upon following some leads gets hold of Prabhu's roommate. who narrates the second version. But he tells Manoj that the Rithika is his girl friend and but has tricked her into loving him. He also explains in details on how Prabhu invades his space and keeps following them.
Mean while, the gang tries to flee using various routes to Chennai only to find that they are being tracked everywhere. And finally Rithika falls into the hands of the Manoj who handcuffs her and sets on a drive back to Bangalore. Now, we hear the final and deeper version of their love story. Manoj even though gets a little softened but not convinced. Meanwhile, Prabhu rescues Rithika and they run etc etc etc. Finally, in the climax when they are cornered Manoj changes mind and let them go free.
Thinking about it, of all versions of the story, the version from Rithika is the most beautiful one. It is very romantic and touching. She explains that she was a lonely motherless child who needs emotional support and a shoulder to hold on. Then when Prabhu enters, she slowly gets attracted to him because of his stable manly nature. She feels secure and safe with him.She is pissed of her father is more concerned about his political image than her welfare. So she decides to elope with the man who cares for her and makes her feel safe.
This is one of those films where its strength is its weakness. First and fore most, the movie is extremely well detailed. There is a back story for almost everyone. There is a back-story for the Prabhu on why he has come to Bangalore and why he is the way he is. There is a back story for Rithika on why she falls in love with him. There is a back story for Manoj about why he is helping Rithika's father and why he finally decides to leave the couple. There is backstory for Rithika's father on twhy he is worried about the media. There is a back story for Prabhu's friends on why they are trying to help them. I am not saying detailing it bad. Detailing is good and a lot of these back stories are needed for making the actions of the characters believable. But the only problem i had is there are simply too many back stories to keep track.
The second thing i want to talk about is again on details and this time i am talking about technical details explained in the film. Again, they explain everything. How there are so many routes to Bangalore from Chennai. How cell phone tracking works. How they can use voice to track calls,which i am pretty sure is a bogus claim, but that is fine. It is just a used for convenience. Again, i am not saying it is bad, but the detailing just gets too much to track. I would have been actually happier even if the police shows in some place without a lot of explanations. Actually, this also happens in the film. But not the police, but the hero somehow magically shows up everywhere. This wouldn't have been a problem generally. But it looks very odd when this is left unexplained.
So, what i am trying to conclude is, the film really works for me as a love story. Infact, i really liked the narration of how Rithika starts a liking for Prabhu and how her love for him blossoms step by step.I also liked the detailing on why she feels secure with him. Apart from that, i also really like how their story in general unravels layer by layer through a series of flashbacks. But i definitely had problems with a lot of explanations provided on screen. They were very distracting for me. But in the end, i definitely did feel like watching a good love story but not so much of a thriller or a chase movie.
Argo(2012)
Since, the film is about a true political story one of the most important events of 20th century, it is important to see the context in which this story happens. Of-course, this is explained in the film. But the problem is, the film skims through 75 years of history in five minutes and explains a two and a half month period in vivid detail. So, first let us see the 75 year history in some detail in Part1 and then go through the actual film in Part2. Please feel free to jump to Part2,if you are familiar with the Iran Coup of 1953 and Iranian Revolution of 1979.
Part1: The history
Till 1909
Throughout the history, Middle East remains the active center for all action. Middle East is the pioneer in Astronomy, Algebra, Commerce and it is the birth place for three major religions of the world. It has been the center of all wars that were fought to control the Silk Route. Things could have calmed down after the advent of Sea Routes and Air Cargo. But the discovery of huge oil and gas reserves, put them right in center of all attention again in 1900s. This brought in wealth and tragedy alike to the people in the region and middle east still remains of center of activity in the world.Till 1951
Iran is doubtfully the greatest nation in middle east. It is one of oldest nations in the world and even today it is an land since, it has the third largest Oil Reserves in the world after Saudi Arabia and Canada. Oil was discovered in Iran in 1909 by a British owned Anglo-Persian Oil Company. This company would later become British Petroleum. Till 1951, for about 40 years, it enjoyed the monopoly in extracting and selling oil from Iran. Soon, Iranians realized that what they were getting as returns was peanuts. But most of the influential politicians and the Iranian monarchy was under the control of British Intelligence. But in 1951,the newly elected, Iranian PM Mohammad Mosaddegh decided the change this. He realized that the west wont budge to the Iranian terms over profit sharing and administration of oil extraction. So, his government nationalized oil. But, The British and USA did not have patience to negotiate with him. So, they decide to overthrow him. |
| Mohammad Mosaddegh |
Till 1953
After spending 4 million pounds and five plane loads of weapons, the CIA and the British Intelligence which operated from their Iranian embassies, injected riots in Iran.In 1953, things went out of control and the Iranian Monarchy sacked the PM. He was arrested and sentenced to death.(This was never carried out. But he was kept in house arrest till his death in 1967). During the trial he said:"Yes, my sin — my greater sin and even my greatest sin is that I nationalized Iran's oil industry and discarded the system of political and economic exploitation by the world's greatest empire. This at the cost to myself, my family; and at the risk of losing my life, my honor and my property. With God's blessing and the will of the people, I fought this savage and dreadful system of international espionage and colonialism .... I am well aware that my fate must serve as an example in the future throughout the Middle East in breaking the chains of slavery and servitude to colonial interests"
 |
| Mohammad Reza Pahlavi |
Till 1979
The CIA and British Intelligence,encourage the king Mohammad Reza Pahlavi to take complete control of Iran by destroying democracy. They also seemed to have had a deal with him to get unlimited access to the Iranian oil. In return, he would receive a large sum of money for his personal use. Some historians believe that this is one of biggest blunders did by the West, that resulted in the raise of conservative powers in middle East and created a divide between the Islamic nations and West forever. |
| Ayatollah Khomeini |
Part2: November 4, 1979 - January 28, 1980 (aka) ARGO
First, let me acknowledge that Argo is a fantastic thriller. It is excellently written and the pace in which the film moves is amazing. Secondly, it is extremely well made. It creates the mood for the thrill perfectly. The cast is also good and along with good character development for each and every person in the film, we can get the feel of anxiety and tension precisely. Not mention that , the film was nominated for a lot of Oscars and even received its "Best Film" award from Michelle Obama. And this is an honor no film has ever received before, Academy Award from the white house.
To me and to a lot of critics of the film, it seems very obvious, that the film winning the award and that too from the hands of the First lady of USA , is a merely political move. It is move done to reinforce a different kind of reality among public. The film does not present a different, but just manages to reinforce the existing ideas among public.That is why the film, skims through the part where the CIA is a villian causing the destruction of a country but explains in detail, how CIA acted intelligently saved a few innocent American Lives.
Let us deconstruct the film now. First, Were those people who were taken as hostages were ordinary citizens or spies?. I think no body can answer that. But for Iranians, what matters is that the CIA played the puppeteer role from the American embassy. So, their argument in calling these people as spies is perfectly justified. We can also see that the embassy people are very keen destroying all records. Ofcourse, this is just circumstantial but in this circumstance, i think it is an important point to consider.
Second, Iranians did not kill anybody from the embassy, they just took hostages. The situation was perfectly under control. They even released all women and minorities in a few days. Of-course, they did put the hostages through a lot of trauma which is very very bad. But i think, they couldn't have had any means of identifying whether they are spies or not. I am not saying that the hostages were bad people and deserve it. But the fact the real identity of the hostages were not known the Iranians is not clearly explained. What we see is "Iranians took Americans", thats all.
Third, Let see the portrayal of CIA in the film. The official account of the rescuing hostages from the Canadian Ambassador's house, says that the entire plan was orchestrated by Canada with the help of CIA. But the film takes an opposite stand and it even got criticisms from Canada for it. This painstaking effort of making CIA the hero of situation, is something we need to think about. But i think, it is not a big problem as it happens in a lot of films.
But the last and the most important criticism, i have about this film is the portrayal of Iranians in the film. The only sense we get out of film is that they are mobs and they just want to kill the Americans. It is not entirely false because the revolution is a mob phenomenon and they did want to kill Americans. But one has to understand the reason behind the anger. They were genuinely angry because they were being exploited by the west for 60 years. But the film is not honest enough to put that forward. Yes, it does pass on a few dialogues about the reasoning. But the impact created by the visuals showing Iranians shouting in mobs is far more deeper.
So to conclude, I think Argo is an excellent thriller. But it is a very bad dishonest political film. But it was deliberately chosen to be in limelight for re-affirming existing myths about Middle East in the West. I dont think Hollywood is entirely bad and they make only distorted films. They do make films with balls like Apocalypse Now, The Reader, Fight Club etc. But the mainstream films are always made to satisfy the general public stereotyping and Argo is an perfect example for that.
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