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!]

• 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?
 

But despite all the above problems, i did enjoy the film. That is probably the strength of Gautham Menon. He is good at keeping you interested. This film also has some really good moments.  Infact, the entire song sequence "Unakkena Venum Sollu" is so awesome and it makes you sad the song is over. In my opinion, it is the high point of the film. Here it is:

 

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.

To some extent, the first three points can be attributed to the law and order enforcement problems existing in this country.But the last two points are clear reflections of the nature of our civil society. The man in the video is not only doing a horrendous act but he is visibly enjoying it. This is not normal even in the realms of criminal behavior. This is a pathological behavior which arises from deep seated psychological problems. Also it does not arise in a person all of a sudden. What that means is, he did get up from the bed that morning and decided to became a rapist. It is a result of years and years of unchecked misbehavior.  His misbehavior would have started long time back, as small bad acts like eve teasing and cat calling.But no one told him and convinced him that they were wrong. In other words there was no one in his life to teach him good morality and the reasons for being moral. His parents, teachers, elders in family and the society around him did not educate him about bad behaviors from a very young age. He has failed as a human and his failure is a symptom of carelessness and screwed up priorities of our society.

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.