காமம்

Recently, I heard the rarely occurring decent, but still lustful lyrics in Tamil cinema:

தண்ணீர் விடு என்று தோட்டம் சொல்லாதே.புரிஞ்சிக்க நீயாக!

(Courtesy: மச்சக்காரி from சில்லுனு ஒரு காதல்)

The all-time best in this genre will be:

சிந்திய வெண்மணி சிப்பியில் முத்தாச்சு, என் கண்ணம்மா

(Film: பூந்தோட்ட காவல்காரன்)

Any addition guys ??

Okka doubt machis

Remember the scene in “Thulluvadho ilamai” where dhanush is doubted by his father “Thalai vasal” vijay for his late-coming to home?

Now, whom do you blame here? The father for not believing in the son who comes late just because he spent time with his friend for studying Visual basic, (Computer இல்லாம Visual Basic படிக்க முடியாது. அவங்க வீட்ல தான் computer இருக்கு. Visual Basic தெரியலனா இந்த வருஷம் Fail ஆக வேண்டியது தான்.) or the son?

Rewind the film back. Just a couple of scenes back, when dhanush and shereen converses regarding studying the lessons by following time-tables, dhanush regrets for taking the biology group saying this is too tough for him and only because shereen asked him to do so, he picked this group.
Shereen: Doctor மகேஷ் எப்டி இருக்கு ?
Dhanush: ரொம்ப கேவலமா இருக்கு.

I (did my biology group) never needed any computer course to pass my HSC examinations. Leave me, (past generation) even my cousin (also Biology group) who did his HSC examinations this year did not need any such courses and he has got an engineering seat in PSG.

Is Dhanush guilty? Was this Selva raghavan’s home work mistake? Is selva too brilliant in placing such intrinsic scenes to show that dhanush indeed is guilty? Was this scene taken just to allure the adolescents’ who are in a mindset to blame their parents for all their failures?

In the Mid-july

It is one of those very few pleasures that I get in this foreign country. How relishing it feels? To clamp your feet clearly on the base and stand in a metro-rail at peak hours. Imbibed to being extremely careful of not dashing any protruding things near by, I was clinging like dungston. Here comes the villain to my short-lived happiness. The next stopping should have a school near by. I really did not guess with the name of the stopping and if I’m asked to do so, I would’ve guessed a Chinese fort/temple.

Quite contrary to my national heroes, I really cannot withstand this sudden invasion by these students. Afraid of relying on my height, I stood in the median between the seats on both sides. It was a matter of extreme risk; given the sudden breaks, jolts produces by this wagon, you are most probably expected to collide with dangerous zones of either this wagon or the near by girls. I turned to fix my hip perfectly in the seat handle and was given a soft jiggle. There they are. Completely unaware of this world and indulged in one of the world’s passionate kisses. Hmm.. How to show myself that I’m not interested in these scenes? I’ve neither brought my iPod nor my much adorable OSHO book. Let me turn the other side. Ooh.. It really meant the other side for me. There lays the cute kid scuffling near his mother’s neck. He should be disturbing her for a new boot or MP3 player or who knows?, may be to arrange for a date with his girlfriend. I can easily figure out the feelings inside the kid’s heart. He should be feeling the doom of earth. My heart was beating to rush to him and hug him and shout “Look here, dude. This happened to me too. This will pass and you are to face still worse life.” Aah., the crowd recedes like the end of a heavy downpour of rain. The drizzle is still on and at the end of the rail, I find an empty seat.

As I reached that empty seat, I was in a still dilemma whether to sit in there. There were two girls and an old lady and when I was about to pacify myself that standing in a moving rail reduces your tummy, the old lady adjusted herself towards the window sill and here I get enough piece of cake. Yummy., after a tiring day at office, I was asking myself for a short nap. No. said my eyes. Why? asked my mind. Are you blind? Look in front of you. Mmm. Ya ! That’s worth than my short nap. Come-on girl, I can’t wait anymore. Lift your face and I’m eager to see something other than your golden hair. She obeyed so instantly that I doubted “Did I shout that out?”. I turned around and found that I haven’t. She smiled at me. If I had been the same guy from that small Indian town, I would’ve started thinking about a poetic love letter. I smiled back and said those few words that I knew in that foreign language. She wished me back that I should also have a good day. With a very bad record on my talks with girls, I was confident that this will stop with just these wishes. Destiny always thinks abnormally.

She gestured something above my head and I turned to check who was behind me. The turn was with such rapid that she gave out a good laugh. She then gestured the orphaned umbrella hanging at the roof. I gestured back that it is not mine. Now she shaked her head and again pointed that umbrella, then pointed to herself. O.K I got it. Is that yours? I gestured back. She nodded. I bought it for her. Now, I was really interested in her. Strange, I haven’t seen her curves yet and when I thought of having peek at, more strangely something stopped me. Confounded by this very strange behavior, I was shrinking my forehead. Only then my synapse from the eyeballs to my brain said that she is looking at me. She was looking me with a “Mr.Bean” sort of expression and raised her eyebrows which has no other meaning other than “Whhaat?”. I bought my once in a while smart smiles to my face and closed my eyes and gave a tiny head shake. In between her question and my answer, this conversation (can we call it so?) brought the memories my Dumb-charades fun at college.

I was exuberated. We continued our gestural conversation. She was asking me where I sleep. After a few milliseconds, I understood that she was asking me where I live. Well, here comes a difficult part. How should I mime Ribaucourt? My index finger pointed towards my diaphragm area and I started counting the ribs there. Then I motioned my hand which was holding an invisible wooden hammer to tap at the imaginary desk. She couldn’t figure it and this time I mimed the gestures slowly and I could sense from her eyes that she is getting it. After a few long seconds, she said “Ribaucourt”. For the first time after landing in this alien land, I found myself laughing with an equally amused companion. I then asked the same question for which she gestured “Schuman”. Quite funny it was. If she were one of my good time friends, we would’ve relished this fun when ever we meet each other. Is she really interested in my friendship? With a few known faces from this place, my mindset about the people from this nation was that they refrain from foreigners’ especially brown or black race. Some say there is a special soft corner for Asians. Am I feeling it now? My forehead was slightly shrinking and I was looking pointlessly at the floor.

This time her face was full of expressions. She was saying “What is the problem with you? You talk with so joy, then suddenly you become quiet?”. She then kept her lips tight; her lower lip bending below the upper and made slowly whipped her head. Then she pointed me and made a circle around her face and pointed towards Young Robert Niro poster at the side. I also wanted to compare her with someone. She was looking like someone I was craze about. Who is that? Yes. She looked like Harry potter’s friend Hermione. Now I made a circle with my imaginary wand and kept my index finger on the cheek and twisted it. She understood immediately. We then conversed about the four Harry potter films. Like all Potter fans, she hated voldemort, loved Hagrid, and felt very sad for Professor Dumbledore.

Oh dear, here comes my stop. I stood up and gestured that I’ve to go. I was expecting a small depressive movement from her eyelids or in the face. Finding nothing, I was wondering “Does this end here? Will I ever meet her?”. As the train halted, her cell phone rang and she was bidding me adieu. She moved her eyes from me and moved towards her handbag. But I couldn’t. As I got down and when the doors were waiting open for no commuters entering, I heard her talking. Did I really hear that? ” ம்! சொல்லும்மா”.

Guna vs Kadhal kondaen

I always hated myself to be late in thinking or late in putting this out. One of such recent incidents is when i posted this in my other blog before hearing "Kana Kaanum kaalangal".When I finished enjoying GUNA for the first time, (without any channel changes or any friend’s accusations பைத்தியக்கார படம் டா) I found to have invented a lot to brag in my blog. Only after visiting this blog, I found that I’ve only discovered it. Be it the BGM of the chasing scenes which raja has borrowed from his previous masterpieces MMKR and Apoorva sagotharargal or be it the information regarding ananthu, sabjaan or be it the climax full moon day concept, “THE MOVIE LANE” has left me no credits.

Yet, Since I somehow was pushed to blog about GUNA, I found Guna should've been the spark for Selvaraghavan’s “Kadhal Kondaen”. Let me try to analyse why the previous classic was a flop and the later crap was a run-away hit (such a hit that almost brought Tamil cinema a new mass-hero).So, you mean to say Guna is a flawless movie and KK a movie with nothing but flaws?No. Not at all. Nor do I accuse Selva to be a copy-cat director or compare Kamalhasan with dhanush. (A disclamier)

To start with, I’ve nothing left to comment about GUNA after reading this. Many of my friends and bloggers feel that given the new genre of multiplex audience, if re-released Guna will be a hit. When it was asked to Kamal, he said he did not think so. It was released in the early nineties where film-goers never understood the word “Off-beat film". To make things worse, it was released along with “Thalapathi”- an almost commercial movie from Manirathnam.

Most of the readers should be in the standard fourth or fifth while Guna got released. I remember one of my friend’s narrations about the movie in the school bus. Kamal is a powerful man. He cannot be killed even with revolvers or daggers. He loves a girl and she dies. Since he knows that nothing can kill him, he jumps from the mountain and kills himself. Note that the friend who narrated this to me was studying tenth standard. How do you expect some-one to understand such a classic that is so blatant about a madman, his mentality and his love? So, is there no film that is both off-beat and hit? Yes, there are. But, those films will have at least an iota of commercial element to sooth the masses and some compromises to appease the audience and to make them feel comfortable with the storyline. Guna should have had more of those compromises for it to be hit like KK.

Remember the scene where Rohini asks guna when he is eating “நீ சின்ன வயசுல யாரையாவது காதலிச்சியா? அந்த பொண்ணு உன்ன விட்டுட்டு ஓடி போய்டாளா ? யார் இந்த அபிராமி ? “? This is what the viewer should be thinking about the movie and should be expecting a flash-back from kamal. The response from kamal is one of the reasons of why he is regarded as one of the best actors in India. He stares at rohini and says “நீ தான் அபிராமி.”. He then goggles and spits and says “வேற யாராவதாமே.”. After this scene, those who expected a flash-back should’ve wiped their faces.

But in KK, selva has found what was missing in Guna and added it to fit-perfection in KK. The film revolves around Vinodh who though doesn’t have any medical mental terms to define his abnormality, he has his child-hood life to support him. He develops a good-rapport with divya and after a period of time falls in love with her. When he comes to know about that divya loves someone else, his perverted mind cunningly plans to have her.

Here, the anticipations of the audience are met with a perfect flash-back. A poor girl helps another innocent, poor boy who is otherwise very helpless and hapless. There develops a beautiful bonding between those two and vinodh sees a brighter world with the help of his new friend. The girl is brutally murdered and hence he has changed into this case. ( One of my friends shouted like Run-vivek “போ ! போ ! இதெல்லாம் நாங்க "சிவப்பு ரோஜாக்கள்" லயே பாத்தாச்சு.”).

Also, in KK, the viewer gets answer for all the hidden questions. Even when the viewer gets confused about whether it is lust or love? , selva explains with the help of Yuvan in the song “nenjodu kalanthidu".( though i'm still confused about it.) The film has another advantage of bragging it to be a youth film(just because the cast is youth and some portion is taken in an engineering college). The film has another advantage over the masses. It touches some of the dark thoughts hidden in the viewers’ hearts (Like ‘Vaali’.). Such films gets acclaimed and appreciated for its so-called openness.(Though this shouldn’t be confused with the selva’s good control over the speed of the screenplay.) The black-humor also amuses the masses though it couldn’t match the wits in Guna.

The resemblances between the two films lie open. The mountain-top home lighted with candles is an epitome of it. Vinodh had an advantage that the audience are not forced to see him as some rare species. They have already met guna.Also the film got released when the mass-heroes rule in kollywood was it’s height. Every film had hero speak meaningless punch dialogues and in certain films the heroes scolded his rival hero through disastrous punch dialogues. (How stupid the producer should’ve felt? Why waste my money to scold each other while you could call each other through phone?). The audience wanted a fresh face, a down to earth hero. And, then came Dhanush. The situation is so bad that just because KK lacked punch dialogues, it was called an off-beat film.

On the whole, I strongly believe the no. of homes that have got V.C.Ds or D.V.Ds of Guna should be more than those having KK, making the previous one an all-time classic while the later a hit only for a certain period.

I love my nation and i salute those who fought for it's freedom

Vande Mataram – Being made as a national song almost five decades before, it was not hitting the headlines for good reasons and even this time, things has not changed. I’ve crossed many bad and embarrassing moments where in I’ve started or took part in some argument that will start well, but on the course will disturb one of the participant’s personal, communal or religious feelings/beliefs. Instead of learning lessons from them I yearn to do those more. But this time, let me be mature enough to just collate facts and happenings and the respective feelings for those facts/happenings.

It was a period where the atrocities of the British rulers were reaching its pinnacle and the need for the a national patriotic song was also at it’s height. Influenced by the song 'Jai Bharat, Jai' and its content, writer poet-Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay started thinking on a need of a universal, patriotic message to fellow Bharatiyas. In 1875, when he was quietly meditating in a house on the banks of Ganga, he heard the folklore of Bengal's fishermen. It was saying that "for us, the river Ganga is nothing else but mother Durga. Easily will we sacrifice our lives for her, within her." That was the right tone, the right feeling Bankimchandra was looking for. Durga is the warrior goddess, with the lion as the chariot. Although a mother, a woman she is, destroying the enemy with a weapon in hand. This stance of the mother was what was needed. A powerful song was born.

After it’s birth, it did not acquire the fame and did not spread across even Bengal. Only after the release of the book “Anandmath” by Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay, the song inspired the fellow Bengalis. It was so powerful that it stopped the partition of Bengal which was planned by Lord Curzon to split Bengal based on community, religion and caste. It was in 1905 that the British understood the power of the song and began opposing it and in the very next year, there was bloodshed at the regional youth convention of the Congress for singing the song. From 1906, the song crossed the Bengal borders, spread across the country like a fire, lighting the minds of fellow Indians for the need to struggle for freedom and fuelling the thirst for freedom. Subash Chandra bose chose this song as the anthem for his Indian National Army and it was played in their programs from Singapore radio station.

Now, in the centenary year celebration of the song (Is it or is it not?), it has again hit the news. The muslim community and the sikh community have opposed the resolution passed by the ministry making the song mandatory in school prayers during it’s centenary celebrations. The reason that they give here is simple. It is against their religious beliefs. For muslims, prophet is the only god and they cannot worship anything or anyone apart from him. Also idol worship is not allowed in their religion. They allege that the words “Vande mataram” means to worship the nation. The centenary celebrations have been celebrated with majority of the muslims ignoring it.

Some of the hindu leaders has reacted strongly for these muslim allegations. One of the VHS leaders have said that those do not respect the nation, should leave it. Many other strong words have been exchanged between top-tier leaders of both communities. Now, care should be taken before you read further. If you are a strong follower of any of the communities and if you feel by any chance you’ll be disturbed, please for heaven’s sake QUIT, yes I mean it.

There has been politics running through out the issue. The congress known for it’s incapability of taking bold decisions at the right time and for it’s appeasing tendency towards the minorities have once again tried to cajole the minorities and immediately seeing the allegations they made it out clear that no body will be compelled to sing them. They have recently released a press-release that this year is not the centenary year of the “Vande Mataram” song. I’m not fool enough to read the details further after reading the headline.The BJP, in need of a case to prove itself as one of the major contenders for the nation leadership and to repair its further repaired image (due to the Jharkhand miners issue and the need to prove majority in the assembly) has once again taken in its hand a communal issue.

It is not the first time for congress to go back when a decision is pending on their side. Earlier when the same agitations were raised by the muslims towards singing the national song, one of the congress stalwarts who has grown hearing the song in a period where it’s lines had the magic potion to ignite the freedom in one’s soul, the then Prime minister Mr.Jawaharlal Nehru instead of taking a strong decision, appointed a commission which advised the goverment to have two versions of a national song (How bad it sounds!!) which was later implemented. The new version did not have the last two stanzas. Again it is not the first time for BJP to blow-up a issue for its own benefit. Who can forget the bad communal clashes in Ahmedabad or ayodhya?

Is politics the reason for this and many more issues that disturb the nation’s harmony and peace frequently? Is this “Secular” status for India, a bane? Are we giving out too much for the minorities and totally neglecting the majorities’ feelings? Is the common man westernized to a limit that he is ashamed of asking these questions?
If you expect me to answer which question’s answer poses the real threat or if you expect answers for these questions from this blog, quit at least here.

In one of the scenes from the dungeon of mani ratnam’s classics “Kannathil Mutthamittal” , Madhavan puts in fromt the same question before another lay man Prakash raj. Being a singalese, (having seen in reality the truths and killings in the war)he will put forth the solution: “The entire world’s ammunitions should be dumped in the ocean”. Though it may seem to be a “Super-hero” sort of solution, among these crazy times it looks to be a feasible solution to all. The same Vikramasinghe (Prakash raj) puts forth another solution, in fact a belief to be perfect: “It will all stop in the Amudha’s (Madhavan’s kid) generation”.

I have nothing else to say but to believe the same. Only time and proper education can end this.

The full text of Vande mataram(The newer version) is as follows:

vandE mAtaraM vandE mAtaram
sujalAM suphalAM malayaja shItalAm
shashya shyAmalAM mAtaraM vandE mAtaram.h
subrajyOtsnA pulakita yAminIm
pulla kusumita drumadala shObhinIm
suhAsinIM sumadhura bhAShinIm
sukhadAM varadAM mAtaraM vandE mAtaram.h

Note : All the facts are collected from www.vandemataram.com