Ghajini Review

I was expecting a lot out of Ghajini. In the end, I was dissappointed. Wonder how is it getting such great reviews.

Jason kottke

Jason wants to do blogging full time! Here is what he has to say about this whole “blogging thing”,

Looking back on it all, this little hobby of mine has been the most rewarding, pleasurable, maddening, challenging thing in my life. I've met so many nice, good people, formed valued relationships with some of them, traveled to distant lands (and New Jersey), procured jobs & other business opportunities, discovered new interests, music, movies & books, and lots of other stuff, all for putting a little bit of me out there for people to see.

My Pithamagan review

I saw Pithamagan, Bala's much hyped film, yesterday.

Before I talk of this film, it is important to take a look at the kind of films that Bala has done in the past : Sethu and Nanda.

The best description for Sethu would be “morbid”, The film disturbs you at a fundamental level.

God knows enough films with “everything is fine and everyone are happy” endings are dished out every year by our directors. Rarely do characters which are out of the common, stories which haven't been explored and situations out of the ordinary get tackled on the screen. To tell such a story and to tell it in such a way that it is a commercial success and not just appreciated by a few “intellectual” critics shows the director's calibre. Afterall, film making is just the new age revision of the age hold art of storytelling in an engaging manner. To succeed in holding the audience's attention with such a morbid story speaks eons about the director's capabilities.

If you are the kind who looks for a hidden deeper meaning in everything, you will appreciate the way Bala deals, albeit in an exagerrated manner, with madness inherent in every love story, in Sethu.

Nanda's uplifting moment is Raj Kiran's scene where he proclaims “every human who fights evil is God” with a tinge of Bhagavat Gita thrown in for good measure. The exact opposite ideology of Kamal's “Love is God” Anbe Sivam. It was saved from the mediocrity of a thousand similar movies by the out of this world cinematography, Surya's arrival as an exceptional actor, Bala's deft direction and this particular scene.

Now comes Pithamagan. Bala doesn't deviate from his favourite theme : Tragedy coupled with unusual characters.

Porraying a character with well defined mannerisms is an easy job for any actor. More difficult is to portray a “normal” human being which calls for a subtler treatment. Kamal excels in the former while Mohanlal excels in the later. Audiences around the world tend to lap up and appreciate the former a lot more than the latter which is indeed a shame.

Anyways, coming back to the film on hand, Vikram does a good job at living the character of chittan with all the exagerrated mannerisms you would expect in such a character but let us not forget the excellent job done by the others like surya, laila and sangeetha.

A lot of questions remain unanswered, the most important of which is why does Vikram end up behaving as if being caught up in a time warp. Surely, anyone who ekes out a living as a cremator would have had semi-regular human contact ( the relatives of the dead ). To show him as a “normal” person with a dead heart would have lifted the film to a different level. Maybe the down to earth sensibility of a malayalam director would have conjured up such a story. Jayaram in a movie remarks with characteristic humour that everything is a bit exagerrated when it comes to the people of tamil nadu. In doing so, he makes a telling remark on the inherent differences between the two states to be found in everything from day to day behavior to the acting styles of a kamal and mohanlal.

All I know is this. Bala is a brilliant director with I suspect a tinge of madness. Eventually, he will come around and let his hero to be a normal human being. I will wait for that day. Patiently.

Meanwhile, go watch Pithamagan. There is indeed a method in Bala's madness.

PS : I am a big admirer of both Kamal and Mohanlal. My remark about their differences is not intended to be a flamebait for either side.

An excellent Boys review

Go here for the complete review.

“Inga panam illaama irukara ovvoru payanukkum padippu kedaikanum,
Padippu ezhaingalukku etta kaniyakida kudathunu thaan sir naan ippadi paninen - Gentleman

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Naattaiye azhikera oru governor irundha enna illana enna - Kadhalan

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Podhupanithurai, Pokuvarathuthurai, Kalvi, Sugadhaaram, Minsaram ippadi
ella thurailayum lanjam vaangi vaangi naatai seer kedhututeenga - Indian

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Indha America cosmetics ellam nekku pidikaathu. enakku therinchathellam thallaikku seiyakkai, udambukku manjal thool. Please itha ellam edhutundu poidungoo - Jeans

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Enakku thevayellam ettu mani nera thookam, poo pola naalu idli, pudhina chatney, mansakku niraivana vellai, appa ammavoda oru kai rummy, pooncholai kiramathilai oru azhaghana ratchashi - Mudhalvan

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And now BOYS.

Completing half-a-dozen movies successfully with BOYS is the whiz kid Shankar. Brought up in the neighborhoods of Chennai and having done his schooling and college in Chennai, this is shankar's wish to celebrate the coming of the age of adolescence. His boldness to describe BOYS as they are has helped him to come out of his pedestrian fantasy movies.

Keeping out the controversies of the media to the end of this review, Boys is a movie with no false pretensions, no intended puns and a no-nonsense movie. Even if you have the smallest nail in the world, I can write the story on it. Five guys and a girl find their hidden talents due to unforeseen situations and take an elevator to their career. The thread that unites them is friendship and love. What begins as a small time eve teasing ends up in a relationship that displays a spectrum of emotions, debacles and re-unions.

Sidharth playing the quasi-hero, leaves a distinctive influence of a typical lover boy in us. Harini playing the full-time heroine is the most natural of all the characters. To use an often used cliche, amazingly brilliant performance. Not a typical heroine to just run around those lavender farms. To our surprise, she often gives a FINGER. Good one.

The other BOYS have done their best and 'natural acting' comes so easily to them. That innocent looking Kumar has given a flambuyoant performance. Vivek as Mangalam sir is a typical drunkard whom we find in every other bar in Chennai. He has downplayed his comic sense to match the character. The surprise is senthil's cameo role. It is a sure shot shankar punch to explain Information is wealth through a most unassuming character of senthil. Glimpses of classic characterization.
”

Anbe Sivam

When I started this journal a few months back, I had but a vague idea about what to write on these pages. The idea was to mostly write around the two topics close to my heart : Philosophy and Movies. Now Philosophy was a recurring theme during the early days of this site. But strangely other than just passing references to films, It was mostly relegated to the background.

Why did this happen ? It was not as if I was seeing fewer films. Infact, ever since we bought our VCD player, We have been absolutely living on films. The real reason was the fact that I did not see a single film which was worth writing about.

That changed last week.

I happened to see a film which was a perfect blend of philosophy, realistic acting and the fine art of film making. I am talking about the latest kamal - madhavan starrer Anbe Sivam.

Now, I am not a big fan of kamal. Never was. The arrogance so clearly etched on his face is a major put off for me. But ever so often, Kamal makes me admit ( albeit grudgingly ) that he is the best at what he does.

The philosophy of the film is best explained by the words of the title song,
...
Aathigam pessum adiyaarkelaam sivamme anbaakkum,
Naathigam pessum nallavarrukko anbe sivamaakkum.

Yaar yaar sivam ?
Nee naan sivam.

A rough translation goes something like this,

For the theists, God is love.
For the good among the atheists, Love is God.

Who here is God ?
You and me.


The story is written by Kamal as is the screenplay. He has sung a couple of songs as well out of which the haunting title song stands out. Madhavan is but a tool in kamal's hands which he uses effectively to his advantage.

Kamal's character changes from that of a bumbling idiot in the first few scenes to a communist union leader with a artistic vein in the middle scenes to a god like figure in the last few scenes. In the last scene, as kamal walks away into the horizon, we are left with no option but to stand up and salute the indomitable spirit of a man from whom life has taken away so much but still manages to smile.

I wouldn't describe anything more about the story because any words that I can conjure up here wouldn't be enough. The film tells a philosophy that is best seen and understood.

When Love lives in your mind, you are God.

chit chat

Been blogging for over eight months now. A pre-occupation with design and frequent changes in the backend/host has meant that writing has taken a back seat.

Note to myself : write more.

Sreekanth, Please get back to blogging.

Bill Gates will be giving a speech at the wipro amphitheatre in ecity day after tommorrow. The thought of kidnapping him and asking a BIG ransom appeals to my criminal mind :-)

The one day series without sachin holds no interest for me, more so since the Indian bowlers seem to be in a genorous mood.

The ban on tamil movies in karnataka has meant that I am yet to see even a single tamil movie released on Deepavalli. Gotto to get my hands on a VCD soon.

The new ThumsUp ad with Akshay is cool. Finally brawn takes a backseat in a ThumsUp ad.

The Vaa Nila song in the latest rahman album, Kaadhal Virus, is groovy.

Time to get a snack.

The Brahma Hypothesis

It is time now for the Brahma hypothesis.

I am going to use the usual method that people adopt when writing a hypothesis. Collect a few known facts, add a couple of leaps of imagination and present in a whole new style, claiming the idea as my own.

The brahma hypothesis is the expanded name given to the BHM hypothesis which in turn stands for the Brain, Heart and the Memory hypothesis.

All forms of sensory input create a new memory.

The Brain uses memory to create thoughts.

The Heart uses memory to create emotions.

The Brain and Heart battle for our mental space and what we currently feel is a direct outcome of who is in charge.

We all want to be happy, agreed ?

Now we must take a look at the cross-section of humans who are generally considered the happiest among us. Kids.

What do you see ?
Not so developed brains. Heart completely in charge. More emotional than a kamal trying for a national award. Generally seen to be happy for the smallest and the silliest of reasons.

As we grow older, what happens ? Brains start to develop ( well, in most cases :) ) and the more we get older, the more we think. What does your brain do ? It comes and stands in the way of you and your happiness. Now the brain doesnt allow you to laugh easily. It needs a strong reason to laugh. Gone are the days you could giggle without feeling embarassed. Now you will start displaying controlled emotion. Watch a govinda movie and your brain will step in and stop you from laughing telling you that it is a third rate joke not worthy of your laughter. At the end of the movie, the simpleton from the village would have laughed his guts out while you come out shaking your head mutterring about a complete waste of time. Who is the loser ?

An abundance of thought has generally led to sorrow and depression more times than it has led to hapiness. The person who feels hapiness as the end result of series of thoughts over time is rare. But I can show you a number of people who think a lot, get worked up and generally feel unhappy.

Ever looked forward to something, expecting a truckload of hapiness and when the moment finally came felt a sense of disatisfaction ? The brain imagined a hapiness which was not there, in the meantime forsaking the gift of the moment and the opportunity for hapiness in it.

We now take a look at literature and the movies in an attempt to see what they say. We find that almost always the simple folk are shown to be happy while the city dwelling, cultured and the “intelligent” person is often found to be irritated, frustrated, lost in his thoughts and generally unhappy.

Now we will take a look at that noble attempt to understand the human psyche and the meaning of life : Philosophy. Prominent figures like krishnamurthi have written about the need to eliminate the thought.“See without judging. Observe without analyzing”. The exotic religions like tao and tantra talk about living for the moment. That ( in my current prejudiced state of mind :) ) translates to doing away with the brain. Jesus in his famous sermon has said, “The meek shall inherit the earth”. What does this mean ? The meek not in a physical sense but in regards to your brain. Do away with your brain. Do not doubt. Do not think. Live without thinking, Believe without doubting and this world will be yours.

So what do we conclude ?

Do away with the brain. kill the thought. let the heart be the sole contender for your mental space and be happy.

Problems ?
When you live in the moment and let your heart rule, your happiness will be a function of your environment and the people around you, in short you will be vulnerable. You have nice people around ? you will be happy.

The Brahma hypothesis is the brain concluding that it is useless. It is the suicide call of the brain.

Kill the brain and be happy.
Believe in Brahma.