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Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Pokkiri Vijay - 3

Read part 2 here

Now our hero is in villains den with villain laughing like a hyenna.

"dei nee enna periya sathyava illae baashava ooruku help panariya. pinni pinni pinniduven jaakrathai" villain growls.

"anna naan baasha, sathya range ku ellam illeengana. avanga ellam evlo periyavanga. aana avanga ellarum ennoda guru ngana" hero talks sarcastically.

"nee enna periya kadavula olunga nee un velai paaru naan en velai paakren" villain.

"kadavul, naan kadavul ellam illeengana naan verum manushan than "

uttering this dialogue hero walks away in slow motion, villain just looks at him walking away without shooting him.

next scene hero veedu hero comes in.

Nasser and heros mother comes running

"enna pa enna aachu? yaaro unne thookitu poitanganu intha ponu sona."

camera zooms in to show heroine behind heros mom.

hero now acts as if if he is hurt. "romba adichitanga ma enna. sorry ma inikum paal vaanagle"

"athu viduda intha ponu kondu vandhuta. romba nala ponuda. neenga pesitu irunga kofee kondu varen"

now only hero and heroine in bedroom. they look in all eight directions without looking into each ones eyes.

"romba valikutha" heroine asks

"aamamnga" hero replies.

suddnely all heros gang walks in and vadivel falls down and the whole house erupts into a laughter.

enna sir inge cut panidalama.

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Pokkiri Vijay - 2

Read Part 1 here

After the mass song we directly move to Villains Den. He is angry because someone has beat his goondas black and blue.

"enna da ippdi adi vaangitu vandhu nikareenga vekama illae. yaar avan. naaliku ithey neram avan inge irukanum"

cut panarom nera next day morning porom.

Nasser wakes up Vijay "inikavuthu olunga poi paal vaangitu vaa"

Camera now trys to capture the athigalai chennai beautifuly. As our hero comes out he hears a song and yes intro of heroine singing a song in that early morning. Camera focuses on morning dew, sun rays, the calmness of chennai. Hero falls flat for heroine. Song ends Heroine also comes to buy milk since hero was keen watching heroine he didnt notice milk was over in the shop and they closed it.

He is now afraid of his father so he pleads to milk vendor but he says no. Herione feels sorry for him and "en kite rendu cover iruku onu neenga eduthukonga"

Hero all smiles goes to take it and just then a maruti van comes. ten people get down from it and put black cloth over hero and takes him inside van and vanish.

Herione now is dumbstruck.

inge cut panarom.

Monday, January 29, 2007

Pokkiri Vijay - 1

Nowadays it is very easy to come up with story for our young heros. Name them Vijay, Ajith, Vishal or Simbu it is easy to write a story for them. Suddenly these people stop doing films saying no good story available. Then they come up with a movie and you go and see that that the movie is nothing but old wine in new bottle. On this line here is a story outlined for our young heros. For you to picturise the happenings in your mind you can assume the hero as Vijay and heroine as Asin.

Now lets go to the movie.

The first scene opens with heavy rain. Very few people in road. We show our hero standing in queue to buy milk. He has a plastic bag in his hand and is holding an umbrella. After buying the milk he is walking home very innocently.

Then our camera zooms on to a roadside fruit vendor who is not feeling well but for his livelyhood selling fruits in that heavy rain. Now camera zooms on to three or four kaithadis of villain coming collecting maamool. They come to the sick vendor and ask for maamool.

"Sir mazhaiyaala neriya nashtam iniku boni aagale sir" he says.

"enna da sonne" the villain group throws away all the fruits in the road and one fruit hits our hero and the milk packet he had in his hand falls down and burts open. The milk splashes into our heros face with umbrella flying away in wind. His face is now mixed with rain water and milk. The background score becomes haunting at this point. He turns towards these hooligams and beats them black and blue.

Next scene hero comes home empty handed without milk packet and his dad Nasser scolds him.

"eanda oru paal packet olunga vaanga theriyale nee ellam enna padichu enna pana pore. Eanda rowdingaloda sandai pote"

Hero goes to his room and closes the door.

Through the window his friends (vadivel, vaiyapuri) calls him out.

"appa irukaru" hero says.

"chumma vaada" they say.

Hero joins his gang and a song starts. A folk song with all kind of gramathu dance.

inge cut panarom.

Friday, January 26, 2007

Ularatha Ratham

The title of this blog is a famous title of Rajesh Kumar's tamil novel. Those who are familiar with tamil novels must have heard of Rajesh Kumar. He played a major role in inculcating the reading habit in me. His novels used to be such an attraction. He along with Asokan used to do a monthly named Crime Novel. There used to be a tag on top of each issue saying "India's largest selling monthly novel". The coimbatoorilirindhu trunkcall section through which Rajesh Kumar puts forth his views on general happenings used to be another attraction.

Now going back to the title this was the first book I read by Rajesh Kumar and believe me it made me loose my sleep. I read this novel somewhere between 1985 and 1989.

The story is about a family moving to a new bungalow they have bought recently. It starts off with the family going for the grahapravesam in a car. This family starts to experience some bad things from the first day.

There's a scene where a head comes out of a hole in the ground and starts moving in the night as one person watches it. There is also the famous maligai poo vaasanai accompanied by jal jal salangai sounds. There are dead bodies dug out in usual Rajesh Kumar novel style. If I am right the ever famous Vivek solves the mystery. There is also a scene where a woman is violated by some unknown force.

I remember starting to read this novel during night time and I couldnt stop reading this. After some years I had another chance of reading the same novel. I dont remember if I felt the same way I felt when I read the first time. But, after reading 100's of tamil novels I can remember only few of them and this one tops them all after 20 odd years.

Rajesh Kumar hats off to you for this novel.
***
Looks like from today new fares for Autos in chennai comes into effect. Lets hope this brings in some good changes.

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Analysis

I read in todays Hindu that Traffic police in chennai are going to be more strict on traffic rules violators. It was mentioned that they are considering increasing the fine for Traffic rule violations such as stopping beyond stop line, to Rs.1000.

Having been in London for sometime I have observed here the fine for any rules violations is very high atleast thats what they advertise. If you dont get you TV licence which just costs 130 GBP you may have to pay a fine of 1000 GBP. If you dont pay your council tax on time, your right to pay in installment is revoked and you end up paying 1000 GBP in one shot. There is no way you can escape without paying congestion charge if you plan to use car inside London. If you dont have valid tickets you have to pay a big amount as fine. They advertise these things very well in all prominent places. You are made to read those things again and again so that you dont violate any rules.

Though apart from fines the attitude of the people to respect rules also matters, fines does to some extent help in enforcing the rules.

In chennai if the police does take serious steps in enforcing rules (which is becoming highly necassary with the kind of traffic increase we witness) many lives will be saved.

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Ramblings

Chennai is now eagerly expecting the implementation of Electronic meter for Autos. People as usual are expecting this will solve all the problems they face with Auto drivers. Todays Hindu points out that the mechanical meters they have currently can be easily tampered by mechanics in Pudupet. Though everyone is aware of the term "Soodu vecha meter" the Hindu article just confirms it. Now whether the meter is hot or not didnt matter till now as the drivers never used the meters. I have never seen a driver using a meter in his Auto.

Now bringing electronic meter will it solve the problem? We always thought computerising things will make our society corruption free. But in reality has it? Driving licence issuing, voter card issuing, passport issuing and name whatever everything has been computerised but corruption still exists. Computers or Electronics wont bring in moral changes in People. Adding counters in traffic signals hasnt changed the mentality of notorious motorists.

As the old song goes "Thirudanaai paarthu thiruntha vital thirutai olika mudiyathu" unless Auto drivers change their attitude 100000 police and a mainframe meter wont bring in any change.
**
Being in UK I had the oppurtunity to witness the Shilpa Shetty showdown in Big Brother. One thing which is sure is Shilpa didnt fit into the lot. Another thing I could see from the program is they should only try to bring in people with same cultural background on programs like this . If they want to observe how people of different culture react with each other they should try some other program with the objective set clearly right before the program.

Yes Jade & co did bully Shilpa but the trigger was Shilpa being an odd woman out. If they had brought in some UK born Indian things would have been different.

Monday, January 22, 2007

Enjoy

People go to Ooty, Kodaikanal, Shimla or Goa to have a good time. I have also seen people enquiring about what to visit in Rameshwaram, Kanyakumari. I have also seen people going to Mayajaal or Marina to enjoy.

We must have also notice people buying cone ice and cup ice eagerly to enjoy the taste. Some people even prefer Baskin & Robbins to Hagen Daz. For a poor child the ice cream vendor who stands outside the school gate during lunch time is like GOD. The child eagerly waits for the lunch time quickly finishes its lunch and runs to the icecream guy and asks for a kuchi ice and devours it like a Lion devouring its prey. While enjoying the taste it also enviously looks at another child who bought a different ice cream with semiya(noodle) in it.

Some people prefer Whisky while some dismiss it and go for Vodka with Lime.

Going back to the first paragraph how will Ooty or Kodaikanal or Rameshwaram feel for a resident pichaikaran (beggar)? Will he enjoy those place?

In the second Para What about the guy who is selling the ice cream? Will he enjoy the ice cream as much as the ones who buy from him? When the child asks for a Paal ice cream he bends down and searches for an ice cream through a small opening. What will be going on in his mind? Will his taste buds be longing to taste the ice cream?

In third para When a person order a Beer with chicken 65 as side dish will the bartenders taste buds be working overtime?

Why do I write this? When you read this will you feel the same feelings when I wrote this?

Thursday, January 18, 2007

More

This word is something which is used a lot by us humans. Enough is something which is used least. We always have the habit of biting more than we could chew. This habit is something which becomes a part of us from childhood. But, I do know some people who use 'enough' a lot than 'more'.
I have observed as a kid my deskmate as soon as he gets his corrected paper in hand will go through the total hoping the teacher would have missed some marks due to incorrect totaling. If he finds the mistake he will immediately run and ask for more marks. If he doesnt find a mistake he will look for answers which the teacher has missed to put marks, if that door is also close he will look for answers for which he thinks he deserves more.

I have seen people who include atleast 1 cm of of someones or governments land to their side with the excuse of relaying the fence.

We see people who ask for one more extra sappota or pala sulai or orange palam or apple bargaining with the vendor in trains.

Auto drivers ask for more. Whatever fare you agree for they wont be satisfied unless they get 1 Re more.

In professional life I see lot of people who kep asking for promotion. They say they deserve it. But do they really understand the meaning of promotion? People only think of Promotions as some choclate or some gift they dont think of the responsibilities with come with that. When someone see's a person who manages 50 team members he gets jealous that he has only ten members. He pesters his manager for a bigger project. Do we really have the capability becomes the last question in mind. All he wants is more. He cant settle for something lesser.

When buying roasted peanuts from a vendor our mind wont calm unless we put few of the nuts (patani, uppu kadalai, aval, pori) spread there into our mouth casually.

Students always aim for IIM or IIT. Once inside IIM or IIT they are always gloomy saying he didnt get through GMAT and his friend got through. People in govt college are sad because they didnt get IIT. People in Arts college are sad looking at people doing Enginerring. Engineering students look at Medical students. Its a vicious cycle.

People want poori when offered idly, and parotta when offered with poori.

Among all this chaos there are people who are calm with whatever they get. They are people with zero or absolutley no aim or want. Either they are ascetic or incapable or fools.

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Heading

Thinking about a non repetitive heading is becoming a headache nowadays so I have kept the heading for this posting as just Heading.

Lot of serious weather change is happening. I heard Delhi had its coldest winters with temperature falling well below 2 degrees on the contrary London has been quite warm for its usual self. Normally the temperature in London around December, January and February should be below 5 degress but this time it has been hovering around 10 degrees consistently and add to that the rain which has been lashing the city for the past 3 weeks. The rain and warm weather has become a cycle. The warm weather has brought the rain and the rain has inturn made it warm. Could it all be due to global warming?

Many of IT giants announced their quarterly earnings almost all of them doing good.

Nowadays I can see lot of advertisements in TV on websites. It's kind of different for the eyes which has been accustomed to only advertisements on feelable products. It shows us how the world is evloving.

Nowadays I read a series of disturbing news about kidnap and murder of kids. I dont know if I am reading the same news again and again or it is different news daily. If it is different news something needs to been done immediately.

Sunday, January 14, 2007

Aalwar - Review

Aalwar - Review
I had the choice of watching Guru, Pokiri or Aalwar and I chose Aalwar. For some reason Abhishek Bachan doesnt interest me and I had no interest in watching a Vijay film. But now I regret my decision now, Guru atleast should have given me some satisfaction as it is a Maniratnam flick.

Take Naan Sigapu Manithan, Indian and Anniyan put it in a mixer and you get Aalwar but Aalwar lacks the punch delivered by its predecessors. I genuinely wished Ajith would give a blockbuster this time but the director has made a mess out of the movie.

If you are interested in the story line of Aalwar its the same as the three movies mentioned above. Ajith and his loving family become victims of goondas and now Ajith turns into a Vigilante, wherever anyayam happens he will be there. But the problem is the director has handled the movie very poorly. Not a single positive point comes to my mind when thinking about this movie.

The comedy part by Vivek & co is a total disaster. Romance between Ajith and Asin looks childish and all the scenes between them tests your nerves. Above all this the movies lacks logic throughout. I have no clue why the director went in for entirely new faces for the Villain and the Police inspector who tracks Ajith. The villain and the Inspector are total let down. The orders the Inspector gives to track Ajith are comical. To name one when the Inspector comes to know that the one who is killing the people comes in various costumes he asks the police dept to bring in all people who use costumes. How ridiculous! Another funny scene which comes to my mind is how Ajith steals a gun by spraying mosquito gas. Few scenes on how the police tracks Ajith reminds you of Aboorva Sagatharargal.

The peak of disaster is the finale. I dont know if it was a problem in the theater or its the way the movie is edited but the ending is so abrupt it makes you laugh. You will be strongly reminded of the movie Indian when watching this climax.

One thing I could notice in the movie is Ajith has used this movie to send some message to director Bala. Whenever the victims question Ajith who he is, he replies "Naan Kadavul". I dont know why Ajith agreed to do this movie expect for the message to Bala. I seriously wish Ajith would spend his time on doing good movies instead of doing movies like this.

Nothing to say about music. Ajith looks young, dashing and energetic in the songs but all the songs are dream sequences which again is a negative.

The flashback though tries to bring out another side of Ajith it too falls flat as it is too cliched. I will hold the director responsible for the entire fiasco.

Better luck next time Ajith.

Thursday, January 11, 2007

My Friend Joe

I looked at my son getting ready for his school function. I took my glasses blew hot air and wiped them clean. My wife was putting on him the blazer we bought for him for the special occasion. She looked at me and gave me a smile. I smiled back. Memories of my school days came flooding. I had a very tough childhood. I was different from the other children in the school. When everyone preferred to play baseball I spent time painting, when everyone spent time playing pranks on each other I spent time painting, when everyone else was doing something other than painting, I spent time painting.

I talked less, wore a thick glass and had a stupid grin (at least that’s what my schoolmates (if I can call them mates) used to say). With that kind of description I was the target for everyone to vent out their frustration on someone stronger than them. I have been beaten countless times in the name of fun. They always made an ass out of me and laughed their guts out. When things were going beyond control, I met my friend Joe.

The day I met him I was in the class painting. When I looked up from what I was painting I saw the gang of four coming inside the class room. To tell you more on the gang of four they were the most fearsome gang among the gangs in the school. They never missed any opportunity they got with a weak guy like me to prove their strength. Within few minutes I was lying on the floor with my painting torn to pieces. Nobody complains about these guys as they are less vicious when we don’t complain.

I gathered my specs and wore it. I collected the torn pieces of my painting and put them in the dustbin and came back to my seat to find a guy sitting there. The place next to me had remained always vacant except for now. He looked at me and smiled. I was still in shock and took the seat besides him. "Who could be this guy? Another tormentor?"

"I am Joe" he said.

I looked at him hesitantly. His hands were stretched out for a shake. I took his hand hesitantly and introduced myself. His hand was warm. The moment I grabbed it I felt amazing warmth surrounding me. I forgot about the gang of four. He told me that he had just joined the class and is looking forward to be part of it. I never knew he will become more than a friend to me at that time.

At a time when everybody rejected me in my class Joe stuck on to me. I noticed that people rejected Joe also. I never saw Joe talking to someone else other than me. I assumed may be people hated him because he was friends with me. From then on we hung around together always. He liked my paintings and he talked a lot about painting. The taunting from others still went on but I was not alone, there was Joe for me to comfort me. I never felt miserable after I met Joe. In someway after seeing the confidence in Joe I expected him to thrash those who taunted us but he remained silent and never raised a voice at them. I assumed he must be a frightened little kid as I was inside but who cared, a company was what I needed.

As we moved up the ladder of school life our friendship became stronger. I concentrated more on painting than on studies. Joe encouraged me a lot which led me to participate in competitions where my works were recognized. He was there always for me. I never saw his parents. He said he lived with them beyond the river and his dad was a multimillionaire. I took him once to my home but he insisted on not meeting my parents.

"Shall we go?" my wife's voice brought me back to this world.

"Yes we can" I got up.

I held out a finger for my son to hold on and we three got into the car. My wife drove it as I drifted back into those memories.

When our friendship was at its peak, my dad got transferred. I was supposed to be put in a new school at the new place. The moment when I had to say good bye to Joe was the most painful moment for me. I was very sure I won’t get another Joe, wherever I go. Joe was in tears too. We sat at the desk where we first met. I held onto his hand.

"Joe, I don’t want to go but I have no choice"

"I understand and I will miss you too" he said.

I took my glasses off and wiped my tears.

"Don’t forget me Joe" I continued with trembling voice "Once I become big I will come back here and we will remain as friends forever"

"I will be waiting for you my friend" he said.

"I want to send you mails can I have your address?"

He scribbled something on a paper and gave it to me.

I walked back home with a heavy heart.

We moved to a new place and the first thing I did was to send a letter to him. Everyday I used to wait for his reply but nothing came. Years passed. I started my career as an artist and became successful. Joe was there always in my mind. When I planned to go back to my place to meet him I noticed that I had lost the address he gave me. My attempts in tracking him by enquiring the school management also was futile as I was informed by the school management that they lost most of their records in a fire accident.

So Joe was there only in my mind. I wished he would see my face in newspapers and will contact me but nothing of that sort happened. Slowly the number of times I thought about him reduced. After marriage we decided to move to our old place which was my wife's place as well. When the question about my son's schooling came, my wife immediately suggested the school where I had my education. Though the past memories of harassments haunted me I dismissed them as unnecessary fears. Who knows my son might find his own Joe.

I got down from the car with our son and my wife joined us after parking the car. We three entered the auditorium along with other people. The programs began and it was fun. Our son was playing a role in one of the programs so he left us. I remembered watching programs when I was young in the same auditorium with Joe besides me. I felt nostalgic. I informed wife about visiting the restroom and came out of the auditorium.

The school brought back more memories from the past. I wished Joe was there. I walked along the empty corridors. I peeked inside the classrooms, at the empty desks. I came to the classroom where I first met Joe. My heart started to beat frantically. I laughed at my anxiety and walked towards the room.

I could see the door to the room was open and heard footsteps inside the room. I heard someone falling and kids laughing. I froze as I stared inside the class room. There was a kid with the make up of an angel and few kids around him were kicking him and making fun of him. The kid on the floor had his face pressed on to the floor. I rushed inside to help the kid. When I saw that one of the kids who was mocking the kid on the floor was my son I was filled with mixed emotions of anger, pain, disappointment.

I heard more footsteps behind me and one of the tutors entered and whisked away all the kids except the one on the floor away saying it was time for their play.

I lifted him up.

"Are you ok kid?"

He nodded he was ok. I was surprised to see that he was not crying. Infact he was cheerful. I was ashamed my son was among those who harassed this kid.

"Good. Come let's go to the auditorium"

"I will come with my friend" he said.

"All your friends must be there at auditorium"

"I have only one friend and he is here with me"

"Where?" I looked around but found no one.

"He is there" he pointed to the desk where I met Joe the first time.

My mind was doing some wild calculations. I needed only one answer to prove my calculations were right.

"What's your friend’s name?"

"Joe" he said.

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Wealth

Life has become nothing but a futile exercise of wealth gathering. The activity has percolated to such an extent that the only thing we do in our life is to gather wealth.

If you observe a dove it does not eat when it is hungry it just keeps eating always, whether it is hungry or not. The moment it finds a piece of bread it devours it like a beast.

Man has also become like that. The only thought that runs through his mind is how to gather more weatlh? How to prevent wealth loss? What should I store and save for future?

By this he wastes most of his presentense and also dies without enjoying the vast wealth he gathered to enjoy.

There are people who buy things more than they can use. Take any middle class family it will have in its loft hundreds of unused vessels but there are people who doest have a container to drink water. If a middle class can hide so much of unused wealth what about the rich and elite?

We buy a ground in sholinganallur and another in singaperumal koil and we know for sure we can live at only one place at any time then why do you need two grounds? There are people whose entire life they spend in street platforms. You spend thousands on DVDs and home theaters when there are people who cant afford doctors for lack of few hundred rupees.

I want money. I want more money. All I want is money. Isn't there anything else in this world to spend time on? The thought about parents also results only in money. What insurance should I take for them? How much money should I give them everymonth? Do they need such a big house? When we keep wondering about these things there are 1000's of old people dying without proper care.

I keep reading in news papers about people who need 1 lakh rupees to save their sick child or sick adult. The people who read those advts have lakhs invested in banks, bonds and shares which cannot be used for any purpose. They will remain as papers or in this age data and will remain as data without helping anyone who is in need.

The imbalance in the society is too much to bear.

Unless otherwise we come out of the magic spell of money we wont know what we were missing.

There was one video clip on New York. This clip showed how New York looked when there was a blackout. Only then people looked at how the world was around them. They walked instead of taking tube. The entire New York looked new to them. We can experience this in our city. When the electricity goes off we can see people on streets. People see who is living in their neighbourhood. They talk to them. Children come out to play in the streets. Only when the plug is pulled comes the realisation. The moment the plug was on all goes back to old stage.

Money is the plug which is now driving the entire world. We need to pull the plug on it.

Friday, January 05, 2007

Vijayshanthi

Everybody will remember Vijayshanthi who played a memorable role against Rajni in Mannan. Sometime back there were news she was campaigning for BJP as did our own Gouthami. Today I read in hindu that she is the president of a political party which means she has started a political party. It makes me wonder from where people get the guts to start political parties. For long the trend is if your movie runs well then you are eligible to start a political party. One thing which we fail to notice is though many tried only very few succeeded and among those who succeeded only very few involves in active politics. Once they get elected they are not scene in news till the next election.

The pinnacle of that was the recently over TN election where almost the entire film fraternity was in politics and made a joke out of themselves. This is not a phenomenon which haunts India alone. Lot of Hollywood people do participate in their country's politics.

If there is one person who failed to use his fame to come to politics the only name that crops up into my mind is Rajnikanth.

**

There is a television program which is very famous in UK called the 'Big brother'. ITs about putting some 10 people together in a room and telecasting their activities to the entire world. The reason why I am talking about this program here is this time Indian actress Shilpa Shetty is inside the room. It is quite interesting to see how she acts as a normal human being. In this program Shilpa revealed her age (yes only age).

**

To end I also read in todays Hindu that a British national was relieved of his valuables in a local cinema in chennai. His camera and many other stuffs were stolen from him.

Thursday, January 04, 2007

Mullai Periyar

Mullai Periyar is now becoming a bigger issue. Few months back I was not even aware that such a dam existed. Now people stopped talking about Cauvery and are talking about only Mullaiperiyar.

There is an important thing that we notice here. Everyone whether an individual or government works on a problem only when it is burning. If it is a potential problem they dont take care of it unless it becomes a problem.

We too have the same mentality. When we were kids we used to study only during exams but we very well know that we have to be prepared before the exam comes. We postpone things till they become real problems then start blaming everyone from the beggar who comes at 3 PM to GOD the omnipotent.

The best time to fix a problem is when it is just a potential problem waiting to happen. Govt should have worked on this Mullai Periyar issue long time before it snowballed into a problem. Now when cauery is not a burning issue this is the right time to find a solution for it.

Yes, there are problems on which we are working on for longer time proactively but without results such as the Indo-Pak issue. We know it is a potential problem and we do act on it proactively but still we fail because of our prejudice. If only both parties approached the problem with an open mind may be yeah may be we would have found a solution by now. After all if West and East Germany could unite definitely nothing is impossible. We dont hear about Yoguslovian problems anymore, we dont hear about Punjab problem. So there is a solution for all problems. The right time and the right attitude is what is missing in us.

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Saddam

Basically I have a strong aversion to violence in real life. Though violence in Cinema does affect me but not to the point as the real life violence. I get disturbed when I watch two people fighting verbally. With such being the case I watched the last minutes if Saddam few days back about which I wrote here. That footage which just showed till the noose being put on Saddams neck affected me a lot.

After not having learnt the lesson from watching the footage I dared to watch another clip which showed the actual execution. The thing that prompted me to watch that video was the news that appeared yesterday in Hindu and few other websites. The sites reported that the people who executed Saddam behaved rudely with him just before execution but to the contrary the first video footage only showed everything appearing calm. So I decided to watch the second clip.

According to the new item the verbal confrontation between Saddam and the others happened before he was brought inside the execution chamber. I couldnt find that clip but instead watched the actual execution itself. This clip starts almost where the first clip ends but from a different angle. After watching it till the end it generated in me a sense of nausea.

Saddam is seen brave till the end. I could here he talking something (which the news paper reports something like Palestine is Arab, long live iraq). In a second everything is over. It's hard to comprehend how people in that room are able to witness such acts from such close quarters.

Punishments to some extent has brought in discipline in this world which otherwise would have been hooligans paradise but whether capital punishments achieve their purpose is a big question.

I remember reading Auto Shankar's last moments in Nakkeeran. Though he was a serial killer before getting arrested his last moments before the hanging were as sad as any other killing he committed.

How can man kill another man? What has got into him? Whether it was the killings committed by Saddam or killing of Saddam, is there a way out of this or is it too late to turn back? Only GOD can answer.

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

CAS

I am now giving a devlish grin to my brothers in other four metros where CAS has been brought in from this new year. When CAS was introduced in chennai the part which was worrying me was why only chennai should suffer. Now all are suffering but the optimism shown by some saying CAS would be rolled back gives me creeps. If it is rolled back only in the three metros and if it continues in chennai alone it will be heartbreaking but only consoling fact is chennai will be more westernised atleast with respect to cable television. DTH will pick in chennai than other cities. I heard Sun plans to become pay channel (dont know if it has already become one) this will force many in chennai to move to CAS or DTH.

I still remember the days when Eknaath video guys gave one page advt in Hindu about 100 channels for some XXX Rs. Finally they surutified all the money. Gone are the days we now have solid players. With Tata-Sky JV it is only going to become better.

Here in UK I dont have cable but when I checked out at my friends I was happy to find they had a dedicated channel for horror genre. Hope the CAS and DTH will offer us more in terms of variety. Whatever the number of channels we are going to have the fact will be we wont be spending more than minute in one channel. Our fingers will keep working.

One thing about our mind is it will keep wanting for something which it doesnt have. I have a huge collection of DVDs. I bought each of those DVDs with high excitement but after sometime when I browse through the collection to watch a movie I will find each one as not fit for watching and drool over some DVD at HMV website. With this attitude 1000 channels will not satisfy a man's hunger for variety.

Monday, January 01, 2007

சேரன்

கடந்த வருடத்தில் நான் பார்த்த திரைப்படங்களில் நான் மிகவும் ரசித்த படம் தவமாய் தவமிருந்து. சோகத்தை வெளிப்படுத்துவதில் சேரனை மிஞ்ச ஆளே இல்லை என்றே சொல்லும் அளவுக்கு வெளுத்து வாங்கி இருந்தார். படம் ஆரம்பத்தில் இருந்து முடிவு வரை மனிதன் மூழ்கி போகும் அளவுக்கு சோகம் ஆனால் அதில் ஒரு சதவீதம் கூட சினிமாத்தனம் இல்லை. இயக்குனர் சேரனா அல்லது நடிகர் சேரனா என்று பட்டி மன்றமே வைக்கலாம். ராஜ்கிரணை அந்த தந்தை வேடத்திற்க்கு தேர்ந்தெடுத்ததில் இருந்து ஒவ்வொரு காரியமும் அருமை.

கடந்த வாரத்தில் தான் சேரனின் ஆட்டோகிராப் பார்க்கும் வாய்ப்பு அமைந்தது. தவமாய் படத்தில் இருந்த ஒரு ரியலிஸம் ஆட்டோகிராப்பில் இல்லை. ஆனால் சேரனின் நடிப்பு அபாரம். சேரன் ஒரு சாதரண மனிதனை மிகவும் அருமையாக வெளிப்படுத்துகிறார்.

அவரின் மாயக்கண்ணாடி படத்தை நான் இப்போதிருந்தே ஆவலுடன் எதிர்ப்பார்க்க ஆரம்பித்து விட்டேன்.

***

I happened to see the video clip which showed the last minutes of Saddam Hussein, lot of mixed feelings went through my mind. I came to know of Saddam around early 1990's during the gulf war. The news about the war used to be very interesting. I used to buy tamil evening papers just for the sake of knowing what is happening in Kuwait. Believe me or not I have bought papaers like Namathu MGR for this sake. I wanted America to win. I considered Saddam as an aggressor. America's Patriot (not sure of spelling) missiles were the talk of the town. BBC and CNN used to show missiles being fired. When America won I was happy.

Then in early 2000's again there were talks about America planning to strike Iraq. The Al-Queda diverted America's attention for a while and then again America turned its attention towards Iraq.

Saddam if he would have died in the battle he wouldnt have gained this much sympathy but killing him at this stage and showing the footage where he looks like a doll in their hands makes it look like a mistake.

Capital punishment - is it right or wrong? This debate has been going on for a very long time. The movie Dead Man Walking though doesnt dwell into the argument it portrays the agony a person has to undergo during the last minutes before execution. It is sad. Rather than the punishment itself the waiting for the punishment is what makes capital punishment a very dangeorous tool.

A Simple Plan and Just Mercy