My Life - INTERCUT - Cinema

A trip to Egypt - Part 2

2012-02-07T00:21:00.000-08:00

Alexandria

07.30 En route Alexandria

After a super heavy buffet-breakfast, we reached the Hotel Reception only to be welcomed by a new guy. Again! Third guy before the start of the second day. He introduced himself as John, the Egyptologist. Egyptology, as the name implies, is the field of study of art, architecture, language and history of Ancient Egyptians. To people who are not aware, there is in fact a field of study called Indology. Sir William Jones (18th Century) who could be called as one of the earliest Indologists, founded the Asiatic Society in Calcutta. When the rest of the British were ruling India, Jones along with Charles Wilkins were key in stimulating the world towards learning Indian History. In fact, the Asiatic Society was instrumental in the excavations of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro.

We were glad that we had a Egyptologist around. En route Alexandria, John gave a brief description of Egypt. Right from Prehistoric Egypt to Pharaohs (also called as Dynastic period) to Greco-Romans to Islam conquest to Ottoman (Turks) rule to French rule to British rule to Nasser and finally, Hosini Mubarak. He talked about the major occupations; customs and traditions; what we’ll see in Alexandria and stuff. Moments later, Niranjana and I were wondering whether we’d be able to give a similar account about India? We slept a few moments later. Probably, to escape the guilt feeling.

10.30 Alexandria City

It was raining when we reached Alexandria. The city had a ‘rainy Saidapet Jones road’ (an area in Chennai) look. As with any developing economy, Alexandria wasn’t instantly captivating. Nonetheless, it had life. For me, that’s what is important in a place. It must be vibrating with energy. I know people who discredit Calcutta for its dirty looks. But I have never seen any lively city like Calcutta. EVER! Not even, Madras. Alexandria wouldn’t fall into ‘that’ level. But, sure it had something or the other happening. In-construction structures, tram lines, huge flyovers, a grayish-brown tint, a consistent smell of something (not identifiable), wet climate. It may not look good on paper. But, trust me. You have to be there.

11.00 Catacombs of Alexandria

We weren’t allowed to bring our cameras inside. Better. No need to worry about the camera angles. Can just relax and absorb the place. Here is when we first heard about the whole mummies concept. First and foremost, the entire Egyptian civilization can be summarized in one sentence. Belief in after-life. All that they ever did in their entire life time has got to do with this belief. The monuments, temples, tomb stones, grave yards – all of them. Even in temples (like Luxor and Karnak) you would see references of the ‘sacred boat’. The boat which would take you to after-life. Guess, they were so much obsessed with their next lives that they didn’t enjoy their present lives. I asked this as a question to Omar (another Egyptologist whom you’ll meet later in the blog). Why is that we have temples and grave yards, but not palaces of kings in ancient Egypt? Visibly amused, he said that the kings lived in ordinary mud-brick houses. Just like the commoners of Egypt. It didn’t stand the test of time, but the temples and tombs they built, did. Catacombs of Alexandria was one such grave yard. Only that, it used to hold the dead bodies of commoners of Egypt. While the Kings built Pyramids and complicated structures (like Valley of Kings in West Bank), the Catacombs were built to hold several mummies. There is also an economic reason behind this. When the mummies were buried, the tomb would also be filled with precious jewels and stones, presumably to be used in after-life. Obviously, the Kings’ tombs are an extremely attractive entity for robbers. Pyramids and complicated structures were built to make this robbery difficult.

This particular Catacomb had somewhere around 200 slots. When this Catacomb was accidentally discovered in the early 20th century (after a Donkey fell into the structure), it still held mummies. All the contents were excavated. The Catacomb is cylindrical-shaped in the top and has a huge base under-ground. The cylindrical shape helped in having a spiral staircase which helped people to bring the dead bodies from the top through guided mechanism (using long rods). The base below has several slots to bury the tombs and many halls. One such hall, we were told, is where people would meet every year on their family member’s death anniversary and have fun. It also housed a hall where animals were slaughtered. What made the whole thing interesting were the engravings on the walls. We met Anubis, the Jackal God for the first time. Little did we realize that we would meet him everywhere we went. Jackal was worshipped as a God by Egyptians because the animal used to eat off the dead bodies, it seems. To appease the animal, they started worshipping him (or her?). I haven’t read ‘Immortals of Meluha’. But since a long time, I believe that the Gods, we Hindus worship now, walked on this earth as normal human beings. I had a college friend (a Christian) who used to discredit Hinduism by saying that everything we do is superstitious. How much ever I countered him, the argument was never won. The whole Jackal-God business has given a new dimension. I am waiting to meet him.

The engravings also explained the entire mummification process. The important organs like Liver and lungs were kept in separate Canopic jars. Heart was left in the body as they believed that the person would need it in his next life (more on this later). Brain would be smashed and the content would be brought out using a straw.

Enough of violence, I guess.

11. 45 Pompey’s Pillar and Roman Theatre

Pompey’s Pillar was such a boring site that we regretted entering it. It had a huge pillar built by a Roman king Pompey and a Sphinx (more on this later). The Roman theatre was equally boring. Designed like a miniature of a Colosseum, John said that it used to host dance, theatre and other activities. These monuments must have been exciting for a photographer’s eye but they lacked the history that we were actually looking for.

15.30 Alexandria Library, Maritime Museum and Montaza Palace

It started raining heavily and the time was well past 3. We decided to look at the Alexandria library from outside, as the entrance fee cost some 100 Egyptian pounds. Also, John said that there would be nothing substantial inside. Even if he had said otherwise, I don’t think we’d have gone inside. We started getting this “Enough for the day” feeling. All that changed, when we hit the Mediterranean coast where the Maritime museum is present. The place where the museum is present, earlier housed the famous ‘Lighthouse of Alexandria’. One of the seven wonders of the ancient world, the Lighthouse got destroyed due to various natural calamities. We spent a solid one hour on the coast, just looking at stuff. Group of young kids were playing foot ball. Seeing a camera in my hand, one of them wanted himself photographed. Niranjana bought two beautiful miniatures whom we’d know as King Tut and Nefertiti, the next day (at the Egyptian museum in Cairo). There was a family of six lazing away right next to the sea. An old man with a hat, who was sitting on the rocks with his back towards us, was having an appointment with himself. He was also fishing, feeding the cats nearby. A breezy afternoon on a rainy day at the Mediterranean sea coast.

After helping ourselves with a late lunch (for which Niranjana is still angry at me), we reached the Montaza Palace late in the evening. The Palace was built in 19th century and has been since used by many Kings. Even used by Hosini Mubarak. The Palace served as a leisure court for the Kings and also hosted several Heads of states and Kings. The Kings of other countries would drop off from their Ships to land right at the Palace, it seems. It would have made an interesting visual.

19.30 Back to Hotel - En Route Cairo

I started pondering over what John told us that morning. I had asked him why would a Great Greek King patronize Egyptian customs? Why did he allow those temples to be built? Stuff which might sound silly for people from other countries/beliefs. To answer this, we need to take a step back and observe. Before this whole Islam and Christ business, people worshipped nature and forms of it. Be it the Hindus or Greeks or Egyptians. Hindus have their Gods of Creation, Prosperity and Destruction. We worshipped Sun, Rain, Fire, Water, Earth, Space and had a whole science built in it. We found a relationship with the Planets surrounding us and found a pattern in it. More than anything else, we worshipped women. Hindu Mythological characters just espoused these concepts at the end of the day. That’s why, when I go to Egypt and look at a temple of Sun God – I am not surprised. I am able to relate to their beliefs. But after Christ, the idea of worshipping a person began. Not just with Christianity and Islam, even within sects of Hinduism. That is when, the religious bigotry started. The whole power struggle began. When Mughal rulers came to India and demolished our temples, there is this Alexander who did the opposite. Why did that happen? For people living in that pre-Christ era, this would not have been surprising at all. It was because they found similarities in cultures. Alexander, the Great respected the Egyptian customs and traditions. Though Alexander conquered Egypt by force, he wanted to conquer people’s hearts. Only that should explain Alexander dressing himself as a Pharaoh and etching his own engravings in the temples of Egypt. Alexandria was found in 331 B.C and Alexander died in 323 B.C. In such a short period, he had carved such an unique place in people’s hearts. By any standards, Alexander the Great must have been a truly secular person. My respect for him has grown incredibly high.

A trip to Egypt - Part 1

2012-02-01T12:15:00.000-08:00

Chennai and Cairo

09:50 Local Time - Chennai, India

The first casualty of married life is the Window seat. “That’d qualify as an interesting status update” I told Niranjana just as she looked out of the windows of the stationary aircraft. She never seemed to listen, more interested in looking outside. I’ve very rarely let go of my ‘rightful’ window seat. Be it the weekly bus rides to Bangalore and back, an occasional train travel or a daily share-auto ride. I’ve never let go of that prized possession. The anxiety as to what you’d probably miss by not looking outside is simply unmatchable. But yeah. It has to be done. The sacrifice HAD to be made.

15.30 Local time - Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

A casual stroll through the transit airport stopped for a moment, when we looked at the price list of a restaurant. Quite cheap. "We could actually eat something here" I thought. Now that we got to trade in dollars for the next seven days, the prices looked really really cheap. Just when I was about to retrieve my wallet, she said "Wait". If it had been me alone, I'd have decided to buy the first thing I found interesting (and cheap). Now that I had a girl by my side, we decided to look at all the items in all the restaurants and then decide. So, after some 15 minutes of careful scrutiny - we ate some cheese croissants at a shop run by a Mallu Muslim. They are everywhere, aren't they?

17.15 Onboard - Cairo bound

At least, Riyadh was in the same continent. But, Cairo? The excitement was palpable. I quickly started making a mental check of all the continents I visited. Okay. North America. Can I include South America? I came so close, right? Right till Texas. Can I? Can I include? "No, I gave my heart, a stern reply. You DID NOT visit South America". What else? Yeah. Frankfurt. That means, Europe, too. Wait a minute. I did Bangkok. Shit. Why is Thailand in the same continent? It should have been in a new continent named 'East Asia'. "Come on, cut the thought. Stop behaving like a child" I told myself. I looked at her side. She was asleep. I drank the left over apple juice kept in her plate.

The Captain of the flight said something in Arabic over PA and a few minutes later, the aircraft started descending. I woke her up and we looked out. The first sight of the African continent. Sand. Sand. Sand. All that we could see was the brown coloured - omnipresent sand. A long, thin streak of blue-colored water ran through her. "Could this be Nile?" she asked me. May be. Nile? All the connection I had with Nile was that it dutifully gave me 1 mark when the question in my 6th Standard History paper was "Which is the longest river in the world?". And now am I, actually looking at the Nile?

17.35 Cairo Airport

A placard held by a smiling tall man welcomed us. He introduced himself as John. I later learnt that Coptic Christians constitute a minority in Egypt. He took our passports, did a quick check, returned them and asked us to proceed to the Immigration counter. The terminal was small. Irrespective of the country, the arrival terminal invariably has more smiles around. This is no exception. I looked around. Large families with a single man and many Burqa-clad women and even more children. Serious-looking Arab businessmen wearing suits. The men, irrespective of the clothing, predominantly looked serious. And the children wore really fashionable dresses. Niranjana couldn't stop gushing about the kind of dresses those little girls were wearing. She was right. Extremely fashion conscious, they were. Sad they had to move to Burqa in a few years. What kind of mental shift they have to undergo? Has somebody made a film/written a book on it yet?

18.30 On the roads of Cairo

"It's pronounced Kaai-ro and not Kei-ro" I understood. We were struck in a traffic that didn't look bad. The roads were wide. And the infrastructure around, wasn't bad at all. In fact, the image I had for Cairo was that of an African city. I imagined it to be the one I saw in 'The Last King of Scotland'. The one in 'Hotel Rwanda'. This was different. In entirety. "Why are they even protesting" I started wondering. But yeah, how stupid can I be? Delhi infrastructure and Indian economy are like Harris Jayaraj and originality. There must be something more deep than the visible infrastructure that is bothering these people. It must be more than just money. More than how the Egyptian economy is performing. Something very deep.

Meanwhile, John slightly changed the itinerary - pulling the 'Sound & Light Show at the Pyramids of Giza' from the 3rd day to the first day. "What???" Niranjana and I looked at each other. We get out of the airport and the first thing we get to see is the Pyramids? Wait. I am not ready for that. I want to feel excited. I want to, you know, dreaaaam for that. "If not today, we might have to cancel it" John had a smile on his face when he said that.

It just took 10 seconds for us to reconcile to that fact. Wow. PYRAMIDS. The emotions changed in a jiffy. Morning, we were driving past the 'about-to-be-constructed' Chennai Metro. And in the evening, we get to see the 3000 year old Pyramids. The latter has stood the test of time. The former?

Though unrelated, the question prompted me to think about Indian History as a subject. Unlike the ancient period, I do not think we need designated historians to record what's currently happening in this world. The history of the present world writes itself. It has its records in scores and scores of papers and digital repositories. The future generations do not need a Archeologist to know what was happening here 3000 years before. But yeah, maybe I am wrong too. May be, I am doing the same mistake committed by those who inhabited our country thousands of years before. They never cared to preserve what they had to build/write/discover. They made us rely only on those four Vedas. Even these Vedas did not have a physical form. It was passed from one generation to another in the form of verbal slokas. We do not have a physical proof/evidence of Ramayana, Mahabharatha even though Hindus strongly believe it actually happened. This has made 'Sanatana Dharma', a subject of ridicule by people who rely only on physical evidence. And one of those people even ruled Tamil Nadu as a CM for four terms.

19.10 Pyramids of Giza

We hurriedly exchanged (Already ten minutes late!!) evening greetings with Sam (Another Christian!) who would be our Tour manager. John was just a 'receiving guy', we learnt. As we stepped out of the car, we realized that it was extremely cold and we didn't even have proper thermal wear. Bad planning (*pointing fingers at Niranjana). And she was already pointing fingers at me. Shivering; Gaping at the Pyramids; Listening (and not understanding) to the S&L show - All happened simultaneously. After some time, the show became really uninteresting as I wasn't able to understand anything at all. "We should have come to this show after we had gained considerable knowledge about Egyptian History" I thought. Niranjana felt otherwise. She was able to relate something. Good! Just half the money wasted.

22.00 Oasis Hotel

Samosas from Adyar Ananda Bhavan. Kothamalli Chutney. Bread Slices. Bhujia Sev. Good amount of planning helped us save some $30. Next up in the morning, its Alexandria! The city found by none other than Alexander the Great in 331 BC. By Egyptian standards in history, that’s quite recent!

Vijay in 'Nanban'

2012-01-13T06:53:00.000-08:00

Even if you have watched the original version. Even if you hate the very sight of Vijay. 'Nanban' is definitely worth a watch. Vijay has vindicated all his fans who stood by him all these years. We all knew Vijay had consciously trended towards the less-famous commercial path after a string of flops in the likes of Vaseegara, Sachin. Both Vaseegara and Sachin were extremely feel-good films and why they failed at the box office is as mysterious as the failure of SMS. Even though producing a hit in the commercial genre is a tough thing, he became a subject of ridicule. And for that, no body other than him is to blame. He underestimated the audience, BIG TIME. His films started becoming an insult to the audience's intelligence. Only people (like me) who liked to watch Vijay on-screen were even able to watch the movie completely. Now, that number is huge in Tamil Nadu. That gave the movies a great opening and a decent run. Moderate victories made him rely more and more on this genre. And his fans started slowly deserting him. 'Suraa' is the pinnacle of all that was wrong with Vijay.

But, we - Vijay fans - still had some hope. How could a guy who gave films like Sachin, Poove Unakaga, Kushi, Priyamudan, Ghilli - lose it all? Something happened in 2010. With Kavalan, he gave a little hope. Velayutham made us sit up. And with Nanban, our Ilaya Thalabathi is back. The best thing about Vijay is that he is so casual about acting. I always liked people who didn't take themselves too seriously. Azharuddin, for instance. Viv Richards. I am talking about that 'invisible' thing you tend to 'see' in people. Be it his dancing, humour, romance - Vijay can just walk in as Vijay and do a scene with ease. You just liked watching him.

This film is a trip back to the Poove Unakaga and Kushi and Friends days. This is the Vijay we started liking on screen. Sure as glad that he is BACK!!!

Review of my reactions after "The Dirty Picture"

2011-12-02T23:01:00.001-08:00

The film works for me primarily because of the thinking that went into making it. The depth of the character. Unlike other similar films which rely heavily on the sensuality of the protagonist, this goes deep into the mind/heart of the character ‘Silk’. The entertainment arises from there. And, not from the cleavage. If it had been from the latter, I’d have never felt the sense of sympathy when Silk kills herself in the end. Having said that, the film is not without its dull moments. In fact, there are plenty. But, the moments/scenes which lay the mind/heart of Silk bare open to the audience, have done the trick.

Time to redeem

2011-08-20T20:06:00.001-07:00

I really don't know how to put it. Last year, during our Independence day, I had posted the following message on my facebook wall.

“I really envy the 1947 generation. At least, they had something ‘interesting’ to fight for”

Little did I know that exactly an year later, we’d be rewarded with a situation which comes pretty close to the ‘Defining moment’ of our lives. The actual Defining moment would be when the Parliament votes for the JanLokpal bill. As Chetan Bhagat was telling the other day in one of the innumerable discussions on TV, “the Government is facing a crisis of confidence here. Just like people tend to buy other forms of currencies (like Gold, Dollar, commodities etc.,) when they lose faith on the economy, people have lost faith on UPA-2 and have started identifying themselves with a movement started by Anna, Arvind, Bhushans and Kiran Bedi. “

What else do you expect?

I ask myself if we so strongly do not believe UPA, why did we even vote them to power for the second time.

I rewind a couple of years back and found that the situation was little different, then.

1. The world was reeling under recession. But our economy didn’t dip as expected, rather registered some growth. We had a distinguished economist as a PM and by no way, are we going to let go of him in a difficult situation like then.

2. In UPA-1, the Govt was able to bring in RTI (through much coercion by activists such as Arvind Kejriwal as I learnt later), US Nuclear Deal etc., I still remember Manmohan Singh’s speech in Parliament when he so strongly fought for the Nuclear Deal. I didn’t care whether he was right or wrong. He strongly believed in something and was articulate about it. That was enough for me to believe in him.

3. The Opposition projected Advani as a PM which didn’t strike a chord with many of us

4. Left consistently opposed the US Nuclear Deal which left us, the new generation, hate the communists. We believed that if we vote for the Left, they’d again stall the progress. That’s the exact reason we completely white-washed them in 2009.

And thus came, UPA-2 to power.

Now, the situation is completely catastrophic to say the least. We’ve got so many scams, most of them started in UPA-1. The government is arrogant. Manmohan Singh is silent. Rahul Gandhi is selective in public appearance.

Pick any guy on the street.

He is angry.

On one hand, if he gets caught in the next signal for NO reason, he has to pay 100 rupees as a bribe. And right next to the signal, there is a hoarding where Yeddy is smiling. He took it nicely, all these years. But, he can’t anymore. May be – the Government may win this round. They might not bring in our version of the Lokpal.

But I am telling you, this fight is going to last until the JanLokpal goes through.

Having said that, there is also an argument doing rounds that we, as citizens, care less about what we as individuals contribute to corruption.

-> What about the 100 rupees we pay as a bribe rather than the stipulated Rs.1300 for driving without helmet?

->What about land registration when we devalue the land so as to pay less commission/tax?

->What about downloading songs/movies illegally?

->What about encouraging piracy in almost everything intellectual. From books, CDs etc.,

->What about buying stuffs without a bill?

We, as citizens, are at an important juncture in our lives. Even if JanLokpal gets passed by the Parliament, there is still a way to bypass it and make it ineffective. Unless we promise to pay the actual fine amount; Unless we promise to demand the bill whenever we buy stuff (from tomatoes to iPods); Unless we vouch to stop piracy, this would not become a reality.

The change must come from within.

A change imposed on us is dictatorship. A change from within is Democracy.

Let’s make the word ‘Democracy’ proud.

044 - 00662 - 006638 - 00662 - 044

2011-06-01T05:10:00.000-07:00

Water, Water, everywhere!

The next day morning was as quite as I expected to be. After dragging myself from the bed to take a reluctant bath, I went straight to the hotel lobby. And as expected, there was a huge queue standing before those two stand-alone computers. I bet, at that moment, nothing in the Hotel could be as precious as those two computers. No prizes for guesses what people were doing with them! This is, really, a Facebook generation! A casual glance at the webpage each person opens first is a striking reminder as to where the world bets its money on. I mean, look at me. Ignoring my friends who were already in the restaurant for breakfast, the first thing I did once I woke up was ‘Check Facebook’. How many likes. How many comments. No. I am not proud of that fact. At all.

The previous night, Bharath informed us to wear light as it is going to be just Water Sports today. I wore those new Tees and shorts and right when the bus moved an inch from the Hotel, the goggles found their place on my face. The amount of self-confidence one gets when he knows that a particular accessory fits him is incomparable. The bus travelled a few streets and there came the beach! The Pattaya beach! As I was mentioning the other day, the Pattaya beach plays just a few meters down the main road. Unlike our Bessie and Marina. There was a motor boat ready to take us deep into the sea. After a few snaps and some quick shopping for casual slippers, we boarded the boat, travelled some 3 kilometers (with a break in between to allow us a few snaps right at the middle of nowhere) and finally reached the platform from where Para Gliding would take place.

I had done Para-Gliding before. But, I don’t exactly remember whether I was scared or not. I don’t think I was. But, I think I had the sulking feeling in my stomach. I know things would be fine. But, still. Kumaravel who first hesitated to come, later joined us, I guess. The whole thrill of Para Gliding happens in the first 10 seconds when you’d reach the specified height and in the last 30 seconds when you’d descend from that height. Rest is just sight-seeing at the 500 ft.

Underwater sea walk was next. I think I was the one who decided to go even if others wouldn’t join me. I, really, really, wanted to feel that. Slowly, one by one, the entire group became big time enthusiastic about the whole thing. I was, too. But, it was all short-lived. The moment they made me wear those heavy oxygen masks, I once again felt nervous. I am not able to interpret my character. What kind of person I am? Till I get it, I am desperate for it. And once I have it, I start building fears around it. Now that I had an audience of fourteen friends and a few fellow travelers, there was no turning back. I prayed to my stars and started climbing down the rails which would lead to the underwater sea bed. The moment my entire body came under water, I freaked out. I just didn’t know how to breath. I came up, learned from the guide as to how to exactly breath and went back once again. It was, surely, one of the best experience I’d like to cherish. If I were a school kid, I’d have written about what all I saw under water. Now that I am old enough to raise a school kid, all I noticed was who held whose hands. 

We went to the actual Pattaya beach next and spent some 2 hours there. Which obviously wasn’t enough for us. I couldn’t help but remember how the Infy gang of ours spent an entire day, I repeat – Entire Day, at Arambhol beach in Goa. ‘Bliss’ got a new meaning that day. That’s ok. This is Pattaya, right? After a Water scooter ride, we boarded the motor boat and travelled back to the city. As per our earlier strategy decision, myself and Meyyo treated ourselves with the traditional Thai Oil Massage. But we must confess that it was way below expectations. May be, we had raised the bar after the last night’s Thai massage.

The sunset happened sooner than we expected and before I could realize, it was night. We had some light dinner at the famous Hardrock café and I became real uncomfortable when JagD started taking pictures of a kissing couple. The fact that I don’t know him that well made me write about it here rather than tell him directly, then. The dinner was fine but the waiters were excellent. The attitude they had while serving us made me think that they own this place, which I am sure, they didn’t. And again, a few snaps later and an half-filled stomach, we started roaming around the neon-lit streets of Pattaya. I guess we roamed around too much that at one point, we became big time bored of that. We found ourselves a Pizza hut and settled there.

The time being 11 in the night, people slumbered. No one would have even guessed that this sleepy bunch would spend the next 4 hours right on the streets of Pattaya, with full excitement!

All because of the age old game ‘Truth or Dare’!

Lloyds Road.

2011-05-17T03:14:00.000-07:00

“Ennathu blogger-a… appa twitter-la facebook-la thappa ezhuthuteengana naanga enna panrathu?” (“You are a blogger?! What if you tarnish our image in Twitter and Facebook?”) the security standing at the gate literally pushed us out of the ADMK Office.

For a person who looks like the one who got imported from Vilathikulam day before yesterday, his knowledge on social networking sites simply stunned me.

Well, that’s what you can expect from Jayalalithaa who seems to have a better hold on the TN youth than Kalaignar (who thinks ‘Ilaignan’ is a contemporary script) and Vijayakanth (who claims that ‘Viruthagiri’ is a political thriller). My interest in visiting the ADMK Office on the day after the results were announced also stems from my belief that ADMK functionaries are generally less violent and less inebriated than their DMK counterparts. I would have never sworn to have taken a girl with me to the DMK Office.

Simply put, “It’s just not safe”.

After a few not-so-interesting photographs of the people around, the banners kept, the MGR statue and the ADMK souvenirs, we started getting restless and decided to barge in the security gate of the Office, posing as independent press. And that’s when the security person asked us some ID and we goofed the whole thing up. Standing outside the gate, hoping that we might be let in after a few minutes, we saw regular flow of Scorpios and Sumo Grandes each letting out approximately three white dhotis per vehicle. One of the three was always welcomed by a bouquet given by a random person who virtually comes out of nowhere.

“I didn’t see him, a second back” I thought to myself.

The second person is an assistant to the one who is given the bouquet and that person gives that bouquet to the third assistant who neatly disposes it off… hmm… where? Damn! I didn’t notice that.

The Madras heat prompted a gulp of Slice and Water and by then, we had lost steam. Realizing that nothing is exactly happening in this place, except for ‘people looking at people’ and ‘people looking at police’ and ‘police looking at people’ and ‘people looking at the ADMK Office’, we decided to let go off our desire to spend any more time at this place. As we left past the Lloyds road and steered our way to the Sathiamoorthy bhavan, I saw exactly 7 people at the Office.

And, next day – I read in a paper that there was a ‘Koshti Poosal’ (In-party fighting) at the Congress Office.

Within 7 people?

044 - 00662 - 006638 - 00662 - 044

2011-02-16T03:38:00.000-08:00

A night at Pattaya.

Now that you’d have read the previous part, I guess most of you would have had the wildest of dreams as to what I did with the Durex. But yeah, people who have known me quite enough would know – I’d have done nothing. I don’t have that much courage, you see.

However, I did what I planned to do.

The Thai massage which we (Meyyo, Ramesh and I) treated ourselves with, was so damn refreshing. The parlor we went to, was an extremely decent place. They even sent out an unruly customer who wanted favors from one of the girls there. Kums and JagD wanted to have a quick drink. Aravind compromised himself with a boring ‘Foot massage’. Jagadeesan didn’t want to come out of the hotel room as he said he was dead tired. I felt sad for him. He is a guy who loves to go out and experiment. And regarding the girls, I didn’t even have an inkling of an idea as to where would they be.

Immediately after we came out of the parlor, we couldn’t stop gushing about how refreshing the whole thing was. I could sense the burning stomach of Aravind who must have felt “Damn! I should have opted for the Thai massage”.

The time was around 11 in the night and the place was still young. I’ve done night tours in Goa too. But, Goa wasn’t as crowded as this place. Open bars. Live performances. Neon lights. I mean, the whole atmosphere was new to me. I had both my hands in the pocket and suddenly realized that I had the unopened Durex still in there. I smiled to myself. I didn’t want to dispose it, just yet.

And then, all of a sudden – we hit upon the girls in our gang in a hotshot market place.

“What are you doing here?” Meyyo was surprised.

“What are you doing here?” Niranjana shot back.

“We just came back from a massage” Meyyo said unapologetically. For God’s sake, his wife is right there with him. Being the ever cool guy he has always been, he’s so comfortable in his own skin. I slowly moved out of the scene as I was in no mood in joining the girls to do their ‘shopping’. I had called Kums earlier and came to know that they were at the Walking Street.

Yes. Walking Street. Shriman, my Great Lakes batch mate, gave such a big build-up about the place that it was absolutely impossible for me to avoid that.

“What’s in there!” I was just plain curious.

I turned back and motioned Meyyo to join me. No response. “Okay” I thought “He has shifted roles to being a good husband”. I could see him helping his wife do her shopping. Ah! Husbands!

After around 45 minutes and having successfully covered some 700 meters, I realized that the girls have still not done with their shopping. But, that’s OK. It gave me ample time to soak myself in the mood of the place. Before I could realize, I could feel myself gently tapping my legs to some music in some corner of some street. All the while, every 10 meters or so, some guy would come up to us and say “Ping Pong show… Boom Boom…you want to watch?”. Ramesh would stealthily look at me and say “Let’s go”. I don’t know. That thing never interested me.

Slowly, we realized that we were just walking with no specific destination in mind. Somebody suggested Dinner and everyone clung to it. It was agreed that we would find a coffee shop and have something there. The time was around 12-ish and we were shocked to find most of the restaurants closed at this hour. I mean, it’s a major tourist attraction for the whole world. How can they even think of closing restaurants at this ‘lively’ time? But the bars were mostly open. Well, that explains!

The best thing about Pattaya is – you cross the road and the beach is right there! Not like Marina where we need to walk over a kilometer to wait for the waves to touch your feet. So, we had a relaxed walk on the beach and the moment we got bored, we stepped aside to the other side of the road. We found a small Coffee shop and settled in there. Most of the gang, including me, were dead tired. But yeah, “My day wouldn’t be complete without ‘Walking Street’” I told myself. After dumping ourselves with some coffee, I dragged JagD to a corner and asked me to accompany us for a stint at the Walking Street.

Well, he was more than willing.

So, except me, Meyyo, Aravind Rao and JagD – everyone found their way back to the room. I must confess that visiting ‘Walking Street’ is a MUST for any guy. It’ll probably indicate the following:

• How much self-control you have?
• Which kind of a girl turns you ON? Or turns OFF?
• How much mature are you?

Simply because, the girls are out there on the street, soliciting your company. I mean, the ball is right in your court. It’s up to you to decide. One of the best moments for me, was when a woman gently blew the cigarette smoke on my face and asked in a husky voice “Do you want me?”. That was when I realized that tall girls turn me Off. After spending time in a bar where they allowed a free entry, we found our way back to the room at around 3.

And I don’t exactly remember when I slept.

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2011-02-09T03:23:00.000-08:00

Taste. Smell. See. Experience.

The bus took a sharp left, went past a string a Road-side food joints, Starbucks, 7 Eleven, McDonalds, KFC and then, came to a halt.

Oh yeah. Breakfast right. The time being 10-ish in the morning and the fact that we didn’t have anything at the Airport made us all extremely hungry. While one group discovered an Indian hotel, I was more hell-bent on having Thai food. What does ‘travel’ mean if you don’t experiment with yourself! That’s the thrill. When you don’t know how it’s going to taste, the moment before the stuff enters your mouth – you are like a 5 year old kid on a Window seat. Extremely excited! Few months back, I was all alone in Calcutta. And for an entire day, I survived on Road-side food. I didn’t want to miss that in Thailand. With Meyyo giving me company, I went around having my first look at a ‘road side foreign cuisine’.

Truly. It smelled bad. Really bad.

But that didn’t deter me from having Duck Egg’s Half-boil. It was OK. But yeah, it could have been better. And hotter. Scorpion. Cockroaches. Beef legs. You name it. We saw it. And everything smelled bad. After dumping myself with a Starbucks coffee and buying ourselves Local SIM-cards, we were back on the road to Pattaya. With an interesting conversation happening between Me, Meyyo, Kayako and Ramesh – we finally reached Pattaya at around noon.

Goa might qualify as the Indian equivalent of Pattaya. Hot. But not humid. Shirt-less people on motor-bikes. Bikinis. Beaches. Care-free atmosphere. Massage Parlors. And importantly, no Police. It’s very rare to find a policeman in Goa. You wouldn’t miss them, actually. That’s the point. We checked in our hotel – which was really good! Bharat was left wondering as to why this Hotel got a 60% recommender’s rating. May be foreigners have more expectations, we concluded. Almost everyone of us were dead tired and right then, Bharat announced that we have to leave the Hotel by around 2.

Noong Noch Village and Alcazar Show were planned for the evening.

‘Whatever!’ I thought.

All I was keen was - a Thai massage. That’s it. Days before I left, all my friends who have been to Thailand before warned me to not to enter India without treating myself with Thai massage. Being good friends they were, they cautioned me as well. You know, just in case the massage parlor is bad. Immediately after dumping the bags in the hotel room, myself and Meyyo went outside to have a ‘look’ at the city. Every third shop was a massage parlor and that meant, we need to be extra careful in selecting a proper one. We zeroed in on a Siam Thai Massage Parlor which was right next to our hotel. The girls there ‘looked’ decent. Meyyo and I made a gentleman’s agreement that ‘We’ll be there tonight!’.

Came back to the room, got ready and boarded the bus to Noong Noch Village. While others had a proper breakfast at KFC and at an Indian hotel, I had to survive with the Duck Egg’s half-boil and an Americano Coffee. Noong Noch village reminded me of a Chandigarh Park which we visited some 10 years back. Nothing great. There was an Elephant show. A circus replicate etc., I felt really bored. And coupled with that, I was extremely hungry. I saw that girls in our gang really enjoyed the whole thing. Obviously!

After a brief photo session at the Noong Noch village, we were back on the roads – this time, to Alcazar Show.

Honestly, I hated to go there. I mean, it’s just a show right? Yeah, It’s kind of unique because its performed by transgenders. But, what I wanted was to devour the streets of Pattaya. True exploration of a city is by walking through its streets. Knowing how it smells. Listening to what the people speak. And eating what they eat. The last thing I wanted was to spend time in a closed Air-conditioned hall where everything is rehearsed.

I pushed myself reluctantly into the hall and even compromised my center seat to Bharat who hated to sit alone in one corner of the Hall. I happily volunteered. What difference does it make, I thought!

Boy, was I wrong big time!

Let me put it in writing. Alcazar Show is the best performance I’ve ever seen in my life. It lasted for an hour, I guess. Except for the initial ten minutes, when I was still reluctant to get into the groove, I didn’t even know how time passed. It was an amalgamation of about ten to eleven songs which even included a Hindi song. And each song had an unique set up and beautifully made-up costumes. And what a choreography! There were 100’s of performers and each one was brilliant! For me, the highest point was in a song when the Princess would just glide down from the top. The melody which ensued, still fucking, haunts me. One song came after another. And I was like, what the heck! The ultimate climax came when ‘things’ which looked like Statues, started dancing.

For a person like me who gets high when Reema Sen smiles sheepishly in ‘Azhagiya Theeye’ song – this was like, marijuana on top of coke. Okay. I might be exaggerating. But yeah, the point is made.

Met the entire gang after the show and I was extremely glad when Niranjana and I felt the exact same way about the show. “Okay. I was normal. Somebody was actually as excited I was.” I thought.

Tours don’t start when you book tickets. It doesn’t even start when you arrive at the destination. Its different for different people. Actually, it starts when something strikes you from within when you least expect it. For me, that moment was when the Princess glided down from the top in the Alcazar show. And that gave me the enthusiasm to enjoy the rest of the night at Pattaya. And so, when the entire gang was slowly getting into the bus, I rushed to a nearby medical store and bought a pack of Durex.

Just in case, you know.

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2011-02-07T04:18:00.000-08:00

Confession and Others.

A train journey prepares you for the place you visit. A flight journey doesn’t. The moment I stepped out on the Bangkok Airport, I didn’t exactly feel that I have reached another country. That too, airports these days are hell-bent on giving a unified image. How do you differentiate between a Mumbai and a Bangkok Airport? You cannot, actually. As I write this, I realize that nothing in the present world is more communist than an International Airport.

Thai scripts greeted us. The gang, except Bharat, walked in an absolutely nonchalant way through the corridors. It’s a real tough job being an Organizer. You must be on top of the things, every day. Every time. I remember how, Anbuselvan, the tour organizer of our 11 day trip to Western India in 2009 used to be extremely busy on the first and last hours of the day. Unbelievable, actually.

A few snaps inside the arrival terminal and we were off to the Immigration center. I stealthily looked at my passport. “You gonna get fucked” I told her as a whisper. And she blushed. Yeah right? 5 years since she came alive. And not once, she was stamped. Right when I was having things ready to join the queue, Rao realized that he has kept the photos inside the Check-in bag.

“Anything not in the plan” – is the most desirable thing in my life. So, when the entire gang was in the queue, myself, Kayako and Rao - were just happily roaming around inside the airport trying to find out what to do to get those photos. After converting the dollars to Bahts and a photo-shop visit – we got our forms ready and joined the queue. But by then, the rest of us were ahead by a mile.

“They can’t just leave us and go. Why bother?” I told Rao. He wasn’t convinced. He really felt guilty to have delayed the whole thing. Why don’t people realize that ‘doing according to the plan’ is the most boring thing in life? I can’t believe how people can wake up at the same time everyday and do things as per the calendar. This line coming from a NCC ‘C’ cert holder and an Officer recruit of Indian Air Force is actually a big surprise. But, you know, I just can’t thank enough the Doctor who rejected me in the SSB medicals. I’d have been really bad.

Waiting at the queue for quite some time, made us discuss about ‘a thing’ which kept us (Guys) all excited before the trip began.

Sharmishtha.

OK. I have a confession to make.

The first thing I did after the list of 14 people got finalized was – went to FB and checked out who this new girl is. Checked out her photos. She looked good. But that doesn’t actually matter. What actually mattered to me was the fact that she is a Bengali. I think I am quite weird when I say ‘I have a thing for Bengali girls’. Not that I am a fan of Bips or Rani. No, not in that sense. Reading about Bengal, I got absolutely blown over by the concept by which Bengali women are raised. Even now. So, now that I get a chance to personally meet someone – I was just plain curious. But, I remember in one mail chain, Yamuna mentioned that she was not born in Calcutta.

“What?” I got turned off.

Suddenly, I realized how much a place can influence my liking for a person. The moment someone says he has studied in SRM Mech, I associate a ‘macho image’ to him. Prejudice. Prejudice.

But yeah, though I was initially interested in her – after knowing that she is not a Calcutta Bengali, I just let her go off my mind. But I did try to ‘impress her’ by sending out group mails asking for comments for my Documentary film. OK, I confessed. That ‘Bengal Association’ thing was part of the plan.

The Queue moved at its own pace and after quite a few minutes, Mumbai flight arrived. After saying a customary ‘Hi’ to Meyyo, I searched for the new girl. She looked just as in pics. Good. Sad that I wasn’t interested. Rao and Kayako lit up as they didn’t expect her to be this good. “OK. The game starts. I didn’t know who is going to win it.” I thought to myself.

My passport got her entry and so did I. We had to walk a considerable distance to find the rest of the gang cuddled up in one corner of a baggage conveyor. I just cannot afford to waste my time sitting there. Come on! So, on the pretext of finding where Meyyo, his wife and Sharmishtha are – I’d just walk up to the farthest located rest room, check my hair and come back. I did that for all the four directions. I started getting impatient as the time flew by as we still weren’t able to locate Meyyo. Suddenly, something struck Bharath and he realized that they might be waiting at Gate 10 C. We all rushed to the gate, having wasted a solid one hour.

Meyyo. There he was. As cool as ever. I didn’t bother to ask what they were doing for the past one hour. What I was actually interested at that time was to have my foot on the ‘actual’ Thailand. Airports are just ports of entry. They don’t exactly qualify as ‘foreign’ (Thanks to the film ‘The Terminal’). The tour guide was a middle-aged lady and she introduced herself as ‘Tana’. I greeted her but she didn’t respond. OK. First bulb of the day. She led us out of the airport and informed that we’ll be going to ‘Pattaya’ which is around 2 hours from the place.

A really impressive bus greeted us. I was the first one to enter the bus, took a window seat and had my goggles on. As the bus left the airport and hit the Highway, I was pleasantly surprised by the striking similarity it had with the Indian countryside.

Well. To be frank, Thailand, I realize, does not exactly qualify as a foreign location.

Review of my reactions after 'Yudham Sei'

2011-02-04T20:39:00.000-08:00

Okay. I am now sitting in my home with a computer in my lap. I see a ‘Jhoola’ in front of me, swinging at its own slow pace. The time being early in the morning and thanks to my home being in a fairly remote place, I hear birds chirping around. TV is running by my side and I am not paying attention to it. I hear a faint loud speaker voice. Probably some school sports day meeting, which happens quite frequently in this month. Maids in my home are talking to each other, and occasionally asking me to lift my legs to sweep or clean the floor. My mom just left for work, a few minutes ago and she said something, which I don’t remember now. I hear the fan running in the bedroom and my sister, I hear, has just woke up.

Now. This is the input. If this has to be made as a shot, how’d you shoot it?

‘Yudham Sei’ is not stunning in terms of story or the concept it tries to tell. In the climax, Judas says “Even half-minded people like them can make mistakes without fear, Can’t intelligent guys like us do better?”. Actually, I can feel Mysskin. He could have done away with that dialogue. I mean, he did not make this movie just to tell this line. No. He knows it’s just a line, which is bound to garner claps from the audience. But, no. He isn’t very much bothered about that. What he is bothered about, actually, is the silence which the audience gracefully provide, when a sweeper in a subway is shown cleaning the place and all of a sudden, she stops. That is what, Mysskin is interested in. If he’d been watching the movie somewhere with the audience, he’d have looked to his side and seen how the guy sitting next to him, reacts. He’d have derived a cheap pleasure if that guy got scared.

Fuck. Cinema is God.

As I drove my way back to home after watching the movie, I understood how much an individualistic person, Mysskin is. It’s not that I am blown over by the story or the acting or the realism. I’ve seen better movies than that. But, what stunned me was the style Mysskin has. The style which he is so damn proud of. And it shows. The initial introduction about my surroundings – Mysskin would have had a very interesting take to it. That’s the thing. This is the kind of a movie which qualifies for an awesome cinematic experience.

Go to Devi (Not Paradise or Kala or Bala) on a weekday night show. Go alone. Ask for G 18. That’s the exact middle seat in the theatre.

Just sit back and give your 100% to it. You might get an orgasm.

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2011-02-02T22:43:00.000-08:00

Crossing the Bay of Bengal

Yeah. I was nervous.

Not because I was travelling outside India for the first time. But because, I don’t know the procedures in the immigration center at the Airport. And I hate to be found dumb. So, I tried to put up a brave face as much as possible and copied what everyone else in my gang was doing. If they start writing something on some paper, I peek over them from behind and do the same thing. The chewing gum in my mouth served two purposes. One of them was to make me look casual.

And like hell, was I casual.

I got my boarding pass and noticed I had to sit with the same girls in our gang. I didn’t like that, a bit. I mean, it’s an opportunity to know new people (read, girls) in the Flight right? Why waste time with the same people? Not that I was not happy. But still, you know… I think, Guys get it.

Aravind got himself grilled by the Immigration authority and revealed him, his complete history and geography; including the hoarding which stands near his house. After making fun of him that the Immigration authority was in fact his 6th std class mate and they were just catching up, I rushed to the rest room, relieved myself and finally sat on the couch in the waiting aisle. I looked around and found people with a myriad expressions in their faces. Not all of them are going for a vacation right? Some are happy. Most of them have a plain face. Some think about the person who is still waiting for them in the Departure gate. Somebody just left a 2 day old kid at the hospital to report for work.

But there I was. Eagerly waiting to step on my first foreign aircraft. Thailand must be really privileged to be the first foreign nation to welcome me. I called my mom just after the boarding call was announced. ‘Indifferent’ is the word. Nobody seems to care at home. For heaven’s sake, I am going to another nation. There is no way they can reach me over phone. If I am lost, I am lost forever. But still, nobody at home – actually cared. But honestly speaking, I like the way it is. May be that’s the reason it gives me a little bit of courage to venture into unexplored things. So, whenever I am thinking – I am thinking just for myself. Not for anyone else.

Just when the 11 of us started walking towards the departure gate, I realized I don’t know how to classify the ‘feelings’ I had. Will it be the first and last time? Or is it going to herald many more to come? Just when I entered the flight with the air-hostesses greeting me, a pleasant thought crept on me.

Thai Girls. I am going to see more of you, ladies!

Once inside the aircraft, there were a lot of permutation and combinations with regards to the seats. Finally, we guys gang managed to sit together. JagD, Kums and myself were in a single row with Kayako behind us. Rao and Ramesh were some two seats in front of us. Bharat and Yamuna were seated further. With me relinquishing my seat at the front, Srikanth managed to sit with the ladies. I also noticed a lot of Thamizh people on board, who also looked like going for a vacation. And that, frustrated me. I mean, I don’t want to see the same old faces. That too, families with kids and stuff. I hate them.

Contrary to what Kayako said, there were no individual TVs in front of us. I wasn’t much bothered. actually. What interested me at that time, was the smile of one of the air-hostesses. She was wearing a cream dress with a short hair. I don’t know what’s with me and short-hair. I just go crazy. The flight finally took off and on the pretext of looking outside the window, I managed to look at two of the OK-looking girls on the side of us. One of them, actually responded. But you know, the front side didn’t impress me much. I let go of her and concentrated on the food which was served.

With Lemon chicken tasting like heaven, I slowly drifted to sleep. The moment I woke up, the flight was about to land. "So, this is it?" I thought. I am about to see the other side of my favorite Marina Beach.

Review of my reactions after 'Nandhalala'

2010-11-26T08:42:00.000-08:00

The best way you can rate a film is by measuring the number of times you think about it, after you’ve watched it.

Till now, every time I go to Kabaleeswarar temple, I remember ‘Alaipayuthey’. Every time I see a lean bike rider with his helmet on, I think about ‘Anjathey’. I read about a suicide /murder case of a young girl in newspapers, ‘7/G Rainbow Colony’ comes knocking. That is when, the product ceases to be a movie and becomes a part of you. You are never the same again. It’ll poke you, bother you. Makes you feel uncomfortable. Makes you feel good. It’ll become a part of your life, forever. It may not be the best, technically. It would have been boring while you were watching. You’d have wanted to go out of the theatre for a coffee/smoke. But then, all of a sudden, in a subtle moment, it connects with you. That’s it. The bond is made.

I am pretty much sure that ‘Nandalala’ would fall into that category. The two and half hours experience I had, would definitely come and knock my soul every time I see a school boy walking by, alone. Every time, I see random people on the roads. Every time, I read something strange in newspapers. Every time, I see people work on something that looks very ordinary.

As I write this, I realize the kind of potential, a movie as an art form, has. If I had read this story as a book, would that have made such an impact? I doubt. On the one hand, I don’t feel good that ‘Nandalala’ is actually an inspiration of a Japanese film ‘Kikujiro’. But on the other hand, I do feel a sense of gratitude towards Mysskin for having introduced this film to the Thamizh Audience. Better than copying ‘Snatch’ to make ‘Fool n Final’.

‘Nandalala’ is the film which has so many films inside. If you think that the film is about a middle-aged guy and a young boy, you’re terribly mistaken. There are as many films inside ‘Nandalala’ as as many characters in it. Even though most of the characters don’t even speak a word, the setting they are placed into; the look they give – there is so much said and unsaid, at the same time.

This is exactly the reason, why I strongly recommend this film. There is so much to learn about oneself. So much of a self-discovery to be made. Consider ‘taking this journey’ as the first step towards that.

It made sense.

2010-10-07T11:06:00.001-07:00

“You were awesome”

“Really?” I asked her. “Yeah!” she said with a big grin and cuddled with me. I drew my hands over her shoulders and brought her closer. Slowly, I started playing with her hair.

“Hey”

“Hmm...” she replied back without looking at me.

“Do you really want us to move to a separate home?”

“----------“

“Hey” I called her again. She lifted her face all of a sudden, looked at me and said “Didn’t I tell you not to raise this topic while we are at bed?” I didn’t reply. “Come on Shiva... Try to understand. Our son has started going to school!” She said angrily.

“That’s why I am saying. Won’t it be better if he is taken care by his grandma”

“But...but..she is old. What can she do?”

“Okay...forget about it. Think about us. Both of us are working. Who will take care of the house?”

“Come on Shiva...the home we are moving into is an apartment. 24 hour security. Don’t act as if you don’t know that”

What really angered me was the way she snubbed all my questions. I quietly pushed her aside, got off from the bed and lit a cigarette. I saw her crawling towards me and before I could realize, she hugged me.

“Shiva” she said in an absolutely romantic voice “Are you angry?”

“---------“

“Do you think we can have our naughty escapades whenever we want, if we stay here?”

Finally, what she said made sense.

Calcuttan Communism

2010-10-06T11:35:00.000-07:00

Burdened by the extremely hot sun, I decided to crowd under a huge tree, which was right in the corner of Park street. Being the final leg of my 3-day long Calcutta trip, I just had one place to cover.

The Indian Museum.

“Woh toh paas hi hoga” The taxi driver said before dropping me off at some random street. I had walked a considerable distance to nowhere and paused to ask a Bhel Puri wallah. When he said that I have to walk an another 15 minutes, I decided to relax a bit. I sat on a bench kept in the pavement, along with two other Calcuttans. One was wearing a Blazer and the other one had both his legs on the bench. I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and rested myself. A flurry of incidents which happened in the last 3 days fast-forwarded before me. All were conversations.

“Blue lipstick is nice-na” The conversation between a girl and a boy I overheard in the Metro.

“Mein Jharkhand se hoon” The conversation I had with a taxi driver while travelling to Maidan.

“Last train has already left” - Kalighat station master saying to me in a nonchalant way. I couldn’t help but think “What a Trip!”. To put it mildly, it had been an amazing experience for me. It was as if ‘Calcutta’ was revealing before me, whispering to my ears “See, this is what I am”. But the truth is, I am not surprised at all. This is what I thought about this City all the time. The place, where people just don’t fake their existence. In many ways, I found it extremely similar to Madras. Language centric; Conservative; Intelligent, and extremely proud of being themselves.

I was brought back to the bench by the sound of a blaring horn. I opened my eyes and had a casual look around. I noticed that right under the tree, there was a cluster of roadside shops. Bhelpuri, Pani puri, Masala Dosa, Egg roll, Chicken roll. And yes, a Lassi shop. I didn’t know that a person becomes thirsty immediately after he sees a cold drink. That too, the way a little girl, there, was drinking Lassi with her eyes straight into the bottom of the glass, made me really yearn for it. I slowly walked towards the shop and just when I was about to say “Ek Lassi....” a female voice came from my back.

“Bhayya, Ek Lassi” (“Brother, one Lassi”)

I turned back to have a look at the girl who ordered just before me. Heavy make-up. But yeah, she looked nice and rich. Being a nice gentleman I am, I just waited for her to get her Lassi. The shop-wallah, too, didn’t seem to notice me at all. He took out a Glass and right when he was about to wash it, the girl barged into the front almost pushing me aside.

“Wash it properly” she said, as if an order.

“Okay Madam”

He spent the next thirty seconds, washing the glass. In between, he raised his eyes just to confirm whether she is still looking at him. Oh Yeah. She had her eyes right on that glass.

He showed her the glass and after she was OK, he poured some curd into it.

“Aur kuch daal na” (“Add some more”), she said.

He did.

“Rose essence daal na” (“Add some Rose essence”)

“Madam, woh toh rose milk-ka hain” (“Ma’m, that is for Rose milk”) he was almost apologetic.

“Arrey Daal na please” (“Come on, do it please”) she had a smile.

“Sugar ek spoon bas” (“One spoon of sugar is enough”)

He took that machine of his and started grinding the lassi. Just when he was about to finish, he almost expected that she would say something. So, he looked up.

“Aur soft chahiye”

I didn’t realize it then that what I was witnessing there was an intrinsic part of Calcutta. The part where people feel that they have a right to demand from their fellow citizens. Nobody is ashamed of asking what they want. When does one feel ashamed? When he thinks he is in a better position and wants a favour from someone, who he thinks is in a lower strata than him. I don’t think that anybody here feel that way. Is it possible that Calcuttans have an inherent feeling that “Everybody is equal”? I do not have any other explanation for this behaviour. When I think of it now, I realized that it was not an one-off incident. None of them with whom I had a conversation, treated me as if I am the one who is going to give them money. I felt that they treated me just as they would have treated their friends. Totally nonchalant. Can this behaviour be a result of the communist ideologies they’ve been brought up with? Do they really feel, just like what Karl Marx wanted the ‘Citizens of the world” to feel ,that “Everyone is equal”?

I did not have any doubts on that when that girl, in front of me, was having one last fight with him “Nahi... Nahi...8 nahi...6 rupaiya”

And I think she paid 6.

Turn back.

2010-10-05T11:06:00.000-07:00

I never wanted to buy. But then, I just went inside, in search of the female who had cute looking tits. “No, she isn’t here” I told myself.

“You want formals, Sir?” I turned back to a question by the sales rep inside the store. I replied in negative and got out of the store. And then, I looked out.

Ah!

The Forum.

So many people. So many stuffs to buy.

The place where dreams try to meet reality. “How many of these people would have compromised for something less today?” I thought. I have always been cynical of this place. In fact, I’ve always been cynical of these damned malls. They make you yearn for something. And then, make you settle for less.

Not knowing which direction she walked away, I did a random walk around. Somehow the sales representatives rightly guess that I am not going to buy anything. They just ignore me. Just like that. I look at a few price tags. I move. I take out a decent looking shirt, pause for a moment and look at the price tag. I move. I just go round and round a few shops just because the movie I am scheduled to watch is a good 15 minutes away.

The fact that I picked out a ‘cute tit’ girl is part of the plan. How do you, then, spend time at a place like Forum? Spending money is out of question. What, then, to do in a place where everything is determined by price tags. How many fifteen rupees cane juices can you drink? Damn! Even a cane juice is 15 rupees. Can’t they think cheap?

All these random thoughts and following an unknown girl, somehow, makes spending time at, wait a second, why is that blue top coming to every shop I am going.

I turned back quickly and saw her looking at me.

Damn! I am being followed... “What has she named me?” I was plain curious.

Looking at myself from outside.

2010-06-29T11:49:00.000-07:00

Never did I believe that, one day, I’ll be writing this.

Whenever I see a good movie and, later, think about the scenes and stuff, I’d be left wondering how that particular movie would have affected the film maker as such. Did Mani Ratnam’s ‘perspective about after-marriage love change after “Mouna Ragam”? Or is it ‘his’ feeling/perspective he captured in that particular movie. I believe that a honestly made movie must be a reflection of your personality. Do not bother what kind of a person you are. In the larger set of things, it doesn’t matter. But a true artist would always want to reflect him in his art. In the process, he changes; he learns. That’s what makes the process of film making all the more attractive than the end product of ‘movie’ itself.

I don’t have words to say how fucking lucky I must be to be able to ‘quote a personal example’ for this. The fact that I am writing this is in itself a gift to me.

This incident happened some 2 months ago when I was at my Graduate school hostel. I had written a story titled “The Line” and was thinking about making a movie out of it. I decided to cast the same person (Debashish) who inspired me to write the story. But I realized that the problem would lie in communicating to him. Though Debashish claims that he knows English, it won’t be easy for me to communicate the emotions I wanted from him. That’s when I realized the handicap of a language like English in a country like ours. You need to talk to the person in a language that ‘he didn’t learn at school’ to bring out emotions. So, it was decided that I’d be talking to him in Hindi (which was still foreign to Debashish. He speaks Oriya at home) with the help of Deepak (who will play the role of protagonist).

After a slight change in plan (got to accommodate the busy schedule of Debashish, Deepak and Shriman, the cinematographer), we decided to shoot in the night. That is basically to avoid the lighting problems. We didn’t know how long would it take to shoot the movie. Had we shot in the day, we got to maintain the same lighting throughout the movie. But in the night, it’s all taken care of. There are no variations in dark, you see.

Right after 6.30 pm, the cast and crew came to my room. Unlike last time, this time I decided not to write any shooting script. As the whole story is set up in a single room, shooting script wouldn’t be necessary. I wanted the movie to be shot the way it happened. The sequential flow must be maintained to ensure I extract right emotions from my cast.

One thing I learned from my previous shooting experiences is that “Don’t advise the cinematographer on how the shot is to be taken”. This time, I wanted to engage a conversation with Shriman. Get his views. Understand his understanding of the scene and push in my views only when it is necessary. So, the first scene where I have to establish the role of the protagonist, I just told what the protagonist’s character is all about.

Lazy. Unkempt.

Okay. “How do you want to take it?” I asked. He started thinking. Yes. That is what I want from him. He has the camera. He knows where the light source is. He knows what looks good. My role as a Director is to just give him a vision. I realized it was so easy to write. But it’s difficult to show. See. You just write what you wanted to say. It’s very difficult to translate that into a shot. May be it’s because most of what I write is what I think and not what I do.

I left Shriman to himself while I started making the room look untidy. The room being mine, I didn’t have to do much. I engaged a conversation with Debashish about his personal life. He said he is from Bhubaneswar and when I said I’ve been there just recently, he quipped that his home was in a village around 1 hour from Bhubaneswar. Right now, he lives in Anupuram, a place 3 km from our college. I volunteered to drop him off if shooting gets late.

“Shiva” Shriman called me. “Yeah” I turned back to look at him checking the rehearsal shots he has taken. He showed how the scene would look. I was convinced.

So, that’s how the first scene was taken.

Shriman has always been the first person I discussed about, the movie I was going to make. I know we have lost touch after our graduation, but I’ll always cherish the photo shoots we went together with his brand new D80 in the half-built college. We found new locales and shot things afresh. I realize now that that is when we started striking a chord. He liked taking pictures. And I liked telling him what looked interesting. We made our first movie together for our college’s admission process. Though the movie did not end up as we expected, it was an awesome learning experience for us. The second movie was less interesting for him but not for me. I was handling “crowds” for the first time. He never complained about how late I called in the night or how badly planned the shoots were. He just replies with a nod.

Shriman, if you are reading this, a big thanks!

Okay. Back to this one. Slowly, we started shooting and everything went as expected. But yeah, not yet.

We arrived at the climax scene where Debashish has to explain Deepak why the latter shouldn’t feel guilty. If you have read this blog till now, I hope you found this piece interesting. And now, I suggest you read this story to actually understand what I am going to say any further.

I hope you did.

So, yeah. Debashish has to explain Deepak why he shouldn’t feel guilty about helping him. Even after many takes, Debashish wasn’t able to bring out the emotions I wanted. I started talking to him about the scene and why it is there. I thought that by giving a background of the intentions behind writing that story, I could bring in the emotions. Though he always nodded, I didn’t think he connected with me. He had to say a dialogue something similar to “Don’t feel bad seeing me. Even I feel the same way seeing people begging on roads”

Deepak said why don’t you act it for him. I said OK and readied myself.

After a few seconds, I started putting myself in Debashish's shoes and tried to utter that dialogue. That’s when I found how fake the dialogue was. That was the moment I felt both terrible and proud.

Terrible because I faked in the story. Proud because I was able to discover it during the making of it.

When I go back and think why I wrote that particular ending for that story, I realize it’s because I basically wanted to convince myself that I shouldn’t feel guilty seeing him. There I was, wasting a life which has given me opportunities to help others and myself. And right next to me, every evening, a boy comes to my place and fucking cleans my room. He cleans my room! He is a glaring mirror of how bad I am. So, subconsciously, in order to save myself from the feeling of guilt, I had written an ending where that particular boy himself says to me to not to feel guilty. He says it’s all fine. He says social discriminations are bound to happen in this society and don’t feel bad about it.

To fuck with that!

Actually, he is not the one who says that. It’s ME talking to myself. I am just consoling my ego.

And right when I was in his position to act it for him, I realized how fake it is. He is suffering and I HAVE to feel guilty that I am not using my opportunities completely. There is no escaping that feeling.

Even though I felt extremely guilty that moment having written a fake ending like that, I was too proud and happy to realize that I actually discovered myself during the process of film making.

The Line.

2010-04-03T10:03:00.000-07:00

This is just a story.

The Line.

I was checking out the last set of porn videos got from my friend’s hard disk and just when I was about to adjust my briefs, came a knock on the door. I decided not to curse that person, bearing in mind the fact that I had to get up anyway. I stood up and by the time I reached for the door, I kind of guessed who must be in the other side.

Housekeeping guy.

We have separate cleaning schedules for each hostel block and now that the time is 7.35, it must be my block.

I walked to the door, a good 50 seconds after I heard the knock. I know that guy would be waiting outside, looking at ‘something’ in the air. ‘Opening the door’ is an easy job for me but the next part is not. “Looking at his face”. Generally, I open the door and come back quickly to my bed pretending that I am doing something very important. But I knew that guy would look at me. I have felt his look on my face. I don’t know what he must be thinking. Won’t he have thought that there he is, 16 year old guy, who must be studying in a proper school in Orissa, is out here cleaning a schmuck’s room? I don’t know what that guy must be thinking, but he makes me feel only one thing.

Bad.

I, sincerely, wait for the 10 minutes of cleaning session to end as quickly as possible. But...but... that guy likes talking to me. The moment he comes to my side asking me to raise my legs so that he could sweep below, he asks this question daily with a smile in his face “Sir, classes hua kya? (Sir, have the classes gotten over?)”

And every time, I find it extremely difficult to reply to that question with a smile. I answer him looking at my computer, as though I am fucking busy on something. But only I know I am too damn afraid to look at his face. That ‘school-boy’ face which likes to talk about classes. This is social discrimination at its worst. I am in the 5th level of Maslow’s hierarchy table thinking what job ‘defines’ me as a person. And right opposite to me, is a kid, a school kid, working for the first level in that hierarchy table.

“Hmm” I reply as usual.

“Yeh chahiye sir? (Sir, Do you want this?)” he asks pointing to something in his hand. It was some exam answer sheet. “Nah” I reply and bring my face back to the computer.

Something struck me that instant and I asked him “English pata hai? (Do you know English?)”

He replies in affirmative. To my question of how good he is in that, he says he can read, write and speak pretty well. And all of a sudden, the noblest part of me woke up and I looked at his face. Straight.

“Padna chaatha hai? (You want to study?)” I ask him.

A Pause.

Now, it’s his turn of not looking at my face.

He continues sweeping the floor and answers “Haan sir... Padna chaahta hoon (Yes Sir. I want to study)”. I, then, start thinking as if I am some godfather and when I was about to tell him that I will take care of his studies, comes a reply.

“Mahar, mera family Orissa mein hai... usko paisa chaiye” (But my family in Orissa needs money)

“You can study and work” I tell him without even thinking for a second what that means.

He smiles back and says “Practical bolo sir... (Be Practical, Sir)”

And I started to regret that I initiated this conversation. Now, he is making me feel very bad.

I talk rubbish for the next three minutes clearly knowing that the ‘gyan’ I am giving him is not going to work in practice. Thankfully, he hears me out patiently thus not hurting my ego. He looks at me intensely for a few seconds after I gave that ‘speech’, smiles slowly and asks “Sir, mujhe dekh kar aapko bura ho raha hai kya? (Sir, Do you feel guilty seeing me?)”

WHAT THE FUCK! He hit the nail straight on my head. “Yes, Guilty is the word” I tell to myself.

“Kya? Aisa nahi (No. It’s not like that)” I tell him unconvincingly.

“It’s OK Sir. It’s not just you. Even the person in the next room said the same thing a few weeks back. The fact is that you all feel guilty seeing me. Even I feel the same way looking at children begging at streets. People who are above you (i.e) people who studied in better colleges than yours feel the same way about you.”

“WHAT?” I was completely taken back.

“There is nothing to feel bad about Sir” He gives out his housekeeping check sheet for me to sign. “Each individual has a line associated with him at different times of his life. Your happiness gets decided depending on which side of the line you are in then. Above or Below. Your line, right now, may be a combination of a job, a car, a house, a beautiful girl. Few years hence, it would be a nice school for your kid, big promotion et al. For me, right now the line is whether I am helpful for my family. And I am happy that I stay above my line. Do not get too worried about helping me. I can see that you want to help me with a feeling of guilt in your heart. Your eyes say that. Do not feel guilty. If at all you want to help, help with a smile in your face. But do remember that you need not feel superior or inferior to me. It’s just that your line and my line are different.

Somehow, the past thirty seconds of me listening to him made me feel extremely light. As if somebody used a big brush to clear my conscience. I ask him, this time with a small smile “How much are you sending home monthly?”

After Effects.

2010-03-05T09:45:00.000-08:00

“Ice cream?”

“No. You want, you buy it”

“You are the one who usually wants it when we come here” She was walking fast towards the beach. As if she doesn’t want that conversation.

“OK” I thought. One more fight in the offing. But somehow, this time I felt more confident of myself. Not in the “I can do attitude” type of confidence. Confident that I’d win this argument. It must have been at least hundreds of arguments we’d have had in the past 2 years of our love life. Right from the last day of our college (the day I proposed to her) till this moment. Today I feel much more confident. Don’t know why.

“Why are you running?” I shouted at her. I can take this liberty. Why not? There are not too many people at this hour. 3 PM. The time considered “un-romantic” by the general public. But you must ask lovers like us to know what that “time” actually means. See, you take her to the morning show. And then to a non-vegetarian restaurant. Then, to an ice-cream parlour (probably near the beach). She is, by all means, drugged by a romantic film, biriyani and an ice cream. So, there is a one hundred percent chance that you’d get a kiss. That too on your lips.

We don’t take decisions just like that. It has reasons.

She didn’t answer my question. She was walking fast. I tried to catch up with her. In vain.

And then she stopped, looked back at me and sat.

I heaved a sigh of relief and shouted again “What happened to you?”

Silence again.

I reached her, gathered my breath and just when I was about to sit, she brought this ultimately angry look in her eyes and asked “Why did you whistle and clap in that Simbhu Trisha break up scene?”

“What?” I was absolutely taken aback. For a second, I couldn’t even get what I was hearing.

“What are you talking about?” I asked her in absolute disbelief.

“You heard me” came a stern voice.

And then it struck me. Loud and clear. Everything started to make sense. She didn’t order an extra plate of Chicken 65 which we usually have. She didn’t talk much in the second half. She didn’t press herself against me in the bike. And to top it all, she didn’t want an ice cream.

Everything started making sense.

I didn’t know how to react. The first reaction which was about to come on my face was a smile. But, No! Smile is dangerous right now. Cannot risk it. But I do not want to fake my emotions. I don’t feel guilty. I mean, what did I do wrong? That was a very good scene, right?

“I asked you something” She wasn’t looking at me anymore. She was counting the number of ships in the sea, probably.

“Eh, hmm, umm, huh?” nothing English came out of my mouth.

“You liked that scene right? You have that kind of notion about girls, don’t you?”

“What are you talking about? That’s just a scene in a movie”

“It is not. I know about you. May be, for others it’s just a scene in a movie. But for you, it is never that way”

This angered me a bit but still I didn’t show it in my face. I am yet to get today’s quota of her kiss. So in a controlled manner, I brought this pleasant look in my face and said “See, I know what you are getting at. First of all, you are not Jessie. She is a confused girl. You are not”.

“But you said in the first half that I am like Jessie” she shot back.

“See. That was in the first half”

“But, that’s the same girl” she looked at me this time.

I was shocked. She was crying. “Hey, come on” I said, trying to hug her.

“Don’t you dare touch me” She shouted back at me and wiped her tears away.

“OK, I won’t. See, you are not as bad as Jessie. Jessie is an ultimately confused girl. How can you even think of comparing yourself with her?”

“I did not. You did. You are the one who said it”

“Enough” I said to myself. I was getting irritated. “Yes, I told that. There is nothing wrong, OK. I said what I felt like saying. You are free to form your own views”.

A gap of silence ensued.

“You know what? I don’t even regret clapping on that particular scene. I didn’t tell you what happened to Vikram. That ECE guy. Shakthi dumped him the exact same way” I didn’t want to say this to her. But I said.

That’s it. She stood up and said “OK Shiva. Good bye”

“Fuck” I said to myself. As expected, she started walking away from me. Angered by the fact that I didn’t have today’s quota of kiss and also by the fact that I have to spend around 5 hours in the night talking over phone to bring her back to normalcy, I had nobody but one guy to curse for everything that has happened in this afternoon.

Goutham Vasudev Menon.

“Why did you do this to me, Gouti” I was pleading.

“Hey stop!” I shouted amidst the sound of the MRTS train in the Triplicane station. And then it struck me. Like a Flash. As if Goutham himself told this to me in my ears.

I ran towards her, held her hands, took her to my side and looked at her eyes.

“You are as beautiful as Jessie” I thought of telling her but in the end, I didn’t.

As both of us were gathering our breaths, with “Omana Penne” song as the background, I kissed her on her left cheek; her right cheek; on her fore head; on her left eye; on her right eye. And after a pause, on her lips.

“I love you, you know that” I said to her as if a whisper.

She looked at me. The look for which I am ready to fight innumerable arguments with her. “I am sorry” I said. “I am sorry too” She smiled back at me after a few million years.

Right then, I had nobody but one guy to thank.

Goutham Vasudev Menon.

For providing both the problem and the solution.

Review of my reactions after 'Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya'

2010-02-28T12:05:00.000-08:00

I have literally lost count of the number of movies I watched in the last few weeks. Still, I just couldn’t spend some time in this blog to let others know my views of those movies. Call it pure laziness! Now at this untimely hour, I really wanted to start off anew. And what a movie to start off with?

Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya – Will you come down from the skies?

The movie which was announced an year back (a few days after A.R.Rahman bagged his Oscar) grabbed my attention for two things. The title of the movie which was taken from the lyrics of my favourite A.R.Rahman song. That particular line always gave me some kind of a high (even though I didn’t have a G.F, I used to think I had one when I sang this). Second, teaser pictures of Trisha. With those crisp saris and that subtle smile, she is still donning my desktop for a long time now.

And now, after watching this movie, I feel there is more to this film than just A.R.Rahman and Trisha. You know what a good film would do to you? It takes you as close to the characters as possible. So close that you start to think like them. This one hits the target bang-on. After arriving at the theatre 10 minutes late, it didn’t take even a minute for us to identify ourselves with Karthik. Simbhu, needless to say, is a revelation. I am sure even he’d feel surprised to see himself act like this. Those one-liners were delivered with real precision.

I seriously wonder how this movie was made. See, usually movie makers finish all the scenes in a particular setup and then move on to another set up. For example, suppose there are five scenes inside Jessie’s house. Irrespective of whether those scenes would come in the beginning or end, all the scenes would be shot in that house. This is usually done to reduce cost. But the disadvantage is that, the actors find it difficult to emote. Assume, Simbhu has to feel excited to see Jessie for the first time. That could be the first scene. And the last scene could be at the same house where Simbhu has to feel anger/hate for her. That’d be really difficult for him to cope with this change. But, in this movie, I seriously think that this movie was shot as how the story unfolds. There is an unmistakable continuity in Simbhu and Trisha’s emotional changes.

I find it frustrating when few of my friends (very few) say that technically and story-wise, they did not find anything extraordinary. But why the hell should it be extraordinary? This is a very simple love story told mostly through close-ups, music and dialogs. There is absolutely no need of a technological extravaganza. In fact, I am happy that Gowtham Menon stuck to a V.O rather than non-linear narration (which seems to be the trend these days). Coming to the cinematography, I’ve told in my earlier blog (about ‘Eeram’) that Manoj would go great heights and he has proved me stupendously right.

It is a sin to talk about A.R.Rahman’s music. I really want to have a peek into this guy’s mind. How come he is so romantic? I mean, did he really feel the way how a guy would feel when his girl confessed her love to him? How the heck could he score the music for the song “Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya”? I mean, its un-fucking-believable!

Jessie. Jessie. Jessie. Man, if there is one wish in my life, it is to just hold Jessie in my arms. That’s all! I don’t even want to kiss her (Though I actually want to ). I just want to hold her. Her confused character, her voice (Chinmayye, you rock!), her dress, hairstyle, her smile, I mean I am becoming like the second Prashanth in the movie ‘Jeans’. I simply can’t come to terms that ‘Jessie’ is not there, actually.

What I liked most about the movie was “the side” which Gowtham took to narrate the story. Except Minnale, in all his movies, he has taken the feminine stand of narrating a love story. Here, he took Karthik’s stand and that has bloody worked wonders. You just must be inside the theatre to hear all those whistles and claps when those one-liners come. Welcome back to home ground, Mr. Gowtham Menon! I generally tend to hate this guy. Not because I didn’t like VV, PKMC and VA that much, but because this man insulted Actor Vijay. I didn’t like his way of exposing to public what Vijay told him in private. So, the evil side of me secretly prayed that VTV proves to a dud. But I am so glad to be proved wrong because this person presented me his best after ‘Minnale’. There were so many days when we friends used to talk about how good ‘Minnale’ was and why Gowtham didn’t make something like this again. ‘Minnale’ released in my first year of college and what a spirit it created. The spirit which livened up the next 4 years. I am damn sure VTV would do the same to the current first year students.  I really felt jealous after seeing those herds of students with their backpacks thronging the theaters.

Hmph!

I have only one word to say to Gowtham after this movie.

Thank you for this movie!

I can hear him saying “No. The pleasure is mine”.

Review of my reactions after '3 Idiots'

2009-12-29T11:21:00.000-08:00

Yeah. I broke down at the climax of Taare Zameen Par when Ishaan sees his portrait drawn by Prof. Nikhumbh. But, the ending didn’t actually convince me. Why was it shown that Ishaan secured the first prize in the drawing competition? Why did the maker ‘again’ insist on success? Right from the start, ‘Taare Zameen Par movie, so beautifully talked about ‘not being best’ is not a bad thing and one should accept mediocrity. But the ending turned me off. Following is the alternative ending I wrote for Taare Zameen Par two years back.

"Screenplay starts,

Ishaan is sitting on the corner in the amphitheatre. He is looking sad, but does not cry (of course, he has seen worse than this).
All the students and teachers leave. Aamir walks up to him – Smiles at him and sits beside him.

ISHAAN
(in a very low voice, with his head down)
I tried my best…I dint win…

AAMIR
(with a firm voice)
Did u put in your maximum effort?

ISHAAN
Yes

AAMIR
Then?

ISHAAN
But…but…all of them u told..Einstein..Abhishek…they won rite?..

AAMIR
Ishaan…don’t bother about winning…don’t bother about beating anybody…beat yourself..Was this painting better than your previous painting? Did you dedicate yourself completely to this painting?. Did u put in your maximum possible effort to this painting? Ishaan…this is important…Winning is not

The background score of Kholo Kholo opens slowly….A pause in the frame….

Ishaan lifts his head up—looks at Aamir and smiles at him….

ISHAAN
Yes, I loved my work….I love my painting…

(FULL VOLUME OF KHOLO KHOLO song beat…)

--THE END—

Screenplay ends"

Now I am happy that ‘3 idiots’ talks exactly about the same thing which was mishandled in ‘Taare Zameen Par’. Excellence is more important than Success. The movie has been really well made. What to say about Aamir? This guy has been consistently associated with good scripts ever since ‘Sarfarosh (1999)’. Either he is intelligent or god damn lucky. May be both, I guess. Overall, I am waiting for this movie to be remade in Thamizh as the Thamizh audience HAVE to watch this movie WHATSOEVER.

Review of my reactions after 'Avatar'

2009-12-23T22:18:00.001-08:00

Watched Avatar in 3D. A very good movie, it was. The movie was something which I saw for the first time on screen. Cameron has actually upped the ante for the future filmmakers. The fact that $ 1.2 billion was spent on this flick proves how convincing Cameron must have been when he did the sales pitch for his movie. Many of my friends, colleagues and movie reviewers were saying that ‘Avatar’ has to be appreciated for the ‘creativity’ thing of Cameron. I, actually, beg to differ on that aspect. Anybody can be creative. But the courage and vision one must possess to bring it on screen must be appreciated more than the ‘creativity’ stuff itself. Cameron must be really appreciated for this.

P.S: Loved the references Cameron made to US govt’s war on Iraq with the dialogue ‘We’ll fight terror with terror’. Great job Cameron!
P.S 2: Read an article where it said that it is a sheer coincidence that ‘Avatar’ released on the week when Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen was underway.

Review of my reactions after 'Vettaikaaran'

2009-12-19T10:09:00.001-08:00

Liked it.

Jeeva and Adam Smith

2009-12-18T23:05:00.000-08:00

No. They aren't related to each other. Neither are their ideas.

But what relates both of them is the fact that I happened to read the ideas of both of them in quick succession.

One talked about how 'self-interest' is important for a nation to prosper. And the other, talked about 'taking everybody with you'.

Once, in a guest lecture at Great Lakes, an eminent personality quipped that how every MBA graduate is, invariably, a capitalist. Yeah right? What else do you expect? MBA grads vie for roles whose one of the job descriptions is to reduce cost (which also turns out to be the workforce). Every MBA grad wants to be in a job which helps reduce his/her company's bottom line (i.e) expenses column in the P&L statement.

This effectively means that you HAVE to be a capitalist by nature. You believe that, by promoting your (company's) self interest, you are doing your 'best' to the nation. I wouldn't have done this if I am a communist. An MBA, who also happens to be a communist (a very rare combination), would have discovered/invented other ways of reducing cost.

But who would be more effective? I am sure, it will be the capitalist.

By the way, can't a person be both a capitalist and a communist? I am reminded of the movie "Wall Street". Gordon Gekko wouldn't have gone to the jail if he had followed the laws of the land. Actually, his intentions are right. Greed, is in fact, GOOD. But, he failed to follow the laws of the government.

This instance takes me to another view point. That is, the government has to be communist. It must frame laws so that the common man is protected. But, the market must be a 'free market'. The government must not tell the companies 'what to produce', 'how much to produce' and 'how much to price it'. The suppliers and the consumers MUST decide that. Not the government.

This effectively means - A communist government and a capitalist market. May be, this combination would work.

Hey wait! Isn't this the format of present day China?

Review of my reactions after 'Rocket Singh: Salesman of the year'

2009-12-15T00:09:00.000-08:00

A big fight erupted in the middle of Citi-Centre when Gobi and I vouched for ‘Rocket Singh’ and Niranjan for ‘2012’. Eswar remained calm as he was more bent on going home to have a nice sleep before going for the 6 am shift. “Come on Eswar” Gobi shouted “4 hour sleep is enough”. But no. He wouldn’t hear.

Ultimately, we succeeded in dissuading Niranjan from arguing for ‘2012’ by making 3 points.

1. 2012 is crap (This was a lie. We both loved it. But the thing is I and Gobi had already seen it)
2. Good reviews for ‘Rocket Singh’ (The effect of the so-called expert reviews is very blatant)
3. Ranbir Kapoor (Gobi and I watched APKGK on the first day actually to have a feast of Kats. But, Ranbir really impressed us with his non-intrusive acting)

Eswar, who was listening to this conversation all along, decided to join us after all. Aah! Power of convincing.

The guy in the box-office counter of Sathyam said that he watched ‘Paa’ and was blown over. ‘I don’t know about Rocket Singh’ he said when we asked how the movie is faring. So, with absolutely no expectations (I don’t believe reviews. I use it only as a tool to further my opinion), I sat in the theatre.

To make things clear, it is NOT a mind blowing movie. It isn’t the one which strikes you on your face. In fact, take the title credits. A very simple household shown with a pleasant background score. The first scene where Ranbir was shown looking at his University scores is a classic example. Score – 38.72. Just pass. Contrary to what you’d have expected (Pumping his fists in the air etc.,), Ranbir doesn’t go overboard. He looks at the score for a few seconds and a very very very small smile creeps in his face. I smiled after seeing him smile.

I think the point is made.

I realized that I was there to watch something which is very close to the hearts of Jaideep Sahni (Writer) and Shimit Amin (Director). There is so much life into the movie that you might feel bored some times. Come on guys, life is indeed boring at times.

I think I’ll end up describing each and each every favourite scene of mine. But I don’t want to spoil the movie experience of yours. Go ahead and treat yourself with this movie. It is a very rare one, you’ll realize.

Media in Tamilnadu

2009-12-10T20:01:00.000-08:00

What came as a jolt for me yesterday morning was the news that those who were accused in the murder of three employees of Dinakaran's Madurai office were acquitted. Reason - All the witnesses turned hostile.

I do not want to express my emotions on how I feel because it's totally unexplainable. 'Angry' would be a gross understatement.

Now, why is that a BMW murder case, Jessica Lal murder case and Manjunath murder case gain so much importance in the national media and this one does not. Why is this discrimination by the national media such as NDTV and IBN Live on Tamilnadu? The reason why we, Tamilians, look up for those media powerhouses is because our own state media is FUCKED UP to say the least.

Pardon me the language, but that is how it is. As some famous film personality said about a talk show - News channels in Sun TV, Kalaignar TV and Jaya TV are involved in masturbation. Self pleasure. They never care to show case the real issues. All they are concerned is what their so-called leader (Actually, the financier of the TV channel) is doing.

In this respect, I am actually jealous of my North Indian friends who have got at least a decent media. Oh yeah, media goes overboard at times. But, that is part and parcel of the game.

Hope the news channels start taking events in Tamilnadu more seriously.

Just like that...

2009-12-07T02:28:00.000-08:00

Sunny day - ECR - Bike ride - 90's A.R.Rahman and 80's Ilayaraja in the iPod -> Bliss.

Review of my reactions after 'Yogi'

2009-11-30T02:07:00.000-08:00

Okay. What sold the movie 'Yogi' to me? What made me to urge my friends to watch this one?

1. Visuals - I generally like 'greyish-green visuals'
2. Set up - Trailer hinted that the movie is set up in Madras.
3. Yuvan Shankar Raja - Of late, Yuvan has been constantly associated with decent movies. So, I just believed him blindly even though I didn't hear a single song from the film.
4. Ameer - I just thought this guy would not be stupid enough to waste his time in a movie directed by the Director of 'Thiruda Thirudi'. No offence to that movie. I actually liked it. The thing is Ameer is capable of making a far better film than him. There is an opportunity cost involved, you see.

All these factors made me book tickets.

But, the movie had other plans for me.

The initial scenes at a local hotel looked promising. But as and when the story progressed, I sensed that there wasn't anything new which the Director was trying to tell us.

I liked the way few scenes were shot. The things which strike me now are the ones shot on the building where the four characters were shown (Back-lit) talking about their future.

Songs looked ok-ok. But not even a single song remained with me after the movie got over. Come on, you can't blame Yuvan. May be he couldn't really connect to the character and the scene. As a music director, how'd you differentiate between the characters in 'Katrathu Thamizh' and 'Yogi'?

Overall, I regretted dragging my friends and myself to the movie. I am not interested in sharing the story as this one is just a review of MY reactions after the movie. And not a movie review. I don't believe in reviewing movies because I respect the kind of hard work a person puts in making a movie. And I don't want to be the guy who happens to 'own a computer' and 'has time' to write something to degrade a movie.

After all, movies are personal things. Just like books. Some may like. Some may not. I've known people who even hated 'Minnale'!!! Now, beat that!

Surprised by myself.

2009-11-25T06:53:00.000-08:00

This is one of the very few instances when I got utterly surprised by myself. Bowing down to peer pressure (Great Lakers are bringing home lots and lots of prizes), I also wanted to participate in at least one of the competitions.

The below write-up is for one such competition conducted by IIFT. I just got internally motivated to give my best to it. So, I spent a solid 6-7 hours on the net and a few hours on the newspapers and came up with this. It is a collection of information from so many sites on the net. I couldn't mention most of them in the references.

At last, when I completed it and did a proof-reading I was really amazed. Did I really write this? Never ever I realized that I was able to pull this one about banks and stuff. Well, thanks to the peer pressure and the basic economics from Dr. Rakesh Singh, here I am. And yeah, this one didn't win any prize. But, does it matter? :-)

RBI’S DUAL ROLE -- WAY TO GO OR A CASE TO METAMORPHOSE

Institute : Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai
Team Name : HereItIs
Participant : Sivakumar T
E-mail Id : sivakumar.thiyagarajan@greatlakes.edu.in; siva.storyteller@gmail.com
Contact no : +919840132998

RBI’S DUAL ROLE – WAY TO GO OR A CASE TO METAMORPHOSE

Setting the pace...

Ever since Reserve Bank of India (RBI) was set up in 1935 through the provision of Reserve Bank of India Act 1934, the role of this central bank has been gaining monumental importance. The bank plays a very crucial part in shaping up of the Indian economy.

Initially, RBI was supposed to perform three important functions through its departments - Banking, Issue and Agricultural Credit. Acting as a banker to the Government of India (GoI), Issuing currency notes and lending credit to farmers. Fast forward to 2009 – RBI is not only handling 26 different functions but also advises the Government on a wide range of economic issues including those in the field of planning and resource mobilization.

Apart from playing a decisive role in the economic policies of the country, RBI also contributes significantly to the international community by playing important roles in Bank for International Settlements (BIS), Committee on Global Financial System, the Markets Committee, and the International Liaison Group under the aegis of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS).

Having made the point, the RBI success story is not without hitches. To handle the responsibility of managing the monetary situation in the fourth largest economy in the world is not an easy task. Conflicts of interest are bound to occur. One such conflict is what this paper is trying to address.

What’s the conflict?!

The preamble to the Reserve Bank of India Act , 1934 (which set up the RBI) says that the purpose of RBI is “to regulate issue of Bank notes, to keep the reserves with a view to securing monetary stability in India and generally to operate the currency and credit system of the country to its advantage”.

Compare it with the following functions which RBI performs now.
(a) Issuer of currency notes
(b) Monetary authority
(c) Manager of Foreign Exchange reserves
(d) Regulator and supervisor of banks and Non-banking financial companies (NBFCs)
(e) Manager of the capital account of the Balance of payments
(f) Debt manager for central and state governments
(g) Manage the bank customer’s grievance redressal scheme

Many other functions are not listed on account of triviality. It is worthwhile to note that RBI as a central bank has been modelled on the basis of Bank of England.
RBI sets short-term interest rates, trades on the currency market, raises money for the government, regulates banks and NBFCs, regulates fixed income markets and runs the bond market. Clearly, most of these functions conflict with each other. The conflict of interest in its role as the banker to the government and the setter of interest rates is the most prominent conflict of all.

To function as an efficient debt manager and raise money for the government, RBI has to keep the interest rates low and hence, minimize borrowing costs. This would result in the increase in the sale of bonds and hence, more money to the government. On the other hand, lowered interest rates would imply rising inflation. This would warrant the interference of the monetary policy management arm of RBI, which on account of maintaining a tight monetary policy raises the interest rates.

Debt Management Office (DMO)

So, will separating the Debt management arm from the RBI solve the problem? This is the question to be addressed.

The latest announcement 7 (14th July 2009) of GoI is to create an independent office for debt management and thus divest RBI of this duty. The finance ministry had proposed a bill to setup a Debt Management Office (DMO) which would function independent of the finance ministry and the RBI. This Office will decide the amount of bonds to be floated each year, the coupon price, the tenor of the papers and their periodicity. Countries such as UK, US, Brazil, Sweden and Portugal already have separated Debt management from the purview of their central banks. In US, debt management is handled by the Treasury department while the monetary policy is dealt with by the Federal Reserve Bank.

All said and done, will this work?

There are two sides to constituting a separate Debt Management Office (DMO). Let us hear what the advocates of DMO have to say.

They claim that,

(a) This move will remove the conflict of interest in RBI’s role as a banker to GoI and as a setter of interest rates. Obviously!

(b) Being a regulator of Banks, RBI – responsible for selling bonds – indirectly forces the banks to buy government bonds. This, in turn, hurts the banks’ financial structure.

(c) Few economists say that given the size of debt issuance (Debt to GDP ratio of 90 percent) in this country, setting up of DMO is natural.

(d) By having a separate DMO, we could arrive at a full database of all the liabilities of GoI and thus can be used for risk management and optimization of the financial burden of the government.

(e) DMO will provide RBI the autonomy for inflation control regardless of the Government’s fiscal policy.

(f) With both Debt management and monetary control at its armoury, RBI can even act as an impediment to the development of a vibrant bond market. For example, market is bound to guess whether an interest rate cut or a reduction in CRR is a signal of higher government borrowings. Government borrowings should not influence the monetary action or the vice versa.

Then, where’s the problem?

Few economists and former RBI officials such as Rakesh Mohan claim the following as reasons against setting up of DMO

(a) With the demands of the government’s net borrowing programme set at Rs 3,97,957 crore this fiscal (around 6% of GDP) , which is 52% more than in 2008-09, this is not the right time to separate Debt Management from RBI. In fact, the then Finance Minister Yashwanth Sinha and the then RBI Governor Y.V.Reddy had acquiesced to set aside DMO unless fiscal deficit was reduced. Economic Advisory Council (EAC) had projected a fiscal deficit of 6.8% of the GDP in the current fiscal even after achieving the current Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) targets. So, with such a large fiscal deficit, there is a need for consistency in fiscal and monetary management which can be achieved by RBI alone.

(b) Technically, Interest rates and monetary control are still intertwined. Statutory Liquidity ratio (SLR) which is an important parameter in the functioning of the bank will be higher unless the fiscal deficit is reduced. SLR is a monetary policy instrument and it ensures participation of banks in the Government Securities (G-Secs) market. So, debt management, bank regulation and monetary control remain intertwined.

(c) Suppose RBI cedes control of DMO, this might result in increased political and governmental interference in the affairs which RBI clearly doesn’t want.

(d) Synchronising debt issuance and foreign exchange intervention in a situation of volatile capital flows will be a problem if the Debt management is separated from RBI.

(e) By moving the DMO under the purview of the Finance ministry, there would be a conflict between Government’s role as a debt manager and as an owner of a majority of banks. The ministry can then force the PSU banks to buy G-Secs in auctions and thus distort the microstructure of the government securities. Though it has been argued that with ever decreasing global interest rates, higher yield of G-securities is anyways attractive, it is important to note that the Tarapore committee had recommended privatization of banks before setting up of a DMO.

(f) RBI’s role in developing G-secs by coordinating through both institutional and market development activities including diversification of debt instruments, development of derivatives and widening of the investor base is still required.

(g) In consequence to the Twelfth finance commission, RBI is the debt manager for State Governments also. As the issuance of State Debt has increased, separating the RBI from Debt management complicates the problem as synchronising state and central borrowing will be difficult

So, what’s finally?

There are both upsides and downsides to the setting up of a DMO. Though the argument against setting up looks strong, it must be noted that those people never wrote down the efficacy of a DMO. They have just mentioned about the gross inadequacies in the system and timing of the setting up of DMO as pain areas. If US, which has a fiscal deficit of about 12.8% of GDP has set up a DMO, India must also take steps towards that direction. Yes. Fiscal Deficit is a problem. But, at some point of time, we would need a separate entity to handle this conflict of interest. A committee, headed by an independent secretary, must be formed to facilitate the dialogue between the Government and RBI to sort out issues from both sides and come up with a detailed plan of setting up a Debt management Office. Instead of pitching against each other, why not start solving the problem?

References

1. Book - Analysing Macro Economics – Dr. Rakesh P.Singh

2. Y.V.Reddy Speech - http://rbidocs.rbi.org.in/rdocs/Speeches/PDFs/81026.pdf

3. Article - Role of RBI in Indian Economy – Sachin Nanda

4. Panel Discussion on 'Challenges for the Central Banks' organised at Hyderabad
on as part of RBI's Platinum Jubilee Celebration - http://www.rbi.org.in/SCRIPTs/BS_SpeechesView.aspx?Id=433

5. The Fourth L.K. Jha Memorial Lecture by William J. McDonough, President, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Mumbai, India, on December 5, 1996 - http://www.rbi.org.in/scripts/PublicationsView.aspx?Id=7321

6. Platinum Jubilee Celebrations - Governor’s Address to Staff
(Duvvuri Subbarao, Governor) - http://www.rbi.org.in/scripts/BS_SpeechesView.aspx?Id=416

7. Article – Building a better credit policy speech – Ajay Shah - http://www.mayin.org/ajayshah/MEDIA/2009/rbi_transparency.html

8. Financial Express - http://www.financialexpress.com/news/rbi-tells-centre-to-shelve-dmo/492418/2

9. ET - http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Opinion/Policy/Is-India-ready-for-debt-management-office/articleshow/4879578.cms?curpg=1

10. The Hindu Business Line - http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2009/08/27/stories/2009082750290800.htm

11. Business Standard - http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/finmin-workingnew-debt-management-office/20/45/367927/

12. Rediff news - http://www.rediff.com/money/2007/mar/01bud4.htm

Director as an audience.

2009-11-20T06:35:00.000-08:00

I always thought of a certain concept to make as a movie. Once I even shared it with my close friend Partha. It's about a Director who changes after he makes a movie. I didn't decide on what all changes he faced. But what I thought of was that the Director moved from a mental state 'A' to a mental state 'B' after he makes a movie.

But why this idea? I don't know when it struck me. But it surely must have touched my chord some where while watching a particular moment in a cinema hall. Most of my ideas/thoughts get shaped in cinema halls. When I watch a movie, unlike many others, I do not concentrate 100% on the movie as such. Unless and until it is a DAMN good movie (which many not are), I don't even care about the intricate aspects of film making. Sometimes, I do see myself standing/sitting behind the camera. But that's very rare. Most of the time, I am in my own world. Unknowingly, I put myself in the shoes of one of the myriad characters on the screen. I am not sure how many of you remember this now. When the Luka Chupi song's second stanza starts in the movie Rang De Basanti, I was in the shoes of the IAF officer who brought the body of Ajay Rathod. How must have he felt?

This is the only REASON I love watching movies. It takes me to an emotional high. No other art form ever did it to me. That's THE reason for me to watch movies alone. I want to get involved.

Okay. Where was I? Yeah. One moment, a particular idea struck me. If , I - as just an audience - feels so much about watching a movie, how about the maker himself? What kind of emotional 'things' he'd face? It'd be unexplainable. This formed the basis of the movie I thought of. A Director who has a certain mental frame of mind before making a movie changes his frame of thought as and when he sees the characters evolving before him. He sees himself in those characters and as and when the movie progresses, his thinking changes and by the time the movie gets over. Boom! He is a totally different person.

Ah! Didn't I like telling this? But you know what? I forgot about this long time back. Now, after reading this - I must say - I was surprised to say the least.

Read it for yourself - RGV's Blog

Where is my audience?

2009-11-03T22:02:00.000-08:00

Hell. Yeah. I miss CHN INK (Literary forum in Infosys).

It's been around 6 months since I left Infy and apart from the paycheck and a few friends, the thing I miss about Infy is the Literary forum there. I started writing stuff after visiting INK. People used to comment (both good and bad). I had a life there. I loved writing there. The anxiety of waiting for the responses after I post it. I seriously miss it. Though I'd like to point 'lack of time' as the reason for me not writing anything 'concrete' after Apr'09, the actual reason I think is 'Lack of audience'. There were days when I used to start writing after 7.30 PM (After work and gym). Of course, I am not that busy these days. I do have sufficient amount of time. But yeah, some thing is stopping me. May be, I am looking ahead. I am thinking of making movie these days. I've started thinking visually. Lengthy stories don't interest me that much. And yeah, I've started reading literature. I don't know how I got interested in that. But all of a sudden, I am reading and buying books on Hemingway and stuff. May be, this is the time of metamorphosis. I really don't know what's in store for me.

One thing I know is that there's a very rare chance I'd get back to Infy. And it scares me.

Early morning musings on a "Deepavali"

2009-10-16T18:43:00.000-07:00

I'd never hav thought of sitting on a deepavali morning with a laptop. But, I just got totally sickened of seeing all these reviews about Peraanmai.

I am writing this blog just to say "Peraanmai is worth watching in theaters". It
s one of the better ways to spend your 100 bugs and 3 hours of your time. I
m not going to talk about the technical aspects coz, it's Deepavali today!!! The smell of the crackers outside lure me like anything. I, seriously, have to go.

So, bye for now and remember the thing I said about 100 rupees and 3 hours.

Health camp successful.

2009-09-16T23:33:00.000-07:00

The evening before the camp was held, we went around the streets of Pandur village distrbuting pamphlets about the health camp on the next day. On one of the "3 meters breadth" cement road at around 6.30 pm, I stood outside a hut and called out "Amma...". A very old woman came towards me with her palm over the eyebrows. I explained why we have come there. All of a sudden, her face changed - as if looking deep into my eyes - and said "Nee en peran maathiri irukapa... Enaku yaarum illa... En peran Madras-la padikiran... Unna maathiri thaan irupaan" (You look like my grandson who is studying in Madras. He is the only one I have..)

I didn't know how to react and said over a choked throat "Kandippa vanthudunga... Doctor paathupaar" (Do come tomorrow. Doctor will take care.)

Guess, I was alive on that day just to witness that.

P.S: Here are some of the pics taken in camp. I couldn't surpress the "other Siva" of mine who gets haywire whenever a camera is given to him. Thanks to Shriman's D80, some of them came out satisfactorily.

Karma Yoga Medical Camp tomorrow

2009-09-12T11:08:00.000-07:00

Hope tomorrow's medical camp at Pandur Village goes fine. Wish us luck!

Meanwhile, found some interesting blogs. I've been visiting these sites for quite some time and I must confess they are quite good. Not sure whether you'll find them interesting.
The ET guy; Harvard Economist ;
Nobel laureate

Not surprising all these are economics blogs. Ever since our Economics Prof Rakesh Singh gave that inimitable lecture on that Thursday morning 2 months back, I am in love with this subject.

Review of my reactions after "Eeram"

2009-09-11T10:01:00.000-07:00

Long time I wrote "review of my reactions" after watching a movie. I am real glad that "Eeram" happened to be the one to restart this series.

First things first. Go watch it. I simply don't want to weave words around to say how good the movie is. Let me not waste time by telling how good the story is; how innovative the cinematography is; how good the characters are.

No.

I also don't want to make big statements such as "The best thamizh thriller movie ever", simply becuase I haven't watched enough thamizh thriller movies. Generally I dont watch thriller movies in any language. So, I really don't know whether it was a rip-off from any foreign language stuff.

But, it is important from my part to confess that I derived real pleasure from watching this stuff and I am extremely proud of THAMIZH CINEMA for the sheer diversity of films it gives us. One hand, we have a "moderately made" Kanthaswamy and in the other hand we have this flick.

It's high time, we start going to Bombay and Calcutta and start dubbing and selling movies like "Eeram". Time for us to go global. And what better way than to enter Bombay first.

Director Shankar - Man, I am real jealous of this guy. He makes movies he likes and produces movies he wants to associate himself with. What more a guy can want from his life?

I have already started googling "Arivalagan" - and he automatically adds himself to the list of Vetrimaaran and Sasikumar - Thamizh cinema's next gen Directors and probably the ones I might compete with in later part of their careers.

"Actors were good" would be a crass understatement. I think this was the first time "The top angle Anna Flyover shot" (which would be usually shown in all movies) was shot during rainy season. I really loved every bit of camera work of Manoj.

For a long time, I had been talking about the impact of graphics in tamil cinema. And I was real glad to see that we've evolved from using "Kadhalan-like" graphics usage to usage in plot-based movies.

The intermission scene, which was the best scene of the movie according to me, is a perfect example.

Let me say once again what I've been saying for the past 3 hours after watching the movie.

AWESOME

Why am I watching a movie?

2009-09-10T11:14:00.000-07:00

Ever since I moved to F5E, my new home aka hostel room, I have been put to sleep by some one of the on-screen's characters. And for the last month or so, it's been some body from the Bhiku Mhatre's gang. Yes. I have been watching "Satya" continously for the past "so many days" before I go to sleep.

It would be of no surprise to you guys if you come to know that I know most of the dialogues from that movie. But, is it some thing to boast about? What do I gain by watching the same movie again and again? Accepted that it is a masterpiece. But, it's some one else's masterpiece. Not mine. What reason do I have to watch that? I mean, I think I am getting deep into the pysche of myself. May be of others too. Why do people want to watch a movie twice? For that matter, Why do people have to watch a movie? That too, spending time and money. What pleasure do they derive from it?

It seems hugely shocking for me when I think of it now. 99% of free time in my life were spent in the ticket counter and theater halls. Why am I addicted to watching movies?

I think there is an emotional thing involved. I, for that matter, tend to relate myself to one of the characters in the screen. Most of the time, it is the protagonist. So when Jagga Bhai poured that Whisky on to Satya's face - I felt angry. When the director is able to make this emotional connect with the audience - he makes him realize that he is part of the movie. That is the catch.

Even though the director made this movie, he makes every body in the dark hall realize that "the product is not mine. It's yours". So, when Rajinikanth became an overnight crorepathi in the movie "Annamalai" - what had actually happened is that every damn person in the dark hall became a crorepathi. And that is the success of a movie.

May be. Just may be, I am too emotionally connected with the character "Satya" which makes me watch him every night before I go to sleep. Yes, it's not some thing to boast about. But what the heck! Thanks Ramgopal Varma for making such a character who I am able to connect to.

What is that I am going to?

2009-09-09T06:52:00.000-07:00

I just happened to sit at a guest lecture of Mr. T. Ramasamy – DGM, Indian Bank. I could not help but feel really ashamed about myself. The 2 hour lecture was an ultimate collage of information – right from evolution, biology, history, psychology, geography, modern mathematics, economics – classical and modern, physics, political science – I mean all the things on this planet which are studied were brought out. And yes, hold your breath! All this to explain the current global melt down and what’s the future holds for us. I had studied something about behavioural economics and how it was a major contributor to the current economic crisis. This person took it a mile above that concept and presented the holistic view of the whole situation. I got bored/disinterested after some time as I was really not able to assimilate so much information. Simply, my brain wasn’t exactly programmed for that kind of rapid assimilation.

The learning for me after this lecture is not about Global economic meltdown, as such. It isn’t about the huge colossus of information he shared with us. It has nothing to do anything related to the future world or things like that. It was all about interest. Here is a man, may be having a maximum of 1 year for retirement talking so passionately about something he has loved doing all his life.

What is that I am going to talk about when I am his age?

And it finally happened!

2009-08-21T06:20:00.000-07:00

Well... One of the defining moments of my life happened last month. Would you guys believe that I made the first movie of my life?

Yes. I did.

And we got it screened to a relatively small audience which includes our college dean. Guess what? They seemed to have liked it. Though I wasn't exactly happy with the way the movie turned out, I was really really glad that I DID something which I longed to do. Saying "ACTION" and "CUT" is a treat, I must confess. But to be honest, it wasn't total fun. We (I and Shriman - the cinematographer) had lots of bad days too. One thing I realized is that making movies is freaking hard work.

A hell lot of things should be taken care of. The actors must come in time (did two Rs.500 recharge in 3 weeks); Actor’s costume (must be consistent); Camera and other accessories; Cinematographer must be free; Weather; Side actors; Crowd (security and housekeeping); Class schedules of me, Shriman, Deepak and Prasad( Both the Actors) must not conflict. Of all that, we had three exams to study for.

You won't believe that to shoot a very short scene - lasting about 10 seconds in the movie - took us 2 days to shoot. Not just that. So many shots which we loved, had to be cut because of so many reasons. For example, the sequences you see here were one of our favourites. Due to time constraints (It had to be 6 minutes, strictly), we had to cut them off.

-> This was included

However, it was an awesome three weeks. So many things I learnt. So many varied emotions I felt. It’s a very different mixture of feelings you get when you make a movie. You feel ecstatic one moment and pathetic, the other. You’d want to slap the guy who is in front of you and the next moment, you’d be proud of him. It was one heck of a roller-coaster ride and I really want to blog about all of them. Hope I get the time and energy to complete this.

Review of my reactions after "Naadodigal"

2009-07-05T05:40:00.000-07:00

So, what do I really expect from a movie? I am sure contradicting myself. If you ask me what kind of movie I’d want to make or want to be associated with, I’d say “The movie which is honest”. What is a honest movie? A movie which takes its own course. The story which is dictated by the characters. And not by the Director. Definitely not by the “cast”. “Naadodigal” is one such movie. It is a honest movie, to say the least. It is the kind of movie where the Director’s part stopped when he decided the characters and the setting/environment they belonged. After that, the whole story was dictated by the characters. They decided how the story should take shape. Karna (Sasikumar) did what he wanted to. And not because the Director wanted him to.

All said and done – as an audience – when I sat in the theatre, why did I not feel good? Why was I squirming on the seats? Why was I waiting for the film to get over? Was it because I hated the movie? No. A definite No. It was because I wasn’t happy with the characters in the first place. Director Samuthrakani decided to have the characters Karna, Pandi and the third-whose name-I-forgot. If I had liked those characters, I’d have definitely liked “Naadodigal”. But It was not meant to be the case. It was simply because I wasn’t able to relate to the characters – wasn’t able to accept their beliefs and opinions, I didn’t happen to like the film that much.

But If you ask me again “What kind of movie you’d want to make or want to be associated with?”

“Naadodigal”, hands down!

Move on!

2009-07-03T03:36:00.000-07:00

“So, this is it?” I asked.

“Yes” she said in a broken voice “But, we’ll be friends”

“Cut that crap” I thought to myself.

“Ok then, bye!” I said and cut the phone.

He

“Who was that on the phone?” VJ asked me.

“She said it’s over”

“What?” VJ looked terribly confused “Hey, you guys were going well till last week. What happened all of a sudden?”

“Forget it” I wanted to think of some thing else. But, I couldn’t. Even though I realized that it was too early, I liked the relationship we were in. Some where between friendship and love. I cursed myself for proposing to her and spoiling the whole thing.

“She said it’s not going to work out. And so she split” I realized that my eyes weren’t steady enough to look at his face.

“What the fuck?” He cursed her. And continued “OK… you know what? Durga has dumped Aravind”

“Really?” I looked at him.

She

“Who was that on the phone?” she asked me.

“Oh…yeah” I said “That was my tailor”

Surprised!

2009-06-29T00:57:00.000-07:00

I was really surprised when I came to know that people I lost touch with are reading this blog. Infact, I wrote something some time back as I thought it would be a nice thing to read it after a few years. Come on. Why am I beating the bush here? I wrote this - http://mylife-intercut-cinema.blogspot.com/2009/06/quick-one.html about my crush. I never, in my wildest dream, did realize that she would get to read it!

Seeing the "bottom"

2009-06-27T21:55:00.000-07:00

As I hesitantly entered the gates of a small hut, the first thing that struck me was the smell of the boiling rice. Accompanied by a faint smell of Curry, the environment was a typical Indian poor household. I looked to my back to confirm whether all my team mates are with me. No one wants to get hit alone. Do they? In case, I meant. A very young pregnant lady walked towards us with cautious eyes. I brought in an artificial smile and introduced my team. Who we are. Why have we come here.

She looked at us. Blank.

It was written on her face that why the so-called modern dressed – educated - youngish boys/girls are visiting her. Yeah right? Anybody would be sceptical. I tried my best to speak to her in a language which she is comfortable with. Unknowingly, here and there – some English words got popped up. But it was fine. She could understand what it was. Two minutes in to the conversation, she understood that we were students trying to help the village in some way. I said we’d like to take a brief survey about her household and with that information – suggest a suitable occupation which she can do from her home and earn some money. Actually, what we were trying to do was to understand their economy - generate alternate means of income – suggest practical methods of saving. She hesitantly gave details about her family. The first surprise of the evening for me was that this <20 year old girl is a mother of 3. And one more in the pipeline.

“What does your husband do?”

“He works as a daily coolie”

“Where?”

“Don’t know”

“How much does he earn?”

“You’ve got to ask him”

“Does your boy go to school?”

“Yes. From this year”

“Have you been to school?”

“No”

“Do you save anything?”

“-------“

A sense of uncomfortable feeling started peeking through me. Right then – I was talking to a real poor Indian housewife who is not even empowered enough to ask what her husband is doing. Notwithstanding the fact that she is the mother of four of his children.

I turned around to brief my team. Oh yeah. I forgot to mention that I’m the only thamizh speaking person in this group. I’ve got to brief them in regular intervals to fill in the gaps. Parag, somehow, understood what she was saying and said “I told you right? There won’t be any savings”

“Now, what?” I asked my team.

“Ask her whether she knows any vocation. Like Candles, matchsticks”

I asked her. Negative.

I asked her whether she would be interested in doing a new occupation.

“I need to ask my husband”

“Fuck him” I thought to myself.

I briefed my team and we decided to go to the next household. All the 9-10 households we visited had the same story. Well, almost. Some work in agricultural lands. But most of them work as daily coolie’s somewhere in the nearby towns or even Madras.

“How much do you get as daily coolie?” I asked a father of 3.

“If it’s Rs.50 job – we won’t get more than 2 works in a week. If it’s Rs.100 job – we won’t get more than 2 works in a month”

The job-givers sure know how to keep these people in check. I realized that the Re.1 Kilo rice is the biggest boon these people have got. That made sure they never starve at all. But it isn’t enough. If the children of this village have to grow – they need something more than just food.

The government school here ensures that they get education till their 10th standard. But what next? You need money to study at college. How do you get them if you don’t save from now on? We found that the real need of the village was not food – sanitation – health camps. They knew how to take care of themselves.

But the need lies in elevating them to the next level. How do you empower them so that they save enough money to send their children to college? Empowering women will be the key. Teach them an occupation – find them a market. That, according to us, is enough.

As we lurked back to the bus walking through the homes we visited in the evening, every woman – I mean, every woman in the house – invited us for dinner.

I felt sick.

Hit!

2009-06-18T12:53:00.000-07:00

12.30 AM.

I was cruising on my bike over the Anna Flyover. Two movies at a span of six hours were taking a toll on my eyes. Both the bad news and good news were that I watched those movies alone. With no one to speak to, I might drift to sleep any moment. I mean “any moment”. Two roads stared at me. One towards T.Nagar; one towards Nungambakkam. Every time I reach this part of the flyover, I get confused. Both these roads can take me home. Which one to take? Some times, choice is an irritant. I decided on Nungambakkam. I like that steep curve at the end of the Flyover. Somehow, I like driving through it. Those butterflies I get in my stomach when I reach the fag end of the curve. I-pod was trying to wake me up by shouting “Show me how to live”. I don’t want to hear that song. I was in a good mood and I didn’t want to spoil that. “Next time, I won’t give my I-pod to my sister to refresh the library” I decided. From where is she getting so many weird songs like these?

12:10 AM.

“Enna?”(What?)

“Illa sir… velila vara mudiyathu” (No sir… I cannot come out)

He stared at me as if saying the conversation was over.

“This is getting cynical” I thought. I am not going to trade with this guy any more. I can’t believe that I am dealing with this bastard. Had I not been a policeman, I would have cut his tool with a hacksaw. “…. .… he doesn’t deserve to live”. Can you believe that this guy is right in front of me? Yet, I can’t arrest him. The funny part is that he does not even have minister level influence. He is the son-in-law of some former MLA. I mean… why the hell did I become an SI? This bastard raped a school girl on the school grounds right in front of some four girls. These girls testified. By that time, he had absconded. And now, after two weeks of intense search, I caught him at the 100 feet road signal. But Shit! I’ve got to talk to him! TALK! … Talk to the pervert!!!

Not for the first time, I hated what I was wearing.

12:40 AM

She isn’t that much bad. I mean… How else I would have known in this life time that there was a song called “Bol…na Halke”. I’ve always been a Hindi-movie illiterate. The only connection I have with Bollywood is A.R.Rahman. I know only those Hindi songs composed by A.R.Rahman. My sister has some Hindi-speaking friends. So, any good song, she’ll get to know. She would dutifully download it from Limewire and from there to our I-pods. The sad part is that her friends have very bad taste. Once in a while, they’ll suggest a song like “Bol…na Halke”.

“Hey… wait… what is that? I bent down my head to reduce the volume. And then, I hit some one.

“Holy Fuck!!!”

With the speed I was travelling, the hit must have been fatal for that man/woman. I lost control after hitting and skidded on the roads. I must have broken my right hand. I have not felt anything more painful than this. But, I have got some thing more to fear about. What if that person is dead? For the first time, I realized how I would feel if I had been in a jail. A policeman came running towards me.

It was scary.

12:35 AM

“Let this be the last day of my career. I am not leaving this bastard” I decided. I switched off the phone to avoid any calls from my boss. I opened the car door; dragged that bastard out and gave one big punch right on that stomach. The punch I gave was not just for the crime he committed. That punch is for me to vent out my frustration. For what I had become in my life. I was 23 years old when I joined the Police. Till now, after 15 years of my service, I haven’t done anything useful to the public. I felt like crying. “What I have become!” I take bribes for my boss. I take bribes for my juniors. I am doing everything I didn’t want to. Every bit of frustration I had in every nerve of my body came out and hit that pervert’s goddamn stomach.

The bastard fell on the middle of the road. Just then, in a flash, before I could realize what was happening, a splendor hit him. It threw him right on one corner of the road. I ran towards him and looked at his face. He was unconscious. He must be dead!

I felt a strange kind of sensation. I have never felt anything like this. I won’t call it as “happiness”. It was definitely more than that. The feeling was definitely better than what I had when I became a father. I felt this bastard deserved every bit of it.

I neglected him and ran to the rider who hit him.

He was not seriously injured. He started crying. For me, at that moment, this guy looked like GOD. I helped him stand up and noticed that he had broken his hand. I called an auto; gave that guy a few thousand rupees which I had got as a bribe that night. I told him that I will take care of his bike and there is no need to worry. I sent a P.C along with him to the hospital.

I went near the bastard’s body.

I felt proud; I felt like crying.

A quick one

2009-06-08T02:39:00.000-07:00

Bought a vest coat – yeah, the one which Aamir wears in Ghajini – for my friend’s marriage. After a long time (1 month or so), went for shopping with my friends. Every time we are in a shop trying different dresses, I found that the shop workers when attending to us always have a smile. May be because of so many jokes floating around in the air in their rather mundane schedules.

And after a really long time (2 years), tried to establish contact with my college crush. It’s always nice to hear from your past-crush that she is doing good. :)

Hands over my arse.

2009-06-02T14:31:00.000-07:00

See. It’s like this. I sit just behind a guy who either loves raising his hands or he honestly knows the answer for the question. That fucker doesn’t even care an inch about the poor soul – yeah, that’s me – who places his hands over his arse every time the professor looks at that guy.

It’s been a solid 1 month for me here at Great Lakes and never did I have the intention to sit down and write my experiences or how I feel. Fortunately or unfortunately, today has become that day. The day for me to vent down my extreme emotions which I felt from 6.15 PM to 8.15 PM. Five minutes into the class, I realized that I didn’t know what the professor was talking about. “Didn’t he ask us to study the Long run impact of productivity in India? Why is he talking about inflation now?” I was thinking to myself. Oh my! He has started asking questions. Fuck. Fuck. I hurriedly turned towards my left to see my ever-calm group mate glancing through his con-eyes on a blue colour economics book. Shit. I don’t even have that book. A flurry of butterflies started flying over my Poha-filled stomach.

As fuck luck would have it, the guy whom I mentioned in the starting, raises his hands. Slowly.

Fuck.

Now. Some history. This professor has had the reputation of neglecting the guy/girl who raises his hands and pin-points somebody who sits in his/her vicinity to answer. If you had been in a classroom (of course you’d have. What kind of question is this?), you’d know that every person has eight people surrounding him. If that guy sits in the aisle, the number reduces to six. In this professor’s class, if you sit just behind or just before that guy, the probability of you getting caught increases from 1/6 to 2/6. You are twice as probable of getting caught.

Now when I imagine how I might have looked at that moment, I..... don’t laugh! As I said, I was covering my arse with my left hand and was using my right hand to give a posture as though I am thinking. By consciously avoiding his eye contact, I was expecting him to ask some other soul . Two seconds over. Nobody is talking. Is he looking at me? I was truly scared. Now, should I look at him to confirm whether he was looking at me? What if he was waiting for me to look at him and ask after that? Should I take that risk? But then, what if he thinks that I am ignoring him? That will do more damage than this. Won’t it? Oh man. This is a fucking tricky situation and I became real uncomfortable. What was the question he asked? Do I know the answer? Do I know anything at all to just blabber? Shit. I couldn’t even recollect what the question was. Butterflies were playing see-saw in my stomach and I reluctantly decided to get my eyes meet his.

I slowly moved my eyes from the right to the left where I presumed he stood. My eyes never wanted to look at him but I had to take that decision. Just when I swallowed a pint of saliva and looked at that place at last, Bang! He was turning towards the white board.

At that instant, I bet that no one was more happier than me in the entire world.

Review of my reactions after "Newton-in Moonram Vithi"

2009-05-26T03:06:00.000-07:00

Sitting alone in a theatre has always made me feel good. That too, after a gruelling seven days studying Statistics and finance. One of the main reasons I wanted to come home was to watch a movie in a single-screen theatre. Multiplexes don’t give me the feeling which I get watching in a theatre like Devi or Albert. So, after watching CSK innings, I kicked off my bike to watch a movie in Albert/ Shanthi/ Woodlands. Albert had Ayan still.

That left me with “Newton-in moonram vithi” at Sai-Shanthi. Except for the fact that S.J.Suryah doesn’t look like a hero – what impressed me was the script and it’s treatment. I feel very sorry for the Director for having decided to cast S.J.Suryah. A good-looking hero would have made a lot of good to this script. But I can understand the reason behind a very moderate cast. A different script like this would have been seen with a sceptical lens. That might be the reason many producers and a few actors would have said NO.

With some good camera aesthetics and decent marketing, there is every possibility that this movie could have been a bigger hit.

Why did a movie not make money?

2009-05-20T03:49:00.000-07:00

Cinema, similar to books, is a very personalized medium. There are 'n' reasons for a film to work for me. And yes, there can be 'n+1' reasons for the same film to not to work for you. In this scenario, how does a Director/Producer decide whether to direct/produce a film? It is a gamble, isn’t it? Every film produced around the world was done on the sole intent of making money. No producer ventures into a production to lose money. Few exceptions can be pointed out here. Like, spending black money and stuff. But, this percentage is negligible. Coming back to the producer’s intent, the Producer believes in the Director and the Director believes in the script and the crew. It is the Director’s call at the end of the day. After all, it’s the Director who is going to say CUT and PRINT - the two magic words in the film industry. So, it all boils down to what the Director is made up of. This term "made-up-of" is very difficult to explain. We’ll have it later.

Now, there are four types of Directors, as far as I observed in my movie-watching career.

1. Those who make movies for the majority of the public.
2. Those who make movies for themselves.
3. Those who try to find a balance between satiating themselves and making movies for the audience.
4. Those who find a balance between satiating themselves and making movies for the audience.

Any Director born in this world falls in to one of the four above mentioned buckets. It now looks simple, isn’t it? If you want to make a commercial film – making money, think in the place of an audience and plug in what all he wants to see. But, sadly it isn’t that simple. The mind-set in which the Director made a movie might be different from the mindset of the audience entering the theatre. To put in simpler words, the Director is not in sync with the audience. Take the case of 'Anbe Sivam'. 'Anbe Sivam' must have been a commercial hit film. It had all the ingredients of a good film and importantly, it was entertaining also. But, then why was it a flop? It was solely because the Audience was not in the same mindset of Kamal Haasan. Or we can rather say that Kamal Haasan assumed a few things and made the movie. One of the main assumptions is that the audience already knew about Globalization and Communism. Intelligent people knew it. Many of them didn’t. Those who knew those concepts were able to connect with Nalla and Ars but sadly, that number was not even enough for the producer to break even.

This being the case, it is now very clear that there is no magic wand that will make the movie garner money. Whether the movie will make money is a different question which CANNOT be answered. But, making a good movie is in the hands of the Director.

Review of my reactions after "Sarvam"

2009-05-18T04:09:00.000-07:00

First half was too good. The chemistry between Arya and Trisha made me feel jealous. Adding to that is the usage of the old Ilayaraja song – “Mella Mella” as back ground score.

I always knew that Vishnu’s USP is his visual sense. Right from Arinthum Ariyamalum to Billa, his films had excellent photography. This film too does justice to that fact.

All these went in vain as the movie progressed to the second half. To say the least, it was dragging. A few trims here and there would have made this movie a decent one. Sad.

Technical Mistake

2009-05-07T23:02:00.000-07:00

Thickness of a hair. That was the distance I came close to death with. My enemy should have wielded his sword with his right foot forward. Technical mistakes in war are unforgivable. That mistake cost his left forearm. Just when he brought the sword close to my eyeballs hoping to pierce it through my brain, I immediately bent down, removed the knife kept as an additional weapon in his armory and struck hard in his foot. I, then, rose up to the wailing cry of him; razed my sword right through his hand. A war cry emerged from my back. Only then, I realized that I was fighting a different person, 3 seconds before. With one arm on his bleeding left abdomen, he came charging towards me with a sharp heavy metal in his right hand. The way he held his left abdomen made me realize that he had a weak right hand. No matter how much force he thrusts on his right hand – he can never pierce through my metal jackets. That gave me the confidence to look in to his eyes and thrust my sword right in to his throat. Sshheeesh… Blood came gushing out of his body, almost covering my face with it. Just when I shook my head vigorously to not to have it cover my face completely, a thumping sound hit my abdomen and I bent down to see the same metal deep in to my body. With my sword on his throat and his metal on my abdomen – we fell down on the ground together. Both of us looked at each other, catching our breaths. “Who are you fighting for?” he asked. “King Race” I said proudly. He held the metal still more tightly and thrust it still deeper in to my abdomen. “Moron” he said with a deep anguish in his face “I am also fighting for him”.

Story behind a Coffee Bite

2009-05-02T09:56:00.000-07:00

“I know that I should have done all these when I was in School, at least in College. But, what to do? Either I was afraid at that time or I didn’t find any girl that much interesting. For the last 1 month or so, this girl at office… I am seeing her too much often. Whenever I step out of the cubicle, she walks past me with a mobile on her ear, talking with someone. I go for a coffee; she is there. I come back from Food Court; she is walking towards me (to the Food Court). I come back from hockey practice, sweating; She gives a look. I mean… something must be happening between us. “I explained Partha.

The time was 12 noon and right then messenger windows across M.City would have lit by Blue. Ours were no exception. We decided to have lunch at Saravana Bhavan. Expectedly, everyone agreed. Who wouldn’t? After all the hype for Charminar meals. It isn’t that much good. Is it? I and Partha crossed to the opposite wing to pick Surendar and Balaji. While coming back to the B-wing lift, I saw the girl again, planning to take the opposite lift. Sleeveless green. Man…don’t I like that color? Open hair suits like a T to her personality. I was longing to have a deep look into her eyes. I grabbed all the three of them to the other side so that we can share a lift ride! Come on… Don’t laugh. I said right? I should have done all these in my school and college. But, what to do? Poor fellow I was.

I walked fast, should I say ran? We came just in time for the lift. But then, Shit!!! She was waiting for some one and didn’t board the lift. I gave one deep look at her, masking all the “bulb” I got and silently boarded the lift. I cursed my luck. Little did I know what was in store for me for the rest of the afternoon.

Initially, Suren didn’t like this girl. Not now! Actually, it is not possible not to like this girl. She is not one of your “scene-types” who try to behave like Angelina when they actually look like local Anjalai. She is not a ravishing beauty. But, you’ll be made to look at her. At least once! She doesn’t do anything extra like sporting an extra-fragrant perfume or a revealing dress. She is just herself!

Our walk to Ascendas which must have made me feel tired didn’t, because I was talking about this girl. We could see a lot of “hopeful-Infoscions” walking along with us to have a decent food today at least. Suddenly, one group stopped and started taking the opposite route. Partha enquired why and they said that the entrance is in the opposite direction. Hearing this, I t u r n e d b a a a a a c k! You guessed it right. There she was! To be honest, I don’t know what happened to me that time. I could not see anyone other than her. For me, at that moment, time stopped. Literally! If Mani Ratnam was there at that time, he would have shot “me looking at her” with a steadicam in his hand. The scene would have looked beautiful. Absolutely cinematic and unbelievably romantic!

“She must have seen me” I assured myself. Who wouldn’t? If some one looks at you this deep, you are bound to give one look at least. But, she just ignored. As if I didn’t even exist. May be she didn’t see me, but there is some thing more than “looking” you see. Everyone has their own magnetic field. She must have felt my vibrancy. I am sure I made an impact on her. All these while, Suren being a good friend and all, was poking me from behind to tell her that the entrance is in the opposite direction. “This is your best chance to talk to her…come on… come on” he urged. I adjusted my hair; kept my left hand in the left pocket of my jeans; rotated my mobile in the right hand and shifted my head to the left. All these were my humble attempts to “look casual”. She might cross me any moment. Shall I call her by her name or should I say Excuse me? I was in a fix. And then, she was walking past fast and I opened my mouth…

... and nothing came out of my mouth. Many times I forget who I am. Who am I actually? Deep inside my desires to talk with these beautiful girls and know them, there exists the real me - A very ordinary looking- insufficiently tall- adequately fat- darkish brown - lowly software engineer, who tries to be some one else all through his life. Not attractive for a girl, isn't it? The truth hits me right on the face every morning when I see the mirror - "Just be content looking at girls" "Don't get illusion-ed by the movies which you take so much seriously". Which girl would think of looking at me in the first place? What if I say something and she insults me in front of everyone? Its better I just look rather carry a big bulb for the rest of the afternoon.

I just let her go. You know what? I liked the feeling of letting her pass me. Just imagine that you are leaning on a wall and your favorite girl walks past you. Feels good isn't it? It’s much better if she doesn't look at you. No butterflies in your stomach and you have all the time in the world to look at her. To just look at her!

She walked fast before us while we waited there to confirm where Saravana Bhavan was actually located. Partha inquired a security guy who said that we were on the correct route and there is no need to take a different route and all. Partha gave a hard-hitting look at the group which had us confused for a while. But, I thanked them in my heart because... you know why! They made me turn back and thus I spotted her. By the time we started walking again, she was ahead of us by 300 meters approx. Partha was scolding me that I missed my chance to speak with her; Suren was smiling for the reason which he only knows; Balaji was calm as usual and me, Siva, can't believe his luck - he just got a chance to be near her for the next 1 hour. How lucky he must be!

I made Suren and Partha walk fast so that we could be near her. Balaji always walks fast. We reached the Ascendas food court and as expected my eyes started searching for her. There wasn't a big queue anywhere as the time was just 12.20 or some thing. I couldn't find her. There was a non-veg caterer before Saravana Bhavan and I was tempted to give it a try. I went to the counter and spent some time looking at the menu. "Too costly I thought". I just casually turned back and spotted a green tops some where. The crowd started swelling by then and I wasn't sure whether it was her. I searched again and there she was. She was in the end of Saravana Bhavan queue. I doubled my pace and got the most coveted place of the day.

I stood behind her.

I would be lying if I said I didn't try listening to what she was talking with her friend. They were actually discussing which meal to take. She looked at me twice - I am sure. But, I didn't look at her even once. That’s my problem. I go numb and dumb when a beautiful girl is near me. But, I like that feeling. Even here, I had the urge to do some thing. How about a plain smile? How about a casual hi? My “real me” just stopped me. I wanted her to know some thing about me. Some thing! At least she must know me. Just then............. as god-send, Suren shouted (literally) from behind "Siva...Siva... Siva... buy me 50 Rs. meals". She looked at Surendar and then looked at me. Holy Fuck! I couldn't control my excitement. She knows my name! I was shouting this in my brain. If I had my splendor that time and a beach near by, I would have driven my splendor on the beach exactly like Madhavan in Alaipayuthey shouting..."hey....ava enna paathutta....en pera therinjikutta( She knows my name)"

I came out of the queue; made Partha stand in the queue; took Surendar to a corner and gave him a Coffee Bite.

Pride!

2009-04-22T05:00:00.001-07:00

Finger soft-touching the trigger and eyes resting sharp on the opposite side. As I half-stand near the dark-colored door in the fourth floor of an old building in a war-struck city, I realized that I have become an animal. When you are overwhelmed by the animal instinct, there is no right or wrong. It must be 26 minutes since I took this position near the door. 26 minutes and 20, 21, 22 seconds.

Still, no sign.

I started slowing down my breath still further. I don’t want the sound of my breath act as an indicator of where I stand. As I lay in an alert-calm state, I started smelling my soul. The stinking soul! When you are looking through the hole of .338 Lapua Magnum with an extremely calm mind, you would be surprised by the various sounds emerging out from the surroundings. Is this called nature? This is an almost ravaged building in a brazenly damaged city. The city is dead. And what am I doing here? I am supposed to kill whoever is not my color. Clear requirements. I could not get a better requirement than this. “Kill whoever is not your color”.

Ssshh. I could see dust slowly arising from the ground in the opposite side. Some body is coming over, slowly. Yes. A lengthy shadow. Before he could react, I shot him on the edge of his body. He screamed in pain and was forced to reveal his complete body. One shot on his neck. I knew he was dead. But then, I shot again, this time on his head. Then, right below his hip. He fell down. His body jerked up as I gave one final shot on his chest.

I walked towards him and stared at his body to confirm his color. I like staring at bodies which do not move. Five seconds – His whole body was in the middle of a red pool. Blood splashed all over the place as I placed my shoes on that. I bent down to turn the body over and looked for whatever papers he had in his pockets. I placed them in a plain new plastic holder taken from the inside of my jacket. These papers would act as a proof that I have killed my fifth victim in the last 14 hours. Enough to get me a medal of honor in my country. Who am I? A patriot? No. I am not. Do I love my country? No. Do I at least care about my country men? No. I am just an animal which kills for pride.

Just before love

2009-04-21T03:44:00.000-07:00

“Do you love me?” I asked her. “Why don’t you understand?” she was frustrated that I have been asking this question for the past two months, almost everyday. “I just like you. There needs to be some thing more than liking, you see. There needs to be a magic moment. I need to fall for you”.

“It isn’t happening” she looked just below my eyes with a rather sad face.

Yes. She is right. Some thing is missing. I looked back at her with a dry smile in my face. She smiled back. I have known her for three months and I’ve never been so much happy all through my life. She, definitely, has made a difference in my life. But, sadly – she isn’t feeling the same. All the evening casual walks - all the late night train journeys. I mean, how could she not feel the way I feel? Some thing, obviously, is happening between us. Why is she not acknowledging it as love? A cold wind hit my face, hard. I turned towards her. She was adjusting the thin strands of her hair near her earlobes. Oh my! At this time of the night on a people-less road and a few meters away from the dim-lit sodium vapor lamp – for the first time in my life, I wanted to kiss a girl. “Hey” I held her hands and pulled her towards me. She didn’t resist. Heavy breaths exchanged. With closed eyes, I brought my face closer to hers and placed my lips on her closed eyes. Then, on her lips. After ten seconds and millions of volts passed between us, I said “I love you”. It was a different feeling altogether and for the first time in my life, I truly fell in love with some one. This time, I don’t have to wait for her reply. I know she is feeling the same.

Who said?

2009-04-20T11:40:00.000-07:00

I whispered to her to come near me. She came closer, with a smile in her face. The smile, which I realized, is going to make me crazy for the rest of my life time. I drew my hands up so as to feel her fingers. I don’t know why. But, I wanted to feel her fingers at that moment. I cuffed her fingers. I haven’t felt anything soft ever before. Her chin went down with a shy smile. She wanted to look at me. At the same instant, she was afraid. I held her shoulders and drew her closer to me. She came closer, although restrained. I started having goose-bumps. The concept of magnetism must be true, I realized. Her head was turning towards me, slowly. “May be to have a glimpse of me” I thought. “Hey” I called her in a broken voice. She was silent for a second and smiled without saying anything. I brought her still more close. She immediately brought her chin down. I wanted to feel her chin. I made her look at me. Her eyes met mine. She looked deep into my eyes as if falling deep into me. Only then, I realized what love is. “Who said arranged marriages are not exciting?” I thought. I have had enough excitement for one minute.

I am back!

2009-04-20T11:27:00.000-07:00

So, long time it was. I had been using my Office blogs - InfyBlogs. This one wasn't updated 'coz of that. Now that I have quit Infy, revamping this blogs sounded good to me. So, here I am hitting my second home. Yeah - InfyBlogs is my home.

Leaving InfyBlogs was tough. But, that's how life is. Hope to make still more friends here. Just like I did in InfyBlogs.

Whenever I get time, I'll post few of my favorite articles - which I posted in InfyBlogs.

So, what else?

Wish me luck :-)

Review of my reactions after ...

2008-11-14T05:13:00.000-08:00

Wall Street

This one is based on a real-life story about a young stock broker working in a small time brokerage firm who manages to see the crest and trough of Wall Street. I’d strongly recommend you this one as it gives an insider account of the business (you won’t call it business after you’ve watched) happening in Wall Street.

Death at the Funeral

“Insanely funny” shouted the DVD cover. This prompted me to buy it. Though it was funny at times, it was nothing close to “Insanely Funny” tag. You can definitely watch it in TV. Don’t ask me the DVD.

Rashomon

OK… I’m going to say something which you’ll promise me to keep it a secret. Fine?

Two years back, when I was riding my bike and thinking on some random thing, an idea struck me. Almost like a wind. What about a movie in which the protagonist is the person who is watching the movie. Do you get it? If you are there on the theatre watching the movie – every thing happening on the screen must involve your thinking capacities. Your decisions will change the way characters react and hence the plot. My idea was too crude to be implemented on screen.

When I watched Rashomon which incidentally was made some 50 years back, I was shocked to see the same idea implemented. I realized that what I knew about Rashomon was wrong. I thought Rashomon is similar to Virumaandi (2003 – Kamal movie) in the sense that each actor in the movie had different perspectives. I thought the movie never included me – the audience. I was wrong.

This movie must have been a landmark in the sense that it defines what is possible in movies and what is not. As a famous director put it – movies are specific. It is entirely different from a book. In the book – if they say a tree is present in a back yard – there are innumerable possibilities to imagine it. But, in a movie – A tree is shown. Full stop. No imagination. In that sense, movies were thought to be too specific. But, this one – Rashomon – would be different for every single person watching the movie. It differs for a male, female, arrogant male, arrogant female, sadistic male, sadistic female, happy male, happy female, children, happy children, sad children. I mean… every single person on earth will have a different perspective of the film.

After watching this one, my respect for movies and for the profession grew phenomenally.

Oye Lucky Oye Oye - Trailer

2008-11-14T05:06:00.000-08:00

Don't know why am I promoting the film. May be just to show off that I watch Offbeat Hindi flicks... :-)

Trailer:

http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=3paPF30NJhg

Music Video:

I just love her in 0:53...

http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=LuhLadjQnHU

DevD Trailer

2008-11-14T04:47:00.000-08:00

This is one Hindi movie which I am eagerly waiting for. Let's see.

Tauba tera jalwa

Tauba tera pyaar

Tera emosional atyachaar!!!

Love it...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRLjycn11Rw

Any Clue?

2008-11-14T04:46:00.001-08:00

Bought a few DVDs last week.

I just buy movies if,

1. DVD cover is attractive
2. Good Director
3. Movie name is somewhat familiar.

This time I bought the following.

1. Amelie
2. La Notte (Michaelangelo Antonioni)
3. Weekend (Jean-Guddard) (Not sure, whether it’s a movie :). Bought it for Jean-Guddard)
4. Ran (Akira Kurosawa)

Any clue how these movies will be?

P.S: Oh.. my I love bragging. Don’t I? J

Review of my reactions after "Quantum of Solace"

2008-11-14T04:45:00.000-08:00

Apart from the fact that,

I didn’t understand the plot
Dan Craig didn’t say “Bond. James Bond”
No gadgets which are typical of a Bond movie

I liked the movie for its stunt sequences.

As I write this, I realize that I watched the movie just to brag to you that I watched a Bond movie.

Thinking is pain

2008-11-14T04:43:00.001-08:00

The pistol cocked. The sheer sound of it created a tingle in his broken spine. He knew that he is going to die… Badly! He tried closing his eyes. He didn’t want to see him die. The pain was unbelievable. He never knew that pain of that sort existed. The biggest pain, he thought till then, was the breaking of the spine - which happened 30 seconds before. “Closing the eyes” had just overtaken it. Plkkk…. Some one had just stabbed him from the back. He waited for a second. No…it didn’t pain much. “Have I lost the sensory nerves?” he thought. Thought…Thinking. Thinking is pain. Thinking needs brain. His brain got… No… he didn’t want to think about that again. The barrel of the gun travelled an inch further into his throat, as if hitting the throat itself. He realized that there was no gap between the throat and the barrel. The engineer in him wanted to test that. He tried swallowing the blood which was trickling down his jaw. No…it got struck. It didn’t reach the oesophagus. He some how thought of the term Cut-Throat. He hoped the sweat which was flowing down heavily on his cheeks might somehow choke the….what you call that part of the pistol?...leave it…Thinking is pain. The moment the trigger is pressed, it is going to make a cute little hole on the far end of his throat. He imagined what would be the size of the hole. ”Will his soul take that way out?” he thought. Thinking is.

Being Single - Final

2008-11-10T10:05:00.000-08:00

“Imagine you get a girl, who doesn’t love movies; who doesn’t like to go out; who doesn’t like your friends. Simply, she isn’t your taste. Just imagine!!!” Gobi’s eyes were big when he said that to me over a steamy road-side peanut shop at Bessie beach on a Sunday evening.

Don’t know why, but that was the first time I did what he said. I Imagined! And you know what? It was scary. He has been talking about this for a long time but I never gave a serious ear to all his stuff. May be it was because me – myself wasn’t bothered about being single. But, after having learned from a girl-friend, whom I started considering seriously, said that she is already committed, I was – after a long time – ridden with love failure. “Holy ….!” I repeatedly said to myself in my head while sending “Oh… Is it? Congrats” to her mobile.

“Naalu masala kadalai – 28 rooba (four masala peanuts – 28 rupees)” the peanut lady said.

As I was retrieving my wallet from my washed-before-months-Levi’s jean, Gobi said as if a war-room briefing “We are in serious trouble guys. We are accustomed to have led a life which had an appropriate proportion of fun and seriousness. What if the girl who comes to our lives stops us from having fun?” For the first time in my life, I started fearing the girl whom I would get. So many “what if-s” came to my mind and each one’s answer was scarier than the question.

“Aren’t we thinking too much?” I said consoling myself that the girl wouldn’t be that much bad as I imagined.

“See… this is the problem with people like us. We just don’t know the seriousness of a compatible girl. Your entire life depends on her. It is very important to have a girl who understands you. We must seriously start looking for one such person” He said. That was the moment which made me give a serious thought about a girl friend. And that was the moment I started seeing differently the things which were happening around me.

All those frustrations and anger you read in the first two parts of this post came up after this moment.

When you realize that you are not capable of having “something” or don’t have “something” and when you see your friend or others have that “something”, it is natural for you to feel jealous. I, being a normal human, feel the same way. I might provoke extreme reactions from different people but the truth remains as it is. If you happen to read this – you are my friend and if you have a boy/girl friend – then I AM JEALOUS of you. The next time I see you, make sure you don’t ask me the question “Aren’t you committed yet?” and importantly don’t talk anything about your “whatever”.

Hey. Wait. Why did I feel different when I wrote the last paragraph? Yes. I am sure. I really had a different feeling when I wrote that. It was a kind of feeling which said that I am really not that much sad/angry/frustrated as I tried to portray myself. Is there any one deep under me who actually disagrees from the one – who is writing this?

I think – Yes! I feel that there is a one Siva deep inside me – who is happy with whatever the GOD offers or has offered (Oh my… I can’t believe that I am getting spiritual!) That Siva seriously believes in destiny. Though he is not blessed with a girl friend – he is a guy who seriously believes that whoever he finally gets as his girl will be one heck of a good friend to him. That Siva also knows that whoever he missed till now – whoever got engaged to another guy – whoever just didn’t look at him, is just not the right girl for him. He believes that he has been made to meet these girls and spend time with them just to make him realize that how good his future girl will be! He seriously believes that GOD won’t be that much unkind to send him a girl who doesn’t like his friends – who doesn’t like having fun and who doesn’t like movies. That Siva is a real gem of a guy and he knows that “Good guys get good girls”. I AM supposed to get one. That Siva believes that he is blessed with a girl who must be some where around (might be reading this also – Now don’t kill meJ). It is just taking some time.

Though that Siva might surface less often and speak less, he is the guiding force for the one who is writing this. He knows that I am a kind of a guy who is heavily influenced by media, friends, environment and that it is natural for me to get frustrated like this. But, that Siva is the real MEand he knows that what is happening to me right now is the best thing possible.

And one fine day, when I finally get to meet that girl, that Siva will be there for me to identify her and say as if a whisper “Hey… It’s her!”

Being Single - II

2008-11-01T00:36:00.002-07:00

“Just look around” said Gobi .

Niranjan and Suku did. I was already looking around.

Every table in Amethyst had at least one girl. But here? Four men and two smelly helmets. We truly suck. Don’t we? I mean… what fucking lives are we living if we don’t fucking come to a fucking pub without a girl? I mean… till how many years can we lead this life?

“I don’t want to change my relationship status in orkut directly from Single -> married. It has to be single -> committed -> married.” Gobi was serious. Suku chuckled. He always liked when Gobi became serious.

Personally for me, being in the kind of industry I am, I see a pair almost everywhere and I am getting sick of it. I stopped going to certain places in my office because I might have to see some thing which might warrant me to drink two cups of water immediately. As I write this, I remember the reason why we stopped going to Bikes and Barrel. In B&B, if a girl doesn’t accompany you – you will be branded as “Outcasts” and will be shown the door to the first floor. Left with no option, we have to drool at the intimate pairs in the ground floor. We stopped going there 2 years back as it was “truly insulting” to our egos. Parents too, some how add fuel to the already burnt “single” soul. Of all of them, Gobi ’s dad takes the cake. Can you imagine that he actually humiliated Gobi by asking “You haven’t been in any relationship?” Gobi didn’t go home that day. In my case, I was actually insulted by few of my friends at Office. I, some how, have created an impression of a “Guy with a girl-friend”. I don’t know how. I was frustrated when my friend (who happened to be a girl – not a girl friend) said that she was shocked to hear that I didn’t have a girl friend. “Can you just shut up” I said to her.

But, honestly speaking I too had a girl friend when I was at college. Not just me, each one of us had a “small” relationship with a girl. But, those relationships didn’t take off due to various reasons. When my relationship with that girl broke up, I was more than happy. I was happy to be “single”. But, what the hell has happened to me suddenly? Why am I complaining? Is it because of seeing so many pairs around? Is it because of the fear of leading a life with a girl who doesn’t love movies? (this is the scariest)

No… I was happy to be single till a few months back when Gobi gave that “inimitable” lecture of all times.

To be continued…

Being Single - I

2008-11-01T00:36:00.001-07:00

After all the high-decibel laughing over nothing, we became quiet all of a sudden.

It happens at times right? In the school/college days, during lunch break – interval, the class suddenly becomes quiet for a second. I love that silence! Silence for a second…

Two days before, so many years after school, at a coffee pub, we experienced that silence. This time it was different. And I know what was going on in our minds. Deep inside our hearts, there seems to be some kind of an unsatisfied desire. The feeling that we have spent all these years without a girl (serious enough!) in our lives. The fact that one of our close friends got married to his love did in turn make us think about that a lot. I don’t have words to say how fucking lucky I am to be in touch with my college friends for so many years. I still remember the last day of my college when Niranjan asked me in a sarcastic tone “Are we going to be in touch after college?” It looks funny to me now… What else we would have done other than that?

As legend goes, to gain one – we need to lose one. The fact that we have watched almost 500 movies in the last 3 years and been to almost all the places in Madras has definitely made us lose one important aspect of life. A Girl! Actually it is not logical to blame the friends circle for the lack of a girl friend in your life. But, being born and brought up in a conservative city like Madras – where girls don’t come out of their homes after 9 pm, there was literally no possibility of a girl in our lives. Working professionals we were, all the time we got was after 8 pm. Add to the fact that except one of them, rest worked in industries where there is not even a faint smell of girl. I recently joined the software bandwagon. But, as Gobi and Dubuk say – “I am a wrong person in the right place”. OK… what is the point I am driving at? The point where fate holds a big placard above its head saying “NO GIRLS IN YOUR LIFE”.

“But, Should we be complaining?” I asked Gobi for the n^th time. “Of course, we should” reiterated Gobi for the (n+1)^thtime. I know he would give this answer because he had a different history before joining college. As he proudly says, he was always surrounded by four beautiful girls in his school days. But, after his smoking and drinking habit which made him realize that “he is a man now”, he didn’t want to be a sissy anymore. So, he voluntarily cut him off from the girls. “ha ha ha…” Suku was uncontrollable when he heard that for the first time. I didn’t laugh. Some how, it wasn’t funny for me. I felt bad for Gobi . The situation becomes all the more bitter when you were in a better position in the past.

I really felt bad for him…

To be continued…

Namma Mumbai (Aamchi Mumbai) - Final Part

2008-05-20T09:08:00.000-07:00

If you had expected that voice to be Ashwini’s, then I would say you are watching too many films. That too…Hindi ones. Actually, to be honest, even I wished that voice had been Ashwini’s. But, then it was a male voice; after all a male voice. Arun, it turned out to be. Hmm…who is he? Oh…yeah I met him in the auditorium this morning. He was with Mayank. “Hey…hi” I said. He had this twinkle in his eyes. “How did the interview go about?” he asked. “I don’t know” I said casually. He said that he did OK and was not sure whether he would get the admission. Typical Madras student’s modesty! They…sorry… WE won’t accept that we did well. I learnt from his eyes that he did well but then I chose not to talk about that. Right then I was busy thinking about some thing else. Where to go was the question in my mind. We were then joined by Bala, who happened to be Arun’s GD mate and also happened to be from good old Madras. We slowly walked towards the canteen to fill our empty stomachs.

There…I realized what Campus buzz was all about. In the canteen, suddenly, I was amidst some 20-25 boys and girls who were half-asleep; half-dressed and fully crazy. After some 5-10 minutes, I confirmed that they were speaking English. What would happen if four of you in your cubicle speak at a time? I mean…shout at a time! Multiply that by 5 and that is what happened at the canteen. I expected the canteen owner to be a smart malayalee and so it turned out to be. He had this cool eyes and calm composure and was handling multiple requests (IT effect…can’t help it) at a time. Bala ordered three samosas and three sandwiches for us. I pitched in my Bombay exploration idea to them. I had to raise my decibel level by 50% to listen to what I am saying. Arun had this are-you-crazy-look. Bala was not even listening. Slowly, I learnt that they were regulars to Bombay. They seemed to have visited this place many times. “Dei….ithu enaku first time-da…konjam naan solratha kelungada” (Guys…this is my first visit to Bombay…please listen to me). I was shouting this in my mind. They weren’t really excited by the idea. I did not know what to do. They started convincing me to stay in Arun’s hotel and leave for the 2030 flight. Coincidentally, we had booked the same return flight.

I was in a fix. Bala was actually right in saying that the traffic would be huge and there is a chance that we might miss the flight. The only reason I booked the flight was because I was not ready to miss office on Monday. So, I can’t afford to miss this flight. But then my mind wasn’t ready to accept my staying indoors. One thing I always wanted to do after watching “Kadhalar Dhinam” during my school days was to travel in a Bombay train. Not that I am expecting a Sonali Bendre with a red rose in her hand. Generally, I like crowds. After all, I am a part of the crowd, right? I compelled them to have a train journey. Arun was out of compulsion. He was not even ready to take a bus. He looked like he hated crowds. Bala is like your PM. He hears you out totally but he has already made up his own decision and wont budge. He listened to me patiently and in the end advised me against taking the train.

But then…I thought. Come on…Who are these Arun and Bala? I didn’t know them 3 hours before. Why should I convince them? Can’t I just go ahead and hit the Bombay roads? I was about to lie to them that I have some friend waiting somewhere. But then some thing stopped me. I didn’t feel the necessity to lie. The thought of lying made me feel bad. If I am right, I should have been able to convince them. Why am I not able to do that? Right now, my heart must feel excited. But, it wasn’t. I had the gut feeling that I should stay indoors. But then, the thought of staying indoors gave me creeps. My mind screamed at me to explore Bombay but my heart felt otherwise. In the end, I decided to give my heart the lead and accepted its decision. I suddenly felt low. “Stay in some god-damn hotel for 8 hours”. My mind was echoing this sentence continuously. All the high-voltage energy I had few minutes before, died out. I stopped looking at girls! Can I feel any lower?

The bag I was carrying suddenly felt like a ton. Arun said he had the interview with dean and it would take another 2 hours. I decided to go to my hotel and take back my shoes. I walked till the entrance and unknowingly called an auto. Just when I sat in the auto, I realized that I could have taken a bus. What is the urgency to take an auto? While on the auto, I called my mother and said that I am not doing anything till I board the flight. I had given a big build-up before I left home that I am going to do this…do that…visit this place. She was afraid that I might not be safe in Bombay. When I said I was not going anywhere, she was more than happy.

It was very hot at mid-day; equivalent to Madras. The auto-driver was constantly looking at me through the rear-window. I ignored that. Right then, I hated to be in formals. Immediately after I reached the hotel, I went to the rest room and wore my jeans. That changed my mood a little. I felt better. Of all the non-living objects, only my Levi’s and my bike can change my mood. By the way, Music has life. It can’t be counted as Non-living.

I called Bala from the hotel phone and learnt that they will be back in an hour. I thanked the hotel manager and came to the roads again. I bought a Maaza pet bottle and came to the nearby bus stop. My mind was constantly poking me to board any of the buses and go some where. But I didn’t. I spent time just sitting in one of the iron bars just like Munna and his friends did in the movie Boys. After some time, I started liking what I was doing. I started observing people. That is one of my favorite past times. One of the main reasons I preferred local trains rather than Infy buses to commute to office is because, I like observing people. Infy bus is the height of boredom! Same people… every day…

The buses were not that much crowded. I tried to note the bus numbers and the routes. But they were not in Hindi or English. Isn’t this a big problem every state government should address? At least… in Madras, we have some buses with English boards. But, I may be wrong too. I didn’t go past the Parle station and I can’t comment on the entire Bombay bus transport system.

Just then, a big family got down from a bus. An old lady of that family smiled at me as she was keeping her bag near me. More often I have heard that people in Madras are less friendly than those in other metros. I came to know its real meaning that day. In Madras, people won’t talk to strangers; they won’t even look at other people whom they don’t know. This, I realized, was exactly opposite to Bombay. In the 30 minutes I spent in the bus stop, I exchanged smiles with about five people. I mean just a plain, simple smile. It doesn’t cost anything. Does it? It made me feel-good. As I write this, I realize that it was only then I decided to spend some 3 or 4 years of my life in Bombay.

My Maaza bottle got over and I called Bala again. They seemed to have reached the hotel. Arun’s hotel happened to be exactly opposite to mine. But the per-day tariff there was 2400 rupees. At around 1.30 PM, we all went to his room. It was a good room. I explained him all the differences (which weren’t many) between my room and his and was trying to console him. He was extremely unhappy to have paid 3 times extra for the room in the same locality. We watched TV for about one or two hours. Meanwhile, I learnt that Arun was a financial analyst with CRISIL and has already attended an interview with ISB. “Oh My God…Do you mean the real ISB, Hyderabad?” asked Bala. I had the same surprise but didn’t show it. He said “Yes… but I didn’t convert it”. Bala was with an IT company, the name of which I forgot almost immediately. I didn’t ask him again because I thought he might think that I was not a good listener.

We then browsed for all the Tamil channels for comedy scenes and watched them for a few hours. You know what? Vadivelu rocks! At around five o’clock, we felt hungry and I led them to the Udipi hotel where I had my breakfast. Arun and Bala ordered some dosa but I was adamant on eating Bombay chaat. I ordered Pav Bhaji with two extra pav. Hmm…They were just delicious. We had coffee and I realized I won’t be hungry till tomorrow afternoon.

We came back to our room and took our bags. We decided to walk to the airport. It was just a 10 minute walk. The departure terminal was about a few hundred meters away from the arrival terminal. We had a calm walk. The vehicles were racing at their maximum speeds. The departure terminal was not abuzz with action as I expected it to be. I got the boarding passes for all of us. After the security checks, we realized that we had around 2 hours to spend there. I looked for a magazine shop. One was closed. Nearby, I saw a lounge with a 53 inch LCD TV. In the TV, I saw around 6 people crying simultaneously in a palace-like home. Yes…you guessed it right! It was KKKG in SET MAX. I decided to have fun. I called in Bala to watch the movie together. The next 1.30 hours which had equal proportions of movie time and AD time went off in a jiffy. Even though we laughed at every scene, we couldn’t bear the movie any longer. After around 1 hour which included a 30 minutes flight delay, we were inside the flight with me looking at a “speaking wax model”. Yes…she’s the Kingfisher Air hostess! If the rumor that Vijay Mallya himself selects the air hostess is true, then I have only one thing to tell him. “YOU HAVE A GREAT TASTE”.

The flight touched Madras at around 10.30 PM. Arun, Bala and I exchanged numbers and vowed to remain in touch. While getting down, the Infy thing worked again. I saw an Infy employee here too! I wasn’t exactly sure whether he was from B-2 or B-4. But I had seen him.

I came to the GST road. I realized that the last 24 hours was one of the best experiences I had in my life. As I called for an auto, I said one thing to Bombay in my heart. I’ll be back!

Namma Mumbai (Aamchi Mumbai) - Part 6

2008-05-20T09:07:00.000-07:00

The interview was conducted by a two-member panel; One male - one old lady. The male interviewer was wearing a half-sleeve shirt! What on earth does he think? This is an interview for a school which asks me to pay 14 lakhs as fees and this gentleman with a French-beard is wearing a half-sleeve shirt. God knows what is he wearing below? Or is he wearing at all? The lady was wearing a saree. She looked 50 years old. Thank God, she can't wear a sleeveless top! I don't know what they thought about me, but my impression on the panel was, "Shit...this isn’t serious". After the initial pleasantries, I guessed this lady would just observe me and that French-beard would shoot all the questions.

After my introduction, he asked about the business I was working on in IT. I gave a long lecture about Logistics and stuff. He didn't seem to have any questions. So, I just went on and on and on. I no longer saw them. I was in the conference room of my office where exactly a week ago, I was talking logistics to my team members. Suddenly, a lady voice popped up. "What do you think are the 5 KPIs of a warehouse?" "Oh...this lady has a voice?” I thought. "Ma’m?” I tried returning from my office to the interview room. She asked the same question in a different way. I answered four of them and looked at the ceiling. "First mistake", I thought. Never look at any place other than the interviewer's face. You've got a lot of area to look upon.

She said "Its OK" and asked me five other questions regarding Supply Chain. Well… this time had no answer. After the second question which I didn't answer, I no longer heard the remaining questions. I guessed the interview result would be bad. So, I just spoke whatever I knew on Logistics irrespective of the questions she asked. She looked at me closely. Then she said "OK Shiv...It was nice talking to you" and extended her hands. It was cold.

I left the room and reached the corridor. I could not see that Hyderabad girl. Did I tell the name of that girl whom I met 20 minutes before? She was Ashwini Reddy (Name not changed). Actually, no one else was there in the corridor except some SPJain School students. It was empty. In the lawn opposite to the corridor, I saw one student who looked younger than me, sitting exactly below the hot sun. He had his leg on the table; pen on the side of his lips like holding a cigarette; unkempt hair, which must have been last washed a decade before; a shorts, or is there anything shorter than shorts and longer than briefs? And a management book on his stomach. And, he was looking at the sky. Some more students were walking past him. But, no one even cared to "Kalaaichify" (friendly ridicule) the chap. Well, B-school students are in fact crazy.

I sat in the corridor for about 10 minutes. I became real hungry. I walked slowly towards the canteen. I was told in the mail that the evaluation process would take place till 2 pm. The time was 9.30 am. And, everything is over for me. I may have a Dean's interview. But, even that wouldn't last more than 30 minutes. My heart beat raged suddenly. My return flight is at 2030 hours. I have got close to 9 hours to explore Bombay. Man...What a chance!!! Thank God I booked the 2030 flight. Unconsciously, I was walking fast. I realized that I walked slowly towards the canteen not because I was hungry; it was because I did not have anything to do after that. This is what real excitement meant!!!

Let the roads of Bombay be geared up to welcome me!!!

But then...a voice came from behind..."Siva...Siva"...

To be continued...

Namma Mumbai (Aamchi Mumbai) - Part 5

2008-05-20T09:06:00.000-07:00

The building I was asked to wait turned out to be a closed auditorium. Outside, three candidates were seated. As I walked towards them, I took an important decision. Basically, I am a closed person. If I do not know the person, I won’t talk unless talked to (Exception comes in the form of good-looking girls). This character is a sin if you are planning to become a manager. Two years before, during the GD/PI in Symbiosis Management Institute, I did the same mistake. There were a group of 8 persons. I did not talk to anyone. During the GD, I was the one left out. It was depressing. I did not want to repeat the same mistake. This time, I took the initiative. I picked out who seemed to me as a friendly guy. "Hi, this is Shiva". The person indeed was friendly and introduced himself as Mayank Aggarwal from Delhi. The person seated next to him looked like "Me in Symbiosis". For half the time, he was looking at the ground. The third one asked me whether I am from Chennai. "Yes, I am", I replied. "Madras-la enga??(where in Madras?)" he asked. I displayed a big grin and asked "You know Alwar thirunagar?” "Yes, I am from Ashok Nagar. Where are you working?”?” I am with Infy", I said. Just at that instant, Mayank looked at me casually and extended his hand. "Which IBU?” he asked.

Do you guys know about the Infy thing? Let me tell you. Suppose you are from Madras or any city in which Infy has its Development Center. On a weekend, go to any place. I mean any! place. Somewhere in the crowd, you would sure find an Infy employee. Blame the hiring spree or whatever; this has been happening for me for the past 2 years. Before that, for me it was my SRM college mates. I was a regular at all the cinemas in Madras (Still I am!). Before the movie or after the movie or during the interval, I would always be expecting a big pat on the back accompanied by a loud "Dei...inga ennada panra?"(Dei...what are you doing here?).

"I am from Retail. You?” I asked him. "Oh...I was also from Retail. I left Infy a month ago. I am with IBM right now. So, finished your certifications?” he asked sarcastically. I started liking him. I said yes and asked him about the GD and PI. Oh...yeah I have started talking business. Mayank then gave a speech for about 10 minutes. I came to know that the evaluation process consisted of a case study, essay about me, one round of GD and one Personal Interview. Then, we talked about the traffic in Bangalore, Mysore DC, Jodha Akbar fiasco, Rajnikanth, A.R.Rahman and...girls in Bombay. Mayank gave out the names of a few streets and asked me to spend 30 minutes there in the evening. He said this would replace spending a month in Bangalore M.G.Road.

The time was 8.30. By that time, many candidates have come. We entered the main building. We were made to sit in a class room and given two essays. One essay was on the most influential person in your life. I was tempted to write about David Fincher (Director of Fight Club). But it’s a management institute for hell's sake. I wrote about my tuition teacher. Next was a case study. I wrote about five important values for a successful company. Then, came the GD. Totally, 35 candidates have come. That would mean 6 groups. I prayed Mayank would come in my group. Whenever you have a friend in the GD group, you both can be mutually helpful. Unfortunately, Mayank went to another one. I wished him luck. I did not realize that, that would be the last time I would be talking with him. As I write this, I sincerely regret not getting his phone number or Gmail id. I even searched orkut. There are too many Mayank Aggarwals from Delhi with Hrithik profile pictures. Those who are reading this please don't use celebrity pics in your profile.

The six of us entered the GD room. Should I explain this and all? Leave it. It’s boring for me. I am sure you would feel the same too. At the end of the GD, I had the feeling that I did well. I made two more friends there. I don't know their names but they smiled at me more often. Then, I met this girl! She was in the same group as mine. After GD, we were asked to wait in the corridor for Interview. She sat besides me. She looked too calm. I did not speak too. We were like this for about 5 minutes. And then, I turned right and casually smiled. That’s it! She started talking and did not stop for the next 15 minutes. All I spoke in the conversation are...”yes...oh...yeah...when...is it?” That’s all. By the time she went for the interview, I knew everything about her. And I doubt whether she even knows my name.

"Who is Shiv here?” "Yes Ma'm", I raised my hand. "You are the next", she told me. Till now, I have attended a lot of interviews. My first interview was done by an Indian Air Force Wing Commander!!! But, I still get dizzy whenever they call my name out for an interview. I prayed for a second, took my certificates and stood up.

To be continued...

Namma Mumbai (Aamchi Mumbai) - Part 4

2008-05-20T09:05:00.000-07:00

The Sun has just reached Singapore. It will take another ten minutes to have its full intensity over Bombay (It’s difficult to think of an interesting first line in every part). After I came out of the hotel, I looked up to the Sky and prayed for a second. The Infy bag was loaded with shirt, pant and certificates. It was heavy. I reached the main road.

I looked left and right. I thought for a second and decided one thing in my life. In future, I will take a month off (every six months) in whatever profession I am in. I will ask my baby daughter to pick a city in the world map. I would take less than sufficient cash, map of that city and spend a month there exploring that city. I realized it would be so much fun. Just think of this; I don't know Bombay, I don't know anyone here and I have to find a place all by myself. It was too damn exciting, but equally scary!!!

The first sound came from my stomach. Oh...yeah I did not have breakfast yet. I turned right for no particular reason. After a few steps I saw Domino's Pizza and Cafe Coffee Day present side-by-side. "This must be a good area", I thought. Then I saw Udipi Hotel. I went inside. The hotel had some three customers scattered over. I asked for a plate of Idli. In Taare Zameen Par, before Ishaan gets caught by his father through the absent note, he would be eating idli. When I saw the movie, I lamented the state of idli. It was so hard. I guess the same idli came to me. The chutney was kinda OK. The Tea was very good but it burnt my tongue. I paid the bill and came to the roads.

Initially, I thought of taking an auto-rickshaw. When the buses were less-crowded, I decided to take the bus. I went back to the hotel and asked the cashier which bus to catch to reach Bhavan's. He said he doesn't know but it will take a lot of time to reach there by bus. "Auto would be fine", he told. I looked at my watch. It was 7.35. I've got just 45 minutes. "Okay, let me take Auto", I decided.

I took an auto-rickshaw. That was my first tryst with the roads of Bombay in day-light. I noticed that residential and commercial complexes were merged beautifully. You would see a commercial complex and then immediately a beautiful residential apartment would come up. After twenty minutes I reached Bhavan's. I took the address I got in the mail and verified with the name board. "Kitna?” I asked with a casual look. I masked a what-would-happen-if-driver-picks-a-fight face. The old man gave me a smile as if he knows I am not a Mumbaikar and said "Painthees". I immediately rewound the conversation we had with a driver in Goa 3 months before. "Painthees is 35 rupees". I gave a 50 rupee note and got 20 back. He said "teeke saab...morning time na....traffic nahi hai...5 rupaya nahi chaahiye"(It’s Okay…No traffic…I don’t need that five rupees). "Gandhi wasn't born in Bombay right?" I rechecked myself. Why is everyone here I met so far, so right? I thanked my luck and entered the campus of S.P.Jain Management center.

I have heard a lot about S.P.Jain. It is one of the top 10 B-Schools in India. But, when I entered the campus, it didn't reflect. It was so ordinary. I just casually looked around... Boom!!!! I got the first hit in my heart. One beauty was walking around in shorts and T-Shirt. Shorts should cover at least the knee right? This one didn't. There was a park and an empty ground. The buildings were present past them. I walked through the roads and reached the building.

Very few candidates have come. The time was just 8 am. I went to the gate keeper. He told me to wait in a building near by. Boom!!! Second hit. Are the girls born to be beautiful in Bombay?

To be continued…

Namma Mumbai (Aamchi Mumbai) - Part 3

2008-05-20T09:04:00.000-07:00

3.25 AM. I woke up in horror to find whether I am.... One Sec. Did I tell you why I have come to Bombay? Actually, I have to attend an evaluation process in a management institute. Well...It is not really the exact reason I embarked on this trip. It was more of an interest in Bombay. This process just became a reason to come over to Bombay. I had paid a good amount for this evaluation process and guess how will it be to miss it by oversleeping? So, I woke up in horror to check whether I am late for the process. Thankfully, it was a good 2.35 hours before I planned to wake up. Wow...how good it feels to wake up and realize that you still have a good 2 hours to sleep. I drifted to sleep and in the next second, my mobile started ringing. Who is this at 3.25 am? It was my mother on the other side. I had asked her to call me at 5.30 am in case I just slept over. "Siva...ezhunthirichiko...time aayiduchu paaru (Siva…wake up…it’s time)". I said OK and cut the phone. I looked at the time. It was 6 am.

I decided not to spend those "extra-minutes" in the bed. I sprinted from the bed; switched on the TV, lights and looked outside. The weather was the same as we expect at 6 am in Madras. It had a greenish-gray sky. I went to the bathroom and checked if heater was working. To my surprise, it was. This room for 780 rupees is really a deal. "I am going to recommend this one to all", I thought. I opened my bag. "There had to be some goof-up". Not surprisingly, I didn't bring my toothpaste. I brushed use my Tooth-brush alone and felt really good. Who says we need toothpaste? Then, I bathed (hey come on…I brought soap and a deodorant) and put on my shirt and pant. Just a week before, I attended a session in my Office on Dress etiquettes. It was said in the session that, wearing a pink shirt means you are a gay. Mine was a white shirt, but it had pink stripes. What if they thought that I am...? But then, it struck me. That was in US. I am still in India. A flight made me feel I have left far away. Ooof...I heaved a sigh of relief. I sat on the bed and browsed through the channels. I stopped on NDTV. The time was 6.20 am. I put on my shoes and I realized that I still have a good 1 hour before I leave this place.

Many times in your life, you will feel too damn bad when a moment comes by. It may be seeing the photo of your School sweetheart posing with her husband and her child in Orkut. It may be in the conference room with your PM and all the senior folks and they target you on why the project went down to CMM level 3. It may be in a seminar in front of all your team-mates, you will be made to look like "Shit" when you do not answer their questions. For me, at that moment was tying a tie. Technically, I know how to tie a tie. It is just that at the important moment, I would not get it right. The length would be short; the knot would shift to the right. It just won’t come for me at the right time. I spent all my 1 hour just to get the Tie knot perfectly. Would you believe that? By the time I finished, you must see my face. Napoleon's victory over the world wasn't that big.

I took all my belongings in a hurry, locked the room and checked out. I asked the Manager whether I could leave my Woodland Shoes alone and get it back by 3 pm. He said OK and I left the hotel.

Bombay awaits me!!!

To be continued…

Namma Mumbai ( Aamchi Mumbai) - Part 2

2008-05-20T09:03:00.000-07:00

I walked past the car as if I didn’t notice those 5 girls. By the time I reached the car’s end, they don’t know that I know each one’s dress, color and how much percentage they revealed. I walked till the road’s end. I never expected this much traffic at midnight. The traffic was huge. I mean real big. Not just cars/lorries/buses, but, bikes, cycles… I mean people walking here and there. It looked like Saturday afternoon near Spencer’s Plaza. The buses were full; people were talking in loud voices. In Madras, People’s voice decibel level is inversely proportional to the elapsed time since they got up. “No, that rule is not for us”, says the Mumbaikar. This is sure the financial capital of India.

The signal was in Green. Vehicles were screaming past me. It looked like that the person I met before in the parking lot asked me to cross this signal. This signal doesn’t seem to end. I decided to walk till the next signal which was a 2 minute walk from here and cross the road there. “Let me walk for some more time”, I told myself. I sure liked Bombay. Just when I took my right leg, unconsciously, I looked down. I could see a pot hole in the size of earth. I swallowed a pint of saliva. What If I had stepped on? I decided to switch off my mp3 player coz I might hear some one’s warning if I step on some thing next time. But, I didn’t switch it off. I just removed the headphones and kept it in my pocket. I walked. I consciously avoided eye contact with anyone. By the time I reached that signal after a minute (It wasn’t 2 minutes after all), the signal came to Red. I crossed the road. It looked like flyover construction is happening there. Ditto as in Madras. I saw a person wearing a tie. May be he could reply in English/Hindi. He didn’t talk. He just showed the road to take. Is he drunk? No idea. I saw a police jeep there. I went there and asked the police man where Hotel Shangri-la is? He replied in Hindi. For the n^th time, I thanked my mother. She was the one who made me attend Hindi classes when I was in 6^th standard. After that, Doordarshan and Sarfarosh (Aamir’s movie) happened. And then, I saw every hit Hindi film possible and now I am in Bombay at 12.30 am hearing to what a Bombay policeman has to say. He said that I can take a walk or else take an auto for 9 rupees. “9?” I thought. Okay, I’ll take it. One young lad was standing near me all through my conversation with the police. “Sir chalega?” he asked. I said “Teeke. Nau rupees-naa?”. “Haan saab”. I sat in the auto and after a right turn-left turn-right turn, the auto stopped. I could see Hotel Shangri-la name board near by. The auto seemed to have broken down. “Teeke, mein yahan utharoonga”. He said “Nahin saab…teek hojayega”. Point Noted. He tried again and the auto started. The auto stopped in front of the hotel. I took a 20 rupee note and gave it to him. “Enjoy” I said. He thanked and left.

Have you guys seen the movie “Kadhal Kondein”? The room I got was similar to what Dhanush stayed. Except, this one had a bed, A/C, TV and a bathroom. All in twice the arm-length!!! But you can’t get a better room in Bombay for 780 rupees. I called home and informed that I was safe. I switched on the TV to find FA cup running in Star Sports. I removed my shirt and trousers. The room was sweaty. I opened the only bag I brought. To my horror, there weren’t any shorts. I took a towel and roped it around me. Kept all my valuables near me, locked the door, switched off the lights, muted the TV and slept. Usually, when I start to sleep I want something running in my room. It could be a radio, TV. Only then I will get sleep. Pretty weird isn’t it? But it works for me. Next thing I remember is the dream of watching Basic Instinct with that attractive driver of the car whom I saw 20 minutes before in the roads of Bombay. I slept well.

To be continued…

Anjathey - Review

2008-04-07T07:24:00.000-07:00

Originally published on PassionForCinema.com

http://passionforcinema.com/anjathey-review/

Having read a lot of articles in PFC, one thing i discovered is that, the first sentence(s) in the article must be captivating enough to make the reader go through the entire article. As I write this, I could understand why I was hooked to the tamil movie Anjathey(No fear) almost immediately.

Imagine this. This is the first sequence in the movie.

Blue sky - As we see from ground. The camera is on the ground facing the blue sky.
The camera moves right. Slowly a person standing comes into the frame.
The camera inches further and we see 2 more people standing.
Then, the camera moves back,left. After a few secs, a person is taking “push-ups” in an iron-bar. We realize that this place is a playground. The Scene then unfolds.
Why is the Director doing all this in the first sequence itself when he could have used a normal camera angle?.He just gives us a hint in the first frame itself that “You cant just doze off in my movie and know the full story…stay awake and watch it”….Literally HE SAID THAT TO ME in my mind!!!

The message is bold and clear to the audience. This movie is not the one you can watch it leisurely.During the movie, you cannot talk to your friend sitting next to you-pass a comment- ask for popcorn-nibble with your mobile. The Director and the whole crew have spent their minds and energies in making this movie and they want us to show respect to their effort.

The story of Anjathey is complex to narrate. I have often heard in actor’s interviews that they were completely mesmerized by the narration. I saw those movies and all I found was a love story opposed by both the protagonist’s parents. This movie is real complex.There are a lot of events to narrate. Some may simply put it as a Friendship story. It isn’t. It is not even just a thriller. It is not a love story for sure. It is not a story about the life of a police officer. It is not about how fate takes you through life. This story is not about a single thing. It is a complex, intricately woven story.

The film has an excellent story line. Friendship, police life, pedophile, kidnapping incidents, thriller, love..they all are interlaced in a single story with effortless ease . The director must have watched more than a 1000 good World cinema till now. Mysskin surely does love movies!

The haunting music...The music has gone along with the movie. This music goes with the story getting revealed on the screen. The biggest success for background score in a movie is you should not hear it ALONE!…The back ground score should not be different from WHAT YOU FEEL…That is exactly what has Mysskin and Sundar C.Babu (Music Dir) have managed to do. The film has just 3 songs. Out of which 1 is a love song, picturized in an interesting fashion and the rest are “Gaana” songs which suits the atmosphere in the movie. I loved “Thakida thakida”…

The haunting locations. Even before the scene has started, the locations give you a chill down the spine. Hats off to the Production manager, Director and …and…I don’t know who all are involved in this department. The locations in the climax sequences, the hideouts of Daya and Logu, homes of the male leads. All have been selected to perfection.

The extras. Being a filmi crowd you all, you would know that biggest success of any movie is How-you-manage-extras. Take Paruthiveeran(Tamil), Lagaan, Polladhavan(Tamil), Dog Day Afternoon and all your favorite films. All of them had extras do their best. Even in his previous film - Chithiram Pesuthadi, Mysskin’s assistant directors have done a good job in getting the work done from the extras. This film is no exception. When you rewind the movie in your mind, I wont be surprised if you try to give names to the characters like “Patti”, “Sappai’s son”etc.,.

The actors. Prasanna as Daya, Narain as Sathya, Ajmal(debut) as Kruba, Pandyarajan(yesteryear comedy actor-director) as Logu have done neat roles. Special mention must be made to Prasanna and Ajmal. It would not be exaggerating to say that all these people have performed the roles of their lives. This film would be ON THE TOP OF THEIR RESUME.

Even when we remove all these positive factors, I could still say that this movie is one-helluva-movie.

The reason?

Director - Mysskin. He was literally playing with audience’s mind.

Can u believe that he didn’t show the face of a person in the whole movie?…Why did he do so?…Because, he says again “Unaku thevaiye illa(You dont need that)….what is important is what he does…and not how he looks…”…My goodness..Mysskin was playing with our mind…

In one important sequence, the camera is at the ankle level and he doesn’t show anything other than that. What he effectively does is, he makes us to imagine the scene. Only hints! You Comprehend the picture!
In one of the sequences where Daya is supposed to rape a girl…He doesn’t show anything…He just shows us the circumstances…how the girl looks..what the girl is wearing…how does daya react…That’s it. Rest, CUT TO the next scene. He doesn’t show anything. He just lets our imagination run wild. If he shows anything, we would have thought…Oh this is it??.. But, by not showing anything,what he makes is, “More perverted you think, more perverted the villain is”. This technique by Mysskin does wonders to a story like this.

Even though this film is too good, this surely has drawbacks.

The role of Keerthi (investigative officer) was funny, when it was intended to be intelligent.

The starting sequences to establish Sathya and Kiruba’s character were long. If he had asked me, I would have established it in 10 mins(3 sequences). It took him 20-25 mins(5 sequences) to establish both the characters.

In the end sequences,
The way Daya, Kruba and Mottai hide in the middle of a sugarcane field is fine. But, the school girls, Kruba, Mottai and Daya..they are in a symmetry. What i mean is, the angle between each one of them is either 45,60,90 or 180 degrees. The position of the camera was fixed first and the characters came to the scene and NOT the OTHER WAY AROUND. It made me feel that its a film after all.
In the end, they all ran towards some hill. It made me feel sigh. Why didn’t the Director think still more to arrive at a suitable ending? The climax is fine. But, the way in which he arrives at the climax is what disturbs me.

The way Logu(Pandyarajan) reacts to the scene where the police have zeroed in on him and raided his garage.

Logu was a pedophile for hell’s sake and after all he did to the girls, i felt like blasting him. When the police team zeroed on him and found his garage, I felt happy. When Logu knows about the raid, i wanted him to really feel afraid; i wanted him to cry like hell; i wanted him to loose balance. But, what he does? He does his trademark comedy. Shit……Now I felt like hitting Mysskin. After building up the hatred towards Logu, how come the Director expects me to laugh at this.

To say on a lighter vein, the Director didn’t satisfy my ego.

Rest, this movie is one of the best I have watched in my life. I am talking about World cinema here.

One thing which runs a chill down my spine is there are a lot of good movies coming around in Tamil. I mean real good movies. So, by the time I make good movies , it wont be that good I think . Frankly speaking, I am damn jealous of all those good directors. Time is not far away, when every 3rd movie in Tamil will be world class.

Anjathey ——- No Fear!!!

Movie - Anjathey
Cast - Prasanna, Narain, Ajmal, Pandyarajan, Ponvannan, Vijayalakshmi, M.S.Bhaskar etc.,
Editor - Sadagoban Ramesh
Music - Sundar.C.Babu
Camera- Mahesh Muthuswamy
Producer - Hitesh Jabak
Written and Directed by - Mysskin

Namma Mumbai ( Aamchi Mumbai)

2008-04-07T07:14:00.001-07:00

"Attention Passengers, the flight will be landing in Mumbai within 10 minutes. Please fasten your seat belts". I fastened my seat belts and looked through the window to see every object getting magnified as the flight reached the runway. I took my mp3 player, browsed through the contents and selected the most appropriate song for this situation. This is the first time I am coming to Bombay. And I am in love with it already. Just at the instant when the flight touched the ground, I played "Dream On – Aerosmith". The flight came to a halt and all the passengers stood up to leave the aircraft. My heart beat raged as I was damn excited to be on the "Land of Dreams" for the first time in my life. We were wished good luck by 50+ yr old air hostess (No prizes for guessing the airline I took). I came out of the aircraft and smelled Bombay for the first time in my life. Just at that instant, Aerosmith screamed through my ears…Dream On….Dream On…Dream On…. Wow...What a welcome!!!!

I do not know anyone in Mumbai. Technically, I do know a lot of people. But, no one will give me a night's accommodation because I didn't ask any of them. I decided to manage myself. That both excited me and scared me. I did book a room a fortnight before in Hotel Shangri-la. They said it is a 5 minute walk from Airport. I reached the arrival terminal and saw all the "Welcome So-and-So" placards vying for the top slot. I could not see any of the faces, hear what they were shouting. I am afraid, Right? I followed a group of persons as I do not know where the exit is and also I assumed it had a single exit. I would have followed them for about a minute. They stopped, turned and looked at me with suspicion. Then I realized they were construction workers and I had followed them till their construction site. I just gave an embarrassing look and took the same route backwards. I exited through the terminal, but still in the airport campus and SAW Mumbai.

Dalal Street Blasts(Black Friday)-Arvindswamy waiting at the registrar office(Bombay)-Ajay Devgan smoking a cigar(Company)-Phones continuously ringing in the buildings of Bombay(Company Second Half intro scene)- Kamal leading the mob to Seth comminaati house to ransack(Nayagan)-Rakkama kayyathattu song(Dalapathi)-Nana Patekar drinking tea in the police station(Ab tak Chappan)...

As I walked through the road leading to the main road, believe it or not, all the above mentioned scenes came as a flash one after another. The people of India and people in Tamil Nadu in particular have had lots of links to Bombay since a long time. I was no exception. I had so many cherished memories regarding Bombay. After Madras and Calcutta, Bombay is the city I loved for a long time even before I came here. It was the place where film-makers in Chennai longed to establish mark. Bombay is the place where lots of dreams have got fulfilled and more dreams have got destroyed. You must be really lucky enough to establish yourself in Bombay. Be it any industry, Bombay is the place where you should make a mark.

Okay, enough of Bombay-praising. I stopped near an ordinary looking tea-stall and asked for a chai. I was conscious enough not to reveal me as a Tamil coz…I was afraid of getting exploited. I waited for a few minutes. Meanwhile 3 cars stopped by and each one of them had gorgeous looking girls come to the petty shop and buy something. Their boy-friends remained seated in the car. It was unusual. My chai came. It was good, not bad. "Kitna?" I asked. "Pandra" replied the server. "Pandra-na 15 rupees thaane" (I asked myself in Chandramukhi Vadivelu style). "Too much" I thought to myself. May be, the stall is in the airport campus itself. I reached the main road. I don't know which road to take. I asked a person in the parking lot where Parle station is. He said something. It must have been Marathi. I said "Teeke" and took the road towards which he showed his hands. I crossed the road and walked on the footpath adjacent to a big building. I walked slowly, enjoying Bombay. A car was parked on the road side. Usually, whenever I see a car in Madras, I don't see the driver but the person next to him. Most probably, it will be a girl/woman. 70% of them would be worth the look. Similarly, I saw the person next to the driver and I saw a beautiful girl and was blown over. She was very good. By Madras Standards, she can even act in T.V. Serials. Then, I saw the driver. She was actress material. Only then I noticed the car had 5 girls and they were all attractive. What are they doing at 12 midnight? "Welcome to Bombay" I told myself.

To be continued…