Raavanan - My 2 Cents

It it so sad that I have not posted anything on my wall since my last review of AO and current post is also about a movie. I think my blog needs flavor. I swear, after this post, I am staying away from movie review (or ranting in my case) for a while.

A lot has happened in my life since my last post, but in the movie world hyped-movie-crapping-out has remained the same. As one of my buddies would comment, so sad.

I had to see Raavanan, just for the hype created and for all the negative reviews I read about it. Succinctly, the movie is about exploring the concept "There is a good side within a bad man, and a bad side within a good man". This concept has been explored from the perspective of the lead lady character. For this purpose, Maniratnam has used Raamayanam as the backdrop. A brave and bold experiment in deed. However, it fails magnificently in not expressing the thought process through screen play.

While the director has put in enough thought about the locales, I fear the same cannot be said for character definition and narration . Veera (aka Raavanan) character is given lots of screen presence in the movie. We get to see the trials and tribulations he goes through with good and evil, but the same cannot be said for Dev (aka Ram's) character. While it was shown that Dev is a cop and he was part of a botched up plan to finish off Veera that ends up in Veera's sister getting raped, it is never known whether he was part of the group of people who raped that girl. Without any proper scenes, the director has tried to bring out the point that Dev has the bad side too. Plus, as the movie progresses we get to see that Raagini (aka Sita) emotionally/romantically inclines towards Veera (even though she was married to Dev), but such a transformation lacked conviction. Why does she change her mind? What has Dev done which is bad and makes him pale in comparison to Veera?

Additionally, the movie also has lots of characters that are wasted and every effort is made to make the movie similar to Raamayana. Characters of Forest Guard (aka Hanuman) and Vanilla (aka Surpanaka) are built and wasted. If you read through Vaalmiki's Sundara Kaandam, you get to see how Vaalmiki has used each and every character to build the case for the anxious Sita, idiotic Raavana and righteous Raama. Mani, being a great director he is, has lacked conviction in this movie. If you want a successful similar effort, read Shashi Tharoor's "A Great Indian Novel" and I am told Raajneeti, for adaptation of Mahabharatha, a similar epic.

Ufff, another great movie that went south without even a limp. Now, I am looking forward to Endhiran and see if Shankar has done justice to Sujatha's "En Eniya Iyandhira". When "En Eniya Iyandhira" was published in Anandha Vikatan and was dramatized by a series in DD, it was out of the world. It was pioneering in Tamil Sci-Fi and rocked in depicting human emotions through an inanimate Robot. Given the handicap that Shankar has now with Sujatha not being alive, I hope he would have used his protege`s like Era Murukan to bring out a taut screen play and a good adaptation of the novel.

Aayirathil Oruvan

That is it for me. I am not going to see movies of most of the established Tam directors, that too in theater. The one time I decide to see a Tam movie in theater here in US, spending $12 bucks, has turned out to a thought process altering event for me. Bloody POS.

What was Selvaraghavan thinking when he took this movie? Dai, unaku masaatchiye ellaya da? How the f$%^ you can take this movie, go on the air stating that this movie is of the class of Hollywood movies and Tam audience have to uplift their viewing standards to enjoy his movie? Bloody narcissist. All the movies you have copied from (read Mummy, Lord of the Rings, King Kong) all had a story and a good production value to complement that. Your movie does not have any of the said things. You relied totally on gory scenes, unnecessary usage of archaic Tamil and perverted scenes to roll through the movie. Coming to perverted scenes like (women squirting blood from her boobs, group of women cleaning the King using their nude body), please understand that those are written in old stories to bring a theatrical and poetic touch. You just had your brain in your arse to not understand that. Selva, as my friend Arun stated in his blog, you are perverted to the core and trying really hard to masquerade it. Every great director/artist including Vinci, Picasso, KB, Balakumaran, Saytajit Ray had some perversion thoughts, but they kept that in the periphery, than you. Please dont go around saying you have uplifted the quality of Tamil cinema. Please go and see movies of Sasikumar or the director who took Renigunta. You are not even close to their efforts. IMHO.

Kite Runner

In my short term memory, I have never had a week of nothing to do. Once I got that, I grabbed it with open hands. Planned and went for a trip in that week. But still had couple of days left. Seeing my wife's adulation of the book Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, I decided to give it a read. Before starting my PhD program, I used to sit with a book in a corner of a room and read the book till I felt hungry or the book got done, whichever happened first. I took the opportunity of reading a book in the 2 days left in my vacation and decided to give Kite Runner a try. I would like to say that it was one of the best fiction novel I have ever read. The book was full of staid sorrow, 'gham', which I normally do not like to read. But Kite Runner, which was full of 'gham', kept pulling me deep into the book and never let me out of its grip. It might be because I related to the context of the book or of the deep empathy the book evokes from the reader, but the book is just phenomenal. The author revels in creating 'gham' through the book without actually writing about it much. The book dishes out in open sight ironical twist of life, i.e. we as human always get a chance to correct things when it happens the first time but we always end up seeking for a second chance to correct it, which either never happens or happens too late to be of any use. For some reason, the book provides what Hosseini calls as a 'cathartic experience'. Thanks to the author kindling the fire to read books back in me again. Lots of the classics referred in the book (like stories of Rostam or the Mullah Mohammed stories) were my child hood favorite and I plan to read through it again.

Things I Would Like to Do More Often

Life after moving to Austin has more or less changed for the better. Work has been fine. Weekdays have been great. The weekends have been wonderful. Have a good bunch of friends here to hang with. Volley ball group is picking up too. But I still feel bad in a corner of my heart that I am not able to spend much time on. Few of those are:
- Take 10 mins in the morning to do some stretching and basic Yoga
- Read more books. I used to be a voracious reader. But now my pace of reading has slowed down. I guess, I need to take my eyes off the Internet when I am at home and read books during that time.
- Bike more. Got a nice Schwinn Hybrid. In the last 3 weeks, have biked 2 times. Goal is to bike atleast twice a week. Cycling provides such a good break from walking.
- Lift weights. I hate this "chore". I dont want to be a hunk. But still lifting weights once a week is good for the muscle. But I just do not get any pleasure doing it within four walls. Grrr...

Best Album and Best Song of ARR (My Opinion)

Slumdog was awesome. But I always think the best album he has ever created was Thiruda Thiruda. It has a eclectic mix of songs. From the slow melodious one from Shakul Hameed (without any instruments) to folksy veerpandiya kotayile to westernic Chandralekha to the crescendo Thee Thee.

Everytime I listen to Thee Thee, I get to hear one more track which I have not heard before. Gosh, there are that many layers in that song that you will lose count of it. I always wished that what would have been the outcome of the song if the current bunch of talent singers from ARR stable lik Tanvi Shah or Chinmayee would have sung that song.

Jai Ho ARR!

Maanbhumigu (H'ble) Padma Shris in India

I think like a month back I read in Indian newsites that the Govt of India has announced the Padma awardees for year 2008, and the list tops more than 100 folks. Gosh, there used to be a time when the Govt will be very hesitant to give more than a handful per year and nowadays they are giving in 100s. As a matter of fact, I remember couple of years when the Govt did not announce any Padma awardees for few years. If Padma awardees, which are supposed to be given to citizens who involved themself to the most highest service of society, is given like kothaval chavadi vegetables then there is something grieviously wrong with Indian Govt. I would like to kindly request Indian Govt to provide the reason behind giving Padma Shri to folks like Aishwarya Rai, Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh. WTF have they done to society? Aishwarya has dolled her way to stardom, have we ever heard of a single thing she has done for upliftment of the million folks who pray her as the MOST BEAUTIFUL LADY IN THE WORLD. Yuvraj and Harbhajan, other than throwing tantrums and slapping his fellow teammates, WTF have they done to deserve Padma awards? If Aishwarya has excelled in her field, then give her a National Award or a Dada Saheb Phalke award and not a Padma. If Govt thinks that Yuvi and Harbhajan have excelled in Cricket, please give them Khel Ratna or Arjuna awards. Should we remind them the purpose of such awards.
Govt of India, please, for Petes' sake, don't bastardize an award meant to garner respect from common man.

pssst..
A concerned Indian Citizen

Movies I Caught up With

Wall-E,
Chronicles of Narnia,
Pineapple Express,
Subramaniapuram,
Saroja,
A Wednesday,
Bommalattam

Out of all these movies, I would rate Wall-E and A Wednesday as my pick. Wall-E was a jaw dropping animation extravaganza. Loved every bit of it. A Wednesday was a beautiful thriller. After eons, I have seen a worthwhile movie from so called, THE BOLLYWOOD. Arguments put forth by the protagonist in the movie are very worthy and most of it really kindles some thought process among the viewers. Kudos to the director for giving a sensible movie.

Worst of the lot was Bommalattam. What the crap was Bharathiraja thinking, when he conceived the movie? I guess he thought all the viewers who would see his movies are mango idiots. Shucks. Waste of 3 hours in my life.

Remaining movies were all very good time pass. :)