"The Raaja still reigns supreme" – The Hindu

Celebrating 30 Years Of Isaigyani Ilayaraaja Some days back this boy called Ajit mailed me the URL of his blog dedicated to music. He had said there were some pictures of, and write-ups on Raaja sir. Naturally I was excited and landed up there. The absolute euphoria I felt on reaching there can be compared to the paravasam of Guna in the song partha vizhi. His site is a virtual eulogy to our panaipurathu raja. The immediate Friday review following the October 16th concert of Raaja carried a review by Malathi Rangarajan called “The Raaja Still Reigns Supreme”. What touched me most about the review is that it was like one written by a fellow fanatic fan of Ilayaraaja.Very few articles by ‘professional’ writers escape the trappings of moribund, wannabe ‘objectivity’. This one was a rare exception. 2006 marks 30 years since The Anakili Revolution when Raaja first burst onto the scene and changed the landscape of Indian music for eternity. I was planning to start the fireworks a little later. After reading Ajit’s blog and The Hindu write up I have decided to declare the tiruvila open right here, right now! I have also decided that I will do a short 10 – 15 minutes documentary film on Raaja sir sometime in the course of the coming year. The other day I went to Besant Nagar beach. I was humming anda naal nyabagam,vandade kanmani, when I got on to an auto. The autokaran’s radio was tunned onto to an FM station ,and would you believe it, a few moments later the song was played! I felt like a little kid who had just got his favorite chocolate! There is this song from Forrest Gump called turn, turn, turn that basically talks of how there is a time for each and every thing. Well, now is the time to celebrate Raaja, the real Jonathan Livingston Seagull in our midst. May the festivities begin!

As Grey As It Gets

My Favorite Movie Psycho’s Robbin Williams(Above) in a still from One Hour Photo

Character - Norman Bates (Antony Perkins) Film – Psycho Director – Alfred Hitchcock The granddaddy of all psychos he became synonymous with the word psychopath. He is in my list because, the shower and the basement scenes aside, this mellow character is as much a victim of ‚ “mother’’ as the other victims. After hearing for years how scary this film was I finally caught up with Norman, along with Kanishkaa when I was in my 1st year of college. More than scared I was disturbed by Norman's character. But I must admit the scene in which, “mother’’ reveals herself in her entirety gave me cramps in my stomoch. Character - Forgot his name (Kamal Hassan) Film – Sigappu Rojakkal Director – Barathiraja This misogynist, who seduces and kills women, burying them in his garden,planting a rose plant above each victim, redefined how a mentally deranged person is portrayed in Tamil films. This seemingly sophisticated character unfolds as the movie proceeds and we see snippets of insanity. Especially the videos of him murdering women which he records for his godfather to see is spooky ( Barathiraja has used a technique for these short scenes, later used in Blair Witch Project ). We are given a wider look at this character’s psychological profile when Sridevi discovers a room in the outhouse whose walls are scribbled with his story. And the finale in which the movie ends with Kamal as a prison inmate staring at the camera (audience) with a blank, melancholic look on his face is sheer class. Character - Sy Parrish (Robin Williams) Film – One Hour Photo Director – Mark Romanek

This lonely photo developer working in a supermarket who stalks, and in his mind becomes a member of a family, is the dark horse on my list. This relatively lesser-known film has Robin Williams in a role totally opposite to his showman like persona in most films. The spookiest scene according to me was one in which Sy is watching TV in a room in his house and the camera slowly starts focusing on a wall – the wall is filled with pictures of the family of 3(husband, wife and son) he stalks. He considers himself as, “uncle Sy’’ to Jake, the couple’s son. Misguided and in a screwed up way, well meaning ,Sy Parrish is as gray as it gets. Character – Vinod (Dhanush) Film – Kadhal Konden Director – Selvaraghavan Vinod is what I would call a psycho by default. Scarred by abuse and pain from childhood Vinod grows up like Oliver Twist. Adam teased in his college and treated as an outcast he becomes over possessive about Divya the only friend he has had in years. Though one sees shades of imbalance in him it is only in the latter half does the director reveal that Vinod is mentally ill. There is a scene in which the police find the corpse of a bar dancer (a nymphomaniac who tries to seduce Vinod) in his room. The setting is shifted at this point to a hilly area ( we now realize he has kidnapped Divya ), where Vinod is dancing with tribals to the tune of the famous kadhal konden theme song. That totally takes you by surprise and hits you on the face. Innocent and yet dangerous, he is a bundle of, a plethora of emotions. I read somewhere that the Vinod character was inspired by a similar one in some German film called Klassenfahrt (The School trip). That was bit of a dampener though. Afterword – I have always preferred psycho’s like those above who are victims as much as victimisers. They are normal humans driven over the edge by circumstances. It is this that fascinates me about them. I frankly find Hannibal Lecter kind of characters who, “kill for pleasure’’ depraved and sadistic. They are evil by choice and meant to give you cheapkicks. None of my favorite psycho’s above fall into this genre.

Outrageous Hypocrites

"Our society should liberate itself from the ideas such as the one that women should have their virginity intact when getting married. No educated man will expect the woman he marries to be a virgin." – Kushboo 'Tamil Protection Movement' led by PMK seems convinced that we must become a Talibanesque society. The above statement is supposedly "against our culture” and some jobless idiots filed a defamation suit against Kushboo. Instead of poking fun at the petitioners the local court in Mettur issued a warrant against her and now she is out on bail. Atleast she did not commit a non-bailable crime! While it is obvious that the politicians are using the situation to gain mileage, I am shocked at how majority of people have responded. Especially the reaction of a section of the dalit womenfolk here is atrocious. Instead of celebrating Kushboo’s statement as a small step towards genuine emancipation for Tamil women we have women’s groups in Madurai holding public demonstrations against her! Even here in Madras a lot of supposedly forward thinking people seem to have taken offence to her remarks. I want to ask them – what is this great Indian culture you are trying to preserve? Did the sculptures in Kajuraho dating from a much earlier period rise from thin air? Where did this book called Kamasutra, which the west embraced, originate from? Who the hell are you to decide what other men and women should say and do? I hope they know this whole thing of moral policing of women came with the Mughal and British invasions of India. Do I need to even go into the lusty pursuits of household Indian mythological heroes? I know that what Kushboo said is representative of a substantial number of people, especially young women in our city. And if most men and some women in our state have a problem accepting this TOO BAD! When you see a matrimonial add where the groom in waiting seeks “a fair, homely, ________(the blank is filled with the caste name) girl, with an attractive slim body, who does not want to work" the word vulgar takes on a whole new meaning. These atrocious fools get away with BULL**** like that while Kushboo is being harassed for speaking out on behalf of urban Indian women. For the first time in my life I feel ashamed to say that I am a resident of Madras. A Madras where a woman cant speak her mind out. I support Kushboo in her hour of need and so must you.

The Rain and the Opposition

It has been a mad fortnight. Our house got flooded once and barely escaped a couple of days back. Last week when the water came in it got so bad that my sister floated paper boats across my room! I almost felt like Gabriel Oak of Far From The Madding Crowd!!! Man is a helpless bystander in the wake of nature’s fury. Literally. But over the last few days it is not the floods which has bothered me the most. The political opportunism of the main opposition party of this state has got me plain repulsed. I think the AIADMK government in Tamil Nadu has dealt with the crisis affecting the state very appropriately and efficiently given the circumstance. Efforts are being made to provide adequate relief to those people most adversely affected by the flood. The electricity board in the city immediately cut power in all areas where chances of electrocution were high and yet ensured that safer areas had power supply. I am not very sure about other parts of the state, but at least here in Madras, victims mainly in northern parts, are being taken care of well. Instead of standing by the government in this time of crisis, the opposition party is busy making use of the situation to score brownie points and manipulate the public opinion especially through ‘news reports’ aired in its mouthpiece TV channel. Shame on you guys! You cannot sink lower! During any natural disaster fatalities are inevitable. Aparently the stampede in a relief camp on Sunday was in some absurd way the Chief Minister Jayalalitha’s fault! Anyone with a modicum of sense will know that when several people have been displaced and left without food and shelter they get desparate. In this case their desperation unfortunately led to the death of 6 women killed when several people scampered for rice and clothes, which were being distributed. I am by no means saying that the current state government is above censure. Its excesses especially during the current Chief Minister’s 1st term in office are public knowledge. But as far as the current crisis is concerned they have managed the situation very well. For some unfathomable reason Madras has always been a stronghold of the opposition party. I sincerely hope that the shameless way in which these guys have been spreading false rumors ensures that a few more people from our city vote against the rising sun during the assembly elections this year. My friend Punter(Shankar) has started a blog!Do visit it by clicking here! ---------- K.R.Narayanan(1920-2005) Former President of India May his soul rest in peace

Adhu Oru Kanakalam Starring – Dhanush,Delhi Ganesh,Priyamani,Talaivasal Vijay,Kalairani Music – Ilayaraaja Cinematography and Direction – Balu Mahendra People who have read my write up This Year’s That Movie will know just how much I was looking forward to watching Adhu Oru Kanakalam.Maybe because I expected too much I was a little disappointed by the film. It’s a good film no doubt, but it is not the masterpiece I expected. The film starts with a convict, Srinivasan (Dhanush), also called Chenu, escaping and hitchhiking upto Otty in a lorry. He narrates his story to the sympathetic lorry driver. Chenu is a middleclass boy who is unemployed after his graduation leading a carefree existence. He falls in love with his childhood friend Thulasi (Priyamani) who is the servant maid’s daughter, when his parents are not in town. Expectedly his father is averse to his having an affair with the girl. One day Cheenu and his friends who are drunk and driving crash into a police jeep and are arrested. A homosexual inmate harasses Chenu and the latter hits him and ends up accidentally killing him and is sentenced to 10 years in jail. While in jail he has to endure several hardships and his mother dies. Having promised Thulasi that he will marry her he escapes when he gets an opportunity. With the police hot on his heels what happens to Chenu? I found the climax and conclusion of the film uninspired and tame. Dhanush and Priyamani have emoted so well that they have lived as the characters. Dhanush’s eyes have this wonderful ability to express every kind of feeling and remind me of Sarita (you will know what I mean if you have seen Agnisakshi). Balu Mahendra scores in his cinematography especially in the scene in which Cheenu jumps from atop a cliff and he has captured the waterfalls beautifully. Ilayaraaja’s songs and BGM blend perfectly with the storyline as usual. Though Mahendra has made a film which is touching, pristine and simple, the viewer is left with a sense of deja vu. Its is also sad that the veteran director still feels it necessary to include an item number to pamper the frontbenchers. But that aside …Kanakalam is a very watchable film and better than any other Tamil film which has come out this year. My Rating – * * * out of * * * * * You can read Srivatsan's review by clicking here