Wholesome Family Entertainer

From the beginning mist engulfs Sachien in almost every reel. The visuals are soft on the eyes. You can stop thinking and enjoy for the next two and a half hours. And once you have accepted this, the movie is enjoyable and a well needed relief for the movie goer. Sachien is reminiscent of movies like ‘Kaadhalika Neramilai’,not in terms of the actual storyline but in terms of it being a throw back to more innocent times. It’s a good old, clean Tamil romantic comedy. Such movies have been made in Tamil from the start of movie making here and will continue to be made for a long time to come. There is nothing novel about the storyline. Boy meets girl, boy and girl act like Tom and Jerry, boy falls in love with girl, girl doesn’t admit she loves boy first, and in the end of course the lovers unite.After ‘Minnalle’ and ‘Dum,Dum,Dum’ we haven’t had such movies for a little while so it is just the right time to have such a movie again. The 15 minutes or so with Bipasha Basu after the interval is cheap and most irritating.The movie is so simple and feel good till the intermission, and upto the conclusion after Bipasha leaves the scene, that I would suggest you take an extended break and go in 15 minutes late after the interval break is over! Genelia and Vijay make a great pair. But I would have rather seen Madhavan-Genelia or Suria-Jothika.But all things considered Vijay has done an o.k. job and this movie suggests a welcome shift in trend, in the sense that he has targeted the urban audience(Sector-A)for the first time in his career.All in all, Sachien is a movie you can sit and enjoy with your family and friends(just don’t try to find any logic in it!)

Just One of the Banes of Free Trade…

The European Union exported most of its banana’s from African and Caribbean countries. The export of bananas is a major source of revenue for these countries, which grow their bananas on small family run farms. Thus the markets of the industrialised nations of Europe were kept open to banana exports from these poorer nations. A September 1997 World Trade Organization (WTO) decision pressured by the US interprets the preference given to the African and Caribbean nations in the banana trade over huge multinational corporations like Del Monte, Chiquita and Dole as discriminatory and not giving the MNC’s a level playing field.These three corporations already control 2/3rds of the world trade in banana’s. Forcing Europe to practice ‘free trade’,which will guard the vested interests of these MNC’s, seems to be the sole aim of the U.S and the WTO (in this case and in numerous other cases).Without the preferential access to the European market the main source of income for thousands of farmers in African and Caribbean countries (such as Costa Rica and Panama)is threatened. The MNC’s can afford to sell the Banana’s at low prices and capture the European banana market. The economies of several countries in the African and Caribbean region would take a severe blow which could and invariably will cause large scale industrial, social and economic decline in these regions. The U.S and the W.T.O have imposed sanctions on the E.U thus pressurizing them to do trade with the giant multinationals in this business. This pressure has forced the E.U to not give preferencial treatment,and thus much needed aid to the African and Caribbean nations.

Two Years On

A humid day in the summer of 2003.Everyone has been raving about this new movie called Kadhal something . Even Neha who does not watch too much of Tamil movies has seen it. I am super enthu about checking out what it is all about.Kari and I decide to go watch this movie.We get out of an auto rickshaw, enter Woodlands theatre, just about manage to get the tickets and reach the door to the auditorium. /En per Vinod/ …I am Vinod. As we enter the hall the choir background music and the above-mentioned line at once grip me (the first line of the movie). Seems like a Charles Dickens kind of setting-poor boy at an orphanage serving food to several other poor boys. /Nan inge rombe sandoshama irrukeren/ …I am content where I am presently. We take our seats. Boy(referred to as Vinod from now) fights for a pant with another boy as the Father(priest)calls him to inform him that he has to go to the city to study, against his wishes. /Na yenga pokudathunu nanaceno angaye vandu sendeten/ …I have been thrust into the very place I feared the most. The change in the environment is portrayed through a satirical song showing the excesses of the urban youth. You are almost made to feel the same discomfort with the glaring change in milieu that Vinod feels. As he is discriminated and mocked at in college and branded a loser the audience gets angry and your heart goes out for him.The audience whistles in jubilation.Why?Vinod is caught napping by a professor, gets yelled at and challenged to solve a math problem on the board(which the professor is sure Vinod cannot solve).Vinod solves it(which his classmates observe in stupefied silence)walks back to his bench and starts napping again. I clap my hands almost as a reflex action. Kari sitting next to me is amused. As Vinod befriends Divya you sense inevitable doom. Wow, the canteen scene. What body language. Vinod’s innocent and wild ecstasy as he enters Divya’s room which is like paradise to him. Again you wonder what body language. /Divya En Devi/ …I have found my friend Devi again! Vinod has a nightmare during his sleepover at Divya’s house. This is the first time the director hints that Vinod has had a traumatic past. As Vinod falls in love with Divya again you see that word all over the place-doom. This is moving like a Greek tragedy. Adi and Divya fall in love and Vinod sits between them forced to act cupid. As Vinod’s heartbreaks I find tears streaming out of my eyes. /Intermission/ …Intermission Can’t wait for the second half to start. By the way I suddenly remember Kari is with me. We rush back into the hall after grabbing the snack and cool drink (Kari has no choice!). Divya travels (kidnapped?)with Vinod to a ruined house in the hills, after he claims to unite her with Adi(Divya’s father opposes their love).Flashback-We peek at Vinod’s childhood at a horrible factory where children are treated like dogs. As you see the dingy inhuman place the Sivakasi brand of child labour becomes a harsh reality that is thrust into your conscience. Vinod befriends Devi.When Devi and Vinod’s sexual abuse at the hands of the men at the factory is revealed the audience start fidgeting in their seats in discomfort. As the children’s revolution takes place,when the sadists and abusers at the sweatshop are killed and the children walk out,the audience roars in approval. Vinod has murdered a bar dancer who tries to seduce him (as revealed earlier). Now you understand scarred by abuse in childhood Vinod is petrified of sex. Also the realization dawns that Vinod sees Divya as his childhood friend Devi (whose love he acquired) hence the title Kadhal Konden(meaning I acquired love).Vinod not understanding the platonic beauty of his friendship with Divya confuses her as Devi and that finally leads to the tragic end. /Kadhal Konden! Kadhal konden!/ …I acquired love! As Vinod wails what has become one of Tamil celluloid ‘s most immortal lines , you realize Vinod is too scarred to recover. As Vinod dies you realize that death is his only catharsis from his anguish. Despite of his blunders we see Vinod as a victim, someone who has been cheated by life. I don’t remember much of the journey back home from the theatre (except that I was desperately trying to control my tears).Kari must have been wondering what the hell about that movie was so great(he didn’t seem too impressed by it).I have lost count of the number of times I have seen this wonderful film. Whenever I think of Vinod I am reminded of what Don Mclean sang about Vincent Van Gogh,”this world was never meant for someone as beautiful as you”.Two years after it hit the screens Kadhal Konden is still immensely relevant socially and continues to haunt our collective conscience. It is truly a fascinating creation of a beautiful mind. Selvaraghavan’s mind.

Ganja Dreamers Everywhere (But Madras Will Survive)

It’s so cool to pronounce Tamil as Taaamil.It’s so not cool if you don’t know (or don’t care) what GPRS is. You are a stud if you giggle and ‘make out’ with ‘chicks’ (whatever that means…lol) in coffee houses or wherever else. You are a nerd if you think stepping into a disco is downright boring. You take life seriously. What does that mean yaar? Downright hollow. That’s what most kids of my brilliant generation are in Madras. Every generation had a few ganja dreamers. But this one is bursting at the seams with ganja dreamers. What do I mean by ganja dreamers? Well people in search of nothing in particular, except maybe well you guessed it nothing!!!Escapists, wannabes and really describing them is beyond me. This city is starting to loose her soul. But no she has too much of it. Madras lives in her beaches and in her love of cricket. Madras is Madras because of all those Carnatic Music fanatics. Madras has entire generations of the true Madrasi souls. The Ganja dreamers may be causing quite a tremor. But Madras is a survivor.

One Hour Photo

Starring-Robin Williams Written and Directed by Mark Romanek Genre-Drama Sy Parrish is a photo tech at a supermarket. He is a faceless cog in the wheel kind of guy, the kind who you don’t take notice of and yet is an integral part of the system. He leads a lonely existence. He observes the Yorkin family (Nina, Will and their nine year old son Jake) through the pictures he develops since Jake’s birth and yet he is someone insignificant to them. Their family photos which he collects (and has plastered all over a wall in his house) is an escape from the drudgery of his existence. His admiration of the Yorkins becomes all-consuming. He discovers that Will is having an affair and now that he considers himself as uncle Sy to Jake he wants to make sure that Will’s indiscretion is stopped. His well meaning, but misguided attempts at doing so drives him over the edge. One Hour Photo is an examination of the isolation some individuals feel, which is a by-product of urbanization. In the hostile urban jungle someone like Sy looses his individuality and identity. The Yorkin family is a case study of a seemingly picture perfect family. Peep beneath the surface and the illusion bursts. But this movie is not about them. They are but a metaphor through which we look at Sy’s world.Sy craves acceptance and recognition of his kindness(he gifts people cameras on their Birthday’s without authorization to do so).There is no place for someone like Sy in a cutthroat, sterile and profit-at-all-cost driven environment like the superstore he works at and looses his job. Robin Williams as Sy is a revelation. He becomes the insecure and lonely character he portrays so much so that Sy is a real person you can almost feel. The photography by Jeff Cronenweth captures the mood perfectly (i.e. the monotone of urban America). The harsh lighting in the superstore the fade in and fade outs for certain scenes tell a tale by themselves. Mark Romanek has made an honest, sensitive movie exploring American society in a way only American Beauty has done in recent times. I just feel he could have done a little better on the characterization of the Yorkins.But I am not complaining. A most memorable movie.