The Slum'dog' that roared!

Slumdog Millionaire swept 8 oscars and the world off it's feet. Personally i liked the movie though i dont know if it really deserved ALL of those awards, but i'm very happy nevertheless. My idol AR Rahman won 2 oscars! WOW, this he richly deserves. I dont see it as an award for his particular composition for slumdog but as a reward for his 16 years of dedication & perseverance in film music. Now coming to the controversies and debates:

1) SLUMDOG depicts a filthy India highlighting only it's shortcomings

When u make movies set in a particular region (other than the 'developed' world) , the international audience sometimes needs to be shocked. Since the movie is to be a powerful drama , what better setting to have than place the protagonist in the most scary and adverse conditions and chart his upward course to victory. Its an eons old movie formula worldwide. Tell me if you would really care if a millionaire became richer by winning a game show.And frankly, are the scenes depicted not all true? We can lament about the depiction in the movie, the day the situation shown in it no more exists. period. Even our own Indian movies show blood thirsty villains, women being raped, parents violently opposing lovers, politicians completely corrupt etc etc etc! Why didn't we complain then? So we can openly comment on our shortcomings amongst ourselves but oh lord don't let the others know. hypocrisy. Ram Gopal Varma and Maniratnam made movies on the underworld. 'Nayagan' was even selected in TIME magazine's top 100 movies list. so we ban all these people because they 'exposed' a shameful face of our country? And my dear critics , why blame Danny Boyle? The original story idea germinated in an INDIAN Vikas Swaroop's mind. lets all burn his effigy. 'Salaam Bombay' and 'Traffic Signal' were movies made on similar subjects by Indians. Why were they accepted?.

2) India celebrating a British film's Oscar victory

This would have made sense if there was no Indian effort involved in this movie. For heaven's sake 2 Indians won 3 awards that night. Shouldn't we be proud? The movie is British in production terms but Indian in soul. Weren't we happy with the 'Gandhi' success in 1982 since it depicted our greatest modern times leader? The lives of our own neglected fellow citizens were put under the spotlight and worldwide audiences empathized with them , shared their joys and sorrows. So whats wrong? I'm extremely proud of Rahman and Pookutty and very happy for them.

3) We get obsessed about an American award ceremony

People, plz try to remember who invented movies! Who have been responsible for the creation of all most all of the industry's technology. Who have given the world masterpieces in almost every genre. Hollywood. So when an academy based there rewards our country's work, isn't it a matter of pride? I agree not all their selections were great and not all our movies which didn't get selected, bad. But a recognition from them is nevertheless reason for joy. Tamil/Telugu directors want to make Hindi movies. This is not because they hate their regional fields. This is because they want to showcase their work to a wider audience and earn appreciation. Same goes for us striving to get international recognition for our movies. What is wrong with that? Some movies are formulaic masala entertainers made to entertain the hardworking people from the lower strata of society. Some are uplifting 'Art' cinema for 'mature' wine sipping film connoisseurs. And some are movies formatted for international audiences satisfying Oscar formulas. I don't think anything is wrong with that! In fact I would not like the lack of variety in movies.

So anyway, I liked the movie while acknowledging it is not a masterpiece and I'm extremely happy about AR Rahman and Resul Pookutty winning the Academy awards. JAI HO!

PS: The song is America's new Macarena!!! :)!

Time to act yet?

Initially the images splashed on CNN seemed like one of the umpteen number of terror attacks that have been happening in India and abroad. Note the tone of this sentence which described my thoughts. 'one more amongst the many'! Pathetic but anyway..!As the hours passed, I realized this was not just another attack. It slowly dawned upon me that this was much larger. The emotions i was feeling had visited me before. A September morning 7 years ago. As i watched the terror unfold, I was still hopeful of a speedy end. Nothing in the world at that moment would have convinced me that this was going to be just the beginning for 3 days of urban horror! What happened during the 3 days was absolutely eclipsed by the magnitude of emotions the incident had stirred up. We didn't read the newspaper, sigh in despair and go on our way. We did resume our daily duties but only after an explosion of frustration pent up in our bodies for long. Intelligence inputs ignored, antique rifles and faulty bullet proof vests for the police, Lackluster transport for NSG commandos making them 9 hours late......! What the heck is going on? Did institutions like RAW, army, navy etc fail or our 'elite' babus just were too wrapped up in their vanity to even pay heed to the warnings? I'm tired of words of bravado after every such horrific incident! 'We severely condemn this', 'we warn pakistan', 'India will be back', 'Nothing will stop this'! Bullshit! When will we ever act? and if someone acts it'll be hindu fundamentalists slaughtering innocents! Dont we have the guts to fight these misguided blood mongering vampires? Dont we have the resources?A nation of 1 billion could just watch in horror as a handful 20 something kids held an entire city ransom! can you believe that? Bangladesh army tortures returns mutilated indian jawans' bodies. What do we do? 'We severely condemn this'! A brazen attack on our nation's parliament which is supposedly under 'extreme security'! What do we do? 'Pakistan has a hand in it'! How the f--- did we even allow this? Why are we a reactive nation? Why cant we be proactive? in everything including sports!!We jump with the 'Damn Pakistan' slogan almost instantaneously! No doubt most of our terror originates there. But are the politicians masking their own ineptness by firing accusations left and right at them? They have shamed us in front of the world as a nation which just delivers dramatic dialogues while watching it's people perish. If it had been the US or Israel , the terrorists would have 'martyred' faster than they can spell Osama Bin Laden! India is ofcourse a soft target. We seldom react! We're a slumbering kumbhakarna! Just good for our IT, curry and Bollywood! Damn us! I understand we all equally deserve the blame. But taking cricket analogy, selectors can select the players, it is upto the guys to perform on the field. If we keep repeating failed selections though it entirely our fault. I hope we wake up before some more innocent people lose their precious lives!

India - Australian for fear

Earlier this year despite several controversies , we came close to toppling the world champs. And now we have done it and in great style too! A 2-0 win over the Aussie side , be it home or away, speaks volumes of the kind of vice grip India had on this series. In fact i thought for once in a zillion years, the Australian side looked like an underdog. Frowns of concern wiped off their trademark smirks. I still love their game but this change of guard they are going through is not exactly going to be a walk in the clouds. Other than Katich's form and Krejza's crazy debut, there was little consolation for Australia, despite sparks of brilliance from Ponting and Hussey. We literally had them on the ropes in Mohali after the trademark indifferent opener in Bangalore. Ganguly's final test ton added to the significance. Our terrific Delhi opening pair, Dhoni's punishing form and Amit's fantastic debut (finally a worthy successor for Kumble unlike the ordinary Piyush) ensured a convincing win. In Delhi Gambhir and Laxman's double whammy double centuries threatened Aussies' reputation like never before. Thanks to a well timed revival in the Aussie batting led by Clarke, they staved off the threat for a draw. Kumble competed directly with his replacement Mishra and came off looking the lesser of the two. A great career came to an abrupt end with an injury. But he like Ganguly had chosen the right series to retire in. Nothing bigger than this! After a totally unnecessary clash with Watson (not for one second did i believe it was an accident when i saw the video), Gambhir got a one match ban. It is high time we learn to play aggressively like the aussies rather than trying to mimic their behavior. The ban was absolutely justified in my opinion despite the immature appeal that BCCI put up. This paved way for not Jaffer or Chopra but surprise surprise Murali Vijay from Tamil Nadu. He has been in the domestic headlines for the last 2 years but none would have imagined his super fast sprint into the squad that too in such an important series. To all the people who question his selection and attribute to the presence of Srikkanth as chair of the section committee, How many people voiced their concern when for decades , even rubbish players from Mumbai inexplicably keep making it to the Indian squad? There was also a Karnataka wave when as many as 6 players including sundries like Dodda Ganesh, David Jhonson & Somasunder were picked for one series. Did any think about the Srirams, Sharaths and Vasus who were lost into the oblivion meanwhile. Badri had to endure an agonizingly long wait for his place after tons of runs in the domestic circuit. Anyway M Vijay did enough to silence the critics with his assured handling of the Aussie attack however weaker they were compared to their former world class levels. He did not score a fifty but was involved in opening stands of 98 and 116 with Sehwag and there were absolutely no play and misses or nervous edges despite this being his extremely high pressure debut. For once the selectors displayed some sense , picking somebody who is in terrific form as of that moment. Sachin's classy ton and the crucial Dhoni-Harbhajan century stand helped to get into a great position and the spinners delivered the final blow. Dhoni's 8-1 field was widely criticized but he put it down to what the Aussies have been saying for past 2 decades, "We play hard to win. Nothing else counts"! Ponting drew flak for his use of part time bowlers to increase the over rate but i wouldn't blame him. He could have played hard to win too but would have openly flouted ICC guidelines. Why have the guidelines and punishments if they are never meant to be followed? At the end of an extremely satisfying series, i actually pitied the aussies. I pity the englishmen more. As i write they are 3-0 down in the one day series. Waiting for the Ashes!

Obama....Obama!

One name has dominated world news over the past year or so! Barrack Obama! The previously little known Democratic Illinois Senator is now the first African American president of the United States. His calm and confident persona has generated a wave of passion amongst people not only in the US but abroad too. He has become a youth icon, a symbol of the black civil rights movement in America & a face for change! It is unbelievable the kind of fervor this guy has generated. It might be partly due to the fact that he is an african american running for the highest office in a country which once had a brutal civil war over the issue of slavery and home to one of the world's most notorious white supremacist organizations. It might also be due to the reason that he was a democrat promising change in the wake of a hugely unpopular Republican Bush regime what with the exhausting wars and the bleeding economy. Or it might be simply due to his composed persona, oratorical prowess or just his age. In a country which has long been preaching morals to the rest of the world, the election of Obama is a significant step in proving to the world that they mean what they say! No other president could evoke this widespread euphoria in the remote corners of the world as he did. In a way his success has been taken as a glimmer of hope for minorities under oppression all over the world. But for the US, more than that , he is being seen as a person who could turn the fortunes for his country and once again make them the nation everybody looks upto. Part of his success may also be due to Bush's unpopularity rubbing off on the republican challenger , McCain's own age, Sarah Palin's guffaws on national television etc. But there is no underestimating Obama's achievement. He has pulled the youth junta to the politics realm again. I have not seen youngsters celebrate wildly in clubs for a presidential election result before , in any country. Whether he is successful in office or not, he has proved that America is definitely a land of equal opportunity. Hope there is a revival of interest in politics in India too and someone young and dynamic comes to the fore to wash off the dirty impressions of a politician! I think we the people can pull off such a revival! YES WE CAN!

Dasavatharam - Not quite bang on target!

Being an ardent Kamal fan, i just couldn't wait any longer to watch his 'magnum opus' Dasavatharam. The hype surrounding the movie was incredible, I would say much more than Sivaji! i grabbed my opening weekend tickets and rushed off to witness the spectacle in NJ. The opening scenes of the movie set in the 12th century had me drooling for more. But what followed didn't have me spellbound! Well, I did enjoy the fast paced movie, but certainly didn't think it was a masterpiece worth the hype. The movie did not have a complex intriguing story line. A few characters of Kamal (tall muslim, grandma, Avtar singh, japanese) either reminded me of Avvai Shanmugi or looked like a facial plastic surgery gone terribly wrong. Totally unnecessary! The much talked about graphics component, touted as hollywood-esque, maybe be better than some Indian movies but just not top notch. More important than any of this, the movie lacked that powerful drive home point! Too many messages inundated with kamal's now tiring atheist tirades with none making an impact on the viewer. 'Anbe Sivam' was much subtler but just rammed it's message straight into your heart. It happens very few times that I return from a movie and just don't know what opinion to form of it. Kamal's body language especially as the menacing Fletcher and the hilarious Balram Naidu were exceptional. The stunt sequences were remarkably choreographed. The 12th century piece was visually captivating. It was thoroughly enjoyable as a commercial entertainer but failed as a landmark Kamal movie. You would expect his movies (except his comedy capers) to seize you into the moment , silence you, torment you, enlighten you & elate you! You expect them to shake your very elementary bearings! But sadly nothing of that sort happened. No doubt, Kamal has gone through strenuous efforts to make this movie, be it exorbitant make-up or encompassing extreme characters. But at the end of the movie, u feel that maybe a less superlative effort would have still yielded the same result. Believe me , i would prefer Anbe Sivam's injury deformed asymmetric face any day to khalif's molten face! The 'Chaos Theory'/'Butterfly effect' concept are trend setting in Indian Cinema. But they were better portrayed i thought in the Ashton Kutcher movie 'The Butterfly Effect' though in a lighter sense. The Ranganthan idol causing the Tsunami sounds pretty lame even though that is the intent of the theory, that insignificant actions may cause extreme reactions. ATleast that is what most people think loudly on their blogs. Infact lot of people have gone through great pains to delve into less known abstract concepts to explain the movie! I tried deducing the movie from a positive perspective and this is what i got:

I think it is safe to assume that parallels are drawn between the 12th century priest Rangaraja Nambi and the modern day scientist Govindaraja Naicker. They are the main protagonists. Similarly we can do the same to link the antagonists. We have king Kulothunga Chola from the past and the institution behind Fletcher or the US government headed by Bush. Both Rangaraja and Govind have strong beliefs of their own. While Rangaraja believes that Lord Vishnu is the divine power who guides everything on earth, Govind believes science is something which should be used to serve humanity rather than creating weapons of destruction. Both antagonists differed with these beliefs. While Kulothunga believed there is no other divine power other than Shiva and his forms, Bush believed science could be used to destroy human life if it is considered a threat. Now Rangaraja perishes in his quest to preserve his belief while Govind succeeds in proving his. Rangaraja is a man who believes in a supreme form (God) while Govind believes in a supreme power (nature)! The essence of the film might be what is evident in the climax. Nature , symbolized by the Tsunami, suppressed the human actions and declared it's supremacy over us mortals! While it dumped tons of NaCl to negate the bio weapon, it also returned the 12th century idol to the land where it belongs! Thus it culminated both good protagonists' efforts to counter the antagonists' evil designs. The 'Chaos theory' concept not only existed within the modern times which involved the various characters and their effects on each other leading to a series of events. It is also signified by the correlation and hence implicit interaction between events separated by centuries of time. The cycle of life is also emphasized!

Phew! That was the best i could do! At the end of the movie, the dumb felicitaion function, KS Ravikumar's dance, Bullets taking cancer cells with them, Govind's stale rants against superstitions/castes, too many messages relating to religious, humane and environmental spheres, partially awful make-up/ cheap graphics and a blatantly immodest song singing Kamal's praises spoiled the entire experience! What could have been a landmark effort by the legendary thespian, fell short and just managed to be a decent commercial entertainer! Hope 'Marmayogi' really quenches our creative thirsts! BTW , i still remain a die hard Kamalian, despite Aazhavanthan, Mumbai Express & Dasavataram!;)!

Cricket fever - 100 degrees and rising...

back to blogging after a long break! wonder how guys in the movies maintain huge red diaries with every day of their 'colorful' lives captured complete with special effects, fights , duets and those deadly secrets including their most heinous crimes described in graphic detail!!! Well over the past couple of months, one thing which has ruled my body and soul (outside of family ofcourse ;)) has been CRICKET! The IPL mania was well worth the wait with spellbinding action. And it was doubly sweet since Chennai Supper Kings, the team i rooted for, made the finals. Rajasthan were definitely the deserving winners though. When i watch the MLB or NFL over here in the US, i always used to wonder how nice it would be to see this sports bar/office talk/jersey touting back in India. IPL did just that. Local rivalries are actually cool. For example, how many times would u meet pakistanis and trash talk cricket with them? Now imagine how many opportunities u'll get bust chops with a mumbaikar or bangalorean! Movie stars, Beers at the pavilion, short games, prime TV coverage and explosive cricket ....what more do ya want? ICL took the first step, but thanks to childish checkmates made by the BCCI, was unable to generate the kind of hype and excitement it's 'official' cousin did. Nevertheless, no cricket fan would complain. the re-emergence of oldies like Jayasuriya and stunning new talent like Shaun Marsh & Yusuf Pathan was unbelievable. My PSBB schoolmate Badri did himself good with a couple of match winning knocks. Also heartening was the way bowlers fought back in this extreme version of a batsman's game.

My highlight picks would be:

* Yusuf Pathan's clinical agression
* Badri's adjustments for T20
* Underdog Rajasthan's resurgence
* Chennai's passionate but extremely sporting crowds
* Gony's amazing bowling
* McCullum's 'Kuthuvizhakku' innings!
* Chepauk's fascinating outfield patterns
* CHEERLEADERSSSSSSSSS..........THEY JUST ROCKED!

Coming out of IPL fever , i walked right into our NJ cricket league one! Sunday cricket with all the elaborate equipment , is the closest we can come to a national team spot contention!:)! But phew, let me tell you something. The IPL guys sure make it look extremely simple. Boy, after 80 overs of heat, i wish there were some cheerleaders to re energize us!!!

Chennai - Growing Pains?

Back after a visit to the hometown.Hmmm,...i saw a lot of things which didn't really please me. Maybe it is the bane of development. Horrific traffic , roads dug all over, places like T Nagar crowded like hell, construction of fly overs all over the city adding to the traffic woes. The city always known as a small town in the garb of a metro, was really proving to be just that. It is not able to handle the tremendous influx of migrant workers and their families and the sudden spurt in better infrastructure needs. I just wonder how much thought the governing bodies gave to the building of flyovers. Why can't they do it in phases? it is almost like every area in the city has been touched and is non pliable. Usman road especially is a rotten mess, with the crowds for silk saree and jewelery super stores not subsiding a bit. The flyover near the airport is still dragging along, causing a major headache to the scores of fliers commuting. labor and time could have been focussed here as this is more or less the gateway to the city. The airport itself has to improve a lot in terms of access from the plane to the interior lobbies and also passengers service filing in for departure. I was shocked to see the crowds at the airport. It reminded me of kaanum pongal at the Marina! The airport desperately needs expansion and a fresh whiff of beautification, considering the ever rising number of business travelers and tourists. Right now it is immensely clogged and choking to death.On the bright side, the duty free shops with a variety of imported liquor are a welcome addition. :)! Cleanliness also has deteriorated. We have always had trouble areas, but they have increased now. Lack of Civic sense and proper govt. maintained public toilets have made the city one of the largest rest rooms in the country. Political banners, posters and cutouts have besieged the city. I still can't understand the publicity crazed politicians. The once well known green caper in the city has dwindled alarmingly. The most amazing thing I noticed is how once popular restaurants and hangouts are in terrible shape, both ambiance & food wise, thanks to lackluster maintenance. I love local 'kai yendhi bhavans' and fast food stalls, but they have multiplied faster than mosquitoes. Fueling the spurt, are the local wine shops ever brimming with men of all ages right from the crack of dawn. More than the 11pm limit on bars and wine shops, i would prefer say a 'open after 4pm' restriction. This will at least help prevent luring the men from their jobs and necessary daily routines. After maturing over the years from a reckless bike driving college guy to a safe car driving working professional, I realise how much of nuisance, scatter brained, civic sense devoid motorists are. No wonder, a majority of people in the city are suffering from hypertension, stress, respiratory problems and body aches. It is almost like each and everyone is in a hurry somewhere. We should learn from the microscopic brained ants , how to travel in a straight line in order. I know that every city has it's share of woes, but it pains to see the city going downhill. When i was thinking these aloud, many said i was now a spoilt US based brat always looking down upon my country. It is definitely not that. I question why we can't behave like fellow good humans in other better off countries and why we can't emulate our own Indian cities like Hyderabad and Chandigarh which have walked right past us. Hope Chennai's rebellious adolescence phase gets over soon.