Vettayadu Vilayadu

The latest Kamalhassan flick and I saw it on the 1st day, to get hands on experience of the theatre on 1st day these days..no hungama, no big aarthis or big disturbances, infact lotsa sensible appreciations..
Over to the movie now:
If I were to tell u only till the interval, I wud be telling u that this is/was the best made Indian movie..but then there was the 2nd half and that too for soo long that the drag really puts this in the lower bracket of movies..what a shame they cud not sustain the pace and plot in the 2nd half too..IMHO they had atleast handful chances to end the movie (every 10 mins or so ) in the 2nd half and they muffed it..

The pace at which the movie races in the 1st half, how the story unfolds, the slick movie making, presentation – all gives a feeling of “Hollywood”..But why did Kamal and jothika had to speak so much English..(infact very good ones like – “am not ready for a relationship as yet”; “I owe him that much..infact much more..” oops- was it not supposed to be a tamil flick?? And when ever the NYPD guy speaks there is subtitle in tamil, why was it not there when kamal, jyoths, villain all speak such fluent English!
As someone in the theatre commented “hey..this fella wants to act in a Hollywood movie and so this is the nearest he can go”;-)

What a movie it cud have become if only kamal and Gautham (both known to sothapify climax) not got carried away..if they had not included forcibly such love scenes..infact the movie does not need heroine and there r 2 here..(they only needed woman chars to be killed by the villains in this movie and for nothing else!) and songs come thrusted on u untimely.
So u think there r no pluses, ofcourse there are!
-kamal , kamal, kamal – his screen presence, portrayal of a tough officer, and how trim he looks..(but there is some solace for some of us : inspite of his fitness freak obsession many a times his tummy is seen..hey if kamal shall get it all of us shud and so don’t feel bad about it anymore..go lagao 2 in my name)
-the slick presentation and editing – shud be rated one of the best in Indian makes
-the dialog, more so the word play (be it in english or tamil) was fundoo
-photography and esp the diff angles in which they show even Newyork grand and great (oh! I have an European influ and don’t like NY that much – crowded and dirty). But the presentation of NY and certain shots make Hollywood look far behind
-there are lots of scenes that have a ‘rush effect’ and many occasions when the screen is split in to two and the way they come on u are fantastic..

to the negatives..
-too many murders and the villains perform them so easily! very gory..
-too much was said in the 1st half itself..infact I was wondering during the interval that ‘the villains have been shown, their reason for murders everything disclosed what they have for the 2nd half?’ and that was more or less true..so they had nothing and so dragged with jyotika, her daughter, amateurish fancy dress like appearance changes for villains, illogical escapes from airports, just filling in time like we used to do in answer sheet in madras univ exams..fill in asmuch even if u do not know the right answer may be they u get marks for them too..
-the villains are debutants and they have done well within their capab. But for a debutant its too heavy a role and it wud needed real 'weight guys' to carry that weight..its very rare that new kids perform and take credit (karan of nammavar comes to mind)
-the vilains get away too easily and kill too many too easily
-Kamal leding the way in a typical mgr/rajinish way and solving all possi probs for NYPD (hey I shall not b e surprised if NYPD sues kamal for belittling them so badly and solving all their probs with just his tamil hero ‘instincts’

But still u come out with a feeling u hav indeed seen a slick and good movie but how many will understand the english dialogs, how many will like the gory killings though filmed so hollywoodish, how many wud see it again..as the bolywood BO is based on repeat audience we have another kamal movie prolly failing in the BO!

What a shame!

yeah..so many things happening around us has only this as a remark..
what a shame..
- that yet another health minister(is the reason wealth?) comes up to Cola giant's defence! remember sushma did that few years back..che..so what if there is ddt or pseticide or what ever..drink pesticolas and let the resp accounts brim!

- that people like TRS talks of hi ground and resigns his post (after enjoying it for so long- how much his balance swelled we dunno) and now fasts..oh! gandhi characters all this:-)

- that another quota/anti quota stir starts up and so many shall be affected..and the politicos shall only sit and count their votes..

- that Natwar suddenly feels manmohan is useless and that he taught him all about external affairs (IMHO the later part is a bigger insult for the PM) and parallely sings paeans on rajeev and sonia and her family..

- that every few days some rumors of some terrorist strike in some part of India and we still go ahead without any concrete steps from the goi! (latest is the nuke plants of India under threat!)

- that a Kerala minister is in docks over 'mishandling' or misbehaving with a 40 year old lady in a flight!

- that a random unlucky incident of a bullet from the gun of a jawan (or rly police?)
hits sandeep singh, our star hockey player and injures him and he is unlikely to play the world cup. sigh..sigh..

- that cricket is reduced to such a sham..and again Darrel Hair is involved..no coincidence this!

- and finally.. this blog has been reduced to such a commentless area..hardly any comments these days..no thats not right..lets start changing from the last point, now..

speech by yours truly

Yours truly had to give a speech in Ramnagar Rotarians meet! It all started like this – in a couple of dinner(hic) sittings we (a few friends) had, we just happened to talk on various topics and I vehemently objected about the history of India being tampered and quoted about ancient India’s prowess and told them about “the minutes” of Maculay etc..one of them present there was maha thrilled and asked me to give a speech in his town’s rotary meeting..why spare them when they ‘ask’ for it? and so I was there..
Covered about various ancient achievements, great philosophers and scientists of yesteryears and the classics of our (g)olden days and the marginalization of them. Ofcourse about our astronomical(pun intended) prowess in astronomy, prediction of the distance between moon and earth, the earth’s circumference to the decimal point, decimal system itself, vedic mathematics, zero as a major contri, about Panini, Aryabhatta and others of great significance in humanity! Then ofcourse about our various highs like Nalanda university, Sanskrit as a language, prowess in navigation (btw did u know that the captain of Marco polo’s ships used to be a gujrati? Or that navigation itself comes from nav gatih Sanskrit), architecture, excellence in medical sciences (shusruta being the 1st to perform surgery 2600 years back!), ayurveda, other achievments in maths, civil engineering, metal technology, textiles (recently Roman archives were found containing official complaints about massive cash drainage because of imports of fine Indian textiles ), shipping, forest management, water harvesting (1st planned lakes and water ways lead to ancient India!!) sewage and roads etc.. all this atleast some 2500 – 3000 years back!
Then where it got lost? How Lord Maculay as a part of the committee to come out with a plan to ‘colonise’ India mentally came out with his now famous minutes –
It was February 1835, a time when the British were striving to take control of the whole of India. Lord Macaulay, a historian and a politician, made a historical speech in the British Parliament, commonly referred to as The Minutes, which struck a blow at the centuries old system of Indian education.
His words were to this effect: I have traveled across the length and breadth of India and I have not seen one person who is a beggar, who is a thief. Such wealth I have seen in this country, such high moral values, people of such calibre, that I do not think we would ever conquer this country, unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage, and, therefore, I propose that we replace her old and ancient education system, her culture, for if the Indians think that all that is foreign and English is good and greater than their own, they will lose their self-esteem, their native self-culture and they will become what we want them, a truly dominated nation.
So How true he was and how effective his prediction became..as much as I hate him, I revere him for his immaculate identification of the problem and a solution – though so harmful to us.
In the name of progress and modern education we still continue in the typical ways the british planned to screw us. That was a great plan started with the help of lord maculay and lives till today to screw our educational system and so our past glory and pride.
Even today there is no Indology study per se in India or in India related fields like ancient sciences, ayurveda, Sanskrit, Buddhism etc . One has to do it in the west. The best libraries and courses for these are in the west!
Ofcourse highlighted with the Rajeev Srinivasan’s famous stats of the total share in world GDP – 25% when the brits came in against 2.8% when they left us in 1947!
Then went on to talk of how the western world is and how the social security will ‘take care’ of their economies in future and how they needed cheap labor and ‘developing but rich countries’ like us and Africans to plunder to have ‘developed western lives’!
And so on...So they got it from me right? So you think, right?? And do u think I shall spare you folks..NO..and so here u have it..read it, curse me but leave some comments too..

etc

So quite sometime since I had free time to scribble at leisure..so only random posts here and there..and hence lotsa of happenings went without mention here..not that it matters, still we cud have added our appreciation or curses freely here..
A few points on misc issues..

Bomb blast near the team hotel in colombo and SA after the 3rd bomb in 1 month chooses to go back..was it weariness than serious security concern? If it was the later they shud have had the same concern long back right? BTW in my op this is a serious threat! We are after all talking about maniacs – terrorists! They don’t go by any rules or conscience..so why risk it? And if such maniacs who are on a supposed “cease fire” fire some shells or bombs who is to take the responsibility? Just imagine a handful of cricketers getting seriously injured or fatally too, what else can u expect apart from ‘condolences’ from the resp authorities..In all the whole exercise of letting players play a game in such atmosphere is ridiculous? Why cant they play elsewhere in peaceful areas? no point crying over spilt milk rit?
Then the whole tri series (and now reduced 3ODI) is a sham for the sheer audacious planning. Who in their right senses will plan such a tournament in such a rainy season in SL?? Shameless officials forget the time of the year, bombs around and just want to count the cash inflow..I wish not a single game is played due to weather.

As for the next major issue the Nuke issue and US congress’s cap on our nuke establishments, we can only expect them to screw us up and treat us like Iraq, Iran etc..so its better not to allow that since we as a nation do not have back bone (I mean governments and governance) to stand up to crises in future. so better to stave it off now..

Else where some journalists ‘arrange’ for petrol/kerosene and force a person to immolate himself to make a good “news” and viewership..so much for ‘creative media’..and that man dies in the hospital. Che such creatures, will they ever be able to sleep after such deeds? Barbaric ways like in Arabia (stoning to death, lashing to death etc) is what such creatures deserve.

'appy Ind day!

So folks! 59 years and marching elegantly with all the chaos and pluses possible..still with many of us ready to give their lives..
and so she will march ahead and soon lead the pack..
appy Independence day..
(meanwhile lets us sit and count the number of attacks and death/injured toll 2moro annd while we do that lets not forget to count those who celebrated day before!)

note: random blogging continues. This has been very active last few weeks with meeting many old friends and some trips plus domestic engagements.

Another attempt!

So our good old qaeda fellas are busy and back to business..and pak with full involvement and participation gets away easily..and do we remember mushy’s intelligent retort last time – ‘ they are not pakis but brits. So its briton’s problem’ and u think that is so laughable..NO..the dumb west seems to buy that and more..and see here what happened y’day again..
There seems to be no end to their innovations and here they plot to blow off dozens of planes midair (yeah suicide bomb, jihad, 72 virgins and all that) so what happens now?
100s stranded everywhere, 1000s wondering if they will fly today/2moro or not and all of us losing lot more of our freedom and choice. Yes my sis had to fly today morning and we never knew if that BA will take off and so anxious moments. Then the half baked info from all our 24x7s and equating what ever applied in heathrow under crisis to be same here and blowing things. Add to that the knee jerk reactions of the brits n Yankees! So u dunno if u can carry hand luggage or not till u go to the airport. There u find u cant carry anything except passport and pocket size wallet (in a transparent over). So is it only for now or for days to come. Come to think of it, seeing more of the plot, we will lose carrying any hairgel, liquid soap, personally liked shampoo or paste. Man! slowly the whole world is losing to them terrorists..we cant send off ur near and dear from closer quarters, u cant carry what u like, u cant carry the edibles of ur choice and so much more..
And there mushy, isi, laden are laughing their rear end off..the cottage industry in pak is thriving and the west is watching..they will watch till something really dramatic and big hits them and we Indians will keep receiving in bigger magnitudes for we seem to have the cheapest lives on this planet. One thing is clear: there are only ‘already’ terrorists or ‘to be’ terrorists in pak..and more and more in our neighbourhood towns too this is slowly penetrating..

so..

yes! am busy..with sweet nothings asusual..
in Blore now and so less time to con"net"..infact few tries in the last few days failed..so was it another block by our GOI?? I dunno..
asusual meeting up friends and driving arnd..
as to things that have hit headlines, as I said last time most things become irrelevant or late by the time I find time to scribble..so guys pl bear with this for some more time..
one thing that is on high coverage these days is NUTwar issue..that permanently-foot-in-the-mouthwala is going gaga on all 24x7 tvs..I find it funny that he gets so much coverage and that every party is encouraging him.
In my op, he is (un?)fit to be welcome only by commies, for he really gives nasty and meaningless sound bytes like pinkos..and mostly his views shall be damaging to the nation. So what if he is caught in some internal bikerings and is being given the boot (oh! the royal bootlicker given the boot, oh so chweet to see that)..the other parties shud have quietly watched the fun from outside..hmm.but we are talking Indian politrix..
The best part of what little I saw of this issue was he issued some statements like "manmohan singh has no spine" and the next one was "I will never say anything against Soniaji"..so u know who is the invertebrate here, dont u?? The only thing he says he has achieved in his long career is "his loyalty to the gandhi family and esp soniaji"..oh, come on guys, grow up atleast once in ur life time..

Then there is this great tragedy of the rain and floods in Maha,Guj and AP..so sad..and its so pathetic a sight..we can do well without such mindwrecking footages..but these 24x7s pounce on such disasters as 'god sent' and pack us with such footages..sometimes I doubt if they are really happy when disasters occur..

Everybody is free!

yeah..so everybody is free!
after the Bombay blasts the ritualistic formalities are over for almost all..
so everybody is free..
the govt- gave some quota of croc tears, visited hospitals, delivered bollywood dialogs and carried on..so they are free now for the next - terrorist act or somelike political gimmick
our foriegn office- which was in the midst of a 'peace talk' with who else but pak, while this blast was happening gave some sound bytes and 'threats' and is continuing what they do at best - prepare some dialogs for free delivery for any incident. so they r free too now!
Mushy darling – shud be so happy not even customary demands like power cut off on Sundays for dawood, no meat on Fridays for al terrorullah etc..so he is free happily instructing/entertaining ISI, LeT, arundathi roys and commies of next acts..which is just one presentation prepared few years back and just needs rerun..so he is free too!
ISI – after the customary negating initial ‘demands and accusations’ from India (which was minimal and so did not trouble them much this time) and cursing the ‘operators’ for such a small harvest of deads and is busy expanding its holiday resorts in Nepal, Bangladesh, assam, west Bengal & kerala.
Columnists - offering various theories and analysis, grinding words- counting them and ofcourse counting the income that result out of these words!
Media- filling columns with column-inches of gibberish, recycled analysis and ‘expert ops’..and directly or indirectly encouraging such acts – depending on which side of ‘left’ they are in.
Secularists - oh! they are ever free bcos they have their life made. Long back they had propounded a theory and that stands good for any eventuality. 'The Hindu fundamentalist's act has angered the muslims so much so these acts are only a return gift.' So they will keep justifying the terrorist shit and so we shall learn to live with them as well while they r free..
as for the terrorist - they shud have laughed their rear end off to their content at our style of management then planned the next acts and are free now- prolly holidaying in kashmir..
we citizens - sigh out loud at the apathy and cuss the govt/terrorist/seculars/fundamentalists/who ever (depending on ur leanings)- but all this during a coffee break or in a chai shop or while in unit trains..so we are free too, waiting for the next biggggg thing to affect us and to act with no reaction and get the medals called " matured citizens - did not fall prey to the terrorist's game plan"..

Oh! what a group of diversified lot we are!! ain't we proud of it??
else where Israel is freaking out on the hezbollahs and co bcos a couple of their defence guys were taken hostage. hmm..those docs who visit here- pl enlighten me if there is a possibilty to have 'spine transplant'??

And ME – phew..I was not free and so had to write about this only now..so are you free now to read and comment?