Things of the Past - I

Some prime events that happened around the world that got my attention:

(1) Sachin crafted a classy 200 runs in cricket while playing for India against Republic of South Africa. The first-ever man on the Planet to achieve this stupendous task!!! Bravo Sachin. But hopefully you will retire after the 2011 world cup and pave way for the youngsters.

(2) Minority Indians gets attacked in India and elsewhere. The ruling Government manages to act as a mute spectator, as always!!! One of the Greatest Artists India has ever produced, M.F.Husain, was conferred Qatar nationality recently. His paintings that blatantly portrayed the sexuality in ancient Indian culture received huge criticism from communal forces and hence the Legend was forced to vacate India. Two points to consider: (1) We no longer can boast the mantra "Unity in Diversity"; that's just to fool foreigners & local kids. (2) The level of creativity and imagination incorporated in Art should be left to Artists and not to politicians and other communal forces. Enough damage was already done on Indian constitution and now the politicians are expanding their horizons to ruin the world of paintings, movies, etc.

(3) Hamas Leader al-Mabhouh was mysteriously killed in a Hotel room in Dubai. The Israeli spy agency Mossad was the prime suspect in this thriller-killer event. About 18 passports were doctored and was used illegally to carry out this. Bravo Mossad if you're indeed behind this!!! In contemporary context, nations protect sovereignty by speaking diplomacy overtly and perform secret operations using their spy-agencies (KGB, CIA, MI5, RAW, ISI and now Mossad) by supporting covert operations such as this. If this continues, I expect to see Stones and sticks in the near future as fighting tools if you know what I mean. Well, I won't be there to see, but let's see!!!

(4) Hilarity Clinton recommended the Senate to approve few more billon USA dollars as an aid to Pakistan. America's foreign policy towards Pakistan is really confusing to me. Well, technically its not confusing when I realize that America is playing a dual game to both us (India) and Pakistan. On on end, America publicly impeach Pakistan that they must dismantle all terror groups for the benefit of their own as well as the world. On other end, they provide all funds and train Pakistani men to raise their standards. The fact of the matter is most of the USA-funds given to Pakistan are used to boost-up their covert and overt attacks against Indians. It's like a food chain process. America gives money to Pakistan which in turn is used to train pakistani men. These men (both military as well as ISI guys) in turn train terrorists organizations who in turn targets us either in India or Afghanistan or elsewhere. America turned a Nelson's eye despite our repetitious attempts to bring this issue to them.

(5) One of the prime suspects behind the 26/11 attacks that happened in Mumbai, David Headley alias Daood Gilani, is under America's custody for almost 5 months. He was arrested for his alleged involvement with terrorist organizations and planning several attacks in India and elsewhere. And now, what pisses me off is the "utterly inadequate diplomatic skills" showed off by Indian rulers in convincing America to deport Headley to India. We can't even get access to a terrorist from our "so-called" ally, let alone getting access to Saeed (Jamaat-ud-Dawaah Chief) from Pakistan. For christ's sake, it took more than 4 months to even get the recent photograph of Headley. India needs to get access to this men ASAP in order to circumvent future attacks because this 'deadly Headley' visited various "hot" spots in India and captured videos. The master plans must have been laid already for future attacks and America must come forward to save Indians/other citizens. I've a question to American diplomats now. "If India gets to possess the custody of mastermind behind 9/11, wouldn't you be doing anything at any cost at an unbelievable pace to gain access to those terrorists - Yes or No??"

(6) China likes to live in a fantasy world. Not only they don't have democracy in their country, but also they develop symptoms to not to perceive democratic feelings of alien countries. Since when China developed the power to control whether or not an Indian Prime Minister should go to Arunachal Pradesh? Since when China developed the power to control whether or not should Indian/American diplomats should meet Dalai Lama or not? Out of the blue, China demonstrated immense interests for the development of Sri Lanka . Or, should it be to belittle South India? China considers India as its potential enemy from the South Asian region and doesn't want us to progress in any quarters. Agreed that China has a huge economy, very powerful military and is not nearly as corrupted as India is (thanks to our shameless politicians!!!). However, China can never come close to India - not even in dreams - when certain important parameters are considered. Few of them are: (i) Diversity; (ii) respect for fellow citizens; (iii) communication skills; (iv) IT sector; (v) Role of a civilian in deciding the ruling Government; (vi) A mixture of traditional values and modern thoughts!!!

That's it for now...I hope to write "Things of the Past - II" soon. Keep checking. Adieux!!!!

-Boobalan

Sense and Nonsense

Every time I realize I am an Idiot, life makes sense.

Aayirathil Oruvan

[Note: (1) Picture source for Selva: www.Indiaglitz.com. (2) This is second in the series of articles about Aayirathil Oruvan. Please click http://boobalanp.blogspot.com/2010/01/aayirathil-oruvan-part-i.html to read the first one]

Aayirathil Oruvan: Part-II Selva-the-Great!!!

Except a countable number of examples, the ideas usually expressed in Tamil movies are way too cliche with very predictable endings. Very, very few directors tried too hard to think outside the box in order to set a new trend. One such privileged member is Director Selvaraghavan, whose magnum opus "Aayirathil Oruvan (AO)" is one of the best movies I have seen in my life so far. I was virtually dumbfounded when I saw the trailer and could not hold the breath to see the movie. And when I did see the movie I was like "Wow!!!". Selva made a daring attempt and went beyond what any director would have never even dreamed off. Hats off to Selva for his wild imagination, wonderful execution and top of all for elevating the level-of-intellect required to watch a Tamil movie.

AO is NOT just a movie. It is a "compendium of extraordinary research" carried out on various topics like Cholas, Archeology, Classical Tamil, Music, creating 12th-century like specimens, lyrics in chaste Tamil written by Kavignar Vairamuthu, synchronizing the acts of several 100s of people in every frame and that too for more than 60 mins, etc. It truly amazes me how Selva single-handedly extracted work from people of various departments. I truly felt that almost every scene in AO is watchable more than twice or thrice or even more. Very very few directors (including the ones from Hollywood) can make a movie like this.

There are lot of scenes in this movie that hit my nerves really hard. Let me describe a few scenes I truly liked.

(1) A team of three people has to cross a desert land that is made up of sinking sand. There is only one way to avoid the death and that trail will be visible only during sunrise and sunset, and that too for a matter of few seconds. Some twelve gigantic stone pillars were planted in the middle of the desert such that only during sunrise and sunset, the shadow of the pillar will resemble "Lord Siva" in his "Dancing Nataraja" pose. The team in two different attempts - one during sunset and the other during the next sunrise - successfully cross the desert by following Lord Shiva's leg to reach his veil in order to avoid the sinking sand. This visually stunning scene is complemented by extraordinary cinematography and scintillating music which increases the blood-flow to my brain. To the best of my knowledge, this is the best movie scene I've seen in my life. (This scene will be better explained by watching than in writing)

(2) Moving on, I really liked the scene where Parthiban addresses the crowd and tells them that two days from that day they will set off to Tanjai. The dialogues in that scene literally got me so emotional. It tells how desperate the citizens are to go back to Tanjai because the diaspora is living outside the homeland for 800+ years. There’s also a very subtle humor by a 200 year old person before sacrificing his life. (Some people told me this scene was deleted when they watched the movie)

(3) The theme music “Celebration of life” and Parthiban’s apt dance was just stunning. Especially the flute like sound that comes when Karthi joins dancing. I don't know what music instruments they used, but the music hits my nerves real hard.

(4) Parthiban’s entry and the music track “The king arrives” is truly a visual treat.

(5) Reema's performance is in par with excellence. Especially the scene where she sword fights with Parthiban, and the one where she breaks free to prove she is a Cholan. How many people understood this scene? How many people understood that the person in the fire-art is Raja Raja Chola, the Great??

Selvaraghavan attempted something that most directors in Tamil, even in India for that matter, has never even dreamed off!!! I repeatedly hear from the media saying Tamil movie plots are so mundane and boring and all that. However, when a movie like AO was attempted in an unseen genre, the media is busy giving pathetic reviews instead of praising the hard-work behind it. AO is not the type of movie one can go and watch in a nonchalant manner; it requires your utmost attention. How many viewers paid close attention to Ramji's cinematography/G.V.Prakash's music/Art work/Costume design? I paid attention to all these departments and I just loved it. I honestly feel Selva worked his every body cell to make AO a memorable movie till the end of time. He achieved 100% success from my point of view. The movie has few flaws but that did not jade me from watching multiple times.

ps: Selva..if you’re reading this..”I love you so much for making AO”. You’re the “MAN”!!!

Heartless Brain!!!

The battle between my brain and heart will never cease, I guess. The brain is so dominating. It always wanted to do what it wants to do immaterial of what heart wants. Heart, on the other hand, mildy puts the request and quietly stand aside when the request is not entertained. Clearly, the "Brain is Heartless". Occasionally, they do meet at a focal point when their interests are identical.

Today, my brain is overwhelmed with reading a lot about Histone Deacetylases (an enzyme implicated in cancer)..whereas my heart wants me to take a break from science in order to read "Ponniyin Selvan" - an epic book written about the Chola Kingdom. It's been quite sometime I am thinking of reading this epic book written by Kalki, but for some reason or the other I keep procrastinating. Karthi inspired me a lot to read the book and I really hope to read this 2400-pages book sometime soon.

ஆயிரத்தில் ஒருவன் (Aayirathil Oruvan) - Part 1

சமிபத்தில் நான் பார்த்து ரசித்த தரமான படங்களில் ஒன்று "ஆயிரத்தில் ஒருவன்". Science & technology என்பதற்கு பதிலாக இந்த படத்தில் History & Technology. ஒரு உலக தரமிக்க படத்தை தமிழனாலும் எடுக்க முடியும் என்பதற்கு "செல்வராகவன்" ஒரு நல்ல உதாரணம். காட்சிக்கு காட்சி இயக்குனரின் கைவண்ணமும், செயல்வண்ணமும் கொழுந்து விட்டு எரிகிறது.

கி.பி.1279. சோழ நாட்டின் மிது பாண்டியர்கள் போர் தொடுக்கும் நேரும் அது. ஒட்டு மொத்த சோழ சாம்ராஜ்யமே அழியப்போகும் நிலையில், சோழ இளவரசனையும், எஞ்சி இருக்கும் மக்களையும் பத்திரமாக வேறு இடத்துக்கு அனுப்பி வைத்து மண்ணோடு அழிகிறது சோழ வம்சம். அவ்வாறு சொந்த நாட்டை விட்டே வெளியே செல்லும் மக்கள் கூட்டம் பாண்டிய மக்களின் குல தெய்வ சிலையையும் கொண்டு செல்ல "ஆயிரத்தில் ஒருவன்" கதை சூடு பிடிக்கிறது. அந்த சிலையையும், எஞ்சி இருக்கும் சோழ வம்சம் என்னவானது என்பதை அறியவும் ஆராய்ச்சியில் இறங்கிய ஒருவர் கூட உயிர் திரும்பாத நிலையில், தொல்பொருள் ஆராய்ச்சியாளர்கள் (ரீமா சென், ஆண்ட்ரியா) மற்றும் சுமை தூக்கிகளின் தலைவன் கார்த்தி ஆகியோர் அக்களத்தில் குதிக்கிறார்கள். அவர்களின் பயணம் முதல் பாதியில் அற்புதமாக சித்தரித்து இருக்கிறார் இயக்குனர் செல்வா.

சரி, ஒரு வழியாக "ஏழு தடைகளை" கடந்து அச்சோழர் பூமியை இந்த மூவர்கள் அடைய, "இடைவேளை". நானும் பஜ்ஜி, காபி சாப்பிட்டு திரும்ப வந்து உட்கார்ந்தால் படத்தின் விறுவிறுப்பு இன்னும் அதிகமாக கூடுகிறது. உணர்வு ரீதியாக, மொழி ரீதியாக, வாழ்க்கைமுறை ரீதியாக, பண்பாடு ரீதியாக, கலாச்சார ரீதியாக, முதல் பாதிக்கும், அடுத்த பாதிக்கும் தான் எத்தனை வித்தியாசங்கள். சபாஷ் செல்வா! சோழ ராஜாவாக வரும் பார்த்திபன் தனது நடிப்பால் அனைவரையும் மிரட்டி இருக்கிறார் என்பதே உண்மை. சிலையை தேடி மட்டும் தான் ரீமா சென் வந்தாரா..அல்லது அவருக்கு வேறேதும் குறிக்கோள் இருகிறதா என்பதை "காசு கொடுத்து" வெண்திரையில் கண்டுகளியுங்கள்.

இப்படத்தின் சிறப்பம்சங்கள்: கார்த்தி, ரீமா, பார்த்திபன். அற்புதமான திரைக்கதை, ஆழ்ந்த செயலாக்கம், பலமான பின்னணி இசை, அழகான ஒளிப்பதிவு, சிறந்த கலை என்று சொல்லி கொண்டே போகலாம். ஆனால், என்னை மிகவும் கவர்ந்தது பின்பாதியில் வரும் "உரைத்தமிழ்". ஆஹா, என்ன ஒரு இனிமை, அந்த சோழ மக்கள் தமிழ் பேசும் தன்மை. இதை பார்க்கும் போது சோழர் காலத்தில் நான் வாழவில்லையே என்ற ஏக்கம் வருவதை என்னால் தவிர்க்க முடியவில்லை. தூய தமிழில் வசனம் எழுதிய செல்வா மற்றும் வைரமுத்துவிற்கு ஒரு தனி சபாஷ்!

இப்படத்தின் பலஹினம்: தஞ்சை, காஞ்சி, செய்யாறு (நான் வளர்ந்த மண்), மற்றும் பல இடங்களில், ஆயிரம் ஆண்டுகளுக்கு முன்னரே மிகுந்த தொழிர்நுட்ப்பத்துடன் சிவாபெருமான் கோயிலை கட்டிய சோழர்களா காட்டு வாசிகள் போல் வாழ்வது? மனித மாமிசத்தை உண்பது? அந்த அளவுக்கா அவர்கள் வாழ்கை தரம் குறைந்து விட்டது? இதற்கு செல்வா தான் பதில் சொல்ல வேண்டும்.

பல ஆங்கில படத்தின் தழுவல்கள் ஆங்காங்கே எட்டி பார்க்கிறது. உதாரணத்திற்கு, "cannibal holocaust ", Lord of the rings, Gladiator, மற்றும் operation condor. ஆனால், தழுவல்கள் இல்லமால் தற்போது எந்த படத்தையும் எடுக்க முடியாது என்பதை உணர்ந்தவர்கள் இதை பெரிய குறையாக கருத மாட்டார்கள்.

ஆயிரத்தில் ஒருவன் யார்: என்னை பொறுத்த வரை "கார்த்தி" தான் ஆயிரத்தில் ஒருவன். குறைந்தது ஆயிரம் பேர்களாவது சோழ மன்னனை தேடி முயற்சி செய்திருக்கிறார்கள். அதில் மூவர் மட்டுமே வெற்றி கண்டுள்ளனர். அம்முவர்களில், கார்த்தியை மட்டுமே சோழ சாம்ராஜ்ய மக்கள் ஏற்று கொண்டுள்ளனர். அவ்வாறு ஏற்று கொண்ட மக்களுக்கு கார்த்தி செய்யும் கைமாறு இப்படத்தின் இறுதியில் புலனாகிறது.

தொடரும்...
(இப்படத்தின் சிறப்பம்சங்கள் தொகுப்பை மற்றொரு கட்டுரையில் விரிவாக எழுத உள்ளேன். காத்திருக்கவும்)

Bogi Festival!!!

Back home it is Bogi festival today - the first of the four festival days lined up in a row. This sooo makes me feel nostalgic and reminds me the festive milieu. A big bonfire at very early in the morning, house entrance decorated with colorful "kolam", cowdung-ball in the middle, sitting atop a pumpkin flower and waiting for the sunrays so our street gang can resume playing cricket from thereafter!

Salute the Cops!

Two incidents that is related to Indian Police officers shocked me, literally.

(1) The 26/11 martyr Mr. Hemant Karkare, chief of Anti-terror squad, Mumbai division, was found to be wearing a bullet-proof jacket that was made of low quality. Thanks to the media, especially, CNN-IBN, for shedding light on this topic. How can the manufacturer make such a jacket that do not assure the safety when someone like Mr. Karkare wears it and risks his life to save others? And, under what pretext does the police officials partner with the manufacturing company? Or, where there some under the table dealings? Lot of youngsters in India aspire to join the police department and the military to serve the nation. Now they must think twice!

(2) This one is really gruesome and this happened in my state, Tamilnadu (South India). Mr. R. Vetrivel, a sub-inspector of Police, was "mistakenly" murdered by gangsters who were looking to kill another sub-inspector. To make things even worse, the 'bleeding-to-death' Vetrivel was not given due assistance by none other than the personnel who "embellish" Indian democracy - The Politicians! The Tamilnadu Health Minister Mr. M.R.K Pannerselvam and the environment minister T.P.M. Moideen Khan happened to pass by the bleeding inspector who was 'literally' dying to get help. However, these 'caretakers-of-the-democracy' decided not to take care of the police inspector, instead called the ambulance and waited for it arrive. May be the ministers thought for a moment they are living in America where the ambulance arrives the spot in a matter of few minutes. Or, may be they thought their luxurious vehicles are just not right for the dying inspector. Or, may be the ministers' IQ levels were not up to a respectable mark and hence they do not know how to react to a spontaneity. It does not matter what justifications they provide, but the bottom-line is Mr. R. Vetrivel died in 30 mins.

The Police force/security force in my state, or for any other state in India for this matter, is "always" misused. Politicians would not just go to places should the 'band of police brothers' be not with them. Not just 1 or 2, sometimes hundreds of police officers are called for to provide security to just "one politician". But sadly, the police to public ratio is only 1:632 in Tamilnadu; meaning, there is only ONE police for 632 civilians. And the worst part is the police officers are the ones who are affected the most by the politicians. Whenever there is a change in power and a new party takes over the government, police officers from commissioner level to constable level are always relocated to different places. During every public meeting, the politicians always bring out a trite remark on police people. Whenever there is a public nuisance created by politicians with 'no rhyme or reason', police face the criticisms from both the public and the Government as well as the media. The politicians intently tie the hands of police to not to react to a situation but later reprimand them for keeping quiet. And now, to the present case, these Health and Environment ministers (what an Irony!) were provided security by 1000s of police-men during their political career, however, they did not reciprocate back to Vetrivel during the 'Golden hour' when his life was hanging in a balance, but instead let him die. The kind of "actual help" the politicians provide to the society is plummeting every day. It is about time to suppress these 'cancerous-type' cells to help save India. And no, democracy is NOT the treatment!