Crazy Diaries

Diwali or Deepavali? This Diwali is a special one for me, not only because it is “thala” Diwali for my blog; some thought-provoking facts about Deepavali I came to know, only this year. Being born and grown up in a Farmers family, in which most of them are “periyar (EV Ramasamy- an atheist leader) followers”-I never had big Diwali bash during childhood days. Actually it was forbidden. Our only important festival was/is Pongal. There is a myth circulating in Tamilnadu, that Narakasuran was a Dravidian, so we should not celebrate his demise- Deepavali. I don’t have any intention to discuss about that big politically motivated Aryans- Dravidians divide, in this post. Getting married to a religious orthodox Maharashtrian changed the dynamics. I started understanding and enjoying the festival. Immediate post marriage we signed a bilateral treaty! Diwali celebration at Nagpur and Pongal festival in my village. It went on successfully for three years. Then transformati...

Let me clear the air first. This is not an art film; neither a film of international standards- technologically. Pure commercial entertainer. Choosing this movie is a desperate attempt to rescue my image, which is dangerously close to masochist tag- due to the sad, depressive, pessimistic films I’ve been reviewing! Every film maker would agree that comedy is the most difficult genre to pull through successfully. Easier to make the audience cry emotionally rather than tickling their funny bones. This is Rajkumar Hirani’s second film, as a director. When his first movie, Munna Bhai MBBS was released everyone was dumbfounded; it became a cult classic and created history in Indian cinema. Turned out to be so popular that the movie was reviewed by British Medical Journal! It has been remade in almost every Indian languages. Its Tamil version was “Vasool Raja MBBS”. Rajkumar Hirani wanted to be a film star; was involved in theatres- stage play, during college days...

One Good news and one Bad news. The good news is, no movie review this week, at least some respite from me! Nonetheless, the bad news is, I am writing this book- recommendation: you need to at least make an attempt to read this. I don’t intend to write a review about this book (intimidated by the writing!), rather I would like to share my views. Complications – Notes from the life of a young surgeon by Atul Gawande . Atul Gawande was born to a Maharatrian doctor couple, settled in USA; he was born in Brooklyn, NY and grew up in Athens, Ohio. He is a Harvard Medical school graduate; completed his DPH and worked as an advisor to Clinton’s government for a while. Currently practices Endocrine and General Surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He writes regularly for “The New Yorker”. This was his first book, wrote during his surgical training – as the title says- notes from the life of a young surgeon. He released his fourth book “ Being Mortal: Me...

When I first heard about this film, I thought it was a bollywood second grade adult movie. Dirty mind! I’m confident about my friends; quite a number of them would have felt the same! Film review (about this movie), written by Tamil writer Charu Niveditha in Uyirmai, made me to watch it. I was shocked when I watched it. It was an experimental film in many ways. The whole film was shot by using digital camera. And the story has been conveyed through recorded video clips. With my close buddy’s (Google) help, I discovered that this genre of film making is called– found footage style. And, there are three interlaced sub plots in the story. Hence, the genre we may call as “Anthology found footage”- bit complicated, never mind. To come up with such a tryout in a box office- obsessed Bollywood is incredible. Ekta Kapoor produced it. Both the director and the producer should be applauded for the brave attempt. You should be a matured viewer to understand and appre...

                                                                                                          (art courtesy : Neil Gaiman) இந்த வாழ்க்கை வாழ்ந்து வாழ்ந்து அலுத்து விட்டது காலை நான்கு மணிக்கு  அலார சத்தத்தின்  விகார முகத்தில் விழித்து  முனுசாமி டீக்கடைக்கு  முதல் போணியாகி  பாடங்களைப்  படித்து  படித்ததை மறந்து  மறுபடியும் மறப்பதற்காக படித்து ... இந்த வாழ்க்கை வாழ்ந்து வாழ்ந்து அலுத்து விட்டது . (கல்லூரி ஆண்டு மலருக்காக எழுதியது -1994)

                                          Another Iranian family drama; a graceful movie, which revolves around two children. I would prefer to call this as a children’s movie; a rare genre, especially in our country. Indian film maker-Priyadharsan- tired of remaking Fazil’s Malayalam classics into Hindi commercials, adopted this story officially (!!!) to make - Bumm Bumm Bole. I did not have enough courage (and trust) to watch it after reading the negative reviews. ( ஐயா சாமி , மறுபடியுமா -போனவாரம் தானே கோட் கோபின்னு டயலாக்லாம் விட்டே? Stop... Stop... ) Okay …Okay... Majid Majidi wrote the script and directed this movie .  It was released in 1997; nominated for Academy awards in the Best foreign film category (lost to “The life of other”). Following that nomination, it participated in many international film festivals and won awards. It was remade in few oth...

I felt like coat-Gopinath (boot – Buddhan!), because of my sardonic approach towards Indian/Tamil film makers, perhaps gone a bit overboard. Like every one of us, they are too entitled to have excuses and justifications. Many directors became emotional when they met me to explain their hitches (in my dreams!). Past history is not supporting them to make altruistic movies; many disappeared with just one film (Aval appadithan?); many dreams, careers and lives have been shattered; many families have been pulled to the streets. The stakes are high in the film industries. Crores of money is involved. Producers are businessmen; want to make profit; can’t expect them to change the system or the society. Hence, lack of talent is not the hindrance for creating good films (sathiyama lanjam vangala- kanavila kooda!). With so many loops around their neck- risk of imminent strangulation, only few film makers are able to make responsible, sensible movies over a period of time. ...