speechless because of the torrent within...
just saw amrutha, the movie by maniratnam of the story of a kid....an extraordinarily willed kid....
before the storm thats piling up in me bursts out, let me first focus on the things that i'll most likely forget...
have to do the sashtanga pranamam for that last scene, where nandita das, playing syamala, terrorist mom of amruta, for the first time after leaving her as a baby, gives in... after so much of the battle to that urge to respond to back to her child's urgent tugging at her...mentally bombarding her....
that scene spread over a period of maybe a minute or so, moves from each actor's face to come back and focus on the main players, the mother and the child...
it is so vivid, she wants to respond, but life's lessons hold her back fast losing their grip..and she first stares blankly, then swiftly traversing years in her memories, then comes back to focus on this present...and the innocence, the deep desire and that too overwhelming a bond finally rules her...
gives in and hugs her so tight, i got crushed...not just from the scene, but what he conveyed in that past moment, the tension in her mind radiated so clearly, and that silence was so agonising for me that now i have to give in to write in this direct unassembled form and structure with no preamble and no format...so impulsively it has pulled at something in me...to burst out...cry with her...feel the loneliness and gratitude and that irrepresible thing called hope...in the kiddo, and in the mother....
at least for those like them i am so inclined to believe that there will be that day, as she says when there will be peace and no war around and then they will together be for ever....
amen.inshallah.
namaste...
Thursday, November 29, 2007
From someplace else!
Each entry must have a title.. and so.. Bloody Diamonds!
duh, you know by now what am talking about..if you don't well, wait till i get to the point, if i manage to get there that is...
ok, for the record (for whom this is entirely confusing), i saw the movie, Blood Diamond... and can't wait to talk about it, obviously cos i can pan it, and think i've got the stature to...ok!
quite literally, the movie was bloody, apart from the mind numbing violence that starts after the first ten minutes, by the way which had a good flow, surprising cos the writer, director and the entire crew has seemed to have a change of ideology during that particular portion of filming and gradually slipped to sloppiness and (how can i forget) violence, which incidentally seemed like the main theme of the movie.
though, i get the message, people are dying, being exploited in Africa, because a girl's best friends hurt bad and have caused brotha kill brotha, it's totally unecessary, that only every thirtieth frame has a dialogue and a background music score, noise that does not include a gunshot and an irritating (can't get myself to say heart rending) scream, don't ask me from where, it's just in the background. apart from this, the plot which is so originally woven around an opportunist whose heart turns Golden (from diamondish, get the point??) in the end, and a family man, and a nomad journalist, who has a thing for seeing the good in the bad guy, loses its grip as you grip onto your arm rest, popcorn, cell phone or your head, in the process of pulling out your hair or shielding your tympanum, lulls you to sleep even if you have slept 16 hours in a stretch, like i did..though, you've gotta have the habit of sleeping through peak hour traffic jams, a habit i developed over the past few months...
and now i am certainly imitating the director, rambling and losing my point, also like me, although i know it well enough to limit my vomits to the anonymity of web, instead of making an idiot of myself and insulting the intelligence of my co-earthlings ( for the lack of a better term :P), so, now respecting myself and now that its out of my head, immensely pleased too, i say good morning, am off to a shower and some sleep, before i get to work.
just hoping that this bout of honesty has not been overdone! if it's been, what the heck! whats done is over and for you to tolerate, just be thankful it did not last 2-1/2 hours (!!,gosh are you lucky!!) and won't unless you read as slow as me..
oh! by the way, caprio was almost a saving grace, thats cos he died, and connelly was sweeter, cos her presence was so short!
ok ok ok...bye! feel free to disagree, i really would like to hear the potential of such an on your face violent reel of film convincing your typical fiance' that a 3ct clear diamond is actually tinted with red, where a subtle, emotional plot filtered with reality and violence would not have helped..i appreciate honesty, just not in blunt nakedness, but in the aftermaths as well, so that my imagination gets tapped into, and i can actually feel not blank out, what i am saying, is, don't peel the skins for me please!
and oh, did i mention am not interested in diamonds, just platinum would do! hey not a ring, an anklet!!thats the least! have a blasted week!
Namaste.
duh, you know by now what am talking about..if you don't well, wait till i get to the point, if i manage to get there that is...
ok, for the record (for whom this is entirely confusing), i saw the movie, Blood Diamond... and can't wait to talk about it, obviously cos i can pan it, and think i've got the stature to...ok!
quite literally, the movie was bloody, apart from the mind numbing violence that starts after the first ten minutes, by the way which had a good flow, surprising cos the writer, director and the entire crew has seemed to have a change of ideology during that particular portion of filming and gradually slipped to sloppiness and (how can i forget) violence, which incidentally seemed like the main theme of the movie.
though, i get the message, people are dying, being exploited in Africa, because a girl's best friends hurt bad and have caused brotha kill brotha, it's totally unecessary, that only every thirtieth frame has a dialogue and a background music score, noise that does not include a gunshot and an irritating (can't get myself to say heart rending) scream, don't ask me from where, it's just in the background. apart from this, the plot which is so originally woven around an opportunist whose heart turns Golden (from diamondish, get the point??) in the end, and a family man, and a nomad journalist, who has a thing for seeing the good in the bad guy, loses its grip as you grip onto your arm rest, popcorn, cell phone or your head, in the process of pulling out your hair or shielding your tympanum, lulls you to sleep even if you have slept 16 hours in a stretch, like i did..though, you've gotta have the habit of sleeping through peak hour traffic jams, a habit i developed over the past few months...
and now i am certainly imitating the director, rambling and losing my point, also like me, although i know it well enough to limit my vomits to the anonymity of web, instead of making an idiot of myself and insulting the intelligence of my co-earthlings ( for the lack of a better term :P), so, now respecting myself and now that its out of my head, immensely pleased too, i say good morning, am off to a shower and some sleep, before i get to work.
just hoping that this bout of honesty has not been overdone! if it's been, what the heck! whats done is over and for you to tolerate, just be thankful it did not last 2-1/2 hours (!!,gosh are you lucky!!) and won't unless you read as slow as me..
oh! by the way, caprio was almost a saving grace, thats cos he died, and connelly was sweeter, cos her presence was so short!
ok ok ok...bye! feel free to disagree, i really would like to hear the potential of such an on your face violent reel of film convincing your typical fiance' that a 3ct clear diamond is actually tinted with red, where a subtle, emotional plot filtered with reality and violence would not have helped..i appreciate honesty, just not in blunt nakedness, but in the aftermaths as well, so that my imagination gets tapped into, and i can actually feel not blank out, what i am saying, is, don't peel the skins for me please!
and oh, did i mention am not interested in diamonds, just platinum would do! hey not a ring, an anklet!!thats the least! have a blasted week!
Namaste.
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Where are all the greys?
Raghavan, the newest cop and bad guy flick to hit the box office has certainly hit it hard...
Though the trailors were feeble and left a lot asking, a Kamal starrer after a long gap, and the newest next door girl Kamalinee romancing him, was enough for a die hard fan to succumb to the temptation...
Titles begin and a song showing the rough and tough, honest and afraid of none cop in uniform and surprisingly smart 3-piece suits (must have been undercover..aka Bond!) with not to forget the Aviator glasses shoots, jumps from 2 storeys ( actually its computer edited) and wades(literally...with all that extra weight) into the first scene..some Dhulpet Goonda willing to pay Rs. 5 lakhs for his eye, all filmed by ace ( i mean amateur) Cinematographer Ravi Varman.
The script, direction and even the so called hi-fi stunts and effects left me wondering whether the crew actually thought they were doing the right thing or was it a planned out strategy to waste the producer's Black money..
On another line of thought, maybe they thought the mercifully average Harris Jayraj music along with the famed Kamal would pull the crowds to the movie and an anticipation of his powerful performance would keep them sitting..but sadly, even the anticipation could not carry it off..
15-20 minutes into the movie, we witnessed a gory murder and an even dumber mode of investigation, the scene being saved by Prakash Raj's grief and loss, which at least met expectations in terms of acting skills...
Though the trailors were feeble and left a lot asking, a Kamal starrer after a long gap, and the newest next door girl Kamalinee romancing him, was enough for a die hard fan to succumb to the temptation...
Titles begin and a song showing the rough and tough, honest and afraid of none cop in uniform and surprisingly smart 3-piece suits (must have been undercover..aka Bond!) with not to forget the Aviator glasses shoots, jumps from 2 storeys ( actually its computer edited) and wades(literally...with all that extra weight) into the first scene..some Dhulpet Goonda willing to pay Rs. 5 lakhs for his eye, all filmed by ace ( i mean amateur) Cinematographer Ravi Varman.
The script, direction and even the so called hi-fi stunts and effects left me wondering whether the crew actually thought they were doing the right thing or was it a planned out strategy to waste the producer's Black money..
On another line of thought, maybe they thought the mercifully average Harris Jayraj music along with the famed Kamal would pull the crowds to the movie and an anticipation of his powerful performance would keep them sitting..but sadly, even the anticipation could not carry it off..
15-20 minutes into the movie, we witnessed a gory murder and an even dumber mode of investigation, the scene being saved by Prakash Raj's grief and loss, which at least met expectations in terms of acting skills...
By now, am done with my double choco cookie and coffee and waiting for the plot to develop..
Predictably enough, it does in the form of a song and another murder, this time Prakash Raj and his wife too in a different setting, saat samundar paar... and under the emotional pressure he is in, he manages to help out a damsel in distress..and falls in love with her...
After which, the bad guys (who are by then introduced as psychopathic serial killers, through a few scenes of gross murders and rapes, in which apna hero ka ability to be a Sherlock is displayed..) who are successfully on the run, commit a few more gruesome murders and take away the heroine( how innovative ??)!
Now for the climax...and before I go further, an apology about the spoilers, to all those who wanted to see it yet, and did not know what the movie was about...
So, back to the climax...a few terribly crafted scenes and the villians die and the hero saves the heroine and a few months later they get married to live happily ever after...like we did not know!
Applause...and we thankfully get out of the theatre..!
Hate to defame a movie with such potential, Kamal Hassan, Gautam, Tamil and Telugu release, and Kamal Hassan, but though am not against simple cop flicks, or distinct black and white Masala movies which are entertaining because of the songs and some always used cliched romantic angles, and are different only because of a undercover Mahesh Babu or a moustached Venkatesh or even Die Hard (all the four movies!) for that matter...what hurts me the most here is the potential that was wasted...
Are we trying to take back Cinema a decade back or don't we have any more subjects that an actor of his calibre can take up??
How will any art progress if we move about in the same circles repeating the same thing from the same angle?
Variants of the same thing are fine, as long as there is a change in the angle or the perception with which it becomes an entirely independent entity...but something of this sort..not acceptable at all...
Hate to rant about obvious things, but if it was so obvious, why do we keep seeing the same wine in the same bottle just with a different label??
How can we go about ignoring such a monstrosity?? I for one cannot and hence this..
Agreed there are millions of other things that would make ranting worthwhile but cannot digest the fact that an actor who allows so many controversies to surround him and doesn't get affected by all the gossips his personal life say it is..who could go on doing all of it and more and get away with it, because of the work he does, ended up doing this..
It's just a movie, I know, but to me it's a personal insult...but maybe it was my judgement all along...ok here is where I go into introspecting me..hence it goes to another layer and another place..
For now,
Namaste!
" :-( "
Sunday, January 28, 2007
@ work!
as always a case of long time no see.. and even more predictably, sitting at work, and after reading a particularly entertaining blog, all the more jet set to go, and dish out...
space space space
nothing to fill it with...
not cos my head is empty
but cos it hath too many doubts than necessary(obviously, am not gonna call me bad, deep down where you know no one can actually ascertain the truth ;-) )
could talk about the dulling work in here, which actually is not that dulling, cos i aint looking for any excitement either, so in a way, matches my expectations and needs, but still dulling is what i will call it, cos that is how it is...
or could talk about the almost forgotten architectural aspirations that i keep forgetting more and more everywhich time that i go to that office, bound by the basic necessity of earning or should i say patching and pulling through the degree am supposed to be studying for, spending quite a part of life that should have been spent doing higher things...like what, i really dont know!
or could talk about the recent visits from and with friends to friends, college classmates can be the collective tag, but the automatic friends tag, tells me that they are all set to replace the base level, that my schoolers once had...moving on is this i voice out in defence to the nag that calls it cheap...
and now am successfully writing in such a way that if i read it sometime down the line, as most probably will, after say another session of boring work-good blog, mark you, someone elses good blog, i will end up slightly confusing muaself, slightly cos duh am me.
ok now back to searching for topics, done with colg, and work, and ppl from colg, and now to other topics, like ppl and me, how different, how unusual...
ouch, ironic, my sarcasm ceases to hurt me so whats the point, but hell, is there a point at all?
anyway ppl and me,
first am gonna get screwed by my cuz, who am sure must have spoken to my folks by now, having given up all attempts to reach me, cos i left my milliondollar cell, yes million dollar worth, cos of the purpose it serves morons, at home!
and then to make a ppl gonna be thinkin of me list, lets see,
ab, whose wake up call may have come from other sources, or who must have gotten up on his own, or who must still be sleeping either completely unaware of the call not coming, or who must be wondering (for the lack of a stronger word other than pissed about) wtf is wrong with my cell and why i dont answer it...
and then my folks, in case they are up and awake by now, must be dimly curious, as to what happened to that khatara piece that this khatara gal carries, and maybe, nanna will just guess, that i left it at home, having been around, being a giver up about me and my habits, for a while now...
anyway all in all, even if the one person i am actually very curious about is not thinking of me right now, there are still quite a few people, but then numbers dont really make up for it...
and now that i mention the idiot, i guess i have to go seeking to find out and now that i have something to do, will end this mindless banter and ranting here...
feel like making a promise to write again sooner than this time, but the doubts are still there, as they will be, but now, am gonna let them be, and go seeking, and if i dont find my quest, will take a pointless aux2 (15 mins ka excuse they think is a good enough break), just to have a reason to ramble elsewhere than in my head.
namaste for now....and hey it's a sunny winter morning...so am gonna smile, cos i just like the image that the phrase conjures up!
ok giving up trying to be witty, and good with words, for now!
space space space
nothing to fill it with...
not cos my head is empty
but cos it hath too many doubts than necessary(obviously, am not gonna call me bad, deep down where you know no one can actually ascertain the truth ;-) )
could talk about the dulling work in here, which actually is not that dulling, cos i aint looking for any excitement either, so in a way, matches my expectations and needs, but still dulling is what i will call it, cos that is how it is...
or could talk about the almost forgotten architectural aspirations that i keep forgetting more and more everywhich time that i go to that office, bound by the basic necessity of earning or should i say patching and pulling through the degree am supposed to be studying for, spending quite a part of life that should have been spent doing higher things...like what, i really dont know!
or could talk about the recent visits from and with friends to friends, college classmates can be the collective tag, but the automatic friends tag, tells me that they are all set to replace the base level, that my schoolers once had...moving on is this i voice out in defence to the nag that calls it cheap...
and now am successfully writing in such a way that if i read it sometime down the line, as most probably will, after say another session of boring work-good blog, mark you, someone elses good blog, i will end up slightly confusing muaself, slightly cos duh am me.
ok now back to searching for topics, done with colg, and work, and ppl from colg, and now to other topics, like ppl and me, how different, how unusual...
ouch, ironic, my sarcasm ceases to hurt me so whats the point, but hell, is there a point at all?
anyway ppl and me,
first am gonna get screwed by my cuz, who am sure must have spoken to my folks by now, having given up all attempts to reach me, cos i left my milliondollar cell, yes million dollar worth, cos of the purpose it serves morons, at home!
and then to make a ppl gonna be thinkin of me list, lets see,
ab, whose wake up call may have come from other sources, or who must have gotten up on his own, or who must still be sleeping either completely unaware of the call not coming, or who must be wondering (for the lack of a stronger word other than pissed about) wtf is wrong with my cell and why i dont answer it...
and then my folks, in case they are up and awake by now, must be dimly curious, as to what happened to that khatara piece that this khatara gal carries, and maybe, nanna will just guess, that i left it at home, having been around, being a giver up about me and my habits, for a while now...
anyway all in all, even if the one person i am actually very curious about is not thinking of me right now, there are still quite a few people, but then numbers dont really make up for it...
and now that i mention the idiot, i guess i have to go seeking to find out and now that i have something to do, will end this mindless banter and ranting here...
feel like making a promise to write again sooner than this time, but the doubts are still there, as they will be, but now, am gonna let them be, and go seeking, and if i dont find my quest, will take a pointless aux2 (15 mins ka excuse they think is a good enough break), just to have a reason to ramble elsewhere than in my head.
namaste for now....and hey it's a sunny winter morning...so am gonna smile, cos i just like the image that the phrase conjures up!
ok giving up trying to be witty, and good with words, for now!
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