A great week of movie-ing

Last week had been dull and sultry in bangalore. The monsoons have officialy failed and the Indian cricket team got banished in the carribean. Thank god, there is a DVD lending library near my office which has a decent collection of movies. Here are the few movies worth mentioning (which i saw last week... listed in no particular order)

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button:

Academy awards nominee for Best film and Best Actor of 2008, Just to lose behind Slumdog millionaire. Brad Pitt in his best performance ever. The lead character in the movie undergoes a reverse ageing process wherin he grows younger as years pass by.

Certainly a noteworthy movie for it 'out-of-the-bush' theme and some very good art direction.

1947-Earth:

Second movie in the elements trilogy of Deepa Mehta. Story is set in Lahore during the partition times and shows the real pain of partition atleast in couple of scenes. Solid performances by Aamir Khan and Nandita Das and some good music by none other than the legend - A R Rahman.

If you want to see an off the shelf hindi movie with some real life characters, then here is one.

Seven Pounds:

The same team that worked for 'In Pursuit of happyness' have paired up for this masterpiece, though you cannot avoid drawing parallels with the former. The story becomes very emotional towards the end and is ideally suited for people who have the tear bags overflowing in their eyes. But this sullen looking and slow moving movie suddenly becomes watchable because of one man - Will Smith.

Fight Club:

The second David Fincher movie that I saw in the week (following 'TCCBB') . A movie that remained in my 'to-watch' list for a long time and it surely didnt disappoint my long wait. Brad Pitt again in the lead again with Edward Norton with a psycho realistic storyline. A stylish and trendy screenplay typical of Fincher`s movies stand apart. If you like movies like Memento, you should never miss this one.

The Onion Movie:

Its a 'good-for-nothing' movie and its USP is it being 'good-for-nothing'. In US of A..You can make movies in which you can make racial abuses, unparliamentry abuses on popular people and policies all in the name of 'Satire'. If have a long and stressful day in office and want a laugh without applying your mind, then here is one.

Mystic River:

I always wanted to see this one dark movie from Clint Eastwood. It was his 'Million dollar baby' which I liked most. But preceding that, this Sean Penn starrer set a critical acclaim in box-office.

A movie to watch on late saturday night.

The GodFather:

May be this is the 17th time i was watching this movie. And to tell you the truth, each time I see the movie i understand how movie-making should be.

The one scene where Marlon Brondo talks to Al Pacino (towards the end, where he says someone is going to be traitor) is an epic and should be framed and shown to all those people who aspire to be directors.

GODFATHER - A legend.

Blogo-Maniac

A few non-blogging months had nothing so special in it. Firstly I gave my lappie to my bro. Secondly got fully into reading a novel. Thirdly, the IPL.

It had been a pretty dull sunday form me till now. Saw a couple of movies in lappie and then some solid day-dreaming. Then I realised that I have a blog  to maintain. A cold feeling went through my spine. Prepared some coffee and here I sit down for the 42nd post of my blog. 

It was a humble beginning of sorts for my blog after flopping badly with my first attempt. 

I cannot tolerate the stillness and dumbness these blogs impart on me. In my own eyes, I have seen myself transform change my opinion about blogging.But I still like blogging because of other bloggers. I get to know some charecters here. Here I take some moment to hav a look into my fella frequent bloggers.

RG was/is my friend from my school days. He is as creative as a NASA supercomputer. He keeps writing blogs with thinking at the speed of light and with vocabulary which will make those phoren sahibs to pee on their pants. I have once told him that blogging is a nice time pass and is a good way to express the emotions. He said 'Well..may be.. but also write something which will make sense'. 

The second blogger I know is SM who likes to call himself insane. When he is not taking pictures of himself in his K800 he writes some really good blogs. Something which really questions the social setup and leaves you with no answers. He told me once that his real problem is reading so much books. I told 'Virtue of one may be a vice for another'.. He nooded and wrote a blog about that also.

One other blogger always writes aboout the people he meets in the bar. His neurons make better connections only when catalysed by ethyl alcohol. He had denied his invitation for dinner more than once.

Recently, this blogosphere has got into some real limelight with the fake IPL blogger from the Kolkata Knight riders outfit.

I feel that somewhere above the stratosphere lies a zone called blogosphere where minds meet over the dumb world below which is obsessed with matter.

 

L.A.S.E.R (Life As a Software EngineeR)

My job involves:

- Sendin useless mails to wierd ppl, with a billion ppl in CC
- doing a bulk 'mark as read' once i have 50 unread mails.
- long and mind numbing meetings about stuff i don't understand.

- Handling crisis custom made to make life a hell
- Browsing and wastin time in general

My Skillset:

- Delegating work...
- Askin so many clarifications that the person who delegated work to me felt he was better of doing the work himself.
- Takin frequent sick leaves.
- Finding proxies to open emails.
- Playing flash games

- Pulling pranks on my co-workers.

- Drinking 4 mugs of coffee per day.

Future Plans:

- Nothin :-|

who said there is no learning in software industry?

Kalyani

I prayed it should not be.. I had hopes that it wont be.. It could have been but it should have been later.. But it had....

Kalyani was our neighbour. When I was 7, we moved to southern part of Salem. South Salem is really calm and quiet. Its dotted with gardens and the rare peepal tree that you can come across.Mostly I used to go to a garden after my school hours to play. The game will continue till the evening sun makes way and a curtain of darkness is pulled by the night. Soaked with dust, I used to go back to my house. Kalyani never came for playing.

I saw Kalyani last week. As you know, I take off weekends to learn about myself. In this software job, thats the only time where you can find something meaningful. 

The long walk to the hospital had made my legs pain. Note that, I preferred to walk rather than to drive so that I could think about myself. I buy time out of the world. 

Kalyani yelled "Ah, Japan. You have come at last. " as she saw me.

No one calls me 'Japan' but for Kalyani. I remember she christened me with that name when I was 10. I had/ have a small nose and tough hairstyle which makes me japanese look-alike. I didnt like the name then. I have a weird reason for that. It sounded like 'chappani' which translates to 'dumb guy' in Tamil. But she kept calling me 'Japan' [spelt as 'Chapan']. It was irritating. I had slapped her once and had thrashed her with my school belt one more time in connection with this issue.

Last week when she pronounced 'Japan' correctly,I was surprised. She wont give up things easily. . 

"You havent got me anything during this visit.?" she asked.

"Ya. I have. will give you later" I said.

Again this was her childhood habit. She always looks for some new things to be brought in every meeting. If you dont take any gift, she will speak with a disappointment in her voice. But that will only be for a couple of minutes. I used to wonder how a small gift can make this girl`s world so bright. 

"What have you brought.?" she asked.

"I wont tell you"

Regular chemotherapy had made her bald. Cruel. She had hair that was jet black before getting this cancer. She was looking like a 80 year old. She was just 26. And she had knocked the gates of heaven 5 times already. Life is a cruel design.

"Tell me what have you brought" She ordered and then broke to a chain of cough.

I dont want to describe Kalyani in this part of her life. She was beautiful for me, no matter what people claim for the definition of beauty.

"Something special and its suspense" I said.

I never thought that a person like Kalyani could die so young. Yesterday she died. I got a SMS from her brother about the same!

After that, I walked all the way to hospital. 

During my walk,I thought about the fitting present that I gave her a week back. I will miss her.

One hell of a man

I am writing this blog sitting in a TNSTC bus. I am on my way to Chennai . But this should not stop me from writing about Vidyut sir. I have seen umpteen number of numb posts in various blogs in which people revere their role models. I am afraid that this post on Vidyut sir should not create a 'one-more-blind-praise' kind of a sense. One of the greatest virtues that I learnt from my Vidyut is to disrepect the venerable. Thrash the so-called 'established' ideas.

He had a Lambretta scooter.. a spanish guitar in living room. He reads Mir publication books and normally smokes in the terrace. I had some of the most important lessons in life and science in that little terrace. I dont want to make a statements like 'I owe him a lot' 'He showed me the way'. Certainly, he would not like me to write such things in my blog or diary or whatever. He told that there is a door and that I should apply some force to open the door. I opened it and I saw the world. 

I met him when I was 20. I joined the college and I took a single room avoiding the hostel. Vidyut stayed in the room nearby. He was a lecturer in Physics department. I was doing BSc Zoology by the way. He was 10 years elder to me and  a divorcee. I never have asked him wheather he has kids or some mundane questions like 'How do you kill loneliness?' . I had always thought that his days were worth more than 24 hours .

'Life should go on' He would say lighting a kings cigarette. And as the smoke engulfs his face he would furthur say Richard Bach`s take on Life. The illusions.

I once read his diary. It was a shameful act. But I could not resist myself from getting to know on what goes in backgroundof Vidyut. It is just a breathtaking note of a practical individual. 

I once asked him about relations on earth.. It was those days when I had a crush with someone in my college. He said that if you believe that the relation will work out then there is no point in hesitating. I had not got introduced to that girl before. The next day, I said 'Hi'  to her. She is now in US doing masters. I usually meet her in g-talk and our conversation  normally starts with the usual 'Hi'. In was just of few chats in our college canteen, I got to know that its just a crush and then the wonderful episode of friendship blossomed.

I left my college jobless. It was a cruel phase where reality hit a harsh blow on me. Vidyut never cared about me being jobless. I read Bach and Capra during daytime and in nights I used to go to terrace to see the constellations. We used to go for a late night tea in my motorbike. (I had a IND-Suzuki then).  All he gave me those days were some puffs of cigarette and the freedom to take any books from library.

What is big reason for me to write this long post sitting in a bus,  Where already a thousand eyes have peeped into my laptop screen looking into what I am doing.

This Vidyut is getting remarried. One hell of man he is.

Mr.Mani and Me

We can easily get a cycle for rent if we go with a reco and a SOP (statement of purpose). Mr.Mani is kind enough in that aspect. Despite being a owner of a cycle-rental, he is a part time musician (plays thavil) and a amateur story writer. He has become a part of my daily routine. Palani is too small a town for cycling, but I had to get a rented cycle to go to my office. No distance factor involved here. I should park my cycle infront of my office and walk briskly towards the entrance. Well, that gives me the feel of a employed graduate. 

Next month I am applying for SWF loan and I plan to buy the recently launched TVS50 moped. It will save the rent that I give to my dear Mr.Mani. And I should apply for a LPG connection and then I should get a stove also.

"Sir, Why not you choose writing as a profession? Anyway you are writing well" asks Mr.Mani.

I get him a tea and a gold filter. 

"Well thats fine.. Do you know where can I buy a Television..? I cannot pay it at one shot.. So tell me a place where can a have a good EMI" I ask him.

And then that day when we shared a smoke below the peepal tree... "Sir, I read your short story on Lankan tamils.. Superb sir.. Where do you such wonderful ideas sir..? " He asked.

" I got a TV.. It at 0% interest EMI" I was telling him.

Mr.Mani once wrote a long short-story and gave me. He asked for my opinion. I remember I saw that bunch of papers again when I vacated my house from Palani. I had ruined a tamil literary scholar right at his budding stage. 

" Sir.. I will say you where can you get a good deal for housing loan.. But before that tell me your opinions on short story which came in Vikatan written by Sujatha.. ? Awesome na.." He muttered.

"Well.. I have not read it so far" I said.

Now here.. I am sitting as a 60 year old.. The literary 'me' has already died and was cremated with honours. My literary boundaries ends with dailies. 

Why I am mentioning all these.. ? Last sunday I got a letter from Mr.Mani..

It was in 15paise yellow post card.. He tried to compress the wishes of his family members in one side of card and in the other side of the card he asks "Have you read Tolstoy..? You should read to appreciate the beauty!"

A Filmy Friend

The more I see movies, the more encouraging I feel. Yes, I feel that I could make a better movie  than most of them. I agree to the fact that it is an 'industry' but I cant digest all these craps made in the name of commercialisation. I should be able to enjoy the movie in any part of the world. It should not portray local emotions and people. It should kindle the inner artistic spirits of every human being on earth, no matter where he is from.

I have a friend who wants to overturn the way in which Tamil films are made. He lives in a mansion in Triplicane, Chennai. Fortunate enough to be an assistant director if a movie which was dropped, He now works as an Assistant of an assistant director who shares his room in the mansion. Both have atleast 20 stories in their repertoire. Action, Comedy, Sentiment, .. and one item number kind of stories. Phir bhi Pass ho gaya! kinda themes. I was not able to discuss with them about Kurosowas or Goddards. Their gruelling poverty strikes me. I asked them to take stories from their own lives. A good director should always maintain a diary or a blog and capture his emotions then and there. 

"DP! In this fouth story na.. I have a scene before the intermission. The Hero stands on top of a mound.. The heroine runs towards him.. And there was a gun-shot" 

"I pray that the story ends there itself" I said.

Some fallacies: (also applicable to movies in the past)

• I think a girl`s father would never decide to kill his daughter just because she refused to marry a guy who was chosen by him. 
  
• You wont be reconnected on phone when you bang the button (where receiver is placed), These shots normally come when the villain threatens and cuts the phone.
• No boys hostel is so shabby & No girls hostel is so sauber as shown in the movies.
• There wont be a case where there is no exchange of words between parties in a fight.
• Not all the beautiful people are intelligent.
• There is nothing called 'Love at first sight'.. 

(Readers can post more in the comments (in films between 1990-2008).. The best of them will be awarded a book on 'How to write a screenplay?' written by Sujatha)

I asked him to correct some of the common fallacies in his story. He greeted me that I am going to be the next-sujatha in larger context. I paid the bill for the dinner. He argued that he can make 'Nylon kayiru' novel into a movie. God save the king!

As he came to Central station in Chennai to see me off, I asked him a realistic question.

"Do you have some scripts in your mind already?"

"Thats least important! Now its time to make contacts with big people" He said.

It is a more realistic answer.