Anjathey will scare all!

If there was a motion picture that can lay claim to being a consummate product pure cinematic contrivance you would have to think of Anjathey. Born out of a chance relationship between people on either side of law the film churns terror using its’ insecure, idiotic yet ghoulish, deranged people. Pandiaraj wants to feign a harmless character for himself and his business in the eyes of the law keepers, as being a suspect is as bad as being a convict. It all gets tangled and messy when he overdoes the feigning. Daya for his part, unable to tame is lust for woman digs the pit deeper when he voyeurs in the Police Colony and hence the grudge that entails. Anjathey is a rare movie where the cinematography and the scene cuts work in perfect harmony, giving it a very racy feel. But it is also permeated with intense almost static scenes of appall and shock. Such scenes stay long enough at your eyes to work their way very deep into our minds, making the movie affect you long after you are done watching. Anjathey is also a study in subtleties. Even important incidents are risked to being imperceptibly subtle; perhaps knowing the movie will earn repeated runs eventually.

Mysskin raises serious speculations of having rather deep insights into the working of the Police Department. Among other things Anjathey also is a tribute to the life of a cop. The jadedness and stoic it asks of the cops who deal with terrible encounters every day at work. I can’t remember any film which has tried to define and elucidate the philosophy of law keeping as profoundly as Anjathey has. It is also not short of criticisms of what it celebrates.

Narain finds a man stabbed and left to die in the middle of the road and night. The following realization of his of the value his colors is perhaps the most convincing act of transformation is a human’s attitudes. And the deeming of an indisputably angelic flower selling old woman of his character is a scene which will stay with us for a long time and a moment of realization for us all, perhaps. The movie is also unintentionally a remarkable commentary of the vermin of the society, nepotism and corruption. In turning an earnest person, who aspires single mindedly to become a cop, to fall prey to the schemes of the damned Anjathey blurs the line between right and wrong in much the same way as it very strongly portrays the extremes. Anjathey is essentially a film dealing with a sociopath and it achieves it convincingly by the stunning deliverance of Prasanna. With his cross dressing tendancies and sinister composure he disquiets all the same. Camera is for its’ part menaces in Anajthey. One time getting to its’ knees to conceal yet suggest genuinely shocking scenes , next time shuttling back and forth to build tension, other times leaping to the roof to peer at the full view of horror. The background score of the movie is ever looming and ever suggesting dread. You are choked alike by the intensity of the scene and the idea of the music. There is also a song before and as the final plot unfolds.

In the final volley of events Anjathey sheds all its suggestions and intent to tell what it is at its’ heart, a wretched and dooming tale of two friends who were part fated and part plotted to take opposite sides. When the dust settles, your eyes are so moist with woe and horror the vision is still vague.

This is to appreciate the films that are made on war. The first movie that comes to my mind is Apocalypse Now. Coppola after tasting enormous success with the godfather movies came up with this Vietnam War theme. A basic requirement of any war movies if it’s a conventional one is to give you that smell of napalm. There are few movies which achieves more than just that, making them profound. Apocalypse now is one such movie. It embarks you on a journey which is as much the journey of the protagonist as is of the viewer. There is a glaring similarity between Apocalypse now and 2001 apart from the fact that their directors are masters of this craft. The similarity being the way the movie unravels in an almost stagnant pace on the back of a mysterious element. The pace of Apocalypse now is just perfect that it engrosses the audience in it’s’ details of the war field. Some of the scenes may have no purpose at all as it seems like the space station docking sequence in 2001, carrying the analogy, but they are there for a larger purpose, which is to make the wait more thrilling. The cinematography is perhaps the best I have seen in any film. Apocalypse Now perhaps has got the weakest plot in terms of the scenes contributing to the pace or complexities of the narration and yet Coppola with the moments he created is able to the have a grip on the audience, a true sign of genius in direction. Wherever he has shot the film it has got to be Vietnam, somehow he creates that authenticity. And the end of it all another master registers his presence. The impact he creates in the little time towards the end makes the wait worthwhile. Marlan Brando oozes insanity and commands the bewilderment we got for the character.

The next Vietnam War movie is Full Metal Jacket. Kubrick immerses you into a world which is so desolate, cruel, mysterious and yet believable. I doubt if there was a director who could disorient the audience as much as he does. Full Metal jacket is essentially made up of two segments. They can be viewed in any order without losing much of its impact. The first segment shows what it takes to serve the army. The colonel in charge of the regiment is so detestable that you almost take him to being frivolous. The mental conditioning in the film as he did with A Clockwork Orange is so masterfully handled. The grin that is taken away from a trainee is the most palpable one. The scene where he is obscurely beaten up by his mates is agonizingly shot with the music adding to the chillness. Kubrick is perhaps the best director to work on already written work. His ability to assimilate from a novel and give it in just 150 odd minutes without losing the slightest of what the novel conveys is a skill all directors would love to possess. The climax of the first segment i opine a by product of war is hardly dealt with in movies of this genre. The second part gives you a feel as if while all this while you were watching now it is time to march on. The same regiment is posted for duty in what I believe is suburbs of Vietnam with a guerilla war to fight. The scene from a chopper where Vietnamese are shot dead irrationally and another scene involving a prostitute lets us know the intentions of Kubrick. A scene involving a steady march forward of the troop is so beautifully shot that it gives you the dynamics involved with guerilla warfare. The climax again has Kubrick written all over it. The troops trained so hard have as their rival a young girl with almost no ammunition. Whatever he suggested of Vietnam War is understood well in the closing moments. The end was not judgmental of the war but was ridiculing in a way as only Kubrick can conceive.

That Magic Feeling....

There are certain realms, which always leave us with more questions than answers. Being the philosophical person that I am the existence of god is one such. Falling in love is another, which drove me to write this thought.

If you are lucky enough love is a feeling which can make you fly without spending a penny. But there ends its’ benefits. Perhaps this is a flight which can cost you your life or make one. Correction two. If anyone can positively tell the borders of colors in the sky on sunset so can he or she about when you start to love or why? It is this nature of love that also makes it complicated and painful for some. Hormonal changes are responsible for you wanting to spend time with a girl. You find them very attractive. And all the bodily elements that goes with it. But love slips past this realm even it were to have its’ influences. Often it is a case of comfort. The comfort a human being shares with another human being of the opposite sex can be a parameter on which the feeling of love could be measured from. I would love to use a metaphor. The comfort Sachin shares with his bat is most pristine of examples of love. Where love fails is when the two try hard to be comfortable. And few disastrous landings can leave you in dire state. When you have found that comfort with your hence partner the relationship can be the most sweetest of all. After all you are going to share your life. And this feeling makes you feel special. There are reasons to live your lifetime. Parents are one and perhaps the most important though not as thrilling. The next being your life partner, the greatest and most significant relationship of all.

It is strange that when you have got to live a meaningful life for not yourself you tend to do it better. Love achieves that. It allows you to be the architect of an invaluable and enthralling period before you get married. After marriage the flight becomes less turbulent if not streamlined. And this enthralling period that I was talking about sometimes makes all the difference. The difference that makes you forget all the things you did wrong or failed to accomplish and makes you want to undo them. The comfort you are bestowed with or rather the care gives you the stimulus to go ahead. It unravels ever so poetically that the memories influences the very journey. The flight with and without consent, hope you get it, are equally enjoyable. The saddest part of the journey is sometimes the journey halts. Is it because of the lost comfort or something beyond comprehension? Whatever reason it may be it hurts. Some get on with, but some have a high emotional inertia to get over it and the path of the journey is never the same. If there was a feeling just as uplifting as love is, it is to overcome a lack of it. Past sure teaches you very important lessons, perhaps the most important of all. What about people who haven’t had a flight? A train journey is just as beautiful!!!

kandhasamy-super flop

Most of the times, you appreciate a movie if you find the creator being honest with what he tries to say. This is true for movies created all over the world. Remarkable directors are those who put forth honest films and succeed in doing so. In the Indian scenario majority of the films are made for money and money alone I dare to say. Very seldom is a film made with social relevance. And what we expect is at least such films need to be honest in its conception. Initially I thought of writing a sarcastic post on my opinion about the movie I saw rather restlessly ‘kanthasamy’. However, I felt it would not be a true reflection of what I felt.

I write this paragraph assuming susi ganesan set out to make a so called ‘masala movie’:

Even in the most poorly directed movies you find some coherence but in this movie you find none. Worsening the director’s case is the fact that the movie took two years to be made. In short, the screenplay is one of the worst I have found from any movie. Shriya’s paycheck could go to any women on earth having ‘curves’. Guess what the movie tries to tell-If you have enough money adopt children. Somehow, I did not find shriya detestable in ‘shivaji’ when she was flaunting her body. And the dialogues are such a turn off that you have no other option than to swear. Swear words are much pleasant I can tell you. I am beginning to think, this post is going the sarcastic way, and I cannot help. One of the most amateurish placed parts was a song, which did nothing but showed every other place in Mexico. There is a scene where shriya(freeyaa) and vickram(sickram) go to some desert in a private jet to drink coffee. And just for the heck of it, sickram comes as a woman. I was expecting a song involving woman sickram and freeyaa. The movie is filled with such excruciating endeavors. I do not want to write anything more about this film. All this movie has done is it has killed two years of a brilliant actor’s career.

Feels like heaven

I first heard of this film from the weekly movie review show that is being aired on cnn ibn. A few months ago, I actually happened to see the movie. There are very few movies, which are unpretentious but poignant, and children of heaven certainly is one such movie.

The movie focuses on the lives of a boy and his sister born in a family, which struggles to make ends meet. The performances are so good that you can instantly relate to the characters. The movie is driven by an incident in which the girl loses her shoes. The two of them think it would be demanding to ask their father to buy them a new pair of shoes and so the boy comes up with an arrangement by which he shares his shoes with his sister though its big for her. Everyday his sister studying in a lower class rushes after school hours to give the shoes to her brother. How they carry on doing this and an engaging climax forms the rest of the movie.

Factors, which make children of heaven such a heart warming and engaging drama, is the casting and performances. Be it the scene where the two of them follow a girl who has a similar shoe that the girl lost or be it the scene in which the boy gets caught for showing up late to school, the emotional content is so very beautifully shot that you are sure to develop a lump in the throat. The movie is full of such endeavors. The boy goes along with his father in his cycle showing the economical disparities in such a subtle way in a scene. There is also some unintended humor I presume in certain scenes which is so typical of Iranian films. The movie ends in a scene, which shows the emotional bonding between the children and their parents so convincingly that you wonder if a movie could be done so poignantly.

Emotionally draining and such an honest movie this. A simple but inspiring tale leaves you wondering why such movies are not made often. Certainly, children are from heaven.

orderliness is the order of the day....

The Indian premier league has got to its business end with only few matches of round robin stages remaining. If one were to look back, it will be tough to comprehend why the kolkatha knight riders had performed so terribly. They had the talent but it is rather apparent that their think tank has failed them miserably. I cannot think of reason as to why gangly was made to relinquish his captaincy.  The knight riders were completely outplayed in six matches, they have had a tie and five matches could have gone either way. Had the knight riders pulled it off in at least three of the matches, which were closely, fought things would be so very different. However, making assumptions and guesses on hindsight makes little sense. A more sensible alternative would be the awarding bonus points to teams, which has done exceedingly well based on a set of parameters. This would not only give a clearer picture as to which team is really doing well but also it would negate the luck factor associated with closely fought games considerably.

 

Let us fictionally frame bonus points parameters and see how the table would look like.

A team, which scores the target set in less than 16 overs, will be awarded a bonus point and a team, which achieves a victory margin of greater than 25 runs, will similarly get an extra point. This kind of points allocation had already been done.

 

Team	Points	Bonus points
Chennai super kings	18	3
Delhi daredevils	18	0
Deccan chargers	16	1
Rajasthan royals	15	1
Kings eleven Punjab	15	1
Royal challengers Bangalore	13	1
Mumbai Indians	12	1
Kolkatha knight riders	5	0

 

The contenders for the semi final spot still are the same sides but if this system had been implemented, it would have definitely changed the dynamics of the team’s progress. The net run rate calculations are effective but if one were to eliminate the grueling effects of close matches on the loosing sides then the swing of points would only be reduced by this system. If a team is to loose 5 close matches and it wins 5 other matches with bonus the team will feel less aggrieved and deservedly so.

 

a channel we long yearned for....

During the recent terror attacks on Mumbai, the live reporters got hysterical and they wanted every square inch of the attacked premises to be covered. In doing so, they aided the terrorists with live pictures, which may be the possible reason as to why it took so long for rescue operations. Though unintentional, this is a serious issue as far as journalistic freedom is concerned. During the same time, Chennai was experiencing one the most dreaded monsoon showers and not less than 100 fell victim. This may sound frivolous but not a single news channel had a news flash let alone a news item on anything happening down south. Yes, things, which happened in Mumbai, were of much more importance and it was of global concern. I am not even trying to compare the magnitude of these two events but news essentially implying northeast west south cannot ignore south.

 

Local channels which includes a thousand odd channels under sun network and a thousand odd channels under various networks raj, jaya to name a few do not qualify as channels to me. They show either movie clips or movie songs. The so-called mega serial occupies prime time and otherwise repetitions of earlier shown shows are aired. Even if they were to telecast programs of social political or economic relevance they would be biased. Do not we deserve better.

 

It is in this sort of circumstances is ndtv Hindu is being launched. The launch of it was kept under the wraps and its sudden airing came as a surprise. Ndtv could easily qualify as the least prejudiced news channel existing in our country and so is the case with the Hindu amongst newspaper. Therefore, their collaboration is the best that can be expected. I have been watching the programs for just a day now and already I am impressed to say the least. Be it the primetime news, be it the weekly movie review program, the channel has already made an impression on me. The beautiful presentation, which the Hindu has made its own, has spilled over to its collaborative channel too. The shows are very relevant and presented subtly in as much the way as it is done in ndtv. I have become an instant fan of ndtv Hindu and I guess so would the others.