12AM : FAQ

For the professional film makers, this is cake walk... For an ordinary middle class like me, this is one helluva achievement. This year will definitely be memorable for me purely for the reason that i managed to achieve something on the next level of creative passion. I have successfully directed my own short film and managed to release it too. I have to confess, am not crazy about film making but i have huge penchant towards 'being creative' Some thing that gives uniqueness to a human.

Here are the links pertaining to my first ever AV fantasy product, 12AM

The trailer : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOSRZXYD8iY

The Promo song (this is actually promo footage shot for Suttakadhai movie, i snatched it )
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aL1EfJOosE8

The Short film, 12:AM (with English subtitles) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riDxIRA4U5U

My contribution to the film : Story, Screenplay, Dialogues, Direction, Lyrics (promo / End credit song), Dubbing, Production and Subtitling (including patching and rendering)

Here are some Question and Answers regarding the short film itself. I am tired telling many individually and here is the compiled list... (Please don't speculate things, am no way blowing my own trumpet, as always, my blog's intention is to help my learning reach every one.. Take it or Leave it)

Q : What is your objective out of this short film ?
A : Frankly, no objective. I was on a stretch of theory classes learning film making and i want to put this out as a hands on class and hence tried this short film. Purely for the sake of creative satisfaction and learning curve. For sure, i have no desperation to make an income out of it though i wont rule out the possibilities.

Q: Did you achieved ?
A: Indeed, i must say, i am proud of the product and learnt lots of what not to do :)

Q: How was the support ?
A: In theory, nothing much. However, my good circle of friends, my parents and my wife encouraged me to go for it reading my mind. That's all the support i needed.

Q: Why such an abnormal-fantasy subject ?
A: To me, there are 2 types of admiration. One are those who want to see (possibly/probably or) exactly what exists in real world (Eg., Pursuit of Happyness, J Edgars, Nayagan etc.,) Others, who would love to experience something that doesn't exist but thrills them.(Eg., Lord of the Rings, Butterfly Effect, Arai Enn 305il Kadavul etc.,) I love portraying fantasies, specially supernatural stuffs.

Q: Why Super natural ?
A: From the childhood, you always have a supernatural fantasy running in your mind. Like, what will i do if i become a superman... What will i do if i become an invisible man... What happens if i go back in time few years ago... etc., This is something that excites you (even when you grow up) and keep your mind engaged for hours. After converting my imaginary world in to a film, i realized i am not the only one living in a fantasy world :)


Q: The logic about your title, 12AM ?
A: The holding point of the story is the incident/accident that happens at 12 Midnight. The AM literally means Anti Meridian which is basically the midnight but if you notice, the lead characters Alex and Margret also has AM ;) If you further notice, the clock actually shows 1:20 as the time which is irrelevant. The 2 hands points these 2 characters A and M in the title logo.

Q: Any other detailing, apart from the main content ?
A: We did focused on few minute detailing like the timing of the title (which is the title and real time), the connection between the romantic first few minutes and emotional pre climax, tried logical screenplay with mobile phone playing a part, no un-necessary characters in the frame etc.,

Q: What exactly is the mood of the film ? Comedy, Surreal, Absurdity, Action, Thriller, ????
A: Well, i never concentrated to portray a particular mood. To confess, i initially penned this to be a sarcastic humor but honestly, i cant get my dialogues do the just. So, i wanted to try multiple emotions like romance, humor, sarcasm, anger etc., So its an up and down of emotions through out and am glad it isn't a chaos.

Q: You like Mysskin ?
A: I know where you coming from, Yes, i was greatly influenced by Mysskin's Oanayum Aatukuttyum. The framing, the music all influenced me (and amazingly, my team too) on subconscious level. So, you can see lots of mysskinish things in 12AM but the plot and content no way close to his geniusness

Q: Why did the team info didn't appear in the beginning ?
A: Am not a Nolan and this is not a high budget hollywood film where people just know who is what by names in beginning. I wanted to showcase the product first and then show names in the end which to me, is real credit. I have also ensured the pictures of them also appears so that they get better recognition for their hard work.

Q: What was the positives about 12AM?
A: Every time i narrated the story, the first feedback was "You better plan well, this seems like bigger than short film" and therefore, i took the challenge and i set myself a goal, I should finish this film in less than 15 minutes and ensure the story is conveyed clearly. Bingo, i reached my primary goal as a writer and director. Apart from this, the work of technicians like Music, Editing and Cinematography was impeccable for a short film. All these made 12AM, a visual treat for sweet 15 minutes.

Q: How was the experience with the crew ?
A: I don't wanna fake it as amazing, mind blowing bla bla.. I like things to be organized and people should know the importance of what they are doing. Frankly, i didn't enjoyed directing much. I always had this Money-being-wasted thing running in mind all the time as i produced this myself. However, the chief technicians and artists did their work professionally.. Infact, they did more than what is required for a short film (given, the no/low remuneration they received) Overall, a good learning and i paid heavy for it. No Regrets though.

Q: Any particular bad experience ?
A: A lot, i would say and mostly because of my poor approach. Nothing can replace a good teacher like a bad experience. I am glad i had this during my intentional-learning-project.

Q: Will you direct again ?
A: Pass, Next ?

Q: Will you write again ?
A: Till i die

Q: Whats your take on the basics of film making ?
A: To spend enormous time during pre-production stage. Do proper planning and sort things out frame by frame. Write things down, have a good direction team, listen to suggestions but decide yourself, engage artists and technicians well ahead of your shoot and talk to them a lot. I did my best but still i slipped up in many places purely due to inexperience. Its an achievement if you get even 60% of what you conceived but am happy i got close to 80%

Q: Special names to thank ?
A: Thanks is definitely not the word but my love and wishes to the sweet hearts, Venky, Lakshmi Priyaa, Aroul D Jody, Ashwath, David, Alen, My (co-director) incarnation, Madav, the direction team (Alex, Mary and Sri) and the Libra Production staffs (Praveen, NRN Narayanan etc.,) I am indebted to them for my life. They all came out of the way to help me achieve what i was working for. There are many who refused to accept payments and worked in this for the love of art (i believe) and for sure, they have special place and wish them a successfull career.

Q: Is that all the names you go to thank ?
A: I needed a separate section to thank special 2. The first is my brother, my good friend, my mentor, Mr. Venkatesan (Dir. Nalanum Nandiniyum). I gained some knowledge and experience working under him in Nalanum Nandiniyum during which he was instrumental in sharing the work ways and many nice aspects about creative film making. The second is the hyper-active-knowledge ware house, Mr. Subu (Dir. Suttakadhai) I didnt get the opportunity to work under him but had observed his way and totally perplexed with the way he planned and executed things. Always on toes, and knows what he is doing, he never wasted his time. I took lots of inspiration from him doing multiple roles in film making than just being director. When it comes to film making, these 2 are my practical 'gurus'. Thanks to Libra Productions for making this happen.

Q: What next ?
A: No plans. For now, spend time with family. Honestly, I am not all that crazy about film making that makes me to stay ages away from family. For me, family is first and the world is next. Besides, my passion is to be creative and i always to keep myself dynamic. To me creativity lies every where. Writing, Photography, Cooking, Editing (just started) One has to challenge himself balancing life and work on his passion with out troubling both. Remember GodFather, One is not real man if his family isn't happy :)

Marathon Training

Its been more than a year since I have taken running as a serious sport and I am really happy that I finally got something to get myself in shape and improve my fitness levels to a better metrics. All my life, running was the most boring sport I ever experienced and last one year was like out of blues : ) As I type this, I owe finishers medals for 1 x 10 KMS, 3 x 21 KMS, 1 x 16 KMS (5 in total) My average timing is 21 Kilometers coverage in 2 Hours and 20 Minutes. If you are a better runner, then read the rest of the post as a fun… Otherwise, this might be a good motivation : )

What really happened ?

In the mid 2012, our team in office have registered for 10 KM Standard Charted Run. The registration fee was on the company and we are getting free goodie bag … Aaila !! (Naanga thaan OC la kuduthaa penayila kooda kudikaravangalaache goodie baga uduvomaaa… ) Then our boss mentioned, if we didn’t finish the race we have to repay the race registration fee and that striked like a nail in all … Few didn’t bothered to register. I went ahead took the challenge. I started training myself. Installed sports tracker app in my phone and started to practice. My figures were horribly bad, besides I can hardly finish 5 KMS. I ensured that in worst case I can safely walk to complete 10. I practiced on weekends but didn’t worked that hard. My target was to redeem the registration fee and don’t embarrass myself failing to run 10 KMS in front of my colleagues.

The race day arrived, few of our colleagues didn’t turn up. We started. FYI, the Standard Charted Marathon happens every first Sunday of December. it’s the most grand running event (festival) in Singapore and I was so astonished to see half of Singapore population was there. I felt so little seeing people of all ages were there running with smiles. I thought I should not give up. The flag off horn sounded, I started to run, the first 5 kms was nice and easy but slowly the morning heat and typical Singapore humidity started draining my energy. After 7 KMS, I started slow down and walk but when I checked the clock it wasn’t all that bad. The crowd and festival atmosphere boosted further. I was charged mentally and pushed myself. The last 1 KM was the most horrible and I gained all my energy for the final push. I finally made it in 1 hour and 9 Minutes. I received a finishers medal. Yay, that was the best feeling indeed !!!

And then ?

I don’t wanna tag the rest as history. After that I started exploring the running events happening in Singapore. Found the next big event in May which is Sundown marathon. That is a midnight run. I gathered all my courage and registered for 21 KMS run. This time I started getting serious and practiced with what ever time I got (mostly on weekends and one of the weekdays)

How to train ?

I didn’t know we are allowed to carry music players during the run. Since I knew this now, I got myself a sports headphone, a pouch, sports tracker app in my mobile etc., Luckily my neighbour hood is relatively quiet and friendly one for runners. I used this and practiced sincerely. The key for running long is not really being fit, its actually engage your brain for the next 1 hour or so. What I really did was started listening all those peppy, charge up songs while I run. Personally, that helped me in coming up with nice little plots, screenplay elements for my film scripts (films ?? Scripts ??? Thaz altogether another story.. Will brag about that in my next post)

Registered for 21 KMS run helped me a lot in getting in to shape. All the time I fixed my mind that 10 KM practice is basic requirement. A week before the D-day, I did couple of 20 KM runs. I was bloody happy to know I can actually do it. On the race day, I bloomed with confidence and I finished my first 21 KMS in 2 hours 30 minutes. The finishers medal for a 21 KM run is the best sports achievement in my life. At 32, I didn’t had this scene even in wildest of my dreams.

What happened there after ?

I got confident and registered for other runs. I did one in Madras Marina, Adidas King of the Road in Singapore and the best one, Coimbatore Marathon. I started performing better but I had other problems like flat feet, over pronation of feet, swinging sugar levels etc., I slowly learnt tricks to over come those and focused on one thing, RUN. Finally, I managed to inspire my little son and he really participated in his first run of his life in, guess what ? … STANDARD CHARTED KIDS DASH… I am happy that he too enjoys the run with out bothering about the performance.

What can running do to you ?

- Fitness

- Keeps you young, mentally

- Happy mind

- Enhance creative thinking

- Self Confidence

- Self Pride

- Inspiration for others

When I say the above, I mean it ... :)

End note

One thing I can assure you, run for once in a event and get a finishers medal, that moment when you get the medal will make you run all your life. Its an experience one should never ignore !!!

A Real Break !!!

Last few weeks were really tough and I suddenly thought of pulling a 3 days break to get back some sanity. I chose Banglore to meet up with my old folks. Called my friends and they were more than happy. With out any plans, I backpacked and headed to Koyambedu bus stand. Luckily got the only available ticket in KSRTC on a Friday night.

The trip was a real stress buster with lots of things happened. Besides, meeting my friends and the cute family of theirs, there were few other factors made my trip complete

Lucia : This was a surprise. After hearing all the feedbacks, we thought of giving it a go and watched this kannada master piece in the cinepolis (Royal Meenakshi Mall) A brilliant movie made with exceptionally great Sound/Music and Visual works. Loved the songs too but the movie was too lengthy given the grippy plot. The actors just delivered what required. For sure, Kannadigas can be proud of this movie. Infact, Indians. My friends commented that the concept was lifted from vanilla sky but the story is fresh. Above all, this is first crowd funded movie that was taken in a budget of 75 lakhs. You wont believe it’s a low budget.

It started with a friend request : This aint any movie. I got this book purely out of instincts in the bus stand book shop. Got the chance to read the complete book in a single stretch on my return. This onez more of a movie than a book reading experience. The author (Sudeep Nagarkar) very well used the unique elements of writing and made this a good read. In the end he ultimately made a point that this can only be read and cannot be made as a movie. Read it to know why. The reading experience was like watching tamil film Vinnai thaandi varuvaya and bollywood flick Inkaar blended. The first half was a cheesy romance but slowly felt good and given that it’s a true story, I liked it.

Double Decker Train : For the first time in India, I travelled in the upper deck of a double decker train. Nothing much to brag about but felt little different. The ticket price is less than 500 Rs. and felt its worth. However, the journey duration of whoping 7 hours is really long given only 360 kms to cover in day time.

Banglore Memories : Was roaming all streets of Banglore in those 3 days and felt really nostalgic. Remembered those good old days. This city will never go out of my memory as this played huge role in transforming my life from bachelor to you-know-what : )

Overall, I achieved the purpose of visit. Infact, I achieved more than that. Got lots of clarity in planning things from now on. Inspite of all the turbulence around, I now know my target and how to achieve it.

An experience called, Movie watching

I don’t remember when was the last time I watched a horror in cinemas. Recently, had a chance to watch Conuring in AGS. As I mentioned in Facebook, it’s a well chiseled architecture with a blend of rationale. I loved every minute watching it. However, the scary quotient isn’t as much as hyped by all. May be getting scared in cinemas is not really my cup of tea : ) Also, the experience wasn’t the best I had while watching in the cinema.

The experience of watching a movie is altogether a great feeling for movie buffs. Since my college days, I love the whole process from booking tickets – how I get to movie – the gang I am watching with – the cinema I am watching in – the snacks that I eat – post movie lunch/dinner with friends munching the movie reviews. During my school days, it was always my family who accompanies me to the cinemas and I will always cherish those as the visit was like once in 3 months or so. During college, the frequency got speeded up dramatically.

My UG period was from 1998-2002 in Madras. At any time in my life, I cannot forget the movies released during those 4 years that I watched in cinema with college mates. Uyire, Minnale, Alaipayuthe, Pammal K Sambantham, Hey Ram, Thullaatha Manamum Thullum, Mudalvan, Mugavari, En Swasa Kaatre, Species, Titanic, Congo, Lagaan, Dil Chahtha Hai etc., I was instrumental in passing wicked comments and annoying fellow watchers irrespective of the movie genre. I never had a slightest clue about the others thoughts in the cinema. Poor public don’t have much choices but mere spectators who got to tolerate. Now, I myself am a victim : (

Ever since i passed out of college, I think I developed a sense of maturity while behaving in cinemas. I must say, though I practice being quiet while watching a movie, I definitely enjoy the experience in india than any other country purely because of the animated public. All the time, I mostly watch action or comedy themed movies thus enjoyed the comments from fellow movie watchers. When I went for the movie ‘Conjuring’, I consciously picked a weekday afternoon so that I can have a quiet time. My bad, there was a big college gang right behind me.

Guess what, It was all nothing but spoilers. One funny observation is that those who are really sensitive and soft tried to overcome the intuition by laughing out mad. Some started screaming, ‘Watch out, a ghost behind you’. I felt totally screwed up and at one point thought of walking out unable to bear the animations in the viewing gallery.

I have now learnt the lesson. If its action, comedy or drama, India is the place for Cinemas. For others, better wait for the DVD and watch it in home cinema. To all readers, on a general note, please behave while you are at cinemas considering others. If its emotional, cry. If its scary, get scared and scream. If its funny, laugh out mad but, never divert the mood and be a pain to others.

On the lighter side, thanks to those young champs for jeopardizing the fear factor in me while watching the most scared movie of the year : )

நாங்களும் எழுதுவோம்ல !!!

எங்க படத்தோட டைரக்டர் ஒரு situation சொல்லி நாலு வரி எழுதி தர சொன்னார்

அடுத்த ரெண்டு மணிநேரம் கதற கதற எழுதின பஞ்ச் காதல் வரிகள் ... பாவம் டைரக்டர் ரெண்டு நாளா அமுர்தாஞ்சன் டப்பாவோட சுத்தறார் :)

உங்கள் பார்வைக்கு இதோ ...

....

ஒத்த கள்ளு கிறக்கம்
கள்ளி செடியும் பாடும்
இந்த ஜென்மம் ஒன்னே போதும்
இனி செத்தா கூட இனிக்கும்

....
கண்டதும் கொஞ்சிட ஏங்க
கல்லும் கவிதையாய் பாட
என் மனம் உன் மடி தேட
உன் விழி என் வழி காட்ட

....
காட்டு செடியா சிறுக்கி
அழகுல அணைச்சா இறுக்கி
என் மனச எரிச்சா கருக்கி
நா கரைஞ்சேன் காதலில் உருகி

....
காட்டு தீயா கருக
மனசு மடியில விழுக
என் வயசோ உன்னிடம் சறுக
இதயம் துடிக்குது இப்பவே சாக

....
காட்டு தேயில வாசம்
உன் பார்வை பட்டதும் வீசும்
வயசும் மனசும் ஏசும்
உன் வெக்கமும் கவிதையா பாடும்

....
ஐயோ நமக்கு பாட்டு எழுதவே வரலைன்னு பீல் பண்ணி எழுதினது இதோ ...


கடையில விக்குது முறுக்கு
டாஸ் மார்க் பாருல சரக்கு
புடிச்சிடுச்சி எனக்கு கிறுக்கு
இன்னுமும் வேணும்னா இருக்கு :)

டைரக்டர் சார் கவலை படாதீங்க எழுதறத நிறுத்தவே மாட்டேன்... நாம தூக்றோம் ஓகே  ;)

Small Movies, Big Time

All the time, there was a bad bad myth about tamil cinema audience that experimental (rather off-beat) movies wont be accepted unless its from a hi-profile star cast or from the team who got proven track record. Recent few years are transforming and turning out to be healthy period for Tamil cinema. Here are few movies that I admired and enjoyed watching which was literally stunners out of nothing.

Attakathi : A bold attempt by the entire crew. A perfect calculated risk I would say. As vetrimaran pointed out, its mainly college students who are thronging the cinemas these days and the film is an absolute feast for them. No big stars, no big technicians, a movie made purely out of trust on the talents of many and turned out to be a good visual delight. Personally, I was very happy that the story location is my childhood playground and I can very well appreciate the details projected by the director. Special mention to the new gaana find who sung ‘Aadi pona avani’. Killer !!!

Pizza : Another low budget stunner. The movie redefined the element called Fear. Vijay Sethupathy rose to the new phase of his career after this master piece of Karthik Subbaraj. Having read Vijay Sethupathy’s long journey to this point, my respect to him increased exponentially. This movie is deftly set to challenge the Hollywood thrillers with the application called ‘Intelligence’. One don’t need foreign locations or mass heros or glam dolls to get audience glued to seats. Sheer thrill.

Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kaanom : Excuse me, is that a movie name? My friend Anand (whose doing a cameo in the movie) once mentioned this movie name and I shamelessly laughed at the name. Only to realize the aweness of the execution later. Its easy to find faults in any master piece and barring that, to me, this is best Tamil Movie of last year given the hard work the team has put and most importantly, the budget they worked on. No words for Vijay Sethupathy again. This guy is sure an attention grabber. We watched this movie during a casual get together and we laughed out our heart and made the session very pleasant one. Ennachi ?? Adichi thookiduchi : )

I also heard that the movies SoothuKavvum and Neram are currently attracting all corners. Cant wait to watch them but I can see that these movies will definitely open the gates wider for the next-gen fresh talents. Also invites new band of producers to join the field. For sure, this industry uses the social media marketing to the best and brings a productive change to the Tamil Film Industry. As an average tamil cinema admirer, I thank all the artists, technicians and most importantly producers for bringing a change and slowly pulling us out of those run-in-the mill stuffs. I am yet to recover from the shocks like Mugamoodi, Alex Pandyan etc., I can see God trying to save Tamil Cinema already : )

Udhayam - Watch out for Pot Holes

There are lots of factors that could change an individual’s view about a movie. It could be due to the incidents that he saw in his own life, poor screenplay what he presume, funny dialogues or ultra mokkai, could be purely you hate the lead’s performance in some other movies, casting choices that he may not like etc., The reason could be anything. Hence, I would like to clear the bottom line that its not necessary that a review or a personal opinion or whatever is  100% correct and most importantly you can not generalize a REVIEW.

There is no defined metrics to measure the quality of a movie. For an actor, a movie is good if the lead got awards. For a director, it could be apt screenplay or detailing. For a producer, it could be the collections or market pulling factors. I don’t put such huge disclaimers but I want to register my personal opinion (which has a probability = 1 to be 100% wrong) with out offending any of my readers : ) ( evalooo pikkaali thanam panna vendi irukku)

My friend and I went for the first day show in Satyam. The movie supposed to start at 1 but only started at 2 that pissed me off. I assume its because of some VIP’s delays. I looked myself jackass typing this sentence but can not help : ) I really wanted to see a recent tamil movie where director does only direction with out getting in to any other department. In this case, since the director is vetrimaran’s former assistant (and the fact being Vetrimaran himself is a successfully director and story-screenplay writer of Udhayam), I am not sure if the director did his job with out any ones intervention.

The movie is clearly for A center audience. Infact, I had a feeling that this movie is intended for those special audience who thinks they can digest and understand any complicated screenplay. I don’t mean any sarcasm here, this indeed is a good strategy, the trailer said all about the class of the movie and I am prepared for the treat that I expected and as expected, I got what I looked for ; )

Before getting in to positive side (since I wanted to end up praising the movie) let me list down few flip sides when I looked as a common man (I, anyway am)

- The heroine looked very ordinary given the rich feel of the movie but she managed quiet well I believe

- The dubbing is horrible at its best. Kay Kay and the heroine lost in translation in many places (I wish some one proves me wrong)

- Songs (though nice) were speed breakers in the national highway

- Noticed few logical flaws were intentionally created to entertain wider audience (For ex., Made an absolute intelligent Kay Kay Menon as a clear dumb when he noticed the names in railway reservation list and blindly believed they would be there catching the train) but I guess the strategy (of film crew) worked well ; )

- Predictable second half was a big let down. Screenplay did failed to engage for last 15-20 minutes as the climax was almost known. This is purely because of the genius thatz been shed out in the first half.

Wokay, I am happy I dished out the negatives. Here are the nice ones

- The tamil accent of the heroine is so apt rather cute. Its typical Bangalore tamil

- The BGM is absolutely a just. Mind blowing.

- Kay Kay Menon, whiff of fresh air to Tamil cinema. He did all it takes .. Effortless.

- First half, reminded Pollathavan few places due to changing narration but admirable

- Comedy part from lesser known faces and still evoked laughter

- The shoot locations are just the places required

- The detailing in many places (For ex., when Kay Kay Menon was talking over phone in railway station the irrelevant characters around the scene also have performed) I believe this is obvious when director does just direction so he can concentrate on those minute details.

In Summary, this is a good watch for Tamil cinema lovers who always bash the run-on-the-mill movies. However, only one time watch.

　

Parenting: The learning goes on !!!

Time indeed runs very fast. Its my son who took up my wife’s job to wake me up every morning. He always hope it’s a weekend and no office or school. Though its difficult to digest that am getting old ; ) I always admire to see the next generation of ours growing in front of you under your shade. Parenting is never an easier task. Every child is unique and probably every nuclear family is also unique. With globalization in place, its always a challenge for young parents to ensure the best practice in place to capitalize the most responsible task in the world ‘Parenting’

The following are purely my observation. I am neither an expert nor an achiever when it comes to parenting. I defined some guidelines to myself based on my limited exposure to the world and adhere my best to guide my son. He is now 3.5 year old and its still a long long way to go. I thought this post may help at least a fraction for readers to define themselves when they enter parenting. The following can be termed as guidelines for 3-4 year old kids but some of the points may suit all ages… may applicable to my own dad n mum too ; )

- Do not strictly go by the rule ‘only get what a kid needs not what he wants’. We need to think rationally and ensure both ‘need’ and ‘want’ are balanced. Every time when he reaches new mile stone (like writing down alphabet or when he adds new word to his vocabulary), I gift him a 50 cent toy or play xbox with him and intentionally lose the game with him ; ) Not sure if it’s a great idea, not sure even if its working in my case… but patience is the key : )

- We Indians generally lag ‘Gratitude’ factor a lot. Enforce as many ‘Thanks’, ‘Sorry’ and ‘Please’ as possible to kids. For some reason, kids don’t really like the words sorry (or is it just my case) but I am very serious about this habit and this defines ones personality for me.

- To me, Identity is the meaning for your life. Irrespective of any one from any race, I strongly suggest one to preserve the identity and pass it rightfully to next generation. I belong to Tamil family which is my identity. I wish my son should adopt, adore and admire the pride and take it forward. The biggest challenge is, being NRI and get the identity factor sorted. I am having a tough battle every second to make my son speak Tamil. Fortunately, Singapore as a country also encourages Tamil being one of the national languages but the globalization era is taking a toll on the identity management : ) No choice but to continue working on it.

- Discipline Discipline Discipline !!! I try my best not to force any thing except for discipline. To me, studies or academics is secondary. The only time I get grumpy on my son is when he doesn’t behave.

- School is another hot topic when any two families meet. I came from a school which doesn’t have any track records that time. I am not a nuclear scientist in USA but I don’t regret my present life either. There are 99 other factors that shapes a kid apart from school. I don’t mean to say school doesn’t matter, my point is school is not the only factor. I myself don’t know if my son is in the best school but am happy that he is growing with basic skills he should be acquiring from ‘A School’. And please, never compare your son’s school with any one else’s ; )

Got lot more to write but I can’t spend quality time any more ‘thinking’ : ( These are the stuffs from top of my head. I will write some time in future with more inputs out of my experience. Parenting for sure is a wonderful experience. Every year, you are entering into a new phase and its exciting. Happy Parenting : )

Vishwaroopam : Form well ‘Magnified’

“He is neither a slave of any

Nor, a King

He passes the forest

Let the serenity be…”

My own (so-called) poetic translation of my favorite lines from the magnum opus ‘Vishwaroopam’. The lines themelf says my entire feel about the movie. Last night, I squeezed 3 difficult hours from my recent past to get a meaning out of it and rightly so. Before I begin, please, I am neither a staunch Kamal fan nor a only-classic-movie watcher. My knowledge about the art of film making is still a drop in the ocean and I have lots of commercial flicks favorites too. I don’t fall in any particular category myself. Hence, the following shall be called as more of a personal opinion rather review. You have all the rights to agree / dis-agree.

Without dwelling in to story, let me jump in to categorized feedback on the movie

Positives:

Kamal Hassan, apparently he did multiple roles apart being a lead actor. With added burden of being a producer and director, he did a fair justice to all the roles. Ofcourse, the stand out part is acting and the transformation from each outlook & the body language to the other was immaculate. One can see he took every pain he could possibly take to deliver the best even for minor sequence. Be it dancing kathak or training an army. Hez always a student and teacher. The fact only gets imminent.

Stunts carry a special mention. In the middle of the movie I told my mate that this movie can be showcased along with main stream Hollywood spy-thriller movies on-par with quality. The ware house stunt was a WOW moment. The BGM and kamal’s expression during the stunt added the perfect flavors to one of the best stunts of Indian cinema.

It is important that one should give attention to the dialogues of any kamal’s movie. This one is no different. I liked many one-liners from kamal and some sarcastic statements too. Though I wont completely appreciate the sarcasm bit, I still like the intelligence behind it. However, I enjoyed the dialogues about god and tickling-wits before the warehouse stunt.

The backdrop itself is quiet new to tamil cinema. The Newyork-Afganistan combination is definitely new and gives a different frame of mind to viewers which is good. The mountains of Afghanistan were nicely shot and cinematographer deserve a pat on the back.

The no-run-on-the-mill songs factor is for sure a good change. Such a plot absolutely doesn’t need any songs and kamal used his intelligence good enough to gel most of the songs along with the story line. I believe the opening kathak dance song too is made intentionally to give a pleasant opening and finish off the only dedicated song before the story even begins. My favorite is the title song itself aptly fitted during warehouse stunt (sorry about repeated ‘warehouse stunt’ but I cannot take it out of my mind : ))

Negatives:

The dragging screen play at times lets one down. However, its not significant compared to other positives of the movie.

Some of the sequences run just too fast for ordinary viewers like me to understand. It takes some intelligence to put the pieces together. Sometimes, I am confused if it’s really a logic issue or am I not paying attention to the details.

Overall, this movie is a must watch for adults and adults only. I wont suggest this to any kids due to violence content. Kamal Hassan is doubtlessly an enigma trying his best to raise the movie standards to take it on par with world’s bests. He took a meaningful content and made a thriller out of it. Watch the movie with open mind and appreciate the positives of it (which many modern day Indian movies truly lag).

Now, am gonna list out some of the analysis (with my little wisdom) that I made. If you haven’t watched the movie yet, you better stop reading and proceed to email or comment me about your opinions : )

Analysis:

These may not be right, these are what I think knowing Kamal’s way of cinema : )

The pigeons somehow become a highlight in posters, trailers and movie. Is it used intentionally as pigeons carry a universal meaning of peace thus conveying this movie is more about the peace than terrorism?

The sequence where the son of Omar says ‘stop, I am not a kid’ and leaves the swing where his elder brother asks for a swing ride help from wasim. This is a good projection of how the lesser aged kid wanted to pursue a meaningful future and how his elder brother brain washed to be remain as a kid forever.

The 2 seconds shot where an insect comes out of a gun point. I fail to understand what it tries to convey. Is that supposed to mean that the victims are like insects who has no idea about the danger of weapons but lives with it as they have no choice and idea about world other than weapons?

The scene where Wasim and his assistant gets in to an argument. When wasim says ‘Allah will not forgive us’, his assistant replies ‘he wont forgive you, imtiaz is only a nick name I don’t belong to the religion’. Nice projection of his intention, its not religion that should be dictating good or bad, its supposedly karma.

The climax scene where the terrorist prays inside the room to get Allah’s blessing to explode the bomb successfully while wasim prays outside the room to same Allah, seeking his blessing to save the world. Kudos !!!

One big clarification I need. A RAW agent primary task is to protect India and shouldn’t be engaged in a mission to save other countries from terrorism or is it a joint mission from top agencies in the world to protect world itself ? May be its indicated in the movie but I didn’t noticed ?

Why Why Why Kamal repeatedly showering his sarcasm on this particular community of Hindus ? I noticed in many movies. Being atheist is his personal choice it may be correct or harmless to him but why should he insult the customs and procedures of others when it is doing no harm ? Am I missing anything here ? The reason that he himself is part of the community doesn’t give him any rights to hurt them with out any justification. This is part of my concern about Kamal himself too.

A true Prodigy, pushed to rags : SHAME !!!

I cannot stop myself writing the post after reading the news today where Mr. Kamal Hassan gone bankrupt. Not because, he did a sloppy work at his office. Only because the state politics don’t like the person and thus making a mockery of the world talent. All the mistake he did was, a genuine attempt to raise tamil cinema on par with world cinema.

I am not a die-hard Kamal fan but the best movies I liked in Tamil cinema had him and I believe his contribution is more than a mere lead role. Some of the movies that I love to watch again and again at any point in my life…

Nayagan: This was a pure master piece made by combined effort from Kamal and Maniratnam. Off late, came to know the hustles and tussles they faced with shoestring budget to lot others. Kamal himself got the film roles from his own pocket to get a particular scene to perfection. The movie is an absolute classic though adapted from Godfater. The BGMs, the emotional dialogues, the lighting and an apt-eye-jerking-climax.

Kuruthipunal: I was too young that time (when the movie was released) to understand the intensity of the movie but totally stunned to see a Hollywood movie theme taken elegantly in Tamil. That was the time when tamil movies considered waste without songs and then Kuruthipunal released, made tamil cinema proud by introducing the Dolby Digital and ended up as India’s official entry to 68th Academy awards.

Avvai Shanmugi and Aboorva Sagotharargal : Don’t see as yet another tamil comedy flick. The man’s commitment towards minute details will make you jaw drop.

Hey Ram : I have no intelligence to describe this classic. How about this ? Watch this movie first, then read all the 20 chapters in the link here and am sure you will watch the movie again only to appreciate the research, the technical finesse and above all ‘the quality’.

Indian : It was a blessing for tamil cinema that an enigma called Kamalhassan joined the star director Shankar for a much needed movie to the society. Thanks to Shankar, Kamal Hassan concentrated on what he always pioneer, acting while the rest of the departments were under safe hands of Shankar to control. He slated out a performance that eventually fetched him national award and rightly so.

Anbe Sivam : My personal opinion is that this is the best Tamil classic movie I have ever seen in my life. I am biased as i am agnostic myself and always appreciated the positive factors about communist thoughts over ‘modern day’ democratic outrage. Besides, he made a statement that a lead actor, not necessarily be handsome or charming or a six-pack freak to deliver a meaning out of a movie.

The above listing is my personal favorites considering his contributions ‘may be’ beyond just actor. However, the following are my other favorites for his other efforts.

As director : Virumandi is a stand out classic where he projected the story from multi dimensions based on the characters involved. Well narrated and sleek screenplay.

As singer : My favorite best is ‘Kadavul paathi mirugam paathi’ from aalavandaan. I for sure like his voice which gives a commanding appeal to the listeners and I always enjoy his songs sung by himself. Other favorites are ‘Kombula poova suthi’ from Virumandi, ‘Naatukoru sethi’ from Anbe Sivam.

I was over whelmed about his inputs on Oscars and his reaction to media to the question ‘Is he targeting oscar?’

“My dream is not Oscar. The best an Indian film can compete is on the foreign film category. Oscar is an award presented by Americans. My dream is to present an Indian award where the Hollywood films can compete among the Non-Indian films category and that should judge the quality of the beholders”

This is what I call ‘a vision’, no wonder he uttered this statement and one can see how much he is passionate to raise Tamil/Indian cinema to world standards. 

Back to the issue, this is a post of dedication to the proud of Tamils, Mr. Kamal Hassan. I have my own reasons why I like him and ofcourse I have concerns too which is close to negligible. Its an absolute shame that he has to lose everything he got to get what he deserve effortlessly. He was never new to these troubles but this time it takes a toll on his life and I truly wish he has to make a decision so as to achieve the heights.