Inspirational Lines

A close friend of mine had written something on his profile. I got inspired! I thought I’d work on it and make it sound classy. Here it goes:

“I am a protagonist. Why…! That’s because I protest against those unjust things… almost everything. As many brave and courageous men desired, I too want to change the system. I know it’s not easy… but I try. On my quest to glory, I realise that all I have done is just… change me.”

One another line that inspires me is

“That which doesn’t kill you, just makes you stronger.”

A bouquet of explosive charges!

One day while browsing through some movie website, I saw a wild fuse ignite and travel its way up to reveal the MI:3 banner. Despite being a diehard fan of the series, it didn’t hit me like the thunderbolt nor take me by awe. Movies like Mission Impossible have always been a welcome among film goers and the expectations for its sequels are high. MI:3 being the third of the blockbuster series was far more anticipated worldwide than its earlier parts. But at most times, sequels end up as junk material. Trying to mind blow the audience with lots more special effects and action, they make up a loose story decorated with sparkly effects. Considering the above, I entered the cinema hall with a preconceived notion that this film could possibly land in my bad books.

The film opened with a tight close-up of Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise). That sequence where Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman) has Ethan’s fiancée at gun point and asks him to reveal the location of the Rabbit’s foot is one of the most thrilling and exhilarating sequences that I have ever seen in films. Very tight framing and brilliant editing set that sequence as the trigger to the fuse and the titles burst towards the screen. Lalo Schifrin’s composition of the MI theme track pushes the audiences to the edge of their seats.

This part is undoubtedly the best of the trilogy. Many would disagree and vouch for part one. To me part one was too much of theory and part three full of practicals! As simple as that! No explanations or detailed assignment briefs, just ‘Fire and Forget’ seems to be the motto. Though the action sequences might seem impossible and over the head, they still are kick ass and explosive! They unravel one after the other without a break or unwanted deviation. Whereas part two dwelt into love and got drifted away.

The team played by Ving Rhames, Maggie Q and Michelle Monaghan is brilliant and could serve as a platform for forthcoming MI films. Philip Seymour Hoffman remains passive and sober till the end of the film, where he shows his nasty villain face. Davian says to Ethan, “We put an explosive charge in your head. Does that sound familiar?” This movie showcases the best of gadgets possible and the beautiful locales of Berlin, Vatican and China.

Visual effects as always have been handled by Industrial Light and Magic. They’ve created a CG cityscape of a Chinese city for the Para diving sequence. Though the bridge sequence where Ethan is thrown on to a car by a powerful explosion was shot handheld, ILM managed to match plates and create magic out of it! The Director J.J. Abrams (Lost TV series fame) has done a great job on the film. You could call it an adrenaline rush to blow your brains!

The hot summer seems to have got hotter with this big hot blockbuster running successfully on screens worldwide.

Pudupettai: Revisiting the Classics

I’ve been reading articles and gossip all over about Director Selvaraghavan being at par with Quentin Tarantino! His long awaited film Pudupettai that released this weekend has been hot and sizzling. Digitally treated and toned, a few awesome action cuts and two or three heart squeezing emotional acts are the only strengths this movie possesses. Otherwise I would have rated it too low as Selvaraghavan’s worst film. I overheard people asking their friends to explain the story and plot too! Someone commented saying ‘Selvaraghavan could have stuck to making his popular erotica films than exploring new waters!’

Despite all these, the film would make it to the box office. That’s strictly business, nothing personal! Does this line hit the nerve somewhere? Godfather! Well, the spoiler is, Pudupettai is a mix of Scarface, Godfather and Casino. Maybe it has taken inspiration from a few more films too! Some action scenes reminded me of the bloody Kill Bill. The background score goes closely aping Godfather’s Sicilian theme. There are bits and pieces from Scarface too!

If it was any other time, I would have commented badly on this film and moved on. But recently I have been thinking about getting into serious writing. That’s why films like these grab my interest and attention. Call it coincidence or just a series of events; I have seen Talainagaram, Pudupettai and Nayagan in a row. Talainagaram, staring director Sundar C, is a mediocre film loosely based on a few Ram Gopal Varma films. It reminded me of D, Company, Sarkar and a few more films of RGV. The family life of gangsters, their lighter side and darkest hour are the key features of this film. Though Sundar C couldn’t act too well, he still didn’t spoil the show by trying to be hyper or too sober. He seemed to know his capacities! That gave the film some mature feel. It’s doing decent business as these RGV movies are not common in the B and C centers of TN. Though there are loose ends and bad story telling, I would not care much, for the Director is a novice and maybe a first timer!

Second in the row is the greatest film of our times, Pudupettai! At least that’s what our media said till the film got released. Its release itself seemed to go on dragging! That’s not our concern here! What bothers me most when a film is bad is the judgment of the Director and Producer. Don’t they have some basic idea of what is crap and what is not? The film is titled Pudupettai, a place in Chennai that’s known for rowdies! But where this character is located in the film is not really known! Danush has done a decent job while his father kills his mother and later when he is begging to fill his stomach. That’s the last time you ever see him acting! Then on, his character has no progress or mould. He is just loosely chugged into any kind of scene or situation. Bad continuity in hairstyle made me real crazy! Isn’t this film supposed to become a classic! Then why can’t they attend to such tiny issues! The story seems to be spread out across a few years. Doesn’t a man’s shape, features, hair, attitude or at least his character change a bit? Rather you feel like the story starts on Monday and ends Sunday!

Rajinikanth made a classic flop film called Baba! Now it’s his son-in-law’s turn! The story is lost everywhere. The viewer doesn’t feel moved. Rather they move out of the cinema hall! The first half was ok in the narrative. But the second half was misguided and crashed onto a wall of political comedy! There are at times when the story drags quite obviously! The sequence where the Politician is deciding the party candidates and Danush getting wild is a sure waste of time and energy. Killing people the Tarantino way has become too comical! When Danush, without mercy or even guilt, orders the execution of his own father, his henchmen plead to his father to get into the grave. I mean, he was meant to be killed. Then kill him! Why play fool with him! That’s when I realized how powerful Godfather was when Michael orders the killing of his brother. He doesn’t mean to do that. Still he has to do it for he would be risking his family’s safety in the future! Killing Danush’s father just adds glamour to the story and makes Danush’s character look ruthless as Al Pacino’s! Possible? I don’t think so!

Nayagan wasn’t in my good books till recently. I always considered it to be a remake and never gave credit. But in a year like 2006 when we have the best of technology and biggest producers I am sure any dumb ass could remake Godfather and make it look better than the original! Nayagan was a class act even without over doing things. The scene where Saranya is punctured with bullets and falls down the building is Manirathnam’s classic touch. Kamal darts to grab her but she slips off and all that ends in Kamal’s hands is Saranya’s blood stained saree. Kamal as an old man comes to the court to face trial. He gets to meet his grandson there. His instant reaction of pulling out some gold to gift and his realization of not possessing any is so casual and placid. The way Kamal’s character, body language, attitude and make up progress over time, proves the masters touch!

After seeing these three films, all that I could think of was, I too could make films quiet easily when directors like Selvaraghavan can make senseless classics! But to Remake, is to re-visit, re-tell and re-present and not to ape just the visuals and music.

P.S. Please comment on this post. I feel I haven't done justice to what I thought about writing. Though I have covered most points, I feel it is a bit scattered and broken up. Do drop in your sincere comments.

The Longest Journey

One Mahashivrathiri* night, there was this teenage boy who was gazing at the calm, beautiful, glittering, widespread sky. He lay on his back and kept smiling at the sky until a sudden gush of thought swept through his mind and engulfed it with pain. The pain was a question that even Scientists and Religious Gurus have been baffled by!

* In Hindu mythology, Lord Shiva takes rest once a year and on that night, all species of the Earth needs to stay awake and keep watch.

What is the Universe?! Beginning :: Middle :: End ??? The boy wondered what would happen if he set on a journey to find the end or the outer wall of this huge** Universe. His imagination ran wild, flying across the planets that he knew. He halted just after crossing Pluto. What next? Though scared, he had a mission to accomplish and so kept travelling away from this microscopic speck*** in space. Days became weeks and progressed to months. It was nearly a year since he had left Earth and still was travelling through colourful Stars, Solar Systems and Galaxies! The journey seemed never ending. He couldn’t sustain his breath any longer… His lungs chocked and suffocated... There was no more hope and that drained the oxygen from his brain... The poor little boy was struggling for life in a space where life couldn’t exist. The pressure bulged his veins, his vision blurred and faded, a sharp and loud static tore his ears and he was all about to explode…AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

** Huge is an understatement for the Universe
*** Earth wouldn’t be visible to the naked eye when seen from Pluto

I still remember floating in the huge space and an unexplainable pain crushing my brain… I forced myself out of this dark dream and found myself gasping for breath. Beads of sweat rolled down my forehead. Realising the fact that I was just dreaming pumped my heart back to normal and I could feel the warm blood bringing me back to life. The teenage boy who went on that trip to find the “the Wall of the Universe” was none other than me!

The 10 years that followed has been the best time of my life! Learning Life! Life doesn’t end here, in this microscopic Earth..! We belong to the ‘Universe’, not just to the Earth. I wonder why everyone runs in circles trying to conquer this Earth, which is just home!!! When are we going to step out on the streets of the Universe and find its Walls? When would we know what’s behind those walls? Only then can we find the ultimate End to this Universe! The pain in me has gone away forever and I’ve packed up for a long journey…

Bringing the lamplighter to the limelight

'Doing the right thing' was his motive and he still lives and fights for it. Frank Serpico, born in 1936 is an Italian American born in Brooklyn. After spending his early years in the US Army, serving at Korea and his training at the military college, Serpico became a New York city Cop in the year 1960. Becoming a cop was his life time dream as that was a position he respected the most. But the police department was not what he though it was. Corruption was at every nook and corner of the offices. He kept transferring from department to department but never found a peaceful work environment anywhere. His colleagues, immediate seniors, superintendents, officials, and even the chief commissioner of police were making the system corrupt. He always tried to fight back, but would end in vain. He had gone to outside agencies and even the New York Times. It all ended up in his colleagues being very angry on him and some of them setup a drug raid to get Serpico killed. Lucky Serpico escaped with his left ear going deaf and a chronic cerebral problem.

I was very impressed with this man, for he stood by what he believed. If I was in his place I might have decided one fine day to be a part of the corrupt system and go along with it. But only after I came across Serpico's story I realised its true that humanity is something that is wonderful and I wanna live up to it. Why cant we be true to ouselves and others. That too a Police officer! We all know that the cops are corrupt and still they never tend to change! Just imagine if we were to hide behind the house and smoke when we were kids and our parents found out; they would punish us or warn us and the next time I am sure we will have some guilt feeling down us. Do these cops ever have a guilt feeling? I wonder not because all they have is the gut feeling. It has become a job description for any cop that he has to be corrupt! The sad part is that we all have been aware and in a way or the other helped or been a part in letting corruption go deep into the system.

Serpico now lives in Europe during the summer and back home at New York at other times. He is still fighting to help the Lamplighters, who are generally called as the Whistle Blowers by the department. Serpico has been a moral support to all those Cops who have been going through similar incidents and hard times. In 1973 director Sidney Lumet made a film called 'Serpico' based on the biography written by Peter Maas. Al Pacino starred as Serpico in this emotional drama of the original New York Cop who just wanted to do the right thing. During the filming of this film Al Pacino invited Frank Serpico to stay with him at a house that Pacino had rented in Montauk, New York. When Pacino asked Serpico, "Why did you do it?" Serpico replied, "Well, Al, I don't know. I guess I would have to say it would be because... if I didn't, who would I be when I listened to a piece of music?"

All that 'Trouble with Harry' was Fun!

I take this chance to let you all know that I am a die hard fan of Alfred Hitchcock. I make it a point to grab hold of his films whenever I come across one. He is called as the master of Suspense! Well, I didn't fall for that saying. I simply love his films for the style and the way he tells the story! May it be the smallest character in the film, we the audience will surely identify that character with the film and recognize him or her. Most times his films keep stretching the story over the entire time and concludes quite simple! But that's what his way of story telling is. Why keep the suspense growing into a high point and then bring it all out as a major event! The suspense will be out once the film has hit a week in the cinema halls. So Hitchcock always believes in unraveling the plot and suspense so well that he doesn't have to give much a heavy dose to the final sequence. His films have very beautifully written dialogues! They might not be that important to the script, but it would sure help us know that character and associate that line with him. Now let me get to the theme of this blog...

I had purchased this film called 'The Trouble with Harry' (1955), directed by Alfred Hitchcock. I was quite thinking if I would have the mood to sit through another Hitchcockian film. I have slept off seeing some of his older films. One really needs the mood to sit through his style of storytelling! Here it looked like a very modern film! Amazing cinematography I must say. Well framed angles and fantastically graded colors make this film stand out of its era. This film has been rated as thriller and comedy. Wow, when did Hitchcock become a master of comedy...! The location for this film is set in a beautiful countryside of Vermont. Just a handful of characters make this film a memorable experience. A jobless painter, a retired captain, a spinster, a young lady with her son and the the very ambiguous sheriff are the only lead characters in this film.

Now let me tell you what interested me. Death dosent seem to shock or trouble anyone in this pleasant little countryside! The story is about this man called Harry who is lying dead on the nearby hill. The captain thinks he shot this guy, the painter just wants to help him out, spinster is the actual culprit, while the young lady is the dead man's husband! I was quite amused with this film as I didnt expect it to be a slapstick comedy! These people are so cool and handling this dead man so easily that one might wonder what kind of people these are. But thats where Hitchcock makes his mark. The story is so light and is not about anybody becoming a killer. Harry had actually died due to a heart arrest! But this one dead man plays a major role in the lives of the four main players and makes them two happy couples. They play a real good team tring to protect and care for each other, while they end up burying and digging up poor Harry atleast 4 times. What a lovely ending!

Lines that I liked

Jennifer Rogers (the young lady): He looked exactly the same when he was alive, only he was vertical.
Captain: Marriage is a good way to spend the winter.

What's behind the Name?

Vel represents the Divine Wisdom (Gnanasakthi) which is conferred on His devotees by Lord Muruga. This divine weapon was given to Him by His Father Lord Siva, (with the blessings of His Mother Sakthi) to vanquish Surapadma and his powerful Asura-force.

The Vel is pointed at its top, broad in the middle and thick at its base which signifies the subtlety and sharpness, width and depth of the divine lore. The dazzling Kathirvel, which radiates like the rays of the Sun, dispels the darkness of Ignorance and Illusion, the dismal effects of our Ego and Karma to enlighten us to achieve the ultimate End of Life i.e. Salvation.

Thats where the name translates to RAYMAN...!

Shoe Box Projector

I at times wonder, from where I got this interest in film making! Vaguely I remember that old slide projector that used to be in the dusty loft of our old house. My Dad used to pull it out when all of us cousins and relatives gathered at home. He projected slides of those beautiful buildings and fine cities of the world on that white dothi cloth. I was always amazed at the technology! I never understood why the slide had to be kept upside down to project straight!

Curiosity made me learn from my Dad. He gave me a shoe box and a lens and helped me make my own little projector. I cut a round hole on one side and a square on the other. I bought cut frames from 16 mm film strips. My light source was the sun! I would have to reflect the sun beam to the box with a mirror that I would place outside the house. The reflected light would enter our house through the windows and hit the film side of the box. The image was projected through the lens, onto the wall or cloth that I had. Boy! I just cant express the thrill that I got seeing all those old frames being projected! There were some technical problems like, adjusting the mirror now and then according to the sun path. Still it was this projector that sparked off the filmi thirst in me! Thanks Dad!!! I love you and Mom most for letting me do what I wanted to...!

Fortune Favors the Bold !

I was thinking, what made up the Legend Alexander! Well then, I was thinking of Tony Montana, the Scarface! It's one of the big time hits of Hollywood! Tony played by Al Pacino, is a timid looking, tiny Cuban refugee who gets a ticket into the wide open USA! No one seeing the pictures of Tony would know what he really was! The movie was about the American Dream! This guy Tony wanted it, lived and died for it! Down the lane he did kill hundreds of men, got into all the bad rides and also had the state security hunting him! But, this guy Tony had the guts to kill and scream his name even with a shit load of bullets screwed into his body! That's how it all ended!

This tells us about the idea of being Bold! Tony was a refugee and not a citizen of that land! But still he wanted to be there and make it big! He had fears like everyone! But then you can see it in his face, how he covers it up! It's a credit to Al Pacino to have done great justice to that role! This guy knows he's trying to break the wrong door, but still he does it! Whatever may come out of it!? That's what he lives by. Imagine someone being given a job by a Millionaire, goes upto the bedroom and steals the big mans wife! Tony would do that! Tony and his co worker go to a big time drug seller and do business! They kill the other guy in front of Tony! Tony is stirred but not shaken! Coz he knows he might be dead there, but his guts says he will live to see tomorrow! How could someone so bad, still get past through all the worst encounters with death! One good thing his Momma put into him, "Loyalty". He lived as long as he was loyal and honest! Whatever he did, he wouldn't go out of his principles. Tony wouldn't kill a woman and her kid! This resulted in screwing up a mission, ultimately screwing up his life! But still he didn't kill the lady!

Thus the lesson behind is, Make your own set of principles, follow them tightly! Above all be bold, over confident, hold courage, rule the world whatever! Becoz Fortune Favors the Bold!

All the way to Kill Bill

I finally got a chance to watch the second part to one of my all time favorite movies, Kill Bill ! I was sitting through the entire movie, without a single move! I was spell bound by the narrative and acting. When the end credits were rolling, I was feeling like I had seen something which was not just a masala movie, but also was damn creative in all aspects!

To those who don't know what Kill Bill is about:
The Kiddo(convincingly and stylishly played by Uma Thurman) of the `Deadly Viper Assassination Squad', walks out of the gang to get married to a record shop owner at El Paso. She should have known better than anyone, about her boss + ex, Mr. Bill who comes as an uninvited guest to the wedding ceremony. The tiny little village church's walls are mercilessly painted with blood. The sad part is that the bride had been carrying her unborn girl child. The Bride who was trashed to the wooden floor with a bullet digging deep into her head goes into coma for 4 years!

Now after all these years of rest and agony, the Bride wakes up angrily and hungry to hunt down those who gave her a peek of hell! What she finds out at the end, comes as a warm blanket to the audience. A surprise gun fire on her chest, unplugging Daryl Hannah's eyeball and squeezing it under her legs, a dozen of snakes sending venom down Michael Madsen's body, slicing off Lucy Liu's head are all just a few chills of this Roaring Rampage of Revenge!

Seeing this film one needs to understand the format and style its all based on, the Anime Art. Japanese Anime comics portray this kind of crude violence! There is an entire chapter in Vol.1 thats been done as an animated 2D bit. I wonder, the film maker did it coz there is too much blood and gore in that chapter: Lucy Liu's flash back. Most theatre goers felt that this film was a distasteful experience. That's why Vol.2 didnt do that well. But considering the film as a style makeover(just like 'Pulp Fiction', 'Reservoir Dogs') I am assured that film makers worldwide are going to adapt to Kill Bill's style in many ways.

P.S. The title track of Vol.1, 'Bang Bang' by Nancy Sinatra is a beautiful piece.