Dear Readers,
Often, we find ourselves looking at life through the lens. No, not a prescription for myopia or hypermetrophia, or maybe even both (though the distinction is becoming less obfuscated with transition optics, contact lenses, and, dare I say it, prescription Google glass. I'n not one for making lists, because I believe that they are just the philistine's road to perdition, the talent deprived's path to fame. But talking to someone close to me today, - and having realized that not being a journalist, if I did not produce works to keep the followers engaged, that I would be forgotten - I've prepared a list of movie related stuff that you should see. This list does not require you to be art aficionados. Nor doe it require you to scrounge about the internet to seek counterfeit examples to enjoy.
There are no pictures on this entry because you have to experience them. They are not popular by any means either because they are my, and mine only, personal favorites. Hope you enjoy enjoy them. All you need is access to YouTube.
1. Kanne Kaadhal Nilame: A futuristic take on Oru Naal Podhumaa. Every single stanza of this song, from the opening to the cadenza is a different tune. I bet this is one of the songs that fell through the cracks between AR Rahman and Harris Jayaraj. Hear it once ans you'll be hooked.
2. Yenga Veetu Ramayanam: A comedy film a la Kaadhalikka Neram Illai, this gem would be forgotten and in the scrap heap of worldd cinem. Please cast a second eye towards it for a Crazy Mohan style screenplay and S. Ve. Sekar style sharp dialogues. This has a style to be a s,sleeper DVD hit if such a thing existed in Tamil cinema.
3. Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot: If you realized that S. Balachandher's Andha Naal was a frame to frame remake of the crime Dame's And then there were none, you would take a much greater interest in her novels. As a country. we love whodunits a la Holmes, Bakshi and Faluda, but we seem to be aloof to Poirot. Perhaps the truth about this crime drama will convince us otherwise.
4. Vijaykanth: It is fashionable to deride the now obese and constantly drunk MLA and would be Chief Minister, but do realize that this man was instrumental for the genre of spy and soldier super hits such as Mudhalvan, Amaidhi Padai and Ko. Let me draw your attention back to twenty years to such trend setters as Captain Prabhakaran, Pulan Visaranai and Sethupathi IPS.
5. Budget Padhmanabhan: Everyone remembers Ullathai Alli Thaa as the definifing comedy as the nineties. But few acknowledge that it was T.P. Gajendran with his Budget Padhmanabhan that set the trend for aged heroes to have a market again. He cast Prabhu in a rib - tickling spoof of a common man's dilemma, How about this for a nugget about a miserly hero: Vivek, "I have to put this jeans for stone wash.", Mannivannan, "I have to put this dhoti for acid wash,", an incensed Prabhu, "One more word out of you two and I'll put you both for petrol wash."
6. Rhythm train accident scene: Not any would realize that this was a true gem. But it was. It made Tamil film makers realize for the first time that special effects matter. Vasanth had a fantastic script that has been used a dozen time over, but could not get the budget to do justice to a couple of sequences. By his own admission, he was not happy with this scene, nor the item song he had to use Ramya Krishnan for. But it set the trend for improved visual effects in Tamil cinema, and led to, positively or not, the trend that item songs would be used situationally to show the villain in bad light from now on.
7. Thulluvadho Ilamai... Neruppu koothadikidhu song: Noir in Tamil films had been something of a taboo subject till now. It was considered A certificate material. Kasthuriraja was the the first to break it. Very rarely in Tamil cinema or even in Indian films have we seen subjects like sexual crimes being broached. This was a very disturbing movie, more so in the context that it was a father directing his son as protagonist in such a venture. But, perhaps, if more such pieces came along, we as a society might stop basking in the supercilious claim that it happens only in the decadent west?
8. Shankar's Boys or Simbhu's Vaanam: Why is it that we as a society accept so much violence against women... from female infanticide to acceptance of prostitution, but cannot get our sorry asses to realize and accept that as long as there is a taboo and prohibition, there will be prostitution? As statistics have shown, the higest incidences of AIDS are in nations where sex in a Taboo subject. Is it perhaps time for society o change its norms towards longevity rather than pride? I also bill films like Karuthamma about female infanticide and Chandni Bar about the plight of sex workers this category.
9. Walt Disney's Alladin: This was the first movie that broke the mentality that human sentiments were region specific. It made us realize that we could appreciate foreign films as having the same motivations that we did, albeit being a translated movie. Independence day, as the first Tamil subtitled film was another one.
10.Andha Naal (not that same Naal): Sivaji Ganesan is is the hero par excellence. And tragic it is that that Tamil cinema is SO unsubtle that negative roles almost always end up being cruel... that the backgrounds of the main characters are not analysed. The first Tamil movie to do so was Andha Naal, a disgruntled radio scientist's hope to Vyapari came close in spirit (although I cringe that in all the sixty years that had elapsed, it took SJ Suryah to come up to its successor in spirit).
Often, we find ourselves looking at life through the lens. No, not a prescription for myopia or hypermetrophia, or maybe even both (though the distinction is becoming less obfuscated with transition optics, contact lenses, and, dare I say it, prescription Google glass. I'n not one for making lists, because I believe that they are just the philistine's road to perdition, the talent deprived's path to fame. But talking to someone close to me today, - and having realized that not being a journalist, if I did not produce works to keep the followers engaged, that I would be forgotten - I've prepared a list of movie related stuff that you should see. This list does not require you to be art aficionados. Nor doe it require you to scrounge about the internet to seek counterfeit examples to enjoy.
There are no pictures on this entry because you have to experience them. They are not popular by any means either because they are my, and mine only, personal favorites. Hope you enjoy enjoy them. All you need is access to YouTube.
1. Kanne Kaadhal Nilame: A futuristic take on Oru Naal Podhumaa. Every single stanza of this song, from the opening to the cadenza is a different tune. I bet this is one of the songs that fell through the cracks between AR Rahman and Harris Jayaraj. Hear it once ans you'll be hooked.
2. Yenga Veetu Ramayanam: A comedy film a la Kaadhalikka Neram Illai, this gem would be forgotten and in the scrap heap of worldd cinem. Please cast a second eye towards it for a Crazy Mohan style screenplay and S. Ve. Sekar style sharp dialogues. This has a style to be a s,sleeper DVD hit if such a thing existed in Tamil cinema.
3. Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot: If you realized that S. Balachandher's Andha Naal was a frame to frame remake of the crime Dame's And then there were none, you would take a much greater interest in her novels. As a country. we love whodunits a la Holmes, Bakshi and Faluda, but we seem to be aloof to Poirot. Perhaps the truth about this crime drama will convince us otherwise.
4. Vijaykanth: It is fashionable to deride the now obese and constantly drunk MLA and would be Chief Minister, but do realize that this man was instrumental for the genre of spy and soldier super hits such as Mudhalvan, Amaidhi Padai and Ko. Let me draw your attention back to twenty years to such trend setters as Captain Prabhakaran, Pulan Visaranai and Sethupathi IPS.
5. Budget Padhmanabhan: Everyone remembers Ullathai Alli Thaa as the definifing comedy as the nineties. But few acknowledge that it was T.P. Gajendran with his Budget Padhmanabhan that set the trend for aged heroes to have a market again. He cast Prabhu in a rib - tickling spoof of a common man's dilemma, How about this for a nugget about a miserly hero: Vivek, "I have to put this jeans for stone wash.", Mannivannan, "I have to put this dhoti for acid wash,", an incensed Prabhu, "One more word out of you two and I'll put you both for petrol wash."
6. Rhythm train accident scene: Not any would realize that this was a true gem. But it was. It made Tamil film makers realize for the first time that special effects matter. Vasanth had a fantastic script that has been used a dozen time over, but could not get the budget to do justice to a couple of sequences. By his own admission, he was not happy with this scene, nor the item song he had to use Ramya Krishnan for. But it set the trend for improved visual effects in Tamil cinema, and led to, positively or not, the trend that item songs would be used situationally to show the villain in bad light from now on.
7. Thulluvadho Ilamai... Neruppu koothadikidhu song: Noir in Tamil films had been something of a taboo subject till now. It was considered A certificate material. Kasthuriraja was the the first to break it. Very rarely in Tamil cinema or even in Indian films have we seen subjects like sexual crimes being broached. This was a very disturbing movie, more so in the context that it was a father directing his son as protagonist in such a venture. But, perhaps, if more such pieces came along, we as a society might stop basking in the supercilious claim that it happens only in the decadent west?
8. Shankar's Boys or Simbhu's Vaanam: Why is it that we as a society accept so much violence against women... from female infanticide to acceptance of prostitution, but cannot get our sorry asses to realize and accept that as long as there is a taboo and prohibition, there will be prostitution? As statistics have shown, the higest incidences of AIDS are in nations where sex in a Taboo subject. Is it perhaps time for society o change its norms towards longevity rather than pride? I also bill films like Karuthamma about female infanticide and Chandni Bar about the plight of sex workers this category.
9. Walt Disney's Alladin: This was the first movie that broke the mentality that human sentiments were region specific. It made us realize that we could appreciate foreign films as having the same motivations that we did, albeit being a translated movie. Independence day, as the first Tamil subtitled film was another one.
10.Andha Naal (not that same Naal): Sivaji Ganesan is is the hero par excellence. And tragic it is that that Tamil cinema is SO unsubtle that negative roles almost always end up being cruel... that the backgrounds of the main characters are not analysed. The first Tamil movie to do so was Andha Naal, a disgruntled radio scientist's hope to Vyapari came close in spirit (although I cringe that in all the sixty years that had elapsed, it took SJ Suryah to come up to its successor in spirit).
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