Sila Nerangalil Sila Manidargal ( Tamil - 1975 )

	Language: Tamil Country: India Year: 1975 Director: Bhim Singh Starring: Lakshmi, SriKanth.. Genre: Drama
This is the movie made in the 1970’s in Tamil Nadu, India. Much of the story is set in the same period. Sila Nerangalil Sila Manidargal (Sometimes Some People) is a Tamil movie directed by a veteran director Bhim Singh, written by the famous writer Jayakanthan, this film was taken from his novel of the same name, the book went on to win the highest Indian Literary award and the actor Lakshmi who was the protagonist of this film went on to win the first National Award for the best actress by a Tamil actor in 1976.	Lakshmi as Ganga
The story is about a young girl losing her virginity in an unavoidable circumstance and how the people around her treat her after this incident, (“unavoidable circumstance” later becomes a debate in the movie itself) so who are these people and how they influence her. Ganga – The Girl : I felt she is somewhat a bold depiction of women for that time ( 1970’s ).  Initially sporting innocence- On a rainy day she takes a hitchhike and gets raped. Ideally most would have covered it under the carpet, but she let her mother knew about it, which forces her brother to throw her out of the house.  Later applying a maturity mask- Then her uncle flirts with her by posing a fatherly-love, she tactfully avoids him and makes him realize his bitter-intentions. Once she finds Prabhu ( now a married man ), the guy who changed her life. She tries to walk a tight rope without crossing the line.  Returning back to the innocence stage-  Her being adamant of not getting married and begging Prabhu to marry her. Then supposedly leading her life in his memories.	Prabhu- The Guy: Play’s an important part in Ganga’ life, he is filthy rich and most of the time played as much as a gentlemanly manner is actually the cause of all mess. In the later part of the film, he tries to be as good to Ganga, who turns as good well-wisher for her. Her Mom and brother – Orthodoxy characters who thinks the “society-world around us is important than oneself” are the movers of this film. Their bad moves are the ones which takes Ganga to edge of her life. Her Uncle- Should be a father-like figure, but tries to flirt with Ganga. His bitter words to Ganga, triggers her to search for the guy ( Prabhu ) who raped her. The movie and the novel must be a controversy, you can’t often see an Indian women on the screen smelling the cigarette pack and saying she likes the smell ( even now 2012 ) and a women literally begging a married man to be her husband ( at least on screen ). The movie slightly touches the notion “a rape is not always a rape”, which is still debatable.

Chocolate ( Thailand - 2008 )

Language: Thai

Country: Thailand

Year: 2008

Director: Prachya Pinkaew 

Starring: Yanin Vismistananda

Genre: Action

By seeing the title one might think that is not an action film, but this Thai film is a full blowing kick ass action film. After watching Ong-Bak series, I was eager to watch another Thai flick and this was a perfect treat to watch.

Zen ( Yanin ) an autistic young girl learns martial arts just by seeing the neighborhood kick-boxing school, TV and video games. She also poses the reflect actions to catch objects which is thrown at her at the blink of an eye. Zen’ mother Zin has a disturbed past, once she was a girlfriend to a gangster named No.8 (Yes, that’s the name), she would fell in love with the rival Japanese gangster Masahi. No. 8 forcefully separates Zin and Masahi and prohibits them not to see again. Now Zin living with her daughter falls ill and money is needed for her treatment. Moon (Yes, it’s a name!) an orphan, who shows a brotherly love to Zen, helps them to get money, one day he stumbles on the debtors list, who own money to Zin. The action starts when Zen uses her fighting skills with the debtors, whenever they shoo her away.

Yanin Vismistananda as Zen

The action takes place in perfectly placed venues like the ice-factory, butchers-market, warehouse and the final showdown on the top of the restaurants. There is also a little sequence of katana fight, of course when Japanese gangster is there then there has to be the sword-fight.

The fights are perfectly choreographed and I see from the end-credits that there was no double for Yanin. If you like to see a kick-ass-girl then this is definitely a good watch.

Click this to buy Chocolate [Blu-ray]

The Orator ( Samoan, 2011)

Language: Samoan
Year: 2011
Director: Tusi Tamasese
Starring: Fa'afiaula Sagote, Tausili Pushparaj
Genre: Drama

This is a region which I haven’t seen yet in the movies and this is the first time FilmBulb is visiting a Samaon Film. Before going into the movie here is a small detail about the country Samao. The country is in the Samoan Islands, which is in the South Pacific Ocean, some 3000 Kms from New Zealand. Help yourselves with the map.

The film is the first of its kind from the country. The main character Saili is a dwarf. He is ridiculed by the village people, who grabbed his land. He can’t fit into his father position as a village chief, just because his physical stature doesn't give him the courage. Vaaiga, his wife is retreated out of her village earlier is living with Saili with her daughter.

Saili on way to get the body

Saili is struggling to get hold of his land and he also wishes to take as a village chief, but never fit for it, down without confidence and courage is encouraged by Vaaiga. Things turn bad when her brother wants her to come back to their village as there is some curse on him and so he is falling ill. She returning to them will cure him, but she refuses to leave Saili. Owing to her illness, Vaaiga dies; her brother takes her body forcefully. Saili seeks the help of his village chief; the process is to negotiate with her brother to get back the dead Vaaiga' body. The village chief denies to go and asks Saili to go by himself, as a negotiator (as an orator as they call). Did Saili get the Vaaiga' dead body? 

Cinematography is the first thing one will notice in this film with clean and crisp shots. There are few sub-plots of lighter moments which keep the film moving; otherwise the film would have been slow. I think it will take some effort to understand the culture and custom if someone is not from Samoa or New Zealand.

Cultural References

The maker called the film accurately depicts the culture of Samoa. I can see a lot of similarities in Tamil (Indian) culture and Samoan.

• Traditionally the chief of the village position is given to the son (First born).
• The burial of the dead in the backyard of home. This was prevalent earlier but not now, but still burial is done on their owned land sometimes.
• The process of negotiation is done still, as they call in Tamil, Panchayattu. Any kind of issue can be sorted out before going to the courts.

If you look for fast-cuts this is not for you. For me I can see it for another time.

Quotes - 1

Find more quotes from Ashleign Brilliant on www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/15038.Ashleigh_Brilliant

Starting from today you will get more quotes as in when I like ( cause its my blog ).

We Have a Pope

Language: Italian
Year: 2011
Director: Nanni Moretti
Starring: Michel Piccoli, Nani Moretti
Genre: Comedy

This is a subject not taken by many mainstream film makers, in spite of the strangeness in the theme of the movie; this film maker (Nanni Moretti) has done a good work to show. As a kind of drama the film is good, but not rib-tickling as the movie poster suggested.

The cardinals of the world are in Vatican City to elect a new pope, as the pope is deceased. After few rounds of voting they select Cardinal Melville as the new pope. But when Melville is about to complete the ceremony by announcing himself from the grand balcony, he breaks down and runs as a panic stricken child. According to the law, the cardinals are not supposed to communicate with the outside world and the vice versa. So until the elect-Pope Melville is good to gain the strength to face the crowd they all have to be inside the palace. They get the help of a psychoanalyst, who finds a cause, but he cannot cure as he is not specialized in the subject and suggests that his wife can help the Pope, who is also a psychoanalyst. Secretly the Vatican spokesman takes the elect-pope out to meet the psychoanalyst. On the way Melville escapes and the authorities could not find him.

 What happens then, how does the cardinals stay in the palace for few days, how the elect-pope is convinced and did Melville takes the Pope position is the rest of the story.

It’s a story of an individual not about religion or god. Every man has a desire, which is buried deep in the heart and mind, and it comes up when it is a right time. Pope or a common man the feelings are same. The story can be intercepted satirically, is the film maker questioning the appointment of the Pope, may be, is he asking that Pope’s are appointed against their wishes? See it for yourself and enjoy.

Dreams

Dreams always fascinate us. Most of the dreams are weird and strange. We see the happenings in the dream are unusual. This is one such dream which I got few months before.  Very bad, very bad, but it’s interesting.

Dream Starts:

I got down the bus, with few luggages, a big sports bag kind of thing. Start to walk towards a compound wall in the side of the road, beyond the wall there is a narrow lane, very short. Both sides of the lane is full of rubbish garbage, this like the dump yard that you see in the sub-urb of Chennai, like Perungudi and Pallikaranai. I see a big building in the middle of the garbage dump yard, I walk towards the building, it’s a cool five star hotel !!. ( இந்த ரணகளைத்துளையும் ஒரு கிளுகிளுக்லுப்பு ) 

In the entrance there is a welcome sign, looks like I am participating in a sport and the hotel is the place to stay. The welcome board reads,

"Welcome to the saliva-spitting competition. ( சீ எச்சா )"

I go inside and marvel the beauty of the hotel. ( திரும்பவும் கிளுகிளுக்லுப்பு )  I am joined with other participants ( துப்புகெட்ட பயலுங்க ). The day we arrived is Sunday, the competition is on Monday, and the final is on the same Monday evening.

Monday Morning- We all seeing the grander of the hotel are eager to stay there for another day, but there is no option to stay there, since the competition ends in the evening and we ought to vacate. Preliminaries of saliva-spitting take long time. Its late afternoon to finish it, so there is no other way for the organizers they have to postpone the finals on Tuesday. We are happy to hear the news, as we got an extra day to stay there. ( ஹோட்டல் பேரு என்ன,  Le குப்பை Meridien )

Flash News- In the evening while we are roaming and enjoying in the hotel, here comes flash news and the news is a double-decker delight for all of us, the news is as follows,

"The finals is postponed to Wednesday, reason due to inclement weather condition on Tuesday, what happens on Tuesday is “whichever direction you spit the saliva will fall on face of the person who is spitting it”. "

It was better that the dream ended here.

Writing in Tamil

வணக்கம். இது ஏனோட முதல் தமிழ் வலைபூ.

ரொம்பா நாளா இண்டர்நெட்ல தமிழ்ல  எழுதணும்ன்னு ஆசை, அது இப்போதான் நெறைவேரிசி. என்ன எழுதணும்ன்னு தெரில ஆன்ன எதவடு எழுதணும்.

சரஸ்வதி சபதம் படத்துல சிவாஜிக்கு பேச்சு வரபோ அவரு கத்தி கத்தி பேசுவரே அப்படி எழுதணும். ** அம்மா ** அப்பா ** தாய் ** தந்தை ** தண்டசோறு  ** தயிர்வடை **  . அப்பப்ப என்ன ருசி. இந்த முணு வரி எழுதா இருபது நிமிஷம்மாச்சி.

Please correct the mistakes. Good start. Will try to write more. ( This I wrote in 2 secs ).

The Immortals Of Meluha - Amish

There are references and portrayal of manu dharma – class based system and untouchability, but it’s good to see that the protagonist Shiva is a rationalist. 

This will be my first review of a book, or it could be like sharing my reading experience of this book. The Immortals of Meluha by Amish, mixed with mythology and fiction, it’s a nice blend of work by the author. This book is a definite page turner.

It’s a story of Shiva (OK Lord Shiva), the author portrays him as a human being, wandering in the slopes of the Himalayas, and then moving in to now Indo-Pak border of Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat, where he finds Sati (Parvathi). The story is set-up after Ramayana, so Rama is the lord of the land. The journey of Shiva continues him to align with Suryavanshis against Chandravanshis, the climax is a war and the story continues with the second part of the book about Nagas. ( Which I haven't read yet ).

I can’t weigh the writing, since I haven’t read much of new Indian English writers, especially in fiction. But the author is successful in keeping the reader intact with the subject and the “what next” kind of eagerness runs through the pages. Some war and confrontation sequences reminds of a Hollywood-epic scripts. There are references and portrayal of manu dharma – class based system and untouchability, but it’s good to see that the protagonist Shiva is a rationalist. He criticises and abolishes unwanted rituals. Not often you see or read a marijuana dragging Shiva.

Politicians never retire and so Sachin

PIC from -  www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2121317/R-Prasad--Sachins-retirement.html

No wonder Sachin is a politician now, just before his nomination to Rajya Sabha, answering to a question on his retirement, he said ".. critics don't tell me when to retire.." and this was the time when the congis would have felt - yes, he is a man now, make him a politician. Politicians never retire and so Sachin.

We all want see him play, but how long, in the stake of someone. People who played with him are retired now, not just from playing cricket, even from commentating. He can play as long as he can, good, if he is so obsessed for batting, he can very well play for Mumbai in domestic cricket or in the IPL. Just because he doesn't lose his form, it doesn't mean that the selectors has to pick him. Srikanth, we all know Sachin debuted under your captaincy and you said this million times in your interviews, now you be the first selector to drop him. If his ( Sachin ) predecessors didn't think of retirement then he wouldn't have debuted at the age of 15.

A mark of true legend is to quit when he is in a peak form, like a raging bull and not like a wagging bull. Sachin now got a good chance of becoming a true legend, before the selectors show the door. You got much to do, playing cricket is not the only way to serve the country.

Very Very Special Laxman

The day when the invincibles became spectators                                                                                                              

Last week one of the greatest Indian test cricketer retired from the game, VVS Laxman, fondly called as Very Very Special Laxman, of course he was very special. Not the greatest in terms of statistics of him, but certainly the quality of his batting and especially the way he played batted in the company of the tail enders, as usually a lower middle order batsmen will have to play.

Of course the one knock that changed everything was the 2001 Kolkata Test. I personally feel that I have seen (TV) the greatest inning in the test (in all form of cricket). Just to rewind to those days, I used to see all 5 days of a test match on the TV. It’s strange now, that I don’t even see one full one-dayer.

Aussies landed to India under the captaincy of Steve Waugh (The Man with the Red Hanky), media claimed their (Aussie) quest to capture the final frontier.

First Test – Mumbai

The worst defeat for the Indians. The scores India (176 & 219 ) and Australia ( 349 & 47/0 ), aussies won by 10 Wickets. As expected from Sachin as he was playing in his home ground scored 76 and 66.  Laxman scored 20 and 12. (The data is not presented to compare Sachin and Laxman ). I felt India will mincemeat the Aussies as they did in their previous outing in the same ground, but it was other way around. Steve and his team’ dream of conquering the final frontier was just one victory away and they all left to Kolkata.

Second Test – Kolkota

Kolkota has always been a favorite ground for Indians (Excluding the 1996 WC Semis). I was in Chennai to write an exam and all my thoughts were in the match. The first half of the day 1 was the Aussie way as usual, but then Harbajan Singh took a hat-trick to make the collapse of the Aussie middle order, as I saw some cheer in the Mount Road VGP Showroom. 

On the second day, Australia still made a good total of 445, Indians again crumbled for 171, VVS scored 59 and he was the last batsman to fall in the Indian inning on the day 3 morning session. India to follow-on got a good opening partnership of 52 by Ramesh and Das, now came a decisive moment of match, Ganguly sensing how VVS played Aussies in the first inning, sent VSS as a one-down, which was meant for Dravid. Day 3 ended with a little bit of good partnership with VSS – Ganguly, but it was not enough, Ganguly fell in the final overs of the day, which left Dravid ( 7 ) paring with VVS ( who was in 107 ).

Day 4 – VVS and Dravid, played an inning which all the batsmen in the world will dream after, that is not getting out and bat a full day. This was not day 1, this was day 4, a good pitch, but its old. Over-after-over, hour-after-hour, session-after-session the both batted like as if a dinosaur was swallowed by a snake. There was not even one close-call in the VVS inning. This was the day when the invincibles became spectators. And, as they say rest was history.

India won the third test in Chennai and grabbing the advantage from Aussies to win the series for 2-1. Not often one can see a Day 4 VVS inning, and that was the good reason why it was made in the top 10 innings on Wisden. Adieu Laxman.

PS: Watch the Chennai Test wining moments, my friend screaming on the third man boundary line.

Do you want to celebrate!!

Physiologically you are still thinking that you are still one step behind men.

The “Womens Day” went passed recently with usual enthusiasm in the world (read corporate).  Whoever started this "day" thing like Mother's, Valentine's... and others has to be a marketing guru. Please note that I am not against male-female equality, I think everyone should be treated fairly, irrespective of the gender and I strongly object the violence’s and atrocities committed by the male-goondas to women.

 For my mom and most of the other working women,  it was just like any other day, she went to office (govt) as usual and nothing happen even remotely resembling of what happens in the corporate world on this day.

Here they paint pink, my previous employer went to an extent to posturize the entire female-workforce in a big huge banner, cards for the all, which got individual greetings.  Why such a big blah blah parties, a man cannot give rights, nor there is anything you can earn, those rights are in the natural system, as a species female-male are equal and I don’t see there is nothing to celebrate  for  “women's economic, political and social achievements”.  If the women folks feel proud of what they achieved, then you are letting yourselves “down”, physiologically you are still thinking that you are still one step behind men. These celebrations are a shrewd design by some to keep you women under the check, which constantly reminds you that you are still an auxiliary.

An Evening TO Remember

Movie halls and Sabha's can keep "NO CELL PHONES" board, like "EXIT" and others                                          

A perfect picture from FujiFilm JZ 300

It was an evening to remember; last Sunday I witnessed my first classical live concert by KJ Yesudas at Kamarajar Arangam. It was mesmerising voice and the 3 hour concert just went like a minute.  I haven’t heard most of the songs, and also he sang few songs written by him, yes Yesudas is a lyricist now.

The sound system in the hall was good, I didn’t expect this kind of quality. The audiences as usual was to their own way, occasional cell phone rings, whispering “hello..”, switching off the cell phone will kill its purpose, but one can keep it in complete silent, not even vibration.  Men have to unlearn something to learn. Let your near and dear ones wait for couple of hours, while you enjoy the music.