Vettaiyan - promises, delivers, educates

The world of OTT has spoiled the audience for choice and has resulted in a very low threshold for bullshit. Hence, travelling to a cinema hall, requires, multiple thoughts. Vettaiyan, was worth that travel. Although I watch movies rarely, when I do, I see a gradual shift in Tamil cinema. In Raayan, in the ponnu-paakura scene, the women were sitting on the chair, as against the floor. Very low bar, yes. Also Raayan, handled rape and rape survival differently with aigiri nandini thundering in the background.

In Vettaiyan, the damsel-in-distress trope has been abandoned. The women have their say, and find ways to come out of their misery, not waiting for the hero to arrive and swoop in. Girls with hijab as background dancers was interesting to note. Gnanavel, after Jai Bhim, has again managed to make human rights mainstream, which is no mean feat in a Rajini movie.

But some old habits die hard. It did feel like the fights were included begrudgingly. Helpless goons waiting for their turn to be bashed, has really become cringe, in 2024. But many seem to love it. One disturbing scene is repeated multiple times, for no real reason, which is a big downer, because this is a movie which everybody should see, including children.

At the age of 73, Rajini is still mesmerising on the screen. And I am not even a fan. Anirudh's BGM is Anirudh's BGM!! Everything else has been written and said about it. Fafa walks a slender line balancing comedy and intellect tactfully. AB does not seem to be mouthing his dialogues in Tamil, so was less convincing to me. But seeing two stalwarts together on screen may evoke nostalgia for some.

I have long been intrigued by encounters. The movie does traverse the opposite ends of the debate. Breaking the worship of extrajudicial killings, created by this same industry, could not be done hastily. And it takes time, which an impatient watcher may not be willing to concede. In a patriarchal, misogynistic Tamil cinematic universe, creators like Pa. Ranjith, Maari Selvaraj and Gnanavel are taking one step at a time, in making human rights, evocative, appealing and entertaining. To that end, they deserve all credits.

மானானது நீரோடையை Maanaanadhu neerodaiyai ( lyrics

I was surprised that the lyrics of this beautiful song was not found on the internet. So decided to contribute. 

 மானானது நீரோடையை வாஞ்சித்து கதறுமாப் போல 

தேவனே என் ஆத்துமா உம் மேல் வாஞ்சையாய் இருக்கின்றது 

 - மானானது நீரோடையை 

உன் தேவன் எங்கே என்று என் சத்ருக்கள் விளம்புகிறார் (2)

என் கண்ணீரே எனக்கு உணவாயிற்று (2 ) - மானானது 

என் ஆத்துமாவே நீ என் உனக்குள் தியங்குகிறாய் (2 ) 

என் இரட்சிப்பின் தேவன் எனக்கில்லையோ (2 )  - மானானது 

பகற்காலத்திலே உம் கிருபையை பொழிவதினால் (2)

இராக்காலத்தில் நான் பாடுகிறேன்(2 ) - மானானது

Transliteration in English

Maanaanadhu neerodaiyai vaanjithu kadharuma pola

Dhevane en aathuma um mel vaanjaiayi irukkinrdhu

 - Maanaanadhu neerodaiyai 

Un dhevan enge endru en sathrukkal viLambugiraar(2)

en kannerae enakku unvaayitru(2) - Maanaanadhu

En aathumaave nee yen enakkul thiyangugiraai(2)

en iratchippin dhevan enakkillaiyo(2) - Maanaanadhu

Pagarkaalaththile um kirubaiyai pozhivathinaal (2)

raakkaalaththil naan paadugiren(2) - Maanaanadhu

Dil Bechara - an overrated disappointment

This is my private blog. I am not even advertising it anywhere. If you came here by yourself, don't curse me.

Dil Bechara was released in the aftermath of Sushant's death by suicide. While the reasons for his suicide remain highly debated in TV newsrooms and made mincemeat of by opportunists, a rising wave of supporters for SSR just wouldn't allow any criticism about SSR at all.

I know very little about SSR. His only movie I ever saw was Dil Bechara because the music was by AR Rahman. Both the movie and the music was a disappointment. But this cannot be said out loud, so I had to return to my bunker for expressing it. One, this wretched tradition that you cannot say anything ill about the departed. Two, in the Indian tradition, the person immediately receives the title 'swargiya' (heavenly), irrespective of how lousy they would have been during their lifetime [even this cannot be said out loud because how dare a person with a Christian name, say anything critical about the Indian tradition]. Three, the sympathy wave for SSR has been turned into a binomial battle between those who support nepotism and those who don't - only in Bollywood, not necessarily in other spheres of life.

The film had a very predictable, dark storyline - whatever thin whiff that was presented as a plot. Full of imageries, dialogues and sceneries associated with death and its surrounding eerieness. I learnt about that fateful lung infection which causes you to carry an oxygen pump (Pushpinder) wherever you go.

One expected that the film would break out of the cast of sad cancer-based movies and resonate with hope and humour. It did for a short while, but quickly returning to death and despair. His final word on-screen was 'Seri' a Tamil word. As a Tamil-speaking person, I was mildly enthused but was again disappointed that, that part of his background was not explored at all. In comparison to the multiple references to the Bengali background of Kizie Basu, his love interest.

The final scenes of the film show SSR grotesquely with phlegm and sputum and everything. When you look back, it is quite scary to think that SSR decided to end his life after doing this extremely dark movie. Most of the dialogues in hindsight seem very prescient and hence his fans would reminisce with shocking horror. As a non-fan, I wasn't impressed. The lead girl's (debutant) acting is praiseworthy.

SSR, I hear left his long-time girlfriend from his TV serial times when he shot to fanfare on the big screen. He seems to have more than a  million followers on social media. Some say, he has a property on the moon too. He seemed to have a line-up of movies which released even after his death. He was in no way on the downward curve of his career. All of this makes his end, more and more intriguing.

I have no personal beef against SSR. Dil Bechara will reach a cult-status with his fans, because he went too soon, after this. As a movie, it was not appealing in the least. And somebody had to say that, objectively!! These days it is very difficult to make that distinction in the public sphere. The assumption that if you like a person, you need to like their work. Alternately, if you do not like a person's work, it is construed to mean that you hate them. The world needs to break out of this idiotic thinking. A lot of acrimony would be spared!!

The curious case of Hindi!

I have now lived for about 9 years in North India. One of the reasons I got my first job, as a Counsellor, in Bihar was because I knew Hindi. Hindi was compulsory in our school till Class 8. Like every other subject, I studied it with perseverance. Apart from adding to the weight of the school bag and the burden of another subject to study and write exams on, I am unable to recollect what 'harm' Hindi actually caused me.

Learning Hindi, helps me enjoy Hindi movies and programmes on TV and also helps with everyday conversations with those who don't speak English in North India. Having said this, I have seen through my own eyes, people who did not know a tittle of Hindi, come to North India and master the language in 'less than 6 months'. I know a Tamil friend who picked up Hindi enough to stand and preach among people who knew no other language than Hindi. I am yet to encounter people from TN, in my 9 years, who have 'suffered' as a result of not knowing Hindi. But even the ones who do, do not suffer any more than North Indians struggling for the first few weeks/months in Tamil Nadu.

In conclusion: I did not suffer from learning Hindi as a subject; I have not seen Tamil people suffering from not knowing Hindi too.

But the present discourse is not about my experience. But one of public policy. 'Including', and I use the word advisedly, Hindi in Tamil Nadu curriculum, I do not think will cause the kind of worry that it is perceived to be. The additional 'privilege' of knowing another language continues to be elitist in TN. And Hindi does have a wider currency in this country than any other language. On the other hand, spending a vast amount of tax resources in including Hindi as part of the curriculum (Government) seems to be fixing something that is NOT broken at all. There are several other pressing issues, TN and other non-Hindi states might spend their energy on. Add to this, the sinister political motives of Hindi being bandied about as the ONLY unifier and identifier (horrors!) of the country, defacing milestones with Hindi and the repetitive obnoxiousness repeated by even State governors about Hindi being the national language. All deplorable.

As a Tamil person living in Delhi, I speak Hindi when I go to restaurants and shops here. As a migrant labourer in Delhi, I try to speak the language of the masses here. I go to Chennai and again have to speak in Hindi. The migrant labourers there force me to talk in Hindi as they are no good with the language of the masses there. This is the Hindi hegemony I am against. Screwed both ways - we are. I guess the solution lies somewhere between a high handed #Imposition and a very paranoic #Resistance to Hindi.

Article 15 - a proud page from the Constitution

#Article15 is one step next to #PariyerumPerumal and other movies in that genre. It is not necessarily the logical next step or even the next step in cinematic brilliance. It is the next step in the cinematic narrative that has evolved in the past few years in the realm of movies that have now boldly taken on the beast of caste. What was once spoken in hushed tones is now spoken loud and clear, on a large screen, with scintillating background music, a riveting screenplay and ounces of talent oozing from each department that takes to make a full-length movie. The interval break with the camera focusing on Article 15 of the constitution and Vande Mataram in the background raises goosebumps - in sharp contrast to the forced national anthem at the beginning of the movie. You really want to get up and salute the makers of this glorious Constitution. Talking of which, I wondered, how little I know of Dr Ambedkar. He is just a mention in my General Knowledge sphere, associated with the constitution. But in three movies now that touch upon caste, he is almost the Central Figure. He is not another historical character. He is an emotion, life and blood in these movies and perhaps the caste consciousness of this country. Ayan's candid conversations with Aditi are written to speak to the urban conscience of this country, which lives, as pointed out, in another country. Sometimes it's a soft prick, then it's a jab and in some moments it is a violent thrust.

I went to the movie, as it was recommended highly on social media. It did not disappoint. While movies like Pariyerum Perumal highlighted the caste oppression, Article 15 delves on what can be done next, and now. Which, to me personally, is hugely pertinent and critical. Ayan's struggle brilliantly elucidates why eradicating caste hierarchy is not a linear exercise.

But the end though is disappointing. That a Messianic, James Bond type, Brahmin Saviour is indeed needed to arrive at the answer - something the film had laboured to negate the rest of the 125 minutes. Having said that, it is making good money at the box office, is what I hear. All good news for quality cinema in this country. No unnecessary fight scenes. No songs. No dance. Just scripted poetry in motion. So much so that now Ayushmann Khurrana has made a name for himself for the scripts he chooses. 

The Politics of Compartments

The last five years have been epochal to my thought processes. I would have liked to imagine myself as a thinking person, but the last few years made me rethink if thought processes were water-tight compartments and if I ought to align myself to any. I had to Google and find what right wing and left wing meant and ponder where I actually fit [better]. Suddenly I realised that that world has been torn asunder by these political thought processes and we are ever tossed about between these two ideologies.

Some time ago, I listened to a few talks on the resurgence of the right wing. One of the reasons espoused was that the elitist of the left felt it condescending to engage with the common people whose sentiments the right-wing politicians were successful enough in whipping up and have consequently won one election after another in different parts of the world. If the left weren’t acting like these self-appointed sanctimonious pricks, we would not be in this situation to start with, they opined.

Meanwhile, why don’t we discuss these things more often? Our WhatsApp groups are often sanitized with ground rules not to discuss politics. But then, one friend interjected, "Why not"?  Politics now affects the way we dress, eat, walk and talk. If we are not informed and discuss it enough, politicians like to revel in this disinformation and discontentment which finds no way out. What we have lost in this divergence of the two worlds is the appreciation of the other side. We have lost the ability to see an opinion as divorced from the front that is propounding it. Hence, attacks become personal and then the scene gets ugly.

Today if I agree or disagree with a government programme I have to proclaim a disclaimer if I belong to the Congress or the BJP or none - so as to be treated accordingly. While the government of the day seems to have gone overboard and branded every criticism as ‘anti-national’, mature, non-partisan praise of the initiatives taken by the government have also become rare. I do not like this government’s obsession with the cow, but I do believe that the Swacch Bharat Mission is a good ideal. A few years ago, a sentence like this would have been considered normal. But now the fractured society does not want either part of the sentence to be in the same sentence. That is the really sorry state of our times.

This is what we need to break. Friends of the BJP would like to believe that India was born in May 2014. This country was NOTHING before that day and everything that it is today is because of the last 5 years, they reiterate. At the least, educated people should not fall for this. Even, by 2014 India was already a growing superpower, with its IITs and IIMs, with landmark acts like the NREGA, RTE and RTI. Could they have done better? Of course. Did the Congress capitalise on the many decades of absolute no-opposition,  in building a country that is not corrupt? No. By the end of 2014, they did become a gigantic, colossal, epitome of ineptitude. But, has the BJP capitalised on its unimagined overwhelming majority and windfall in crude oil prices? No. Do I believe the Congress to be the only alternative to BJP and vice-versa? No. We need to rise above these compartmentalised thinking – if we need better solutions to our age-old problems. 

Pariyerum Perumal - where it strikes and where it disappoints

I went to see Pariyerum Perumal entirely swayed by comments on Facebook. By the time I did go, the film had reached a cult status, the kind that you can't cast a stone on. But like every other thing approached with skyrocketing expectations, this one disappointed too. The movie is a powerful narrative piercing the conscience of an urban milieu which often sweeps caste under its carpet and brings it out at opportune moments. Anybody who has watched the movie cannot come away unmoved. But I did feel that the movie, having very clearly set the ground for elucidating the issue, should have gone towards a solution. Anybody who has been following the news channels closely in the recent past would readily agree with the opening line that caste and religion have often been against humanity. But if you ask, what next. What shall we do about it, the movie does not provide clear answers. The end to me was very insipid. The recurrent theme, that the oppressed are not going to take this anymore lying down is a worthy first step. But is that enough? Although in jest, the movie shows the protagonist using underhand methods to pass English papers in 10th and 12th board exams. I fear this might prove counter-productive. That it lends ammunition for others to believe that people who have risen up from the lower echelons would have used deceptive means on the way. On another note, for a movie so bold in its approach and theme, it still needed to have a fair-skinned heroine. That was another disappointment. Why is the Tamil film industry so obsessed with fair-skinned heroines when that is not the skin tone of the majority? I understand that creating a movie is an enormous exercise of pain and labour. But having set the stage, a fertile ground to strike a deathly blow, the director finishes with a pinch. That is the disappointment.