Mani Ratnam – The Film maker !!

   I was not sure of writing a blog of my favorite director but upon watching Mani ratnam’s interview with Gowtham Vasudev menon which I totally loved I realized I should write one. The best part of the interview was ‘Kaatru Veliyidai’ was discussed only for few minutes and the entire conversation was regarding the working style of the legend. Internet is an easily accessible medium and all it takes to review a film is someone has to tape your talking and then you can post the video in Internet and create a sensation. These guys on top of not having Filmy qualification they hardly know anything about movie making process, logistics of film making, movie distribution, etc., They just feel they are pretty good critics since their videos have garnered more views. Some of the people who reviewed the film in Internet are pathetic. Anyway these days all of us including me categorize a film saying its either ‘fast paced’ or ‘slow screenplay’ – this is where the problem starts. We have to see each film as a distinct film and not treat all films in a same way. I recently watched ‘Kodi’ and ‘Singam 3’ and though I liked these two movies to some extent comparing these two with Mani ratnam movie is a criminal mistake. Our mind is just polluted and we expect movies to have either edge of the seat thriller or a story which unfolds faster. All coffee lovers know that coffee taste so good once we boil the milk for few minutes but we always take the route to boil the milk in microwave and compromise our taste buds – reason is we want to have the coffee faster. My wife says whenever I talk I always bring a food comparison and now realize how true that statement was !!

    Let me just briefly walk you through some of the subjects Mani Ratnam dealt in his films – friction between the newly wed couple (Mouvna Raagam), Underworld don (Nayagan), story of step brothers (Agni Nakshathiram), story of couple both suffering from terminal illness (Geethanjali), story of autistic child and the plight of the parents amidst cruel face of society (Anjali), adaptation of Mahabaratha (Thalapathy), romantic love story with terrorism as background (Roja), Tamil nadu politics in a nutshell (Iruvar), Love story between hindu and muslim with Bombay riots as background (Bombay), Post marital relationships (Alaipayuthey), Story and agony of srikankan tamils to meet their near and dear ones (Kannathil muthamittal), Youth in politics (Ayudha eluthu), Biography of Indian business legend (Guru), Adaptation of Ramayana (Raavan), reflection of modern urban youth vs old traditional values (O kadal kanmani) and once again a romantic love story between the lead pair who are opposite in nature (Kaatru Veliyidai). I strongly believe for a movie to be considered good then the heroine character has to be good – Divya in Mouvna Raagam, Roja in Roja, Shaila Banu in Bombay, Kalpana in Iruvar, Shakthi in Alaipayuthey, Indira in Kannathil Muthamittal, Tara in OK Kanmani and Dr.Leela in Kaatru Veliyidai are just etched in my memory. He is one director who shows girls as independent, bold, intelligent and garrulous. Can we imagine a film maker who has touched so many sensitive topics in celluloid? To handle these topics with brilliant characterizations, technical finesse, articulate craftmanship and not to forget realism deserves huge round of applause. Ofcourse celluloid demands fantasy elements and to deliver quality films laced with great music, mind blowing cinematography one has to master the art very well and only a top notch individual can do that which according to me is Mani ratnam. 

Realism: Let me just go over few scenes from his classics which depicts realism to the core.

Mouvna Raagam: Now how many of us know that the home in Delhi (one Mohan lives) shown in Mouvna Raagam was actually in Madras. That is where a film maker comes into picture – right from surroundings, sounds, people everything has to have a realistic touch as per the narration of the movie. I love one of the scene in which Revathy stops Mohan from sipping a coffee saying sugar was not added to it assuming he won’t drink and she can use the coffee later in the day. Also one other scene in second half where Revathy rushes to open the door to greet his parents she would be with Idly batter all over her hand. These small details just blends so well into the narrative. I can keep on talking about this movie but on a lighter note I always had this dream before marriage to watch my favorite movie along with my wife post marriage, only to realize Minu slept half way through. Next day Minu said it’s a good movie but not as good as I portray ….Hmm....Minu watches movie by forwarding many scenes whereas I like to watch movies from Title card rolling ....

Roja: Arvind samy takes his newly wed wife to introduce to his Chief and the chief once realizing it’s a tamil girl connects with her so much and the camera angle is tilted to show a Tamil Murugan calendar in the backdrop ….automatically the audience relates to the narration and not to forget Chief requesting Paal paniyaram to Madhu bala in the end ….I am just trying to be myself ..

Agni Nakshathiram: Vijayakumar often swaps names between Ashok and Gowtham which are just instinct gestures by Vijayakumar but it adds so much to the intensity of the movie as both the brothers share the same biological father.

Alai Payuthey: A typical middle class scene when Shalini and her sister have breakfast where mom complains about hair not tied, daughter complains about upma being the routine breakfast and the best was mom tying a thread around Shalini’s hand for her to do the exams well. These are pure slice of life is an Indian household. Talking about this movie I love the house in which Maddy and Shalini stay with just brick and cement (without being painted) only to realize later when I bought my home that I do not even have control to change the place of my Microwave. Reality sucks !!

Once audience able to relate the narrative in celluloid they get connected to the movie. But obviously movies do need fantasy and that is where songs come into picture. Practically we buy few sets of clothes in a calendar year but in movies we love to see hero and heroine keep changing dresses, we may not be able to go to places shown in the movie and hence audience enjoy those during song sequences.

King of Romance: For a hard core Mani Ratnam fan it is easy to point out that he is king of romance as you can see pretty much all the movies there is a strong dosage of romance. Now for someone who is 60+ in India to deal with romance the extent Mani Ratnam has explored shows he must have done an extensive thesis on ‘Love and relationships’. He is one film maker who does not believe in skin show and always differentiates between lust and love– there is one scene in Roja where by mistake Arvind swamy would happen to tear the blouse of Madhubala, had it been other directors they would have asked music director to make the scene look sensuous by some crap BGM score instead Arvind samy says ‘Sorry …it happened by mistake’. People critisize ‘Kaatru Veliyidai’ so much but if you look deeper the movie deals with relationships and difference of opinion between the lead pair. In real life it is the small incidents which creates misunderstanding between couples and that is portrayed beautifully in the movie. Movies like Mouvna Raagam and Alaipayuthey says love after marriage is the true one, Anjali and Kannathil Muthamittal shows love between the couple keeping children in background, Rajini marries a widower in Thalapathy so on and so forth. Love is always shown with lot of dignity and Mani Ratnam extracts the best out of the actors.

Break the stereotypes: Running time of his movies vary by each movie, number of songs vary per movie, heroine may have kids if the story demands, close up shots are plenty if that is necessary for the movie, on board an actor quite opposite to his nature like the RJ Balaji character in Kaatru Veliyidai, shoot songs in India and still show the aesthetics and talk less about his movies instead have his movies do the talking

    Gopala Ratnam Subramaniam aka Mani Ratnam is a film personality we should all celebrate. Given his recognition any actor in India will be willing to work under his direction knowing he is a low pay master. Sometimes people like Mani Ratnam are forced to make movies in many languages across same time to have pan India release but due to availability of dates with lead actors and other logistics challenges they had to compromise on Nativity as they have to wrap up the shoot. Obviously his movies in 80’s and 90’s are no match to his current films but nevertheless he is still one of the best film makers in the country. Now makers have tough time to defend one scene which sensors believe may be controversial but here is one man who has touches many sensitive subjects in the likes of religion, love, relationships, political battle, disabled kid etc., and still came out in flying colors. He would have made many movies and increased his bank balance but he did not believe in number game. He is inspiration to current crop of directors and his movies act as a dictionary to them. Through this blog I have paid my tribute to my favorite director in Kollywood – Mani Ratnam

Shame on Media

    Indian democracy is said to have four pillars – legislature, executive, judiciary and press which is nothing but media. Media has several different forms like – paper, television, social media etc., Many media is privatized and influence with government authorities can obtain you license to one of the lucrative industries. I am so disappointed with Indian media – anything and everything is sensationalized in order to garner viewership. Their only goal is TRP which is a key metric to denote how well they are performing in the market.

    Sasikala going to jail is captured like never before as if a freedom fighter is convicted, there are alerts, flash news, minute by minute updates on her activities on the day she went to jail. I am not sure about the judiciary aspects but when someone is convicted there has to be process in place saying person who is convicted should report within so many hours or days but here is a person who took her own time and media did not question that instead they passed on the news to public by elaborating hour by hour details. I was informed Thanthi TV program called ‘Kelvikenna pathil’ is a very nice program – yes Pandey definitely does a good job but if you carefully evaluate the program all he is trying to do is counter attack the person he is interviewing. Though he feels something is correct but still he goes up and beyond from what the other person is saying by cleverly presenting facts and smartly interpreting information. People may think Pandey is too good by grilling the person but actually he is trying to be loyal to his employer by making the program more interesting and gaining more viewership. Now let me talk about the super duper famous star ‘Gopinath’ of Vijay TV fame. The day he did doctors show I lost all respect for him but that is just personal level. He can talk about any topic under the sun given the amount of reading he does but where was he during Jallikattu protest, why did he not raise any opinion regarding Jayalalitha’s death, why did he not question Udayanidhi stalin during DMK’s regime on 2G scam, why did he not raise any questions regarding Swathi’s murder case …People may say he is not  police officer or government official to handle law and order in the state but he projects himself as a social activist and says his program will ask questions to raise concerns on current state of affairs. Now he went to a place to stop hydrocarbon project and also gave a speech – this is mere eyewash to gain popularity. He criticizes government authorities and at the same time interviews celebrities associated with political parties; why this hypocrisy? His program picks on good topics but intensity is lost when they edit which one is aired. I have heard from few folks that people talk quite a lot but the one appearing on TV is very less – obviously you cannot show everything but the way program is shown on TV is to attract good one liners, punch dialogues, emotional aspects and also anything which can has the potential to be sensationalized. Media projected Nadigar sangam elections so much which increased their business by many times but do an election comprising of 5000 votes overall deserve this much hype? If Vijay Mallya is arrested, Karunanidhi is hospitalized, Nayantara is separated from her lover, Simbu’s beep song is released then that news dominates the day overlooking many important aspects in the state administration.

    Money dominates the policies; If a jewellery shop is about to be opened in the town then they pay exorbitant advertisement fee to have their ad placed on the very first page. Media should have a policy of not to display ads in the first page. Some news may not have business value like an inspiring real time story but rather than placing it in a nook and corner they can give more real estate to the news by placing it in a nice slot to attract readership. Tamil Nadu farmers are protesting in Delhi and there has been little coverage and even when the coverage is there media is either sensationalizing or sympathetic towards the whole topic. Media started to cover Marina beach protest only after it gained more attention, basically only after it realized there is a monetary potential to the whole proceeding. Through the name of ‘Reality shows’ media also taps emotional quotient and translates into Business which is very sad. A small kid eliminated from a round is projected as a loss in Olympic race by having a BGM score, tears all round, close up shots of parents etc., It just pisses me off completely.

   There is quite a lot of investment made in starting a media and without attracting sponsorship it is difficult to sustain the competition. Once sponsorships come into picture then external influence comes into picture on how media is run and also founders drive the initiatives keeping the sponsors in mind and not the public. End of the day people are made fools by watching news which is not close to reality. Delhi gangrape attracted so much attention for media and then once the dust settled very few media covered whether justice prevailed; For media the news happened at first instance provided so much fodder whereas latter did not. Anyway I am not against media since they are the ones who bring the news to our doorstep but when media commercializes everything then I just feel very disappointed.

Thaipusam 2017

  Thaipusam is celebrated as victory of good over evil. It is to be believed that on Thaipusam day goddess Parvati gave Vel to Lord Muruga to demolish Asuras. Offering Kavadi to Lord Muruga has its own significance – burden in one’s own life will be lessened. Thaipusam is widely celebrated across the globe and here in America Murugan devotees are lucky enough to participate in Shiva Murugan temple’s Thaipusam celebrations. Padhayatra is one such ritual where devotees take pilgrimage to temple. Living in a country where few drops of water on the floor is cautioned using a yellow board, pilgrimage must be a distant dream for many. A Trail in California which is pretty much straight for most part of the journey and all the way to temple – do we call this luck or do we call this a divine intervention?

   Volunteers – a word which gained more respect and meaning after seeing them in action. Young adults take off from their work, young ladies get together on a house and do mass cooking, Teenage boys do Bike patrolling, teenage girls help their mom on break spots, small girl gives napkins, 70-year-old lady does pandhi visaranai, so on and so forth. Food for breakfast, lunch and dinner is not catered but cooked by volunteers; Just to make sure people are not lost during the walk especially the out of station folks, leads are assigned and several folks are assigned on many intersections just to direct to the right path.

  Key to hosting a successful event for an organization is to plan things and execute them meticulously. If one can bridge the gap between planning and execution, then success story is on the making. Let me give you three examples. They had multiple counters for serving food and one volunteer gave plate, spoon and napkin together which reduces time rather than allowing people to pick each one from table. They had dedicated volunteer to collect plates, napkins, spoons by that way they can prevent trash bag getting filled with empty space. By this way they could fill in more and this on top of being environment friendly it also reduces number of trips to dispose trash. Next one is traffic control – with overwhelming numbers each passing year they came up with a strategy in how they want to control traffic amongst the walkers. They placed volunteers in appropriate junctions and basically the person did a traffic constable job in managing the overall flow of walkers. I love the concept of neither sodas in any of the break spots nor junk food. Liquid items were buttermilk, rosemilk, chai, coffee, Gatorade and panakkam which were all well made.

   Padhayatra is a wonderful experience to interact with nature – place your feet on the ground, look upto the glorious sky and feel the wonderful breeze of air and in the process, also thank nature of our existence in this world. There are more and more challenges for the organizers every year due to the overwhelming response from devotees across the country. Being religious is good in many ways and there are many ways to offer our prayers to almighty – Padha yatra is one such thing. ‘Seva’ actually means ‘Selfless service’ and just want to go over this term in detail. First and foremost as devotees we have to acknowledge the fact that many may not be able to do physically exhaustive tasks like Anga pradhesham, padha yatra etc., If we are being truly religious then we can encourage devotees and motivate them and if the other party still feel they cannot then it is our responsibility to give them the free space. Some offer money, some volunteer their time, some sing bhajans, some market the events etc., people can do anything to their capacity and lord will be happy to accept prayers of his/her devotees. The true devotion is the key and this is called ‘Bhakthi’. I know people who are now old who have not indulged in any padha yatra but still having a fulfilling life with good health, wealth, prosperity, good children etc., But there were truly devotional and always good at heart. If one can perform traditions like Padha yatra in a foreign land then that is well and good and should consider themselves very blessed and at the same time they should encourage more people to participate in future. I have been blessed to experience Padha yatra in USA for three consecutive years and would highly recommend you to participate in future. It just takes one experience for you to keep coming again and again.