The Pen is mightier than the sword

 One of the best habits one could ever possess is reading books and if the person happens to pick right ones on top of gaining knowledge it can also trigger the whole thinking process. Books can literally influence your way of life; For example if a person is very religious and happen to pick a book on Atheism by  a good author there is a good chance the person may stop worshipping altogether. One of the reason why Malayalam cinema is proving to be class apart is because the industry possess lots of good script writers. If you take one of Tamil cinema's evergreen blockbuster movie 'Basha' the dialogues are written by Balakumaran sir and even Rajini has said that he tried to rope him for many of his movies but he politely refused saying he is inclined towards literary work. If you take dialogues out of Basha, film may not have been very captivating. Similarly Sujatha sir has been a great source of strength for Director Shankar, Mani Ratnam himself is an excellent writer and off late Vetrimaran is able to produce magic in celluloid purely due to the script. Recently Director Mari Selvaraj who made Karnan said in an interview that he is okay to compromise as a director but as a writer he cannot compromise. 

I am going to pull some examples of some scenes which has pretty much etched into my memory merely due to the brilliance in writing. 

Raghuvaran's story to Ajith in Mugavari:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVmssTHyw4Y

Mugavari is one such movie which was very practical and highlighted hardships faced by a youngster who wanted to achieve his dream. Raghuvaran tells a story to Ajith on perseverance and though the story is nothing new but still it leaves a a positive impact on the audience as it was used in the right context. So what's the big deal in writing may be the question ...Director has shown Ajith in failing on many attempts ..he has established his characterization well and upon the process he adds this scene to reinstate motivation .....So a rather preachy scene becomes more impactful through his writing.

Old Kamal's piece of information to Manisha & Suganya in Indian

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdXo66yYNPY

Old kamal comes in search of Chandru to his house and Manisha pleads not to kill him saying 'Budhiku theriyudhu aana manasuku therila" and older kamal replies enaku manasum budhium ellam onnu thaan and when older kamal almost leaves his house he looks at Suganya who is seen worshipping and Kamal says "Budhi salithanama rendu perum uyir ooda irukananu vendikaadha". Sujatha sir has been absolutely brilliant through his writing ....

Interview scene in Mudhalvan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_te-QMC_tso

Arjun grills Raghuvaran on the interview ...He picks Election manifesto and goes over the list to Raghuvaran and suddenly you see Raghuvaran saying "Ellorukkum elavasa Kalvi ..kalavi nu achaagiruku ..lanala pulli podala" Once again Sujatha's sir dialogues were brilliant and many regret the movie would have gone great heights had Superstar acted in it but personally am happy Arjun acted because if Rajini would have acted superstar would have stolen the show completely. Since it was Arjun audience was able to enjoy the writer ....another dialogue where Arjun's parents feel had life had a remote control they would rewind and go back into the past just shows dialogues can be simple enough to reach masses too. 

Best scene from Anbe Sivam

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ABrdY5xITo

When Madhavan is disturbed on seeing misery around him he questions existence of God and that is when Kamal opens up ...writer excels on coming up withthe scene and title ..

Basketball scene in Pursuit of Happiness

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZb2NOHPA2A

When daddy advises son that nobody should let him say that he can't do something and not even him ...Dialogues such as "You got a dream? You gotta protect it. You want something? Go get it. PERIOD." "People can't do something themselves, they wanna tell you you can't do it." are just so beautiful and it was impactful only because director has established Will Smith's character well enough going through all the hardships he has to face from career as well as family life. 

There are so many more movies where dialogues form the backbone of the movie. Spider man movie series were celebrated by kids and adults and apart from all the graphics there are so many sweet little dialogues between hero and granny which connected well within the audience. Bahubali was a phenomenal hit not just for the graphics but also for the lovely story and wonderful screenplay written by Rajamouli. Drishyam 1 and 2 are classic examples of what a pen can do in this modern world by Jeetu joseph. You have a story, you create characters and situations and finally marrying all these elements through your writing forms the screenplay. 

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TN Politics: Election Results

 

Before I go into TN election results the news that capitulated entire India was victory of Mamta mam; I think this is victory of democracy, victory of determination, victory of women power, victory of hard work etc., BJP phased out Bengal election in eight phases just to give more room for campaigning and to concentrate more on pockets, BJP went with ‘Mission Bengal’ as they badly wanted to capture Bengal from Didi and did whatever they can to push Mamta. They used authoritative force of ruling party, they had all VVIPs do a detail campaigning all over the state, they pulled back experienced ministers from TMC and Mamta who can be termed as Iron lady took everything that was thrown at her and emerged as a victorious leader. God knows what happens in Nandigram and her little speech in the evening once TMC was cruising through just showed she is a leader and one person who can oppose Modi-Shah camp in 2024. With JJ no more, Chandrababu Naidu out of picture it is Didi who is emerging as tough opponents for BJP.

Let me go over TN election results in 20 points:

ü  DMK won as expected and as a single party they crossed 117 mark comfortably which will augur good for the party making them cross the  line with absolute majority. Stalin has done quite a bit of groundwork between election and when results were announced. Four secretaries for CM is definitely a master stroke who can split up the work and come up with productive stuff working along the CM. Out of 34 ministers, 15 ministers are debut. New Ministry for water resources (water resources was part of Public works ministry) is a good move and stalin's rationale behind changing the portfolio names made sense. For example he says 'Ministry for Environment' change to 'Ministry for Environment and Climate' is because climate changes make an effect on environment and similarly 'Ministry for labour welfare' is changed to 'Ministry for labour welfare and skill development' since skill development is the key to produce effective workforce. Overall well etched out plan and looks like Stalin wants to make his CM role as effective as possible since he has waited for a very long time to occupy the chair. 

ü  MK Stalin’s hard work through Grama sabhas, hiring Poll strategist, election manifesto and stupendous Maanadu in Trichy all paved way for the success. 

ü  Clean sweep by DMK in Chennai, Trichy, Perambalur, Ariyalur, Karur and most of Tanjore and Pudhukottai will do a world of good for the central districts and delta region

ü  DMK will be more happier on margin of victories on many constituencies (average winning margin for parties in DMK alliance is 25051 and there were many places where margin were greater than 50k)

ü  Vidulai siruthaigal, Indian National Congress, CPI  all won decent number of seats under the Sun rise symbol and will be excited to get into Assembly hall

ü  AIADMK lost the election but am glad defeat is not as bad as expected and they will emerge as a strong opposition party in the state.

ü  EPS though was accidentally handed over the CM post had surprised most of Tamil Nadu and by his good governance he has earned huge amount of respect from public. I read a headline which says “EPS loses Tamil nadu but wins AIADMK” summarizes the whole picture

ü  AIADMK owns Kongu mandalam with resounding victories in Salem, Coimbatore, Thirupur reiterating the fact western belt belongs to AIADMK

ü  BJP and PMK both won seats under two leaves symbol and will get into assembly hall after a long time

ü   Apart from the loss AIADMK will have to reflect on the margin of loss and losing some of the key constituencies (Ex: Srirangam is JJ’s fort and losing in Srirangam is not a good sign for AIADMK). Sterlite protests, Sathangulam incidents all went against ADMK. 

ü  2021 TN elections just reiterates the fact that when it comes to Tamil Nadu it is always Bi polar nature – DMK and AIADMK are the major parties and anyone wants to show their mettle has to partner with one of these parties; Emergence of third front is like serving chutney in Muniyandi vilas – simply not possible

ü  One of the major highlights in TN Assembly election 2021 was Actor Kamalhaasan’s MNM and I got it wrong as far as his performance. I know he will not sustain but thought he will win and get 6% vote share but not winning in one seat and with negligible vote percentage (2.62%) MNM will soon run out of battery. Note MNM contested in only 180 constituencies. 

ü  TTV Dinakaran’s AMMK was a damp squib and hardly made any noise, he himself lost in Kovilpatty and that will dampen his confidence. Personally am unhappy with his loss since I definitely see a leader in him

ü  Seeman’s Naam Tamizhar Katchi put up a great show and surprised many pundits with its vote share of 6.58%; NTK is also the third biggest party as far as vote percentage though it couldn’t win a single seat. Note it stood all by itself with no alliance with either DMK or AIADMK

ü  Feel very bad for Vijayakanth – he had the guts to face Karunanidhi and JJ and he as the opposition party in 2011 but now party had a crushing defeat and party’s future looks very bleak

ü  Celebrity like Kushboo losing just got to show politics and celluloid are two different arena and people are not ready to endorse just because you are a celebrity

ü  Out of 234 candidates we have just 12 candidates from Thai kulam which is just 5% and that is very poor representation as far as women representatives. 

ü  Education and Finance are two important portfolios and am happy young guns like Mahesh Anbil Poyyamozhi and PTR Palanivel are handed over these posts. I expect great show from these two.

ü  DMK winning in TN, LDF winning in Kerala, TMC winning in Bengal just got to show regional parties hold a upper hand and even giants like BJP cannot make much impact (Punch line: BJP is like pista in North but when it comes to TN they are mere Sundakka)

ü  EPS wishing Stalin on his tenure and Stalin replying back asking for collaborative help is something Tamil nadu had not seen before and nice to see the gestures from both sides. OPS attending the swearing-in ceremony and tea party just shows Tamil Nadu is turning a new leaf as far as ethical behavior .

    I pick topics on food, cinema and religious aspects and Politics was something very new to me. Just like everyone I used to think politics is all crap but little did I know Politics is damn interesting once you try to understand more. During childhood I used to be fond of reading sports column in The Hindu and now sipping my morning coffee and reading through various political articles was a great feeling. Politics brings everything on to the table – Education, Healthcare, Economy, Industrial growth, Tax structures, Agriculture, Infrastructure etc., and local government play a pivotal role on one’s standard of living. If one does not find time to cast his/her vote then I am afraid they have no right to talk about Government and governance. On April 6, I had to go to native to attend a funeral but still made a point to cast my vote by standing in the line very early and Minu who hardly shows interest on Politics made sure she got her Election ID in time after fighting for it for months. She along with both the boys went and casted her vote and we are happy as a couple we did our part and obeyed the constitutional right. 

Next Blog: The Pen is mightier than the sword