Rain as a Character - Mani Ratnam style !!

 Bharathi raja starts the film with two hands folded saying "En Eniya Tamil Makkalae"; Balachander gives his directorial touch by witty one liners; Bhalu mahendra movies move at lethargic pace with natural photography and my all time favorite director Mani Ratnam uses both 'Rain' and 'Train' quite a bit in his movies and would say he has gone to an extent where rain has played a character role adding more substance to the emotional quotient of the scene. 

Rain as introductory song for actress: I can't help but bringing Mouvna Raagam again to the equation where Revathi as Divya played her role to perfection. When the whole house is waiting for her arrival from college she goes with her friends dancing in the rain thereby showcasing her attitude. But Director has already given a prelude of Divya's tom boyish character by splashing tub of water to interrupt her brother and sis-in-law's stolen moment of intimacy. If you look into couple of lines in the song "Oho Megam Vandhadho" those describe Divya's take on arranged marriage 

"Naan pennanadhu kalyanam thedava  

Oh kannaalan vandhu poomaalai podavaa

Yaen ammaadiyo pen paarkum naadagam

Yaar vandhaalumenna

Thirumbaadhu nyabagam

Poovilangu thevaiyillaiyae"

She questions on arranged marriage and says why all this drahma ? She doesn't want to be handcuffed even if that is made of flowers ? Interesting thing during the song is at one point few men circle the girls and leave and director indirectly says that she is ready to take on boys .....Whole song was more beautiful because of Rain ....If you take rain out of this song then this would have been one of the many songs and wouldn't have made any impression. 

One other song 'Barso re' from Guru where Aishwarya Rai is introduced to audience through the song and once again rain was used in the background and it revealed the innocent childish nature of the actress dancing carefree in the rain. 

Thalapathy and Rain 

Rajini's intro happens in heavy rain and there is a big fight sequence where he takes goons; Rajini's first confrontation scene with Mamooty happens in rain and Mani Ratnam proved he can use Rain for conflict and fury. Mani Ratnam has taught us one thing - shooting in switzerland alone does not bring the beauty in the frame rather to shoot magical scenes you should know your frames well and should use it well to narrate your story. 

Alaipayuthey and Rain 

This movie has a special place for many especially if you happen to be in college during its release ....Mani Ratnam used Rain as a character to interact with its protagonists ...Evano Oruvan song is a classic song set in a dull tone starting with dark clouds, thunder storms, wind and then suddenly outpouring rain happens thereby indicating tension brewing up between shakthi and Karthik like the dark rain clouds and finally outpouring rain signifies couple want to love each other as intense as the rain. 

Arvind Swamy proposes to Manisha Koirala in Bombay and we see rain in the background; SRK's opening scenes with Manisha at Railway station where he says 'Duniya ki sabse chhoti prem kahani' where once again there was heavy downpour elevating the mood of the narration; In Kannathil Muthamittal cinematographer has used lighting to good effect when the marration shows family life and contrastingly uses rain, heavy clouds in latter part of the movie when the country is attacked by political chaos; Velu nayakkar dances in rain on colorful Holi to show that he is fond of his neighborhood in Nayakkan; Vikram proposes to Aishwarya rai in Raavanan and once again rain in the background. 

In a world where people use Rain merely to bring out the glamour quotient of heroines to cater front benchers here is India's top notch director who uses rain as a medium to narrate his storytelling in a poetic way. 

Who is a visionary ?

  After a brief hiatus I am back to Blogging which I just love doing. I have prepared a big list of topics which I want to pen my thoughts and topic for this blog is Visionary. Change is inevitable and things keep changing over the period. One who adapts change and works to his advantage clearly holds the upper edge from the person who see change as bad omen. If you are running a Business right from competition, laws and regulations, policy changes, Government tax structure etc., everything play a role in how successful you are. I am going to list few examples which were truly revolutionary and only from visionary people we get to see ground breaking ideas coming to life. 

Example 1 - Idhayam Gingelly Oil: People talk about "Cold pressed oil", "Branding" and all the BUZZ words used in Business language but here is an Entrepreneur from Virudhunagar one of the remote places in Tamil Nadu who established a world known brand in Consumer goods. Idhayam Gingelly oil is much more than a brand and it occupies integral part of one's kitchen especially amongst Tamil population across the world. Whether USA or New Zealand, Idhayam oil has cemented its place in FMCG market. Not to forget V.R Muthu is the second generation in the family and the brand was already founded by Mr.Rajendran. If we are talking about scalability and zest to grow then we have to invest in technology and appropriate process and that is what V.R Muthu did by automating the manufacturing and packaging process which led to phenomenal domestic and international sales. Idhayam oil exports close to 50 countries and has got 90% of share in seasame oil business and 70% market share in groundnut oil business. Also I cannot forget the Ad where Jothika bathes Idly with oil and that was when she was at her peak form and it had lot of reach amongst the public. Idhayam brand was the one which introduced concept of 'Oil pulling' (concept of swishing oil in your mouth for few minutes which helps to eradicate bacteria on top of moisturizing gums and increase saliva production) to nook and norner of Tamil Nadu or I should say created awareness about the concept. This translated to huge sales for Idhayam brand on top of becoming a household brand. 

Example 2 - Privatization of Television Channels through SUN TV: Maran is a powerful name in Tamil Nadu as Mr.Murasoli Maran is considered to be the Brain of DMK party; Serving M.P for more than three decades Maran senior was instrumental in negotiating Trade deals for India in Global forums and made significant policy changes to drive India's export potential. Now if you take rags to riches stories it would be very inspirational but if you take individuals who represent second generation coming from affluent families everyone would curiously watch what they are upto; Kalanidhi Maran son of Maran senior is a media baron and founder of SUN group. He owns television channels, radio stations, newspapers, weeklies, DTH services, cricket team and a movie production house. April 14, 1992 was a D day in Tamil Nadu's television chapter as it opened doors for private sector. Sun network was the first to procure license for satellite broadcasting and they had to start it as three hours program. Many make fun of mega serials in SUN TV but the hard reality is there is viewership for emotional quotient in TN (In this era movies like Kadaikutty singam and Namma veetu pillai were huge box office hits primarily because women loved the emotional quotient). Also in mid 90's anywhere you go in TN around 9.30 pm you would see people seeing 'Chithi' serial ....Raadhika and Maran on many occasions had to lock horns on political upfront but Maran junior has never mixed professional life hinder his personal life and has always supported Radaan media on her serials and she has provided very good serials for SUN TV. Also Maran junior had the vision of diversifying his portfolio by not restricting him in Televisions alone; If you look at movies produced or distributed by Maran junior he cleverly chooses low budget, medium budget and then a high budget movie. Maran's formula is like you invest X amount for movies like Kanchana 3 and take 3X benefit whereas in movies like Annathae he invests X amount and just takes 1.5X; End of the day his ROI on movies like Kanchana 3 and Namma veetu pillai is much more than movies like Beast or Annathae but movies like Beast and Annathae is more of Brand building. One other character I love about Maran sir is he maintains such low profile, in a world where people boast on getting more views in their respective Youtube channels here is a man who has revolutionized the whole TV industry but still avoids shutterbugs. 

Example 3 - Latest Kamal's flick VIKRAM: Kamal's latest flick Vikram is one cracker of a movie though there is excessive and unrealistic action sequences. I would say director Lokesh Kanagaraj is a great visionary for excellent execution on quite a lot of factors. First Kamal is having a release after 4 years and he is considered to be one of the senior actors in the country but the very decision to show him with such miniscule screen space in the first half would be baffling. But this is where Lokesh won lot of brownie points as he established the story and the characters quite nicely until interval thus giving massive scope for Kamal to start his fireworks in second half. If the writing is not strong whole thing would have fallen flat. Secondly we don't get to see quite a lot of multi starrers because one actor dominates other which discourages actors to act in a multi starrer movie. But here we have Fahad, VJS and Kamal who have got meaty roles and it justifies their presence in the story telling. Once again had the writing been one sided we would have seen one characterization being stronger than others which would have ultimately lead to less curiosity and overall would have dampen the mood of the audience and made them feel its a 180 minutes movie. Last but not the least I don't think any director in the recent past has connected the dots more convincingly than Lokesh on Kaithi 2, Vikram 2 and connection with 1986 Vikram movie. 

Example 4 - iD Idly batter: At IBCN event in 2019, I happen to listen to PC Mustafa owner of iD Fresh foods and was blown away by his approach towards running Business. One of the audience asked is Idly batter a viable business in the future with so many brands coming up and with so many food choices people have in today's world. Mustafa quickly explained some numbers which was so convincing for the audience to realize Idly batter is here to stay. Forget about his hardships and the challenges he had to face to climb up the ladder but just imagine his vision to sell idly batter and then grow a business to clock nearly 300 crores in turnover - absolutely amazing; I have seen people when they pick menu items in Pot luck they tend to skip taking Vada because making vada can be challenging. You take Aavin milk cover and then have the vada batter and then have a hole in the centre and then gently slide it in the cooking pan; It may sound lot easier but reality is different; iD fresh foods invented "Squeeze and fry vada batter" where all you need to do is squeeze the batter and then vada's shape is automatically created and more importantly shape of all vadas are equal. Housewives just love this especially girls who have just entered their wedlock. Mustafa eliminated shape of the vada can no longer be a reason to get into an argument for a Daughter in law and Mother in law. 

Just wanted to list these examples so I see these people like V.R Muthu, Kalanidhi Maran, Lokesh Kanagaraj and Mustafa to be visionaries in their respective industries. 

Next topic: Rain