The Right Fit

During my school days, I have often wondered the rationale behind inviting local police chief as guest of honour (aka chief guest) to our school's sports day festival. One cannot imagine a more uninspiring persona to grace the occasion. These police chiefs (IG, DIG or DSP etc etc) are not the ones you see in police-officer centered movies. They are not anything close to Alex Pandian or Walter Vetrivel personality. Not even IPS cadre. Most of them will have a long and forlorn face with a huge belly. Not any athlete myself I would feel sorry for my friends/classmates getting medals from these average joes. May be my school management had some vested interest inviting these folks. They are just not the right fit for the occasion let alone inspiring young minds. In sharp contrast to that, I should recall one Mr. Avvai Natarajan having graced our school for a couple of occasions. A scholar of top calibre and a good orator I have seen him captivating young minds - be it his chief guest address or handing over the prizes with a smile and a few pleasantries.

Fast Forwarding to the present - one decent program that airs in SUN TV is "Asatha Povathu Yaauru". People doing stand up comedy or mimicry or enactment of skit etc. Lot of talented participants and good humor too. The program invites some popular personality - tinsel world mostly - as their special guest. They just sit there and provide inputs/suggestions on the performance of those participating. What I found out was some so-called popular cinema personalities, though decent in their on-screen acts, outright lack the quality to be the guest of such functions and pass some decent remarks/comments. Here is some of the best and worst in the episodes I watched -

Worst - Many new heroes (who claim high flung titles and super-star-dom even before their first film hits the screen), T. Rajendar (for the usual self-boasting comments and nothing noteworthy to the participant).

Best - Bhagyaraj (as immensely talented he is, told lot of good tips/info in general to the participants).

My favorite of all - Bharathi Bhaskar - yes, the pattimandram speaker. She was this no non-sense chief guest, relating the participant's performance to related events and telling suggestions on what they can work on to improve their content/style. Put her traditional pattimandram rival Raja on the host desk, it was a feast to watch them conversing on the performance - much like their pattimandram duels. Thats what I mean by "the right fit".

Still:

As I mentioned in my earlier post, today's pic was shot with my new Panasonic LZ8 P&S. The colors came out vividly and so was the sharpness. The ambiance was bit cloudy not sure if it helped the pic. The lining of the masks in the pic, each of different design, gels with today's post and title as well.

Reverse Idea Drain

I have heard about Brain Drain back in India (when talented educated minds sought greener western pastures) and also now to some extent we hear "reverse brain drain" - some of those drained brains headed back home.

On a related note, back in India, I have often seen movies inspiried by Hollywood hits - GodFather - for eg. The said "inspiration" has ranged from "being reverential" (eg. RGV's "Sarkar" on the footsteps of GodFather) to outright plagiarism (innumerable). If we call this phenomenon "Idea Drain" from a western world point of view, what I stumbled upon recently, interestingly enough, should be called - for lack of a better word - "Reverse Idea Drain". I came across two movies whose plot is exactly the same as that of two Tamil movies of the 1960-70s era. Both these movies are predominantly British, centered in London and were released in 1998-99 time frame. I dont know how much more are there. Here are the two -

• "The Parent Trap" - 1998 - starring Dennis Quaid, Natasha Richardson and Lindsay Lohan . ( I should credit my wife for bringing this movie to my attention when it was being broadcast on TV). This is an exact westernised replica of "Kuzhanthaiyum Deivamum" - 1965 - starring Jai Shankar, Jamna Rani and Kutti Padmini in the lead respectively. Lindsay Lohan is no where near Kutti Padmini in playing the young twin girls role, Dennis Quaid compensates.


• "Notting Hill" - 1999 - starring Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts. The story line is exactly the same as "Sumathi En Sundari" - 1971 - starring the legendary Sivaji Ganesan and Jayalalitha in the lead. I couldnt stand the stoic expression-less Hugh Grant playing Sivaji's role. But Julia more than compensates for that.


• "Something's Gotta Give" - 2003 - starring Jack Nicholson, Diane Keaton, Keanu Reeves and some other girl in the main characters. The story is along the lines of the Balachander's legendary "Apoorva Raagangal" -1975 - starring Major Sunderrajan, Srividhya, KamalHassan and Jayasudha respectively. While the tamil movie, in which RajniKanth debuted in a cameo role, attempts to explore complex human relationship in a decent way, the copycat is falling short of that ideal and seems like a cheap skin flick (distasteful at that too) just capitalizing on the complex human relation aspect of story. The main cast of the original was beaming with acting talent while the copy cat had to contend with quirky Jack Nicholson while the rest just filled the roles name sake. Keanu Reeves seems elegant but fades in front of talented Kamal Hassan. This, if any, is an insult to the original.

Came across the following piece of advise in a mailing list on photography - "Good photographers make good pictures - equipment is secondary. I'd rather listen to a great guitarist on a cheap guitar than a mediocre guitarist on an expensive guitar. " - How true. Today's pic is of a twins I took in Yosemite Glacier point. I hope to capture the shot with their faces not very visible but still giving the idea of twins by their attire. I dont know why I converted it to B&W

The (Weak) Case for a Home Theater

Ever since I got hooked on to the NFL games (the only american sport I understand a bit), the desire for a wide screen TV (42" or more) kind of grew wildly. The addition of the Onkyo HTSR800 to my home decor only added more fuel to this. However the situation was well under control.

8th of July was a record of sorts - We (me, wife and kid) went to the theater to watch a movie for the first time. After a 4 year gap I stepping in to a movie theater. The last one for me and wife had been just when our son was conceived. Even this time, theater-movie evaded us for a week or so before we nailed it. The movie was Disney-Pixar's animation UP. This is what I came out with -

• Probably out of touch, me and my wife kind of found the screen toooooooo wide to cover with our two eyes and were missing subtle details of the photography/animation. (may be too old)
• I really missed the comfort of watching movie in a DVD at my home - you can pause, attend to kid or get something to eat, even have dinner.
• I couldnt rewind the movie at the theater to observe the fine details of the animation which I keep doing at home movies. I gravely missed it.
• Our kid started crying in the last 15min and I had to take him out thereby missing the climax.
• Not to mention the cost - ticket + snacks etc etc vs a 5$ DVD rental.
• As far as audio goes, any original DVD with a 5.1 sound track is enough for my Onkyo HT to give a splendid sound rendition.

I guess henceforth I would be contended with watching a movie at the comfort of my home. May be stepping into a theater occasionally. But then, I still need the widescreen....hmmm....

Attached pic shows the wire mesh covering the speaker's driver side.

Horror

During my grad school days, I got a liking for the "X-Files" series and used to get DVDs from local library and watch it around night. Invariably, the haunting music and theme will interfere with my sleep that day but couldnt resist the thrill of the series and finally ended up watching all the volumes my local library had.

After a long time I got a chance to watch another similar creation. This one is a movie in Tamil - titled "yaavarum nalam" - (adapted from a Hindi movie by name "13B"). I felt the same thrill if not more, than what I used to get watching X-Files. Would definitely recommend it if you are have a taste for the paranormal. In addition to the story/screenplay, what stood out and made the film worthwhile was the audio and video. The audio was amazing, using bass to convey much of the horror and to top it all was the video from India's ace cinematographer P C Sreeram. What caught my attention on the videography was unlike regular horror movies, he dint use unable-to-see dim lighting - lighting was perfect plus he used unusual angles of the camera (his forte) to bring out the thrill of the moment. More so, thankfully, again unlike vanilla horror movies, he dint have the camera handheld for most of the time, constantly giving the manual shake to the viewer and creating headache for viewers like me. Different experience after a long time..

Attached pix of a cactus plant taken at Torrey Pines State Reserve, La Jolla, CA.

Iqbal - takes a hatrick !!!

I thought of making the title "hits a sixer" but then the movie "IQBAL" is about a bowler. Hence the hatrick in the title...

Recently I and my wife watched the movie "Iqbal" after a friend's recommendation and borrowing his DVD itself. It was very refreshing.

The movie is about a poor village boy, illiterate, deaf and dumb, but with incredible innate cricketing talent and desire to make it to the top. In spite of various obstacles, he teams with a local village drunk (amazing effort by Nasseruddin Shah), defies the odds and makes it all the way.

What caught our attention is -

• Just six main characters - in fact, a significant role is played by non-humans as well. Our own revered Kapil Paaji appears in the end to give a finishing touch. I felt 20yrs younger seeing my boyhood role model - the Haryana Hurricane.


• No stupid songs, no unnecessary scenes or dances, no masala, nothing cinematic at all.


• Amazing contribution by the cast - other than naseeruddin shah and girish karnad, no big names, which helps us see them as the character themselves.
  


• Inspiring music and pleasing cinematography which gels seamlessly with the story.

Though one cannot help thinking about Lagaan, this movie is markedly different from that. In fact, the only parallels I have seen are some sub-standard american movies about futball/baseball coach making a talented youngster great etc etc. But this movie stands apart with its simplistic yet powerful approach, sensible dialogues, great performances and non-cinematic approach. Subhash Ghai surely deserves praise that too long after I had branded him as show-man kind after the likes of Taal and Kalnayak .

I have to dedicate a paragraph to Naseeruddin Shah - role-defining performance of a cricketer-turned-drunkard. His eagerness in trying to convey a cricketing tip to Iqbal but being forced to wait for his sister's sign language translation - the expression/body language in that one scene - makes him a legend. He is an unsung talent deprived of his true credit by the masala world.

I never thought I would post a movie review in my blog. But it deserves it. My rating - "I would just say I ended up buying my friend's DVD itself immediately for my collection". BTW, the DVD quality is great, in particular audio fidelity. Please do NOT watch this movie for free online at least rent it. I am surprised this movie that got released in 2005 dint cross my radar till now. Better late than never.

Attached Photo is that of my own DVD from my D40. Had that Indian cricket-y blue color that was really cool.