Kasada Thapara, Tamil film streaming on SonyLiv

Ruminations on Randomness: A tense riveting watch

Chimbudevan, at heart  is a philosopher, extremely creative with an extraordinary sense of humour. Humour is something that you may not expect from this film.

Part Cloud Atlas, part Babel and probably part from his own Arai Enn 305, Chimbudevan, sets us on tense riveting ride  across 6 stories that keep us engaged( Not an anthology)

I thought some of the techniques to reflect upon the interconnectedness was novel. I do not want to dwell upon it as it could be a spoiler.

With six cinematographers and six musicians, there were some interesting formats. The music was uneven. I though the background score for the first story made it even listening to the dialogue difficult). Santhosh Narayan's song was terrific in the 6th episode. I thought arriving at a consistent background theme could have enhanced the experience. 

With about 4 stories this could have been more easy to digest. With so much happening, it was difficult to crunch and keep track. I  felt rushed through.

I am not complaining, as I am a great fan of experimentation. The end product is definitely consumable and interesting. 

There is food for thought!! 

Here is the parting thought from the film maker

Is God a protector or a prankster?

#Home, Malayalam Movie, Streaming on Prime Video

An instant classic

All our storms brew in a tea cup, Don't they?

I thought #Home was right there in the league of "It is a wonderful Life"

Hurt is probably one of the biggest diseases. While people do not hesitate to heal physical well being, the mental well being is seldom addressed.  I guess the greatest gift that people should gift themselves is a visit to a Psychologist. It is all in the mind. Small adjustments can help people tremendously. 

For me the most fascinating story is of Vivian Richards taking psychiatric help when he was falling to low scores in Australia. With help, the world saw the emergence of a colossus.

As the Alchemist would have averred, the treasure is in our backyard.

Are we conscious enough to savour the extraordinary moments of life?

We are born to win, Aren't we?.

Thanks to the entire team of #Home to bring to us the most rejuvenating movie of the pandemic.

Let celebrate Life and Living

P.S: 

In this context, a related field of Transactional Analysis (psychoanalytic method and therapy) is an essential science that must be taught from High School. It can help bring in a greater degree of consciousness and effectively transact ( communicate ) while interacting with others.

SherShah, Streaming on Prime Video

Difference between 'SherShah' and Lakshya"?

The way the two films announces the arrival of the Pakistani infiltrators

SherShah:

Captain Batra takes on a certain terrorist, with clenched teeth, pounds him with bullets. The terrorist as he departs, spells doom for India and sets an expectation that " Aag barsegi", Fire will be sprayed (or something to the effect), hinting at the arrival of infiltrators.

Lakshya:

Two shepherds are tending sheep on the upper climbs of the mountains. One sheep gets lost. A shepherd in search of the lost sheep, during his search notices a train of infiltrators armed with missiles and other deadly weapon walking towards the peak. Shit  scared,  he treads back unnoticed and communicates about the march to his fellow shepherd.. Along with shepherds out stomachs also churn.

And that my friends is the magic of film making!!!

By the way Farhan, why don't  you get back to making movies again.

Kuruthi, Malayalam Movie

Independence from hurt and hatred

It  is interesting to see essential conversation between "them" and "us" dealt with sensitivity.

I thought the movie was thought provoking and felt Mamukoya's flamboyant persona was not consistent with his final observation.

I guess only Malayalam movies has the guts to make such kind of sensitive movies. It is indeed a tight walk and importantly reflects on some reality, some illusion and some delusion that exists on both the sides.

Extraordinary performances make this a riveting watch. The choice of the genre ensures that the movie does not reduce to a listless debate or documentary. 20-30 minutes less and some less verbal chatter especially, repetitive and non-converging towards the end could have made this a better product. The climax is a bit overdrawn.

I am glad I saw this movie on independence day and I was reminded of several things, chief among them was a lecture by Kishore Mahbubani,  Singaporean diplomat of Indian ancestry from the erstwhile Sindh province now located in Pakistan, delivered in  Chennai in 2008.

He spoke of his dramatic escape from Pakistan during partition as a child. When he visited Pakistan he found the people of Pakistan wonderful as wonderful in the other parts of the world.  As the lecture progressed, there was the reference the hate and hurt that people carried in certain parts of the world. And how it was very important to address them and without that there would no reconciliation and peace until that hurt is resolved.

In an interdependent world, I guess it is time we emphasized on the human identity and strive to work towards independence from hurt and hatred.

Nettrikan

Lady Nayanthara falls from grace

Nayanathara featured in Ghajini was awkward. And then she reinvented herself  in Aegan, we were blown away and then she enacted Sita in Sri Rama Rajyam to perfection. and enshrined herself in our hearts.

She is a class act and has continued to  carry herself with so much of grace and elegance 

I do not want to review the disdainful Netrikann. It is an assault on sensibilities. It treats the audience as dumb, blood thirsty, frustrated wimps.

Did the producers not have the imagination to remake, Audrey Hepburn's "Wait Until Dark"? It would have showcased Nayanthara's persona to perfection!!!

I promise you that you cannot get thrilled but certainly feel dumbed down by insensitive movies where you feel the makers need a whack, whack, whack( that is how everybody gets whacked around in the movie) like everybody in the movie.

There should be a constitutional right to take the producers and the censors to court and sentence them to seeing such movies for a life time!!! Some revenge indeed!!!

Navarasa, streaming on Netflix

"Payasaam": The disgust that will endear itself to you forever

For readers who may not understand the Tamil word, "Payasam", it is a dessert equivalent to Kheer in Hindi.

"Payasam" also happens to be a short story written by T Janakiraman. Vasant Sai has adapted "Payasam" for one of the episodes of Navarasa's Netflix. 

"Bheebathsa", Disgust is the Rasa or the emotion that is visited,

"Payasam" is a work of perfection. A story  from our backyard.

The writing is so  good, even the smallest of characters so beautifully written, the casting can't get better, watch out for the innocence of the bride, the lovely shyness (a precious commodity, that may be  eternally lost!!), the setting transports you to savour the the authenticity of the event and even magically manages to recreate the smells, and Justin Prabhakaran beautiful violin notes and laced with Sudha Raghunathan's lovely voice and in all this glorious setting, savour the hate of an old man whose hate gets accentuated not only by loving wife and affectionate children but the overall lovely setting of a wedding.

Delhi Ganesh is in the role of his life time. Since I have not read the story in print, I do not know whose idea was it to adorn the  white coat for Delhi Ganesh just before the wedding. It literally enhances the darkness of his face and exacerbating the devilish intent, making you really scared of what he is going to do next.

Writing a short story is an art. It requires skills like the legendary T. janakariraman to transform Hate into Disgust in a fraction of a second. Are you left with disgust.? NO.

Sheer ecstasy. You are blown away by the craft.

Vasanth, this is is probably the best work of your career. Take a bow.

Agni, the Adbhutha Rasa is well made but does not seem to be novel.

The last 5 minutes of Priyadarshan's Hasya are OK. 

The Rest of the Six shorts, Rasa's are mediocre at best, either rehashed and plagiarised. Eminently forgettable

But do not miss, "Parayasam" for the world.