Ore Kadal

'Ore Kadal' was not just any other Malayalam movie to miss. This DVD was on my shelf for more than a year before I decided to watch it. Thanks to my trip to Andhra as I got some fine free time to watch what ever it pleased. This could be the boldest attempt in the history of Malayalam cinema to show an adulterous relationship and the bitter consequences of it , in a serious manner. Story or the way of telling it, never try to glorify the relationship. Remember the way our esteemed director Mani compromised on the script, on showing the relationship between Anandan (a loose portrayal of the real life tamil icon MGR) and Kalpana ( the real life muse of MGR and another big name in the history of tamil nadu , Jayalalitha) in arguably the best movie he ever made, 'IRUVAR'. He had to come up with a foolish idea to glorify the relationship. The idea was, Anandan (who plays an actor) realizes that his new heroine looked exactly the way his passed-away wife Pushpa looked ,and develops an affection towards her. In one scene, you can even see, that Anandan urges his wife Ramani, (played by Gouthami) not to cast kalpana in his new film, despite her proven acting(dancing) skills. On the Contrary 'Ore Kadal' shows how a non-intellectual, moderately educated woman of lower middle class being seduced by the rogue charm of a socially isolated, pure intellectual who is much elder to her. This male chauvinistic protagonist has got a bad habit of denying the existence of anything except him and his ego unless it's academically or physically interesting to him. The Character Nathan or its portrayal by Mammotty never seemed to be convincing though. Even Ramya's character had nothing much to do but her character holds good, being just a female body to relive Nathan of the pressures of his carnal desires. Entire movie is driven by Meera Jasmin's performance, who played the role of the female lead. Meera could easily and successfully emote the moments of unbalanced mental equilibrium in a fine subtle way , shying away from all those stereo typical schizophrenic characters . This change was nice to watch. Another Character which looked realistic was her husbands' role played by Naren. Despite all these mediocre performances and depthless characters, Movie was a still a good experience, probably because of the strong theme and an experienced cast. The way the movie ends deserves a special remark. When the little girl (who happens to be a byproduct of the adulterous relationship)takes the stairs to her biological fathers' home, with that innocent dubious looks and tiny unsure steps, that conveys them all. The Name Ore Kadal, or ’The Same Sea' gets its real meaning there. Was It an imagery showing a small innocent girl child growing up into the abyss of endless suffering of a middle class Indian women Or was it something else, to say, ‘Searching for her Mother’ keeping the psychological meaning of the phrase in tact.

Poverty Sells!

It rained Oscars for Slum Dog. Eight Awards from the apostile of International but predominantly American, commercial Cinema. A Great feeling indeed for indians, as its a long time after Bhanu Athaia bagged hers for the 1982 Attenborough classic Gandhi's brillant costumes, two other indians bagged Oscars. No complaints about Rahman's or Kutty's for their prowess in the music and sound,and at the least, I am no authority to talk about music. it was said, that Music is pure Mathematics.It's a magic what a specific propotion of notes produces.As I said in my previous post about the movie, Music was so much inside the movie and may be that definitely qualifies. I am no good in mathematics as well. So No talk about Maths and Music. Just one doubt. Did it deserve the award for the best film? Or is it just that the depiction of indian poverty still sells abroad, as it did at the time of Raj Kapoor's 1955 Cannes Nominee 'Boot Polish'(Directed by Prakash Arora) and Meera Nayir's 1988 Cannes Winner and Oscar Nominated 'Salaam Bombay'? I honestly feel, Slum dog wont stand a chance at Cannes. Lets wait and see. Would like to watch Salaam Bombay one more time, but I still remember, it was definitely a class apart from our very own slum dog. What about 'City of Joy'? The Om Puri flick in the background of a poor Kolkotha, based on Dominique Laperre's book with the same name ? Dont you think, its time to watch these movies once again at the time of Slum dogs?

"Anger Unbuttoned"

Interesting Caption. TOI got the self appointed guardian angels of our 'sexless', holy heritage posing with some panties. What a wonderful idea sirji? Very interesting. Very very Interesting. There was an old joke about moral policing. "If electricity comes from electrons, will morality from Morons?". We got some graphical evidence right here. Enjoy these pics. The Hindu extremist group 'Sri Rama Sene' received thousands of pink panties with naughty inscriptions, in protest of their anti valentine propaganda from the consortium of loose, pub going women as a Valentine gift. But I am sure, if you were in their shoes, you would nt dare to pose for a photograph like this. Would you?

May be its a decent try to do the reputation make over from the power of violence to the so called 'Gandhigiri'? Look at them. You need true guts to pose for media this way. Another expected development is the sene, dropping their plan for sending Sari's back to the senders of 'pink chaddis'. Good decision guys.
A couple of thousands of saris (Much more exposing attire than Jeans and Shirt) which your members contribute cannot substitute at least 30.0000 Panties sent by the group of 'Lose, Pub-going' women. Beware, they are everywhere. Then why to waste postage expenses? May be this would prompt the Sene to mind their own good business.

In one of his short stories,Maythil Radhakrishnan, a true genius among Malayalam laureates says, "those who are wounded in sex, would deny Casanova". It explains the pub violence a bit. In his comic sounding interviews, Mr. Mutalik, head of Rashtriya Hindu Sene talks about the heritage of india. Some one please take him to Khajuraho and show him our holy sculptures depicting various sexual acts. Some one, please ask him to read the Sanskrit book 'Arthashastra' of Koutilya(Chankya), arguably the first written book on public governance so that he can see that 'Prostitution' was legal in ancient india. Chanakya was the Prime Minister and Chief advisor to the Emperor Chandragupta Mourya of highly respected Mourya empire of about 350 BC. Men were encouraged to visit Ganika's (Commercial Sex worker ) often and there was even a special department and a minister to take care of prostitution. There were written codes of conduct by the state instructing how the 'Ganika' should take care of her 'Guest'. A punishment system was also designed for punishing a Ganika, if she breached such written conducts. For example, If a Ganika decided to leave the profession,all her Gold ornaments had to be surrendered to the state and if she denied her service to any guest whom she didn't like, she was beaten up in public mercilessly. Number of cane beatings she had to receive on such occasions were clearly specified in the rule book under the section called 'Danda Nyaya' .(hard to recollect precisely as it was long back I devoured the book). Daughters of Ganika's were naturally forced into this state sponsored prostitution, and if one of those mothers was not willing her daughter to take up the same career, she had to pay a huge fine to the state. There were in numerous instances of polygamy and polyandry in our history including the cases where one woman having five husbands and still respected in the society. Inviting some one else to the house by the husbands for inseminating their wives with the good intention of producing some quality offspring was a common practice. Sex was not a taboo for highly respected practitioners and preachers of the religion. Otherwise we would not have books like 'Kamasutra' or 'Kokkoka Shastra' both written by Hindu Saints. These facts very much explain how sex was treated in ancient India. Now lets come to the pub going part. Consider the celebrations like 'Rasaleela' where women and men would drink and dance the whole night.(Still practiced in north side of India) You have got reference to this even in our epics. If one can believe 'B.R.Ambedkar' the respected creator of Indian law, he even talks about how a highly worshiped Indian God celebrated such eventful nights, ensuring his wife too participated in it, quoting some epics. So does'nt it make sense for our Saffron brigade to take a small session on history before preaching in lengths about our 'heritage'?

But I still don't understand, how the photographers got the holy warriors of 'Sri Rama Sene' posing this way with the utmost undies of some loose, socially unfit women? Was it not smart denying to receive any such nasty couriers? Anyways, thanks for the entertainment guys. You really made the world laugh.Thank you.