Turning Red

Another year, another Disney-Pixar movie. Though the movie is thematically pretty much same as every Pixar animation, especially the recent ones like Luca, the way they put it together is so refreshing. I can’t wholeheartedly recommend this as there are lot of similar films with more entertainment value and the ones that can make you cry. But I still suggest you watch this, why? Keep reading.

Now one thing that was really good here was the mother-daughter relationship. An over-protective mother and an ‘I always been a good girl’ daughter. What I loved here is how they didn’t antagonise the mother nor justified her actions. Her parenting style is something passed down the generation along with the trauma and the god complex of being a mother. This part, this part alone sold pretty well to me. It was pretty realistic and saddening.

Saddening I say, is because I too had the same way around. I believe most of us in Asia had the same. Growing up in Bangalore, having every door open to be spoiled, my mother with her reasons and guilt trips, never let me out of her sight. She always had a complete excel sheet on my friends and would immediately ask me to stop talking to someone if she can smell a slightest hint of something she doesn’t like. And I did everything she asked me to do, because she is MOTHER, mother comes first, even before God himself.

Didn’t care much until was in 8^th grade and realised the reason I have no friends is my mother. All the ones from middle school would avoid me because they were afraid of my mother. And I couldn’t talk to newbies because I fucking never learnt how to hold a conversation and my head started going all over the place.

Now, when I see Mei being an obedient mama’s little princess I screamed “Fuck, so this how it was” and “Mei fucking don’t”. I just hate the belief of parents being the omnipotent-supreme beings whose feet you should wash by giving them complete control over your life. Well, I love my parents; I love them because they are my parents, not because they brought me shits or fed me everyday or because the Veda’s tell me I should love them. I just love them, because, I came from them. Now if you post this sentence in your family group, I would suggest you commit a crime and get inside a jail or psychiatry, because the response will push you to the edge with guilt trips either way.    

I’m grateful to what they did, and I realise nothing I do will ever repay them. But is the parental love really repayable? What I believe is that you can never repay the ‘Love’ someone has you, especially parental. You just can’t. what you can do either reciprocate that love or look after yourself so they don’t worry about you. Because repayable ‘Love’ is not something humans have.

And I’m planning to look after my parents forever, because I believe it’s my duty as a son and because I love them. Its just that, not because some boomer tell me it’s a sin not to. You see there are things you do due to responsibilities and things you do for gain. Shaping /providing for your child’s future is a responsibility you have and not some investment. And just because you fulfilled your responsibility, you don’t become a god.

Fuck I can rant forever on this, long story short, all those things you do to your kids are responsibilities you hold and sacrifices you make are incredible, but to grab hold of that child’s future is something you shouldn’t do. And drop the fucking guilt trips man, really pushes all the life away with so much pain and weight.

Parenting in itself is a stressful art, and do it without actually anyone showing you the proper way around and even before you yourself could become a proper adult is something I can’t even imagine, that’s one reason I no longer blame my mom. She did her best, without having a clue on how to do it. I was showered with love, spoiled completely. And was with no friends. But as shown in the movie, you always get a chance to make your choices, and I got too. And I’m happy I took it and Mei-Mei is happy too.

Coming back to the movie, it covered everything I said in a very optimistic way. And that’s something I love about movies made for kids. They are always bright, hopeful, even for a fucked-up adult. Just as a movie (storyline and making), this is above average. Not much entertainment value, but there is this pinch of realism and suffering inside, that tucks your heart deep and warm. Well watch it without expectations, you will love it. Panda was too cute. Especially the milf ones.

And fucking be a good parent.

Mahaan review

Mahaan is your typical Karthik Subbaraj padam, with lots and lots of guns & Hollywood references. The film takes its own time taking off and it happens in a really good way. We all know where this is going and yet we find ourself enjoying this (at least I did). For those who are familiar with KS and gangster films, you can predict everything till the last. But the director compensates his weak writing with excellent making. This is not a bad film, rather it’s more of an unplanned good one that leaves patches on a fine road.

Subbaraj has politics and ideologies of his own. Its not a crime to reflect them on your films, but thing here is he doesn’t blend them in well. Mahaan to the core speaks the ideology of extremists on both ends of spectrum, ‘The Good and The Bad’ and the film stays true to that, which in turn brings this theme justice. The film has politics in-built; it has its own philosophy and it all appears very neat until KS wants to make them look visible. Though it’s in minute(visibility), it still gives that “pulutha da” vibe. (“Don’t preach”).

This again shows us the problem with most of writer/directors in Tamil cinema. Writing part as always is left unbothered like a middle child. If the film is blatantly bad, there is nothing you can do about it. But when you see these 7-8 movies that could have been a 9, but doesn’t cause of lazy writing it somehow annoys us. Not that we are filmmakers, but to see a half-baked job is kinda irritating.

The climax is a Subbaraj special and I absolutely enjoyed it. I expected him to pull “Enakkul Oruvan” kind a thing considering the ‘bhang’ involved, but thankfully he didn’t.

Real MVP of this film is Vikram, expected one and yet a complete treat. Vikram is one of those rare brilliantly subtle actors working and he has proven that again and again. Every actor other than Dhruv has given an excellent performance. Dhruv looks even more ridiculous when he shares the screen with Vikram and Sananth, who effortlessly pulled scenes together throughout the film.

overall, this an unusual Father-Son rivalry in an fresh ideological clash set in your typical gangster setting. Its good watch.

P.S: SaNa’s music is top notch as usual

Taking a step back

A Silent voice (change of pov)

When I first watched this film at age 16, I didn’t like it. I didn’t realise much, for me a bully remained a bully. It a boring film that tried to force me into having sympathy for a bully. I never accepted Ishida and I was never satisfied with his redemption. Now to see Nishimiya love him, it made me even mad. Like why would she like him, he is the worst. This movie never made sense…

A month or something after that, it weirdly started growing on me. Not that I understood it or anything, but I simply liked the female lead. The pain she must have been and her feeling of being a burden resonated with me. I rewatched it, this time it wasn’t as bad as last, but still some scenes were hard to sit through and some were total cringe.

Now, 3 years later, I re-watched it again. I’m 20 now, again not fully appreciating like others but this time I changed my perspective. I didn’t watch it from a sympathetic view over a deaf girl, but a neutral pov on a suicidal kid. I read a post earlier this week which described this film as “story of a guy loving himself again”.  Keeping this in mind, I played it.

There is always a moment in a person’s life where they realise how much their parents have done for them. Worst way to find it is by watching them suffer due to you. This is what our both lead goes through.  Nishimiya sees herself as a burden and keeps apologizing in places where she is not involved at all, this is almost like she is apologising for her existence. She does realise how unwelcomed she is into a friend circle and how much her family concerns about her. Time-skip, she even starts believing that things would be better without her. Now as for Ishida, he was a main character in his life and in his friend circle, he bullies his friend and makes mischiefs during class. He lives his life like a carefree normal kid ignoring his actions. Everything changes once people start pointing fingers at him, and to see his mother repent for his actions, the guilt starts to weigh on him. The guy who always was in centre of spotlight, moves slowly into the shadow. To worsen the matter, friends start to bully him. He isolates himself from everything. Time-skip, we see him being suicidal and extremely conscious about himself and his surroundings. He does make friends, but he still goes home and cries in his bed. His guilt kicks in every time he enjoys a moment. He considers himself as an unworthy of such stuff. The journey of these two from here to accepting themselves is kind of heart-warming. Though it’s a mess as a whole, the film did a good job in this aspect.

Only thing worse than bullying is, bullying a disabled person. This is what I believe in and this is what made me hate this film and its characters. I hate still Ueno’s character in this. But Ishida’s kinda fell in grey zone this time. One reason is maybe because I might have a slight understanding of feeling unwanted or as a burden and urge to abandon everything

Ishida as he grows, understands how shitty he was as a kid. This keeps pushing him off the cliff.  For him suicide felt a better option than to live with the weight. As he tries to make amends, he never expects Nishimiya to fall for him. For a person who hates himself the most and has no self-value, this thought doesn’t even get into his mind. 

I still don’t ship them, and I still would have liked to see a scene where Nishimiya being genuinely mad at Ishida. But his character arc felt satisfying to me this time, doing something really bad and then realising what he did as time goes by while facing its consequences. Him being not able to look into people’s eyes is something I noticed this time; it might be interpreted as anxiety but what I thought is ‘guilt and shame’. I think the guilt of his actions is what stops him from meeting eyes, because he is afraid that the looks, he will receive back, like the disgusting-disappointed ones he got in his primary school, he doesn’t want to get them again.

Overall, this a film with great potential that carries an important theme that somehow loses track midway trying to cover more than it can hold onto. Would say best or a must watch as there are films with similar themes with better execution, but if you want a cheesy slice of life with a little guilt trip and some melodrama, watch it. 

SPEAK (2004)- movie essay

Speak based on “Speak” by Laurie Halse Anderson speaks about the PTSD of a sexually assaulted teenager.  Both the book and the movie have sensitively handled this issue while also taking about various other issues like ignorant parents, teenage mentality, bad school management and toxic teaching environment without diverting from the main plot.

Biggest plus for this is not being preachy while every scene screams all this. Hadn’t seen a movie that carried so much message and succeeded in the task like this one. Reason for this is the diary like narration in the book and similar tone set up in the movie. We see the world through Melinda and have a proper understanding of it.

In overall the main reason this movie/book works so well is because of its realistic approach and relatability with no melodrama or teenage songs or any big twists for the sake of surprise.

 Another great aspect of Speak is its smart use of metaphors. Instead of usual melodrama, both the author and the director chose to convey those through carefully placed metaphors. Like Mel’s art representing her agony, her struggle to put it all in past and her current emotional state. Her school keeps changing their sports team’s name because the opponents always found a way to mock it, similar to Mel’s approach towards herself. There’s a lot like this throughout, almost in every scene and they are not hard to interpret. With so many metaphors and messages, this film still feels so organic and keeps you hooked too.  

And I’m so grateful that the movie stayed true to the source.

There is so much I want to speak about this, these kinds of movies very much important. It shows the ugly truth the way it is. It shows how hard it is for a 14-year-old to go through these without proper support.

It gets sad if you had read the book, as you can see how long it took for Mel to process what happened and to accept it, just in her mind. And it took so much more to speak about it. We can also see that she has so many talents, but never able to pursue because of how traumatised and damaged she was internally.

Speak is something you shouldn’t miss. You see, it’s not necessary to read or watch things that are considered high class in order to understand something. A simple teenage drama can also teach you life lessons if you are ready to listen.

I recommend the book more as you can directly enter Mel’s mind and see her struggle. It’s also just over 100 pages… But yeah, movie will also do.

To increase your curiosity, this book was banned because adults thought children shouldn’t be introduced to such harsh stuff. Now there, your absolute reason to read it.

Why Kammatipaadam(2016) is the most important film of last decade

This film is about the history of people whose history has been erased. And it is very much important for us to know and understand it. Especially when we have a government desperately trying to mute us down by giving false sense of hope and pride.

Every city in this country or to say even in the entire world, was/is built on the bloods of the oppressed. Growing up in Bangalore, I hear a lot of about its origins. And it never made sense. In terms of economy, history and culture we had teachers teach about it and had books easily available. But the ppl in the street had different stories. Usually, it’s a rant on how foolishly they sold their lands to low prices. Or how some middle man convinced them that their locality is a waste land and they have to sell it and move someplace. I can assure, you will get at least 50 stories like this in my locality alone. There are reports of violence as well…

One thing that was common in all these stories is that Bangalore grew exponentially in land and wealth in last 30 years. While we read about the glorified version, never really thought about the other side. For once, most part of Yelahanka, Vidyaranyapura and BEL were slums of lower caste people. In fact, it was all cotton field. Now 45% of these three areas are occupied by elites, 35% is shops and malls and rest 20% is middle and lower sections of society. Silicon bloom in Whitefield and BEL factory in North Blore is the main reason for this.

While watching this film, these things started getting in my head. Idk how many lost their home, ancestral land, livelihood because of the silicon/industrial bloom in these areas. Idk how many were compensated honestly. It all looks beautiful now, but once you get to know the other side its hard to not feel guilty.

Now this film captures all these emotions while breaking other stereotypes and cliches. It tops in almost every department of cinema, especially acting and use of music.

So yeah, here is a film that addresses one of the most important issues and reminds us of the lies we are told about of perfect cities. It also delivers as an cinema, never losing its grip on audience. This is one of those rare 10/10 films if you can get through ok vfx of the film in some part.

KIRA: GOD OF THE NEW WORLD

This is not a review, its just something I can’t get out of my head after watching the last episode.

Credits to creator.

Light: “I’m Kira, I’m justice, I single handedly saved this world. I’m god of the new world”
Ryuk: “It was fun while it lasted. Now they gonna put you jail which I guess will be super boring, so you die now”

Maybe I’m one of the last people to watch this brilliant anime. Which I absolutely don’t regret,( except for episodes 21 to 29) still it is one of the best things you will ever see.

There isn’t much character arc to compare between Light and Kira unlike Walter white and Heisenberg, because from the very 1st episode Light’s intentions are very clear and his desire to become the “GOD OF THE NEW WORLD” is shown. He is Kira, from the beginning, Light is his cover(yeah I quoted KB)Now this show takes you from here to an amazing finale, where Light gives almost the same speech he gave in ep1, except he from ‘soul to body believes’ is the god of this world he created.

Now Ryuk,god of death, who just watched and enjoyed everything. The guy who started all this, just because he was bored, watches Kira running for his life and freedom. Ryuk who watched Kira murder thousands, watches this too. Just as a audience.

Ryuk too gives a little speech in the end, a farewell. In which it is clear that Light’s lifespan isn’t finished, well he actually had years to live, but Ryuk thought light would end up in jail, which would be boring, so he kills him. Like bro you killed the god of the new world because you thought jail life would be boring? Now this is some serious gourment shit

If it is true that, god exists and keeps an eye on us. Ryuk is the best form of god I had seen. Most accurate to be honest. Who just watches everything we do, he who can change the outcome, can control how we live instead choses to spectate.
His final words being, it was fun while it lasted but now its time(not the exact dialogue) makes so much sense. If there is a god, this would be his exact words when a self proclaimed god dies.

This is god, who knows when you will die, who can give you the power to kill someone and you are nothing but just a little entertainment. That’s what kira is to Ryuk. Thats what we are to this universe, just another probability and possiblity.

Just a random thought from a guy

There’s a hell lot to talk about this anime, which I will try to write.

DUST

We all are star dust❤

I don't know why I see the world beautiful and ugly at the same time.

I see the life thrive with love
and devour it’s own kind
at the same time.

All things are made up of same element says the science,
also separates one from another.

Soul of a graphite and a diamond is same, but still differ to the core.
So is an man, made up of same soul and emotions, and yet
denies it to the core.

Maybe it’s a good thing, but I’m afraid of that maybe not. It is said that,
the first life might have evolved from comets, but we are not rocks, because we evolved.

I hope one day we would evolve enough to break the borders, bury the bombs and seek and give only love, nothing else.
Just another crazy thought I had.

Tamil cinema’s Silent era(1916-1931)

Tamil Cinema. What comes to your mind when you hear that term? Kamal Hassan? Rajini? FDFS? Emotion? Well, it’s all a valid answer, and changes from person to person. Though in the last 2 decades we have been recognized around the globe, we are still criminally overlooked, mostly by our own audience. The history is richer than you think, for most of us Tamil cinema started with MGR and Sivaji Ganeshan. But who knew that such a unique, vivid film industry was started because one automobile dealer found it fascinating. Unfortunately, most of the films made before 1940 are lost and less than 30 are preserved by the National Film Archives of India (NFAI). The oldest surviving Tamil film is ‘Pavalakodi’. But these are not available to the public, if you want to watch them you must visit their special screening and pay 2500Rs. I don’t seem to understand the logic behind it. The main purpose of preserving those films is for the cinephiles, if they aren’t able to watch it. What’s the use? Anyway, since much insight isn’t available on it, I don’t want to comment on it further.  

What I would like to cover in this, and the rest of the posts (parts) is to look at the evolution of the Tamil film industry. From where it started to where it’s now. It’s politics, growth and influence.

1918-1931

Inspired by Dadasaheb Phalke’s “Raja Harishchandra”, automobile dealer Nataraja Mudaliyar developed an interest over movies. He learned the basics of photography and filmmaking from Stewart Smith and made the first ever south Indian film, ‘Keechaka Vedam’. The silent film was released in both Tamil and Telegu. It was successful both critically and commercially. Though it was received well in filmmaking community, general/local audience averted from it. Still this film is considered as an inspiration for a lot of filmmakers in early 20^th century and helped laying the foundation for what came after.

Few years later, A.Narayanan set up his production company General Pictures Cooperation (GPC) in Madras in the year 1929. This was believed to be what truly laid the foundation of Tamil cinema among audience. Their first production was Dharma Pathini. GPC functioned as a film school and its alumni included names such as Sundara Rao Nadkarni and Jiten Banerji. The studio of GPC was housed in the Chellapalli bungalow on Thiruvottiyur High Road in Madras. This company, which produced the most number of Tamil silent films, had branches in Colombo, Rangoon and Singapore.

With all the success and reach, cinema was never considered as art form. People seemed to like it, but never respected. This might be one reason that only 22 films are preserved from 160-1500 films.

Almost every film was based on mythologies, realism or political ideologies. People seemed to like mythologies more, naturally they were made more. As far cinematic liberty, this was just one step up from stage dramas. Though we can’t be sure, as there aren’t many reliable sources to verify.

At this era, Hollywood movies had great responses. This was mainly because of Colonists. It is said that the locals feared the amount of exposure to western culture might bring harm to their own. But it was inevitable. The influence was clear visible in the 3o’s as song and dialogues started including English words. The filmmaking was also had greater impact on it. Though it’s kinda of impossible for now to point out the movies that had the influences, but the historians have mentioned it in several publications.

It is sad we lost so many gems. Even the existing 22 films are not gonna be available for general audience any soon. Some of the producers have the reel but are not willing to digitalize it in fear of piracy. Anyway, let’s just hope that soon these will be made available for public.

Notable films:

1916	Keechakavedham	Nataraja Mudaliyar
1921	Valli Thirumanam	Whitaker
1923	Gajendra Moksham	R. Prakasa
1926	Stage Girl	R. Prakasa
1927	Sri Kannika Parameswari	Surya Films
1927	Machavadharam	D.H. Hufton
1928	Bhaktha Kabirdas	D.H. Hufton
1929	Dasavatharam	R. Prakasa
1929	Kovalan (The Fatal Anklet)	A. Narayanan
1929	Dharmapathini	A. Narayanan
1930	Nandhanar (Elevation of the Downtrodden)	P. K. Raja Sandow
1930	Sarangadhara	Y.V. Rao
1931	Usha Sundari	P. K. Raja Sandow

REFERENCES:

• The Birth of Tamil Cinema by S Theodore Baskaran
• The Hindu

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WHY DONATION DOES NOT WORK ALWAYS

Before I start, let me get this straight, this isn’t about orphanages, old age houses, trusts or any other non-profitable organisations. To understand what this is about, let me give you an example.

A man bought a new car, a guy looked at it and said:” I wonder how many poor could have been fed for the money that costs”. The man replied:”I am not sure, but it fed a lot of families who made it. It fed people who make tyres, it fed the people who made components, it fed the people who assembled it, it fed people who transported it from the place of manufacturing to the consumer,fed the sales agent, the accountant and a way more people in the process”. You see, when you buy something, you put money in people’s pockets, and give them dignity for their skills. This is how you develop a nation and make people stand on their own, instead if you give them money, you make them dependent and slowly they also lose their dignity and skills which creates an crisis not just to the family of that poor guy but also to the country. This ofcourse excludes famines,pandemic and other natural disasters…

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And another thing is that when you donate foods and clothes to orphanages if possible try and buy things from the local shops were the sales don’t happen a lot. So that you can help not just trust but also the shopkeeper. This can be done also when you visit a poor village or a poor country try to support the needy, try buying things from the locals around their so the economic state of the place may have a slight growth instead of buying unhealthy things from malls and giving it to them. You can clearly see that the developed nations helping under-developed nations is not helping and The Presidents back it. You see when you do this(buy things from local shops) you create a healthy cycle that helps people actually to overcome the poverty. And again this excludes extreme cases such as famines, and other natural disasters.

I always loved the saying,

“Give a Man a Fish, and You Feed Him for a Day. Teach a Man To Fish, and You Feed Him for a Lifetime”

And again I support donations, it does help a lot of people. But all I’m saying is do it in a way, the smart and kind way that helps them to overcome of the situation or atleast an oppurtunity to do so. Well charity is kind, but creating a job oppurtunity is better. Just a thought from a guy.

Reference: nasdaily, followinglove

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HOW FANS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR DECLINING FILM QUALITY

Mandatory Credit: Photo by Nathan G/EPA/Shutterstock (7721530f) Fans of Indian Actor Rajnikanth Throng in Huge Numbers Outside a Cinema Hall in Chennai India 01 October 2010 Rajnikant’s Movie ‘Enthiran’ (the Robot) by Indian Director S Shankar Opened the Same Day in Over 1 000 Theatres Across Tamil Nadu and All Over World in Three Different Languages Tamil Telugu and Hindi It is Touted to Be One of the Most Expensive Ventures in Indian Cinema India Chennai India Cinema – Oct 2010

Are fans really responsible for decline of film quality in the past 3 decades? Well certainly they are for a major percentage. It is not that the films are completely bad these days, it is just that the film makers are forced to make crowd pleasing movies. Certainly all movies should please the crowd, but there is art of film making which should not be destroyed in the process. But how can this go wrong,right? Well it certainly has, now lets say there is an actor ‘A’ who has an immense fan following. So automatically the film makers who approach him go with a script that would please his fans. There is nothing wrong with commercial movies, but when you write a script for one person there only you fail as an film maker as you would have not developed the other characters. This impact changes from industry to industry. An supreme actor having total control over the film is the case in Indian industries(except for Malayalam). And it is the VFX action sequences in Hollywood and Chinese industry. But why it is affecting Indian industry more than any other, you know the answer because of fans. Fans in the other countries shout out when the film is bad and shout even harder when it was the movie they were expecting, great example of this is the DCU and Sonic the Hedgehog. When DCU released “Batman vs Superman” and “Justice League” fans cried out to the studio how crappy these movies are. When they were told the it was because of studio’s intervene, they stormed out their rewiews and their next movie “Aquman” was upto the mark. And other example is Paramount’s “Sonic the Hedgehog”. When the movies trailer was released it was trashed for poor VFX, which led the studio to re-furnish the movie. But in our country saying your opion may land you in hospital, especially if they are big heros. I think it is time that fans realise they are the ones who are actually destroying their hero’s movies and the industry. Once the fans start asking for better movies, the actors will also start doing better movies. If you don’t agree with me, watch the movies of actor Vijay, Ajith, Darshan, Yash, Salman Khan and compare them with other movies of same genre. Yes I’m not a big fan of KGF and Bigil is because they simply did not stay true to their genre. My disappointment with KGF is mainly because the film had the potential of becoming a classic global cinema but fell down to a ‘treat to fans’. Mainly because they had build up Rocky so much there was no talking of other characters.Its not just KGF and Bigil there 100’s of movies like this. Its either from these top rated mass actors or the ones trying to follow their footsteps.Actually KGF can be considered as cinema if it is to compared with other movies. If you don’t agree with me its totally fine. All I want is good movies. And India is constantly producing it. So support the art, and don’t worship the artist. Criticism is one of the major reason an art grows. So please criticise when the movie or song is not good. Another important thing criticise the art not the artist.

Thank you,

Recommendations:-

Since this one dealt with movies I felt like sharing few movies that may change your film viewing aspect

1. The Godfather(1972)
2. Vada Chennai(2018)
3. Nayakan(1987)
4. The Prestige(2006)
5. Django unchained(2012)
6. Gangs of Waseypoor(2012)
7. Super Deluxe(2019)
8. The Zodiac(2005)
9. The Pursuit of Happyness(2006)
10. Iruvar(1997)

Credits:- Podcast by “Schummy vanna kaviyangal”

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