HeartBreak - #DADA

The love for some people in our lives is so subconscious that we go to great lengths to do the best for them. DADA is one such remarkable story of a struggling dad who goes through life’s trials to bring up his son as a single parent.

Spoilers ahead.

Below are some of the keys characters/moments in the movie that tugged my heart strings.

• Kavin has aced this movie and it has been quite a meteoric rise from the small screen to the big screen. He has shouldered this movie splendidly while quite underplaying his role. The final scene with the title cards rolling with him lying down and his wife and kid interacting, quite literally suggested the weight off his shoulders. I sincerely hope that he goes on to act in many off-beat roles exploring the many shades of characters in interesting stories.
• Aparna Das has outshone Kavin in the pre-climax and climax sequences. A glance or even a silence from her character has spoken a thousand words. In a Tamil cinematic world devoid of strong women characters, this movie and Aparna’s performance comes a breath of fresh air.
• The music by Jen Martins, with Yuvan’s heart melting ‘Pogathe’ as well the ‘Va va Enuiyre’ songs (lyrics included) deserve a big appreciation.
• Ganesh K Babu’s maiden directorial venture with a strong story, screenplay and direction is quite praiseworthy. Hope he continues to provide off-beat but entertaining movies in future.
• Harish K as Amith (hero’s best friend) is quite literally the highlight of the movie with amazing presence and comic timing.

The movie is a shout-out to all the deserving DADAs who think about the betterment of their family all the time sacrificing many of their needs and ambitions.

Hope you enjoyed the review. Do share your thoughts or comments.

Vaathi…Coming..

 

With relative references from the famous ‘Vaathi..Coming..’ song from ‘Master’ movie and Hindi movie ‘Super 30’, ‘Vaathi’ is an ode to that one single teacher, who pushes the boundaries, fights against the corrupt education machinery and does wonders for the students of a small village.

Pros

·         Dhanush is a powerhouse of acting, as he seamlessly conveys multiple emotions through his eyes and plays the part of ‘Balamurugan’, the teacher, perfectly.

·         Samyukta Menon, conveys all the emotions precisely and certainly up for a long road ahead in Tamil movies.

·         The music by ‘G V Prakash’ is quite a show stealer, with Shweta Menon’s ‘Vaa Vaathi’ quite a pleasing chartbuster. The BGM in a couple of scenes definitely elevates the movie.

Cons

·         Director ‘Venky Atluri’ from Tollywood has set up the story as a bilingual and except Dhanush, Samudrakanni and Kun Karunas, the other characters feel more from a Telugu movie than a Tamil one. This robs the core intensity of this story.

·         The story, screenplay as the execution requires that one extra push to have conveyed quite a strong social message for this movie quite effectively. Logical reasoning of school teachers only teaching 12^th grade feels quite empty.

·         Samuthirakani as the protagonist does a decent job but could have been a little more menacing. The perceived cat and mouse game just does not seem to hold on.

 

Climax revisited – Spoilers Ahead!!

Sometimes a very strong climax can salvage a movie. In this case, as the story ends, I feel a few modifications would have been good to not end the story on a whimper.

As the three kids learn about the teacher Balamurugan (Vaathi), it would have been picked up by the press and created quite a stir. As the 30 village students (who have had successful careers) search for their master, it could have been shown that the Teacher was quietly prepping up another 30 odd poor students in Ooty to become the next topper. Dhanush could then been shown then to address the large coaching center than the village students had set up with Samuthirakani sitting in the front seat, apparently accepting Dhanush’s persistence and a rousing reception for the all-enduring teacher.

 

Sometimes you feel how much impact a movie would have had, had it just taken the next few hard steps. ‘Vaathi’ falls into that category which feels it is nearly there, but not enough. If you are ready to glance through the relative logical shortcomings and have a Sunday afternoon to pace through, this movie is a good clean family entertainer. Do let me know in your thoughts on this movie.

Age Old Sports!!

 

As Fernando Alonso cramped himself into the Aston Martin F1 car for the start of his third decade in F1, even he would have been quite surprised finishing on the podium in the first two F1 races of this year. Pushing 42 this July, he joins a list of elite athletes who have turned their age into just a number and continue to compete with youngsters.

As Greame Smith, the former South African cricket captain, called it quits at 33, I wondered if being on the wrong side of 35 is detriment to any sportsmen’s career. However, Alonso along with many sportstars from across the fields (Federer and Nadal – Late Thirties), LeBron James (Basketball), Tiger Woods (Golf) and Tom Brady in their late forties and countless other professionals have pushed it past their prime and proved me wrong.

New scientific body recovery techniques including cold-bath, importance to a balanced nutritious diet along with well-rested sleep have helped star athletes perform their best over many years day in and day out. However, soccer star, Christiano Ronaldo’s gameplan stands out wherein, he takes six short naps each day with Ph ingrained water along with protein rich super foods to rejuvenate his body.

This post can definitely cannot end without references to Master Blaster, Sachin who played close to quarter a century number of years scoring a century of centuries and our own ‘Thala’ Dhoni who at 41 can give a run to any cricketers half his age. The IPL 2023, starting from tomorrow will test his endurance to the very limit and we wish him all the very best in his adventures.

So share in the comments or your feedback, on who you think is the sportsmen/women who have pushed the boundaries of age and have kept performing at the highest levels of their sports.

Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam

The onset of covid in addition to the quality of Indian movies in recent times had repelled many a movie buffs including me. The inability to box ourselves in a dark room for hours for a movie when there is alluring content on Instagram, tiktok and other social media sites has certainly been challenging.

But movies are a gateway to another world, a world or charm or dreams standing the test of time. In a testament to that, is the recent movie ‘Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam’ (like a afternoon dream) which I accidently watched and which literally had transported me to a quiet village in southern Tamilnadu.

 

 

The movies provides a brilliant take of two distinct shades of life, a group in a hurry to reach their hometown and another, a laid back village and its members. Mammooty plays to perfection two contrasting characters as James (a Christian from Kerala) and Sundaram (a Hindu from Tamilnadu). James as a grumpy angry person admonishes anything loud or unnecessary around him, while Sundaram is the definition of a happy-go-lucky person.

The movie starts off after James and his extended friends/family return after visiting Velankanni church and is quite grounded in its approach to capture the very essence of human life. As each of the characters crowd into the small van, the journey begins taking us on a ride. As the van meanders through the windy backroads, everyone soon falls asleep after having their lunch. James, suddenly stops the van and ventures into a small, sleepy village and transforms into Sundaram and what happens next forms the crux of the story.

The movie is a beautiful take on humanity and its current situation in the society. Be it James coming through late and then complaining about lack of space in the van or the ladies discussing the lack of restroom facilities on a trip or the men consuming alcohol and sharing hilarious stories, the layers of human emotion are very subtly conveyed. The background music consisting of a hosts of old tamil movies, songs and advertisements is a beautiful ode to yesteryear’s silent movies where one absorbs the full circle of life. My favorite is the old granny with humongous black glasses (perhaps due to cataract), who adds the most poetic touch to the movie, ever-watching the television as well being an active member of the family.

The cinematography, especially in the early morning sunrise shots when Mammotty goes to deliver milk is quite exhiliarting. The wide angle static shots also transport us right into the sleepy village and quite literally transforms us as one of the characters in this story.

 

Theory of how James became Sundaram

Spoilers ahead, so I would recommend you to watch the movie before reading on.

The movie is a little inconclusive on how James ended up becoming Sundaram. Sundaram’s (James) accurate knowledge of people, places and his experiences in the village, portray that he had lived the life of Sundaram, which brings us two possibilities.

1.    Sundaram and James were born as twins and separated at birth. Both grew up in completely different circumstances with accumulated behavioral patterns. Sundaram, who left his village two years back, died in some circumstances. As James’s van approaches the village, the spirit of Sundaram would have entered James and led to the happenings in the movie.

2.    Sundaram and James born as twins, separated at birth, would have both grown up in different places. As James nears Sundaram’s village, the twin telepathy (https://www.livescience.com/45405-twin-telepathy.html) or some type of twin split personality would have showed in James making him act up like Sundaram.

 

Whatever, be the logical explanation, this is one of the best movie I have watched this year and I would highly recommend to watch it on a relaxed weekend afternoon.

Thala-Thalapathy Story!!

The tamil cinema’s first star or celebrity started off from the 1930s as his first hit tamil movie ‘Haridas’ brought fame to M.K.Thyagaraja Bhagavathar. This was followed by the famous rivalry of MG Ravichandran (also known as MGR) and Sivaji with MGR donning widely accepted do-gooder roles while Sivaji focused on performance oriented subjects. MGR was successfully able to utilize his popularity to jumpstart his political career and served as Tamilnadu’s chief minister continuously for 2 terms.

Rajni and Kamal Hassan followed the footsteps of MGR and Sivaji in the respective ways and achieved their intended fame. However, they also started the era of fandom where fans of actors would clash during the release of movies of both the stars. This peaked during the late 80s to 90s which also had a huge list of new actors making foray into field of acting, but 2 of them were able to pull through among the crowd of actors.

Introduction to late 1990s

Staring in Naalaiya Theerpu, Vijay made an unimpressive entry to movies under his father’s guidance and direction. It took him some time to warm up to deliver his first major hits in ‘Poove Unakkaga’ and ‘Kadhalukku Mariyadhai’. Finishing the decade with super-hits in ‘Thulladha Manamum Thullum’ and ‘Kushi’, he made quite a name with his dance numbers.

Mirroring Vijay’s career, Ajith started his career unimpressively only to find some solid footing with excellent performance in ‘Aasai’ and ‘Kadhal Kottai’. After a brief lull, ‘Vaalee’ established him as one of the scorching performers to look out for. He also ended that decade with super-hits in ‘Amarkalam’ and ‘Kandukondain Kandukondain’ (which is truly one of my favorite movie).

2000 to 2010 – Rise of the Action Stars

Both the rising stars understood that they need to convert their next door lover-boy images to action stars.

Ajith started on the journey a touch before Vijay to star in a highly appreciated titular role in ‘Dheena’ which earned him the nickname ‘Thala’. With a slew of movie failures, he seemed to lost interest in acting and focused more in racing F3 competitions. His ‘Varalaru’ earned him a good appreciation for astutely playing the role of dancer in one among his triple roles with remake of Rajni’s ‘Billa’ helping him solidify himself as one of the top heroes with plethora of fans.

Meanwhile, Vijay had quite a smooth sailing in the early 2000s with many average movies with quite some decent returns. His ‘Ghilli’ (a remake of Telegu movie ‘Okkadu’) was a chartbuster establishing him as a premier action hero followed by another remake movie in the highly successful ‘Pokkiri’. However, luck ran out for him as encountered a slew of nearly 6 super-flop movies on the trot.

2010 to 2020 – Bigger Hits

The start of the 2010 decade saw the biggest commercial and critically acclaimed movies in the career for both the stars.

Ajith rode on the back highly successfully ‘Mankatha’  movie where he played a character with grey shades sporting the salt and pepper look for the first time. It departed from the traditional handsome do-gooder hero movies of all the actors we had been exposed to and he soon moved to sporting his original shades in nearly all his movies. His association with Director Siruthai Siva ran quite deep and long with 4 of movies, the last of which (Viswasam) running quite successfully.

Vijay experienced quite a similar fate as his competitor, with him roaring into action with highly acclaimed ‘Thupakki’ stealing the show. He too combined with Director Atlee (liked 'Theri' movie) and Murgadoss in three of their movies to sustained and reasonable success earning him a huge mass of fans who also celebrated the singer in him as well.

2020 and Beyond

The last movie of both Vijay (Beast) and Ajith (Valimai) did not stand up to the expectation of the audience and performed underwhelmingly. In a industry where you are known by your last movie or success, both the stars would like to deliver a good movie and there is no better time than this festive season to belt out a highly successful one.

I along with millions of fans of both the actors would be rooting for both Vijay’s Varisu and Ajith’s Thunivu to rock the theatres this Pongal.

P.S: Contrary to expectations I am no fan of either actor, but just of all the good movies that entertain us. 

South Africa - Curse of Rain and WCs!!

 

There is a joke of late actor-comedian Tamil actor Vivek, thanni la kandam which roughly translates to the actor specifying that he has a curse of water(rain). South African cricket team fortune seems to follow that route is very strange fashion.

Curse - 1

At the start of 90s, South Africa were not able to participate in any of the cricket tournaments as they were banned due to apartheid. After the abandonment of apartheid in 1991, cricket was the most played sport along with rugby. At the start of ’92 world cup in Australia, South Africa (SA) were one among the favorites to win the tournament boasting of some very good players.

Things came to a head when SA were playing in semi-finals against England. Needing to score 22 runs in 13 balls with 4 wickets in hand with the game favoring a first SA entry to the finals. And then, the curse started. Rain stopped play, but only for 10 minutes. That was enough to cause quite a farce scenario, wherein SA now had to make 21 off just one ball. This was enough to send England through to finals and SA back home.

Curse – 2

Hansie Cronje, the most charismatic Midas touch captain, who had led the team to crowing glory in the 1997 champions trophy and had led them to No.1 rankings had admitted to his role in the bookies scandal where he and his players had taken money to deliberately lose or influence the matches played in India. This devastating scandal took the cricket world by storm, causing him to lose his captaincy, his place in the side and ultimately his death in a plane crash in 2002.

In the back-drop of this terrible incident, SA tried to re-build their image and their way under Shaun Pollock and tragedy struck again in 2003 world cup which they were incidentally hosting. Boucher, SA’s best wicket-keeper had just hit a six, when it started drizzling in their league game against a weakened Srilankan side. Boucher understood that under the Duckworth-Lewis (absolute crazy) method, they had achieved the score they require to win the game and blocked out the last ball of play with no run scored of that. Unfortunately, the underlying fine print reflected the teams need to score 1 run more than the par score to win the match and the match was a tie resulting a heart-broken exit of a host country in the preliminary stage of the World Cup competition.

Perhaps Curse – 3

In the most recent match of SA in the current T20 world cup hosted in Australia, they faced off against a resurgent Zimbabwe. In a rain reduced match Zim scored 79 runs in 9 overs. As more rain drizzled through, SA were set a target of 64 in 7 overs, with them making an astonishing 51 in first 3 overs and then play was abandoned. Boucher (who is now the coach coincidentlu) refused to get drawn into the comparisons with the 2003 world cup and perhaps time will only tell whether this abandonment is crucial for them to make it through to the next stage.

 

                                                      Champions Trophy Victors - 1997

Nonetheless, the world cups or mutli-country tournaments have not been very favorable to South African cricket teams and the general ‘chokers’ tag in association with their heart-breaking and crushing semifinal defeats of 1999 and 2007 world cups to eventual champions Australia have itself been a curse for them in a general. The hope against hope is that they find enough strength and firepower in their wonderful team to make it to the next round in this championship and break all the curses once and for all.

DESERT STORM– Déjà vu!!!

Nearly quarter a century ago, a couple of friends and me watched Sachin Tendulkar hunker down as the desert storm ravaged the Sharjah stadium. A couple of Australian players had even left the field, while Sachin plotted to blow away the Australian mighty attack to shreds right after the storm subsided. What happened next is was absolute goosebump worthy moment as Sachin tore apart every bowler that night and came so close to winning the match. He single-handedly helped India qualify for the finals where another masterful century sealed India’s famous win. This ultimately established Sachin’s place in annals of cricketing history as one of the best batsman. 

 

For a very long time, people would switch off their television when Sachin got out. This trend diminished to a great extent when Dhoni took over the Indian team. But nobody in their dream had thought that there would be a heir to his cricketing throne. But the next King had arrived in a grand style. His best of 183 along with the Master Blaster tore Pakistan’s bowling in Asia Cup a decade ago. 

Kohli rose from one high to another in a very short span of time, but things never go according to any plan in life, do they? The last 3 years have been excruciating for the world (with Covid) and more so for Kohli. His paternity leave for his first daughter through the most important Australian test series was heavily criticized as India were expected to be whitewashed in his absence. Fortunately we won a historic series, with contributions from the least expected players. His much publicized fight with Ganguly (former BCCI president), losing his captaincy and a change in head coach from his favorite Ravi Shastri to Rahul Dravid must have quite shaken up any normal player. But Kohli is no mere mortal. 

India needed 28 of 8 balls, with in-form Rauf running in hard. As with why Misbah chose the scoop over the 100s of shots in that in-opportune moment in the 2008 world-cup final to why Rauf banged a slower ball back of length to the regular hard length delivery, nobody knows. The bowler nearly won as he had Kohli jam up in a very awkward position with the ball hitting high up on his bat. But then the magic happened… Kohli hit the ball with his all muscle memory and it travelled all the way for a SIX!! (a true Desert Storm Deja va). This one shot, given the magnitude of the game, playing conditions and his own dismal form is why he will be considered a legend whenever he decides to hang his boots.

 

But it is this iconic picture that speaks a thousand words, as a tear dropped in from his eye as India finished winners in this iconic match. He is still human, he is still one among us, a human being with deep feelings. This is perhaps a gentle reminder to all of us to be caring, patient, positive and forever cherish this beautiful game as well as our lives!!