4 reasons to watch the 1st half of Enthiran !

Let me make myself clear, I am not suggesting that you should watch just the first half of Enthiran. It is that I cannot comment on the second half as I was forcibly removed from the theater a short while after the interval. Couple of my friends told that I did deserve every bit of that treatment, though they had a difference in opinion about the exact reason. While one attributed it to the excessive sound of my snoring, the other placed it one degree higher - the arrogance and utter irreverence of sleeping through a movie of his Rajniness.

I know that I am kind of late to come up with a review on Enthiran. Grady Hendrix has already written much about the awesomeness of the miracle birth, mysterious evolution and elevation to fame of Rajnikanth. In a momentary lapse of consciousness induced by jet-lag, India Today editor Aroon Purie also shamelessly reused a part of the Grady article in an edition of the magazine dedicated to the superstar from 'Tamilnadu, a south Indian state'. I also understand that I am trying to comprehend something which is beyond my grasp, like trying to explain what prompts a dog to lift its leg every time it sees a telephone pole. But anyway, let me add my two cents to what has already been said about his Rajniness.

The Double Role
We all know that no one character can completely accommodate all the acting power of Rajnikant. You cannot let the same character be a Rocket scientist and a rock band guitarist, right? Effectively that prevents his Rajniness from showing off his mathematical and riffing abilities in the same movie. He needs a range of different characters to express his talent properly and that is where Enthiran has at least tried to do some justice. By acting as the villain and the hero, his Rajniness has showcased the two contrasting extremes of his acting repertoire here. Don't think it is easy to wear a wig and act loony one moment and then switch to a funny robotic attire and blast cars the very next!

It's a name changer
Rajni movies are always game changers. While some idiotic movie makers spend years writing the script and scouting for shooting locations, the wise ones down south just rope in his Rajniness and think of the story during post production. But this time the movie is not just a game changer, but a name changer. I just heard that the Peruvian government is planning to officially change the name of Machu Pichu to Kilimanjaro. That is the only option available, as their tourism department now receives an average 300K inquiries a week about the right time to visit Kilimanjaro. That is the power of his Rajniness.. he shot a song titled 'Kilimanjaro' in front of Machu Pichu and half the world now thinks it is Kilimanjaro. I personally think it is a good move by the Peruvian government, as his Rajniness CAN (and only he can) hold an apple and say it is a pig, almost immediately ratifying the old Greek belief that pigs are grown on trees. I always had this suspicion that he is the one behind the Madras-Chennai, Bombay-Mumbai name changes!

The Science
There are so many hypotheses floating around in the academic and scientific circles about the awesomeness of Rajnikant. Though most people (except for the Japanese) think that Rajni movies are all about idiotic and impossible stunts, I personally think Rajni is probably the very proof of time travel, wormholes, multiple universes and the Grand Unification theory wrapped into one. They say two dimensions or universes only differ by the outcome of a quantum event. So if a quantum event has a particular outcome in our universe, some other universe would have had the opposite outcome as well! So for all those logic defying acts, all Rajnikant needs to do is to travel between the different universes and guide the desirable outcome to our own. I bet he uses time-travel to accomplish this feat, through wormholes between the dimensions. And to do something of this magnitude, you wouldn't argue if I say that Rajnikant needs absolute control over the electric, weak & strong forces of Nature. In short his Rajniness IS that what unifies all the forces of nature - proof of the Grand Unification Theory people like Einstein were searching for ages.

His Rajniness
I for one never underestimated his Rajniness. But if you really want to get sloshed by it, watch 'The Expendables' before the Eindhran experience. Both the movies got a sexagenarian acting as the protagonist. While Sylvester Rambo Stallone looks like carrying a glued-together, botox-filled face on his shoulders, his Rajniness shines like the sun with his wrinkle-free, pimple-less face. I could even see the reflection of Aishwarya Rai on his face whenever she came close to him. What do you mean 'Its all makeup'? It wasn't available in the Holy-woods for Mr. stallone or what? And with all the muscles and inflated body, Mr. Rambo could handle only a Noveske N4 in The Expendables, while his Rajniness was celebrating an early Diwali with half a dozen Bazookas in Eindhran, that too with his left hand.

So the final score,: His Rajniness - 2, John Rambo - 0.
Do I need to say more?

the AVATAR experience..

The last movie I watched in the hall was an 18th century Bond flick called 'Quantum of Solace'. At least that is what I felt about the swanky cars and gadgets that Bond uses in it, after seeing 'AVATAR', the latest offering from the Cameron house. I am not sure whether his great grand-parents knew, by divine intervention of course, that one of their clan members would one day stand behind the camera and hence assumed the surname Cameron. Nevertheless Avatar is quite a masterpiece like some of his earlier movies.

A lot of the credit should go to George Lucas as well, because it seems Lucas' Star Wars is what finally prompted Cameron to come out of his lunch delivering business, rent a video camera and start making movies. Imagine him sticking to his previous avatar as a truck driver, and driving around a truck named 'Titanic'! After watching the trailers on YouTube a few weeks back, I was eagerly waiting to watch this movie in 3D. I liked the whole concept of an avatar- a copy of yourself which you are totally in sync with, in terms of your mental capacities and control, but operational in a different plane, in a different planet or even in a different dimension. Who wouldn't want to volunteer for such a program, even if its short-lived. Probably James Cameron crafted Jake Sully to represent what we all are in our real life - challenged or paralyzed about some aspect of life; always living like avatars in our fantasy worlds where there are no shortcomings.

The planet Pandora is a treat to watch, with the huge trees, touch sensitive mushrooms, fluorescent creepers, floating mountains, colorful dragons, weirdly evolved animals and the like. The thing I liked the most were the lizards who fly by spinning a membrane of skin above the head, like the rotating blades of a chopper. Watching in 3D made the experience all the more enjoyable. I am really not sure why the planet was named 'Pandora'. The Na'vi, who inhibit Pandora are shown as a race which is much evolved than us in understanding the life and living things around them. Each plant or tree in Pandora is connected to the other through the roots, making it act like a single living organism. The Na'vi could easily connect to this network and communicate or exchange information. I found the dragons (Banshees and Toruks to be precise) a little too colorful to be real, in their red and blue coats; the only complaint I had after watching the movie.

The story probably is a parody on our own real life - the greed, desire to destroy everything that stands in the way, the insensitivity towards anything and everything around, shameless display of our short sightedness and a final predictable ending which we watch like sitting ducks. Like Jake Sully did in the movie, most of the people in the hall also betrayed their own race and had taken sides with the Na'vi. Every time a chopper came crashing down or a Na'vi arrow landed on a gun carrying, yet helpless marine, the crowd burst into thunderous applause. When the Homeree of the Na'vi was brought down by a barrage of missiles, I could hear their heartbeats also, almost as loud as the applause. I am sure a lot of them would have liked to go out to Pandora in their own avatars, and ride a dragon up Colonel Quaritch's ass!

I just can't wait to watch this movie on the IMAX screen!

9 Songs - the movie

I watched this movie '9 songs' the other day and am not sure whether to call it an 'extended music video' or 'tasteful porn'. The only reason why the movie is named '9 songs' is that there are nine featured concerts against eight love making sessions in it. It could have very well been named '8 orgasms'. If you ever watched porn and wished for some good music between all the huffing and puffing, then probably this one is for you!

The movie tells the story of a couple who have two areas of mutual interest - live concerts and sex. So their intense love making scenes are sandwiched between some good music by bands like the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, The Von Bondies and Franz Ferdinand. Looks like the director has taken some lessons from our very own Bollywood movies, just that instead of casting some extras in the songs, he has actually shot live concerts by real bands. The lack of sensual overtones in the music sequences have been more than compensated in the sexual encounters. Oh, truth be told, music and sex is not all that's there in the movie; there are about six or seven other scenes where you see the couple trying to make coffee, starting a conversation, driving to a beach and talking over the telephone. So don't you dismiss this one as just another porn flick!

I was reading a bit to see how such an explicit work got released as a mainstream film. Understandably, the directors and producers had positioned it as an 'art' movie. Now a days art is something the rest of the crowd 'wows' about, while you are totally clueless. Going by that definition, this is definitely art... just that I could not see it quite clearly in the low light, with so much of distracting action going on all around. Or probably I looked at all the wrong places!

It would be interesting if somebody make an Indian version of the movie by replacing the concerts with cricket matches. Our directors handle nudity and sex better than anyone else. The love making scenes can be easily managed with flowers and bees and a few parrots. We are such a smart audience, that once the camera pans out from an embracing couple to show the cieling fan rotating, we get it!

Deluded by Dreams..

I was watching a Tamil movie 'Kancheevaram' the other day. It is the story of a silk fabric weaver who got obsessed with his dreams. A good movie with some excellent frames and colors, written and directed by Priyadarshan. The story takes place in the village of Kancheevaram, a place still renowned for excellent silk saris. The weavers there were too poor to buy their own silk yarn, but created fabulous designs on the saris they made. The landlord used to supply them yarn and pay them peanuts for their work while he made a lot of money selling their works. The irony was that the people who created these exquisite designs never got rich enough to buy a silk fabric.

The most gifted weaver of the village had a dream... to present his daughter a silk sari for her marriage. Everyone in the village ridiculed him for his audacious goal, but the guy had a plan. Dreams are sometimes so powerful that you do all that you can to make them reality. He started saving money even before his daughter was born. He worked hard and saved every penny he could, but ended up losing almost all of it to take care of his responsibilities. Knowing that it will be detrimental to his dreams, he gave all the money to his brother-in-law. He did not wanted to see his sister stranded on the streets. Getting torn between your dreams and responsibilities isn't exactly a pleasant situation.

Dreams can take you across oceans, they are like all consuming fire.. making you do almost anything. It is one of those situations where the creator becomes prisoner to his creation. When the realization dawned on him that he would never be able to save enough to buy a silk sari, he started stealing yarn from his workplace. He started weaving a sari for his daughter in the secrecy of a warehouse behind his house. Though he was well aware of what he was doing, for him that was the only thing to do. His dream wasn't about greed or power, he just wanted something to live for, something to keep reminding him that all his hard work had a purpose. He lived for his daughter and for his dream. Judging right and wrong were not his immediate priorities.

Just like they are a great source of inspiration, dreams also take everything from you, even your life itself. Eventually the weaver was caught and sent to prison. As a symbol of his unfulfilled dream the half-woven sari remained in the warehouse. His daughter was devastated and suffered full body paralysis when she tried to commit suicide. That was the last nail on the coffin for the poor guy. Unable to take it anymore, he lost his mind and killed his daughter. As if to fulfill his dream to see his daughter in a silk sari, he ran to the warehouse and fetched the half-woven fabric. It did not have enough length to even cover his daughter's dead body. The movie ends with a shot where the mentally deranged father frantically pulls the fabric both ways to cover the body completely.

I am not sure what message the director wanted to convey through the movie. But there are quite a few moments which connect to you, talking to you in some strange language which you cannot comprehend, but understand in some mysterious way. Perhaps he just wanted to show life as it is.. plain reality without the usual dash of fantasy. There is a scene when the weaver asks his paralyzed daughter whether he deserves such severe punishment for following a dream... a question I found impossible to answer. Dreams are more dangerous once they are squashed to death. The ghosts can haunt you for ever... insanity might at times seem the only escape.

There is this saying - 'Careful what you wish for.. you might actually get it and regret it for the rest of your life'. But what if the dreams themselves are shattered and you are punished for even trying to follow them?