When the Hollywood got it's own Baahubali..

To the people who are reading this, I would like to tell you outright that I am not a person who watches Hollywood films regularly. I love watching culturally rooted films. And hence, I have seen more of Indian films - predominantly Kollywood, Tollywood and Bollywood. 

But I couldn't stop myself from writing this piece after I watched a Hollywood film, after a really long time. And I thought this is just the right time to remind those elites who always believe Hollywood is far ahead of Indian films that - Yes, they are ahead - but only in terms of the use of technology. The VFX. The cinematography. The 3D experience. And of course action. And all this is a result not of talent alone, but also because of the budget involved and because the Hollywood market is global and can afford these budgets. The story telling is very much at par to the Indian films. They are not making great films either. They are just making big or rather HUGE films. You give 1000 crores and some more creative man power, I am sure Rajamouli can make better films than these Hollywood biggies.

Spoilers ahead..

So yes, last night I watched Black Panther. Firstly I am surprised to note that hardly any critic or a reviewer had the courage to point out or tweet that the story is as old as the hills. They say this for every bloody Indian film, right?

A lost prince. 

Two sons of royal blood vying for the throne - One good and one bad for the well-being of the people. 

A mountain tribe that comes at the climax and helps the good prince against the bad. 

A Kattappa-ish revelation - It was me who killed your dad dude.

Then this whole thing around - if you get the enemy, you get the throne - the good prince almost gets the man, but the bad prince gets him at the heck of the moment. 

And. I can just compare and go on and on and on..

Basically, what these guys have is done is - They have lifted Baahubali. They reversed a few characters, adapted it to their sensibilities and then put in a lot of money for the splendid VFX and all. The only imaginative thing they have done here is a full blown attack on white supremacy. And to be honest, I loved those moments in the film.

Next time, if a person comes to me and says "Dude seriously, you don't watch Hollywood? They're so original etc." I just show him this article.

And I just tell him "If Ghajini is a copy of Memento, Dhoom 3 of The Prestige, then please be gracious enough to admit that Black Panther is a full-on copy of Baahubali."

Give me an Arjun Reddy or an Aruvi, any day.

PS 1 : I am sure many would comment here that "Dei. Baahubali itself is a copy of some old XYZ English movie."
Then I just give them this analogy - A murderer kills a good person. He deserves to be punished and jailed. And if the same murderer is killed by another person later, even this person is put to same jail for killing the murderer. A murder is a murder always, under the eyes of law.
Henceforth, A copy is a copy - Whether it is first hand or second hand.

PS2 : If you come and tell me "Dude this is a different universe. This is Marvel dawww. I would just say.. Mayiru dawww..."

Are we forgetting how to watch movies?

It used to be either good, or bad. Then it evolved to good, ok, and bad. Few years ago, it changed to numbers ranging between one and five. And when some guy was stuck between 3 and 4, he started the trend of 3.5. There were a few others who tried something different. They increased the scale. For them, it was from 1 – 10 so that they could avoid (say) a 3.5 with a 7. Some even introduced percentage. Confused? Well, that’s completely alright. And that’s how it works in this world of REVIEWS. You always need to be prepared to face confusion.

There are different types of reviews today. While giving star ratings is the most common and is prevalent even for hotel and travel reviews’, some have taken it to an all new level and have introduced a new system for movies. They have a critics’ rating, a business rating and an audience rating (Don’t ask me how they are different). There are also some reviewers who recommend movies on the basis of your taste of movies. Like, watch it if you like horror movies, watch it if you are a fan of this star, watch it if you like this director’s style of movies, etc. A review, at the end of it, must be able be to give us a binary answer- yes or a no. But most of them today are either too judgmental or too biased.

As a result, the daily movie-goer in me is confused. The ratings that I have mentioned above have now evolved to 2.75 out of five, 7.3 out of 10, 60%, Below average-average-above average-good-very good and so on. I must admit though, “one time watch” is my favorite. If you have a friend asking about a recent movie, use this option, it’s the safest and will hardly bring you bad words.

Not long ago, I asked a friend, “Macha how’s the movie?” He replied, “Acting super, BGM great, Cinematography excellent, and Direction fabulous. But, overall movie is ok - ok. ” That’s how most of these reviews are. Thanks to them, CONFUSING is now an art too!

When you read through those hundreds of reviews, you will realize that almost all movies have a ‘mixed’ response.  There are some honest critics who praise a good movie and tear apart the rest, and, there are self-proclaimed ‘reviewers’ who rate each and every aspect of a movie sitting at home and give an easy ‘thumbs down’ to good movies. These are people who record their review videos in one angle every Friday and they talk about a National award winning cinematographer and his work!

This is about those who tend to confuse you. Let’s have a look at the other side now. The people who get confused..

Gone are the days when people just wanted to know if a movie is good or not. Today they want to know if the 150 bucks they spend for a movie is worth it or not. It’s a wise idea. But that’s only going to reduce the overall impact of the movie. Every person who thinks of watching a particular movie on the forthcoming weekend looks for a review on Thursday night. In the process, he knows the entire plot before entering the cinema hall. And hence, the element of surprise is completely eliminated.

Result is reduction in overall entertainment value of the movie. And when they don’t like the movie as much, they find fault with the one who reviewed it. Huff!! Vicious circle of reviewing!!

But I am not criticizing any of them. I am just “reviewing” them.

And after saying all that, being an ardent Indian movie fanatic, I end this with the cliché, “Movies are meant for entertainment. Let’s just enjoy them and not dissect and kill them.”  And more importantly, let’s hope that while criticizing the directors on how to 'make' movies, we don’t forget how to 'watch' movies.

Disclaimer: The writer himself has fallen prey to this vicious circle. He has provided ratings for movies on his Twitter timeline, and also looked for movie reviews on Thursday night. Hence, criticizing and reviewing him is welcome. We suggest you give him a generous 2.35 stars. What say?

The Thala Thalapathy Syndrome!

One is trolled for his mannerisms, the other for his aged looks. One is heavily criticized for having political ambitions, the other for not standing up/showing up in solidarity for people of his profession. One is abused for his over-the-top acting skills, the other for his inability to rock the dance floor. One is.. wait.. If I start writing up these thoughts, this would become a look-out-for page for one of the most dreaded diseases that has occupied the online space- the Thala-Thalapathy Syndrome. Thala (Leader) is the nick name for Tamil star Ajith Kumar, a man loved by his fans for his on-screen style and off-screen charisma. Ilaya Thalapathy (Young Commander) is the title for actor Vijay, a darling of the masses for his outstanding screen presence and dancing skills.

Hero-worship has been most popular in the southern part of the country from the days of Rajini-Kamal. And though technology has replaced 'real' fan-fights with 'virtual' fan-fights (read tag wars on FB & Twitter), the trademark 'paal-abhishekham' on the day of movie-release still continues. It’s always nice to see unconditional love for their stars (Gods) but it is the level of hatred for the rival, which is absolutely alarming with both stars' family being targeted with a flurry of abuses. And that's not it, you also see quite a few other celebrities like Premgi, Chinmayi, etc. being dragged into it. 

Today, if you ask anyone in Tamil Nadu who they like between Thala and Thalapathy, and the person will give you an answer. And to be fair, each one's opinion would be understandable. But over the past few years, especially the last year or so, the opinions have been turning into widespread hatred on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. Hate tags, horrible memes are now the talk of the town. It has almost become a rule that if you like one, you can't like the other (actually you need to hate the other). Disagree? Try posting a tweet favoring Thalapathy one day and a week after, post something good about Thala. You are likely to get a flurry of bad words. Reading them, you would actually feel sorry for your parents! 

         

Words like addict, fan, army, etc have replaced many personal identities on Facebook and Twitter. Pictures of their favorite stars have replaced their own display images. In fact, ask Twitter to conduct a survey on most-used word in this region of the country and you would know that "da" would emerge the winner. Reason? Mangatha da.. Thuppakki da.. Aarambam da.. Kaththi da..

Today, a Thala fan waits more for a Kaththi trailer release and a Thalapathy fan waits eagerly for the release of Yennai Arindhaal just so that they can create those memes and troll them. If you ask them why, they say, "maasss kaatturom da" (we want to show our dominance).

And this is just one side of it.

The other set of people, I mean the clever set of people, have cashed in on this fight attracting thousands of followers/viewers by adding fuel to the fire. They try to woo both groups of fans by projecting themselves neutral to both Ajith and Vijay. Their tweets include praise and criticism for both stars, eventually igniting a fight between the fans.In fact, I have even seen a post like "Neutral fan da". Good way to attract both groups of friends/followers. Isn’t it?

The bottom line is both Thala and Thalapathy have openly accepted in numerous public forums that they are friends and are in constant touch with each other. It’s only the young and immature people on the cyber space who take it as a matter of 'pride' for themselves to show up for their star. Some have even accepted that they love their stars more than their own parents. And in the process, they get 'used' by a set of people, the so-called movie trackers/reviewers for their success. Both the celebrities are supposedly active on Twitter and are aware of these fights.  Thala has abandoned his fan clubs and Thalapathy has asked his fans to concentrate on social issues and take care of their families. But, in the recent past, they haven’t done anything substantial to reduce the heat between these two groups of people. It should be noted that the bigger stars of this country, namely, SRK-Salman-Aamir have made regular public appearances and that has brought a lot of calm in the way their fans behave.

Having said all that, nobody knows when this will end and probably no scientist has a solution for this syndrome. All one can do is give his/her opinion and hope not to be abused. And about the next Superstar, the answer is simple. If Bollywood can handle three Khans at a time, Kollywood can manage two as well. But try telling this to the die-hard fans!!

On that note, I wind this up with the hope that I don’t get abused by the third set of people for not mentioning their star’s name, the Suriya fans!

The first interview..

One of the most anxious days in any person's life is the day of personal interview, especially when he desperately wants to get into that company. The person is nervous before the interview of how it would go about and then just anxious about what the result is going to be. The effect of adrenaline never subsides until the result is out. But this is one such interview in my life for which I was least prepared, My English was weak but still I was sure of getting selected! This is the story of my first interview...
After a long journey by bus, I reached the destination.On the other hand, the room was set for the interview. I waited for my turn for quite sometime and then I got a call. I went in along with another person (Mr. Prakash) who ensured me that I would get a place in the Company because he had got a recommendation for me.
The interviewer, pointing to the person accompanying me (Mr. Prakash) said, "Please come, Take your seat."
The anxiousness of listening to the first interview question was so much in me that even I sat along with Mr. Prakash though the interviewer hadn't asked me to. This was my second mistake.
Yes, The first mistake was to have not asked any excuse to the interviewer before getting into the room.
The interviewer stared at me and asked, "Did I ask you to sit?"
I was in my own world still thinking what is going to happen and hence, I couldn't catch what she said. I murmured, "Yes, madam????" (I actually meant that I couldn't hear you madam. Please repeat!) But I guess she thought otherwise. She thought that I meant a "yes" for her question.
Meanwhile, Mr. Prakash interrupted and told me in hindi ,"She didn't ask you to sit then why did you sit?"
I realized the mistake and as I was about to get up, the interviewer said (in a strong tone), "Now you be seated."
The interviewer took my aptitude scorecard and said,"I am picking you only because the Management has recommended you. Your score is as bad as 2/25 in English. I am giving you four months time and If I don't find your performance satisfactory, You will have to leave the Company."
I picked very little of what she said and hence, I used a safe option this time, "Ok madam."
The interviewer called her Personal Assistant and asked her to help me continue with the process of joining the company.
I was very embarrassed as I left the room. I felt like a loser who couldn't get even his basics right. In short, I felt like Rohit Sharma!
But, It was this day and this small incident that I pledged to make my place permanent in the company by learning English.
I joined the company, managed a good performance, yet I was silent for a year or so. I was quiet because I wanted to learn and understand English and then use it confidently. Within a year, I became good in the language. And that's not it. after 6 years, when I left the company, I got an award from the same interviewer for being the best!
Today, when I rewind, I realize that If I hadn't seen THAT day in my life, I wouldn't have seen THIS day in my life when I attend every interview with enough confidence to clear it.

Today, THAT first mistake is still registered in my heart that I never forget asking," May I come in?" to any interviewer before entering in. My second mistake is something which I would never repeat. I keep my calm and always wait for the interviewers to ask me to sit. Lastly, My English is also good enough at the business level.
But wait folks, I must also be thankful to life that this interview happened very early in my life. Yes, This happened when I was just entering my 7th standard of schooling. The Company I referred to is actually Terapanth Jain Vidyalaya, the school in which I studied from 7th std onwards. The interviewer was my School Principal and Mr. Prakash is my father. And The aptitude scorecard was actually my entrance test scorecard!

People say, Failures are the stepping stones to success..But I feel..
ONE FAILURE can be a stepping stone to MULTIPLE SUCCESS-es!
(No machaaa..don't relate this to your love-life :p)

Life so far..

It's never easy..Isn't it? We always think we need to explore life as much as we can..But as we cross our teenage, we realize that its life that explores us..because Its life that gives us those tricky situations, those tough-to-cross barriers, and also those unpredictable moments..and expects us to overcome them..

This being my first 'ever' blog.. I would like to introduce myself ..(yes I know am dreaming that my blogs would be read regularly)
Like most boys in this world, I am a 'confused' person..And like most of the engineering graduates, I am a 'jobless' person (jobless in any sense) at present..Not only regretting why i chose engineering.. But also regretting why i chose the so-called-first group, the SCIENCE group, at the higher secondary level..But wait..unemployment(in my words..unsatisfactory employment) is the only reason why i regret my choice..In return what i got was a gang of fun-loving, helping and caring friends..(Oh yes..one can get them anywhere..but some kameenays always need a mention..else am sure am losing out on few likes :p)
My journey actually started when I left one jain school and joined another..though i failed in my entrance test by a huge margin..like the margin of an India vs Zimbabwe cricket match ..Still I got the seat..of course by recommendation..(This is India boss..You can fail and still get what you want)
Here came my first challenge..coping up with new people..shifting from tamil-speaking friends to hindi speaking ones..(No..am not anti-tamil..don't ban me please :p)And yes..learning and understanding ENGLISH..(in which i was a zero then..)But I managed that..
I had many dreams..1. A typical indian childhood dream- to be a cricketer..(a dream that always remains a dream or a fantasy for that matter..for most..), 2. A typical marwadi dream- to be rich..and 3. a real dream - to be a journalist or a news anchor..hold the mike..and question the best in this country..(Yes this is the only way you can QUESTION top personalities in this country..else you just can't..)Dream 3 slowly became important for me..and I thought of going for it when I completed my tenth..I thought I will take commerce..do it easily..and go for a mass media course..But wait..the tenth results dropped a bomb shell..No..i didn't fail.. I got good marks..296/300 in science.. that made not only others force me take science..but became a reason for my dwindling fortunes there after..I chose biology over computer science..because I was a zero in comp science too..Probably this was a small complementary error in the big mistake that I made..Bio was never going to help me as a career option because you need 'some' lakhs to pursue medical studies in this country..unless you are a great student..I completed my twelfth standard after a health trouble..I won hearts along the journey(a best student award..a good guy image..and a trophy for culturals..trust me..the third one was most important to me..leading a group to victory)
Then came the most important phase..The second challenge..College..I could have chosen Mass media here again..But The popularity of engineering during this time was sky-high..I succumbed to this and applied at another jain institution..along with my friends..I wanted electronics because that was most sought after course that time..Yes..I was foolish to have thought this way..But then..Life is like this..It makes you look foolish today though you took those decisions yesterday..This time though..Recommendation didn't work..and I got civil engineering..
After a tough first year (with no school mate with me in my class,it was depressing)..A rather boring second year..an eventful third year.. and a shockingly unpredictable final year(a case of medical negligence), I completed my engineering..Not to forget..My College managed to provide me placement in a multi national company..the only MNC that came to our college that year(actually every year) ..But the only problem was that it is an IT company..
So after college..I tried for a civil engineering job..which I got..Oh yes..again in a jain institution..and yes..again by recommendation..which I left in four days..And now with no other option..am eyeing the big IT company with no knowledge in that stream (this is why i felt choosing bio over comp was an error..)Am going to join it..not to make a career..but to earn some money..because today that's what matters to do anything of your choice..I am surely going to have a crack at my 'media' dream some time in my life.This blog is one such step towards my dream..( I have now acted in a short movie for my friend..have written articles too..)
Its strange that though I was recommended at most places..I am not happy..Simply because..I didn't follow my dream..I don't know how many of you would relate to me..But I guess..All of you will agree with me in saying..
ENNA VAZHKA DA IDHU....