Everyday is a gift

After a long time, I watched 3 Indian romantic movies in a row with a kind of vengeful appetite. The first one was "Pokkisham", a Tamil movie by Cheran (starring himself and Padmapriya). Though the movie at times tested my patience, a melodious song "Nila, en Vaanam, Kaatru, Isai..." still reveberates in my ears. I repeated that song for 5 or 6 times until I concluded "Love is what we live for".

The second one was "Cheeni Kum". I watched that movie for Tabu. Her character reminded me of the most romantic girl in my life. Sorry Bachchan fans, I started hating that guy's acting.

The third one - "Das vidaniya" is about the last 10 things a cancer patient does in his life, I started at around 1 AM, but could not stop it until the movie ended at around 3 in the morning. There were a few moments in between when I did not bother to control tears snailing down my cheek in the privacy of my room. It reminded me of my own death and the unknown number of days we all have in our life.

Today when I woke up, I thanked God remembering Jhumpa Lahiri's words from her novel Namesake, "Everyday since then has been a gift".

Deira Clock Tower,Dubai in Melbourne, Australia!!!

Wondering what's this?? Well, exactly what we saw last evening!!

Hey...hey....hold on..don't let your thoughts go wild!! Let me explain the scenario which lead me to write this blog!

Movie: Main Aur Mrs.Khanna
Starring: Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Sohail Khan

We were watching the movie at Grand Cineplex. Was quite an OK movie, nothing too fablous about it. Beautiful locales, nice songs...Even the Melbourne Airport was quite nice to see. Then came up the intermission.

Right after the intermission, as usual, there was a twist in the movie and we were watching intently to see how the story would trun...the hero returns to Melbourne to see his wife and take her back with him to Singapore where he has secured himself a good job. Suddenly there's the Deira Clock Tower round-about being shown!! We even see the famous articulated RTA bus!!!

Wait-a-sec!! Wasn't the hero in Melbourne?? Where does the Deira Clock Tower come in then??

What a folly!! Did the director of the movie feel the audience would be idiots not to spot this?? This is so ridiculous!!

How could the director have surpassed this folly??? I wonder if this is the beginning of the downfall of Indian movies which is already in bad shape!! We needed a Danny Boyle to shoot a movie and  only then  did Rasool Pookutty and A R Rahman come to the international lime-light. What's wrong with the Indian directors?? Have they lost their ability to create a movie which can be of international standards?? Have they decided to make movies like Main Aur Mrs.Khanna with such disgraceful errors!!

Come on guys, I think we definitely need to raise our voices against such insanities. What's your say?? Would like to hear your comments on this.

മമ്മൂട്ടിയോ മോഹന്‍ലാലോ?

This is like a chicken or egg question. You many think you are entering into an intellectual exercise to prove your point, but all you do is “waste precious time”, I bet.

My friend, Aliyan Thambi is a self proclaimed hard core Mohanlal fan. But I seriously doubt he has soft corner for Mammooty. Anyway, I have made it a point ever since we met that I should always take the position opposite to him, no matter what. Though we shared all our inner secrets with each other right from school, we always kept this rivalry alive. When we are at peace, he sometimes tells me “I think we became close friends now”. I reply, looking at a distance and as slow as I can “You know what, I think we always were”. Then we go back to take our positions again.

Though I don the lungis of a Mammotty fan before him, I hate this entire fan fair. I feel like kicking their butt when I read about the envoy of Land Cruisers and Limousines on Dubai streets. “Idiots!” That’s how I flush out my anger (jealousy?).

My reason is, the moment you become a fan, you stereotype a talented actor. You only realize the tragedy, when you see the beggars coming your way. If you have a close look at them, your neurons might take you to the pages of "നാനാ”, “വെള്ളിനക്ഷത്രം” or “ചിത്രഭൂമി” stored in the cerebrum of your brain. They were once cheerful “Producers” of these formulaic superstar movies, the names of which even a hard core fan like Aliyan Thambi would prefer to forget.

Recently Mohanlal lamented, when some hooligans vandalized the sets of his movie in Aluva, about the loss it could make to an industry already under crisis. There is a crisis in Malayalam Film industry. I think it is not because of the advent of TV or pirated CDs. It is because of people like Aliyan Thambi, who go to theatres with banners, Peepees and chendas, just for their hero and not for the movie.

It appears to be harmless fun. But I disagree, not because Aliyan Thambi is on the other side (may be that's the primary reason). This human nature, to see things at its periphery without going deep inside, is the root cause of all major problems that we face today, for example Communalism, familial tensions, individual stress…..

That's why I tell it is neither Mammooty nor Mohanlal we should celebrate, it is the characters they play. We should go deeper inside.

In life, it is not the body that we should always think about for joy, we should have a little deeper insight. Our body is just a periphery, the real lasting joy comes from our soul.

Though he might need some digestive pills to take this philosophy in, I hope Aliyan Thambi will agree with me. After all, we have always been friends, real close friends!

My weekend ends here….. Till we meet again….. Peace be to you all!