Dasavatharam - Review

Everyone who watched the movie has an opinion. Well me too. I don't know if anyone cares to read my opinion, but I care to write:-) So here it is....

Basically a chaotic theory is one wherein long term predictions are impossible. Like for example, if I push a car, I know that it is going to move and it will continue to do so if I go on pushing it on and on. However, in a chaotic system, this situation cannot be predicted over a long period of time. Weather for example is a chaotic system. No matter how good your instruments are, you simply cannot predict the weather with 100% accuracy over a long term basis and forecast it. This is put forward by the butterfly effect which is the most important component of a chaotic system. Basically, small perturbations results in amplifications which completely destroys the original nature of the system and makes prediction impossible. If a butterfly flaps its wings in Africa, it could result in a cyclone in USA. (Mark the word COULD).

Now, the question arises: how does the film incorporate this? Basically, the movie talks about 9 characters who though unrelated to the principal character (Govind) as such, drive his destiny. Without Bush, the plane would have been turned back; if Kalfullah wouldn't have met Govind, Fletcher would have killed him very quickly. Each and every character drives Govind to the seashore, which when the tsunami strikes, is the right place to be, because the high content of salt in the roaring waves destroys the virus. This is the essence of chaos theory where totally unrelated incidents actually drive the world and affect one and all.

Now the question: how does Rangarajan Nambi (the first 15 min) fit into this puzzle? When the idol is submerged into the sea, the orderly nature of the sea and the sea bed is disturbed by a small amount. As per the butterfly effect stated above, the succeeding effects get amplified and ultimately result in a tsunami 800 years later. Kamal has applied chaos theory to plate tectonics which according to modern science is still under some debate.

So does the movie preach atheism or theism? Well, interestingly, the answer is neither. It simply tells that humans drive the destiny of the world. You may take it as you want to. The theists among us would say that the 12th century incident was engineered by God, to save the world from the deadly virus. The atheists and rationalists will say that separate incidents amplified and modified by chaos theory resulted in the tsunami which was both good and bad. All I can say is that both points of view are correct and I am sure your respective beliefs were reinforced at the end of the film. In my opinion, this is the brilliance of Kamal Haasan, the screenplay writer.

The movie also talks about Karma theory and the cycle of life and birth. One can consider Govind as a reincarnation of Nambi who dies failing to protect his ideology and is redeemed in the next birth by standing for what he thinks is right. Kothai and Nambi are separated at the idol and in the end of the movie the two are united at the same idol as Govind and Aandal. (this is not my imagination, but, Kamal has implied this is the re-recording and the idol's visuals.

Dasavatharam is not just an ordinary film. For the receptive people in the audience, it showcases the ideologies and beliefs that most human beings follow in their lives. Truly a masterpiece.

If Maheshbabu quits acting?

Found this forwarded mail. Anyways thought of posting this as it's a fact:-)


1.If he stops acting in films ?


2.If he doesnt allow his films to be dubbed ?


Will the above decision hurt "somebody's" fortune? If yes means does the "somebody" earns and lives on maheshbabus blessings? Here is ur answer

Mohammed Afzal and Pardoning

Where is the country heading to? Why all these human rights activists hell bent on pardoning the man who is behind (and convicted by supreme court) the Dec 13th Parliament attacks? Are those Jawans and people who gave their life on that day fools? Don't their life have any meaning? What does the communists really want?

Also on the sidelines are talks of Madhani getting released by the DMK government who is responsible for Coimbatore blasts. I am not asking the politicians to put an end to minority appeasement. All I am expecting is a little bit of common sense in them. Is it too much to ask for? Wait a miniute is'nt common sense and politics an oxymoron by Indian context? Hmm just rambling.....

PS.

If you really feel that Afzal deserves death penalty then please sign the petition on this link. I am neither a supporter of Hindu jagruthi nor a member of the organization. Neither did I support their earlier campaigns but on this issue I decided to sign up the for the campaign. Feel free to sign the petition if you support it.

Once upon a time...

Given below is a story which might be popular among parents of current generation and generation further down. Modelled on Ferrari Prabhu's He-She series.

Long long ago, nobody knows how long ago there lived two thieves He and She. Both decided to do their business (robbery)together. He is a thief whose area is limited to couple of states in India. She's area is vast and bigger and has an all India presence. Being a national player she had more regional partners like "He" across the country. Given below is a He-She conversation right after their successful job execution in "He's" area.

He: Hi She!! Thanks for your support. That was a good execution.
She: Yes. I still could'nt control my laughter looking at the way the bankers got deceived.
He: Yes. Thanks for your co-operation, both pick-pocket and bank robbery would'nt have gone well without you.
She: Yes can we divide our shares now.
He: Sure!! You keep the pick-pocketd amount and I'll keep the bank loot.
She: Excuse me!! I thought we are equal partners. Last time I gave you your share on bank robbery.
He:Yes because we just did Bank robbery that time. But now together did 2 jobs, you take 1 and I'll take another.
She: Then shall I take the Bank loot you take the pick-pocketed one?
He:!!!!

PS.

The story and its characters are purely fictional and is no way associated with the real life incidents or political power sharing on the south after the current elections. If they appear so then it is purely co-incidental.

Hail Captain

Hats off to Vijaykanth for his victory and securing around 8% vote on his debut. Though I am a serious critic of his acting I holding him high on political front for now.

Those four articles

A few days back I read an article at Rediff, that said China won the economic battle over India at Davos. Having read more China Vs India reviews by various experts, where while comparing the neighbours most of them put China ahead (Except for hardcore patriotic Indi-economists or Francois Gautier or Thomas Freidman of NY times) I was surprised to find these 4 recently written articles forwarded thru one of my friend which talks hightly of India. Just thought of sharing with others. And the important thing to be noted is it did'nt come out from predicted set of Authors.

Article 1.

Written by Professor Yasheng Huang of MIT Sloan School of Management, who himself is of Chinese origin writes on China, in an article titled, "China could learnfrom India's slow and quiet rise" in the FINANCIAL TIMES. Click on the title link to read the complete article.

I personally liked the following quotes on this article as this also vindicates my stand that Privatisation does increase the efficiency.

***India's GDP growth rate at 7-8 per cent is more impressive than than China's9-10 per cent because India is achieving this result with just half of China'slevel of domestic investment in new factories and equipment, and only 10 percent of China's foreign direct investment. The evidence is as clear as ever:China's growth stems from massive accumulation of resources, while India'sgrowth comes from increasing efficiency.***

***An economic litmus test is not whether a country can attract a lot of FDIbut whether it has a business environment that nurtures entrepreneurship,supports healthy competition and is relatively free of heavy handedpolitical intervention. In this regard, India has done a better job thanChina. From India emerged a group of world-class companies ranging fromInfosys in software, Ranbaxy in pharmaceuticals, Bajaj Auto in automobilecomponents and Mahindra in car assembly. This did not happen by accident.***

Article 2.

In an article titled, "In India-China Race My Money Is on India" in BLOOMBERG.COM dated January 30, 2006, columnist William Pesek Jr. writes more or less similar to Article #1. But one point is debatable when he says

***Economists are also noticing that India'seconomy is looking less like those in East Asia and more like those in the West.***

Well IMHO India I think is still not yet at the height of capitalism as seen on West forvarious reasons. And I believe our economy is unique and we are somewhere between captialism and socialism now, probably leaning towards capitalism.

To read the complete article click here.

Article 3.

Third, an article by Salil Tripathi in THE GUARDIAN dated January 27, 2006titled "Merging Markets."

I personally liked the referece to Nobel laureate Amartya Sen's - "The Argumentative Indian"

For more on his article click here.

Article 4.

Anand Giridharadas in THE INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE dated January 26, 2006, titled, "China vs. India: A battle of ideas.".

Quality not up to the standards of previous 3 articles. It's more of an Patriotic Indian viewleaning towards India. Visit here to read more of this article.

And finally The Action.

All said and done, enough of predictions for now. Here comes the Action part. An ambitious Anti-poverty drive from the Government of India. Hope it succeeds. Good luck India!!!

Illegal City?

Well our national capital seems to float anything that is mentioned illegal on our law books. Perhaps something to do with the influx of politicians there for decades.

The Court orders to bring down all ill-legal buildings within the city. This includes Residential complexes, Corporate offices, Schools, Shopping malls and what not?

PM intervenes to look into it. What are they going to look in to? Looks like a conflict between the court order and the corridors on power is again on its way.

Captain Vijaykanth in and as Jail Kaidhi

Introduction.

Ever since I watched "The Shawshank Redemption" I was wondering why our Tamil movie makers fail to come up with movies that rivals Hollywood standards? Having lost all hopes with the existing directors, I thought why don't I make movies of this standard and here I am giving it a shot.

Coimbatore Talkies Presents - Captain Vijaykanth In and As - "Jail Kaidhi"
Story, Screen, Direction - Maayavan

First like any typical Desi director I thought of various plots and decide to re-use Kadhai karu (Base Story) from "The Shawshank Redemption" and adapt it to our masses. Only hero I can think of playing the role of Tim Robbins is none but our Captain Vijaykanth. As soon as I told the story to Captain he readily agreed. Captain also gave a suggestion that though there is no main heroine character on original let's modify it a bit to have 2 heroines less than half the age of heros to suit Tamil movie culture. I readily agreed and came out with the following story.

Story.

The story starts with Susai (Manivannan Playing Red - Morgan Freeman's role on the original) chatting with "Alla kais" on the jail. At that time a petty fight goes on in the Jail where a prisoner with "Arasiyal Selvakku" and gym body fights with a choclate boy Abbas (Please note that Abbas pleaded with me that he is ready to act in any thukkada role and he is okay to act as long as he gets a chance. I said okay as he comes cheaper than even many Junior Artistes and choose him for this role). Ok now read on for the story... At the end of the fight Abbas barely managing to win with blood coming out of his forehead and nose is clearly frustrated and comes near Susai and gang. He vents his frustration @ Susai. Susai askes him to cool down and says aAnanapatta EzhilazhaganE eppadi ellam irundhar theriyuma? Abbas asks who is Ezhilazhagan. Red ... Err... Susai tells the flashback here.

Flashback.

Now we show our hero Ezhilazhagan (Vijaykanth) standing on "Kuttravali koondu" on court. Lawyer Varadarajan (Poornam Vishwanathan) was interrogating our Captain on murdering his wife, in front of Judge Charuhassan. During the interrogation Varadarajan accuses Captain of commiting the crime and places various (obviously false)evidences in front of the judge. Captain keeps mum without answering any of Vakeel Varadhu's questions. During the interrogation time, we show Captain's Red eyes in close-up and varadarajan speaking in background.

At the end of the interrogation, Judge Charuhassan hammers his desk thrice - Says "Order, Order, Order" and sentences lifetime imprisonment to Captain. At this time we show the "Title" with a "Thathuva padal" praising our Captain and touches the heart of "Thaikulams".

Police then takes our Captain into custody and brings him to Prison. PrakashRaj is the Jailor. As soon as our hero enters with other prisoners (One of them Vadivelu for Comedy track), Prakash raj instructs the prisoners on Do's and Don'ts at prison and hands over a copy of Thirukural book to all prisoners, quotes couple of kurals and demands all prisoners to read Kural and lead a "Nerimurai Vazhkai" per kural. At this juncture our jailor doesn't know that he is dealing with a Thirukural expert in Captain. We as moviemakers don't reveal Captains Kural skills at this point and reserve it for later stage of film. Now read on....

First the prisoners are asked to undress. Captain and Vadivelu along with other prisoners stand with a kodu potta / Nada kattina under-wear showing their Gym bodies. Police arranges to cut hairs for all prisoners and for whatever reason puts mottai on our Captain. Here our sub-jailor (New Mumbai import - Second heroine) Nisha sees our hero half-naked. His red eyes, mottai thalai, gym body with underwear all together adds to an already existing sex-appeal of captain. With such a deadly combination, as per our Tamil movie logic our mumbai import should obviously find our captain irresistable and she wonders WOW what a man. And we cut the scene here and go to Australia and NZ where our Captain dances with Mumbai girl. When the song ends a constable gives the jail uniform to all prisoners and our Captain gets a uniform with number "786" printed on it. Captain wears the dress and gets into his cell.

Next day morning we show sun rising at Marina beach and next show Chennai Central railway station and then the road with buses and autos honking. Then we focus the camera to Central Prison and the focus prisoners working on Jail. [Digression: As a director I feel that showing sun-rising on the beach and following sequences of scenes till we show prisoners working on jail are important scenes of this movie and are very much related to the story and will be noted definitely by the American Oscar committee while nominating this movie for Oscar.] Ok now read on for the story. Here we have a comedy track involving Vadivelu, Manivannan and Kovai Sarala (A constable on jail). At the end of comedy track we show Captain walking towards Manivannan (Who supplies prohibited items to inmates) and asks if he can supply him with a Suthi (Hammer) and kayiru (rope). Manivannan says that if our Captain has any plans of escaping with a suthi it's impossible since the jail has 25 feet high and 20 feet deep wall surrounded by koovam and even if he manages to put vottai (hole) on the wall by digging the wall inch by inch for 20 years and manages to get out of prison, he can no way escape Coouvam as its gabbu will kill him. Our Captain just smiles and asks Manivannan to get him what he needs, which Manivannan agrees to. After the conversation Captain turns back to walk towards the screen on slow motion and his shoulder collides with the shoulders of Rowdy Mani (Ponnambalam) who is an "Arasiyal selvakku" guy. Our Captain keeps walking even after colliding with rowdy mani. Rowdy Mani's alla kais starts yelling at Captain. Dei yaru mela idichitu pora theriyuma? Ponnambals raises his hand asks his Alla kais to keep quiet and slowly walks towards Captain. At this time Jailor Prakash Raj is on his rounds and luckily for ponnabalam the fight is temporarily avoided.

Prakashraj takes captain to his lockup to do a routine checkup of how he's doing with "Thirukural" assignment. Vijaykanth fluently says couple of kurals and gives a statistics that goes like this. Thirukural-a ezhudinadhu Thiruvalluvarngara tamilan (With a stress on 'la' instead of Tamil 'zha"). Motham kural 1330, Pal 3, adhula motha varthai 9310. Motha ezhuthu 55860, adhulla arathu paal ezhutukkal 21320, Portpal ezhuthukkal 13,517, kamathu paal ezhuthukkal 21023. Motha mei ezhuthukkal 13253, Uyir ezhuthukkal 18350 and Uyirmei ezhuthukkal 24257. Adhula arthupPal uyir ezhuthukkal... Prakashraj stops Captain and says "Unnoda tamizh arivukku munnala ella tamizhanum picha vanganumYa, Unkitta irukara patru, vegam, vivegam, arivu idhu ellam sarva sadharnama yaarukkum varadhu". In short he says our captain is the only man on the planet to save Tamil and people of Tamilnadu from the clutches of Hindi and other non-tamil alien languages and bakisthan theeviravadhigal. As he is really impressed with the level of Captain's knowledge he also gives Captain the privilege to work for himself and assigns a task to renovate the Jail library.

In the meantime Sub-jailor - Mumbai import (DIGRESSION: Long time no see in movie after introduction song) searches his cell and reports Prakashraj that she did'nt find anything suspicious. Before Prakashraj leaves the cell he thinks our Captain deserves something extra, like entertainment on his cell. He normally does not relax strict prison rules for anyone but thinks exception can always be made. He says something on to a constables ears who chuckles(namuttu sirippu). Next day morning to his astonishment captain sees a poster of "Gundu Nayanthara" on his cell. He was too surprised and keeps looking at Nayanthara. In seconds Nayanthara on the poster comes out live in front of Captain and they both leave together to Rajasthan desert for a Kuthu paatu. [DIGRESSION AGAIN: Earlier the Director thought of going to beaches of Mauritius for the Kuthu song, but considering the size of Captain and Nayanthara and even worse imagining them dancing together the Federation of American scientists issued a warning saying that that could trigger an earthquake measuring between 10 to 12 on the Richter scale and could trigger a potential Tsunami. So I had to drop that idea and take them to Rajasthan desert].

At the end of the kuthu song we show captain writing a letter to Tamilnadu government asking for funds to renovate the prison library. He says if government does not agree then he might have to start writing his auto-biography, xerox it and will send to all government offices in Tamilnadu. Scared of this the government decides to fund the renovation project and sends a letter approving the same. Prakashraj and other mamus on the jail are happy to see what captain achieved (and what they could not for years). After this scene there is a comedy track again between Vadivelu, Kovai Sarala and Manivannan. At the end of comedy track all prisoners assemble for lunch. Our Captain also stands at the end of the queue. Ponnambalam and his gang comes in now and they start teasing all those standing on line. Our captain gets irritated but does nothing. Ponnambalam's gang in the mean time wants to get their share of meals first and do not want to stand on line. They keep advancing towards black Anda where rice is placed. A 70 year old perisu was turning back after getting his meal. Ponnambalam's allakai's asks perisu why at this dyeing age perisu needs food and throws perisu's plate. Captain can take it no longer. Captain dives and cathes the plate before it falls on the ground and collects rice, poriyal and sambar on the way puts back on the plate and gives it back to perisu. Now all allakais gives sound (Sound vidarathu) against our Captain. Ponnambalam again raises his hand, asks his allakais to keep quiet and starts advancing towards captain and says "Naan yaaru en balam enna Minister Vishwanathanukkum enakkum irukkara uravu ennannu theriyama adikadi en route-la cross pannra. Idhuve kadaisiya irukkattum. Jagiradhai".

On hearing Minister Viswanathan's name (Aashish Vidyarthi) Captains Red eye turns even redder and we have to use advanced Red-eye reduction and graphics techniques to show tolarable red-eye of captain to the viewers. Then we show Black and White nagative images of Minister Vishwanathan, Vijayakumar, Manorama and Trisha flashing on the screen for seconds. Then we go to flashback within a flashback.

Flashbackukkul Flashback.

Our hero lives with his everloving parents Vijayakumar and Manorama on a village near Thanjavur. He works as a "Bank Aapisar" on a Co-operative bank, which used to give Agricultural loans, Kozhi pannai loans etc., Trisha the Heroine is shown as his maama ponnu who keeps visiting Captain's house with her widowed mother Gandhimadhi frequently. There is an introduction song for Trisha across the banks of River Cauvery and pachai pasumai vayals on her village. We also show couple of Trisha / Captain teasing scenes to show the "Chuttiness" of Trisha and Captains Romance rasam (Navarasathula onnu).

Aashish Vidyarthi was a leader of "Kalla saraya" gang on the village. He once applies for a "Kozhi pannai" loan at captain's bank and intends to use the money for his Saraya business. Captain finds out his intentions and blocks the loan. Enemity develop between our captain and main villain and it grows day by day. Our villain underestimates captains fighting skills thinking that he is a bank aapisar who cannot fightback, and sends adi-alls to kill captain. But captain kicks all adial / podials butts, speaks out volumes of non-stop dialogues, chodakifies his virals vittufying saval. Again Captains eyes becomes red and we have to use technology to show mild redness for viewers plesant experience. When the villain vishwanathan was wondering what to do to take revenge, he sees Trisha on a temple along with Captain, his parents and Gandhimadhi and comes to know about their relationship. Then he charts out a plan to close his family.

Unaware of all this plans, Captain's family prepares for his engagement with Trisha. On the day of engagement when engagement pathirikai is being read by sitting on a pai (mat) Trisha and our Captain exchanges looks, and Trisha slides her head down to face ground (DIGRESSION: Tamil Penn vetkkam). From here we go to Alps @ Swizerland for a Song where our Captain is fully clothed with flourescent yellow coat and green tie and Trisha dressed up with her 1st standard studying akka ponnus dress. On this song Captain plays pallanguzhi on Trisha's thoppul - A new methodology introduced to Tamil mass thru this movie. [DIGRESSION: Olympic committee is seriously considering including Thoppul games on Bejing olympics considering its popularity which grew leaps and bounds Thanks to Tamil cinema].

At the end of the song again we show sun rising at Marina and this time Captain getting ready for office. Aachi Manorama while ootifying mammu for his pet son says that rest of the family is planning to get the invitation from Printing press and will be going to ettupatti - suthupattis to invite people for invitation. Captain asks if he needs to accompany them, but aachi refuses saying "Kalyana payyan veyyilla ellam suthinna karuthuduva. Nee office po-ya naanga ellam parthukarom". Captain half heartedly leaves for work. While going he hits his forehead on vasal nilapadi (Sagunam). Manorama and Vijaykumar together comes down holds him and says "Parthu poyya." Then Captain comes out, starts his bike which would'nt start due to some reason [Again sagunam]. Finally one of his bank buddy arrives by that way on his bike and offers him a lift. And thus Captain leaves to work.

Then Aachi says, enna masamasannu ninnukittu irukeenga unga thangachiyayum marumagalayum kootikitu invitation vera kudukka poganum, kalyana velai vela thalaikku mela irukku masamasannu nikkama kilambunga. Then they go to Trisha's house picks them up and all set to leave suthupati gramam's on an arranged matador van. At this time they are unaware that the villains group has kidnapped and killed the original driver and an adiyal pretends to be a new driver saying "Vazhakama vara driver innikku leave-u enna anupittanga". The new driver kidnaps the entire family as per the plan, takes them to villans house at malai uchi ties them up and goes thru with routine tamil pada villain dialogues. Finally he calls Captain over cellphone and says "ennamo perisa saval vittutu pona ippo un kudumbamae en kaiyila, unna onnum panna mudiyathunnu ninaicha illa ippo paru un kudumbathayae close panna poren. Adha parthu andha chitravadhaiya dhinam dhinam nee anubavikkanum, idhu than ennoda aasai" and cuts the phone. Our captain somehow gets to know the location after asking his neighbours and road-ora tea kadai and madu meikaravan and finally manages to reach the malai uchi. But by that time he can see flames coming up from malai-uchi veedu and house being bombed. He goes up cries, sees his fathers kilinju pona thuni, moms kannadi and Trisha's ribbon (Ooru tiruvilavula vaangi kuduthathu) and vows to kill Vishwanathan. But villan was ahead of him by one-step and creates evidences as if captain killed his own family. Police arrests captain and when case is on court villain becomes minister somehow.

Back From Flashbakkul Flashback.

Now we cut the scene and come back to the Captain and Ponnambalam were face off. Captain is fully charged now after hearing minister's name. Kicks ponnambalams nenju with full force. Ponnambalam keeps flying and flying and flying ...till he reaches the 20 feet deep Prison compund wall, travels 10 feet within the wall (That's the power of Captains kick. All prison wall bricks are shown flying on slow motion here) making a 10 feet deep hole on the 20 feet deep wall. By looking at it all allakais are surprised and they all come one by one and Captain kicks everyones butt and make them fly to the same spot. The 10 feet hole gets deeper and deeper and by the end of the action all allakai's and ponnambalam were found kicked out outside prison wall and left murmering on pain @ Coouvam. When all this action happened the prison had our mumbai import sub-jailor and a few constables. Jailor Prakashraj was shown having a thanni party with minister vishwanathan, saying that he earned the trust of Captain and will finish captain at the appropriate time using the trust (Uravadi kedukarathu).

We switch back to prison again, our mumbai import heroine somehow manages to find links between jailor Prakashraj and Minister Vishwanathan. She brings a file shows various papers to Captain proving the link between them and their intention. Seeing the nyayam in Captains kobam (anger), she instructs all constables not to take any action and asks captain to leave the Prison thru the hole. But here one has to keep in mind that the prison wall is surrounded for 5kms by Coouvam river. Since it's highly toxic and notorious for its bad gabbu, the challenge is how captain is going to escape from it. It's here captain uses the rope and hammer that he asked for earlier. He ties one end of the rope to a udainja compound wall kambi and other end to the hammer. Captain throws the hammer tied end with full force. We show the object travelling, travelling, travelling and finally lands at the Napier bridge over Coouvam. A click sound is finally heard and the hammer finally gets struck on the Napier bridge. Now Captain checks for the strength of the rope by shaking it and makes sure that it will take his weight. Then he jumps and traverses on the rope towards the other end on top of Coouvam. [Digression: People will appreciate this breathtaking shot taken with 12 cameras from various helicopters that shows the entire landscape of Coouvam. First of its kind in Indian movies]. Finally captain reaches other end of Coouvam and sees a man getting down from his car to answer natures call. Conviniently for captain the car was left on and open. He picksup the car and the owner runs a few yards shouting "hai..." and his part is over for the money paid to him.

Now captain gate crashes minister vichu's house and the vehicle comes to a halt with screeching noise. Captain gets down the door, various adiyals tries to halt the captain on the way and they are no match to captains poweress. Captain handles them at ease with one hand and keeps marching towards the "thanni party room". When captain gets there he sees Prakashraj, Aashish Vidyarthi, karai vetis and few suit-wearing Businessmen(??). Minister says "Nee varuvennu yenakku theriyum. Jail-lendhu thapichu vandhu enga saAganum-ngaradhu un vidhi-da" and calls "Robert". There you see a huge mountain Err... man who ate food his entire life for this purpose. Initially he kicks Captains butts till captain gets to a position that he cannot get up. Prakashraj, Aashish vidyarthi et al starts round kattifying and nakkal adichifying captain, but does not kill him. While hearing the nakkals again Black and white nagatives of Trisha, Aachi, Vijaykumar flashes on Captains mind which charges his body. Captain gets up with a "deiiiiiiiiiiii.........." sound. This time even the mountain man is no match to captain. He kills all one by one and police comes at the end asusual. Our Mumbai import in the mean-time contacts IG (Actor Rajesh) and submits the file (proof). Rajesh speaks to CM and exposes the nexus between Kalla sarayam business / Minister /Prakash Raj. Captain slowly gets up, falls down, tries to get up again and our Mumbai import helps him to get up properly. Our captain puts his hand around Mumbai import's waist and they both slowly walks out of the house.

THE END - A film by Coimbatore Talkies...

Making of Jail Kaidhi - Highlights

1. Earlier we thought of naming the movie "Ezhil Azhagan". But I was not sure if this movie will be a hit without controversy. The movie plot was neither controversial. Since I had complete faith in Wr.Ramadoss and Jeans Thirumavalavan I kept this half-english title. Now Tamil public is assured of larger than life comedy (they deserve) from Wr.Ramadoss and Thirumavalavan. [Digression: By the way Wr. is to Woodcutter like Dr. to Doctor].

2. While Nayanthanra and Captain's dance was filmed at Rajasthan desert, the western countries at the same time recorded seismic activities and they thought India is ON with another nuclear test. Their suspicion grew since the activity recorded was very near Pokhran. Later it's a seperate story that Indian government had to intervene and pacify those nations by showing the exclusive video footings to the UN at Geneva.

3. Punch line on original - Fear can hold you a prisoner for ever. Hope sets you free
Punch line on Captain's movie - Bayam unnai sirayil thallum, Nambikkai siraiYai unnul thallum.

Moral of the Story.

Cinemakaranga mattum than message sollanuma? At the end of the post here is the message from my end. Anbarndha IyakunargalaE / NadigargalaE. I seriously took up a kadhai karu and wanted to give a good movie, but as I selected actor, started catering to masalas, actor image etc., Shawshwank Redemption became Jail kaidhi as mentioned above. Now can't you guys see how the quality of movie got diluted when you start catering to image of actor / actress, masalas etc? So please atleast in future don't compromise on quality for the sake of anything. You as moviemakers has the advantage to mould the cinegoers rasanai. So please use that advantage for good.

Send back the Clémenceau

Picture Courtesy: Greenpeace

Current Issue.

One of my pet topics now. For the benefit of those wondering what Clemeanceau is click here. This is a huge ship that contains tonnes and tonnes of hazardous materials (Primarily asbestos) headed towards India from France to get scrapped on the beaches of Alang, Gujarat.

Greenpeace is doing its best to protest and stop this 27,000 tonnes of WMD before reaching Indian waters. They say it's a ship that died long back but does not stop killing. Click here and here for their partially successful (though temporary) efforts so far.

This is a ship that obviously nobody wants, which is evident from the various futile attempts earlier to get it scrapped as given here.

After repeated attempts in vein to get the ship scrapped, France is trying to send it to India to get the dirty work done and Greenpeace is protesting whereever it can on its way. Egypt seemed to heed the protests for a moment as it asked for proof to allow the passage of the ship. Supreme court of India issued a temporary block and ordered the ship to stay off Indian waters.

But unfortunately Egypt cleared (rather France successfully negotiated) the passage of the ship after holding it for few days. They probably did it since the ship is not an environmental headache for them. A shocking decision for all who cares for the environment. Now the ball is in the court of Government of India and the Supreme Court of India. Hope Indian government and SC deals it with a responsible manner now. The final verdict is supposed to be given on Feb 13th. So please act now by clicking on this Take Action link to support Greenpeace campaign from your end. For more updates on this story on day to day basis click here.

Long Term Issue.

And now irrespective of whatever happens in this issue the question is - Should India seriously reconsider moving / halting the huge Ship-breaking facility at Alang, Gujarat?

Alang is a place where more than half of the world's retired ships are broken / destructed for its valuable steel. As it brings out more employment opportunities, it's also an environmental and ecological hazard. Already India has a bad track-record in maintaining its natural resources. What should be our priority now? A job to thousands, economy or environment? A tricky question where it's not easy to get an answer.

Apart from the ecological system, the safety and health conditions of these relatively underpaid / poor workers are even at a greater risk. For reports related to main challenges to the to humanity and ecosystem visit the Greenpeace site or Unesco reports. Greenpeace even runs a video at their shipbreak homepage. Man I can't even imagine how bad environment it is for people to work on.

Solutions(???)

One way out in the interests of both economy and environment I believe is modernising the facilities that adheres to environmental standards. Unfortunately modernisation means more cost for the shipping companies. For example Greenpeace does talk highly of Pipayav yard in India. It's pathetic that Pipayav have to wait for orders. The situation of Pipayav yard, indicates that the shipping companies are not willing to pay more for Shipbreaking. They should also understand that modernisation costs them money too.

So the initiative I believe beyond Indian government's or for that matter beyond any ship-breaking countries government's reach. All involved has to co-operate. The Shipping companies, the shipbreaking facilities, the operators, Indian and all foriegn governments involved everyone should do their bit. Otherwise the money will be pumped in to yards like Pipayav and the ship owners will keep sending their ships to cheaper ones that does not adhere to environmental standards (as long as such facilities exist).

Despite modernisation, I think India and other South Asian countries can still win contracts the IT way - meaning cheap labour. But the shipping companies / countries also should understand that while the cost will be less than the West, it will go up than what they pay now for larger good.

Bottomline: Strike a balance between economy and environment, and make sure that environment gets its due.

References : Greenpeace and BBC