Monday, February 27, 2006

Mata (U/A)

Wanted to see this movie for multiple reasons.
1. Publicity it had got.
2. "Navarasa nayaka" Jaggesh's hundredth film.
3. The storyline made light of the Swami culture of Hinduism.

Finally got a chance to view it yesterday. I am still wondering how to rate this movie. I prefer to just give the pluses and minuses.

+ ves
Different music - Old melodies are played. English and Hindi tunes come aptly based on the occasion. The Rangeela music that comes when the 'jollu' swamini comes on screen is an example. This is something new in cinemas and common in college plays. There is stunning song which the evergreen Ashwath has sung.
Good acting - Just see the face of Jaggesh where he moves his lips to seduce...Just superb. The others are also good. Everybody stands out in this aspect.
Good direction - Story telling is in a flash back. The 'Upakathes' are shown well. Each of the 'Upakathes' have a good meaning. The story that highlights "Prositutes are humans too" stands out. Old shots of emperors are in black and white.

- ves
Thin storyline - There is a "Mata" which needs a swami. The aspirants are the so called bad citizens of this country. The story revolves around how these guys are trained to become a swami.
Not a family entertainer - I am still wondering how the movie escaped a "A" certificate. The dialogues are too crude and typical bachelor dialogues. Some jokes would make the women folks hide their face as a wave of laughter filled the theater.
Did not highlight all the negatives of being a swami, though the intent was this. This aspect of the movie disappointed me the most. Swami can cheat the public in different ways, but the main focus of this movie was the women and sex angle of swamis. Some incidents like the Kanchi murder have been shown but theres no significance or value addition to the storyline.

Guys can watch this movie in theaters with their female partners at home. Young directors like Nagendra Prasad are good signs to Kannada industry, but should do better in terms of the storyline and mass audience. Jaggesh, Mandya Ramesh and others have lot of fun left in their lifes...:-))

Friday, February 24, 2006

Limitations - Mental block

I have read several stories of motivation, inspiration etc. But this story beats them all.

Here's a story about George Dantzig - the famed mathematician who's contributions to Operations Research and systems engineering have made him immortal.

As a college student, George studied very hard and often late into the night. So late, that he overslept one morning, arriving 20 minutes late for Prof. Neyman's class. He quickly copied the two maths problems on the board, assuming they were the homework assignment. It took him several hours to work through the two problems, but finally he had a breakthrough and dropped the homework on Neyman's desk the next day.
Six weeks later, on a Sunday morning, George was awakened at 6 a.m. by his excited professor. Since George was late for class, he hadn't heard the professor announce that the two unsolvable equations on the board were mathematical mind-teasers that even Einstein hadn't been able to answer.

But George Dantzig, working without any thoughts of limitation, had solved not one, but two problems that had stumped mathematicians for thousands of years.
Simply put, George solved the problems because he didn't know he couldn't.
You are not limited to the life you now live. It has been accepted by you as the best you can do at this moment. Any time you're ready to go beyond the imitations currently in your life, you're capable of doing that by choosing different thoughts.

All you must do is figure out how you can do it, not whether or not you can. And once you have made your mind up to do it, it's amazing how your mind begins to figure out how.

A person is limited only by the thoughts that he/she chooses.

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Ethical problem

Are humans selfish? Anybody with a little bit of sense would say “YES”. To prove this point we humans keep doing selfish acts. The latest addition to the list of selfish acts is happening in India now…Rather is it a selfish act at-all????

Since the time bird flu has struck a small town of Maharastra, millions of chickens have been culled across the country. Yes, avian flu is deadly and the chickens are spreading them.
But what is the chicken's fault in it...We humans kill everything that causes or remotely may cause harm to us. One may question, what else can be done? It’s not for me to answer this question. They can pour in money to research on some medicine to vaccinate the chickens!!! No...we kill them. What are the so called animal welfare organizations doing? Watching the chickens being culled on TV and on paper!!!
The age old truth is time and proven true again..."Kill before being killed"! or the positive way to put it "Survival of the fittest"

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Bridegroom - Villain

I want to bring in a different aspect of the Indian wedding systems...rather a very well known aspect, but not thought of. First of all let me throw some light on the title of this blog.

If you have watched some Indian movies, you will be aware of the most common story line we use. There are 2 lovers, who want to stay happily together. But there is a villain (could be the father of either of the lovers or some third person) who is determined to screw the happiness of the lovers. In most cases the ending is happy.

Now come to Indian weddings...there are the girl's parents and the girl who love each other a lot. They live together for 20+ yrs under one roof and may want to stay together ever after. Then the boy or the bridegroom enters the scenario. He with all the romantic and sweet nothing dialogues holds the girl's hand in a lavish wedding. He separates the girl from her parents and keeps her with his family. But hopefully keeps her happy later. So we still have a filmy end. But is the bridegroom a villain as in Indian movies because he is successfully separating the bride from her parents and siblings too?

Most brides and grooms would not have thought about this angle of marriage. Boys and girls generally think of compatibility issues, good and bad habits, dressing sense, communication, qualification etc. But to how rebuild a girl's broken heart after the separation from her parents is an issue which the ‘would be’ bridegrooms have to ponder upon.

The sad part is that there are no 'obvious' ways to the solution. There are no books or guidance in whatever way available because most of the boys and girls don't think of this aspect of marriage :-)