I exist therefore I am

“I exist therefore I am” echoed a firm voice on Saturday 14th Dec 02 on the IIT Grounds, Chennai. And for a sweet surprise it was Kamalhassan’s voice which stressed on the motto behind The Banyan. He was dressed in a sherwani with a shawl around him. A few comments came from my friends that he was trying to pose the Big B.

It was a show called Netru Indru Naalai [Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow], organised by The Banyan, a public charitable trust which reaches out to destitute, mentally-ill women, who are often to be seen wandering through our streets. The Banyan was created in August 1993 by two college girls Vandana Gopikumar & Vaishnavi Jayakumar . This is a yearly event organised to collect charity for Banyan.

Kamalhassan was not the only star in the event. It included a host of other stars and singers like Suhasini Mani Ratnam, Revathy, S.P Balasubramaniam, K J Yesudas, Sujatha, Karthik, Srinivas and ofcourse Mumtaz and Sneha.

But the show highlights was Kamalhassan and his promotion to his latest movie Anbe Sivam. When they played the teaser of Anbe Sivam, Kamalhassan came to the stage, singing the theme of the movie. Looks like he is trying to portray that Love is the only god. The movie line is about a train accident and its aftermath. Kamal plays as an artist of a village art and looses one of his legs in the train accident. He also damages his face badly and the movie goes on to say about love and stuff like that. This is the storyline that goes in rounds in the cinema circle but I am not very sure if this is true one. Madhavan too plays next to Kamal in this movie. Vidyasagar’s theme music is fabulous. Well about songs, we need to wait and see.

Kamalhassan went on to sing his few songs in the unplugged fashion with a famous Pianist (forgot his name). It certainly was a great gesture by Kamal to come to such an event but few had a feeling that he hijacked the show for his movie promo.

Then came the historical duo of tamil cinema, KJY and SPB. Songs they choose to sing weren’t the best ones indeed but it was nice to see the two on stage. SPB accepted like before that his breathless song in Mannil Indha Kathal was just jazzed up tech stuff and he sang it, ofcourse taking a breath.

Shobana and her fusion bharatnatyam was extra-ordinary. This is not her best again but the fusion music to which she dance had more depth in it.

What reverberated in us when we came back was the meaning of I exist therefore I am. True indeed.