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Last night on Vijay TV, in the hot(not really) political/social show, Makkal Yaar Pakkam, there was a discussion about Love Marriages and their social impact. Dheemtharikida Gnani was trying to balance the show with some honest views. Then came a phone call from the upcoming lyricist Pa.Vijay, who said in totallity, Love isn’t an appropriate feeling and one should always go for an arranged marriage instead of a love marriage. Gnani interuppted and fired him that if he was to talk like that, he shouldn’t be writing all these romantic songs for films. Pa.Vijay in turn said that writing lyrics was his profession and he was just writing because he had to.

I was completely puzzled by Pa.Vijay’s reply for Gnani’s question. Cinema is a much bigger medium than what it is expected to be. It can work at sub-concious levels on the minds of people. And if they were write all this kadhal, kadalai, kannamuchi, figure, sight, matter, machi, kattipudi, kathrikka and then disown it, are we sub-intellectuals to listen to them. Now, I am not saying they shouldn’t be writing or talking about love or sex in cinema. They need to. But who should do that ? Someone who belives in what he does. Not someone who can’t defend why he/she did it. Poetry for that matter springs from heart. And if you write for the heck, I am sure it wouldn’t shine for good.

So if Pa.Vijay was to say Love & Love Marriages are crime, he needn’t write on love themes as lyrics. Until he is convinced with the emotion called Love, let him not write Enokkoru GirlFriend Venumada, GirlFriends Illaa Vazhkai Wasteada

Read this interview of Pa.Vijay, recorded sometime back and you would know why I said that.

Then came Tamil FM stations helping the chennaites in beating the monotonus lifestyle. And they are trying to do it 24*7*365.

I’ve been listening quite a lot to Suryan FM @93.5, coming from the Sun TV group. Suryan FM is undoubtedly reaching a vast audience and caters as an alernative to the All India Radio. Radio Mirchi on the other hand is groovy and kind of more like a drive through FM station that you would often come across in the US. The audience lie clearly divided between the two.

One of the recent hit in Suryan FM is Kittu Maama Sussi Maami that is aired from 8-9 am everyday. Kittu Maama and Susi Maami are couples who find themselves very attached amidst the chaos and the quarel they go through everyday. These are fictionary characters created and they are mimiced well. Kittu Maama talks with a brahminical accent and Susi Maami takes on a Marwari’s tamil accent. Initially this wasn’t a program of my choice for it sounded very silly and childish. Over a period, I’ve started liking this for the interesting plot/news that Kittu Maama and Susi Maami convey everday through their conversation.

Aayitha Ezhutu fame Mirchi Suchitra is still the prime time host of Radio Mirchi @98.3 FM. While Radio Mirchi hit the town, suchitra was topping the favorite host list. Not anymore. While having a great voice, Suchitra, fails to use it because of her urbanised tamil accent which is monotonous at times and the background music that keeps interuppting from listening to what the host talks. With the feel of a westernized FM station, Radio Mirchi can definetly do better if only it shuns the bad usuage of tamil. Else we will be talking about a different genre of tamizh similar to the Junoon Tamizh.

Suryan FM’s host Kanmani is still my favorite. Her program Kaalai thendral is truely a breeze that beats the chennai heat. I have gone gaga over Kanmani a few times before , so I stop here and persuade you to listen to her show, Kaalai Tendral in Suryan FM, everyday from 7-8 am. If the television had compere trend setters like Metro Priya and the-still-going-great Pepsi Uma, Kanmani is certainly a trend setter in FM radios. Hats off for the good work she does everyday.

[Pic : The Hindu]

TS Nagarajan‘s account of his acquaintance with MS Subbulakshmi, as a photographer is astounding. In yesterday’s Hindu, his column called as Portraits of a diva, he vividly captures the simplicity and the egoless behaviour of MS Subbulakshmi when he met her in her house for a picture sessions. Very interesting is when he talks about the MS blue.

But well before that, in this account of his encounters with MS directly and indirectly, he captures his childhood incident when he saw MS Subbulakshmi for the first time as actrees in the screen and how he remained unaffected by that.

Here is where I am able to connect to him. Similarly, during my childhood, when I used to wake up every morning with that Bhaja Govindam or Kausalya Supraja Rama Poorva Sandhya Pravarthathey singing, I hated it for the morning it brought with itself. I remained untouched by MS or by her god’s own voice. It lasted until I saw a performance of MS Subbulakshmi in Music Academy and was spell bound by the voice, the charm and her personality. It’s from then MS Subbulakshmi became a demi-god, for me. She doesn’t sing anymore in concerts and all that we can get to hear are her old collections/concerts. That only makes me hope that I was born some 25-30 years before to have enjoyed her music in concerts.

P.S : Yesterday’s Hindu Magazine is a collectible for column geeks, for it had some of the best columns including the above one. Suggested reading includes Shashi Tharoor‘s column on the global media called Weapons of mass distraction? and the Media Matters column by Sevanti Ninan.

Celebrating Mother’s Day isn’t a big deal. I have my own personal apprehensions just like millions of others in this country on this issue. Mothers’ day and other celebrated days are just children of this commercialization era. That’s however an old story. It’s been spoken, written and debated all over since the peep of such customs into Indian society. This blog post isn’t about it. Here is a gem I found over the media on the mother’s day.

– Visu’s Arratai Arangam in Sun TV deserves a mention. Rather than just being a yet-another-talkative-show, it has elevated to a forum of outcry of social and economic issues. Often you find people being pompous about their public speaking skills. Instead on focusing on the issues for which they are present to talk, they brag in Ethugai and Monnai like T Rajendar. That’s a huge diversion from the main topic.

This lady, who was talking in favor of parents being the single most important source of social sense for someone, uttered some genuine experiences. She said, during my childhood, I used to come home after classes and a tough play hour. My mom comes out of the kitchen, greeting me. As I hug my mom I could smell oil and other spicy smells from my mom who used to toil in the kitchen from dawn to dusk. Now, in this Singapore, as I can smell a plethora of perfumes around me, I am still in search of that oily, spicy smell of mom. I couldn’t find that.

What a way to put it. Hats off that lady who was genuinely longing for her mom like many others who settled in foreign countries, leaving their mom behind in India.

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake

– Rabindranath Tagore in Nobel Prize winning Geethanjali

What if all the artists, not just the cine artists, but all kinds of performance artists join hands and vouch against communal violence. Well, You can witness that tomorrow(5:30) in Wesley Grounds, Royapettah, Chennai.

With a tamil slogan Veruppin Veppathai Thanikka Kai Serungal, People’s Union of Civil Liberties has arranged for a celebration of communal harmony. The celebration will have artists from all sorts like painters, poets, rock bands, carnatic musicians, cine music directors and ofcourse kollywood artists who will vouch for communal harmony in their own ways of expression.

What’s appreciable is that, such acts of kind gestures are supported by ever-busy-never-free cine artists. From Usha Uthup to Sudha Raghunathan, from Harris Jayaraj to 4 rock bands of Chennai, from Director Vasanth to Kushboo, from SPB to Kamalhassan himself will make the show a delightful event.

Rabindranth Tagore’s Mind Without Fear will be the song of the event. It has been translated into tamil and the honey-sweet SPB has recorded this song with his own voice. PUCL has also a demand to make this Mind Without Fear as the national anthem instead of Jana Gana Mana for Jana Gana Mana talks just about the geography of India whereas Mind Without Fear dwelves into the mind of an Indian.

The artists will start their painting from morning and the audience will be allowed to appreciate them during the show. One of the biggest highlights is the performance of Koothu Pattarai. Also four of Chennai Rock bands have joined together to come-up with a united effort of rock music ‘n’ communal harmony.

Every show has a climax. So this show will have Kamalhassan read out a vow for communal harmony which will be taken by the audience. I’m personally happy about the way in which the show is organised. The reason behind the show is very very genuine for we are in a country where communal violence has been offlate dancing, Rudrathandavam. Agree ?