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November 13, 2017

HondaToyota ToyotaHonda – 3

Third time’s a charm. So for the third time in the last 12 years, I ended up buying another Toyota. This time it was a Prius and it’s been such a joy so far.

As the summer faded away, my procrastinated mind finally settled to buy a car and replace the Camry that was bought nearly 11 years ago. Given that this was a commuter car, I started to look for an AWD SUV. The new Honda CRV was my first choice, given it was redesigned inside out this year. And when I visited a local dealership, not only they didn’t have a CRV in stock but they also didn’t show any salesmanship in trying to persuade me to buy one. The car wasn’t bad at all, except for the weird taillight situation.

Back at a friend’s place, he showed me his newly bought Toyota Prius which apparently was driving at 55+ mpg. So I test drove a Toyota RAV 4 and the Prius. The Prius was hands-down a better car. There was a night and day difference in the driving experience between Prius and other ICE cars. It was smooth driving, relatively quiet and had a quirky personality to it. From then it was an easy decision to buy a Prius because it was the most efficient car in the hybrid market.

So I’ve been driving it for the past few months. What do I liked about it? Everything – The drive quality, interiors, JBL speakers, maneuverability and of course the king of reasons to buy a hybrid – fuel economy. So far I’ve been averaging at 58 MPG despite the dropping temperatures. What do I hate about it? Nothing at all. I’m sure the styling of taillights look obnoxious to guy behind me but it doesn’t bother me at all. That’s probably why the car was rear ended within a week. But that’s another story for another day. The Entune entertainment system needs an overhaul but given that one can operate everything via Bluetooth from the phone, its bearable.

The best feature of Prius is the driving feedback loop. The digital buffet of data that’s available in front of the driver would make every one of us a better driver. There’s a rating for your overall drive, a quick feedback about the fast turn you just made and the lifetime driving average. Basically the data is gamified to the point, one can say its the best real-life car game ever made. It certainly helped me realize how all these days I was overstepping on the gas.

It’s easy to stereotype a Prius owner as listening to Fleetwood Mac or NPR, shopping at the nearby Trader Joe’s and talking about environment friendliness. But it’s also easy to make fun of the geeks. Regardless, they always strike back with their smarts and the latest Prius is certainly a nerd strike-back car.

Previously – Honda Toyota 1 & Honda Toyota 2
June 1, 2017

Of passion, pixie dust and devasena

I was worried about the uber driver. Worried about me. Worried about the woman who had a cigarette stowed in her hand and driving a mini cooper next to us in 405 interstate highway. Google maps on the driver’s dashboard showed 11 more miles to the airport. Today was yet another rainy day(61% chance of rain, the weather app on my phone accurately pointed) in Seattle. This past weekend was the start of fake summer. Yes, memorial day weekend kicks off summer flicks and vacations, although summer usually arrives much later in Seattle. At least the first rose(rich yellow) bloomed in my front yard, I saw that after coming back from a trip to Port Angeles for the long weekend. Rosy digressions aside, the song on my ears was about 3 minutes and 27 seconds long. If the driver took a minute to drive a mile I could listen to the song roughly 3.3 times. That would push the total listen count past 600. Yeah, 600++ times, conservatively counting.

I was worried about the driver and the woman as they probably wouldn’t get a chance to hear this song in their lives. It was mesmerizing, slightly hypnotic, kinda psychedelic, kinda trippy and completely engrossing. I was worried about me as I was getting mad about the song. The song – Orey Oar Ooril from Baahubali 2. You, just like me, probably saw and heard it for the first time on-screen while watching the movie. And if you are still trying to recollect the song, its also called Hamsa Naava in Telugu, Veeron ke veer aa in Hindi, Ore Oru raja in Malayalam, <something> in Mandarin and Madness Me in English(nah, I’m kidding now!).

Amarendra Baahubali arrests his love interest, the princess Devasena as a token of respecting Raajamatha RamyaKrishnan’s words to take her back to Magizhmathi and the ship sets sail. The sailcloth expands into a symmetrical shape on either side, the camera closes in on Devasena who is technically a prisoner but also a prisoner in the heart of Baahubali. As she throws the pink pixie dust into the ocean, the ship transforms into a fantasy fleet. Amarendra, who is now drumming, to his part throws in some blue pixie dust that makes the ship rise above the clouds. This is where Rajamouli’s craziness starts to show up. As though a flying ship isn’t crazy enough things get pushed a bit too far and the clouds get converted into white horses that run along with the flying ship. 40 odd dancers belonging to both genders appear and the scene is all set-up for romance. A medieval flying ship, a tricky prisoner-cop situation between the protagonist to-be king and his lovely princess, cloud horses, dancer women and some mind blowing music. Here’s how the music goes at a closer look –

0:00 – 0:35 – The music starts off low-key, slowly fading in with some bells and plates clanging far away. At 0:08 the Mohana starts to slightly hint the ohhohhhoh humming and at 0:14 the rhythmic drumming starts to join in. Stop here.

At first I didn’t know why this drumming was so jiving and mesmerizing. It took me a good 10 times to understand. When I was 10, we used to go on summer vacation to Trichy. It was either through Chozhan or Malakottai express. And as the train nears Trichy, somewhere near Srirangam, it crosses the kollidam bridge. Being one of India’s longest bridge, we used to wait for the bridge crossing to come by. And when it crosses it used to make a kind of pleasant clickety-clackety sound. Pleasant because it announced the arrival of vacation for an urban dweller like me. The usual clickety-clackety of a train is amplified while crossing bridges and the sound is super cool. The drumming in OreyOarOoril reminded me of the clickety-clackety train crossing kollidam bridge. From here the drumming continues all the way to the end. That could have been the only reason why I fell in love with the song. But there’s more.

As the train noise drumming goes on, at 0:21 the nana nana nana nana nananananana of Mohana and the harmony team starts. This nana sound is key for the song as the lyrics depend on every other line ending with an ‘na’ based word. I don’t know if this sound found its place by itself or if was by design, it elevates the musical quality of the song.

loopety loop of a single song. madness.

0:35 – 1:12 – The lyrics start with the pleasant Orey Oar Ooril, kind of like a fairy tale beginning (once upon a village, there lived a king). Between every phrase, you hear the fish plates sound of the train tracks as the train passes over them. So does this love ship. Now we get to know that this song belongs to Devasena. Its from her point of feelings. Every line ends with a question indirectly posed to Baahubali. Something like – this Devasena is like a struggling ferry in middle of a river, will he come to hold me up? In the next line she talks about how she is a prisoner of Baahubali (literally and figuratively).

1:12 – 1:40 – A tiny but a lovely interlude of violin or some modern string instrument comes in only for it to be taken over by the trumpets and a grand sounds of a ship fleet crossing the ocean. This is place where the sheer grandness of the song is established. You know the song is already transported to a different world.

1:41 – 2:08 – So we are right at the midpoint of the song and the first charanam of the song starts with Devasena and Baahubali both sharing the lyrics equally(Mohana for Devasena and Tippu for Baahubali). Devasena puts forth a romantic question to clarify if she is in a dream state and Baahubali responds like a true warrior prince. Metaphors starts to show-up and things gets heated up.

2:09 – 2:26 – Devasena starts a loud pitched ohhohhhoh followed by an amazing piece of poetic verse. In order to not spoil this by translating, she asks – ekantha kaalam maatrinana, thee pola en meedhu patrinana, theekolamai devasena. Your lyrical mileage may wary in various languages but in Tamil the imagery is that Devasena is now a burning hot ball of passion for Baahubali. The song reaches its brilliant peak. All the build-up is for this 15 seconds of brilliance. Vairamuthu’s son Madan Karky and Maragadamani come together along with Mohana. The tamil lyrics fit the whole scene hand-in-glove expressing the Devasena’s side of love towards BB. This culminating effect is mind-blowing when experienced in big screen.

2:27 – 3:00 – The second paragraph is a bit condensed. You get to hear the Orey Oar Ooril pallavi quickly followed by four lines of a new charanam. Devasena concludes that she is now under the spell of Baahubali, blindly following him and speechless.

3:01 – 3:27 – The clickety clackety and the nananananana continues to fade out and things wrap-up.

It’s not often that I go mad for a single song but it’s also not so uncommon. Maybe one per year is my average. First it was Vellai Pookal from Kannathil Muthamittal, then it was Oh Eesa! from Aayirathil Oruvan, Dhan te Nan from Kaminey, Manipaaya from Vinnaithandi Varuvaaya, Asku Laska from Nanban, Kanukkul Pothivaippen from Thirumanam Enum Nikkah and recently Parandhu Sella Vaa from OK Kanmani. All these songs attack you at different level of lyrics, music and singing quality.

With this particular song it is the fantasy situation of the song in an already fantasy movie. Fantasy movies are always tricky. You either believe it or don’t. The reason a fantasy movie works for you is purely based on whether you take this leap of faith or not. All the ones who took the leap in Aayirathil Oruvan thoroughly enjoyed it, same with ET or King Kong or Baahubali. You either question how a bunch of untrained soldiers catapult into the fort using the Angry Birds formula or you just don’t. I loved the movie completely. Even more so the song. 700+ and counting now…
April 29, 2017

அசோகமித்திரன்

மாடியிலிருந்து எட்டிப்பார்த்தார் அசோகமித்திரன். கைனடிக் ஹோண்டாவை ஓரமாய் பார்க் செய்து விட்டு ஏறிட்டுப் பார்த்தேன். பல்லைச் சற்றே கடித்தபடி கவலையோடு என்னைப் பார்த்துக் கொண்டிருந்தார். முன்னால் மாட்டியிருந்த ப்ளாஸ்டிக் பையை எடுத்துக் கொண்டு அவர் இருந்த அபார்ட்மெண்ட் கட்டிடத்தின் மாடியேறினேன்.

”உள்ள வாங்க, அதோ அந்த ரூம்ல இருக்கார்” என்றார் ஒரு பெண்மணி, அந்த அப்பார்ட்மண்டின் க்ரில் கேட்டை திறந்தபடி.

மனைவியாய் இருக்கும் என்று முடிவுசெய்து, வாங்கி வந்திருந்த மாம்பழப் பையை அவரிடம் கொடுத்தேன்.

”மாம்பழமெல்லாம் எதுக்குப்பா, வயசாச்சு… எல்லாருக்கும் உடம்பு சரியில்லை, இதெல்லாம் யாரும் சாப்பிடறதில்லை” என்று சொன்னார்.

”பரவாயில்லை மாமி” என்று சொல்லி சிரித்தபடி அவரைத் தாண்டிச் சென்றேன்.

“வாப்பா” என்றார் எழுத்தாளர்களின் எழுத்தாளர். ஒரு எளிய நீல நிற சட்டை, கொஞ்சம் பழுப்பேறிய வேட்டி, சற்றே கலைந்த தலை, நிறைய சுருக்கமான நெற்றி. இன்னமும் பல்லைக் கடித்தபடி இருந்தார்.

“என்ன வேணும்”.

“ஒண்ணுமில்லை சார். உங்க ஃபேன், அமெரிக்காலேந்து வரேன். உங்கள பார்த்துட்டுப் போலாம்னு” என்று சொன்னேன்.

அதற்கு இரண்டு மணி நேரம் முன்புதான், கிழக்கு பதிப்பகத்தில் கேட்டு அவரின் போன் நம்பரும், வேளச்சேரி விலாசமும் வாங்கினேன். போன் செய்தவுடன், வாங்க என்றார். வரவேற்பார் என்று நினைத்தேன்.

“உக்காருங்க” என்றார்.

“நான் உங்கள 2004ல ஒரு புத்தக விழால பார்த்துப் பேசினேன். ஒரு போட்டோ கூட எடுத்துக்கிட்டேன்”

“எந்த பங்ஃஷன்”

“அது…. உயிர்மை ஆன்லைன் விழா, சுஜாதா இந்திரா பார்த்தசாரதியெல்லாம் கூட இருந்தாங்க. நீங்க பேசினப்ப கணையாழியை எப்படியெல்லாம் கஷ்டப்பட்டு நடத்தினீங்கன்னு பிரமாதமா பேசினீங்க. ஒரே சிரிப்பு.”

இன்னமும் பல்லைக் கடித்தபடி என்னைப் பார்த்தார். அந்த விழாவைப் பற்றி யோசிக்கிறார் என்று தோன்றியது. அங்கிருந்த அமைதியை கலைப்பதற்கு மேலும் பேசினேன்.

“சமீபத்தில உங்களோட ‘இன்று’ படிச்சேன். ரொம்ப மூவிங். சூப்பர் சார்”

”ஆமால்ல, அதுவும் அந்த பொண்ணோட நிலைமை கஷ்டம்தான்” என்றார்.

அந்த புத்தகத்தில் வரும் கதாபாத்திரத்தை படைத்தவர் அவர், தனக்கும் அதற்கும் சம்பந்தமில்லாதபடி பேசினார். எனக்கு முதலில் புரியவில்லை.

அதன் பிறகு 90 நிமிடங்கள் கழிந்தன. பிறகு புரிந்தது, இவர் நிஜமாகவே வேற மாதிரி.

அசோகமித்திரனை சற்று தள்ளி நின்று பார்த்தால் நினைப்பில் தன்னை மறந்தவர் போல இருப்பார். வயதாகியதால் மறதியோ என்று தோன்றலாம். பேச ஆரம்பித்தால் அத்தனை விஷயமும் தெரிந்த ஆள் என்று புரியும். டிக்கின்ஸ்சை முதல்முறை படித்ததில் இருந்து, அயோவா அனுபவங்கள், 70களில் இருந்த மவுண்ட்ரோடு ட்ராபிக், ட்ரைவ்-இன் உட்லாண்ட்ஸில் காபி விலை வரை vividஆக விவரமாய் பேசினார்.

“நான் எழுதின புஸ்தகம் இது, படிச்சிருக்கீங்களான்னு கேக்கற்தே வன்முறையாப்படறது. அதனால புஸ்தகத்தைப் பத்தியெல்லாம் மத்தவங்ககிட்ட பேசறதே இல்லை. இப்பல்லாம் யாராவது படிக்கறாங்களா என்ன?” என்று கிளம்பும் போது சொன்னார்.

நான் கையில் எடுத்து வந்திருந்த, இந்திரா பார்த்தசாரதியின் ராமானுஜர் புத்தகத்தில், நண்பர் குரு சுப்பிரமணியத்துக்கு என்று எழுதி கையெழுத்திட்டார். அவர் உட்கார்ந்த மாதிரியே ஒரு போட்டோ எடுத்தேன்.

“வரேன் சார்”

“சரிப்பா, சீக்கிரம்… இருட்டிண்டு வருது மழை வரப்போறது, வீடு பக்கம் தானே?”

கிரில்லை திறந்து கொண்டு, அவர் மனைவியிடம் சொல்லிக்கொண்டு கிளம்பினேன். ஹோண்டாவை ஸ்டார்ட் செய்த போது எதோ தோன்ற திரும்பிப் பார்த்தேன். பால்கனியிலிருந்து பல்லைக் கடித்தபடி கொஞ்சம் கவலையோடு பார்த்துக் கொண்டிருந்தார். வாழ்க்கையின் சாதாரண கணங்களை காவிய கணங்களாக்கிய எழுத்தாளனுக்கு ஒரு சின்ன கவலையை கொடுத்ததற்கு என்னையே திட்டிக் கொண்டேன்.

”நான் எழுதின புஸ்தகம் இது, படிச்சிருக்கீங்களான்னு கேக்கற்தே வன்முறையாப்படறது.” 2009ல் அவர் சொன்ன அந்த வரி இன்று வரை வாழ்வில் உதவியாயிருக்கிறது. நன்றி மித்திரன்.
June 3, 2015

நியூயார்க்கர் கார்ட்டுன் வாசகம் #478
April 23, 2015

O Kadhal Kanmani – Of Millennials and Maritals

Disclaimer: What follows is a stream of consciousness type writing that hasn’t been edited at all. There are extreme indulgences about Mani’s past movies and some personal observations but if you want to know what a die-hard Mani fan felt about OK Kanmani you should probably read it. Each paragraph is a standalone card, so feel free to start anywhere or leave anytime.

— Mani Ratnam just killed my enthusiasm. I thought I lost the love story gene. While watching a random film, recently, I thought of writing an outright love story(read as பிழிய பிழிய) with romance and separation just to bring myself to it. Not that all I have written so far, either full stories or drafts or just bits of ideas have been made into full-fledged films or even seen the light of the day. But I really wanted to write one to see how I was able to bring out the drama from romance. With O Kadhal Kanmani, I feel even that faint idea to write a love story is now gone. How can it be better than this. Truly.

— There are Vikraman movies which sport a montage song and makes a bathroom singer into a superstar singer where people just rush into a hall to listen, and the ticket counter guy is shown placing ‘houseful’ placard across his counter for over 20 times back to back. And then there are movies like OK Kanmani which slowly and craftily captures the mundane of daily life to show the growing romance. The growing romance is so richly documented that the camera just hangs around like another viewer in weird angles and moves/shakes naturally. Refer the discussion between Adi and Thara after AR Ameen peacefully sings Maula Wa Salim, the camera almost peeks between the pillar and Adi’s head to see Thara’s face. The same seductive onlooker camera also enters into the white blanket alongwith Adi and Thara to hear these two millennials after a steamy romance session. This is Mani’s master stroke more than it is PC Sreeram’s. It’s the vision of the director to take the audience up, close and personal into Adi and Thara’s carefree life.

— The movie has a set of micro-adventures. And they make it very interesting and sometimes comical. Like the moment when Thara jumps out of window as Adi’s brother arrives at his doorstep and the comical stress surrounding the situation. There are even more micro-adventures like this one – Thara is on phone with her mom arguing and enquiring about the ‘special love’ shown to Adi during her absence. While she is in such an argumentative mood and walking with Adi, the bus arrives and they have to run to catch it. So as an audience you are now subjected to two sets of issues, will they catch the bus and what will the mom reply from the other-end of the phone call. And there are more moments like this, sort of frame-within-a-frame. So even though the film doesn’t sport a very dramatic third act, these adventures keep it going.

— Mani has fully engulfed Kurosawa. One cannot remove Kurosawa from his consciousness any more. He chooses to add energy to the movie as the cast keeps walking or taking a bus or getting rained on or something that keeps moving on-screen. From using weather to cooking sounds to camera pans, Mani uses everything possible to tell the story evocatively.

— After the movie, I went back to refer Wikipedia for a definition of Live-in relationship aka Cohabitation. I was terribly confused about what is so live-in relationship in OKK story. What Mani chooses to show is just the tip of the iceberg. This time-boxed love was already the Sid and Trisha short story in Aayitha Ezhuthu and even Nagarjuna/Girija of Idhayathai Thirudathey. Not a single issue of live-in relationship was brought out, not even adjusting with a single bathroom to use. All we know is that the couples indulge in a passtime, as Thara confirms at the gynecologist’s office. Nithya Menon just nails the expressions during this scene that will be enough to prove her acting chops.

— Nithya Menon, what a find. A certain awesome reviewer highlighted in a certain high-profile movie review that he watches a certain awesome director’s movie as he is one of the best in portraying women. I was thinking how would that make a case for watching crappy movies of that c.a.director. Today, I would like to politely say, buzz off, to both of them. Thara is simply the best protagonist role a girl can ask for. It’s not the S.A. Chandrasekaran’s activist type roles but a role that has a purpose, style, sentiments and forms the core part of the OKK story. So again, buzz off sirs.

— Rahman. I was definitely critical of Rahman not supporting Mani’s Kadal. When I get to see the maestro play in Redmond during June, I will throw an extra clap for that brilliant electronica fusion he did in scene when Adi passes flying kisses to Thara just as a carnatic number finishes in the background. Rahman’s BGM is a breath of fresh air in the film. Both Rahman and PC Sreeram’s palettes are rich and vibrant for OK Kanmani. They both have gone beyond to bring the story alive with colors and sounds. Such exquisite feast.

— Mani Ratnam is ageing very well. He has Bhavamulona(twice in the film) and Endharo Mahanubhavulu in the background. And Bhavamulona is used as a motif for Thara in troubled times. Mani’s taste for good carnatic music mixed with contemporary sounds is a sweet surprise. Not that I don’t know Mani’s love for carnatic music which has been there for a while but here is an indulgence. Go!

— Here is how a director goes for using just the right amount of ‘graphics'(lol) for a movie. And not talk about it in media.

— Live sound, really. Fantastically done. Great job, Anand.

— Yes, the movie reminds me of various other movies of Mani. In fact I can tell you most shots remind of some other Mani’s movie. I can even see shots of Thalapathi and Anjali. It is still a very gripping engaging movie. As you invest the first half of the movie in Thara and Adhi, you are bound to be heartbroken in the second half and that did not just happen by happen. The master’s every shot was meant to get you to that state. Sheer Glee!

— The bright red wall paper in Adi and Thara’s grand apartment was so lovely and yet didn’t look like a set piece. Sharmishta Roy’s art direction was tasty and very urban.

— Scott Fitzgerald in his less popular, This Side of Paradise quoted- “They slipped briskly into an intimacy from which they never recovered”. Not only it happens to Adi and Thara but also to us.

— Mani rides on Kamalhassan’s hardwork. Pottu Vaitha Kadhal Thittam song is popularly known for its fantastic rock-like composition in a happy-go-lucky movie. And by taking the lyrics, Mani sets the tone for OK Kanmani. Smart move.

— Theera Ulaa was the best surprise of the soundtrack. The song grew so much and is almost at the top of the album for me at this point. Part carnatic and part electronic, it’s probably the best representative of the spirit of the album. Great job Vairamuthu just for this song. Lovely lovey tamil verses.

— Finally, like James Joyce and Stanley Kubrick, Mani chooses to stay silent, exile and cunning. For a fan like me, I see it in every single movie. His movies speak louder than his words. This time the world agrees with me.