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Chennai – This is Chennai :

BACK IN CHENNAI !!! And to ride my bike in the dust and wind with my eyes wide open was thwe coolest that happened to me in the last three months. I really really missed it for a long time.

So what next ? Start counting the number of movies I haven’t watched since Boys. From Thiruda Thirudi to Kurumbu, there is a whole laundry list of movies. Prominent one being Pithamahan. Will watch it this weekend, I hope.

Saw Manmatha Rasa yesterday in KTV and its very feverish. You could hardly see any close-ups in it. All I could see was Dhanush and Chaaya kicking mud off their feet with their hips gyrating methodically. It was however fun to watch and I can now understand how the theatres would have rocked for this song. Uppu Karuvadu song in Mudhalvan was one of the first songs noticed to have the camera shaking to the beat of the song. Manmatha Rasa also added such shots to increase the tempo. This technique gives a feeling that even we dance with the actors.

Also saw the banner of Pulli Raja advertisement that was famous over the last couple of months in chennai. A imaginative character formed for AIDS prevention ads was Pulli Raja. As the name seemed so odd enough, it was an instant hit.

Tons of different experiences in my flight from Chicago to Chennai and each one is worth sharing. Very Soon.

It’s the most lovely day here in chicago in the last few months. The right temperature that gets you going and finish all the pending shopping ( I hate it). But as it becomes december, the cold clouds start to close around and it is killing cold.

Since the winter is just about to peak in, trees have worn a dirty brown color with no leaves but still alive and chasing the dawn to get some sun by march.

Just watched Orson Welles – The one man band, a documentary on this greatest forgotten film maker. As history proved more than once that he thought well ahead of time that most of his movies were box office miracles on their second releases. So here I learnt from this documentary, that this man is still undiscovered for even now many of his films haven’t been attempted to understand.

The first time I ever knew about him was when Kamalhassan once quoted in an interview about Citizen Kane’s masterpiece and the Orson Welles Phenomenon. Since then I was looking for it in chennai and lost hope. Last time when I was here, I somehow managed to get my hand on Citizen Kane DVD. And it was an amazing experience to watch Citizen Kane and the background of the movie. I am getting just a little more curious about him, now. This time I am gonna try for his 1973 flick F for Fake. Just saw the trailor of this movie and I am spell-bound by the flawless technical advancements which he made during that time of 70’s.

Neverthless, this documentary is a must-see if you are an Orson Welles fan. His discussions with film university guys were crisp, radical and bullseye.

Ragu Sir (Remember Mangalam Sir in BOYS !!) – my ex boss, a terrific character thats gone through this whole cycle of intellectual vibes. His knowledge in Indian literature and Indian cinema knew no bounds. Although he loves to call himself a fool and doesn’t matter if others call him one, he is the one who can give you a path-breaking vision, a deep insight into yourself and can re-engineer you within a few hours to shape your perspectives of the world. Screws you inside out, professionally. Brashed me with hard-truths several times, again professionally. Miss those lovely conversations that I shared with him in that small tea kadai and the dark corridors of MEPZ.

He had written a good poetic verse called Life and Times of a Blogger, about my blog sometime back. He is back after long time following The Battle of the FILMI Geeks. It is a comment that he had left in the previous post. He calls me Subbu instead of Guru and sometime even the SUBBUDU.

Forget that however. Here he goes :

By standers’ blabber- Mr.citizen of Laxman.. Hello everyone(lazygeek my friend courtesy your blog site) I have closely followed your flame, fireworks,heat and dust. I understand the following:

You are one helluva guys, who are good at brainstorming, polemics, and incisive analysis on the art of films and filmmaking. I have no pretensions, would prefer to be called a fool.. I think all of you are quite, intellectual lot, with good ideas, and a sportive attitude to debate on filmi interests. There have been anti-democratic tendencies such as ‘if i dont like what this guy is saying, then i dont like him” I would like to quote thomas jefferson”I would defend my opponents’ right to speak his viewpoint till my death, even though I dont agree with him at all” (Something to this effect). I THINK you guys also restricted your potential by narrow casting your spoke to “Mani V/s Bala” it would have been better if it was “Tamil (Indian also meant here) People V/s Tamil Cinema”

I THINK we all need to have this terrific spirit.

BTW, with you resourceful, guys, why not something of constructive activity crop up such as:
each one analyse and share his / her favourite,most happening / happened director like Rudraiya,Balu mahendra, bala chander, seran,mani,bala,susi, of course the other ones like ritwik gatak,satyajit ray, mrinal sen, goutam ghose,etc..(indian ones, no hollywood yardsticks!!)..like a panorama of the director and works, and let everyone, analyze,critique..
this way the forum could become a film app(dep)reciation club kinda thing..i as a blog-illiterate,e-illiterate, dont know whether such things can happen..projects in a blogcontext. Take it up if you like, you guys have the potential and the energy and sincerity. Subbu i will appreciate if you share this with your group if it makes sense..

Yours sincerely,
film/cyber/blog ILLITERATI
Sd/-
left thumb impression

When he says ‘if i dont like what this guy is saying, then i dont like him’, he means me, lazygeek and not you. As I said I hate bala for all his heroes are cracks. Me and my narrowed words. You are right in quoting Thomas Jefferson. Will try to change myself for that.

A Film Appreciation Club. Well, Thats what many literary guys ask for. From Jayakanthan to Sujatha, from La. Sa. Ra to Sundara Ramaswamy, from Sivashankari to Anuradha Ramanan everyone(except the film personalities) at some instance have hinted for a good film appreciation club. I know there are few of them for tamil / english movies in madras. But I am not sure if there is a virtual one on the net. Good Idea. Any takers ?

How the dicussion turned into Mani Ratnam Vs Bala :

After a long day and a bagful of comments, we eventually thought of stopping the heated discussions going all over due to the fire ignited by the last 2 posts and added fuel by anti’s post.

Anyway, it is all settling down to a normal life but since I didn’t want to ditch the gems of thoughts that were sprinkled all over my comments box other than some mere personal attacks, I have documented the comments in form of a discussion that is very dramatic and attacking. Read it for yourself as In Defense of Mani Ratnam. If anyone wants a change of title, suggestions accepted, ’cause it is all your comments.

In Defense of Mani Saar :

It’s burning again. After The Sethu Controversy, here is a flame again. Can you see it at the sides of the browser ?

Senty’s comment on Mani Ratnam’s movies are blatant copies of western films have set a flame. From Senthil it started and Anti took it off to the next level of expressing the angst in two detailed posts in his blog fearing that my comments box will break if he tries to dump such huge essays as comments.

Anyway, I am open for a fair discussion. Anti and Senthil have already won half the case for me.

Ayudha Ezhuthu Update:
Ayudha Ezhuthu or Aayutha Ezhuthu is not opening up for the pongal season, as expected. It will be here for tamil new year’s day on April 14th 2004 . But my first wait is for the A R Rahman’s music of Aayutha Ezhuthu which I hope will get released during march as a marketing strategy.