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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.

Why do all your films revolve around a mentally- affected man?

Bala : Honestly speaking, every man is affected mentally by something. My films are reflections of those people, who had experienced it. My characters Chiyan, Nandha or Chithan are people affected by something.

I told you, All his heroes are mad. Finally he ends up calling everyone mad. Good Joke. I stopped reading the interview the minute I read the above answer. You continue reading it here.

Enjoy !!

Goggles, Joystick and Kasparov :

As Kasparov takes on the next generation Chess gaming system called X3D Fritz, ESPN is recording the entire match to be broadcasted.

X3D Technologies is a private company that develops three-dimensional display systems. X3D is sponsoring the current match, and the publicity angle is that Mr. Kasparov is wearing electronic 3-D goggles for the entire match while watching a computer screen. Mr. Kasparov plays the machine by speaking his moves, which are then represented in the computer image he sees, rather than by actually manipulating a physical board. A joystick controls the viewing angle.

On Tuesday, playing the white pieces in the opening game in front of a few hundred spectators , Mr. Kasparov fought X3D Fritz to a draw. The second of four scheduled games at the New York Athletic Club is to be played today; Mr. Kasparov will receive $200,000 for winning the match, $175,000 for a draw and $150,000 for a loss.

Watch the whole game LIVE on wired here or read more on New York Times about the Kasparov phenomenon. NY Times needs login/password.