Raaja by RaGa - In Dallas - A review

I have been to carnatic music concerts, be it Madurai TN Seshagopalan or my outright favorite KJ Yesudas. In general, these tend to be quite different in song selection, mainly sticking to support the manodharmam of their guru parampara. You can very well hear it when KJY exploring deep in Chembai's signature songs. I have also been in Raaja's concert, once about 10 years back in Toronto, which is mainly his list of songs performed by SPB, Hariharan and others. These two are very different genres of music and Raaja takes a lot of liberty in violating the strict guidelines of carnatic music in lot of his songs even though they may have been inspired by a specific raaga. 

However what to expect from a traditional carnatic duo who have taken the task of marrying Raaja composed songs in the traditional carnatic format. This curiosity is not unique to me, it seems like both the carnatic music lovers and the Raaja sir music lovers of Dallas are all equally curious and this could be seen in the almost houseful crowd in Dallas Majestic theatre. The concert started with the expected Saramati composition - Mari Mari Ninne - (with the background story of why he did not use Kambhoji in which it is originally tuned) and padariyen padipariyen medley. RaGa has shown their creativity in the kalpana swarams which is very different from the original song in movie but beautifully fitting into their ying-yang style of singing.

Ther next medley was in raagam Lalitha - the outright classic by Raaja - Lalitha priya kamalam (telugu version of ithazhil kathai ezhuthum neramithu). This song is beautifully mixed with Muthuswamy Dikshitar's composition of Hiranmayim Lakshmim in the same raagam. With all these the kutcheri is already in its peak. 

Then came another beautiful presentation, a non film composition - Vedhamum viLakatha unnai ( a song on Ramana Maharishi by Raaja sir) - in Shanmukahpriya. This song started with a detailed Alapana of the raagam and the charanam had a lot of traces of 'Nalanthaana' song (from thillana mohanambaal). 

One of the gems of the concert is the Sapthaswara medley starting with sa sa sa - sa sa sa and navigating to Pani vizhum malarvanam (raagam: Chalanataai). Each swara got a song in a different raagam and the violinist (Vittal Rangan) seem to trigger the change very beautifully from one to the other while the singers transformed it with finesse.Following are the swaras and the songs

Ri - Enthan Nenjil (Nalinakanthi)

Ga - Ithu Oru Ponmalai (Kedaram)

Ma - Anthi Mazhai Pozhitkirathu (Vasanthi)

Pa - Kanne Kalaimane (Kapi)

Da - Azhage Azhagu Devathai (Mishra Sivaranjani)

Ni - Kanna Varuvaaya (Patdeep and Gauri Manohari)

Typically in the climax when they did the Ying-Yang thing again by one of them singing Kanna varuvaaya and the other as meera varuvaala - it is divine. The final twist with sa pa sa and Malligaiye Malligaiye song was just an amazing touch and the crowd erupted with ovation.

After the high point of the Saptaswara medley is a complex exercise of Graha Bedham where a tonic note is shifted to another note to arrive at a different raga. They took a beautiful Hamsanandi - (Vedham Anuvanuvuna Naadham - from Sagara Sangamam) and navigated to Hindolam (Naan thedum sevanthi, Sagara Sangamame), Durga/Shuddha Saaveri (Kovil Mani Osai), Shuddha Dhanyasi (Ragavane Ramana), Mohanam (Ninukkori Varnam) and Madhyamavati (Thulli Thulli). Everytime they navigate to the different ragams and came back to 'Vedham Anuvanuvuna Naadham' as a base reference is just ecstatic. While the singing itself is just joyous one has to mention the percussion support by Delhi Sairam on the mridangam and S Krishna on the Ghatam for this graha bedham when they shifted rhythms based on different shruti notes using an array of different instruments - amazing variations and an awesome job.

While the crowd is already deeply entrenched in this musical ocean, they poured on more honey in the form of RTP (Ragam Taanam Pallavi) in none other than Darbari Kanada. I could not guess any of Raaja songs during the Raaga alapanai or the detailing during tanam. All the more, in my mind I started hearing 'Chinnanjiraya vanna paravai' from Kungumam (composition by KV Mahadevan) and then suddenly out of nowhere they started singing Aagaya Vennilave in a different tune. Ahaa - it fits so well to this tune that in my head I could not even remember the original tune. After a while in the end of the pallavi, the duo sang the original tune and just applause erupted across the hall and it was just goosebumps all over again.

The last but one medley is a 5-beat and 7-beat rhythmic medley with Azhagu malaraada (thaka thakita), Theeratha vilaiyaatu pillai, mazhai varuthu mazhai varuthu kudai kondu vaa, and finally with Ponvanam panner thoovuthu is a treat for rhythm lovers.

The last piece is a Sindhu Bhairavi medley with all four south indian languages. I couldn't quite get the Malayalam song because I have not heard it much, but the others are quite famous ones Jothayali (kannada), Priyathama (Telugu) and Enna Satham Intha Neram (Tamil). While we were all thinking that may be it is time to get out so that we can avoid the traffic in the parking lot, RaGa suddenly jumped from Enna satham intha neram (right where it ends at 'Adadaaa') to an Abhang in Sindhu Bhairavi. The crowd that was leaving just were mesmerised and frozen right away. We were all standing and arrested by the song, it took about 5 minutes of unabated applause, to come back to normal.

I haven't had such a musical treat in a very long time. If this comes to your town, please don't miss it. I don't think there is anything like this presented in any platform with such variations and research by anyone as of today. And that too hearing this live is a fantastic experience.

Left Liberal - Why this term makes so much sense?

One of the common terms 'Left Liberal' in today's context refers to what started in the late 18th century during the French revolution, due to the seating arrangement in Estates General (France). The people who sat on the left opposed the old regime and supported the creation of a democratic society and secularization of society (secular - separation of church from the state and the state being controlled by non-religious - read non-church - entities). 

The concept of the left evolved quite differently in different regions of the world. In the mid 1800s, german born revolutionaries Karl Marx and Fredrich Engels published the Communist Manifesto (Das Kommunistische Manifest) in London which was conveniently used by Vladimir Lenin in Soviet Russia as a propaganda tool in ousting the Russian Provisional government during the 1917 October  Bolshevik Revolution. What followed the revolution and establishment of the Bolshevik government is however anything but liberalism. Instead, a violent campaign by the state security services made way for the centralization of political and economic powers leading to devastations and famines. The infamous 'Red Terror' has become synonymous with communistic oppression in Russia and later in other parts of the world. 

In contrast to Russia, Andrew Jackson organized what is now called the Democratic Party in the USA but was strengthened greatly by Martin Van Buren in the mid-1800s. This Democratic Party has had no shades of communism for a long time until the entry of Eugene Debs in the late 1800s into the American political spectrum. Even though Debs was never a member of US Democratic party, after his demise, the democrats were successful in bringing organized labor unions into their fold. Due to this inclusion of labor unions, the Democrats are automatically identified as left of the Republicans (or Leftists). However, even until fairly recent democratic governments (one that of Bill Clinton in the 90s), the economic policies of US Democrats at best could be stated as more 'Centrist' rather than left. In contrast, from early 2000 onwards the leftism of Democrats has become more pronounced - both economically and socially. More on this to follow right after we take a detour across the pond to Europe.

In the meanwhile in Europe, Leftism was ruling for a good chunk of 20th century in East Germany (GDR), Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary etc. All these governments even though termed Left/Communist are anything but 'Liberal'. Most of them used forced oppression on their own people, and the people of these countries were quite poor and helpless, compared to the right block in Europe (i.e. West Germany, France, Belgium, Netherlands etc.)

In China, on the other hand, Mao Zedong replicated Lenin's success after a prolonged struggle with Kuomintang which established the People's Republic of China in October 1949. But what came after this is a single-party non-democratic rule (that continues to date) with periodic oppression of any democratic or liberal voices in China. The economic policies, however, started out to be communistic in the mid-1900s has changed course in the late 1900s, when China become a controlled market economy which lead to the current state where more than 60% of the Chinese economy is powered by Private Enterprise and ironically still called a communist country. While a strict code of conduct is maintained by the press in China as well as their social policies, 'Liberal' is definitely not a word that would come to anyone's mind when they see leftists in China.

Swerving back to the so-called 'Left Liberals' of the United States - a new breed that has emerged in the post-millennium - have largely labeled themselves due to their so-called tolerance of LGBTQIA - we will run out of alphabets fairly soon here, open abortion policies, more importantly quite a leftist view of the economic and social policies, which by the way were never implemented in a liberal manner in other parts of the world and deemed as an utter failure in the long run. While it is quite natural for them to appropriate these terminologies it is also marked by the uncanny similarity of narrative setting and oppressive attitude towards people of opposite ideologies (refer to the huge roar and cry towards re-admitting Donald Trump into Twitter and the recent revelations of the infamous Hunter Biden laptop being silently ignored by the left media). Again the term 'Liberal' just doesn't gel with the behavior of the current 'Leftists' be it in the USA, Europe, China, North Korea, or India.

By this time, I know you are going back and reading the title like 10 times and thinking in your head - what were you thinking dude. Yes, I am aware of that and this is probably a good time to shift context to prove my point on why even after all these aberrations, the term 'Left Liberal' makes so much sense. In Hindu spirituality, the most important symbol of the para-brahmam (the supreme being) is Lord Narayana who has Goddess Lakshmi in his heart. And the heart, being always in the left side of the chest, Goddess Lakshmi is the iconic representation of a 'Leftist' and of course not just a 'Leftist', she is also the 'Liberal' who blesses her devotees and having a very broad and magnanimous attitude - refer to the Ramayana when Sita forgives and blesses the crow who harmed her in the first place. She, not only blesses her devotees with material-fortune but also opens them to the path of self-realization according to the Sri Suktham. She is the classic 'Left Liberal' not just because of her 'Liberal' giving alone, but also the 'Liberation' she offers her bhakthas from worldly bondage. 

Once you are introduced to this proper meaning of 'Left Liberal', I have more reasons to add to why this terminology makes so much sense. When the great Lord Shiva offered half of himself to Goddess Parvati, it is the Left half that became the female self - refer Lord Ardhanarisvara. According to the Lalitha Saharanamam, she is the Goddess 'Srimatha' - who gives immeasurable wealth and removes all sorrows, 'Kamakshi' - who fulfills our desires just by her sight. So it is really the consorts of Lord Vishnu and Lord Shiva - who are Goddesses Lakshmi and Goddess Uma, the real 'Left Liberals' for whom the term makes so much sense and for all the 'Leftists' of today, if they really want to understand the concept of 'Left Liberalism' they have to read and understand the Sri Suktham and perhaps the Lalitha Sahasranamam.

Ponniyin Selvan - Part 1 - the movie

 First, it is definitely no easy attempt for anyone to condense this cult novel from Kalki to make a movie that lasts for perhaps 5 to 6 hours (considering the 2 parts). So for attempting this, one has to congratulate Director Mani Ratnam and his crew. With the ammunitions of the VFX technology and the various advancements in cinematography, he has embarked on this unenvious task of framing the classic novel into a visual treat and has definitely succeeded in quite a number of places. The grandeur in some of the scenes is overwhelming, to say the least. 

Art director's work in recreating the Thanjavur fort and palace, Pazhaiyaarai palace, and Sambuvaraiyaar maligai are fabulous. Costume designer's job in bringing to life Kundavai's hairstyle and Arulmozhi Varman's dress looked authentic. However, Pazhuvettaraiyar's hat looked more like a turkish hat rather than the turban shown by Oviyar Maniam (See difference between the red hat in Kalki and SharathKumar's hat - How did this pass ManiRatnam's scrutiny?)

And what is it with the facial hair and ManiRatnam? As per Oviyar Maniam's illustration, minimal facial hair (just a penciled mustache) for Vandiyathevan and Aditha Karikalan, and no facial hair for ArulMozhi Varman. All of them were sporting heavy beards in this picture. Seems like the director has a fetish for facial hair. 

Some of the castings fit very nicely - Ravidasan, Poonkuzhali, Vanathi, and Tirukovalur Malayaman were very good choices. Chozha Ships are very nicely portrayed and when Arulmozhi reaches Sri Lanka, the chozha ships reach the shore (karaithattuthal) were excellent artwork and cinematography. Contrary to the popular belief in TamilNadu, the Chozha kings have been very ardent Shiva Bhakthas and protected the vedic heritage during their regimes. So it is only apt to chant the Chamakam while introducing Sembiyan Maadevi and Sri Rudram when Kundavai enters Thanjavur palace. Thanks to the director for placing these at strategic places in the movie. However, the character Sendan Amudhan's signature thevara pathikam 'Ponnar meniyane pulitholai araikasaithu' will be mentioned by Kalki at least a dozen times in the book and just did not find a place in the movie. Why? 

Prabhu as Kodumbalur periya velar looks horrible. He is the Senapathy of the Chozha Kingdom - he is supposed to look fit and majestic. Unfortunately, he looks like one of those extremely obese constables of TamilNadu police. There is a very key character named Kudanthai Jothidar in the novel, where Kundavai and Vandiyathevan meet for the first time. This character is completely absent in the movie. Sundara Chozhar was treated by pazhaiyaarai vaithiyar as per Kalki and as a matter of fact, the vaithiyar's son Pinakapani will become an important character as well. In the movie, however, he is undergoing acupuncture treatment from Chinese physicians. I wish that the assistant directors have reminded Mani Ratnam that he is attempting a period movie time and again. 

Vandiyathevan and Azhwarkadiyan Nambi are characters who understand a lot of secrets that happen during this timeframe- be it the secret plan of Pazhuvettaraiyar and Maduranthakan, the vengeance of abathudavigal, the secret of thyagavidangar's daughter-in-law, the coronation attempt in Sri Lanka etc. Their characters were designed to take the reader through these events in a manner that builds up a complex web that will have different characters tied up due to circumstances and their own decisions from before. However, in the movie, Vandiyathevan is blissfully unaware of abathudavigal until he goes to Sri Lanka and mostly he is shown as a flirt while Azhwarkadiyan is portrayed as a comedian and the director seemed to have missed that fundamental plot of Kalki's book.

When a historical movie is taken, one should try to stick to what is written as validated information or perhaps well-accepted facts of those times. None of them seem to indicate the free liquor drinking of the chozha forces after the victory over rashtrakutas. Definitely, in the book, there is no mention of liquor drinking by the soldiers. Such cheap imagination can only come from contemporary tamil movie directors. The projection of current-day practices of liberal drinking towards a period that happened about 1100 years ago may satisfy today's TASMAC generation, but it is far from being an authentic portrayal of history.

In the scene that breaks apart at the end of Part 1 where Vandiyathevan gets caught in a burning ship and Arulmozhi is trying to save him - the entire premise of the events is changed and I have no idea where the director is going with this. The original story will have Arab pirates on the ship that Vandiyathevan will land up by mistake and will get thrashed by them. Also, Kalki would have beautifully created this sequence to show that Arulmozhi gets first-hand experience with these Arab pirates, and later when he becomes king will secure the sea route between India and Southeast Asian islands so that the traders can take merchandise without fear of these pirates.

The less said about the music is better. Nandini seems to be an Arabic princess because every time she is shown, a kind of sufi music signature keeps rolling. And don't get me started on the thevarattam sequence. I think it is seriously high time that ManiRatnam dumps AR Rahman for more contemporary musicians - perhaps Keeravani is not a bad choice for historically significant movies.

 The Endangered P(a)undits - Forgive but never Forget

After watching Vivek Agnihotri's "The Kashmir Files", it took me a solid week to get over the effects of the movie on me. Perhaps it has changed some of my thoughts permanently and left an everlasting impression that I am not even sure is good or bad.

The movie is dark and slow. If it would have been a different subject, I believe people would have left the cinema halls during one of the conversations that Mithunda was having with our Duryodhan fame Puneet Issar or when the protagonist Krishna was lecturing the ANU (why don't we use the real names - JNU - here. no clue!!) students. But the first few scenes of the movie, just strike you like a lightning and when you are trying to gather yourself this clever director has inserted all the slow scenes and gives you another blow in the end.

Effective use of non-linear storytelling - comparing today's narrative on Kashmir with what happened during late 80s, early 90s in the valley is brilliant, to say the least. However the director seems to have some casting issues, if not why would he roll all the different terrrorists into one, Farooq Dar (Bitta), Yasin Malik and a host of others (Burhan Wani, Afzal Guru et al. ), which leads to some cinematic sequences where the Bitta fellow keeps coming back in all scenes whether it is the IAF members shooting, brutal murder of Sarwanand Koul and in the end Nadimarg massacre as well as the cold-blooded bisection of Girija Tickoo.

Oh oh... Did I say the real names of the victims out loud, instead of their screen names? Well! may be a dosage of reality for the - 'why is this needed now' gang - is not bad after all. 

Anupam Kher - is not just an actor. He is a phenomenon. The way he shows his insensitive and numb reaction to his own son's brutal death, showing the kashmiri pride, dreaming about going back to Kashmir  and his earnest attempt to protect the rest of his family - Pushkarnath will live in the hearts of Indians forever. 

While it is natural to see the general public hording towards the theatres, I can give a few pointers towards some of the apologists, who seemed to think Vivek Agnihotri has crossed the line by making this movie. You guys are trying to say that the whole film is a lie and a propaganda and a hate show against Kashmiri Muslims - tough argument! Because they are real events corroborated by real people who have seen this, felt this and lived through this. On the contrary, you can always sue him for 'Copyright Infringement' - how dare he keeps word by word what Burkha Dutt reported on Pandits' exodus - sorry genocide - as is in the movie without giving due credits to her. How dare he can pen in a Prof. Radhika Menon character based off of the likes of Suzanna Arundhati Roy, Brinda Karat et al and keep their narrative manipulation un-filtered in the movie. So try that out people, it actually might work and you can also present valid evidences against him. You might be wondering why am I giving pointers to the 'tukde tukde gang' now. Well! After seeing Pushkarnath for two hours and fifty minutes, part of his numbness towards atrocities smeared on me as well!

 Rigid Liberalism - Oxymoron of the decade

There is a certain category of liberalism that people of this decade seems to follow predominantly, that I can broadly classify as Rigid Liberalism. It is not new but perhaps not named as liberalism for a long time, however when the left leaning historians, politicians and academia projected themselves as progressive liberals then the whole word 'liberals' actually started meaning something else. That is why the term 'Rigid Liberalism'. i.e A liberalism that does not accept any counterpoint, however much sense it makes. 

Why this rant suddenly? One of my friend, who I am just going to refer to as the 'Blue Necked Happy Man', has been on my case to write a review of the web series called Nava Rasa, supposedly one story per emotion, depicting the nine salient emotions predominantly popularised by Bharatanatyam dancers, however now made as a talking point by none other than our favorite Mani Rathnam. I did see few of the episodes in full and some of them partially. However, one that could be taken out for review (one rice out of the whole pot) is Project Agni by Karthick Naren. 

 As the cliche goes, if you want to show someone as extremely intelligent and academically savvy cast Arvind Swamy to that role. Mani Rathnam created this fad in the 90s, which is still followed by all and sundry. Naming the main character as Vishnu who is calling his friend Krishna for help, while Kalki is the bad guy - both avatars of Vishnu - the director goes to the next level to make sure that symbolism is well-directed and names his wife as Lakshmi kid as rishi - symbolically saying all the rishis are paving the path to reach Vishnu. But in all this, he has to make sure to show that his character Vishnu is an atheist (removing the vibuthi from his forehead after lakshmi leaves the room). Why this urge to show only atheist hindus? It has become a complete cliche in Indian cinema to see atheist hindus, but pious christians and faithful muslims. 

That too if the hindu happens to be well read, he has to be one of the Lutyen's elitists, with a tint of marxism and of course they will always be very humane. And more they bash hinduism, the more humane will they be. This is extremely contrary to the reality where C.V. Raman, Subramaniam Chandrasekhar, J.C. Bose are all fairly staunch hindus. However it seems like the so-called elitists in TN seems to have the burning need to get endorsements from the periyarist gangs for some odd reason. 

While the complete brush aside of hindu systems are visible in this episode, the awe with which the protaganist expresses the ancient Sumerian civilization and the Anunakis - which is termed as pseudo-archaeology even by western historians and archaeologists - which by the way existed in parallel to Indus Valley Civilization, and much later than Ramayana and Mahabharatha times. So even though the Sumerians have done math, they are definitely not the first ones to have done either Math or Astronomy - as claimed in this web series. 

And in the end, the whole build up of this episode is for Kalki, the villain to get hold of DMT - commonly known as Dimitri or N-dimethyltryptamine. Seriously the director seems to have some serious hallucinations (no pun intended). 

Jumping on to 'Guitar Kambi Mele Nindru' by none other than Gautham Vasudev Menon, emphasizes that a Musician of good quality means that he should be in London and in his own words 'he does not belong here'. And what does he create  - the celebrated dance number that gets the grammy award - is nothing other than a basic 'Mullai Pann' or the Mohanam in carnatic scale. All this is showing an excessive erosion of creativity in the Tamil Filmdom due to pervasive nepotism and in-breeding over several decades. 

The Average Joe

 During a totally unrelated whatsapp conversation with my school friends, I tactfully posted my blog link where I have written a few articles about 10 years back and made a few of them read it by force. While they obviously did not have any choice other than to read it and say nice things about my blog, I believe one of them went the extra mile and said that I should continue writing more articles for this blog. Before he realizes his mistake, regrets his statement, and deletes his message from the group chat, I better hurry and write this piece, so that I can blame that chap if this goes south.

While the decision to write the blog is fine, what is it that I can actually write about is a big question.

However, understanding my dilemma, our dear President Joe has loaded the content ship with so much stuff, I should actually thank him personally and send him a free one-way ticket from D.C. to Kabul. A lot of the Republican congressmen and senators think that Joe has gone kind of senile due to his age (about 79 years - alive and kicking). I don't buy that completely. He may be senile, he may not remember what he said 5 minutes ago, he might even hug you and smell you for a long time - in the process would have forgotten who he hugged, but there is something very fundamental in Joe that prompted him to take serious actions like this (i.e. withdrawing troops from terrorist infested Afghanistan).

Let us take you folks, to the younger days of our beloved Joe <<insert time travel effects... go to sleep....done>>. Joe in his school/University days is not a very bright student, academically. Compared to the other Presidents of his time - Bill Clinton is a Rhodes Scholar and graduated from Yale Law School, Obama graduated from the Harvard Law School, Donald Trump did economics in Wharton, and even George W who had difficulty pronouncing "nuclear" graduated from Harvard Business School, while Joe graduated from Syracuse University College of Law (no "malevolent" intention towards Syracuse University) and he was ranked 76 out of the 85 students graduated in his batch. Yes, fellow back-benchers there is hope in life even after terribly bad grades.

To be fair, of course, life is not always about grades and there are plenty of examples of students with bad grades who became extraordinarily successful in life and have made a lot of smarter decisions than the academic geniuses. However, our dear Joe falls in a different category. In law school, he plagiarized a review article for a paper[2]. When asked about it, he said he has not done anything "malevolent". I think this is a very important point to note for people trying to understand Joe's actions. If you have plagiarized in your youth, it is fine. However, when you are mature enough, you probably would say, "I shouldn't have done that. That is so immature of me to do that". But see Joe didn't choose to say that, instead he said he had done nothing "malevolent". 

So when he chose to lift off British Politician Neil Kinnock's speech for his campaign speech in Iowa [3] - i.e. plagiarism at the political level, he never thought it is anything "malevolent". Another important aspect of Joe's plagiarism is that (you have to always keep in mind he is the 'Average' Joe and not otherwise) he did not care to modify Kinnock's speech to his settings. He just went stating it line by line - "My ancestors, who worked in the coal mines of Northeast Pennsylvania and would come up after 12 hours and play football for four hours". You see our average Joe did not bother to change the football reference from Kinnock's line to 'soccer' as we all call it lovingly. Of course the detail about Joe's ancestors not working in coalmines - who cares about that stuff? Only the hideous rednecked klansman would point out stuff like that. 

Now I can hear you guys yelling 'Hey he plagiarized in college and campaign speeches, so what and what is your point?'. Hear me out my lordship, I am getting to my conclusion based on the several analysis that I have quoted above. You see, Joe was Vice President to Obama and he was literally sitting right by Obama when he went through 8 years of the presidency (refer to my older article on Joe about him getting to be VP) and now after a short break, he is back in Obama's old seat. What do you think he would do? He will plagiarize. Right now all he is doing is plagiarizing Obama's presidency. Go back and refer to what Obama has done during his first hundred days of Presidency - Plan for withdrawal from Iraq[4]. Given that Biden was busy with Covid stuff most of this year, he actually forgot to refer to his notes from Obama's Presidency. Now that he probably got over the Corona hump (at least he thinks so), he started looking into the notes and said, 'Hey we need to withdraw from Iraq' and his staffers said, 'We were done with it Sir during Obama's time'. 'So what - we should withdraw from somewhere, the manual says so'. And one of the staffers raises his hand and Joe says 'What?'. 'How about Afghanistan Sir?'. Joe goes 'See that is the kind of enthusiasm I like. Young man - you deserve a promotion. I see my youngself in you'. 

So my point is, team, just brace yourself for the repeat of Obama's presidency - however, with unexpected consequences due to this kind of cut-and-paste-out-of-context errors. But as Americans - we should be proud. Now, no country on earth can come and comment at us that we cannot get any 'Average Joe' to become our president. We actually, literally did that. We are responsible for it and we should give ourselves a pat on the back.

References:

1. Picture Courtesy - Al Jazeera
2.  https://www.nytimes.com/1987/09/18/us/biden-admits-plagiarism-in-school-but-says-it-was-not-malevolent.html
3. https://www.nytimes.com/1987/09/12/us/biden-s-debate-finale-an-echo-from-abroad.html
4. https://www.post-gazette.com/news/nation/2009/01/22/Obama-asks-Pentagon-for-responsible-Iraq-drawdown/stories/200901220423

Raavan, Ravana et. al

<<This review has been sitting in my drafts since the day after I watched this movie and I squarely blame it on my super laziness and peanut-sized memory for leaving this unpublished. So if there is any soul out there trying to read this and wondering why a review for this movie is just coming - rest in peace -- yeah yeah... no one reads this crap anyway, let us get on>>

 

Last time when I met Raj (one of our friends) during one of our socializing events, he said that he is expecting my next blog article very eagerly. I can take it two ways, one is that my current blog is so good, he can't wait to read my next one or the more plausible explanation - let me see at least if I give you another chance, you will write any better. Raj - Whatever the reason might be when you said that, I was thinking within myself - what did I do? Now I have created this expectation, opened the Pandora's box, how am I even going to live up to this expectation.

But life is strange and when you expect the least, situations present themselves in a platter. In this case, our dear Mani Ratnam's much-awaited Raavan/Ravana. I watched it in Tamil on the day of release, that too, a night show after so many years. This is as much privilege I can give to a movie and it better live up to it.

The hype around Ravana was crazy, the dual characterization of Vikram (hunter in Hindi/hunted in Tamil) made front-page news in Tamil Dailies while BP was leaking oil in the Gulf. Jaya Bachan was actually praying to Lord Rama that this movie should be over soon, so that their pyaari bahu can give them the grandkid to play with. 3 Years and 90 Crore Rupees ($20.5 Mil) later, Raavan/Ravana is released and we went on the release day night with our 2-year-old to watch alongside another 50 other souls who except my dear friend Chin, sacrificed their sleep to watch the incredible stuff from Mani Ratnam, which he forgot to pack it in the movie in the first place.

Mani seems to be intently wiring the story with all sorts of correlations with Ramayana, whether it is the suggestion of Priyamani as Surpanaka or the transformation of poor Karthik to Hanuman. Somehow he did not have this urge when writing Thalapathi (apparently suttufied from Mahabharata), where he only links the story in the start and in the end. All through the middle, it was nothing but Gang war stuff. However, in this movie, he has felt the need to remind the poor viewer that he is watching a patched-up work of Ramayana, once every two scenes. Strangely enough, I can relate to how Mani Ratnam would have felt writing his screenplay. It is the exact same feeling that I have when I write the functional specs for my projects (almost on every page trying to go back and reference the requirements somehow as lame as it can be).

However to understand why Raavan/Ravana has turned out to be this way, needs some critical analysis by experienced psychological experts for which I have completely no access to. But that does not mean I will shut up and walk away - I have my own two eyes which see a whole lot. Note the point that Suhasini has convinced Mani to write the dialogues for the Tamil Movie. If someone says that it is to save money - come on! get real! - you can't find another couple of lakhs to find a professional writer when you are spending 90 crores on the movie! BS! It is actually all these years of living with Suhasini that Mani is systematically and completely lobotomized to the extent that not only he did not mind her writing the dialogues but he actually believed 'Bak bak bak bak bak bak' as an intellectually superior piece of dialogue that the audience and critics will find it intriguing. Well, you all thought, it will only happen for mortal folks like us, now even the great Mani Ratnam is completely susceptible.

I say Mani D the B and get a life! What do you say folks?