I Am God!

"Those who are not fit to live in this world, i give them boon - that's death and those who can’t live in this world , i give them death - thats a boon".

Naan Kadavul

Some movies might have made your stomach turn from what you see, some might scare you for life, some may have just made you mad and you go "WTF".

Either way, they fall into the category of "disturbing movies". I had movies like "Trainspotting", "Irreversible", "A Clockwork Orange", "120 Days of Sodom", "Oldboy" and "The Shining" in this list. The new addition to my list is a Tamil movie, " Naan Kadavul" by Bala. (Disclaimer: I could understand only 40% of the dialogues, but i believe ,it isnt a handicap). The closest movie in visual comparison is a 1932 movie "Freaks", about sideshow circus freaks based on the short story "Spurs" by Tod Robbins. The voiceover from that movie "But for an accident of birth, you might be as they are" still rings in my ears.

Bala, the director of “Naan Kadavul” is known for his films about protagonists who live at the margins. But there are too many loopholes and irritating aspects in this movie, which are unexpected from a Director of his caliber:
• The closing minutes of the movie have some badly edited scenes and the climax appears to be rushed.
• The long scene in the police station involving look-alikes of MGR, Sivaji and Rajni was quite unnecessary and breaks the rhythm of the movie in the first half.
• The lead actresses’ migration from the hill cave to a church and then to the hands of the villain is not explained.
• The climatic fight appears very cinematic in a "realistic" movie like this.

The bright spots in the movie are the acting by the lead actors and technical team. The superb BGM by Illayaraja in the second of the movie lifts the scenes to a higher plane.

One way to look at "Naan Kadavul" is that it is incredibly hard-hitting and it truly portrays the harsh realities of life. The other way to look at it is that by the second half of the movie, you are so desensitized by the scenes that nothing seems disturbing anymore.

Where "Naan Kadavul" succeeds, is in forcing us to contemplate and think: "Is death, a boon for some?"

(At the end of the movie, I was mightily pleased with myself for not forcing my friend to rush his dinner to catch the movie in time. Not that i can rush him!. It just wasn’t worth it. But, does anything provide the gratification which food does? I will cherish and remember the Chakkari Pongal a lot lot more than the movie.)

Quintessence of Dust

"What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason! How infinite in faculty! In form and moving how express and admirable! In action how like an angel! In apprehension how like a god! The beauty of the world! The paragon of animals!

And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust? Man delights not me: no, nor woman neither, though by your smiling you seem to say so." -

Shakespeare's Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, Act II, Scene II

Reflections and Resolutions

As each holiday season approaches, some revel in welcoming the New Year ahead; others quietly mourn the passing of time gone by. Year-end reflections precede resolutions and 2008 has been a year most would rather forget. It will go down in political and economic history as a terrible year.

It would be trite to write about what i did last year and my resolutions, lets just conclude that it has been a rollercoaster ride and i look forward to what awaits in the New Year..

As the world spirals into recession it would be wise to recall the Easterlin paradox: Happiness in a country can, atleast sometimes, be unrelated to income.

May your 2009 be happy and prosperous. And remember...

"Lots of things will happen no matter what you do. But some things will only happen if you make them happen."

Anguish...

"I am angry, frustrated and depressed. I am angry at the manic dogs of war who have invaded Mumbai. I am frustrated by the impotence of my government in Mumbai and Delhi, tone-deaf to the anguish of my fellow citizens. And I am depressed at the damage being done to the idea of India. " MJ Akbar

Pursuit of Happiness

"Death does not concern us, because as long as we exist, death is not here. And when it does come, we no longer exist. " - Epicurus

A pamphlet announcing the opening of a new bar & restaurant near my home named Epicurus, triggered memories of my childhood when i used to naively think that Epicurus was an European restaurant chain because of the numerous outlets of the same name that i encountered. Only later in my life, i came to know that Epicurus, the ancient greek philosopher inspired his followers to seek to live without pain or fear and was certainly ahead of his time in his belief that the existence and behavior of everything in the world is based on the movement of invisible particles, which we now know to be atoms.

Few philosophers have come up with more suggestive and more relevant answers to the pursuit of happiness than Epicurus. He taught that the point of all one's actions was to attain pleasure (conceived of as tranquility) for oneself, and that this could be done by limiting one's desires and by banishing the fear of the gods and of death.

Epicurus' hedonism was widely denounced in the ancient world as undermining traditional morality. In the modern age, we think of Epicureanism as a life of eating and drinking to excess in order to best enjoy life. However, this was never the intention of Epicurus, who merely wanted people to understand that to experience modest pleasures will allow fear and pain to subside, in itself creating the greatest pleasure of all: a life of contentment through equilibrium.

The Age of Anxiety

Both professor and prophet depress,

For vision and longer view

Agree in predicting a day

Of convulsion and vast evil,

When the Cold Societies clash

Or the masses are set in motion

To overrun the earth,

And the great brain which began

With lucid dialectics

Ends in a horrid madness.

(W.H.Auden, The Age of Anxiety)

Peter Drucker in his book "The Age of Discontinuity" said that "corporations can't provide their workers with economic security if the companies' own future is highly insecure." The unending turmoil in the Global Financial Markets has sparked deep fears for jobs and wages, despite the bailout packages from US, China and other members of the G20.

The combination of increased uncertainities found in everyday life with the insecurities of the global economy is potent. The lack of control which many of us have our everyday lives means that we must all learn to ride the " juggernaut of modernity".

End of an era

" The passing of champions can be cathartic; it is part of the large, primitive theatrics that sports perform. "

Sports is an activity in which even the greatest winners, finally lose, if only because their bodies eventually give out on them and they can no longer do what they once did with what seemed such magnificent ease that set them apart from other mortals.

Although we are all aware that some athlete heros in team sports are primarily selfless, some largely selfish, it is very possible to have a hero who has it both ways, fulfilling his own hero's destiny while fighting unrelentingly for his team. Such a mythic man, is Anil Kumble.

Kumble's decision to retire has plunged the Indian Cricket fans into pathos. The moment carried an accumulation of memories and meanings that are involved in the drama of great athletes aging, failing and retiring.

There will be no way of estimating Kumble's value to the Indian Cricket team from a dignity and morale standpoint and Ganguly's value for getting under the opposition's skin. There are relatively very few athletes like Kumble and Ganguly whose glories and declines seem to acquire an emotional importance.

I shudder to think of the day when the "Great Man" bids farewell to Cricket. It will certainly be a day of national mourning.