Living in Terror.

Each and every household in the Northern parts of India are discussing about the terror strikes - bomb blasts that has happened in recent months. The latest bomb blast on last Saturday at New Delhi (27 Sep 2008) and yesterday's bomb blasts at Gujarat & Maharashtra has left us (the people) to live in/with terror. Although we are strong enough and contend that it did not happen in our own backyard, there is a sense of fear instilled on everyone's life. My wife is already telling me that she is afraid of going in Mumbai local train. I think this is the case with every household living in this part of the country yet we go to business every day as usual! I do not think its the courage but as said in the movie 'A Wednesday' we are used to it! We definitely get used to everything and anything very soon! The adaptability at its best! Even the terrorists will get tired of their acts because the response from people, administration, politicians remains the same.... Nothing changes!!!!.

As I come from South India I cannot hold to compare this environment with the South Indian environment. South India, particularly Tamilnadu and Kerala are largely peaceful. There can be communal violence seen but not between religions. Why do we see such fanatics of a particular community from North India? I rationalise that this is due to

* Discrimination by the majority community.
* Lack of Education.
* Negligency from the governments state and central.
* Inferiority complex among the minority community.

The environment is better in South India largely due to proper education is available to all.... I will not say there is no discrimination at all but by and large the discrimination is tolerable (I guess). Everyone is treated by their background in education, work and status and not by religion. All have equal opportunities in South India when compared in North India in terms of education or work or business.

Any opinions? Am I correct or gross wrong in my judgement?

Movie Review of Poi Solla Porom - Tamil.

Starring: Karthik Kumar, Preethi, Nedumudi Venu, Mouli, Nazer, Delhi Ganesh

Direction: Vijay

Production: Priyadarshan

This film has great star cast like Nedumudi Venu, Mouli, Nasser and Delhi Ganesh. The movie has some good slapstick comedy throughout the film, some edgy moments and good all round performance. A comedy where you can laugh your heart out...... extraordinary performance from Nasser and Mouli makes the film to stand out. It will be difficult to choose the best actor performance between Nasser and Mouli. I thoroughly enjoyed the film!

Nedumudi Venu, as a middle class retired govt., employee buys a piece of land from his savings but later to find out that he is fooled by the real estate agent, Nasser. Nasser company occupies his land and extorts for more money from Nedumudi Venu to vacate the land. When the options run out of hand to solve the issue, Karthik's drama troupe and his travel agent come to rescue. They plan to get the money from Nasser and pay the extortion amount. Mouli is another actor who can take the screen all for himself if he is on the scene. The events that turn out in fooling Nasser has comedy and some edgy moments!.

The other actors whose acting needs mentioning are Delhi Ganesh, Bosky and Ganesh (the anchor). They come as subtle characters and have good roles.

In all the movie is a fun to watch..... go and watch it if you feeling bored.

Movie Review of Subramaniapuram - Tamil

I saw this movie on the weekend. One word to describe the movie....'Brilliant'. The plot, story, script, backdrop, screenplay, casting and music are on par with excellence. Hats off to the director M. Sasikumar for making a movie that can compared with Hollywood movies.

The backdrop the movie is set in 1980's, in a small town at Madurai (my hometown) in down South of India. I was a kid during these days but I remember in the 80's Madurai was referred to as not big to be a city and not too small to be called as village. It was an in-between city and my uncles were in their teenage or just completed during 80's. The 80's era was like you need to be very good in order to survive or else you are left behind. This 'survival of the fittest' applies even today but it was severe during 80's. The youths of 80's were irresponsible and did not knew the consequences of their actions which is aptly shown by the lead characters in the movie.

The events of movie moves step by step in a normal pace. The screenplay never shakes since the director brings the best of everyone involved in the film. The story goes like this - 5 friends who hang around a local politician all day and night jobless.... just to show that they have someone to backup in case of problems. The two lead characters played by Jai and Sasikumar would go into fight for petty issues which lands them at local police station. The brother of local politician comes up everytime to save them from the police. So, when they do a big job for them to show their thanks the rescue never comes. The two then set to take revenge on the politician's family and in between this revenge the 'new status' bring them more trouble leading to blood bath in the particular area, Subramaniyapuram.

There is a love track between Jai and Swathi who comes from the politician's family. The track is beautiful and blends with the main story. Every character is treated as important as the two lead characters. If I retrospect the movie I can see that each and every character had their own traits and used to the fullest.

Jai - has a bad temper, perishes.
Sasikumar - is a close friend of Jai, perishes.
Kanja Karuppu - is greedy and lusts on money, perishes.
Swati - is young and vulnerable. Used by the family.
Handicapped youth - supports Jai and Sasikumar.
Local Politician - Politicians... you know how they can be.
Younger brother of local politician - Betrays Jai and Sasikumar, perishes.

I compare it to Hollywood movies, the reason is - we are not used to such characters. You will find villians in the movies who are meant to do bad on hero & his family but this is completely a different genre. The heroes in this movie are anti-heroes and everyone has a grey side or betrayal side. This makes the movie on par with classic or great movies.

I need to mention on the art work.... every care is taken to get the backdrop right. The temple function, serial lights, the dressing style, the hair style and the crudeness of the youth.

Experience it and you will know what I mean!!!!!!!!!