taboo---national geographic tv

Human beings, me included , are a rare breed . Gifted with intelligence and emotion , though the vast majority of us go through life fairly "normally  "  with an occasional bungee jumping  thrown in , it is no surprise at least  some human beings do things extremely .
                                                            A tv series in the national geographic channel called "taboo " shows how much deviation certain groups of people can be  . Having just watched two episodes it has already had me hooked .  In the first episode they show corporates in korea paying for a "death experience "  so that employees value life more .  Its a paid service where a person writes his own epitaph words and reads them aloud and later is put in a coffin for 15 minutes .  If you feel this is weird and impossible -- that is what the program is all about . What is weird and impossible in one part of the world is perfectly logical and possible in another part of the world .  And to put things in perspective . south korea has the highest suicide rate among industrialised nations . This "death experience " is a service started by a person who attempted suicide twice and later understood the value of life  .

Who is the most desirable male in the world . The handsome hunk in the swanky Multinational company with 7 figure salary . I dont know .But apparently  it seems at least for a group of females life convicts in prison are the most desirable . If you think i have gone crazy  seeing too much tv just check out  taboo on national geographic or even the google for statistics . It seems in some countries there are many murder committed prisoners who got a girlfriend or got married after they were in prison .  And this is not "prison love " like in a movie in malayalam . Though i dont recommend being in prison , this shows different people think differently in different parts of the world .

If you think tattoos and piercings are cool and dont mind the graphic nature of the program tune into taboo on national gerographic .

eat, drink and be merry

Today was watching a program in television in which was shown a tea-shop owner . Flooded by food related programs i thought it was about  the "one metre tea " the famous roadside tea served in teashops  . But it was something  more inspiring  .  Apparently  our tea shop owner has the habit of working 300 days and rest 2 months with his savings he goes on tour . He has already visited Singapore, Egypt, Dubai , Jordan , China and plans to go London-Paris this year  .  

In the world famous  Omar Khayyam's Rubaiyats works it is written    'eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die.  '  Eventhough we will probably live tomorrow how many of us follow this principle . I am not endorsing that we should enjoy today with no care about tomorrow . But the point is watching around us we find many people who keep hoarding money  so much  that they have  no money for eating , drinking (not alcohol :)) or being merry .  I personally know many people who have millions in the form of assets but create an artificial shortage of day to day money  and eat and live like a pauper  .  Without going overboard in spending it is quite possible to spend decent money and have a great quality of life while living this short lifespan  . These days even travelling international will not cost too much if you plan early and spend wisely  . 

                                                                              So , to add to Rubaiyat .. Let us Eat , drink (non-alcoholic drinks ) and be merry and travel  or do whatever is interesting  for tomorrow we may die . 

Bon Voyage  

haroonkerala@gmail.com

movie review ---gurudakshina---or gift to the teacher

Let me start tangentially  (its become a habit :))  .

Whenever i eat sushi and enjoy it i think about most of my friends who have not had it  and many who feel repulsive at eating the "raw fish "  .  I have no comments about it  .  But whenever i see a malayalam movie from the "golden age of malayalam movies ---the 1980-90 period "  i wish all my friends saw them  . For  not for the entertainment value alone most of them had strong social messages which are true even in this age and even across cultures  . 

                         Today saw one movie called gurudakshina . The theme was interesting . A retired schoolteacher who was of poor economic background had a daughter to be married of . And as expected she fell in love with a rich boy  .  But the grooms father  had one condition for marriage .  That is the schoolteacher should pay 50000 rs (a big amount in those days )  as dowry .  The movie is about how this schoolteacher goes about and purposefully as well as accidentally meets many of his old students. One
has become a police officer , another a minister, another a big thief and another a prostitute .  The minister is played by Mohanlal and the big thief is played by Mammootty . I am yet to see a movie where a politicians facade is ripped so humorously in mohanlals role in which he washes his gurus feet and after he is sent for sleep commenting that he has to have a bath for touching the "dirty feet "  .  When his wife asks why you did all this drama he told that ,that was for publicity as all his ex-students will vote for him .(Of course a photograph was taken ) . 

                                                              T G  Ravi plays the role of the greedy prospective father-in -law whose only aim in life is money  .  Even after 20+years many of the characters in the film have real life examples    around us . And though indian law is very strongly against  dowry  it still exists .  Adoor basi who was always known as a comedian in the 1970s plays the role of the school teacher . I am amazed at the way comedians handle character roles with equal ease . And last but not the least even the pretty Unni Mary who is known more for her beauty than acting skill had a good role .  

                                                                          Gurudakshina is not one of the greatest movies i have seen in malayalam and there are (according to me ) many lacunae in its direction but its a different theme and i enjoyed it . So next time dont follow me and spend 1000 rs on raw fish at global fusion but rent out a malayalam dvd with subtitles and enjoy the movies from Gods own country ...(sorry Gods own state ... kerala is not a country :) )
haroonkerala@gmail.com

when mohammed ali jinnah cried in public

                                                                 Today was reading a novel from my favourite author in malayalam Poonathil Kunjabdulla . In that novel "paralokam --or the Nether world "  he describes God deciding which world leader should go to heaven and hell . In his humorous style he descibes the judgement day of Gandhiji , Jinnah and Karl Marx . When i finished the novel i was intrigued in learning a few facts about Mohammed Ali Jinnah and wanted to check up wikipedia whether they were true .
                                                                      I was fascinated to know the other side of Jinnah and  some curious facts about his personal life . Apparently though the father of the nation of Pakistan , the heart of Jinnah or rather his beloved still rests in India --Mumbai to be precise . At the age of 42 he got married to his love from Mumbai ---daughter of a Parsi textile owner . (wikipedia for details). She was 18 when she got married to Jinnah and she lived only till age of 29  years . And Mohammed Ali Jinnah who was known for being extremely private cried publicly during her funeral . And the second time he cried was in 1947 when he left india forever . That occured at Mumbai at the cemetry where his wife was interred .

History is full of paradoxes and it is the greatest paradox that though former india was divided into pakistan and india the heart of Pakistans father of the Nation is still there at mumbai , in the form of his beloved lover and wife Maryam Jinnah also known as Rattanbai Ruttie Petit .

                                                                  

novemberinte nashtam -- movie review

                                                                    

  Let me start with a philosophical note ... being human is not only enjoying the intellectual pursuits in life and experiencing joy  but also experiencing the other emotion.. sadness .For without sadness you cannot understand what is joy  ....
                                                                   Why this preface because many people i meet are after joy alone and similarly interested in only comedy and happy ending movies .  But though i immensely enjoy comedy movies i strongly feel tragic movies do have a place and some of the best movies have tragedies among them .
                                    I was randomly scanning the tv today and chanced upon a movie with Madhavi in it as the heroine . The role was not a pleasant one but very well played by Madhavi . She was a psychiatric patient and has just returned from a stay in a mental hospital . Her brother and sister-in-law try their best in bringing back her to mainstream life but apparently her past love keeps haunting her . In addition her psychotic hallucinations also haunt her .  But all throughout the film the intense protective affection shown by her brother and sister-in-law is portrayed . (Director and writer padmarajan was always in for the intensity of relationships in his films )  . The character played by Madhavi is beyond words . All the characters in the movie are just small planets around this intense character played by Madhavi (malayalam never had a dearth of strong heroine based characters )  . Except for  the short periods when she hears auditory hallucinations the depth of the character played by madhavi is too good . Ditched by her lover inspite of her mental illness she has a realistic attitude to him . She reciprocates her brothers and sister-in laws love .

                                                                      The movie is tragic and sad .. but that is the beauty of it . One of the initial movies of padmarajan written and directed by him watch Novemberinte nashtam only if you are a movie critic and dont mind the tragedy ..
P.S: I am not revealing the plot since some of you may watch the movie

dirty picture and not so dirty little thoughts

                                                         I am yet to see the Dirty Picture , Vidya Balans film loosely based on Silk Smitha , the actress of South India who was known as a sex symbol . And as a movie critic , i never liked Smithas acting and even her seemingly erotic dances in the movies (my personal opinion ) . But i sympathise her untimely demise by suicide .  In my opinion its a cruel fate that these filmstars who have everything --success, money and fame --gets unhappy and commits suicide . At one time , the apple which was partly bitten by Silk Smitha was auctioned . Such was her popularity . And if you think Smitha is the only one ...you are totally wrong .
                                                 Much before Vidya Balans dirty picture and smithas suicide 30 years ago there was a film called Lekhayude maranam oru flash back . Directed by K G George , it was loosely based (who knows what actually happened ) on the life and suicide of actress Shobha.  The film was very well taken , excellent screenplay and acting . And if the film was excellent , even greater was the actress whose life the film was loosely based .

Shoba  was a shooting star in malayalam film.  She was a national film award winner in her debut film itself Paashi and she got that award at the age of ----17  .  I have no words thinking about her acting skill to get an award at that tender age .  She acted only in a handfull of movies spanning very few years all of them great success . But this pretty actress was snatched away at 17 by suicide  . 

Then there was Vijayasree .  If  you ask me who is the prettiest actress ever in Malayalam film --i would say Vijayasree . See her picture above .  And it is difficult to be a lead actress in malayalam by beauty alone .So if you see her four year reign when she was the ruling queen of malayalam film during her time , we can see she had more than beauty alone . This actress also had an early exit from this world at the height of her fame by suicide .

As a lover of malayalam films , i feel sad with the suicides of these actresses . It would be great personal tragedies that would have prompted these actresses who "had everything " to take this extreme step. It would be wise if organisations like AMMA take measures to give support to CINE artistes in crisis as the basic fact remains that any film actor is just another human being vulnerable .