A 11 hour movie marathon

How does one self-entertain when you are immobilized and restricted to a chair, your mobile phone forced to be in a vegetative state and you are fed at frequent intervals at 40,000 feet?

 

One could kill time by Reading, sleeping, listening to music, watching movies, and working on your laptop. The choices may be limited and may contain you in your seat, but still it can be introspective, enriching, funny, thoughtful and restful. I have done other things too...but that is not for a public consumption.

 

I was in an electric chair, sorry, I meant to say an entertainment chair during the 11 hour journey from Paris to Chennai. Here is a list of movies that I managed to watch.

 

1. Side effects - It is a movie about a psychiatrist (Jude Law), his patient and the drug he prescribes. The linear story telling gets interesting when the psychiatrist discovers other stories his patient concocts. As the movie progresses, a cocktail of twists and emotions leaves you and the psychiatrist bewildered like the psychiatric medication. Catherine Zeta Jones, a (bi)polar patient in real life, plays the role of a psychiatrist in the movie. Click here to watch the preview.

 

2. The Darjeeling Limited - Every life is a journey, some seek happiness, some seek relationship, some seek solace, bonding and closure. The movie is about a family traveling to India with a hope of getting their relationships back on rails (literally and figuratively) The movie at times employs cliches about India, namely, snakes and gurus (sadhus) but still the struggle to connect, heal and move on makes it a delightful watch. Click here to watch the trailer.

 

3. Nina- An Italian movie (not about violence, corruption, or pizza glistening with olive oil) that shares a short time period in the life of an artist, Nina. Stunning camera angles, soul stirring music, simple story line and elegant cast and costumes leaves with a lasting impression of Italy. It is a must watch for all art, music and photography enthusiasts. Click here to watch the trailer.

 

4. Quartet - Is there an escape from old age and our baggage from the past? Can love and life happen in a retirement home? The movie plot is around a retirement community of musicians and connoisseurs and their life and love. A new entrant, Maggie Smith, on the wait-list for a hip replacement, arrives just before a big performance at the retirement community. Did her arrival turn the performance into a symphony or a cacophony? Did it alter the mood in the Beecham house? Click here to watch the trailer.

 

5. Office Space: It is a movie about personal and professional unhappiness, boredom, insecurity, and our reaction to management decisions at work place. Majority of us will relate to this movie. Click here to watch the trailer.  

Jannal - redraws the new boundaries of the next society!

 

K Balachander is a master story teller and he needs no introduction and hasn’t stopped surprising us with his themes, stories and characters on the big and small screens. I have watched his productions Kai Alavu Manasu, Rayil Sneham, Premi, Kadhal Pagadai, but missed out on his tele-serials Chitthi, Anni, and Jannal. A friend of mine suggested that I watch the Jannal serial.

 

Jannal is a family story where the director shines light on the greed, money, love, and insecurity and highlights patience and family values. The characters come with hoard of expectations from each other. When they see each other’s real sidethey lose their patience, often reach their flash point, and vigorously defend their decisions driven by their ego, desire and love.

As a result of their decisions, they go through experiences, while some learn their lessons and mend their ways, but often use society as a reason to purport their decisions. It is a drama of youth vs. old; love vs.greed; tradition vs. modernity, and my way vs. highway.

Be it in his movies or serials, KB definitely gives a message to the society and his unexpected climaxes expand your horizon of thinking, understanding and acceptance. It is not an over statement to say he often redraws the boundaries of the next society.

A peek into the main characters:

Kalyani amma - very kind and giving, extrovert, wants to earn her meal, and takes the moral high ground. She is often disappointed by how society and people looks at her relationship with GK. She weaves the social fabric, but is often disappointed when the fabric catches fire because of her widowhood.

GK - child like, lively, funny, patience, doesn't seem to bother much about society or his health!

Mahesh - leaves his parents to keep his wife happy, but is disappointed when she doesn't measure up to his expectations.

Priya - expects Mahesh to be his friend and a photo copy of her father. When he doesn't let her have her way it sets the relationship on fire.

Ramya - selfish, individualistic, and is very money minded even when it comes to her father.

Balu - is away making money and is absent for most episodes, but finally delivers the punch that pushes his mother out of his house.

The youth have their definition of life, and the elderly have their definition. And conflicts arise when the try and define how each other should live their lives.

Aptly titled, Jannal provides your view of the world, but it is often a small pixel of life. Jannal is a show window. It shows how the youth are driven by money and how success and money defines their relationships. The older ones seem to over ambitious parents, who worry too much about success, future and comfort of their children and ensure that they measure up to their expectations and expectations of the society. In reality, we often we use Jannal to make ourselves look picture perfect to society watching us from the outside.

The First 15 episodes can wear your patience with clichés, and the title song, but nevertheless it lends you a leaf or more to learn. Last 15 episodes brings people together, resolves issues and redraws the new boundaries of the next society. The You Tube has all 39 Episodes and I have posted the first episode on top for reference.

The Youth of India are watching

There was time when I used to come back from school and share all the highlights and happenings with mom and she would patiently listen and respond as I finish up my late afternoon snack. 35 years later, the setting is the same, we sit across from each other, but our roles have reversed. I come back from work and mom hands over the evening snack and she shares her highlights and happenings from her day.

With my nephew arriving from Delhi for his summer vacation, I get a lot less updates from mom. She is busy feeding, engaging him and growing the special bond with her grandson. I watch their interaction from a distance, and it is a big entertainment when I get back home.

Earlier this week when I got back from work and I looked around for my nephew. The swing was filled with his story books and toys, but he was missing. When I followed the waft emanating from the kitchen, I saw him seated on the kitchen counter, and mom was making fresh dosas and he was intently listening to mom and getting his dose moral education through stories.

And yesterday when I stepped into the house, my nephew was not at home. He had gone to play with kids in our apartment. When I called for my nephew my mother walked towards me carrying pride in her chest. I immediately understood that she had something good and interesting to share. Before I let her share, I asked her for a cup of coffee and went to clean my hands and feet. And as I entered the kitchen to pick up the hot cup of filter coffee, I found mom gloating in pride and words queuing behind her lips.

Come on let’s hear her.

So now what?

Earlier in the day, an elderly resident in our apartment got stuck in the elevator. The alarm in the elevator had failed and she had to use her vocal cord to get attention. Since it was early noon, people had retired for a short snooze in the swooning heat and none other than my nephew heard her call.  He rushed towards the main door in the house, unlatched it and tried to find the source of the SOS call. And when he identified where it came from, he quickly went back into the house and got my mother.

My mother immediately established verbal contact with the resident trapped in the elevator and asked her try out a few things to get the elevator to the nearest floor. None of the tricks worked and manual intervention was the only way out. It would take a minimum of five minutes to get the key and move it to the nearest floor. While my mother went downstairs to fetch the key and carry out the next set of procedures, my nephew stayed in contact with the woman in the elevator.

During the next 10 minutes, my nephew tried to console and assured her of immediate help and diverted her attention by narrating the Cinderella story. Very soon mom got the elevator moving to the floor above and the woman was set free.

A hero by the afternoon

Drenched in sweat, the woman stepped out of the elevator. She was moved when she saw the 6 year old kid who kept her fear and anxiety at bay by giving her periodic assurances and diverting her attention by narrating the Cinderella story.  She took him up in her arms, showered him with a volley of kisses, and blessed him for his presence of mind and assuaging words. Very soon the tale spread across the apartment like a wild fire and that afternoon all the other womenfolk came over to our house to see and bless my nephew.

At the age of 6, my nephew was already swarmed by women and was showered with their appreciation, admiration and kisses (something we all need to be afraid of). He had no idea what he had done, but enjoyed till it all lasted and soon disappeared into his world of cars, cartoons and bi-cycle.

And that night, I interviewed my nephew like a journalist. I wanted to know who had asked him to keep speaking to the woman in the elevator and how did he get the idea of engaging her by narrating a story. He said, “Grandma always shares a story when I am sad or upset and so I decided to do the same to this woman who was sad and upset.” And then I went on to ask why he chose the Cinderella story. He said Cinderella is a girl and thought the woman would enjoy girly stories. His answers to my two questions were simple, plain, honest, instantaneous and unpretentious.

Every time he comes over for a vacation, my nephew doesn’t fail to amazes us with a new trick or talent. Two years ago, one evening, he effortlessly rendered a few krithis of Muthuswami Dikshithar and Shyama Sastri krithis in difficult ragas and made our heads turn and jaws drop. He was not formally taught those songs, but picked it up while he accompanied my sister to her music class.

While genetic science traces back a lot of qualities we exhibit to genetic material, psychological science attributes a lot of our qualities to the ambience we live and grow-up in. “Avar nallavar aavathum, theeyavar aavathum annai valarpiniley…” goes an old Tamil film song.

Kids are like sponge, they may not have the capacity to distinguish what is right and wrong and they tend absorb all that is around them. So, beware how you behave in front of your children and what you teach, share and show them. If you haven’t watched Behave yourself India, The youth of India are watching campaign by The Hindu Newspaper, watch it now and remember the future of this nation are growing up watching you.