The Phoenix Rises

The Tamil magazine Kalachuvadu celebrated its landmark hundredth issue, a rare achievement for an alternative magazine publishing in the language, with daylong events on Saturday.

Launched by the late writer Sundara Ramaswamy, popularly called SuRa, in 1988, Kalachuvadu began life as a quarterly magazine publishing quality literature. But SuRa’s dreams remained unfulfilled. The magazine stopped in 1991 with an annual issue. Keep reading →

A year ago, I wrote this stuff. I was feeling confident that I would never get the sinking feeling of turning 30. A week later, something began eating inside me. I began using phrases like “I am getting too old of this shit”. Now at 31, I am officially depressed about my age.

But you know what, some wishes come true. When I moved jobs last month, it came with a promotion I had craved for. So much for that shit. It made me happy for a week. After that it same day, different shit.

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 I still think 30 is too old to be disco dancing for the first time in your life. When I first saw the inside of a pub in Bangalore, years before, I knew it would be tough for me to dance. I really had to get drunk first. But then, a couple of days before my b’day my paper had their launch party. And graciously invited the journalists too. Despite that fact that we do the least to sell the damn thing. Half the time, I think we make it very tough for people to sell a newspaper. Well, the dancing part was fun. But staying sober at the end of the party was not. I was stuck with the job of finding people and making sure they got home, while they got crazy drunk.

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 Compulsive confession: I wonder what the heck I am doing as captain of Chennai metblogs. Anybody has any clues as to how to captain a team?

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 Btw, if you are wondering, why I am not writing on my blog, it’s because of the job. It keeps me busy and exhausted. I think I will be back to writing pretty soon. And oh, even though I have sworn not to watch DVDs till June end, I will still be watching movies at the theatre. I think I saw Sweeney Todd last. You should see how people at Satyam theatre got fidgety when Depp sang. I think not many people realised it was a musical. Even I felt ackward that Depp began singing as soon as the camera pans to him. But then he sang really well. And the movie was really good, without being great. But I suspect a greater movie has hit the threatres. There Will Be Blood, one of the movies that hit the headlines during the Oscar season, is out. Now if only I had an off day to go and see it.

Very few people can speak this well.

Raghuvaran is perhaps the first major actor to die that I grew up watching. I was hardly 15 when Anjali was released. Even then it was fascinating to see the tall, lanky actor with a gravelly voice perform. Raghuvaran was intense in a way few actors were. Next to him, Revathi – no mean actress of her own – struggled to keep up. Raghuvaran’s pauses and intonations in dialogue delivery were sometimes nothing short of bizarre. He dragged words out and gave them new meaning.

In Anjali, Raghuvaran plays the understanding dad of a mentally-challenged girl. He may have been out of place in that space song, but in scenes that mattered he delivered. There is a scene in which Janagaraj, the mental watchman, is mocked at by Raghuvaran’s kids. He quickly slaps one of them, and when questioned by his wife is unable to explain that he has their kid hidden away. It was remarkable how much Raghuvaran could show through his haunted eyes.

But Tamil cinema rarely found space for this actor as a hero. Apart from Ezhavathu Manithan, a rare jab at reality, Tamil filmdom concerned only with box office receipts would never find a script Raghuvaran could star in. It is Tamil cinema’s failure that it never celebrated Raghuvaran as a hero. He was a failure in those few films he was a hero in as much as Tamil cinema was a failure in coming up with scripts for him.

Over the years, Raghuvaran became a character actor and often a villain, most famously in Rajnikanth’s movies. In Badsha, Raghuvaran could effortlessly bring menace and devilish manipulation to the screen. The audience had to believe that it would be tough even for the omnipotent superstar to defeat the loftily named Mark Anthony. And suddenly, the machine gun felt like the extension of Raghuvaran’s arm. Raghuvaran always gave off an aura of unkemptness. In Badsha’s climax, the bearded Raghuvaran thirsting for revenge was as big a presence as Rajnikanth. Next to his character in Anjali, Mark Anthony was a caricature and it’s a testimonial to Raghuvaran’s skills that he infused life into it.

In Poovizhi Vasalile, one his early movies, Raghuvaran was the lame villain. It seemed to my young eyes that this man was soaked in evil. It would be hard to adjust when years later he played a gentleman in Anjali. Today, Poovizhi Vasalile can only be remembered for two things: Illayaraja’s superb score and Raghuvaran’s presence.

One of my favourite scenes in Tamil cinema is from the little known Puritha Puthir. Starring alongside Rahman, Raghuvaran plays a man, who tormented by doubt , tortures his wife with cigarette burns. In one scene Raghuvaran, screams “I know, I know” repeatedly until you hardly know if he is the victim or perpetrator of the crime. It’s hard to imagine debutant director K.S. Ravikumar explaining these scenes to Raghuvaran, who had stealthily slipped into the role. When I read that Raghuvaran had died that anguished scream “I know, I know” kept repeating itself in my head. It is a scene I would always remember the actor by.

In Samsaram Athu Mansaram, he was cast alongside a host of actors well-known in Tamil cinema for their skills. Lakshmi, Manorama and Visu seemed required presence for that movie or rather a play shot on camera. Raghuvaran’s unlikely casting came off like a shot of modernity. He was both out of place and so into the role. In the face off scene with Visu, who played his father, Raghuvaran was superb as his keeps saying “Illa” in answer to Visu’s tongue twisters.

Raghuvaran’s movements on screen were not that of an actor who had undergone conventional training in film school. His exaggerated overuse of his hands for example is something Raghuvaran invented himself. His long fingers and palm were as much a part of his acting as were his eyes, which were always burning from some unknown intensity. This helped the actor easily play characters who were a little touched or harboured brooding evil.

But in the later years, his mannerisms never left him irrespective of what character he played. Directors, I suppose, would ask him to do that thing he did with his hands and audiences waiting for the wild back and forth movement would erupt in screams. During those times, Raghuvaran was essentially trapped in his own persona and perhaps in Tamil cinema’s lack of imagination.

Raghuvaran’s addiction to drugs was well known. When he died, actor Suhasini said that his colleagues in the film industry should have not respected his privacy over the concern for his health. That rings so true. Raghuvaran’s personal life seems to have been as tortured as some of the characters he played. His marriage to actress Rohini did not last long and news reports suggest that he did not see much of his son, whom he loved dearly.

When Raghuvaran made comebacks after his drug and alcohol induced sabbaticals, he was welcomed with open arms. His natural good looks and his audience never left him. Few actors – Satyaraj and Nasser among them – would be remembered like Raghuvaran for their onscreen villainy.

Death of actors never pains me. So I surprised myself when Raghuvaran died a couple of days back. I am sad too see this actor, only 49, go.

The search for a good online to-do list is over. I discovered mojonote.com yesterday. Pretty simple and good site.

It began not so spectacularly on September 10, 2007. I have done 10 reviews so far. Here are the movies: The first one was Seena Thaana 001. I travelled all the way to Mayajaal outside the city to review this movie. Wasn’t worth it. Actor Prasanna was to have a much better year in 2008.

I actually liked Satham Podathey. Not many people did. The movie flopped. Vague questions about my reviewing skills popped into my head and really tore me apart after I watched Thavam. I did not know what to write after watching a movie so depressing. For once, I had writer’s block.

ATM is one of those movies which is really bad, but is still fun to watch. Fans preparing to scream were so put off, I heard groans and yawns all through this movie. Kept me awake. The final monologue by Shreya on karpu was a new low for Tamil cinema last year.

Kannamoochi Enada was the only movie I did not pay to watch. Meaning, I saw it in a preview theatre. Was so elated that I gave it a big thumbs up. Became a sleeper hit in multiplexes but flopped elsewhere.

I did like Oram Po. Pretty good effort, but lacked focus.

Billa sucked to me. But I tempered my review so that Ajith fans don’t call me names like Vijay fans had for ATM. But still name calling is a big past time for many online commentators.

Pirivom Sandhippom was a fairly good effort, if it had been a documentary. Realism is often more dramatic and magical than melodrama. Though the director kept the movie real, it was a turn off as nothing dramatic ever happened.

Anjathe was probably the best of the movies I reviewed. Apart from a few scenes, which I am ready to forgive Mysskin for, the movie was fantastic. But too long.

Thotta was the worst movie and came close to Thavam in its ability to depress. I crawled out and typed off the top of my head.

5 years back, if anyone told me that a big website would pay me to watch movies and write my opinion about them, I would have scoffed at them. That’s exactly what is happened today.

The best part about writing online is you have no word limit. And a career which should have begun with Kireedam (I fell ill that day), is blossoming today. I hope to give it a quite burial soon.

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.

– Max Ehrmann

Guru writes what he think of Jodhaa Akbar and then hesitates to call it a review. He called it a movie opinion, which felt awkward to me, and so I suggest he change it to the more normal movie review.

He points me to this post from Sudhish.

I am kinda freaking out here. Can’t we let simple things be simple? How many hoops does a dog jump before it is called a dog? What sheer display of intellectuality and vocabulary does a movie reviewer display before he is acknowledged as one. That is why we have the words good and bad.  We don’t eliminate the word review itself.