Thalapathy!

So this is one of my all time favorite movies.. and yes, it's made by Manirathnam! So what makes this movie amazing? Let me attempt to explain!

1) Ilayaraja's background score - The poignancy that Ilayaraja is capable of eking out of his music, very few directors can manage. Especially Chinna Thayaval - what has got to me an academy award deserving music!! I found this blog on this topic: https://rajamanjari.blogspot.com/2011/06/ilaiyaraaja-simple-and-esoteric.html that explains more.. but this song makes my cry till my nose turns red at any given moment!!

2) Casting - Rajini's uncanny ability to show the sorrow of an abandoned orphan, a guilt ridden rowdy, a compassionate lover, a considerate father figure, a loyal friend and a protective brother.. wow, the number of roles he has taken on and does it so naturally!! He is a super star for a very very very good reason. And his charisma in spades!! While Shobana (with her playfulness) and Arvind swami (with his elitism) add their uniqueness to this mix, to me the real stars of this movie are Jaishankar and Srividya!! I love how Jaishankar is this quiet, solid, supportive presence to Sri Vidya and how he accepts her broken heartedness. Not everyone will have this patience - but he shows his consideration so beautifully. And Sri Vidya - the eternal mother figure by which I judge all mother figures! Her salt and pepper hair, her youthful beauty and her bottomless sorrow at giving away her first born... my god, it moves me every single time. 

3) Story - This is loosely based on Mahabharata and the characters Surya (based on Karna), Arjun (based on Arjun) and Devaraj (based on Duryodhan) are all there. But Bhanupriya's character - Pure genius on Manirathnam's part! How can one emote so much with just her eyes? And her baby does the talking for her! 

4) Lighting/staging - This is a gory tale at best. It's about slums, gangs, prisons.. but Manirathnam blends in the temples and the water and sunsets to add a mystical beauty to this movie. There is a reason he is a genius. 

5) Last but the not the least - This is a through and through creation of Manirathnam. It has his elevating touch! I am so thankful to the few geniuses that have elevated my own world - Jane Austen, Manirathnam, Gandhi and Lincoln - probably the 4 people I consider a genius from whom I would love to emulate!!

Gap years

You know my happiness in life is inversely proportional to how much I write in this blog!

2011-13 - years I didn't write a single post, was when my baby was born until she turned 3.. those were wonderful years.. wonder years.. she sucked me in completely.. I was a goner.. in a good way :)

2018-19 - nothing was missing in my life.. i had my friends, my life.. hope.. a meaningless hope.. and I forayed into tamil books.. which was amazing.. my best friend got married.. a siblings married or a best friends marriage is always a shock to one's system.. they are no longer free.. they have entered a contract that has nothing to do with you..

2020 - the year started great.. it was a dream come true.. i was in india.. but i realized very soon that this year was going to be different.. i have to let things go.. really let it go.. nothing is more pathetic than feeling unwanted.. being unwanted.. but you still have to move on.. know that you are born on this earth, you have to live in it.. do what you have to... find what satisfaction you can.. and survive.. find acceptance and peace..

here's 2020 - the beginning of a new decade, the morning after youth sleeps, the month after love breathes farewell.. to a new home, new life, new friends, new place, even new babies :).. this is going to be the year of good byes and the year of welcomes... all in all a year of change.. 

i wish i could be like the trees here.. they become bare with no leaves come winter.. and sprout anew come spring.. they look so desolate one month.. and so beautiful the next! nature purges and rebirths.. i want to be purged and reborn too.. 

My all time favorite proposal scene :)

This is my all time favorite proposal scene. 

The background score is just magic - the kind that only ilayaraja can dream up!

Sri Devi is the very picture of a progressive lady - a woman who is daring enough to achieve fame and success and propose to a man, but insecure enough that she takes his rejection as a pronouncement on her character! And Rajini, the very picture of a tortured man in a helpless dilemma... who respects her more than anything in the world but doesn't want to lose her respect by owning up to who he is.. how he can balance the act of being a criminal but also a gentleman in the truest sense - just amazing.. I can never get tired of watching the play of emotions in these two excellent actors' faces.. her shyness, frankness, shame, anger, vexation and finally the tiny loving smile of victory!... and his fear, shock, resolution, and finally his own acceptance that he cannot hurt her.. and that he has to accept her proposal... and figure out his mess. What a situation! What acting! What a resolution!! Art at its best!!