Filmology then and now..

Someone recently asked me recently if I saw Ravan or Ravanan and i replied an emphatic NO. Of course with all the publicity one thing everybody makes sure nowadays is to tell you every little bit about a movie whether you like it or not. So I suppose a lot of what I had heard and what I saw as trailers sort of sealed the fate of that movie for me.

I like to call myself an avid cine goer but I would be lying if I said that I watch all kinds of movies. Thats something that sounds good in my head but its not true. I basically like to watch a movie for its entertainment value and of course for good movie making as long as the movie does not depress me. "The movie does not depress me" actually is a big pre-requisite for me. I strongly believe that I don't want to watch a movie that is preachy or tells me about stark and sad realities of life. I see that all around me, I don't need to spend 200 bucks and waste 3 hours to see it all over again on a big screen. I also do not like to see the central characters die a gruesome or sad death. I just don't understand movies like that. Why would you want to kill central characters whom you spend 2 hours in the movie making the audience like and appreciate ? Strange.. (Or maybe I just don't like stories like that. I really really like happy endings)

I look back and I know it wasn't always like this. As kids we were crazy about movies as a family and used to watch all kind of movies (crap included). Apart from hindi movies, I remember there used to be this short dark tamil chap who used to come to our house in his moped and his huge bag of tamil cassettes (it was cassettes those days :)) We used to take about 3 movies a week mostly during vacations and other non exam times.

General tamil movies reviews and box office collections were a mystery to us in Delhi far away from any tamil community. All we had was the word of mouth assurance given to us by this Sarvanan chap. And interestingly he used to give us that 5 star rating for every movie that he used to give us. He would pretend to search for good movies out of that cloth bag of his and by the end of 2 months we would realize that we had watched just about all the movies from that bag and there was just no filter criteria. With every cassette he would take out he would say with so much pride "Arumayaana padam saar/madam" . It soon became a joke in my house and with my limited tamil vocabulary I started to make fun of him everytime he said that by saying "arumayaana padam illai erumayaana padam" ! (erumaye = buffalo)

But the point is that I was a lot more open to movies at that time which has made me watch tamil movies from the 60's and 70's like 16 vayathinile and meendum kokila to agni nakshatrams types. I think if I had those choices today I would really weigh them before watching any of those.. We watched happy movies like "Kadalikka nerumillai" to "Micheal madana kamaraj", arty movies and family dramas by K Balachandar and melodramas by Visu and of course some sad ones like Nayagan etc.. (sad as in sad endings, story of unending misery etc.. )

Part of it was because we definitely did not know what the movie was eventually about and partly because we would see all the so called famous ones anyways (famous according to Sarvanan who also, it turned out, was a huge Vijaykant fan !! He has scarred my childhood permanently by making me watch 90% of Vijaykant movies that have ever released!)

But the point is that I was never choosy about it. But now I always wonder a) Is the movie gonna make me sad b) Is the movie preachy c) Do people die unecessarily etc etc.. I am much happier watching above average movies in which a) there are good looking people b) good soundtrack c) good actors d) good story. You see how the good story kinda features in the end :)) Which probably explains why I actually enjoy Yash Chopra/ Karan Johar kinda movies..

Hmm.... who says things become simpler as you grow older :))

Of comforts and changes

New year has started with a bang.. V took a shot at standing up on his own and even attempted a few independent steps. It was such a joy to see this little one who did not even know to sit up, standing up an clapping :) There was also teeth sprouting which became a reason to rejoice at home. I wonder at what point do we stop rejoicing all the milestones and start sighing at them with disbelief :))

New Year also gave way to many instances of falling and banging various body parts against all hard surfaces. Fortunately I am not one of those moms who are given to dramatics and seem more traumatized than the baby who has suffered an injury. But V seems to be one of those babies whose eyes look out for me when he does fall and will come to me and insist on being pampered and kissed for about a minute before resuming mischief.
I marvel at the healing powers god gives to new moms, I personally never knew I had any capacity to comfort someone like that instantly :) But it seems to work big time. I also wish god would leave this power with me for a long long time to come. Because I know for a fact that there will be times when he will be hurt by some kind of misery, feeling of losing, feeling of helplessness, heartbreaks etc.. I wish I have this power to help him heal then. I really wish he could be made to feel better by just a hug and a kiss when someone breaks his heart or he loses that prize that he worked hard for to someone else. I really really wish..

On that note I also picked up my phone and called my mom to speak with her generally. I wanted to ask her how I was as a baby and was there any similarity between how V behaves and me. So mom tells me that i was very independent even as a baby and there were very few instances when I would actually cry. She throws in that 'Even as a baby you were not very demonstrative and a little repressed'

It was a 'What the what' moment right then and there for me ! :) My own mom calling me repressed. But then I do look back and understand that I have my own defence mechanism and one of them being non demonstrative and not allowing myself to feel very vulnerable.

I think its good that children are so vulnerable, and that they reach out to whatever comforts them and once comforted they are good to go. Maybe its something that I can learn from this little thing. For the new year I tell myself that its ok to be vulnerable sometimes and reach out to what comforts us. Coz in the end if it helps, why not !

Amazing how the little ones teach us stuff :))

Welcome 2011

Things I wanna do in 2011

1. Find a job that really really keeps me engaged

2. Find some way to take time out for myself and not feel bloody guilty about it

3. Take more vacations and short breaks

4. Make a new friend

5. Find a baby sitter or day care arrangement that works for me

6. Loose some weight

7. Travel on work

8. Change my hair

9. Chalk out more Date Nights

10. Not miss a single opportunity to take photos @home and of loved ones.

I could be happy with a 70% success ratio :)