One of the rare events that we mortals are fortunate to witness is ready to strike! I am bit apprehensive about Endiran since they are making hindi version and so on…that I believe might dilute the core that defines Rajnikant movies, hope there are no compromises and other unnecessary sophistication. Rajnikant don’t come to world, world enter Rajnikant. Jagrthe !!These few quotes I got from the net...
You don’t Google search for Rajnikant, Rajnikant searches you.
His email: gmail@rajnikanth.com
If you want to know all the enemies of Rajnikant check the extinct species list.
Rajnikant can drown a fish
Rajnikant can strangle the villain with a cordless phone
Rajnikant made Mona Lisa smile.
Rajnkant house has no doors, only walls he walks through
Rajnikant doesn’t move at speed of light, light moves at the speed of Rajnikant.
Words like awesome, legend etc were added to dictionary when he was born
***
he other day I happen to see Peepli (live), what a wonderful movie. This is what we call a movie. Boosa na pani gand meh gayi kisani” sums it up!!. Somehow the impression given was that it is a satire but I thought it was thoughtful and hard hitting (I loved the take on dudes dealing with ‘sansani khulasa’ but I really thought a kick should also have been given on the ‘you are seeing this for the first time in our channel’ stampede when they unfold a tragedy, as an audience I really get horny ‘seeing it first time in your channel’ disgust). To know that it is made by a debutant director (Anusha Rizvi) is most pleasing. I came to know that it even got selected for Oscars, I sincerely hope it wins. It really is a good movie and a movie that should be seen, an Oscar would definitely help (but I really don’t know whether the American jury will get the incredibly done subtle social nuances that we Indians understand so well. Like for instance when the fellow reads the report on newspaper and says ‘sri natha…sri!!’ and the way the fellow
giggles…there is so much to it). I think we do recognize these people in the media, the ‘wink n nudge go getters’ (dude that was about Stephenian camaraderie!. Talking about our-very-own-always-seen-on-TV-but-not–to-be-seen-now-after-resigning-stephenian this is what my favorite writer Basheer had to say- it is much biting in Malayalam- “somebody wrote that when you hear kerala your blood should boil with pride, I already have less blood in my body and don’t want to vapor it by boiling”. Basheer was a funny guy, I got this from the Malayalam book ‘basheer phalithingal’). Coming back to Peepli (live) not only was the Direction exceptional the performances of the actors too were brilliant. I particularly loved the screaming old woman (Farooq Zafar) on the bed, she got it absolutely right.***
Sometime back I happen to pick up this book “Reluctant Fundamentalist” (Mohsin Hamid), shorlisted for booker prize 2007. What I really found interesting about the book was the way it was structured. I really don’t think I have read a book in recent times that is a monologue. Not monologue as musings or thoughts but a person just speaking for 184 pages (beat that one!!). In some critical times-deftly handled- he covers for the ‘interlocu
tor’ by speaking his thoughts. It is a compelling reading (the problem is when I take up something I don’t keep it down unless I finish it…I read through the night and got up late next day still craggy, and lost some money at turf club…I blame the book!. One recall many books wherein you forget the concept of time…like I was reading God of Small Things more than a decade back, on cold winter night of Karol Bagh…I started hearing caws, ‘so whats with the crows tonight’ I thought and realized it was actually morning!!). These few insightful lines from the book... “We were taught to recognize another person’s style of thought, harness their agenda, and redirect it to achieve our desired outcome”
“…creativity, was not excised- it was still present and valued- but it ceded its primacy to efficiency. Maximum return was the maxim to which we returned, time and again. We learned to prioritize-to determine the axis on which advancement would be most beneficial-and then to apply ourselves single-mindedly to the achievement of that objective”
“Our creed was one which valued above all else maximum productivity, and such a creed was for doubly reassuring because it was quantifiable-hence knowable-in a period of great uncertainty, and because it remained utterly convinced of the possibility of progress while others longed for a sort of classical period that had come and gone, if it had ever existed at all”
It is interesting how market and organized religion (also referred to as ‘institutionalized religion’ includes ritualized Brahmanism) share the same emphasis on fundamentals!. Also the misplaced understanding of ‘valor’- violence and domination, massacre and imposition- as proud glories, the pride, ego, justifying wrong as god’s will. The edifice seems standing on wrong foundation. I guess desperation of some societies has to do with this fear of waning or regaining the past in crumbling self. Till a century or two back violence and barbarianism were celebrated in many part of the world, and they spread their primitive worldview. These seem to have ingrained collective psyche, and have found channel through market which is a sophisticated version- ‘mental judo’ is a mild word considering the misery they spreading. Also the traces could be found in the construct of patriotism, especially gets obnoxious during sporting events between countries.
The challenges of modern world are much subtle and needs introspection and a perspective that is inclusive as also greater existential realities. That I think religion (or market) lacks- they can only make deals or status quo, threat and blackmail. Religion, organized religion in particular, works in regressive applecart situation. We end up tolerating all kinds of nonsense and exploitative norms in the name of religion, especially ‘respecting’ other religion and putting our future in serious peril.
