Sunday, April 13, 2014

Flavour of the Season - Indian Elections


It is always the in-thing to write about seasonal stuff, among those that are seasonal in this part of the year like jackfruit, watermelons, mangoes and the like, Indian elections seem to stand out as the one that will endure this season, and another 5 summers if all goes well, unlike the other temporal stuff taken for comparison. Enough said, elections and politics have generally been given a "Jobless man's topic for discussion" in a tea kadai or barber shop or even at family get-togethers, while we all know that the Country's destiny deserves far more attention than a tea time conversation of jobless individuals..

The emphasis on showing up for voting, the apathy that the educated class have had for this grand large scale manifestation of democracy have all been talked enough about. Interestingly there is a strong and loud reversal of such cliches, with the growing educated and socially conscious middle class (at least in big cities and metros) showing interest in taking part in national / local governance. The most obvious and welcome change in this respect is how the rise of AAP has bridged the thick wall between the political class and the common man. But for anything, this is the biggest positive that I see in the rise of AAP which is expected to shift the power base and not just be a vote splitter between the 2 major national parties / alliances in 2014.

The objective of this post is not to give a partisan view and suggest one party or alliance over the other but to give pointers to help decide for yourself, in this rather complex and long term determinant of the destiny of our Nation state in a constructive and conclusive manner, as to which political party you want to give your mandate for the next 5 years.

We have all heard that the citizens get the leader they deserve; as a Country, we have been proven to be quite wanting in electing a leader who has truly taken the nation to fulfill its true potential in achieving inclusive development, looking beyond petty internal quarrels in the 65+ years that we have had this opportunity of choosing a leader.

Now, if we try to start from basic questions it would help fill the larger need that the democracy wishes to fulfill. Here, I would like to draw a parallel with Maslow's need hierarchy theory of growing from basic physical needs to the more advanced ones. What does the common man, you and me, expect out of the Nation - it can range from ensuring food-clothing-shelter, gainful employment, ensuring balanced industrial and economic growth, administering protection or physical security against external or internal threat and maintenance of order in the society to equality of genders, race, geography, religion, caste and all those tabs that are used to categorise us as citizens of this Country. The physical / safety needs in today's context would extend to include self sufficiency in terms of energy, internal and external relations with neighbours and the other powerful Nation states that have a large say in matters of global importance.

As you can clearly see, it is the bottom 2 rungs in the pyramid that any Nation state can provide directly to the citizens, but it is these that form the foundation stones for the other more advanced needs which the citizens can build further upon to lead challenging, satisfying and happy lives. Defining what we are expecting out of it helps gain a perspective to decide upon the matter, it is true for any aspect of life and hence for elections as well. Now, we know what any good successful government can provide for the Nation that voted them to power. While the whole Nation is a heterogeneous mass beyond anyone's comprehension, such generalization of needs is to bring in a common denominator since we are talking of the common expectations of a billion and a quarter.

A majority of the country's population is stuck in their daily struggles in realising the bottom 2 rungs of the pyramid and trying to equate them with the BPL definitions which constitute anywhere between 20 and 33% of the population, depending upon on whose definition you want to follow, would result in a gross understatement, while a staggeringly low proportion of the population can claim to be attempting to aim at the higher rungs of needs. Categorising the globe into developing or developed nations is broadly on what proportion of their Country's population have ticked off starting from the bottom.

In fact, it is good governance if Governments concentrate their efforts on just fulfilling the bottom 2 rungs and leave it to the Citizens to venture into the other more advanced needs. To explain the above, we have had enough instances in recent memory where Government and its machinery have tried to go beyond their realms, like trying to teach people how and where to love, whom to love and even how to make love, which religion to follow, which God to worship, which languages to speak, which part of the Country to live and so on.. This is only an indicative list and can potentially get endless but the case in point is to clearly scope out what the Government needs to be doing and what should be in their negative list. In making your decision on the D-day it would help to decide if the party you want to support is over doing stuff they don't need to interfere in, or under doing stuff they need to be putting their heads together.

As a rightful beneficiary (can't term citizens as consumers, after all, the foundations to our Governance was formed on socialistic principles) to the process of Governance we need to have a fair idea on what to expect out of the Government, people contesting to form the Government are supposed to have their goals cut out in the form of a manifesto which is the voice and soul of what their party intends to do if given an opportunity to rule over you!

I intend to make this a serial post of may be 3-5 episodes in the next 9 days before we get to vote, intending to cover a comparison of the manifesto of different political parties, the possible combination of alliances, and delve deep into top items in their manifestos and to analyse the track record of major parties in achieving their past promises, whether to take the sides of known devils or unknown angels, the relation between failing memory and anti-incumbency, whether freshers do a better jobs than veterans, what it takes to be a political leader, personality profiles of those who are expected to occupy the cabinet if voted to power and so on..

Caption for the day - The Bachans seems to suggest if it is the wrong party you vote for, be prepared to have it up your .... for the next 5 years.

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Kalyana samayal sadam – a feast !






Finally in the last few years kollywood has come of age. They take an idea, live with it, use it, abuse it, sleep, live and eat and grow with it, sure that is the way to success as we have found. There is no 6 songs, 6 fights, punch dialogues, amma sentiment, no flying fire balls of auotmobile, there have been many refreshing new ideas and this is certainly one of those coming of age movies.

 I don’t want to play spoilers for this is no usual movie, there is definitely a firm thread of a story line which the movie captures which no other movie I ve heard of or seen has tried to venture into.. The time and events between courtship to marriage in an arranged marriage scenario. That is the actual period where love blossoms, smses get exchanged, fights happen, family politics play its part and so on before they get married and live happily ever after..  For those in love, they do not know the script of the movie they are acting, but arranged marriage is a like watching a tamil movie, you know the hero is going to win, and hence is a different ball game.. Speaking of ball games, you will see plenty of them in this movie. Too many sexual innuendos without actually showing flesh. Somehow I never felt like laughing though there was this burst out laughter whenever adult jokes (supposedly) are being enacted or dialogues uttered with double, no one and only meaning, requiring more than a parental guidance. Well, having established the main theme taking us through the period of courtship there was no need for emphasising the same problem in different lingo so many times, that certainly felt like trying too hard or having a set of A jokes and wanting to fully tick off the list..

The thing to appreciate about is the maturity of the screen play and the way each character reacts to the central issue the movie revolves around, take Delhi Ganesh, (come on when he speaks with a kerchief around the receiver just before interval, you can easily make his voice out while only the other end is visible to the audience). And sub consciously I went and picked a cold coffee in the interval being prompted by Delhi Ganesh asking the only question he wants to ask is whether a hot coffee or a cold coffee when Prasanna unassumingly starts to narrate the long story short, having been caught red handed by his father in law. The nosey relatives who try to be gossip-mongers, the hero’s mother, wanting to act like a typical mother in law, bossing over the bride and bringing out the son-parents relationship to the fore, all deserve credits..The heroine’s character played by Lekha Washington is a really strong one and she takes things very boldly, quite representing the reality of the times. But she could be less-stone faced and lacks an element of female charm which explains why she can never make it to the A list despite having a fair skin tone.

When Prasanna takes his parents, driving a car and the time when pops a gift before his bride, on one knee towards the end, it becomes difficult not to recollect the Arun Excello ads he appears in, you tend to imagine it is the keys to the house you think he is going to present.. Prasanna is getting sterotyped in non macho, doubting Thomas characters, like how Dhanush, RJ Shiva and so many other heroes are typecast. He scores in most scenes where he is unsure when confronted with overcoming the embarrassing challenge. Crazy mohan in his small role irritates with his 2000 year old wits. Prasanna’s friends contribute well to the movie with Raghav playing cupid to the troubled couple. Comedy is definitely not the forte of the dialogue writer, barring the inneundos which anyway bring a chuckle or a laughter here and there. Eg a gene / jean mix up relating it with progeny is a classic case in point which never deserved the laughter it is worth simply because of its poor dialogue delivery and intonation, probably it required more audience participation to appreciate it..

Getting into a fairly tale mode towards the climax, throwing a surprise was something almost everyone doing the routines in an arranged marriage would love to do but could never do because their lives were not scenes straight from the movies..

The script is the central pillar and characters have fallen in place perfectly and getting back to the initial section of this post this movie is both a multiplex movie and a A,B and partly C movie as the central thread is something that covers the entire populace. Not advisable for those under 18 due to the adult content, the movie is definite to be remade in hindi & telugu among other languages, who knows its definitely worth a few nominations and would do the rounds in the award circuits for its sheer freshness in treatment.


  
  

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

No hair raising stuff, this..




I have been fascinated by the way a man can try to look different in terms of physical appearance. Women being grossly having the lions’ share in pruning up looks, there is very little men can do to groom and appear masculine without getting too metrosexual. No, by masculine I‘m not meaning the macho types. Fans of WWF of the yesteryears, do you remember one random WWF guy called “The Macho Man”!





 
And hirsute facial architecture, like so many other things comes in different shapes and sizes and densities! There is this Chinese mush with a barren bridge in the centre and with grass meandering towards the sides, you should watch these shaolin series of movies. The tuft is another thing, we ll restrict it to facial hair designs.
 
Take from recent, recorded history, men with beards have always had a charm, an elegance that their otherwise clean shaven faces would not have endowed them with. An Ab Lincoln or a Steve Jobs without their characteristic beards would ve looked like a poor cousin. There are notable men who come to mind, Shakespeare, Rabindranath Tagore, Jaggi Vasudev, Osama Bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, Daniel Vettori, Ahh Thiruvalluvar, how can we forget our desi dude, with siram, karam puram neettadeer (you find this right behind the drivers seat facing the passengers in MTC buses) been mistaken for his verses.

There are some absolute spoilers like actor manivannan,
THE ONE AND ONLY TR, any other actor in India for that matter. Aamir Khan too looked like someone affected by a bout of fever, what s that movie Gulaam I think..  Farhan looks cool in his BMB avatar. Hope you get the flavour when I say who look good and who does n’t among these fellows. Shahrukh is another tragedy behind a non existent facade of facial hair.

No, the moustachioed do not join this party, ie., the Air India Sardar mascot with only the mush does not count. I wonder why the Sardarjis had not created a stir saying that man does not have a beard. Talking of Sardars, they are integral part when you are on this topic. Harbajan does not have one and still looks bad, Sidhu looks better, more because he wears more colourful clothes with matching kerchiefs and tie I suppose. He has that probing look in his eyes owing to his watching the ball?  No his eyes look more like a student who wants to copy from his neighbour in an exam who is not being too helpful. There has been Jaspal Bhatti, Jail Singh etc. but just the honorary credit to them because we are treading in their territory. These guys don’t score so well on the beard count.

Getting back to moustaches, which is quite not the topic but to define the topic clearly one needs to weed out what appears to be the fringes! Moustaches, the normal ones just flowing upto the side of the lips, rolled up ones like Bharathiar’s (the ones found in text books) not the real photos where he has a beard too. Be it Saami Vikram or Singam Surya are drab ones. Arvind Swami sports a better one mush or beard, does skin tone or complexion help, I don’t think so too much, apart from the contrasting colours of the skin and hair helping the appearance.

Let me get one more thing straight, french beards, other designer ones, side burns in the same breadth extending upto the chin and moving around the mouth to make an island around the mouth quite does not count as a beard for our discussion though there is quite some effort involved in this type of Anglo Saxon architecture!

A societal view, good or bad in sporting a beard is often linked to religious affinities or even to sexual orientation! Oh God! Ah talking of Gods, how can we leave Jesus, let it be the old tamil movie which they used to telecast in doordarshan on good Friday or other pictures that we have seen of Jesus. If I think of Lord Rama, the face of Arun Govil only comes to my mind. And to associate with God a physical identity is needed, atleast for me. How much and what it means in my life is a different question altogether. We all have only seen Gods in pictures havent we, I for one have nt had my enlightenment yet..

Getting back to the point, the ancillary benefits of sporting a beard is that it makes you look like a nerd, the journo-NGO with a jolna bag and cotton kurta makes perfect combo, added with a beard you complete the sequence. Its easy to give a thoughtful pose with a beard, but the downside is it itches, that too big time in summer. If not nothing it just sweats and you feel like scratching, but if you have to, make it graceful as if you are lost in thought and are trying to catch a bubble of thought that just burst into oblivion. Don’t make the irritation obvious. But a good trimmed one is fair enough and does not need great levels of tolerance to show a more masculine side of yourself. But bro, if it suits you sport one, else people will ask if you are not feeling well.. or worse off whether some relative has passed away! 

Ah.. how can we forget love failure and the consequent beard. Let me clarify a point which movies from time of Devadas to Dev D (Is Vaazhve mayam the tamil version??) have shown but failed to explain, what has love failure and being sick got to do with beard. It has been common societal notion to sport a beard or atleast a stub if you are going back to work after a week of illness. The logic behind this is that you were so down with your health that looking fresh with a clean shave was not on your agenda. Ditto for kadal tholvi. Someone is so distraught that his loved one has gone for good that he no more cares how he looks.

Getting back to big spoilers, the Bharathiraja movie where the blind hero sings and Radha dances till both of them die and fell down, he is a damp squib. Narendra modi – hmm don’t think it adds any charm to him. He might probably look more friendly without one.
There is one tamil cinema villain who is a motta bossbut has a beard, that’s a deadly combination. These are some one who do not have side burns continuing into beards but suddenly unlike the origin of a river which you cannot fathom, this beard abruptly springs out from the face in front of the ears with no forest cover above.

Mind you it’s a tricky situation, a beard can make or mar a look, someone known for his high sexiness quotient such as Bad Pitt looks like a beggar in his latest movie with a long beard on..
An interesting health tidbit I stumbled upon somewhere, that having a beard helps one stay younger as it protects the skin from the UV rays and hence delays aging.
The women out there, there is a huge secret – If a man looks good in a beard he is the one with looks which would kill, with or without them.
There are some for whom the beard rather grows haphazardly, leaving certain barren tracts on the face, forming a natural pattern and not evenly around the cheeks and chin. But in the land of metrosexual, clean-shaven Salman Khans, this is really quite old world stuff, but check out for Ranveer Singh & Farhan, gillette does not look like the best a man needs to get!

Friday, July 5, 2013

Lol (Lack of Leadership)



If you try to boil down to one big malice plaguing the country today, it is clear lack of strong leadership from politics to industry to sport to art, you name it.

The recent cases in point which brought to focus the ever deplete leadership pool in society is the reinstatement of NR Narayanamoorthy and the recall of resignation of LK Advani. Without getting into the politics behind both these reinstatements, one is to understand that both these ships had come to the stage where even if they would not sink, it would be too difficult to set sail and reach safe shores without these leaders who created a legacy for these organisations through thought and action in their heyday.

Let’s take the corporate case to start with, for politics is a broader canvas with multiple cause-effect relationships occurring simultaneously, is more a number game; ‘ceteris paribus’ lays quietly buried in text books.. Here is the company an IT bellwether, which brought India on the global IT map, taking full advantage of the open economy of the 90s, which gave a new meaning to the term offshore, which always meant only oil rigs before!

From reaching numerical milestones in top and bottom lines, spreading wings to number of countries and covering the globe and having established a name for itself for 20 years in corporate India, the balance seems to have shaken with a good share of the promoters moving on in their lives; today is a stage where the current lieutenants of the company are unable to break the shackles and the company is pushed to the outer end of the top 5 IT majors in the country.

But the case of lack of leadership is not an isolated one, it is more widespread than an isolated one. Are we as a nation creating leaders? What makes this community a dear one? Take leaders in the last 150 years in every possible field – the definition of a leader, “a person having passion towards a goal who can take people’s support in the path towards achieving that goal with unrequited respect and acceptance”. If one tries to enumerate the leaders the country has seen, we have a dozen who fought for freedom. Post independence it becomes more difficult to sift leaders from the also rans. That is why a LK Advani or a Narayana moorthy are sought after so much and are taking the role of phoenix in their domain of work, a Kapil Dev or MS Dhoni are revered for their leadership ability and are celebrated beyond their dues to a demi-god status. Post independence politics unfortunately has not produced leaders of great stature primarily due to the changing logic and behaviour pattern of vote banks. The population as far as election goes has always been left with choosing the lesser of the evils. Corporate India has seen few turnaround kings in the Ambanis and Tatas and few others. But again it is noteworthy that the recent generations of these captains of industry had not built the empires but only developed on the platforms that their predecessors created, no less a task but definitely cant be credited for their estates.

While the multi-party democracy in India has led to the mushrooming of hundreds of political parties, each with a leader or two, it has hardly developed leaders who will stand true to its definition, whose passion is National or even regional wellbeing without vested interests. So what was the contribution of democracy in creation of leaders is compensated by the way it operates. Both at the centre and at the State it has predominantly been 2 parties that fight the elections, all the fringes get added as iron filings to a magnet. So in effect Indian democracy boils down to 2 party democracy like in the UK. The lack of leadership is going to affect our National politics when the country goes to poll in 2014, with Congress yet to identify a PM candidate, MMS has been true to the fact that good economists, like economics do not make good politics. The recent events in the BJP is again due to the dearth of strong leadership.

Who will form the Government at the centre and how much good governance and balanced National view one can expect from the coalition that would be formed at the centre. The parties over the years have matured to the fact that if alliances are opportunistic, they need to be formed after the election result. There is no point in locking your options before the knowing the results in the name of ideology.

Then, is it in the DNA that India lacks leaders, is it something India alone suffers from or is a global endemic from the US to far-east. The latter looks to be the case. The last 10 years do not have much to boast about in world politics or economics nor in sustainability front as well.

One can go back to the age old argument of whether leaders are born or made. It is any one’s guess that they are made, but the dynasty effect in politics and Indian industry makes us think otherwise. It is pertinent to note that these heir-apparent have the benefit of both worlds, being born as and having a conducive atmosphere to become leaders.

65 years hence, with the Nation moving on its retirement age, the first generation in almost every facet of public life be it good or bad at leadership has matured and have lasted their times, it is the apparent lack of leadership continuum or grooming of successors that seems to be the crux of the problem in the major spheres of the country – Politics and Industry. This calls for a leadership culture that needs to get imbibed, identification and grooming of leadership talent that is the need of the hour, whether this can be brought about through education, say at Universities that teach the game or through working with the leaders and being coached by them from close quarters. The answer has to be both.

Have we exhausted our energies in our quest for the mass production of engineers, clerks and managers (read MBAs) and lost sight of nurturing genuine leaders or the entrepreneurial culture to have a vision and to take people along with one’s faith, conviction and strength? There seems to be a connect between entrepreneurship and leadership for the simple reason of of having a dream and converting it into reality by doing all it takes to see his vision implemented by making it a shared ideology of the group. In comparison the developed nations, for the above simple reason seems to have more leaders than say, a country like ours. To pit against the likes of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates and the Fords and GMs, Boeings, Yahoos and Googles, GEs, Samsungs and Sonys for the amount of wealth that they created and the extent to which these companies changed the way we live, entrepreneurship definitely contributed to leadership. If we take India, there is hardly a path-breaking ‘changing the way we live’ industrialist who has walked this space.

So is the solution to leaders lie in entreprenurship? More yes than no, I opine..

Monday, May 27, 2013

IPL 6 - சூது கவ்வியது

• இந்த IPL 6 உடைய டைட்டில் SPONSOR எனக்கு என்னவோ பெப்சி இல்லை சூது கவ்வும் படம் தானோ என்று தோன்றுகிறது.. "IPL 6 - சூது கவ்வும்" என்றாலும் "சூது கவ்வும் - IPL 6" என்று IT SERVES TO PROMOTE EITHER.

• இதில் என்ன என்றால் சூது கவ்வும் intended காமெடி IPL 6 unintended tragedy.

• சூது கவ்வும் (SK ) ல 5 rules, IPL 6 - நோ ரூல்ஸ்

• SK - ஆதிக்கத்தில் கையை வைக்காதே , IPL 6 ஆதிக்கம் தான் கையை வைப்பதே.

• SK - ஆள் கடத்த 45000, இங்கே மேட்ச் கடத்த பல லட்சங்கள்.

• சூது கவ்வும் ல ஒரே ஒரு பொண்ணு HEROINE னு கூட சொல்ல முடியாது .IPL 6 பல பெண்கள். Rochelle Rao டு cheer leaders.

• IPL 6 காமெடி டீம் - சித்து & கோ., SK - சேதுபதி & கோ.

• SK - ஹெலிகாப்ட்டர் SHOOT (ஹெலிகாப்ட்டர் வெச்சு பணத்தை சுடரங்க), IPL - ஹெலிகாப்ட்டர் SHOT .

• SK - தமிழ் என்டேர்டைன்மென்ட் IPL - ஆல் இந்திய என்டேர்டைன்மென்ட்

• SK ல போலீஸ் கு ஆப்பு IPL 6 போலீஸ் வெச்சது ஆப்பு.

• SK ல இருட்டு அறையில் முரட்டுக்குத்து, IPL 6 வெட்ட வெளிச்சத்தில் கும்மாங்குத்து!

• Saving the best for the last - SK - போட்டுக்குடத்தது நம்பிக்கை கண்ணன், IPL - போட்டு வாங்கியது குருநாத் மெய்யப்பன்!

Thursday, November 8, 2012

தீபாவளி advertisement



இது தீபாவளி, விளம்பரம், தீபாவளி-விளம்பரம், தீபாவளி சிறப்பு நிகழ்ச்சி போன்ற பல tag களின் ஒருமித்த சங்கமம்.

முன்னாடியெல்லாம் தீபாவளிக்கு ஐயன் பட்டாசுகள், standard   பட்டாசுகள்,அகர்வால் பவன் or ராமகிருஷ்ணா lunch home ஸ்வீட்ஸ் விளம்பரத்துக்கு யானை மேல் ஏறும் ஒரு jack spade மாதிரியான உருவம் ஸ்வீட்ஸ் ஐ கொடுக்கும். company மாறினாலும் 
ஸ்வீட்ஸ் மாரம இருக்கு, ஆனால் child labour காரணமோ pollution மற்றும் இதர பல காரணன்களுக்காக பட்டாசு பலரும் கொளுத்துவது  இல்லை. சிவகாசியில் வேறு அப்பப்போ விபத்துக்கள் நடந்து ஒரு நெகடிவ் sentiment create பண்ணி விடுகிறது. பழைய பேப்பர் விலை கூட தீபாவளி டைம் ல கூடுவது இல்லை னா  பாத்துக்குங்களேன்..இந்த நரகாசுரன்  uncle மேல எல்லாருக்கும் அப்படி என்ன கோபமோ தெரியல, பள்ளிகளில் கூட பட்டாசுகளுக்கு எதிராக சில விழிப்புணர்வு நிகழ்ச்சிகள் செய்கிறார்கள். தீபாவளியைக் கொண்டாட பட்டாசு வேண்டுமா வேண்டாமா என்பதில் தொடங்கி வெடிக்கும் பட்டாசா, night time display போன்ற பட்டாசா வரை ஒரு நீயா நானா வைக்கும் அளவுக்கு பேச matter  உள்ள topic. இதுல பாருங்க முன்னாடி எல்லாம் இந்த மாதிரி தலைபோற பூவா தலைய topic பத்தின செய்தி யா இருந்த எல்லாரும் சாலமன் பாப்பையா பட்டிமன்றம்  வெச்சு தீர்வ முடிவு பண்ணனும்னு  சொல்வாங்க. இப்போ அதுல கூட கோபிநாத் கு மாறிட்டாங்க. ஆனா ஒண்ணு அதுலயும் கிழவர் தீர்ப்பு சொல்ல மாட்டாரு, கோபிநாத்தும் தீர்ப்பை அறிவிக்கிரதுல நாட்டாமை இல்லை. In fact முன்ன தீபாவளி சிறப்பு பட்டிமன்றம் இருக்கும் இப்போ தீபாவளி சிறப்பு நீயா நானா..

வேற என்ன தான்
புதுசாக விற்கிறது தீபாவளி சமயத்தில்.. புடவையோ நகையோ sweets எல்லாம் எப்போதுமே இருந்தது தான்.
இப்போ புதுசாக வேஷ்டி விளம்பரம் வைக்கறாங்க டிவியில். சரத் குமார், மோகன்லால் மம்மூட்டி என்று பலரும். பிரகாஷ் ராஜ் கதக்களி  பெண்களுடன் எல்லாம் டான்ஸ் ஆடி வேஷ்டி விற்கிறார். இதுல நீயா நானா கோபிநாத் வேற. ஆனா எனக்கு என்னவோ ரொம்ப பிடிச்ச வேஷ்டி விளம்பரம், நம்ம மம்மூட்டி வருவது தான். வேஷ்டி கட்டியதால் புலி கூட நடந்து வரார், செஸ் விளையாடுகிறார். இன்னும் என்னன்னவோ தத்தா பித்தா என்று செய்கிறார். இதுல ஒரு பனியன் விளம்பரத்துக்கு சரத் குமார் தன சட்டையை கழட்டி heroinஐக்கபபாத்துவார்.. அது சட்டை விளம்பரமா இருந்தால் garnier  ஷாம்பூ ad  மாதிரி சட்டையின் வலிமையைப் பறைசாற்றி இருக்கும், பனியன் விளம்பரத்துக்கு எதுக்கு இதெல்லாம்.. நல்லவேளை சரத் குமார் நடிக்கும் வேஷ்டி விளம்பரத்துல இந்த சீன் வரலை.. இனி 2012ல் உலகம் அழியாது. என்னமோ advertisement காரர்களுக்கு வேஷ்டி மேல் ஒரு புது மோகம். தீபாவளிக்கு வேஷ்டி வாங்குகிறவர்கள் எவ்வளவு பேர்?, அதுலயும் இந்த விளம்பரங்களைப்பர்த்து வேஷ்டி வாங்கறது எவ்வளவு பேர்.. யாராவது MNC ல வேலை பார்க்கிற middle age ஆண்கள், தன நண்பர்களிடம் என் வேஷ்டி பார்த்தியா  இது தான் மம்முட்டி  புலி வளர்க்கும்  போது கட்டிக்கிட்ட வேஷ்டி என்று சொல்லுவார்களா? 






  
  

Saturday, May 21, 2011

எழுந்திராய் எந்திரா

தலைவா, முதன் முதலில் தமிழ் ரசிகர்களை தன தொண்டனாக்கிய முதல் அரசியல் அல்லாத தலைவன் நீயாகத்தான் இருக்க வேண்டும்.

நீ படங்களில் காக்கி சட்டையில் கோபமாக உறுமிய உறுமல்களைக்கண்டு நான் எனது 7 வயதில் வளர்ந்து உன்னைபோலவே போலீஸ் காரனாக மாறி கேடிப்பயல்களை பந்தாடி தண்டித்து திருத்த வேண்டும் என்று சபதமிட்டிருந்தேன். பாழாய்ப்போன சமூகமும் ரொம்ப பலசாலியான கேடிகளும் என் கனவை நினைவாக்க விடவில்ல. எனது நிறைவேறாத ஆசைக்குப் பழி வாங்கவோ என்னவோ தான் நீ இன்னும் பல அவதாரங்கள் எடுத்து பல பரிமாணங்களில் எதிரிகளைப்பறந்து பறந்து சுத்தி சுத்தி அடித்துக்கொண்டிருக்கிறாயோ என்னவோ..

Actualla இப்போ, அதாவது ஒரு 15வருஷங்களாக நான் உன் நடிப்புக்கு ரசிகனே இல்லை. கட்சி மாறிவிட்டேன என்று நீ கேட்கலாம். .

காதலின் தீபோமொன்று ஏற்றினாளே என்நெஞ்சில் என்று பாடிய உன் கம்பீரமும் அந்த long hair style உம, தீ படத்தில் உனது நடிப்பும், தில்லு முல்லுவில் நீ அடித்த காமெடி உம ஏனோ பின் வரும் மனிதன், ராஜாதி ராஜா, போன்ற படங்களில் காண முடிய வில்லை. அதன் பின்னர் நீ சூப்பர் ஸ்டார் ஆகிவிட்டாய். ஏதோ நாயர் புடித்த புலி வால் போல தெரிந்தோ தெரியாமலோ நீயாகவோ அல்லது ரசிகர்களாகத் தோற்றுவித்த ஒரு மாயக்கண்ணாடியில் சிக்கிய சிங்கிள் சிங்கமாய் பல படங்கள் செய்தாய். தளபதி முதல் பாட்ஷாவிலிருந்து சிவாஜி வரை. ஏந்திரன் ஒரு வேறு equation அதனால் அதை இங்கே சேர்க்கவில்லை நான். producer களுக்கும் திரையரங்க முதலாளிகளுக்கும் உனக்கும் தான் பல கோடிகள் சேர்ந்தன. என்னதான் அதன் பின்னரும் நீ பேடிப்பயல்களை அடித்து உதைத்து நல்வழிப்படுத்திக்கொண்டிருந்தாலும் அந்த எண்பதுகளின் கோபக்கார இளைஞகனை அந்த சூப்பர் ஸ்டார் இமேஜ் குள் என்னால் தேடிக்கண்டுபிடிக்க முடியவில்லை.

கடைசி 15 வருடங்களாக நன் உனது நடிப்பின் ரசிகன் இல்லையே ஒழியே தனி மனித வாழ்கையில் இதே காலகட்டத்தில் தான் சூப்பர் ஸ்டார் ஆக ஆரம்பிதிருந்தாய். அது ஆன்மீக ஈடுபாடாக இருக்கட்டும், அரசியல் நடு நிலைமையாக இருக்கட்டும், ஏழைகளுக்கு உதவி செய்தலாக இருக்கட்டும், உன்னால் நஷ்டப்பட்ட திரைத்துரையினர்களுக்கு நஷ்டஈடு குடுத்ததாக இருக்கட்டும், பர்சனல் இமேஜ் கூடிக்கொண்டே வந்த அதே பொழுதில் உன் படங்கள் எல்லாம் stereo type ஆகா ஆகிக்கொண்டுவந்தன.

இதைப்புரிந்து அறிந்துகொண்டதலோ என்னவோ தான் ரசிகர்களுக்காக இல்லாமல் உனது திருப்திக்காக பாபா போன்ற படங்களில் நடித்தாய். But it was too deep and too
late for you to get out of your image trap.

உனது மகள்களின் வயதொத்த நடிகைகளுடன் டூயட் பாட ஆரம்பித்தாய். ஏனோ மனது ஒப்பவே இல்லை. இதை முதலில் நீ ஆரம்பிக்க வில்லை தான், உனக்கு முன்னரே பல ஸ்டார் ஹீரோக்கள் செய்தது தான், இருந்தாலும் நீ கட்டிய அந்த பர்சனல் இமேஜ் கு அது ஒப்பவில்லை. கருப்புதொலுக்கே ஒரு brand ambassador ஆக இருந்த நீ சிவாஜியில் வெள்ளைத் தோலுடன் உலா வந்தாய். இருந்தாலும் கோடிகள் கொட்டின, cut out க்கு பாலபிஷேகங்கள் தொடர்ந்தன, அரசியல் கட்சிகள் உன்னை தான் பிரசார பீரங்கியக்க விரும்பின.

இதெல்லாம் ஒரு பக்கம் இருக்க வெள்ளித்திரையிலும் வெளி விழாக்களிலும் கம்பிரமாகப்பார்த்த உன்னை நோயளியாகப்பார்க்க ரசிக நெஞ்சங்கள் ஒரு போதும் ஒப்பாது. அதனால் உன்னைக்கொண்ட நோயை உதறித்தள்ளி பழைய ரஜினியாக நீ வர எங்களது பிரார்த்தனைகள். நீ திரும்பி வந்து குழந்தைகளுடன் டூயட் பாடுவதைப் பார்க்க இல்லை, rana படத்தை முடித்துக்கொடுக்க இல்லை, அனால் White and White குர்தா பைஜாமாவில் திரையுலகின் வழிகாட்டியாக, ஒரு பெரியண்ணனாக இருந்து கொண்டு உன் பர்சனல் இமேஜ் வளர்த்து கொண்டே போய் ரசிகர்களின் மனதாகிய இமயமலையில் ஒரு அறிய இடத்தை நிரப்ப வேண்டும் என்று கேட்டுக்கொள்கிறேன் .