Malayalam Movie Montage..

Chocolate, Romeo, Rock and Roll, Kangaroo, Classmates, Ring tone, Laptop, Flash, Sound of Boot, Alice in wonderland, Lollypop, The Tiger, Casanova, Colours, Body guard, Daddy cool – no these are not some mere strings of unrelated English words that I have compiled; they are names of Malayalam movies that were released over the last 2 years or are in the pipeline for release!!

It is difficult to place a finger correctly on whether it’s the need to look “cool” or the pressure of “globalization” of movies, or if this is what the Kerala audience now demands, but the trend in naming movies and the overall quality of Malayalam movies that’s being released off-late is pitifully sub-standard. It irks to see movies of such genre getting released every other week, flooding the theatres and also coagulating the minds of the average movie watcher. Creativity, that quite withstood the trial of time in our movies, seems to have vanished into oblivion.

I had grown up watching Malayalam movies and had admired its simplicity and its ability to tell us powerful tales by fiercely guarding its originality. At the time when the Hindi film industry was being coined as “Bollywood” (I never quite liked that word; a lame copy of the famous Hollywood), and movies were being marketed in more Indian cities and abroad, Malayalam films were “nice” and “authentic” and were mostly confined to viewers within Kerala and through some late releases to viewers in a few other cities. They had that old-world-charm in its stories, its heroes, its heroines, its plots, its shooting locales; everything helped one relate easily to them. They did not take you on a “dream-trip” to aspirational Switzerland or Holland, nor did the protagonists try to appear “super-human” or “god-players”. The aesthetics of movies of that by-gone era had delighted me and the movies from those eons are a pleasure to watch even today.

The blockbusters which were released then were thought-provoking. The low-budget movies demonstrated communal issues, the kerala political scenarios, the belly-bursting comedies, the campus and mature romances, the tragedies that made you weep along with the lead characters in the movie; everything captured the viewers’ intellects. Adaptations of a lot of literary works into movies helped the not so avid readers to look into the minds of M T Vasudevan or O V Vijayan and understand their writings. It was a treat to watch the likes of Mammootty, Mohanlal, Sreenivasan, Thilakan, Nedumudi Venu, Jagathy Sreekumar, Innocent, Shobana, Urvashi, Kaviyoor Ponnamma, KPAC Lalitha and a host of others in movies such as these.

The Kerala film industry has got itself muddled into unwarranted controversies, the silent, unconfessed dual between the “senior” and the “new/junior” actors, the confused movie associations unsure of the reason for their existence and baffled at the sides that are supposed to support, rising costs of actor/actress remunerations which is not quite withstanding with the movie’s success or failure, production houses funding movies that are not “off-beat” or “original” but always surrounding around the “never-aging” superstars, members of the star “fan clubs” who are set out to hoot away movies that do not feature their favourite actor(s) have become the norm. I recently read an article by a pained and an observant audience who couldn’t help lamenting on how the stage programs in all the award ceremonies in Kerala had participants dancing and singing to the tunes of Tamil and Hindi movie songs only. “Can you see anyone in the Tamil or the Hindi film industry dance on stage to a Malayalam movie song?”, asked he. Well, we all know the answer to that one.

M. Karunanidhi, the Tamil Nadu CM had announced a discount in entertainment tax for Tamil movies that have a Tamil title and the latest movie to honour this commitment of TN Govt is Rajnikanth-Shankar’s movie, Robot. The team is considering renaming it to a Tamil name, Yenthiram!! I sincerely hope that V S Achudanandan takes a leaf out of the book of his Tamil Nadu counterpart and contribute his 2 cents in saving this drowning industry; ensuring mandatory Malayalam movie titles to begin with!!....on second thoughts, any idea if someone’s offered the Malayalam film industry tax sops for naming the movies in English??

When the land of the dragon beckoned us.....

I distinctly remember the day, 10th Jun ’07, when Vinod and I landed at Guangzhou airport. He had taken up the employment with Capgemini, and that coerced us to make this city our home for that period. All along, as a part of our “mental” preparation of moving over, we had browsed and sought out a lot of information on the city and its “livability”. The sight which greeted us when we first stepped into the city was one that I cannot easily forget.

The ride from the airport to the hotel, Hotel Landmark Canton, in the Honda Odyssey car is still very fresh in my mind. I couldn’t help noticing during the entire length of the journey that the city had only Chinese scriptures everywhere. All advertisements, commercial hoardings, shop titles, everything was in Chinese. Unlike our experience in India where one would be able to see English translations under anything that was in a regional language, this was quite a contradiction.

Vinod attempted to be brave and divert my worried attention to “good things” that the city had to offer. Roads devoid of pot-holes, well-laid expressways from the airport to the city, ample amount of greenery amongst all that concrete gave us a brief idea on the commercial progress this city experienced. All the wide assortment of automobiles that we saw on the road was a sight in itself. Never had I seen so many Audis and BMWs and Mercs and Porsches being driven around so casually as if it were Maruti 800s we see many a times on our Indian roads. The worried creases on my forehead did not disappear so easily; I am adventurous in more than one ways in life, but letting go of “comfort-zones”, “adapting” well to newer surroundings and “drifting with the flow” are something I am a novice at. My thoughts were on how we would survive in the land of meager English, how we would commute to work, what we would eat.. whenever I used to read about China, a mention about their food habits was never untouched upon. Reading about the varied meat varieties they eat always made me feel nauseated, but seeing it was really believing it. Their sea-food included “anything” alive that was available under sea; their non-vegetarian food included “anything” that was alive and moved on 4 legs on land (glad that they taste-buds do not fancy the 2-legged mortals)!!

I was there for a week before I had to head back to India and wait for Capgemini to offer me a position too in Guangzhou so that I could move over to this city. The only good memory I could take back with me then was the vivid picture of the beautiful Pearl River that meandered through the city. Big barges moving lazily on the river, the city skyline on its banks, wide bridges across the river and the numerous parks with well-laid walkways beside the river were sights to behold. We were so struck by the view that we silently decided that we would live in some apartment that had close proximity to this wonderful design of nature.

The months that followed witnessed efforts from Vinod to make me look at the positive side of the move and portraying to me that he has been living there comfortably without any hassle and all the uncertainties that I had accumulated from the earlier visit was completely unreal and baseless. It was more like a “fear of the unknown” for me. Soon when Capgemini rolled out the offer for me too to come on board, I realized that I had to let go of the apprehension and start out on this new journey.

It was 21st November ‘07 when I returned to the city again; this time for a lengthier stint. Surprisingly, fitting in this time was a seamless action and I was quite surprised that it was that easy. Vinod had already spent a good 4 months there before I moved over and being the “solution.com” that he is, had already explored the city and found solutions on our stay, food, commuting and shopping. He had already learnt a lot of local “essential” words which were quite handy in helping us navigate around.

There were lots of restaurants which served food that was “edible”, in my dictionary. Spotting a lot of Indian restaurants were icing on the cake. The city had numerous shopping malls and grocery plazas that one had no difficulty in buying things. We soon realized that the quantity of spices and masalas that we had brought with us from India was enough to start a local shop here. I was awed at the availability of my favourite lady’s fingers, cauliflowers, bitter gourds, peas and all the varied types of dals and lentils that I was so used to. Furthermore, Hong Kong was so close by and any grocery that we couldn’t find here was readily available in that city which could be picked up easily during our regular monthly visits; one cannot believe that they even have betel leaves and nuts available in some Indian shops there. The subway rail system was very efficient and easy to use and so were the accessibility of taxis and buses.

We shopped in all its famous shopping streets; the Beijing road, the Xiaju market, Zhongshan road, ate at most of the small restaurants and the large exquisite ones, the local beer Tsingtao became such a hit with us that Kingfisher tastes primordial, the 6 Banyan tree Buddhist temple, the White-cloud mountain, the Shamian island, the Yuexiu park, travels to Hong Kong, Macau, Beijing were all such distinct journeys in itself. Yes, I am still getting used to looking at the left side of the roads while crossing them, experiencing typhoons, learning to hold my breath tight in elevators to avoid the smell of all the Chinese “delicacies” that arise out of the eaters’ mouths and also to not fall down laughing at some Chinese colleagues’ names like Zero Li, Engine Lin, Easy Chen, Ice Feng, Crisp Ho, Tiger Hu, Piano Huang, Rabbit Lai, Spicy Liu, Tomato Xu, Fish Yu…and believe me we address them with their first names. The communist country, although suppressed in some ways, was enjoying the benefit of a capitalistic economy and we as foreigners in its land get to use the benefit of its excellent infrastructure, the monetary value which is nearly 6 times of our INR (feels nice to multiply our salaries into 6 and look at the lovely figure the calculator throws up) and the respect from the fellow beings in office owing to the fact that we Indians are more “knowledged” and “experienced” in IT and ITES.

10 months have passed now since we had become a part of this city and left our footprints on its sands of time and I must confess that looking at the Pearl River from the window of my 33rd floor apartment is invigorating even today.

A rendezvous with nature...

Bisle forest.. I hadn’t heard of it before and when there were plans being discussed about a trip to this place, I nodded my consent in. 18th to 21st April, 2003 - It was a “long-weekend”; Good Friday and Easter Monday combined with a regular weekend and the team of about 11 of us from HSBC, Bangalore, which comprised of good “like-minded” individuals, or so we would like to call ourselves, embarked on the journey.

Pristine green hills, the smell of fresh dew on the grass, crisp wet wind on our faces greeted us as we stepped out at Sakleshpur for tea early morning. We hadn’t realized how hungry we were and succumbed to the hot cups of tea, buns and biscuits; some of the boys gobbled up boiled eggs too. The dormitory in Hotel Kanishka International was booked for our pithy stop and wash. All of us ready in our trekking gears assembled quickly in front of our van waiting for the guide to commence on one of the most memorable trek I ever had.

The Western Ghats homes an array of forest ranges and the guide explained that Bisle was in the heart of the mighty ghats. The string of mountains in its entire splendor enthralled us with its silence. We commenced the trek by moving along treaded paths for a long while and with the passage of time, we were moving into denser & higher parts of the forest. The untamed jungle with its tall evergreen trees, little streams flowing through it, the sounds of varied bird-calls, the narrow paths lined occasionally with guava trees & dense coffee plants leading us into the heart of the forest and the pleasant sound of the Giri River flowing nearby was mesmerizing. We were warned about possible “sighting” of wild boars, elephants, king cobras and leopards, if we were lucky (or rather not so lucky!!) but the fervent group had to be satisfied with the sights of fresh elephant dung that was spotted along the way.

The guide then thought that it was time we put some food into our system; he and his helper set about making us tasty vegetable upma. I still remember the speed at which the food got consumed by all of us. When he told us that we were very near the Kumaradhara River, he did not expect 11 voices in unison for taking a dip there. Since we all had our change of clothes in the cab near the forest, we decided to spend some time in the water and then head back for the cab before we re-commence the trek. The cool gushing water among the rocks was a sight to behold. Without wasting any further time, we jumped into it. The magic of the place can only be experienced!! The guide was now slightly worried since we had miles to catch up on before the close of the day and we have been in the river for nearly 4 hours. We regrettably walked out from the water and changed into dry clothes in the cab. It was time for some lunch and bisi bele bath tasted like the most exquisite food in the world to me that day!!

The trek re-commenced and the guide announced that we had to deviate a little into a clearer settlement and retire there for the night. The cab with our bags had already arrived there. After another long walk, we arrived at an open clearance which only had a roof but faced the repertoire of hills. It was like a watch tower and we were the only visitors there that night. I was beside myself with joy to know that we were spending the night there. Although April was supposed to be the hot month of the year in that part of the tropics, the night was cold and damp; the small bon-fires we lit up were very beautiful among the black around us. A host of fire-flies fluttered around our heads clearly unhappy with the human intrusion. Everyone huddled around the fire trying to soak in on the warmth it generated. Bottles of party-mixes got circulated around; a few swigs of those did a wealth of good to keep us in “high-spirits” literally. Most of us were exhausted from the travel and trek and one after the other we slowly fell asleep.

The day break was a beauty. The sanguine sun slowly emerging from behind the hills, peacocks calling out to their mates, a horde of other birds chirping in the woods, a herd of elephants trumpeting in the forest beneath the hills and the quaint waterfall in the distance, now appearing exuberant with the sunlight shining on it, was magical. The myriad of colours the morning brought was truly a sight to behold. The gang..our cab driver Ranganna, the guide with his helper, Maddy, PC, Pramod, Harish, Prashanth, Musheer, Veeru, Shameena, Sanjeeban, and I, stood facing the hills in silence. It was mystical. I am sure it made all of us think that there was something more to life than the office workstations and processes and SLAs.. I was soaking in as much as nature I could; even after 5 years, the experience is so vivid in my mind!!

The rest of the journey through Coorg included visits to Nisargadham, Bailguppe (Buddhist monastery) and Abbey & Irupu waterfalls, each sight contending with one another on how beautiful they can get.

It was the last leg of the journey and most of us rode in silence saddened by the thought of concluding this wonderful jaunt. The friendships that blossomed amongst us from this common experience were one that would last for a very long time to come and the journey had made me an instant nature aficionado. Every time I look at the photographs from this travel, my mind’s eye brings back pleasant memories.....my rendezvous with nature…...with friends…..with an unforgettable chapter in my life.

A note to a beloved

I must have been around 13 or 14, when I slowly started to realize that contrary to my belief so long, she was not troubling me with her formidable ways, but in fact was helping me learn and grow up as a grounded and a sensible individual. She was determined to not let me move away from the culture, religion and language that very clearly played a pivotal role in my personality when I grew up. All the bedtime stories she narrated to me and my cousins contained moral teachings and messages that quite make me sit back and think about now. She never read out stories from any book but all the stories that mostly began with “Once upon a time…..”, had elements of ethics that she wanted to pass on to us. Mythological tales from the likes of Ramayana and Mahabharata would not have quite fancied me if I was not intrigued by those when she first introduced me to it. I still hear my dad and mom proudly tell everyone about my story recitals when I was all of 5 or 6 years of age.

She had dogged persistence in teaching me to read and write my native language Malayalam. I still recall how I used to get irritated when she would insist on teaching me the language during my school vacations, when all I wanted to do was watch TV or go out and play with my cousins. I would be forced to drag out my slate and chalk pieces and practice the Malayalam alphabets over and over again, till she was convinced that I would never forget it. She diligently sourced an alphabets book which had pictures depicting each word, so that I understand the language better.. very soon this summer vacation ritual gained momentum and became a more frequent weekend activity. I graduated into reading words and sentences. She always made space for me to write a few lines, in the letters she used to write to her sister regularly and made me read aloud passages from Bhakthapriya and Sri Guruvayurappan monthly journals. I did not understand why I gave in to her fortitude or why I let myself open to learn what she had to offer; but when I reminisce about it, I am glad that I did it.

As I sit back and contemplate the life by-gone, I understand the positive influences she had on me during my formative years. I clearly remember all the religious songs that were taught to me; although I have less use for all those now, it was a chapter that she introduced to me. I knew a hymn in praise of almost all the Hindu gods!! I wouldn’t have learnt to appreciate the silk paavada/lehnga, blouses and matching coloured glass bangles that we all wore when we were younger; always competing with the cousins on who’s was the best colour and look. We all have grown out of those attires and would dread to be seen in one of those now, but I would recommend that experience to any youngster even today. If it was not for her assertion, the household would not have lent importance to the various rituals in all the festivals we celebrate. Starting from the very first festival of the year, Pongal, and moving onto Vishu, Janmashtami, Vinayaka chaturthi, Onam, Dussehra and Diwali, she inculcated the customs and practices associated with each of these, to all of us. Although much of the hard work was done by my mom in cooking all the various delicacies such as vishu kanji, appam, uzhunnu vada, modakams, onam sadya etcs to commemorate the various festivals, we began to understand that such celebrations makes the growing children understand the festivals better and gives us reasons to correlate well with the occasions.

A very well liked and admired person in our locality, she always had a kind word or a pleasant enquiry for any of the close neighbours we interacted with. Busy-bee is the word I would like to connote her with. She finds pleasure in relentlessly pursuing some activity or other. Tending to all the plants that she lovingly grew all around our house compound, gathering flowers from them every morning to adorn all the gods’ pictures, tidying up the money-plant creepers that seem to be growing haphazardly all the time, are her famous pursuits.

Years have passed by since the time she was that young energetic grandmother ever ready with suggestions and opinions on cooking, grooming, temple practices, our outfits and the like. I still see the vigour in her to be active now, even though she is constantly bogged down by her diabetic condition and falling health. Her daily visit to the nearby temple has also reduced to an occasional stop-over but it’s the never-say-die spirit in her that I always admired the most. Many a times I felt like screaming my head out with her constant prodding about my food and sleep, but I always reconcile understanding that it’s her undying affection for all of us that brings out such questions all the time.

She turns 76 in a couple of week’s time and as I set about turning my calendar at home to September today, I couldn’t help lingering on a minute longer at that date; September 18. For the last 6 years, I always presented her with a new mundu-veshti or a kasavu sari (traditional kerala attires for women) for her birthday which she diligently wore on that special day. This year would be an exception. I am not around her to do this. As I reached office today, I thought I needed to put down in words all the appreciative memories I had of her and let her know in the most subtle way that we appreciate all that she has done for us and thank her for the part well played in grooming us to who we are today. Praying for her longevity and good health always, I dedicate this to her on her birthday.