I'm a bunch of contradictions when it comes to movies. Normally, I'm sort of romcom girl. I love those colorful movies, as in literally colorful. If there is a dull or dark or blue shade to the screen, I just avoid seeing that movie. Maybe, thats why I end up seeing college-or-school-cindrella-type-movies again and again. But one unlikely movie, "Shooter" changed all. I started watching action-movies all of a sudden. Hitman, Incredible Hulk etc. And I also saw The Invasion. I was so engrossed in the movie. Thousands of thoughts were roaming inside my head until I saw the climax a week later. The last time the same thing happened was when I was reading Anne Frank's book. You just feel ki you're inside that house and when suddenly someone calls out for you, you feel "how can I go outside, it's all nazis out there".
On a funnier note, I just finished up writing up a list of English movies I saw since I came home and that would be since last August. The list has about 115 movies excluding the fact that I have seen all these movies a minimum of two times. The last movie to make into the list is "The Women" which I saw today. *This is what happens when you are utterly bored, craziness creeps-in in different forms*
Did I mention that I had a huge-huge headache the last 3 days and that kept me away from TV. It is for compensating that I saw The Women. Really, there's no competition for Meg Ryan. She's a league of her own. And boy, I missed VTV songs too. :( And that's when I thought of writing down why I just love Tamil movies.
The bunch of contradictions starts right here. Even though I expect every Malayalam or Hindi movies to have REAL content, that rules dims away with Tamil. My Rajnikant can throw bubblegum in the air and catch it with his mouth meanwhile fighting 50 odd hatta-katta guys. But that's a strict no-no with Mohanlal or Mammootty or Shahrukh or Aamir. I'm a music freak but then I hate to watch Hindi musicals. Maine Pyar Kiya, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam and Hum Aapke Hain Kaun happens to be in my never-watch list. I'm romantic but I can't fathom why DDLJ and Dil Toh Pagal Hain were so successful. I just dragged myself through the movies to find the reason.
But recently, I have had enough of Hindi films being real. Suddenly the songs vanished to make that impact it used to make. Suddenly every other song is a Punjabi bhangra. And the choreography, it all happens in a luxurious stage with lightings. No big difference. Where has the typical bollywood-dance songs gone? That used to just pop up when you thought of it the least.
I was watching CNN-IBN Real Heros Awards function the other day and I saw Rahul Bose saying. "We live in a world of invsible Indians, we see through most of India". And indeed, Bollywood does the same. And perhaps that's the reason why most of the Indian stories take place in foreign countries. Of course, I cannot ask "New York" to be in India, but what about "Kal Ho Na Ho" or "Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna" or the recent one "Hum Tum aur Ghost"? And does the directors even know about the respected middle class of India. Somehow, poverty has ceased to be a storyline in the films. Luxury and more luxury it is, right? Well, I respect some filmmakers like Shyam Benegal, Rajkumar Hirani for saving the image. When it comes to real, I prefer to watch Abhay Deol films. Its a lot satisfying you know. But its too infrequent and sometimes go unnoticed. And Malalayalm, forget it, I haven't seen a decent film in ages.
And this is where I love Tamil movies. It talks about the common man and please I'm not talking about Rajnikant movies here. It has all classes. You have films which are totally based abroad and still find cult village classics. And the music for every genre. Right from the melodies to the rocking fast numbers. Unlike Malayalam, Tamil is a language totally adaptable with English. Even if you add a few Rap beat into a Tamil song, it will only be sone pe suhaga. ARR, Harris Jayaraj, Yuvan Shankar Raja doing justice to all kinds of music listeners.
Watch this song from VinnaiThaandi Varuvaya(VTV). Sung by Naresh Iyer, the Roobaroo fame. Btw, that reminds me Pattar once had a chance to meet Naresh Iyer at a family function and took a pic with him. They must be relatives, I guess. I recommend this video for its excellent choreography and to know what I miss in Hindi songs. Music is by A R Rahman. Need any comments there???
And there are a whole new generation of actors in Tamil. Everyone is given their own space. Kamal Hasan and Rajnikant never compete against Ajith, Vijay, Surya or Vikram and they in turn don't compete with Simbu, Vishal or anyothers. But its disheartening to say that there is no future for Malayalam films. Prithviraj , Indrajith and Jaisurya are trying to play second fiddle to Mohanlal and Mammootty or rather they are forced to do so. As for Hindi, I just want a new breed of actors, some who could play a college girl or boy. A good college love story. I just don't want 40yr old Aamir to play a 20yr old again. Recently anyone without a proper launch has been thrashed at the Box Office. I guess, there was some remake of Juno and God knows what happened with that.
Another video from VTV recommended for the same reasons. If you get bored and if you have fine internet connection please hop over to time 1:37 *Really recommended*. Isn't it the sweetest way to picturise a girl. Trisha looks so beautiful. I wish I were her. Yeah, I know...who would want to see a monkey with a flower-hat.
Acting and glamour go hand-in-hand here just like any other industry. Even Aamir fell short of Surya in Ghajini's remake. We just fell in love with the name Sanjay Ramasamy because of Surya.
Probably, you could never satisfy me with one genre of movies. I tend to like different movies at different times. Sometimes a sci-fi like
Independence day, sometimes a romcom like
When Harry Met Sally, sometimes a politically motivated
Satta, sometimes tragic instilled
Chandni Bar, sometimes out-an-out comedy like
Panchathanthiram, sometimes an investigative thriller like
The King. But that's where all others fail and Tamil rise. It rises and raises the bar.
The last and final recommendation. If only you could understand Tamil. This is a superb comedy scene from Panchathanthiram.
P.S. :- I never had such a horrific time writing a post. Youtubing for videos is deadly since I own very-high-speed-internet.
P.S.S. :- I was intending to put only the videos and let it explain in itself, but talkative me :-P
