The Language Story

I have suspected it for a long time. It has been out there lurking around the corner waiting for the right time to strike. And boy! It did – with full force. The “it” here is the realization that my language skills have been going down the drain steadily.

It defies logic actually. There is this age old wisdom shouting from the rooftops that knowledge is permanent and that it can only improve. Once learnt, it stays with you till you die. Of course there are exceptions to this rule as you probably cannot solve an integro differential equation as deftly as you could fifteen years ago. However “language”, I have been of the opinion, is a permanent fixture – something that gets printed on your subconscious mind and is readily available in chaste purity whenever its services are called for.

Of late, I am beginning to realize that this opinion is merely a hypothesis concocted by a defiant mind which is far removed from reality. No wonder the Chromagnus human beings believed in the adage - “Practice makes a man perfect”.

If you don’t practice – you lose the skill – whatever skill it may be. Language is no exception to this. Unless you keep reading good literature, write grammatically sound sentences by putting some effort into making it clean and precise, you are going to go down the drain along with your language skills. If you are of the opinion that content is more important than structure, congratulations – your journey to the bottom of Mariana Trench has already begun.

This morning, while warming the nice cozy bench in the office, I decided to read a couple of my stories/reviews from 2002. I couldn’t believe that I wrote them. They were great. They had long sentences with proper punctuation and grammar. I am not saying that in 2002 I was giving P G Wodehouse a run for his money. Those writings had their usual share of grammatical as well as spelling errors. However, the density of such errors was minimal back then. Now, I write four sentences of which at least three break some rule of grammar and the remaining one, though pure from a grammar/spelling point of view, is as awkwardly constructed as possible.

This set me on an introspecting expedition. What has changed since 2002?

1. I came back to India from the US in 2002.

2. My reading habit has taken a beating. I don’t read Wodehouse anymore. My reading these days consists mostly of Chetan Bhagat and Digital Inspiration blog on the internet.

3. I have become more politically correct.

The third point in the list above requires some explanation. Back then, I was a free bird. I had no affiliations. I would skin alive anything and everything if I didn’t like it. However, today I think twice before recording a negative view about the stuff I review. I try to an objective assessment and in the process lose the focus and thereby the interest. By the time the article crosses the midway mark, my mind is elsewhere and the only goal dictating the proceedings is the burning seven year itch to complete the article and post it on the internet.

The second point, I believe, is a big influencing parameter. I started “writing” in English after my graduation at the age of 21. I was unbelievably raw (for want of a better word) in English and I must thank P G Wodehouse, O Henry and even Michael Crichton for showing me the way. I practically grew up under their able guidance. When I was on a Jeeves spree, my articles resembled Wodehouse style. (Let me make it very clear. I can’t write my name and P G Wodehouse together in a sentence without causing the great man turn in his grave restlessly. I am only talking about the style factor here. At best I could pass off as a Bad Wodehouse Wannabe.) When I was reading O Henry (or William Sydney Porter) my stories had the proverbial and inevitable twist-in-the-tale. My friends used to play a guessing game. They would guess what I was reading the night before, by going through my articles.

What happens if P G Wodehouse is then replaced by Chetan Bhagat and O Henry by Amit of Digital Inspiration? You sound like them – Don’t you? (Again, no offence to Chetan or Amit. It is just that they have a different purpose in literature and life than P G Wodehouse.) It is alright if the article in question is a blog on the internet discussing something technical/political. However if it is a story, Being Amit is not the best approach. In this case, the affiliation or the style inspiration should be P G Wodehouse. By the same yard stick, I wouldn’t want my “Windows 7 First Impressions” blog to sound like P G W. On second thoughts, I think that would be cool. I should try that sometime.

That brings us to the first point in the list above – the drastic change in the environment. I would attribute a major part of my English refining process to the four years that I had spent in the United States. Not that US English is the best of the lot, but it did help me polish my language. The number of opportunities that a person gets to interact in English is far more in the US than in India. At the end of 2002, I sold my Corolla and traveled back to India (The Software Engineer Who Sold His Corolla). I did not get any spiritual insight into the way things worked but I did manage to lose the grip I had so painstakingly developed over the years.

Today, I don’t proofread my articles. I don’t check them for grammar or spelling. In the mad dash to get the article posted on the internet, I don’t even check if the purported central idea is respected throughout the piece of writing. I just start – write – finish and post. And there lies the problem. I am keeping my bar low because I feel that the blogs do not need a fine piece of writing. The posts that I make on the internet do not have to be exquisitely composed. If I am writing a novel or if my blogs are going to be compiled into a book version, I would probably spend more time polishing them.

This is more like a page from my diary. However, I think there is a takeaway or two from this write-up for everyone. Keep your influencing parameters high (Read P G Wodehouse) and don’t ever lower your bar. (Assume you are writing for TIME magazine or The Hindu newspaper.)

For now, I will just go back to my bookshelf, dust the copy of “Life at Blandings” and start reading it again.

 

Praja Rajyam in Andhra Pradesh

Found this near Nellore – A great statement (unintended though) for Chiranjeevi’s political party: Praja Rajyam. Elect us and we will give you what you see in this picture. :)

(I am not a supporter of Praja Rajyam. I am neutral as far as politics are concerned. Found this to be interesting. Hence the post.)

Telugu Movie Review: Konchem Ishtam Konchem Kashtam

Back in the days of yore, movies subscribed to a particular format – Rope in a big hero; Four fights; Six Songs; A heroine whose IQ hovers around 35; A big lengthy brawl at the end with some molten metal complete with an insanely complicated pulley and lever arrangement whose sole purpose is invariably to kill the hero’s kith and kin in the most difficult way possible. Oh yes! I forgot about the police jeep arriving into the photo frame on which the beautiful phrase “The End” is eventually printed much to the relief of the patrons.

The nineties saw a different formula. Rope in a big hero (no change here.); Four fights again; However these fights have three important factors that distinguish them from the eighties movies.

1.       These fights do not end. Period.

2.       There is no room for gravity in this world.

3.       The hero is more powerful than Samson and Achilles put together are.

Once the fights are thus conceptualized, rope in the leading women. Remember the golden rule here: there is no upper limit. The more women the better it is. Now plan six songs and place an order for a hundred Tata Sumos of which ninety have nothing much to do except mutely watch the hero deliver punch lines to the villain. The remaining ten Sumos occasionally travel on the road and a select group of these Sumos gets to travel in the air – mostly upwards like rockets but sometimes in a parabola too. Being innovative in the screenplay means the Sumos executing a hyperbolic trajectory.

After a deluge of such movies, we have seen a whip of fresh air – movies that offer something new and where “image” and Sumos do not dictate the screenplay. Frustrated by the macho men of the nineties, audience lapped up these soft subjects. Bommarillu is a case in point. It ushered in a completely new era for Tollywood.

Now, there are two ways to read the message here. One, people do not want to see beaten-to-death formula movies and need fresh subjects. The other, people want Bommarillus.

Sadly, the filmmakers have chosen the latter interpretation. After Bommarillu, an avalanche of such movies has started to hit the marquee. Boy meets girl. They tease each other. They fall in love. They face an obstacle – which has something to do with the upbringing of one or both of them. Being the ideal sons and daughters that they are, they correct the problem – almost always involving the parents on either side. The boy and the girl show an incredible maturity for the age they are and are willing to sacrifice anything and everything for the happiness of their parents. All the characters in the movie are so disbelievingly sweet that it suffocates you. You gasp for breath. You cannot take the sugar anymore. You yearn for some mirchi – something hot – something not so perfect. Hell! You want those flying Sumos again! However, this is the Bommarillu genre. There cannot be any projectiles here. Therefore, at the end of the thirteenth reel, a series of heavy conversations take place in the movie – often sermonizing on the art of parenthood – glycerin flowing freely - and people live happily ever after and you come out of the movie hall with moist eyes and 4 out of 5 rating.

Cinema is an escapist medium I agree. Reality is not picture perfect. We do not want to see the same stuff on the celluloid. However, beyond a certain point, it becomes difficult to accept these beautiful characters that exhibit no shades of grey. The latest Siddhartha Tamanna starrer Konchem Ishtam Konchem Kashtam (KIKK) suffers from the same problem.

KIKK is Bommarillu served in a not so new bottle. You have tasted Thumbs Up; you have tasted some Pepsi as well; now you are served Coca Cola.

It is not a bad movie though. It is superbly shot. Cinematography is the best I have seen in the recent times. The villages and the cities come alive on the screen. The camera angles are great. The background score is fantastic. Songs look great on the screen. I loved the way the song “Abba cha” has been choreographed. Tamanna looks great but has miles to go in the acting department. Siddharth sleepwalks literally. He has been essaying the same role since 2005. Prakash Raj turns in a good performance. My pick of the lot is Ramya Krishna who has underplayed her role to excellent effect. Brahmanandam entertains as Gacchibowli Diwakar.

When the movie ends and you are walking down the hallway towards the exit, a sense of déjà vu engulfs you. Been there; done that. The movie has nothing new to offer.

Rajni might have sung – “Kick YekkelE”. But this KIKK ekkalE.

My rating: 3 out of 5.

 

Indians can live without food but take “controversy” off their dictionary, I bet they would choke in a day! 

It is amusing to see all these discussions on Slumdog Millionaire. It may or may not be a great movie. However the “controversy” part has suddenly become bigger than the movie itself. In fact it has now reached quite an unmanageable state with people losing their mind and becoming victims of unnecessary jingoism.

Here is a nice bit of tip for all those people. Movies are just that. Movies. They are not political statements. They don’t ascertain the supremacy of one race over another. They don’t change the world – for most parts that is. Sadly in India, they do seem to change the way we live!

Yes. Slumdog Millionaire shows the slums of India. Well, isn't that what the story is all about? When you are making a movie based on the life of a slum-dweller, do you keep the backdrop as the slums of Mumbai or the five star resorts of Rajasthan? The movie is based on a novel written by an Indian by the way– (Q & A, by Vikas Swarup) and this novel talks about the slums in even greater detail. The novel was released in 2006 if I remember correctly and I was one of those who bought the author-signed copies in Landmark, Chennai. I liked the novel but did not find it great.

Arguing that the movie would result in the West thinking about India as a land of slums is akin to Indians forming an opinion on the US based on what is shown in Basic Instinct or for that matter – Scary Movie!

Watch the movie for the entertainment it offers and no one can deny that Slumdog Millionaire is entertaining. It is racy; interesting; hard hitting and ends on a positive note. The movie is all about the rags to riches story of a Slumdog. Probably next time Danny Boyle makes a movie with an Indian backdrop, we can request him to talk about CityPigeons featuring our pigeon hole apartments facing the beach or the river.  (Or cats, horses, rhinos – whatever you want.) And we can all beat our chest saying “This is the real India.”

Or still better. Let us send “Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham” to the Oscars next time and shout from the rooftops, “Oh West, Oh West – form an opinion on India based on this movie. This is so much better than the slums you have seen earlier.”

 

 

Telugu Cinema: Arundhati - Review

I confess. I had no plans of watching a movie in the cramped two day trip to Nellore, my hometown. However when my cousin called me from London and told me about the rave reviews this movie had been getting, I decided to check it out. Another compelling reason was: The movie hall was just a block away from my house.

Saturday night show – no tickets. Sunday noon show – no tickets. Black market touched 3oo rupees (for a 50 rupee ticket). Finally, I managed to get into the matinee show. (Paid the face price!) I was all excited to see Anushka in what is reportedly her first performance oriented role.

Arundhati has a lot going for it. The producer M. S. Reddy is known to have lavish budgets for his movies. He is also a great CGI fan and churns out graphics stuff that is always of its time – at least in the Telugu industry. (Case in point: The “hand” in Ammoru and the wonderful depiction of Lord Shiva in Anji.)

The director, Kodi Ramakrishna, a known face in the fantasy/mythological circuit, is a veteran in dealing with such subjects. His movies are known for edge of the seat action sequences and of course plenty of divine intervention.

Arundhati has everything aforementioned and some more. In fact it is so extravagant that you feel suffocated at times. The story unfolds at breakneck speed and throws unmanageable events at you one after another. That lovely jaw of yours that is supposed to drop in awe at the sequences happening on the screen is not allowed to actually drop as another sequence starts right away. You gasp for breath and you stare at the screen disbelievingly. It takes a while to acclimatize to the high pressure screenplay of Arundhati.

Once you learn to handle it with the seatbelts fastened and oxygen mask kept ready, the movie takes you through a detailed and gory portrayal of a family haunted by the ubiquitous evil spirit. Only one person can stop the force. And you know who it is, even before the movie has actually hit the marquee.

Let us be very clear. This is not a movie for everyone. If you are faint hearted or under 18 years of age, stay clear of this movie. Please do not take your kids to the show. They cannot handle it. It is too violent, gory, bloody, sadistic for them. I pity the kids in the movie hall today. I can give it to you in writing that they would not be sleeping peacefully for the next one week. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if there are any long term psychological impact on these children.

That makes me wonder. Why do parents, who are otherwise very responsible and wish for the best for their kids, expose their little angels to movies such as Arundhati? The movie would earn an “R” rating in the US – Not even a 18.

Please do not take chances. Leave your kids with their grandparents if you are planning to watch this movie.

That said, there is not a single dull moment in this movie. The action starts the moment the censor certificate disappears. The songs do not stand out. You won’t even notice them. The director has ensured that the tempo doesn’t come down anywhere. The first half, the interval bang, the second half, the climax – such differentiation has no place in this movie. Every scene has all the elements to excite you and make you wait for the next scene. Only, before your wait starts, the next scene ends.

The story is pretty much predictable and the end is what you have foreseen in the beginning. There are some silly rituals and methods thanks to the creative liberty available in fantasy genre. The process of setting up the grand annihilation of the evil spirit starts to look very contrived after you leave the theatre and your dazed feeling begins to wear down. However when you are in the middle of the action, such thoughts don’t cross your mind and spoil your experience.

Anushka doesn’t disappoint. She proves that given a good role, she can come up a credible performance. Her dancing skills however are inadequate in the context of this story. The classical dance movements fall absolutely flat. A great classical dance performance helps in elevating the scene to the highest level. (For instance, Shobana’s stellar show in Mani Chitratazha – the original of Chandramukhi.) Discounting this minor hiccup, Anushka has risen to the occasion.

The rest of the cast is adequate. Another stand out performance is given by Shayaji Shinde – as a good hearted Phakir who helps Anushka in her battle with the evil spirit. The evil is efficiently personified by Sonu Sood. The role requires him to look menacing and – basically “evil”. He manages that commendably.

Fortunately, there is no comedy track diluting the experience. The CGI work is pretty good though not in the same league as Hollywood. Given the budget constraints we have in the regional cinema circuit in India, the graphics work is fantabulous. You are not going to see anything like this in the Telugu Cinema – for a long time to come.

Background score is very good. Koti has turned in a lovely score though the first song reminds you of “Amma Brahma demudo” song from Govinda Govinda.

I have a question though. If you have seen the movie, can you tell me who the husband of Arundhati (Jejamma) is?

Final Word: Strictly not for children and for people who cannot enjoy sadistic horror. For the rest, don’t miss the movie.

My verdict: 4 out of 5 (with some riders – discussed above)