மஞ்சள் வெய்யிலின் நிறத்துக்கு ஈடாக நான் சாப்பிட்டுகொண்டிருந்த லெமன் சாதம் பளபளத்துக்கொண்டிருக்க,நான் அதை வெறித்தனமாக கபளீகரம்செய்து கொண்டிருந்ததை அந்த ரயிலின் உள்ள அனைத்து பயணிகளும் கண் இமைக்காமல் பார்த்துகொண்டிருந்த அந்த கண்கொள்ளா காட்சியை வர்ணிக்க எனக்கு வாய் இல்லை.அவ்ளோ பசி. வாய் முழுவதும்சாதம். தொட்டு கொள்ள உருளைக்கிழங்கு சிப்ஸ் பாக்கெட் வாங்கினது ரொம்ப சௌகர்யமாக இருந்தது.
ஒரு அரை மணி நேரமாக,மானை புலி வேட்டை ஆடுவதுபோல் நான் சங்கீதா ஹோட்டலில் வாங்கிய பார்சலை வேட்டை ஆடி கொண்டு இருந்தேன். இரவு சாப்பாடு இனிதே சுபம் அடைந்ததை கொண்டாடும் விதமாக, பையில் வைத்து இருந்தஆரஞ்சு பழச்சுளைகளை உள்ளே தள்ளி விட்டு, உலகமே அதிரவைக்கும் படியாக ஏப்பத்தை விட்டதும் தான் என்னை சுற்றி இருந்த உலகமே எனக்கு புரிந்தது. திருச்சி ஸ்டேஷன் நாளை காலை 5 மணிக்கு வரும் என்று அம்மா சொல்லி இருக்க, காலை சூரியனை கூட கண்டிராத எனக்கு ஐந்து மணிக்கு முழிப்பது என்பது பிரம்ம பிரயத்னம்.
Persuaded by the sudden leakage of the audio of numerically titled Tamil movie ‘3’ (Moondru) with Dhanush as lead and the singer himself, I had this quintessential urge of a typical twenty five something tamil homo sapien to plunge into the musical ocean and swim across the much hyped song bearing the title pregnant with a British English heavily doped with southern dialect madras slang ‘Why this Kolaveri di?’. I express my heartfelt gratitude to my friends, for the FB wall shares, who diligently leverage the social media to tout their avid inclination to family and kinship, proclaiming their consanguineal roots by listing them religiously under the Family category. The shortened URL shares on Twitter as well, did extend a warm hand to gratify my urge to reverberate my Tympanic membrane.
The song in itself is a celestial incarnation of the mythological hymn that echoed the golden walls of heaven, sung with music emanating from the holy harps and ethereal melody from the chimes, supplemented to lutes and gongs. This song promises to accentuate the very fact that, music is a form of tacit cognizance, which can be understood only by the individuals who can perceive the real nitty-gritty of such aural delicacy.
I’ve never been to a Jeeva movie in theatre before, considering his just-another-guy face in the Tamil film industry. Even Jeeva’s ‘Siva Manasula Sakthi (SMS)’ didn’t usher me to the theatre much. Later watching it on the television seemed to be an uber cool successful comedy and sentimental movie.
Something tempted me to give a try to this one KO, is the tag that this movie came with, yea it is ‘K.V.Anand’ and ‘Harris Jayaraj’. Anand has been an awesome cinematographer which you can experience from the movies viz. Ayan, Mudalvan for its rich and colourful camera angles and a successful director for his exceptional and sensational story lined movies Kana Kanden, Ayan . Well, it was the second day show at Devi Cineplex, Chennai, 7.00 PM for the movie ‘KO’. I landed in the complex with a bunch of my friends.
I hardly read newspaper these days. But one fine Saturday morning (read yesteday) I woke up so early around 7.00 under the luminosity of Sunlight that’s hindering my morning sleep in the terrace. I wandered all the way down and up the terrace in search of fresh air in this pre-summer month!
Finally, located the newspaper lying on the floor outside and settled down with a cup of Boost (Yea, boost is the secret of my energy!) to skim through the paper. As I was turning pages sipping hot boost, the title caught my attention & there started my journey to the fewer plethora of Tamil equivalent words of things which we use in our day-to-day life.
The article started with the following line
It’s a tiny word ––zip. But when you translate it into Tamil, you get a two-word phrase –– izhaivari pallinai…..
It seems that, Tamilnadu government has modified the Tamil Nadu Shops and Establishments Act (1947) and it has been made mandatory for the commercial establishments in the city to display the name or signboards in Tamil. Well that that was a good initiative for Tamil valarthufying. But in reality how can it help?
So these are the exact words which we are supposed to use in the conversation.
1. Alarm Time Piece – Alari Kadigaram
Imagine yourself entering a clock shop and the shopkeeper beckons in. You flamboyantly open your mouth to emit the following words.
Customer: “Unga kitta Alari Kadigaram irukka?”
Shopkeeper: ????!!!??
The immediate reaction from the shopkeeper would be
“Sariyana kalanda case pola” or to be more precise in the layman language, “Sariyaana loosu pola”
If at all, we can see the shop keeper alari-adichu-odifying out of the shop away from you.
2. And Sons – Matrum Magangal
Now we see that many commercial establishments in Chennai is/are named with the suffix & sons. If the government intendeds to change then they have to bear in mind that that they have to train people who are going to suffer awkwardness in using such phrases.
T S Mahalingam & Sons – T S Mahalingam matrum magangal
Mittulaul Lalah & Sons – Mittulaul Lalah matrum magangal
3. Antenna – Kavarkambi
Well calling antenna as a kavarkambi doesn’t look awkward. But still I’m wondering about many of the electronics parts vendors who set up shops in Chennai to earn their daily bread have to get acquainted with these words.
Imagine Ritchi Street shop owners’ state. They have to run in search for Tamil pulavars to translate the shop’s name
Al-ameen Electronics & Co – Al-ameen minnanuvial matrum kuzhumam
Galaxy Computers & Co – Vinveli Kaninigal matrum kuzhumam
English Electricals & Co – Aangilam Minnuvial matrum Kuzhumam
4. Icecreams – Panikuzhaivu, Panippaledu
Nothing came into my mind after being subjected to such Tamil murdering! Imagine the Tamil ads getting cantankerous with the usage of pure Tamil words. I was actually translating the dialog said by the small kid in one of the toothpaste advertisement.
Nee fail agala da, un toothpaste daan fail aayiduchu….will be used as
Nee tholvi adayala da, un palpasai daan tholvi adanjiduchu….(ROTFL)
5. Zip – Iruppal Inai, Izhaivari Pallinai
If a kid is trained to use only Tamil words at home, then imagine such a scenario….
The kid will be saying,
“amma, inda Izhaivari Pallinai ah pottu vidu…”
“amma, Izhaivari Pallinai maattikichu…” (I need not tell u guys where!)
It seems that the Government is distributing a booklet containing the list of all such words which contains the Tamil equivalent of words used in our day-to-day life. Traders have to read and get educated. Heights!!
Moreover they wanted to make sure that such words get popular among the people. There is a desperate need of innovation everywhere and now that government is in need of it in the lines of popularizing the new addition of words which we are ought to follow. Languages are there to make life simpler. Conversation in one’s mother tongue is supposed to be easy and it should give a feeling of native belongingness to the language. But when such awkwardness is introduced, then I’m afraid people may find it difficult thrive in the society.
When the traders are expected to stick to the pure form of the language, then common people should invariable shift to the same. When the trader knew only the Tamil form then it is going to get difficult to the people to buy things. Imagine a dialogue below
(Customer gets tensed up. He refers to the booklet and finds the meaning)
Customer: Err… Vadimunai Vennsuruttu kudunga
Shopkeeper: Ada, ida modallaye kaettu irukkalaamla?
Customer: Podaang…
So it not only becomes over head for us but also for the new comers in the market who enter to run a business. They need to master the so called Tamil!
Okay, enough of criticism on the language. Actually I’m not against the usage of Tamil in pure form. I appreciate those who wanted to bring this in reality. We are in Tamilnadu and speaking in Tamil is our right and proper use of language is a heartwarming welcome. Already multiple autopsy have been made on the language and it is being used in different ways in different parts of Tamilnadu viz, – Madurai Tamil, Tirunelveli Tamil and many more. We have the so called Madras Tamil which is the native language of Chennai species. Now this introduction of purity in the language may lead to the formation of whole new encyclopedia (En cycle ah pidiya!) of Tamil.
If in Madras Tamil,
Kafi kuchhiya? Means Kappi Kudichiya?
Then andaanda keera koyambi kada should be “Ange irukkum Kozhambiyagam” where Kozhambiyagam means Coffee shop.
Do we need such complications? Already many of the Higher Secondary students who are aiming for IITs and NITs are switching to Sanskrit, French & German as their second language, if any attempt to introduce purity in Tamil is made, then I’m afraid, all the school going children will migrate to Delhi & Bombay to pursue their higher secondary education.
In a state where “Indha vaaram malai poliyumaa, Chennai makkal dhookkam” prevails, we are in a situation to secure the existing state of the language. In such a tight scenario, people are very much comfortable with the current usage, how complex it may be. They are ready to digest the eeruketta edhirmarai peyaracham as well. (Please do not ask for clarification. I myself do not know the meaning!) It takes aeons to get accustomed to the usage of language. When people are used to a particular form of a language, it becomes difficult to switch to a new form.
This is not just a case with the language but with the software applications that we use daily. Many of them are reluctant to switch to Windows 7 from the native Windows XP because the interface is new, applications are new. The dialog or the menu accessing methods is new. Why to speak about operating system? For a simple transition from MS Word 2003 to Office 2007, people deny using the system. So when it comes to the mother tongue, it obviously poses a threat to their comfort level.
Changes are inevitable and we all know changes are the only thing which doesn’t change. But for the change to happen, it may take quite some time to get accustomed to it.
With an epic camouflaged in a modern script served with technology dessert, Selvaraghavan was able to hold his audience awestruck, with his simply amazing script in AO. A story set in the modern age with reference to an old Tamil history involving Chola and Pandya dynasty. The story starts with a stage play or it is called Therukoothu in southern Tamilnadu, in which the scene depicts the Chola king handovers his son to one of the people of his kingdom to save his successor. The scene shifts to the old 1279 era’s Chola king in his last stage where in they were driven away from their dynasty as it is invaded by Pandyas. Cholas run away to a secret place to conceal them from the Pandyas.
Then the storyline shifts back to the current age where archeologists from India sets out for an expedition to find the whereabouts of the Cholas with the trails left by Pandya warriors. The team lead by Reema Sen and Andrea with Karthi and others set their journey towards the exploration of Chola land, which turns out to be an Indian government aided project. The obstacles they face while travelling towards the destination with the help of an old map in a parchment paper and the encounter with Chola king Parthiban who still exists in a secret village after many islands and traps away sets the story to the audience.
The back score of the movie is really awesome and it sets the ambience for such an ancient story in the modern age. The screenplay definitely stands out as Selva was able to bring out the real essence of the script. It is really a brave attempt in a Tamil cinema which would definitely reap its fruit of hard work and innovation which Tamil audience have never witnessed before.
The main crux the story lies in the seven traps which ought to be crossed to reach the place where Cholas had lived. They are viz. sea creatures, cannibals, warriors, snakes, hunger, quick sand and a village. Well the story seems to be adopted from various fantasy based stories like that of Vikram Betal, Sindbad the Sailor, Alif Laila and many of them which children would have read in the books. But the story has an ancient-modern stability that the director maintains throughout the movie.
The depiction of Chola history and the kingdom, the people, the old houses takes us to virtually to hundreds of centuries back. You call it a technology effect or the strong story base; it invariably gives a Hollywood touch to the movie.
The Seven Traps
Sea creatures: They resemble an orange glowing lotus leaves which emerge out from the sea and gets stuck to the human body. They emerge from the water when the team of people gets down in the waters near the island, they reach in the night. Since the boat cannot proceed further till the shore of the island, the team had to walk few distance in the water which is still below knee level. Once two or three of the creatures captures a person, he feels extreme irritation and pain in the skin where it gets stuck and makes the person totally impaired. When he drops down, many such creatures engulf him taking him into the sea to his death bed.
Cannibals: These people are encountered by them, once they walk into in the island. There is an entrance to a small village like settlement, where a group of people surrounds them and try to kill them. They look dark, ugly and horrible decorated face (Apocalypto kinda). One can avoid death by not looking into their faces directly. Many are seen to cook humans in the movie. Human legs are protruding out of the cooking pot over a fire, human head will be polished with blood and the inside of it will be extracted and cooked. The horrible scene sends butterflies in our stomach. They speak weird language, which Andrea seems to know and she can talk fluently with the clan leader with black grayish yellow teeth, who likes her very much and want to marry her!
Warriors: These are people who engage in sudden war of fire tipped arrows which kills many of the archeological team who would have deliberately tented in the area after being warned by cannibal clan leader. Thousand of arrows fall from the sky like rain drops and kills many of the people. The team led by Reema Sen and the Officer Azhagam Perumal understand the volume of threat that they are encountering, they engage in gun fire with the red warriors. Reema reminded me of Lara Croft, with her pistols. After mass killing, they burn the carcasses of the warriors and proceed further towards the expedition.
Snakes: They reach a particular place in the forest and as the dusk sets in, they again tent. Andrea being an archeologist, reads Olai chuvadi and predicts that they may be attacked by snakessince it is one of the traps set by Cholas and she was not given due respect as Azhagam thinks being warned about snakes in a forest is dumb and insane. Karthi, Andrea and Reema get separated from the crew during the escape efforts.
Hunger: Yes, after the snake episode, they walk longer miles in the forest, ultimately reaching a vast open sandy desert. Not even a single tree or a water resource would be seen in the finite distance that their vision could reach. They keep walking in hunger and thirst. The desert is vast, sunny, and hot accompanied by sand storms. They have to cross that to reach the next trap which they do not know where and how it is set.
Quick Sand:The three reach a vast open space post desert where the ground is flat and sandy not so loose like that of the desert but thick and hard as a normal sandy roads. Stepping on a particular area may lead to the formation of deep pit which will fill automatically due to the quick sand presence. So if you walk on the sand, in a random place, the ground under your feet will break and you will fall in to the pit and the sand will seal the pit automatically. So the point is to cross the Stonehenge which lies in the center of the vast open ground. They have to cross the quick sand and reach the place after that. The Nataraja Idol shadow which is formed exactly when the sun rises and the rays falls through the Stonehenge to protect them from being drowned in the quick sand, according to some ancient Tamil scripture was a good concept which calls in for appreciations.
Village: This is place where the remaining of the story takes place. Many of them in the village are mad and they abide by the king. They starve and fight for meat like a lunatic. The village is very much ancient and they abide by the king.
குளித்து மணல் கொண்ட கல்லா இளமை!
அளிதோ தானே! யாண்டுண்டு கொல்லோ,
தொடித்தலை விழுத்தண்டு ஊன்றி நடுக்குற்று
இருமிடை மிடைந்த சிலசொல்
பெரு மூதாளரோம் ஆகிய எமக்கே?”
I’m sure many of the Tamil readers reading this, will not be able to understand the whole thing above, except few. That’s how the second half of the movie will be. After the interval, the scenes will be of the Chola people and the village. The language that they speak is very partially decipherable. They speak lucidly in such an accent that, it gives a real feeling of being with the Chola people.
Karthi, Reema & Andrea finally reach the place where Cholas had lived after crossing all the traps. But unfortunately as it said that, many of them who came in search for this place are lost and never return. The mystery unravels here for us as why is it so. All three will be happy to have located the place. The remnants of the Chola dynasty are seen in front of our eyes. The utensils, idols are found to be available in the streets amidst the dilapidated houses and buildings. There prevails a sudden silence and the air flows in the remnant buildings. The air flowing in and out of the old broken statues situated in the streets creates a high decibel sound which makes them quiver out of pain and suffering, bleeding in nose and mouth. Ultimately they lose their mind and they go mad running in a targetless direction towards some place where they get captive with the village people.
Over exposure to infra red rays causes heat. But in the movie, over exposure of Reema Sen, who is already hot makes the audience edge the seat. She plays her part well. The modern city girl who suddenly speaks ancient Tamil, and performs blood sacrifice rituals in the second half of the story, makes us flummoxed. Her brilliant performance is really an icing in the cake for the AO. The “Govinda Govinda” song sequence and the English track in between gives a feeling of Hollywood music video. She reminded me of the Rihanna and Beyonce at times in the song sequence. It gives an eerie and paranormal flavor to the music. Andrea has very less role in the movie. She has performed equally well, but the there wasn’t much performance from her side as she was silent mostly.
The war tactics, usage of weapons, large boulder thrower etc are something which Tollywood has never witnessed in these days. The scene in which the Reema and the Chola king Parthiban sitting in the throne of the king in a big round amphitheatre, like that of the roman colosseum, witness an age old fight of a mass human fighter who has this big body and has a huge heavy spherical rock attached to a thick long chain which can reach the circumference of the theatre. The lunatics are forced to fight with the big man who constantly levitates the heavy mass of rock and throws it in a direction where a group of lunatic humans are assembled. The rock hits few of them killing mercilessly with blood and flesh splashing into the rock. Our hero fights with him, killing him and winning the duel and he becomes an important subject of the clan.
The Chola King Parthiban has done his role flamboyantly well. His introduction is just another awesome flick from a Hollywood movie. But whatever it is, he simply scores in his performance. He fits the role well. The ancient Tamil in his tongue flows lucidly and has his humor touch here and there. “Linga Darisanam kandu…” dialog will be something which cannot be missed by someone who knows a bit of Tamil in depth. Hats Off to you Parthiban. You always give a humor touch to everything. We loved you as a Chola king!
How can we miss Karthi? Yea, he is as usual casual, humorous and smiling. In his recent movies, he has been portrayed as one filthy, country side, dirty macho man, speaking begrimed language in a contaminated accent. This movie is not an exception as well for him. He plays a coolie who has been hired to help in the expedition. He confronts Reema and Andrea with his naughty mischievous actions, “Kalyananam panna ungala than..pannikanum…”. Later his frown stare at Reema and an affectionate stare on Andrea, facilitates the movie to run interestingly smooth. An extra piece of chicken for Andrea, is an extra piece of chicken for us too!
The movie ends with the death of the king & Karthi running away with a king’s small boy inorder to protect him from the Reema, Azhagam Perumal and others who turned out to be the Pandya successors who were in an expedition to reclaim the lost idol from the Chola king, thus saving at least one the Chola dynasty, indirectly sending us the message that the Chola people and their successors still exists in today’s modern world.
This movie gives a perfect blend of Hollywood series 300, Indiana Jones, Gladiator, Avatar, Mummy, Apocalypto and many other series. Well no story is unique as every story is an outcome of inspiration derived from some other series. I’m sure this one will be a hit in Tamil. This is a must watch movie for those who would expect something different from the kuthu paattu, sentimental cries, action fights, mass heroism, college romance. A completely different approach and try by the director for the Tamil Industry.
There are many scenes in which the so called objectionable and ‘bad’ words are used very perspicuously that suffers a mute. Andrea and Reema involve in wordy duel commenting about their bosoms and using the F word and many other words which is lost in the editing during the censoring. Hmmm…….
Hope the movie finds its place in the box office!
P.S: One thing which keeps nudging me was the use of iPhone by the officer, in the island min-gua near Vietnam. Well I was thinking about which network works well in such an isolated island with strong signal reception! I was wondering about my Airtel connection which sets itself to “No Service” mode 100 kilometers outside the city limits.
I scribble here! 