Lessons and Thoughts

One of the lessons I learnt over the past few weeks is:

If you want to write about a movie you've just watched or about a book you are reading; you should do it NOW.

Otherwise, the urge to inflict all those shades of thoughts and reactions on the world passes. Later all those shades are muddied and you may still write it all out anyway creating something which is not quite fresh and true.

So here goes in random order, impressions of weeks past that have lingered, as short as I can make it.

Two movies remain in my head and remind me that there is a story in each one of us. People who live ordinary lives, in poverty and want yet each find something - a dream - to cling to that lifts their lives out of the misery of want and makes their lives rich. Mari in Poo and Vedachalam in Kanjeevaram.

Poo is about Mari; the girl with the heart of a flower. She is consumed with love for her cousin brother but is too shy to express it. The blossoming of a young girl as she tries to express her love in different ways ; her tribulations which are told in a gentle humorous way. Her gentle heart which can never bear to see him hurt.
Poo is about Mari and actor Parvathy justly deserves all the awards she has been accumulating with her sensitive face.



The sepia tones Of Kanjeevarm linger long after. It’s a movie of superlative visuals with great attention to detail paid to the sets depicting a style of life of 60 years ago. The sharp beauty of Shreya Reddy stands out as well as the vigor of Prakash Raj in every scene.
What keeps this poor weaver, Vedachalam going is his commitment to weave a saree for his daughter's‘wedding from silk - a Kanjeevaram which he can never afford in his lifetime and how he finds the means to this end. His broader visions – the rights of his community of weavers to better pay and conditions makes him a man of stature and how his ideals grow and bend are party of the story.

His sensitivity – when he sees his daughter crying; he doesn’t look at her directly or take her in his arms. But in the Indian way, stands apart and tries to address her problem. It seems more authentic than the father in Abiyum Naanum. Or is this a generation apart?