Neeya Naana

Hi All,

Welcome back.

Its been quite a non happening week so far. Except for the festival of Ugadhi and the furlough that I have planned for the next week, there isn’t much of excitement. So, when there is nothing exciting to do, you take it up to TV. During the days of Doordharshan’s monopoly, there were a variety of programs. Nowadays, we have too many channels, but the programs seem to be the same in all. There is plethora of reality shows and talk shows these days, but my choices are limited. One such show I prefer to watch is “Neeya Naana”.

Talk shows on tv’s are like ‘letters to the editor’ column in newspapers, containing different opinions and judgments. More importantly, those are only the editor’s choice all the time. In this case, it’s the director's cut. Many a times I play the devil and its advocate during the post show discussion in my home. Since most of you (If you are tamil speaking and tamilnadu resident) have seen the show, I don’t think I need to explain the rules. Just in case you don’t know them, here they are. Two teams, one usually a bunch of stupid men and on the other side, their wife or girlfriend. Towards the end of the show you will find some ‘contract experts’ voicing their opinion. Often you can see Dr. Shalini, Charu Niveditha, Gnani, Manushaputhran and Su.Ba.Vi as experts and their opinions are preset. Women are right always; even if they are adverse. I guess these opinions are also the ‘director’s cut’. These expert guys are like “upma” in hotels. You will find them every time when there is nothing else to serve.

This men-basher show aired yesterday (25-03-2012) was no different from their previous shows. Thank God, this time we had two other feminists from the world of cinema as guests. Should I say more? I wonder how the host of the show Gopinath claims it be unbiased when all of them are one sided. A particular comment from a lady surprised me that her husband doesn’t give her the proper respect just because she is a ‘housewife’. The husband had just complained about her untidy behavior at home. He was made to eat up his words. Poor guy, he just forgot that this is “Neeya Naana”.

“Neeya Naana” supports women unconditionally. Even if the matters are purely family affairs or the business which is none of theirs. Why? Their think tank believes that it participates in the enlightenment of women rights and independence. But, they had forgotten a fact that by barking down and incriminating men of their attitude and upbringing doesn’t elevate the women status at all. Rather, it creates unharmonious situation across places where men and women needs to be united. There is a social responsibility that this show must adhere to. Time and again it should introspect its content with that responsibility, since it is widely watched. I hope that this show develops maturity in addressing such issues in the future.

Incase Gopi you are listening, please put up a really good show, the TRP number wont countdown.

With Love

Anand. R

To all CopyCats with Love

Yesterday, I was having coffee during one of my breaks; I had few of my friends joining me. They were talking something already, and the topic was of course Movies. So sad, we have nothing else to talk these days. This time about the latest movie “Agent Vinod”. One of them was saying that a song in the movie was copied from an Iranian band. The other friend was opposing the “copying” act but said it could be an inspiration or purely a coincidence. I was not sure, what they were talking about as I do not have an appetite for watching Bollywood movies these days. Not wanting to feel left out, I joined the party. The discussion swayed over several subjects bordering the title "Duplication Vs Inspiration".

This topic we discussed is not new to us; we had discussed this sometime back also. I was saying the original ideas for the present day cinema ceased to exist, particularly with bollywood movies. They have gone the western way totally. Not just in bollywood movies, the most of the Indian cinema is obsessed with the American or the European style of making and feel it as original. It’s a plague. It’s a disease. Yes, the technology of cinema is not Indian please take it from them, but should you not have your own stories and screenplays at-least? Violin is a western musical instrument, that doesn't mean that one shouldn’t play an Annamayya or Thayagaraja in it. If you take a leaf out of something and create a subject for a movie out if it, that’s inspiration. However, you take several leaves from several movies and make one; it’s too far from being considered inspirational and definitely not original.

Few years back, I remember Mr Narayana Murthy, saying that we lack "original thinkers" in an interview for The Hindu. How true that is!! Its understood that being original and at the same time creative is extremely difficult. Even the olden day movies like “Maya bazaar” and “Pathala Bhairavi” are the stories from the Indian folklore. But their presentation content is totally original. This is where Maniratham stands apart from the other directors. Most of his movies are an inspiration, not completely original. Nowadays, the so called Indian creators or directors don’t even care about such things. They don’t want to look into our life system. They wanted only gain without pain. They leave our very own folklore to die. With theater plays not attracting crowd nowadays, these movie makers have a moral responsibility to save it. But these guys are busy elsewhere. I don’t have to watch Agent Vinod when Tomorrow never dies comes up time and again in HBO. I don’t want a 'bond' or even a 'bond like' Indian movie.

To all creators who are copycats, Eat pizzas in India, but try to sell masala dosa or an Aloo parata to an Italian not an Indian Pizza.

Welcome

Hi All,

This is my first intentional serious experience with the blog site. I find this as an opportunity for me to express my opinions and thoughts. Moving forward, one can expect my opinions about anything I feel I should comment. I intend to write at-least one article per week. I may be right or wrong, you don't have to care. I don't write to enlighten people. I don't write to change the society. This is not a bashing site on certain belief system or something. I don't write to gain attention or popularity. I dont write to earn money through this. I am writing just for the sake and fun of writing. I am interested in photography, I may include some of my pics in my future blogs. Please dont copy them if you like it. The opinions expressed (or going to express) here can hurt some. If you feel hurt I am sorry, as it is not intended to hurt you. But my opinions stays!!!

Thanks a lot.

Anand R