It’s interesting to read how Writer Sujatha relates Edward Lorenz’s Chaos Theory to Anniyan’s premise. Here’s a small example to Chaos Theory known as Butterfly Effect, huge volumes of literature is available on the net. This is the same as what Sujatha’s points out in his column.

The flapping of a single butterfly’s wing today produces a tiny change in the state of the atmosphere. Over a period of time, what the atmosphere actually does diverges from what it would have done. So, in a month’s time, a tornado that would have devastated the Indonesian coast doesn’t happen. Or maybe one that wasn’t going to happen, does. (Ian Stewart, Does God Play Dice? The Mathematics of Chaos, pg. 141). As given above, the chaos theory is also known as sensitive dependence on initial conditions. This small change in the initial conditions might/can lead to a drastic difference in the final outcome.

Sujatha gives a relatable example in Katrathum Petrathum and establishes the base fact of Chaos Theory. He also says the premise of Shankar’s Anniyan is based on this Chaos Theory and it says that such very minute carelessness also should never occur. There you go. That triggers my curiosity even more in Anniyan. Should it be probably because of this Chaos Theory, Anniyan is insured for 29 crores, trying to avoid even the smallest mishap in the box-office.

[Pic : akkthefilm.com]

This is a long biased post. I have unbiased reasons to write it. Aayitha Ezhuthu which scores a century with today, has been one of the most expected movies of this summer.

It’s unfortunate that since Aayitha Ezhuthu’s release, it hasn’t created any kind of serious criticisms or analysis. Seems like both the media and the public have ignored completely it by not having an opinion on it. Forget creating waves of criticism it hasn’t even created ripples at all. A fact that was even true for Mani Ratnam’s Iruvar. With Iruvar’s release there was a political cloud and that might have kept the public away from the theatre. But Aayitha Ezhuthu, though politically inclined, has also had elements of Mani Ratnam’s commercial brilliance. We aren’t talking about the usual cinema review of the media. It is about an analysis on the social, political impact that they movie represents and above all the spectrum of today’s youth it portrays.

Movies like Virumandi, Kannathil Muthamittal have been seriously argued even in the most commercial magazines. Aayitha Ezhuthu, I personally feel, has been shunned completely except just one or two magazines which analyzed it. Now, if you might feel why should a movie be analyzed or discussed seriously. Aayitha Ezhuthu represents a cross-section of the society. It doesn’t advocate or preach a theory, rather, subtly wishes political awareness among the progressive youth. The movie has been experimented in a form that’s tough for a normal cine-goer to grasp. But it is the media that should have encouraged the movie and should have given it five stars for the excellence in cinema that it brought along. While all this is an earnest longing to happen for any good film, here are my silly/serious/semi-serious reasons in Aayitha Ezhuthu to get five stars.

These are some sparks of brilliance, though silly they may sound, they carry forward Aayitha Ezhuthu and it’s theme. As they say, a film is all about teamwork. These five stars are named straight to the particular person who excelled though they are actually awarded to Mani Ratnam and his complete crew of Aayitha Ezhuthu.

Sujatha / Mani Ratnam
- Maddy cribbing to Sriman in the truck, Oru 50 milli sarayathukkaga saaraya kadayaye vaanga kudathu.
- Enna Autographa, Madhavan responding to the policeman while he signs the release register in prison.
- Vote for Inba Sekhar. The shot that subtly/obviously hints Inba Sekhar’s desire for power.
- Surya holding DNA responsible for even a headache.
- That amazing conversation of Bharathiraja - Surya in the university when b’raja tries to brainstorm Surya to rush away out of politics. Surya respoinding - Neenga mattum evalavu naal kashtapaduveenga, Naangalum varom.
- Glimpses of Michael Vasant’s genius in prison where he conveys universe isn’t made of infinetly dense matter. Though this is just a hint, it conveys the genius in him, helping the movie to move ahead. It’s a make-believe to make Surya’s character seen as a hipster. Yet another similar shot where he quickly talks about hormones and showing his disbelief towards the institution of marriage.
- Sidharth’s flirt dialogue with Trisha in the Coffee day. One of the most revealing dialogues of the SMS cultured modern day yuppie youth. Sidharth : Naappathi Rendra, Trisha : Ah !! Yaar Andha Arrai, Sidharth : Neenga Thaan, Trisha - Thoda and the following dialogue as to how Sidharth wants to make his life thereon.
- Sidharath saying Indha Pakkam Oru Vellakaari, Andha Pakkam Oru Karuppi, Naduvula Nala Venba Project. This is one is straight from Sujatha. It is his cute way of unleasing the mindset of the character.
- Surya talking amidst students in his house, Naama Poi Software ezhuthuvom, Coco-Cola vippom, aana inga endha poruppum eduthukka mattom, iIla.
- The amazing one-liner Surya tells the TV correspondent, Century Adikanumna Kooda Singlela irundhu thaan aarambikanum.
- Surya banging Madhavan’s head on the Napier Bridge, and telling him, Nee enga ethiri illa. Un Azhukku Arasiyal. Atha Naanga Maathaporom. Showing the clarity of Michael Vasant’s thinking which eliminates the sub-causes and going in for to rectify the root cause of the issue.

A R Rahman / Vairamuthu
- The theme of Aayitha Ezhuthu, though not a part of the album. That music that starts with a single bang and continues as a harmony.
- That fabulous techno music background during titles along with the sounds of buses and cars moving around
- The nice bit song, Nee Mazhai, when Sidharth and Trisha travel in pallavan bus, a variant of Hey Goodbye Nanba
- Fanah. Completely classy. Great contribution of Vairamuthu.
- Aayiram Elainargal Thunindhu Vittal, Aayutham ethuvum thevai illai. Lyrics by Vairamuthu.
- Nicely orchestrated Hey Goodbye Nanba, especially the jazz piano slowly playing at the back
- A classy re-recording throughout the movie, not to mention the final climax and techno feel music at the back, similar to the titles.

Mani Ratnam
- For the characterization of Surya as a progressive youth. Unaffected towards his goals by the elements that hinder. Even in the final scenes he carries himself while his friends dupe that they have lost in the elections.
- The characterization of Madhvan. Fabulously observed from the streets of chennai.
- The amazing sketch of modern day yuppies, the easy accessibility and the kind of escapist attitudes thats prevalent among them.
- The distinction he chose to make in the final scenes when a chudhidhar and a couple of jeans walk into the assembly.
- Surya, not uttering even a single word and just quietly, slowly pushing bharathiraja away and making his walk into the assembly, telling that he is unaffected. One shot for the entire movie that talks.
- For the amazing format, the movie was taken.

Team
- Surya for getting into the skin of Michael Vasant. That very derisive smile he does to Bharathiraja when they meet.
- Madhavan’s hysterical dance for Dol Dol song in the boat.
- Trisha mimicking to her friends about Sidharth when he calls.
- Sidharth and Trish for the very cute Wow…..wow.. long interlude in Hey Goodbye Nanba.
- The incredible co-ordination of everyone for Hey Goodbye Nanba.
- The well done climax scenes on Napier Bridge. Superb re-recording, editing, amazing steady cam shots and every other thing done to those shots.

These are just the positives of Aayitha Ezhuthu. The list of minuses are comfortably forgotten to meet the idea of the post. And if any of these points, provoke you in some way to like or dislike the movie, or even if it prompts you to watch the movie, the idea of the post is met. As Surya says in the movie, Century Adikanumna Kooda Singlela irundhu thaan aarambikanum. Aayitha Ezhuthu’s century today is one of such a single run towards good cinema. Yep, Aayitha Ezhuthu One (in a) hundred. Three Cheers, Aayitha Ezhuthu.

First title-less post after all hack to change URLs to be usable/hierarchical/understandable. Mark Pilgrim’s post on Cruft-free URLs in Movable Type was of biggest help. And the most lovable MTIfEmpty plugin of Brad Chaote (as mark mentions it, himself) did the job for me.

For all those who think, why am I bragging about so much for a title-less post, Movable Type loves titles for every blog posts. I don’t buy that argument, sometimes. I would love to title each of the posts but a title-less post at times, helps to start-off without disclosing what the post is all about.

Have a great weekend anyway.

Guest Blog #33 - Anand C

As if being nothing short of a god for a billion people wasn’t enough, AR Rahman’s Warriors of Heaven and Earth is a solid introduction of ARR to the Chinese people (and mainstream western movie audiences)!

The excellent lyrics of Mehboob (who has many a time been in the shadows of Vairamuthu while composing Rahman’s lyrics in Hindi) and BlaaZe for hindi and english versions of Warriors of Peace can’t be missed. The soulful rendering and theme (in Hindi by Sadhana Sargam and English by Sunitha Sarathy) reminds one of “Tu Jahan Jahan Chalega…mera saaya saath hoga…” of yesteryears by Lata Mangeshkar.

The mysticism around the pieces makes one wonder when a Quentin Tarantino will pick up Rahman’s soulful and east-inspired pieces as background for a Kill Bill like martial arts scene…

Sivamani is back with two excellent solo percussion pieces, including one war-march. He is a percussion lover’s delight!

I can’t wait for an occasion to see him perform the pieces live!

Give it to Shankar Mahadevan and sleep tight. He is enough to carry the song through with his unique voice. Vidyasagar, having mastered the art of tuning for commercial movies, has done a neat job for Madura. This song Machaan Peru Madura is already on the charts and is selling the movie for itself. This also being a kolla kuthu song, has definitive shades of Pothuvaaga Enn Manasu Thangam from Rajini’s Murattukaalai. Vidyasagar has been consistent since Dhool for such folk oriented ghaana songs.

This Vijay’s latest flick, Madura, has created huge expectations because of his former hit Gilli. Gilli curently running at 130 days, is one of the biggest grossers of this year. Kamalhassan remarked in an interview that before all his experimental movies, he had more than 80-90 films which were just masala and usual love, sentiment stuff. Vijay might be also be buying this advice from Kamal, refuses to take risk with experimental stuff.

Opening today in theatres, Madura’s box-office success is yet to be decided. But with more than 200 prints, this movie is set to a massive opening in the box-office. I personally believe even acting in a similar commercial stuff is experimental stuff. You can never judge the kollywood audience. Everyone thesedays are aware of the masala formula. But only people like Dharani have got the knot of the formula. So should we say even Vijay is taking a huge risk.

Taking about commercial stuff and box office success, Vikram/Shankar’s Anniyan has been insured for 29 crores with United India Insurance. Set to release on the pongal 2005, according to this sify report, I am sure that Anniyan would fill the void Shankar’s absence in the box-office after Mudhalvan.

[Pic: imdb.com]

Manoj Night Shyamalan’s Village isn’t still out in Chennai. But the promos have already started. Last week, Star Movies featured two nights of Night’s movies. The first one was his not-so-hit movie, Unbreakable. Unbreakable is unmistakably one of unnoticed Shyamalan’s movie that had an amazing surprise twist. Even Signs didn’t have a surprise twist on par with Unbreakable. Forget Sixth Sense, it’s a movie par excellence. Unbreakable is also one of my favorite movies, all time.

Most of us believed in comic heroes, at least during our childhood. And so a kid also believes in comic heroes. What if his father itself is a real life comic hero? What if the comic hero himself takes time/effort to believe that he is one? What if life leads a man to a secret labyrinth after an accident? So goes the premise of Unbreakable. Being a comic addict, I just loved the idea of the movie made on a comic hero.

Bruce Willis as David Dunn amused me with his startling performance. We have seen Willis perform as an action hero but here he is an action hero without knowing he is. And so his subdued performance lightens up his capabilities as an actor. Samuel Jackson as Elijah Price, who is a physically frail comic book fanatic, creates ripples in us. The last time I enjoyed this duo was in the third serving of Die Hard called Die Hard: With a Vengeance. Remember Jeremy Irons saying ‘Simon Says’ in that mesmerizing voice.

Though many were disappointed by Shyamalan for Unbreakable after a movie like Sixth Sense, he proves his story telling ability once again. With two people who are connected to each other by their extremities, Shyamalan weaves a web of beliefs, comic books, super heroes and so so.

Samuel Jackson’s characterization as MR. Glass inspired me a lot. A true believer in himself, an optimist, a man despite his physical illness gets out finding a man who is directly opposite to him physically. No one, No one except Samuel Jackson would have done this role such perfectly. Let me know if you didn’t love that character when he shouts in agony, They call me MR. Glass. Riveting performance. And as he extends his hands to Bruce Willis in the final scenes, I never expected IT to happen.

I watched the movie a couple of years back in the DVD, I couldn’t believe the surprise twist in the ending and re-played the final scenes again. It’s easy to create a mystery from the beginning of the movie and keep it alive but what’s important is to unleash it by fulfilling the expectation bestowed on the mystery. Shyamalan did it convincingly.

I hope his latest offering The Village, keeps up to the same expectation that we have on this Indian storyteller.

Writer Sujatha’s blog(thanks to desikan for that trivia), Katrathum Petrathum, in Ananda Vikatan is up for it’s third serving, two weeks back.

For those who have read Sujatha’s previous two series of Katrathum Petrathum, would know what to expect. So expectedly in the current issue, he blogs about the concept of blogging and compares it to the handwritten magazines, which was a concept in yester years. He say it is for that fifteen minute fame, bloggers all over, write and wait.

While talking about writing for the web, he says it is the frozen permanency that makes web an amazing medium for writing. So whatever written now, can also be searched and read by any single man even after 50 years and it’s that longevity of writing that makes the web a viable medium for writing to prosper.

That’s from the horse’s mouth. Read more of Katrathum Petrathum.

On another note, Google’s Gmail is giving out it’s next set of invites. This time it’s just 4 invites for a set unlike the 6 invites last time. I have a couple of them and also a couple of reservations done for them too. But if you need one, leave a note and I will give it as I get it.

Guest Blog #32 - Anand C

The piece, “What should you do if you are #2?” which I got to from Marketing Playbook, got me thinking…

As Laura Ries says in this post, Avis is one of the most memorable #2 campaigns (some other examples are also listed), focussing on why they are different from Hertz. This ad, created by Bill Bernbach is indicative of the theme of the campaign that converts disadvantages to advantages:

Of course, positioning runs deep in Laura’s blood. Her father, Al Ries (literally) wrote the book on “Positioning”, in addition to several follow up (and not as interesting) books.

Her post has a lot of lessons for the harris jeyarajes, the bharardwajes, vidyasagars and Raja family’s second generation (and the other umpteen upcoming tune-makers). Instead of trying to be AR Rahman clones (the undisputable #1) that seems to be the way to go, it makes a lot of sense to differentiate from the #1 as much as possible - like focus more on melody and less on percussion, put out pieces inspired by village and folk music, more lyrics-inspired music, more situational tunes, etc.

In a way, this is a painfully long restatement of Guru’s simple plea earlier… there is no strong #2, and there seems to be scope for an Avis.

Guest Blog #31 - Anand C

I’ve been getting into several conversations about why I blog… in an attempt to try and answer that question, here’s a compilation of the things I’ve been intrigued by, as represented by past blogs:

Co-Blogs with LazyGeek: (World Themes for Indian Cinema)

1. The Man Who Saw Infinity - on Math Genius Srinivasa Ramanujan
2. ‘EYE’ THINK, THEREFORE ‘EYE’ AM - on Dr.V (Arvind Eye Hospital)
3. The Man in the Mirror - first attempt at verse.
4. Art for Art’s Sake - on dance and the arts.
5. LAUGHTER, THE BEST MEDICNE (Nightly Dose) - on NBC’s Jay Leno
6. Coming Soon…
7. ???
8. ???

The Lonewolf blogs:

1. Vairamuthu’s magAKK! - what kicked it all off!
2. Satrangi…Only You… now Fanah! - on ARR’s magic!
3. Social Influence in Media - Art or Science? - Influence is one of my favorite non-fiction books.
4. Funda on Fanah - Ripples thought this was interesting!
5. Footprints… - Bengali poetry in Hey,Ram translated into English.
6. Thillana’s Mann Vaasam - blogging about a concert.
7. Happy Birthday, Mr.Feynman! - learned he is Kingsley’s idol.
8. Reflections on Mani Ratnam’s Aayitha Ezhuthu
9. What makes NEWS? - rant!
10. Mani Ratnam and the “relative grading” syndrome!
11. On Coincidence… - 5 movies that impress upon the theme.
12. Week in Review - Once upon a time… - remembering a old teacher.
13. Mr. India, redux?
14. Goodbye, blue skies? - on space travel
15. The road to Nirvana… - wondering why Kurt Cobain died young!
16. Aayitha Ezhuthu titles - an easter egg? - thanks, Pradeep!
17. Fahrenheit 9/11, Control Room and the rise of a new genre? - Mitochondria didn’t think so!
18. An ode to 90 school children… - Kumbakonam fire tragedy.
19. Joy of getting something unexpected… - On hearing Matt Damon, watching Catch-22.
20. Glass-bangles Vinayaka (OR) Beauty is skin deep? - on R Parthiban
21. A tale of two Flip-flops
22. HmmM… Night?
23. David VS Goliath and the spirit of August 15th - on independent shops VS 800 pound corporations.
24. You may say I’m a dreamer! - titled after John Lennon’s lyrics from ‘Imagine’.

Looking at the topics above, I think I blog for the experiences it brings… for the interesting new people it introduces me to…for the freedom to think about the things I like.

Thoughts?

Guest Blog #30 - Anand C

We’ve all heard the “graduation speech” bit in most schools about the need for the young to dream. But it’s interesting to see Ms. Marilee Jones, the Dean of Admissions at MIT, integrate “day-dreaming” more of a criteria in the application process. More importantly, kudos to her for coming out and telling the public about it.

This response from her captures the essence of the problem with conventional admission systems:

Baby boomers have such high expectations for themselves and for their kids. The parents think kids have to have music lessons. They’re expected to play two or three sports. They’re expected to belong to certain clubs. They’re expected to do community service. Each one of those activities is headed up by an adult, who expects a lot from those kids.

About three years ago, I asked a group of students: “What do you daydream about?” And one kid said to me: “We don’t daydream. There’s no reward for it, so we don’t do it.” Boy, that hit me right between the eyes.

We tend to make our lives appear planned, smooth and thought-through on any college application, because “sat next to the window and dreamed about doing good for my hometown” or “read every spy novel in my library for no good reason” does not get any points or consideration in an admission process - until now. By giving kids the ability to be flexible and by giving the admissions process the flexibility to take in these flexible kids, MIT is sending out the impression that it’s OK to not be perfect and still succeed.

This new system (50 out of 1,665 would not have made the cut otherwise), is definitely a first step in the right direction.

Maybe we will discover the Ramanujans when they are young if our school systems thought about a similiar system of admission…