Welcome My Dear World…!!!

This blog is just an endeavor to pen and share some episodes of my life and some waves of thoughts that hit me. Please don’t mistake that you can study me as a whole in here. I’m sorry, for I too have many things to be kept reserved either within my family schema or within my psyche. But whatever that have been scribbled in this sunless sky is true. I promise.

All the inhabitants of Mother Earth are free to view this blog and post their critics, observations and suggestions.

Here mentations are drifting into a sunless sky...and I named it “Aphorisms”….Keep reading…

--Varun



Monday, July 31, 2017

30 years of Thoovanathumbikal



Thoovanathumbikal... Released on 31st July 1987.


30 years have gone by, but still, when it comes to the most discussed Malayalam movie, I think, Thoovanathumbikal would stand tall at the numero uno position.

For me, Thoovanathumbikal unfolds a new meaning every other time I watch it. It takes quite a talent to explore a plot with some complicated characters. Of course! It’s a Padmarajan cult after all. So there’s absolutely nothing to wonder about. Every frame in his movies are so detailed that each of them can be expanded to a separate individual movie. Also, another notable fact is that each character in Thoovanathumbikal, regardless of the screen time, be it Thangal – the pimp, Ravunni – the neighbour, Davidettan – the bartender, the drunken person at the bar or Jayakrishnan’s friends possess a character that makes them deeply etched in the viewer's psyche. Above all, what makes this movie dearer to me is the backdrop of my Thrissur town.

Jayakrishnan is till date my favourite character ever portrayed by Mohanlal. Jayakrishnan’s principles, determination, sincerity, simplicity, social life, friendships, love life are so imitable. And the way Jayakrishnan’s past was narrated, by the stories Thangal and Radha’s brother explains at different stages of the film was quite impressive. Without a slo-mo, punch dialogues or a heavy metal BGM, Mr. Jayakrishnan Mannarthody was capable of inspiring many men for three long decades.

Now, in the movie as Jayakrishnan towers, Clara makes an entry with a rain and Johnson Master's masterpiece BGM; a combination that was never experienced in movies before or after Thoovanathumbikal. Clara is arguably one of the boldest, beautiful and complex portrayals of women that you ever find in Malayalam cinema. She is strong willed and free spirited. She escapes from the clutches of a useless parental relationship by getting into prostitution and later on gets married to a widower, only to help Jayakrishnan. Now, such a character could typically be a sob story woman, with a strong element of pathos and sympathy underlying her character. However, Padmarajan creates a Clara with whom you develop a sense of bonding, someone without stereotypical negative or depressive shades. Sumalatha immortalizes the character of Clara.

The romance, complexity of the characters, the aura in Padmarajan’s script and the fabulous music keeps me glued to the movie for a long time even after it ends. A special mention must also be given to the excellent BGM by Johnson. The music has a character of its own and it creates a tension that is present throughout the movie. The same with the songs composed by Perumbavoor G Ravidranath, written by Sreekumaran Thampi. “Onnaam Raagam Paadi..” is the first song that I would wait to be played on the radio when I was a kid of 3 or 4 years. And it is still my favourite. Mention of Vadakkumnadhan in the lyrics is also a tiny reason that holds this song so close to me.

An article about Thoovanathumbikal cannot go without mentioning about the most beautiful of all inconveniences – Rain. I have met people who really believe Rain became more romantic after Thoovanathumbikal. Sure in many episodes, the rain added more depth to the scenes. Story telling brilliance, again!

All these attributes come together to make Thoovanathumbikal a movie par excellence, which has withstood the passage of time and still weaves a magic among the viewers of Malayalam cinema.

Apart from all what’s told above, Thoovanathumbikal was quite a firm and big reason, capable enough to turn the 2-year-old me to a mighty Mohanlal fan and celebrate myself as a Thrissurkaran.

Some creations are never outdated. They are called masterpieces...
       
Thoovanathumbikal..."Butterflies of the spraying rain"...

Friday, July 28, 2017

Guys, Art was more important than Religion!

Late night yesterday, I had this thought coming up in my thoughts. There were many scattered ideas, which I felt decorated my core idea really well. Here is how it came. It again, yet another mad thought.

How Wonderful a world had this been if our Ancients preached Art than Religion!
I see myself as a very good admirer of Art. Be it any form, language or any other classification. I have seen people thinking deeply and more importantly, I have observed people thinking relevantly even in a painting or a novel. He can also be someone who was influenced by life and pass through a mighty transition stage after which there is a crowd that is influenced by this work. Paulo Coelho’s “The Alchemist” is such a beautiful example for this.
I recollect a line that I read long back, “An artist is a person who has God’s signature on the walls of his heart”. True it is. But it is also sad the way Art is suppressed in our societies. Or on a more micro assessment, we can see that suppression beginning right from our homes just for this one reason that Art is not the major portion of our curriculum. I still am not able to figure out what disqualifies Art from being considered a main stream in the school curriculum. It is a skill that needs to be nurtured and mended in the right way.
We can see suppressed artist in the form of graffiti, bathroom singers. There are more poems, songs, and stories that die just after birth as manuscripts. Even more are the number of arts that die in the womb of the artist’s psyche. There is an infinite number of art form sealed in unknown minds those are ready to explode when given a stage.
Let’s spread Art. Let people learn to admire the way someone else’s creation. That is a good way to reinstate the long lost mentality of our world to ‘accept’ other’s ideas. I often think that Art is that only one reason God has to justify his creation of mankind. Or in other words, Art is the only harmless innovation the entire human race has offered to Mother Nature.
Instead, we have religion. I still wonder how can any religion that is known to just a handful of “the Godmen” be generalized to all. This is emotional slavery. Those who follow first blind themselves, so there is no risk of a Q&A session. Sometimes I feel Religion is another politics among God’s ‘people’. This is dangerous. We have a very pathetic situation that awaits for our children and grandchildren. We are going to leave the world in a very bad shape than how we got it from our ancestors and we had no right for doing that.
We got it wrong and we made it even worse.
Yes! I repeat!
Art was more important than Religion!