Naanga laam ipdi thaan :)

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The movie title had me fooled. I had absolutely no idea I was in for a riot of a movie when my mates suggested I watch it with them. And I wanted to indulge them, anyway(If I go the same way, my brother Ravi fears I am Mother Teresa in the making -- he thinks I am too compassionate toward other's needs. Thanks Ravi)-- It is a whole lot satisfying when others around you are happy, and you contribute to the warm setup. And then it started. How long have I been waiting for someone to make a movie like this! I was totally, entirely, unequivocally unprepared for its impact.. and benumbed! Cinema at its terrific crest-- what do you get when you have a bunch of kids that constitute the protagonist and the villains? It is so raw and honest! The frames come and go and you realize the kids and their impressions, their influences, models, and idols. It is so laugh-out-loudish and brutally, brutally honest.

Here's to the Pasanga! Having slipped into the multiplexes without so much of a paal-abhishekam("Sivaji" in New York, anyone?) or the handicap of plain, plain hype-cum-publicity and then resulting in nothing, NO structured screenplay and disconnection(The TEN forgettable avatars of Kamal Haasan), this had me gasping for breath. This should be made compulsory viewing for everyone in TamilNadu(sorry, outside TamilNadu, unglukku enga Tamil humor, mannerisms laam puriyadhu, odi poidungo). This is so darned wild and original. Here, at last, is some flick that does not boast of skin or stupid dumb heroines running round trees or aged heroes seducing(!) the willing-to-be-seduced crowd.. or insufferable comedians trying to talk themselves out, exhausting us to the very end.. Or stunt sequences.. or sheer fantasy.. (Manmathan, anyone? The very scene where he flies up and down the building, singing about his love had us stuffing our hankies in our mouths to keep from laughing) or never-ending songs.. (foreign locales, seriously!) Seriously, sometimes entertainment produced for the aam-admi is consumed by the aamir with endless apetites. And even if, if, the B- and C-sectors lap up the show like there's nothing to beat the lure of show-business. When reeltime heroes turn real-time ones, you can safely say there are better people to emulate. Even then, some roles do deserve credit and appeal to the thinking man-- Mudhalvan was a good enough choice, as it was something new to all of us when it struck. So was Anbe Sivam. But crowds want RajniKanth who twirls his chair three times before going on another dialogue(In times of disaster, Rajini is the master, haa--haa-haaa!) (Don't cry, it's okay) or non-veggie jokes(I really cannot understand how that is ALL they want). Pasanga is so close to my heart. Watch it!

Strange. It takes kids to penetrate the facade and show us who we really are. All those filmmakers who win awards(Sethu? and Paruthi Veeran!) and parade as geniuses for making gory, derivative movies that pretend to tell the asli story, should use "Pasanga" as a reference point.... an education. "Pokkiri", "Dashavtaram" enga, "Pasanga" enge? Thats not even close. Technically, we're already there. Please sign up to be director Shankar's Assistant Director and you've got it sorted :P But that's where it ends. Our scripts and stories are paavam and pathetic. And yeah, guess what? Most ideas are 'borrowed'(Pachaikili Muthucharam? Jay! Jay!? And yes, Virumaandi was inspired by Akiro Kurosawa's Rashomon. There's more) Which is why none of the present lot of top bracket filmmakers in India cannot ever aspire to get anywhere close to Slumdog. And the Oscars. Like Oscars is a big deal. Now that would be something to argue. But that's another issue. Another day. Good day :D