Emma and Dex in One Day |
Mar 9, 2024
Mar 3, 2024
- 3/03/2024 11:21:00 PM
- 0 Comments
Feb 16, 2024
- 2/16/2024 09:06:00 PM
- 0 Comments
Twenty years ago in 2004 was my first summer with Leonard Cohen. I discovered him for the first time during those days of midnight sun in Alaska. He played while I was on the road in my red Chevy S10, and his baritone ‘golden’ voice sang about sixties girls like Marianne and Suzanne while I was at home.
a young Leonard Cohen, writing poems in his bathtub |
While romance was/is
not exactly my cuppa, there was some kind of philosophical gravitas and
mysticism to this poet/writer turned-poet-singer, who climbed a whole mountain
side, to wash his eyelids in the rain (ref. So long, Marianne), while he
was singing about his lady loves.
Over
the years in addition to dipping into the deep well of Cohen’s soulful lyrics
delivered in his slow drag voice, I have had the opportunity to watch some
Leonard Cohen documentaries too. The first one “Ladies and Gentlemen… Mr. Leonard Cohen: An Intimate Look into a Poet's Life (1965)” showcasing Cohen as a
young poet is (IMHO) better than Netflix’s 1922 documentary “Hallelujah:Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song” taking its title from Cohen’s famous song of
the same name. To me, Cohen is more that Hallelujah which has been done to
dust, with so many covers.
Fata Morgana(1971),
Werner Hertzog’s art-house psychedelic film features Cohen songs like Suzanne,
Avalanche against the stark sands of Sahara desert.
I leave you with one of his best lyrics, from his poem/song Anthem - “Ring the bells that still can ring/Forget your perfect offering/There is a crack in everything/That’s how the light gets in”
Feb 11, 2024
- 2/11/2024 10:58:00 PM
- 0 Comments
I met many Greek Gods for the first time last week. Thank you, Circe and Madeline Miller. I did not reach this far in life without hearing about Achilles' heel or Midas's touch or Herculean effort or Pandora's box, but they were just that - phrases, bearing the stamp of western civilization's greatest mythology, which was a gift from the Greeks. We all know what they say about Greeks bearing gifts.
This is the first book of fiction I have read in a long while and relished, even though it is very close to the genre of fantasy fiction I absolutely abhor. I am humbled once again by the realization that there are no absolutes, everything is relative.There are authors who are masters of retelling the classics. Madeline Miller is one of them. In Circe, she recasts the most infamous female character from Homer's The Odyssey and makes her a free woman, thinker, the maker of her own destiny and the world's first witch. Circe, opens with the sentence, "When I was born, the name for what I was did not exist." Which was witch.
Through Circe's magical life journey clueless readers like me get a crash course in who is who of Greek mythology. If I still don't get it, my son has recommended Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, although I don't think I will need it. Madeline Miller is an extraordinary story-teller, her prose is lush and breathtaking. Circe is a beautifully written novel, where you as the reader gets a front row seat to watch the parade of gods and most of them are as human - fallible, vain and unique as we are.
Feb 3, 2024
- 2/03/2024 09:05:00 PM
- 0 Comments
We follow Alice, a single mother with a penchant for co-dependency and her precocious 12 year old son Tommy, in search of a place in the sun and a living wage, with their ultimate destination set as Monterey, CA. This movie's female-centric story and its mature treatment of the theme was something I had not have expected from Scorsese with his later movies like Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and Gangs of New York which are all very masculine. In fact when you think about it Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore is an odd-one in Scorsese's filmography stretching to his most recent one - Killers of the Flower Moon.
Dec 30, 2023
- 12/30/2023 05:06:00 PM
- 0 Comments
----------------------------------- NETFLIX SHOWS ---------------------------------------
Bodies turns detective work into a time-traveling comedy, where four sleuths from different time periods in London team up to solve the ultimate whodunit. It satisfies my time traveling craving for the season.
The Fall of the House of Usher : The series is a wild, haunted romp that turns Poe's classic tale into a dysfunctional sitcom-meets-horror mashup. It's Netflix's way of turning horror into a comedy of errors, making Usher's fall a laugh-out-loud tumble into the absurdly supernatural.
Guns and Gulabs Season 1 is like a crazy curry of '90s nostalgia and gangster drama. The cast is doing their thing, living on their own terms, and you can't help but be part of the ride. Raj and DK deserve a shout-out for the killer screenplay.
Kohrra is not your typical murder mystery. With knock-out performances and a screenplay that packs a punch, it's like peeling back layers of a mystery onion. Punjab's not-so-pretty realities like drugs, forced NRI marriages, and a sprinkle of patriarchy drama form the background of the story. The characters are a hot mess in the best way, fighting personal battles while solving the big mystery.
Beef: Starting from a road rage incident which then leads off to a cascading series of escalating incidents, 'Beef' explores the human condition with a raw, relatable touch. It is a gripping drama about two people living parallel lives in different circumstances. Money, status, and mental health are key topics covered in this series with a unique Asian American cultural twist
MH370 The Plane That Disappeared: The series navigates the complexities surrounding the disappearance of Flight MH370, shedding light on the emotional toll on families, the relentless search efforts, and the lingering questions that resonate globally. It's a poignant blend of investigative journalism and human narratives and expertly steers clear of sensationalism to present a respectful examination of an enduring mystery.
Cunk on Earth: A mockumentary gem that simultaneously pokes fun at and revels in the absurdities of our historical narrative. The comedic timing is impeccable, and Cunk's deadpan delivery (Diane Morgan at her comedic best) makes even the most mundane historical tidbits downright hilarious.
-------------------------- AMAZON PRIME SHOWS -----------------------------------
Dahaad Season 1: Dahaad is a stellar crime thriller set in the heart of rural Rajasthan, India, exposing the deep-seated biases and injustices ingrained in the region's culture. Sonakshi Sinha shines as Anjali, a determined police officer challenging societal norms. It is based on a true story, the series keeps viewers on the edge, skillfully unveiling the twisted mind of a serial killer.
The Power Season 1 is a thought-provoking exploration of societal upheaval in a world where women command electric abilities. The writing strikes a balance between drama and the weighty implications of a world transformed. Strap in for a journey where the real shocks aren't just in the superpowers but in the societal currents they unleash. The show adeptly navigates the complexities of power dynamics, instigating a paradigm shift that is both electrifying and deeply reflective.
Dec 28, 2023
- 12/28/2023 11:01:00 PM
- 0 Comments
This is one of those customary end of the year lists. My 'book' reading habit is on life support so I thought it would be a short list I could easily convert into a quick post. I could put the blame of the slow demise of my book reading skills on aging, doom-scrolling internet forums where wisdom (debatable) is delivered through strangers' comments in 8.25 seconds or lesser, or my ADD. Or it could be because the same content delivered by books is now being delivered to the same dopamine centers of the brain the by streaming services?
All the books I read, I consider my best reading of the year. Otherwise I would not have made it to the end as there are more books I gave up in the first chapter or two than the total number of books I read this year.
Here are the four books I read this year and all of them are remarkable because they were able to keep my attention till the very last page. There is also a bonus book - a book you should not read, even if you maybe interested in trains like I am.
Deepti Naval's A Country Called Childhood : A memoir
Deepti Naval is one of my favorite actors and intellectuals of Indian cinema. A Country Called Childhood is my kind of memoir - it is not about trauma or addiction or tragedy or conquering adversity. It is about the actor's childhood in northern India, simple, and minimal yet resonant with images of the fifties and sixties India. This is how you should write about your childhood and this is how Indians writing in English should write in English.
Tony Joseph's Early Indians : The Story of Our Ancestors and Where We Came From
I have written a review of Early Indians here >> The journalist author Tony Joseph focuses on the group(s) that migrated out of Africa, in three different waves, at three different time periods and became the ancestors of all the people currently inhabiting the Indian sub-continent. It is an extremely interesting and easy to read book based on anthropological, archaeological findings till now and the explosion of DNA evidence and research papers published since 2015 based on these DNA findings.
Balachandran Chullikkad's Chidambara Smarana (Malayalam, memoir)
Balachandran Chullikkad's memoir Chidambara Smarana (pub. 01/2001) reads like a struggling young man's journal entries from 1980-90's India. The rest of my review here.
Andy Weir's Project Hail MaryThis is my first Andy Weir. Probably the last too. I was impressed by The Martian, the movie and thought I should give Project Hail Mary a try before it became a movie. Project Hail Mary is based on a good (not novel) concept with a Marvel-esque hero who is a modest middle school science teacher, written to succeed. This unassuming superhero of who wears his cape and underwear inside his spacesuit would have failed in real world without access to Youtube, Google Translate, Google Search, chatGPT and Wikipedia, but for the purposes of this book, all of these sites reside in his head.
The bonus book you should stay away from if you have a liking for Indian non fiction and a sweet spot for trains is The Great Indian Railways: A Cultural Biography by Arup K. Chatterjee. The author seems to have been too wrapped up in his own 'brilliant' command of English, which was too pedantic, stiff and graceless that I had to give it up after a few pages. Here is Chatterjee starting a paragraph talking about something. It has to be about trains as the book is about them. I think this paragraph may even have something to do with train dining cars.
"Second, it perpetuates the reification of labour. Accordingly labour forces of railroad history are meant to be usurped into a memory of personal aristocratic adventures. The motif of culinary details has a very subtle role in accentuating architecture, and those of architecture in establishing an enduring imperial monumentality."
What the heck was that?
This is the problem I have with many Indian writers who write in English. Their tone is pedantic and disconnected. Their prose is full of long winded sentences that lose their meaning on the way while the writers are busy showing off their mastery of Queen's English. They should all read Shashi Tharoor or Suketu Mehta or Deepti Naval. It could be their new year resolution.
Dec 26, 2023
- 12/26/2023 09:05:00 PM
- 0 Comments
Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha (transl. A Northern Ballad of Valor) is Malayalam literary giant M.T. Vasudevan Nair's retelling of a sub plot from Vadakkan Pattukal (transl. Northern Ballads), directed by Hariharan. Mammootty essays the role of Chandu Chekavar, a negative character in the ballads, who was given new life and a positive spin by the magic of M.T's pen. In 1989, this film (along with Mathilukal) brought Mammotty his first Bharath award - India's national award for the best male actor in a leading role. It also won the best screenplay award at the national level.
Mammootty as Chandu and Madhavi as Unniarcha in Oru Vadakkan Veeragadha (1989) |
Malayalam movies nor audience are big on historical dramas, unlike the rest of India or south India. It was an ambitious project for the eighties. Comparing the magnum opus-es of the present day like PS1 or Baahubali, the production design of this eighties movie is almost at the level of a school play. But the screenplay and dialog is beyond compare. The casting and the acting elevates the frames and takes your eyes away from the plastic bead necklaces and cardboard sets.
In addition to Mammootty, Madhavi and Suresh Gopi, Balan K. Nair, Captain Raju, Geetha, Rajalakshmi, V.K. Sreeraman, Sukumari and Sanjay Mitra play other important characters. The soundtrack had some memorable tracks that still maintains their irresistable charm, all these years later.
Madhavi as Unniarcha, Mammootty as Chandu Chekavar and Suresh Gopi as Aromal Chekavar |
While Mammootty's Chandu is one of the most unforgettable characters in Malayalam cinema ever, the hero, the villain and the creator of this landmark movie is M.T. Vasudevan Nair. M.T, the author is quite a maestro when it comes to giving under-represented mythical and historical characters their due, by offering the readers/audience a different and nuanced perspective of the character through his work. Before resurrecting and reshaping Chandu Chekavar's traitorous destiny half a millennia after the original ballads (which were based on true life stories of the warriors of north Malabar in the medieval era) were composed, M.T had successfully broken the ground for such character facelifts in his brilliant novel, Randamoozham in 1984.
Randamoozham (transl. The Second Turn) is his retelling of the world of Bhimasena, the second in line of the Pandava clan in Mahabharata who was always pushed to the sidelines by righteous first-born Yudhishtira and the brave and glamorous younger brother Arjuna. It is one of my favorite Malayalam novels ever.
After re-watching Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha as an adult, I realize Chandu's cinematic and literary makeover was at the cost of shifting the blame to other lead characters. Aaromal Chekavar and Unniarcha drew the short straw in M.T's version of the story. I don't remember any of this kind of passing-the-buck happening in Randamoozham?
Aromal, the original hero of the ballad becomes a one-dimensional guy much in contrast to the legendary multi-faceted hero that he was. Instead of urumis and swords he should have been using, under M.T's masterful character correction, he is left with just an axe (to grind, with Chandu.)
Unniarcha, the fabled warrior princess of Poothuram, is stricken by an acute case of men-writing-women in Malayalam. As the story takes place in the medieval times the focus is less on women's body parts and more on their fickle emotions like deceit, pretense and cunning. These universal characteristics of womenkind are embodied by Unniarcha in the movie and Chandu's dialogs to Archa (written by M.T) are used to rub it in at turning points in the movie to paint her as the fall guy (gal.)
Despite these persona revisions, Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha is a watershed movie for Malayalam movie industry. A native ballad, re-written for screen by one of the masterful talents of Malayalam literature, performed by some of the best actors in their prime against the backdrop of a spectacular soundtrack, no other historical or mythological costume drama has ever come close to it in terms of overall impact. In 1989 it was the longest running Malayalam movie in theaters ever, running for more than one year at Sangham theater, Kozhikode and the biggest blockbuster of the year.
Oct 8, 2023
- 10/08/2023 04:25:00 PM
- 0 Comments
Landed on Marty after Amazon Prime suggested I watch Marty next after watching Dead End. It was past midnight and Marty was only 90 minutes long and boasted 4 Oscars from 1955 including the best picture, best director and best actor. Why not? Marty it was, to top off the night.
Marty is the story of Marty Piletti, a mid thirties bachelor butcher, living with his Italian American mother in the Bronx of the fifties. Like mid-thirties bachelors the world-over Marty too is harangued by his mother to marry and bring a girl home as soon as he can. But it is not easy for Marty, played by Ernest Borgnine, he is no Humphrey Bogart at forty five charming the socks of a nineteen year old Lauren Bacall. Marty is a stocky 35-year old butcher who ends up standing on the sidelines at the local dance hall the entire night on any given Saturday.As luck would have it on one of those Saturdays he meets the female Marty. Betsy Blair (Gene Kelley's first wife) plays Clara who is a high school chemistry teacher, which I believe must have been a quite nerdy occupation for women of that era, who at 29 is also having a hard timing finding a life partner. Blair was one of the actors blacklisted during the McCarthy era. Gene Kelley, her husband had to strong arm the producers and threaten them he would quit the movie he was acting in if they didn't give the role to Blair.
Ernest Borgnine as Marty and Betsy Blair as Clara in Delbert Mann's Marty |
This Delbert Mann movie feels like an international movie set in Bronx, where the inter-generational chaos of an Italian American joint family is on full display. Its relatability and down-to-earth script and cast might be why it became the first film ever to win the prestigious Palme d'Or when the award was introduced in 1955.
Oct 1, 2023
- 10/01/2023 07:53:00 PM
- 0 Comments
This was a movie I watched in the theater when it was released, one ozhivukaalam (transl ~ vacation or summer vacation), a rarity in our family. We usually never went to watch new movies as we had the film club membership which showcased older, classic or indie movies which were deemed worthy of our time and money (= zero money spent, as these were free.) I remember my mother took us to watch Ozhivukaalam, being the reader that she is, my guess is the irresistible combo of Padmarajan's script and Bharathan's direction might have been the draw for her.
Prem Nazir, Sreevidya and Rohini in Ozhivukaalam (1985) |
While I did like the idea of Rohini as a modern college girl I saw in the posters of Ozhivukaalam, I was not thrilled at the noticeable absence of Rahman. They were the teen heartthrob pairing those days, like Freddie Prinze Jr. and Sarah Michelle Geller. Not only was Rahman anywhere to be seen, it had Prem Nazir and Sreevidya - an older pair whose chemistry I had no interest in cringe-watching. I don't think I was really impressed after watching it, except that Rohini's role as an independent thinking teen who got a video camera as a gift, I thought, might start a trend of all girls receiving cameras as gifts.
Indian Railways featuring Rohini and Sreevidya |
Re-watching it again after almost forty years I realize it is a very modern treatment of a slightly controversial subject - remarriage of a widow. This would definitely be a boring movie for grade school kids. Padmarajan's script holds the movie tight and contemporary. The casting is perfect and the location - Vadakara Sand banks is even more so. In addition to the main cast of Prem Nazir and Sreevidya who play the older couple planning to get married and Rohini as Sreevidya's fiesty college going teen, Karamana Janardhanan Nair, Jalaja bring up the supporting cast.
Rohini, Prem Nazir & Sreevidya in Ozhivukalam (1985) |
Ozhivukalam is a well written and directed movie except for the twist at the end which anyone can see coming from a mile away, if they have watched a few Indian (any language) movies, which puts the movie squarely back in its era and palatable for the eighties audience.
Sep 20, 2023
- 9/20/2023 10:02:00 PM
- 0 Comments
May 27, 2023
- 5/27/2023 10:59:00 AM
- 0 Comments
Neelavelicham (literal translation: 'blue light', poetically liberal translation adopted by the filmmaker, 'blue radiance') is a famous short story by Malayalam literary giant and a renaissance man of simple tastes, Vaikom Muhammad Basheer. It has been made into a movie half a century ago, at the time the director A. Vincent had titled it "Bhargavi Nilayam", the name of the fictional abode of the ghost lady in the short story. Bhargavi Nilayam has long since become synonymous in the Malayalam culture and lexicon as any building that has been taken over by ghostly presence(s) overstaying their visa status on the earth. About a decade ago I wrote a one paragraph review of the movie in this blog, when what I really wanted to talk about was that movie's hero - Madhu.
Not sure what Aashiq Abu, the director of this new take on the short story wanted to talk about by taking on the enormous risk of remaking an old blockbuster movie and a much-read short story of a beloved author. Everyone is going to have opinions and any fault is going to be magnified manifold and scrutinized to death. Maybe the man just loves taking risks in pursuit of honing his craft. This is what I like to conclude because I have always looked forward to Aashiq Abu's directorial outings and love to watch the technical improvement happening with each new release. Neelavelicham is no different in the technical department - production design, cinematography, casting, script are all excellent.
Tovino Thomas as Vaikom Muhammad Basheer has been styled and executed better than the suave Madhu who when you think about it reflected none of the life experience as a hotel manager, shepherd, sports goods agent, activist, watchman, fruit seller (to name a few) multi-faceted background of the real author. Roshan Matthews and Rima Kallingal's characters as the lead romantic pair is on par with Prem Nazir and Vijaya Nirmala's characters from the 1964 film and have been scripted to be digested by a contemporary audience.
The only question I have for Aashiq Abu is, if this was your take of Basheer's story Neelavelicham why did you take on the role of an editor or a quality analyst instead of being the ingenious director I have credited you to be? Neelavelicham (2023) is a scene by scene, quality improved copy of the 1964 Bhargavi Nilayam. You, Aashiq Abu, who has always given a relatable perspective on life through movies (especially to Millennial and Gen Z audience) whether it be Salt n Pepper or 22 F Kottayam or Da Thadiya or Idukki Gold or Mayanadhi, what stopped you doing from giving us a fresh take on Neelavelicham, instead of making a low-effort photocopy, albeit technically brilliant?
Apr 25, 2023
- 4/25/2023 07:43:00 PM
- 0 Comments
Our kind, Homo Sapiens (this is important since there were several other kinds of human species coexisting 100 - 200,000+ years with Sapiens like Homo Erectus, Neanderthals and Denisovans), ventured out of Africa to Asia first and Europe later between 40 - 60,000 years ago. Americas being the last continent to be settled by the journeying biped Sapiens 16,000 years ago.
All people outside of Africa in the world today are descended from a single African woman of L3 haplogroup. In a similar vein all people outside of Africa (i.e. modern human = Home Sapiens) are descended from a single man of CT haplogroup. In short our differences are only skin deep and race is a powerful illusion that everyone of us has bought into.
The journalist author Tony Joseph focuses on the group(s) that migrated out of Africa, in three different waves, at three different time periods and became the ancestors of all the people currently inhabiting the Indian sub-continent. It is an extremely interesting and easy to read book based on anthropological, archaeological findings till now and the explosion of DNA evidence and research papers published since 2015 based on these DNA findings.
What Early Indians is not is, it is not an international pop-sci best seller like the Sapiens with its far-fetched and reductionist claims which made Sapiens the non-fiction counterpart of Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist, in my mind. Hot garbage, Early Indians is not. If you have roots in the Indian Subcontinent and if your attention span can hold for about 270+ pages, it does not have to be in one sitting, this is a book worth reading.
Mar 6, 2023
- 3/06/2023 08:32:00 PM
- 0 Comments
In the absence of the specter of sin employed by monotheistic religions to keep their followers all sheep-ly and righteous, Indian religions and philosophy, use Karma to enforce lane discipline on the morality highway. Mukundan Unni Associates (MUA) is the first anti-karmic Malayalam or Indian movie I've ever watched.
Abhinav Sundar Naik's directorial debut is an unapologetic feature film, out to prove Hindu and (subsequent) Buddhist philosophy's first law of universal causation and effect has no street cred in the twenty first century world. The movie opens with this text, "human beings are mostly grey, but in some cases they are just black." If you are into armchair psychoanalysis as I am and have read aplenty about serial killers sporting the harmless guy vibe or have watched American Psycho or Nightcrawler, this one line should give you some idea how the protagonist of this movie is going to turn out, with a flat, dark, un-empathetic psycho/sociopathic edge, prone to plenty of mental monologues. The monologue voice-overs of the main character written by the director kicks a$s. It does not come as a surprise that during a low period in his life Naik is said to have watched Dan Gilroy's Nightcrawler multiple times, MUA is brimming with this dark inspiration.Mukundan Unni, the lead of the movie, is a lawyer who prefers to wear the impeccable white on white 'uniform' worn by lawyers in India, but has a mind which is the darkest shade of black, just like a lawyers' robe. Vineeth Sreenivasan, who has essayed the title role is growing into these sociopath roles (LOL.) Will Mukundan Unni stand the test of time and have the staying power of Sreenivasan Sr.'s Thalathil Dinesan? From Ravi Padmanabhan in Thannermathan Dinangal to Mukundan Unni, Vineeth has been delivering some killer performances essaying the unrecognizable-psychopath-next-door. Other actors like Suraj Venjaramood, Jagadeesh, Sudhi Koppa, Tanvi Ram have meaty roles although their screen time is nowhere near that of the lead.
The message of the movie is there is no message. But if you are one of those viewers who like message(s)-in-a-movie, try these - karma is still a b@#ch, but s/he is on vacation, there is only truth(reality) no consequences and feel free to engage in haymaking during daytime.
Feb 26, 2023
- 2/26/2023 10:10:00 PM
- 0 Comments
Feb 12, 2023
- 2/12/2023 11:15:00 PM
- 0 Comments
Flowers for Algernon, the Nebula award winning 1959 sci-fi novel by Daniel Keyes is a crowd favorite for the last half century. There were several reasons I should not have tried reading it, starting from my inability to read fiction as years progress being the main one. It did not help that the book belonged to category of 'scientific fiction' and was not written by a couple of SF writers that I could understand, namely Douglas Adams or Philip K. Dick. Nevertheless none of these stopped me from attempting to read this book, as the whole internet is ga-ga about Flowers for Algernon, I caught a case of FOMO.
Little did I know this book is the American cousin of Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist, another novel that has been anchoring the book shelves around the world with un-shakeable gravitas and giving their readers self importance and reading participation trophies since it came out in 1993.While The Alchemist has a global following like soccer, Flowers for Algernon is very American like 'American football' (the one that uses hands to play.) Keyes went as far back as Mark Twain to adopt Huckleberry Finn's lingo, which had made reading Huckleberry Finn a torture for a non-native English speaker like me, who had to read aloud the mis-spelled words to understand what Huck Finn was saying. It is the same with Charlie, the protagonist in Flowers for Algernon. The first several chapters, the one dimensional Charlie jots in his journal is torture for speed readers, grammar-nazis, spell-checkers and me.
The novel also has a distinct fifties-sixties anti-feminist vibe to it, like the Catcher in the Rye or One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. A few chapters in, Charlie is seen progressing through his Holden Caulfield phase - a moody, self-absorbed, misogynistic male. There are archetypal female characters propping Charlie up as he goes up and down the slippery IQ slope. It was probably an edgy read in the sixties and seventies. It reads very dated as in outdated and uni-dimensional now. I was expecting a good cry at the end as this was supposedly the reaction most readers had in the end, after being profoundly moved by the plight of Charlie. I almost cried over the time I wasted reading Daniel Keyes essential soft-core reading for sixties dudes.
Jan 31, 2023
- 1/31/2023 11:30:00 PM
- 0 Comments
Tales of philandering playboys and gullible girls 'destroyed' by these men have provided fodder to many an Indian movie. Pakalkkinavu, (def:daydream) is a 1966 Malayalam film penned by M. T. Vasudevan Nair and directed by S.S.Rajan based on this general theme.
Nellikode Bhaskaran & Sathyan in Sathyan's mid-century modern apartment |
Even the young man, played by a young looking 54 year old Sathyan is not the typical hero you see in M.T's stories. In fact both male characters in the movie, Sathyan's Babu and Nellikode Bhaskaran's Chandran are atypical of the roles each actor used to play during their usual outings. Nellikode Bhaskaran has a meaty role in the movie, a far cry from the side roles I am used to seeing him in.
Sathyan on his motorcycle, Sharada and Bhaskaran looks on |
A very young Sharada as Malathi makes appearance as Chandran's acquaintance. But the audience and Babu knows, try all he might Chandran is not going to get the girl. The girls usually have a incomprehensible fondness for dudes on motorcycles and Malathi turns out no different in the end.
Sharada & Sathyan - 30+ years age difference separates the stars often paired togehter |
The second half of the movie shifts back to Kerala from Bangalore and in Malathi's place we have Vasanthi as Shaari, Malathi's younger sister. While it is melodramatic at some places as was the trend of the times, the treatment of the movie, including the ending is contemporary.