Thursday 24 January 2013

Viswarooba(i) m



All the hype and hoopla for Viswaroopam has me in splits. Portraying Kamalhassan as some kind of Demi God, whose lifetime ambition is saving the dying Indian movie industry is downright funny, folks. He is an actor and time and again he has proved he is a good business man too. Be it casting the “kissing fame” Andrea Jeremiah as his heroine in the movie or selling the movie direct to DTH for millions, he has reiterated his business acumen. ABC’s Amitabh Bhachchan could learn a lesson or two on marketing a movie from our Kamal.

Selling the movie rights to cable channels or rather channel owned by allies of Tamilnadu CM after a confrontation with distributors, a case in the High Court and now the publicity our Muslim brothers are providing him- Kamal has marketed his film well. What the film actually contains is yet to be seen. Perhaps the Judge who had asked for a private screening today will let us know soon.

The trend of depicting brothers of a particular community as terrorists and trouble mongers is not new to Indian cinema, let alone Tamil film industry. It started with Roja, with Maniratnam marketing the movie well and paving the way for scores of movies on the same line.Though the same director depicted some “Hindu blood, Muslim blood- all blood, red blood” kind of scenes in his next movie Bombay, the damage had already been done. Religious terrorism prevails in our country, we accept. There are fanatics in all sects of religions, accepted.

What is alarming is the new “cultural terrorism” that is rearing its ugly head now. An artist has the rights to say what he feels, imagines and his creative rights are under the scanner now. When “Thuppakki” row erupted, it was sickening to see the actor and the director crooning “forgive us if it is wrong” on all TV channels. When will we realise that a ‘movie is just a movie’? See it if you wish, if you don’t wish- save your 120 bucks and walk off the theatre. Who is bothered?

32 Muslim organisations have united today to protest against a movie, that makes liberals like us extremely happy. A very good step indeed. But i must ask my Muslim brothers- “ Dears, where were you when poor house maid Rizana Nafeek was beheaded by Saudi Arabia a week back”? Was she a terrorist? Can anyone with conscience watch this video- rizana nafeek beheading ( I don't recommend this for the weak- hearted)

 What have these 32 organisations done for the development of their own down trodden brothers? What about their demonstrations for special quotas? Reservations? What is the respect given to their own sisters and mothers? Inclusion of their poor brothers in Dalit list? Do they know there are so many ill treated groups of Muslims among themselves- ask the caste divisions among them- maraikayars, rowthers, lebbais, osas, kabhar diggers, fishermen, fakirs, musafars...the list is endless. And yes, ignore this brothers- this is just the blabber of a kafir.

Let us remove the logs from our eyes before removing the dust from the opponent’s eyes. Fight for your rights! Ask for reservations in education, employment. Abolish the caste system prevailing in your religion. We can then fight against the ‘culture trashers’ like Kamal Hasan. He has had enough publicity for Viswaroopam. He needs nothing more...
p.s.: Too angry and sad at the death of housemaid Rizana. Thanks UN for watching.
p.p.s.: Justice Verma could take cognizance of Saudi Arabia's Shariah with respect to juvenile laws.
p.p.p.s.: Someone give me a break, my work is driving me insane. All that has been said above are my personal views. It bears no grudge against anyone living or dead :P
p.p.p.p.s.: Kamal, you owe me a dinner for this publicity item :P

7 comments:

  1. So what should have Manirathnam showed in Roja? A group containing a Muslim, Hindu, Christian etc. jointly kidnap Aravind Swamy.. The fact is.. they are terrorist.. they are Muslims.. if you are ok to listen to news but not watch it in Movies... we need to get medicine to thicken our skin..

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  2. Some very good questions asked and valid points made, CN. Loved this post. We are selective in our judgments and keep mum when pertinent questions need to be asked.

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  3. 1.PMK RAMADOSS and THIRUMA discovvered the formula of getting fame by workng against movies..now its followd by TMMK and MMK.
    2.they did the same to a american website last month (over US EMBASSY).. hope the govt will nt tolerte if it s done by any hindu outfit...Vote bank politics.. if u oppose minorites .,, u wer gone,,.
    3.why pull mani inside this.. he is noted internationally for his film-making style.ROJA, BOMBAY , DILSE , KANNATHIL ... were are trilogy.. international affairs.. hope KADAL too is based on Intl politics...hope u rem ROJA did well all ovr india...
    4.Even if the moive is relesed in US or UK or UAE the Terrorists wardrobe/atmosphere could be the same... why blame.. kollywood, or Bollywood?
    5.dont worry of Rizanna....as we hav crime records agains woman even here.
    6.Outfits serves for no purpose..(even safron, green..wat ever ..).. ppl dont vote for thm.
    7.For sure the flm has got enuf publicity like KALNAYAK...

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  4. 1.Dont pull Mani inside this issue.. as he had tuched MUMBAI(hindus attacking muslims), DILSE (NE problems), Kannathil (SL CRISIS), now KADAL (killing of tamil fishermen).
    2.Terrorists wer shwn identically in KOLLYWOOD, BOllywood or Hollywood.. mani or kamal dont hav a share in tat..
    3.It s very easy to capture columns by talking against films and Filmstars ..(Ramadoss did it against BABA, and Thiruma worked hard against KUSHBOO for her controversial views on virginity.). so now TMMK and MMk wer tking thier stage to showw off as if they wer BALTHACKAREYs of Tamilnadu.
    4.they did the same against US embassy in chennai for some US WEBSITE MOVIE.. doono why no political parties uttered a word agianst them..(in the fear of loosing Minority votes our parties may even start supporting Millitants...)
    5.for sure the film has got v good -ve publcity like KALNAYAK..

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  5. While I believe that writers and artists have the right to express themselves creatively, I am deeply worried by this emergence of cultural terrorism that dictates itself to us. We are forced to speak and write to prevent ourselves from being attacked or insulted or socially isolated by people who consider themselves to be above criticism and I am not merely referring to religious groups here. If this continues, we will no longer have good writers, film makers or artists because their task is to express creatively and when we hinder that we deprive them of the very air that they need to breathe in and out.

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  6. Bang on post, Cloud Nine. Well, of course, it is easy to target others than to look within. I saw this debate on NDTV where Javed Akhtar was making a similar point. Why don't these organizations raise their voices against Taliban and religious clerics when they pass crazy diktats. But, they are out to ban a movie?

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  7. Very well said and wish Kamal should take u to dinner :)

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