Mozhi - A review

I got the DVD of the movie Mozhi over the weekend from my friend and put it on my list to watch sometime next weekend!. Since my daughter went to sleep early on Sunday evening, I decided to watch this movie. I was simply so amazed by this movie that I had to sit and write this review right now! ( Its 11.40 PM on Sunday evening).

Mozhi means language or rather a means of communication and this movie totally brings out that meaning. The movie revolves around 4 main characters and the people in their lives. The heroes , Karthik and Viji( Pritviraj and Prakashraj respectively ) are musicians by profession and very good friends. Pritviraj sees Archana(Jyothika) one day when she confronts a local drunkard who hits his wife on the road and is attracted to her right then. The duo move into an apartment complex, much against the wishes of the apartment secretary and bring in some cheer to the community. Karthik spots Archana in the same apartment complex one day and as she leaves home, he tries to talk to her bu she never responds. When archana's grandmother falls down on the road one day, Karthik takes them to the hospital. When the nurse asks Archana for her grandmom's name, she insists on writing it down herself. When Karthik shows his irritation by asking her to just say it, she quite calmly reveals that she is both deaf and dumb. He is completely stunned and speechless. Nonetheless his love for her had only increased and he feels this will never in anyway be a barrier for sharing his life with her.

He begins to learn some of the sign language from Archana's friend , Sheila (Swarnamalya) who also works in the Deaf and Dumb school with Archana.The four of them become good friends. Karthik learns from Sheila that Archana lot her speech and hearing at the age of 3 and then her father left them ad her mom died when she was 6. Since then, archana has never let sympathy take over her life but had become more independent , yet more non-trusting with men and more cynical towards the common aspects of marriage, love and children in life.

When karthik proposes his love to her , she slaps him and asks him never to see her again. She says her life is different and marriage is not a part of it. Karthik respects her request and decides to stay out of her life. Meanwhile, Sheila and Viji decide to get married and karthik insists that his friend should get married immediately, and not wait for his life, as Viji wanted to. Archana refuses to come for the wedding and karthik comes to her and confronts her about her decision. He tells her to open her eyes and see the world. " Konjam Vazhundaan paaren, thootu poga maata" ( Try to live life a little, you wont lose). He also tells her that just because her dad left her does not mean he would do the same if they had a child and if the child was like her. He promises not to cause her any trouble in the wedding and requests her to come. A beautiful line there : " As much as I liked my music, I liked your silence too, but you made my cry"

Archana does come to the wedding and confesses her love for karthik and all is well.

Don't be disappointed that I gave away the ending.. I think that 's an easy guessing game in this movie. What is really worth watching is the entire movie, the dialogues, the emotions and the characters. A feel good movie might be a fitting description of what this movie gives. Life is so different and everyone has a story. Sheila is a widow who lost her husband within the first year of marriage. This is something the guys come to know quite later after they get to interact with her. Similarly, a neighbor of theirs who is a professor, is not able to think beyond 1984, the year he lost his only son in an accident. Since he never shed a tear then, his life seems to revolve around that year and he does not even realize years have gone by. Karthik brings out tears in him one day , and that is when he comes to his senses.

Every character has something to say and the movie just left me with a good feeling and some deep thoughts. It does take a lot of courage to completely fall in love with a handicapped person, when there is no apparent fault with you. It is a very bold and most appreciative gesture one can do in life, if you ask me. We all feel sad for the disabled, but can we wholeheartedly make a decision to make them a part of our life? How much conviction would that require? I am not sure I have it in me, but if I see someone who does, they would get my utmost respect and admiration. But I do believe that if we cannot make them a part of our lives, we can at least make their lives better by giving them part of what we have - a small donation that would go a long way. Don't you think?

Well, if you have watched or will watch the movie, I would love to hear what you have to say...... meanwhile enjoy every minute of your beautiful life!

Book Review : The Glass Palace

" The Glass Palace" is by Amitav Ghosh, an Indian writer born to Burmese parents. This is a historical novel and that is something that attracted me to pick this up. Another one was the fact that it had a palace in the title and from an earlier post you can see how much I like that!

The book begins with the capture of the Burmese kingdom by the British and the story of the Royal family. With the capture, the royal family is sent on exile to Ratnagiri, a small town near Goa in India.

The story essentially runs as a foreground background duo, with the world affairs, right from the exile, to the world war continuing onto the current modernized era. The author narrates the story of various characters in the foreground. Rajkumar is a young orphaned indian boy who lives in Burma. He spots Dolly, one of the royal family assistants during the riots followed by the capture of the Burmese Kingdom. He instantly falls in love with her.. then she goes to India to live with the Royal family and he goes on to make a living in Burma. They eventually meet through a friend and get married. The story is about all characters before and after their marriage and the intricacies of their lives.

I liked the book for many good reasons - its depth into another culture, the history of it so well articulated. I also liked the book for the multiple dimensions that it goes into ... Olden time Burma, Political connections, British rule in India, Independence movement, the Indian Army and even simple lives of commoners. The author gave me the impression of a very well travelled and well educated person. The story was never unconnected at any point and it was quite captivating in all.

Although I did like to read about a different culture, many words and references, that were pertinent to that culture were not elaborated. It almost assumed your basic knowledge about these and I completely lack those ( I slept through world history in school:)). Sometimes I also found chapters needlessly verbose and elaborate.

Disregarding the two minor points mentioned above, I would recommend this book for anyone who has some patience and love for history and culture.

Book Review - A palace of Illusions

If you like reading mythology, I am confident you will be taken by this book as I am

A Palace of illusions is the story of the great Indian epic, Mahabaratha as seen from a completely different perspective - one of Paanchali Alias Draupadi, who was the very reason for the great battle of Kurukshetra.

The story begins from the birth of Draupadi and her Brother Dhriystaduma from the fire. The story of the various characters in her life and her own story have been beautifully juxtaposed by the author. The entire novel is a narration of how draupadi feels about things that happen in her life, how she believes herself to be no ordinary girl , how women in generally feel helpless many times and how she is determined to make a mark in history.

Draupadi feels she is wronged when she is not allowed to learn the skills her brother Dhri gets to practise everyday. She hopes, like any other girl to find love in her life. So when her father decides to arrange her marriage by promising her hand to someone who can prove his skill in archery, she is furious that she is a mere pawn in this whole game. She is less than excited when she discovers that she is to be shared as wife among 5 brothers ( pandavas). She blames her mother-inlaw Kunti for such a garish proposal and for the fact that her real husband Arjun does not even have the courage to stand up for her.

She goes through her life and slowly begins to realize her dreams when she gets a palace of her own in Indrapastha. - the palace of illusions. Her good companion since birth has been Krishna, whose talk throws more riddles than her own life. Yet he is her companion when she needs help the most. The rest of the story goes through how she is defamed by her husband's cousins, the Kauravas and how this goes about bringing the worst battle in history of Bharat - Kurukshetra.

A very interesting point in this entire novel is Draupadi's secret desire for Karna , who is the eldest brother of the Pandavas, but by circumstances befriends the Kaurava head Duryodhana, thus becoming an enemy to her and her husbands. When you finish reading the book, you cannot escape this clandestine desire that transpires between these two ( At some point, Karna also confesses his love for Draupadi to someone else). A very well deserved twist in the tale, that I found very captivating!.

The book is really beautiful and I found it very difficult to put it down every night. I have read the Mahabaratha earlier and I love it.. but this is even better. Yes it is a figment of the author's imagination, but isn't Mahabaratha Vyasa's imagination as well?

Are you still reading my blog?! C'mon, go and grab this book now and you wont be disappointed:)

Diversity in Music?

I was listening to a song " Sahana Saaral poothado" from the movie Shivaji. The song is sung by Udit Narayanan, who in his own natural habitat is an amazing singer. But when I hear him sing tamil songs, I cringe..

No offense to him or anyone else, but pronounciation goes a long way in the success of a song. Do we not have good singers who can do justice in our domain? I dont know Hindi or anyother language very well, so I cannot comment on singers from the south singing for Hindi numbers.
But I do know my language very well and can certainly feel the pain when someone who does not understand the meaning or can even pronounce the words, is actually given the opportunity over and over again!

Of course, this is not applicable to every singer out there... how can we forget the famous " valai oosai" and " shenbagame" . In the recent times, Shreya Goshal does a decent job with her tamil diction.

OH well.... as long as the albums sell, who am I to question?:)! Enjoy!