When the good dies, goodness lives on!

So now Diwali is officially over, now that we as a family has watched a movie together. This time around it was another Bollywood sci-fi action thriller 'Ra One'. Oh no, another robot movie after the last Chitty's manifestation in Rajnikanth's 'Enthiran'?
Well, this time around I did not doze off and action sequences were acceptable as they were all computer generated, hence people take at face value knowing the fights were supposed to occur in cyberspace. Whatever it was, the VW car chase scenes were literally out of this world as far as Bollywood is concerned and were comparable to 'The Italian Job' and 'French Connection' except that all these happened in London with The Thames and London Bridge in the background.
All these were too much for some of the patrons who were expecting tear-jerking melodrama and emotional blackmail and they decided to walk out on the show half-way. Guess some were not ready for this transformation in Indian cinema.
Somewhere in the middle of the movie, I thought I had been transported to a cinema hall in India when Rajnikanth made a guest appearance as Chitty and the whole hall went into a cheering and clapping frenzy!
The movie can boasts of a star studded cast from SRK, Kareena Kapoor, Arjun Rampal, Sanjay Dutt, Priyanka Chopra and Rajnikanth.
Gone are the days when special effects in Indian movies were far from being special. Here, the runaway train scene is comparable to Spiderman, Matrix and Superman put together. And the collapse of Mumbai Central Railway Station was incredible. Even singer Akon sings in Hindi here. As SRK is depicted as a clumsy nerdy Tamil computer programmer, he had to speak in Tamil in many instances. One of the songs also has Tamil lyrics in it. The scenes were done tactfully not as to hurt the Tamil community as they were once were when 'Padosan' was released in the 60s.
In summary a good movie to say 'Bye' to Diwali and carry on with life. Soi.

Anywhere Anytime

Engeyum Eppodhum (எங்கேயும் எப்போதும்) 2011

So you think you have seen them all - Tamil movies with the usual masala, boy meets girl, girl plays hard to get, then succumbs to undying love which  plucked the right chords and strings of the heart, then comes the villain or unrelenting parents and resistance, then climax with a little bit of humour thrown in for your money's worth! Think again!

In 1979, just before the heights of the reign of Kamal Haasan and Rajnikanth as the undisputed heavyweights of the Tamil silver screen, there was a musical movie (all Tamil movies are, anyway) Nineithale Innikum (Sweet Memories) with both of them being band mates with Rajnikanth doing a bit of overacting playing the electric guitar the way only Rajnikanth and maybe Sivaji can play! In that movie there was a song titled 'Engeyum Eppothum', hence the title of this movie 32 years later but Rajnikanth and Kamal Haasan are still very much in the limelight still! Seriously, I cannot fathom the correlation!

The beginning of the movie was a surprise when the familiar loud orchestral symphony music which usually accompanies 20th Century Fox movies flashed. You see, it is the first venture of Fox into Indian cinema. Is it a good thing or is it like a scene from 'Lion King' when Uncle Scar stands before his clan to announce that a new dawn has come where lions and hyenas were friends!

The movie starts with a head-on collision between two buses. The story then unfolds in flashbacks of two lovebirds and the evolution of their love stories. One green village girl who lands in Chennai and takes fancy to a town boy. The other is about a domineering girlfriend and forever obliging partner. The story weaves on to put these people these two buses. Along the way are some small but significant characters to spice up matters, like a father who is returning to meet her daughter whom he had not met since her 5 years previously as he got a job offer in Dubai just before she was born. There was also a pair young college students falling in love on the bus.
It was an eye opener to see posh and clean buildings in Chennai. They must have been either airbrushed and edited aggressively for the movie or India has indeed prospered tremendously! Even the highways looked like highways (Thanks to Samy Vello for introducing tolled highways there)! The long haul express buses looked robust and fit for the road for once.

After the accident, however, all the typical behaviours of people of Southern India came to fore. All the loud, demonstrative wailing were seen just as seen in any Tamil movie. I would not say that this is an earth-shattering new revolutionary moviemaking that need to be seen or anything like that. It is just that it showcases old story from a new angle and it is refreshing. Happy Deepavali....

Enjoy it while the aroma of mutton curry and sweet scent ghee balls (நெய் உரண்டை) still lingers on...

Jung Punks - Psychoanalyzing psychotic deviant teenagers

I have come across many teenagers who rationalise their inertia in life and their inability to attain the full potential of their ability which they may conceal within themselves by going under covers of psychological rationalisations. They suddenly have become junior Jungs and Freuds to pass the blame to (thank you very much) their parents who did what they thought was best they could do in their best of ability, knowledge and resources.

These young loafers have no qualms in blaming the absence of paternal love, dearth of fatherly bonding, peer pressure of their dog eat dog world, regimental upbringing, systemic humiliation by parents, yearning for brotherly or maternal touch, sibling rivalry or everything else under the sun except themselves for a reason for their ill-fated situation - everyone and everything else except themselves.
 They call it the stress of modern living and their role models are none other than the Kardashians - yeah, the dysfunctional family with a quirky and warped sense of values but the teenagers all over the world use them as a yardstick of how life should be lived!

One + One ≠ Two !

So, you think coincidences only happen in Indian and other Asian movies? Think again! Looks like Western movies are taking their cues from their Bollywood and Kollywood and laughing all the way to their banks wielding their newly earned stardom and trophies. And not forget the rave reviews to go with that.
So, Ah Beng, our local illegal DVD seller has gone high culture. In this smattering colloquial Malay, he highly recommended this movie with a 'thumbs-up' sign - "Clear copy, DVD 9, Velly Good!"
And I was watching this 2010 French movie, Incendies (a multiple award winning Quebec Canadian and Jordanian collaboration movie), subtitled in English and well and trying hard to infuse a bit of culture into my life on top of the yoghurt that I occasionally consume!
It starts with a pair of twin in their late teen or early twenties, Jeanne and Simon Marwan, hearing a bizarre will left for them by their mother and read to them by their mother's employer of 18 years. The obviously dissatisfied kids are annoyed with their bizarre wish to pass one letter each to their unknown brother and father that they never knew. This Christian family, we learn, had been repatriated to Canada from the Middle East.
Interposed and weaving between the stories, we are told the beginning of the story of their mother, Nawal, in a turmoil filled civil war ravaged unknown country in the Middle East. Carrying an illegitimate love child from a forbidden love, the boyfriend was murdered by disapproving relatives; she is forced to give the baby for adoption by her guardian, her grandmother. She is relocated to start life anew as a university student when civil breaks out between the Christians and the Moslems. She, a Christian, disapproving of her faith mates' actions, goes undercover as a nanny in their leader's house just to assassinate him in broad daylight.
All these are told in between the story of the daughter going back to the Middle East nation in the impossible task of trying to find her father amidst hostile relatives who squirm at the mention of the name Nawal Marwan whom they consider a traitor and a shame to the family.
Meanwhile, Nawal is apprehended and is placed in a solitary confinement. The guards and a specially assigned torturer, Abu Taereq, try to break her down with physical and sexual torture but in vain. The product of this act is Nawal delivering a pair of twins in the hands of the prison midwife.
To cut the long story short, Nawal is released soon after and in repatriated to Canada with her twins.
Jeanne on the other hand discovers that the orphanage where Nawal's kid was given to had been shelled and the whereabouts of the orphans unknown.
When all roads seem to lead to nowhere, Nawal's Canadian employer's contact comes with groundbreaking news. After a few meetings with a few fighting war-lords, (they kept this part not so draggy, much to their credit, I should say), we discovered the filthy truth. This movie has gone to limits where no previous movie maker has gone before. Can't they be less offensive? Is there no taboo anymore? Most of the movies I know draw their line somewhere.
Abu Taereq is the illegitimate son that given for adoption! They are told of Abu's new life in Canada.
Nawal, before her death, had located Abu Taereq in a public swimming pool in Canada and had identified as her son by the unique 3 dotted triangular birthmark above the heel! (Hey! Seen that too many times in Indian movie before).
The movie ends with the twins passing both of the mother's letters to Abu Taereq and both had different messages to him, as a victim and mother!
I switched off the DVD player with bad taste just like I felt after watching Quentin Torentino's 2005 senseless movie Hostel!

Melatah.tah.tah...

The Malay diaspora can stand tall in the eyes of the international arena for at least two distinctly unique behaviours - Amok and Latah.

The act of warriors going on a killing rampage for pride and honour (amok, meaning frenzied Malay in older dictionaries) was recorded as early as 1670 by European seafarers. Even James Cook, the 'discoverer' of Australia noted that in his journals of these occurrences in the Malay Archipelago. In modern times, it has been described as a mental defence mechanism or a suicide attempt in a society where suicide is frowned upon, knowing well amok results in loss of lives of the sufferer.

Over time, amok has been made aware of the international community and had made it to the Oxford dictionary many years ago. It is also said that the warring psyched Viking would also go into a trance-like rage before a duel.

Another phenomenon which is unique to the Malay people is the act of 'latah'. Apparently, a small obscure tribe in Hokkaido also has sufferers of latah. Typically it is seen in middle-aged peri-menopausal ladies who upon simple prodding would start singing, dancing and talking in incoherent language. The trigger factors for this could a simple slipping of tray or slight pulling of the garments, much to the amusement of people around her. People of other cultures may not see the joke surrounding the action of the sufferer but it tickles them so much that they do it repeatedly. The person who latahs acts almost at an unconscious level and has no recollection of it afterwards.

Intermingling and close proximity at work of races in this country over time has 'latah' a kind of contagious infliction. It is a common sight to see Malaysian Indian civil servants going 'Pecot,cot,cot.....' at a little startled. This, I think is self-inflicted latah, in an attempt to blend with fellow working colleagues. And my Cambodian maid also latahs when startled!

"Latah is a condition where, triggered by the startle reflex, victims fall into a trance in which he or she engages in repetitive speech or movements. Often these take the form of echopraxic and/or echolaliac automatisms. Latah is found only in certain world cultures and is therefore commonly considered a culture-specific syndrome. Wikipedia"

Spicy Nasi Lemak 2.0 with potpourri of flavours

After hearing about all the bashing and publicity about the above movie, I finally watched Namewee's multi-lingualed (predominantly Mandarin with Malay, Tamil, English, Cantonese, Hockkein, Teochew and others) Nasi Lemak 2.0 on DVD. My final verdict is that it is a well produced, entertaining and a meaningful movie.
Namewee (Huang), a disgruntled cook whose restaurant is finally closed, is living in own dream of preserving Chinese food in its true authenticity with any adulteration. He lives in his grandeur of being the second best student in an authentic Chinese cooking school in China. His nemesis, the best student, from China, is a chef in another restaurant which undergoing a power struggle for ownership. Huang is very Chinese in his outlook and is suspicious of other races' delicacy.
He is out of job and to compete with foreign nationals for work. After many failed attempts at a job, including a stint as a cheap restaurant singer, he drags himself to the road side nasi lemak lady (Adibah Noor), a lady he despises as she was a hit with her customers, to be her apprentice to learn the art of cooking nasi lemak.
In the Xiao K, the daughter of one of the warring factions of the restaurant power tussle, befriends Huang.
The nasi lemak lady hands him a map to embark on a journey of self discovery. The path takes Huang and Xiao K (sounds like Crazy Chicken) to 3 destinations. First comes Malacca to supposedly haunted Baba-Nyonya (Kenny-Chee) mansion. The journey enroute their destination is filled with dream dance scenes. After a few paranormal activities at the mansion, they flee to Banting to meet the curry master (David Arumugam). David  is quite funny with his straight faced rendition of dialogue and his protective nature of protecting his Miss Malaysia aspiring daughter (Nadine Ann  Thomas - Ms Malaysia 2010). Here we encounter like conversation akin to that between a duck and a chicken as both are conversing in their own mother tongue but somehow the message gets through with the help of a cane! At the end, we discover that either party are actually are to speak in many languages. After learning the many secrets of Indian curry, they leave for Sepang where they meet an accident. They  are rescued by a fisherman (Aflin Shauki) and his 4 wives. After spending some quality time with the family and many kids, they head home just in time for a cooking competition to determine the CEO of the warring factions in Xaio K's father's restaurant. Here Huang has to compete with his nemesis again. Patrick Teoh and his set of gullible goons are appointed judges. Huang prepares a dish from his travel but fails to impress the judges initially but as in all happy ending feel good movie, our hero wins and everyone is happy. His rival, Lan Qiao, is embarrassed by the sudden appearance of his Chinese wife and son.
It is actually an entertaining movie. The jokes are subtle and you have to read between the lines for it. Like the rival cook is Lan Qiao (Q is pronounced as Ch); many phallic jokes; poking fun at Tenaga Nasional for frequent blackouts; pug-shot at Proton for faulty air-conditioning, power window failure and door handle malfunction; a bit of Michael Chong (MCA) when Huang is approached to help out in Chinese-related social issues and RK Nathan punch-lines (looks likes me,sounds like me but I do not saying I am not him). In one of dream scenes, a sky warrior appears to save warrior Huang. Both the kris wielding Malay warrior and Chinese warrior pay homage to this sky warrior by the name Hang Tu Yah (obvious reference to Hang Tuah). both warriors claim Hang Tu Yah to be their hero, but they agree that it does not matter whether it is a Malay or Chinese hero.
A good watch!
http://www.nasilemak2.com/

A doctor's touch