Suspect X / Perfect Number

I had a tremendous urge to watch Suspect X/Perfect Number when I walked out of Papanasam movie.  So here I am writing again, but this time not about #Papanasam. As I sat down after grabbing the original DVD Perfect Number from a local store, little did I realize that I am in for beautiful love story.

I chose this picture for a particular reason.

Perfect Number has a thicker plot making it fundamentally different from Papanasam. We absolutely would love to see Kamal Hassan doing this movie than Drishyam and it would have been yet another great title under his name. Now, we no longer measure Kamal Hassan by the greatness of his movies. We just want him on screen. That aside, I will continue with what I wanted to write.

The movie begins with police discovering the body which the first officer describes "squashed like a melon", there by confirming the murder. The first most important thing required to prove a murder is the dead body. If there is no body, then there is no murder. In history of homicide cases very few have seen conviction based on circumstantial or forensic evidences without the dead body. If there is no body, there is no proof of murder simply because of the hypothesis that the person can be missing and/or probably alive somewhere. 

Secondly in Perfect Number, there is enough prima facie evidence to prove that the body found, is the body of the victim.  The forensic data, DNA test, other evidences like victims last few transactions, the bicycle he rented, the apartment he booked for a night stay on the night of his death: all point to the fact that the he was present at these places and he was killed that night. The police also discover that the victim was murdered by strangulation using a electrical wire commonly used in iron box. This makes the suspect a person close to the victim.

Third, the suspects never speak lies in any of the police interrogation. A number of people are questioned about the murder: his girl friend, the pub he frequents, his ex-wife, the little girl. Yet all of them speak the truth. Naturally, positive results from polygraph machine adds to the complexity of the investigation. 

Finally, why was there a murder? Though there is forensic and circumstantial evidence linking the murder with the suspect, the police is unable to to directly prove the murder. Since the case is handled by investigation officer (not some random constable with a personal vendetta) some very superior police work is at display in terms of criminal investigation. 

Papanasam: the hounding of a poor family with absolutely no evidence, based on a mere hunch, with no dead body, no knowledge of the victims whereabouts, and suspects trained to lie under every circumstances. In Perfect Number, even when the investigating officer finds the right killer, they have to arrest & convict the wrong person because of the alibi. (I also think that makers of Perfect Number didn't focus on showing how bad பெருமாள் is. No that wasn't the intention). 

Unlike the father, the man has not even spoken a sentence to the girl next door and still protects her. To what extent a man, the mathematical genius trying to solve Goldbach Conjecture, go to protect the girl he is in love with. How does he do it? How does he create an alibi that is so solid to deceive police? And what does he loose to make this lover happy for the rest of her life? In that way, Perfect Number is a fantastic love story. And it is purely mathematical. 

If you get a copy of this movie, don't miss.

Story Telling and the Story

When Kamal Hassan made the most famous tamil movie Vetri Vizha in 1989, it was compared to bond movies. The movie was a huge success at box office. The 1988 released Bourne Identity movie had differences from the book. But Vetri Vizha was a clever adaptation of Robert Ludlum's novel and it has shades of both Bourne Identity and Supremacy which was made in 2000's.

Adaptation is not new to Tamil Cinema, not even blatant copying. Its not new to Kamal Hassan either. His movies like Nammavar, Magalir Mattum, Mahanadhi, Sathi Leelavathi, Avvai Shanmugi, Anbe Sivam, Panchathanthiram, Thenali & to Papanasam have all been adapted from some foreign movie, mostly English movies.

The current trend in movies is similar to the Look East policy of Govt. of India. Many movies today are stories that are popular in countries like Japan, Korea etc. When Drishyam was released last year, it was buzz all over - an instant hit. The last Malayalam movie I saw was "Iyer The Great". The first one being Oru CBI Dairy Kurippu, of course.

Something stuck me about the movie Drishyam. My curiosity just shot, and read a little about Drishyam. A kind of story telling that is fantastic and original.  A month after the release of the movie, I understood that the story is not so original after all. It was adapted from Japanese Novel called "The Devotion of Suspect X". The story is about a mathematician  and his adorable neighbor who accidentally kills her abusive boy friend. The mathematician uses his skills and the rest you can witness either in Drishyam or its remake Papanasam. 

As a movie buff, I have realized that adaptations are the norm and every movie maker adapts an original movie at some point, alters the story line to suit the local audience. I wish Kamal Hassan actually remade the original Japanese movie and played the role of a mathematician. Such a role would have at least saved "Perumal" (I mean Bhagavan Vishnu).  Its no secret that Kamal Hassan makes direct attacks at Hindu Gods. I also believe that the constable name Perumal was no coincidence. Kamal reveals it in his dialogue "எனக்கும் பெருமாளுக்கும் இருக்கும் பகை ஊருக்கு தெரியும்".

Well, coming back to the intention of the blog, even the super hero Vision who is created in Age of Ultron by Tony Stark with the help of Tesseract is closely similar to Aswathama. Most boys of 80's would have heard about a king whose life is kept safe in a parrot which is 7 hills and 7 oceans far, very similar to the Hocruxes of Voldemort. Only there is no way to confirm if these are adaptations.

If we isolate 'story telling' from Tamil cinemas today, there is little original story. The actual story itself which is a result of creation is dying a slow death.  This also makes me wonder, why none of the history based movies of MGR or Shivaji or Gemini Ganesan never tried again. For example a sic-fi movie like MGR's "Kalai Arasi" or a patriotic king "Kattabomman" or a fantasy movie like "Kanavane Kankanda Dheivam"...

துணிவே துணை (Courage is your companion)

I was sitting in the movie theater months back waiting for காக்கி சட்டை to start. The usual trailers were running. One trailer that caught my attention other than F7 was "Detective Byomkesh Bakshi". I got curious and rattled around the internet about Detective Byomkesh Bakshi.

The literary character from the Poschim Bongo, created by a Bong story writer in the 1930's has appeared in print comics, television series and in movies. The last television series was in 2014 and the latest movie featuring the character in 2015 is the Hindi Movie trailer I saw. With over 30 comics, 10 movies and many television series Byomkesh Bakshi is one of the longest running character in the world of cinema, and longer than James Bond.

Tamil and Bengali in terms of literature have many similarities. In modern times the Bengal and Tamil literature have traveled paths equally. As country we have unity in diversity, but Indian Film Industry never really did cross cultural lingual experiment in terms of film making. Because Byomkesh Bakshi never solved a mystery in Tamil Nadu. Often Bollywood hijacks everything they could from regional movies. For instance Detective Byomkesh Bakshi. Actually its Satyawanshi Byomkesh Bakshi (ব্যোমকেশ বক্সী).

As I sat through to think why in Tamil cinema no one ever tried bring Kattabomman or Karnan or Malaikallan back on the large screen? Sherlock Holmes came back, all the Marvel Heroes came back, Batman never seems to stop... But not one character was built in Tamil Cinema that could stand with time and grow with the Tamil audience. Only Rajnikanth did that too as an individual. CID Shankar (Jai Shankar) is one character that could return to large screen. One of Jai Shankar's classic movie is this 1976 released துணிவே துணை by PRT a production house making a movie for the first time. The title credit starts after the movie runs for about 20 minutes (like 007). A modern day movie set in that period would be a real fun to watch. Somebody remade Jai Shankar's Pattanathil Boodham with Sendhil,  no one has that courage to make one such today.

Living in Dubai I get to see only one Tamil movie a week at the cinemas. And I haven't missed any movie in the last few years. The pattern of Tamil cinema making is beginning to be mundane and all movies want to be mass movies. And even today's time women don't seem to have any central role in Tamil movies. Selvaraghavan did make ஆயிரத்தில் ஒருவன் bringing Chola's into the large screen, but it never went anywhere. Even Mani Ratnam and Gautam Vasudev Menon had to think inside the box to deliver hits. They cannot make பொன்னியின் செல்வன் in full, but they can sure make one chapter bringing வந்திய தேவன் on screen.

I hope that before I hit 50 years of age, some Tamil movie maker will make a classic like துணிவே துணை or மலை கள்ளன். (Both these movies dont have a Wiki Page. Planning to make one and link).

Interstellar and Event Horizon ?

Interstellar is something - in a good way. When you see Cooper programming an unknown drone over the air while cutting through his field in a Dodge Durango, taking full control of the drone and letting his daughter Murph land it near their truck - it sets your perception. If you didnt catch that, you probably will end up with many questions. Which is not bad, considering what the movie is!

If this movie was an art movie, it probably may not qualify for National Awards. If this is a family drama, you probably saw Sivaji Ganesan doing it in 60's & 70's. If this is a sci-fi James Cameron already showed it to you. But for a change there is no fighting aliens in this cross galaxy ride. It is about a father trying to get back to his family. I have to admit that I took a short 7 minute nap during the ride.

In 1997, Devi Paradise Chennai, I was munching away popcorn watching Event Horizon along with my elder brother Mani. The movie was about a spaceship that goes missing near Neptune and starts sending distress signals. A crew under Lawrence Fishburne is dispatched to follow the distress signal. The spaceship is called Event Horizon and it is designed by Sam Neil. Event Horizon uses the experimental gravity drive that makes the ship travel faster than light. In real life law of relativity prohibits fast than light travel. The gravity drive creates a gateway allowing the spaceship to jump from one point of the universe to another. Transcript of the scene where Sam Neil explains:

"Dr. William: Lets imagine this attractive piece of paper represents space-time and you want to get from point "A" here to "B" there. Now whats the shortest distance between two points?
Mr. Justin: A straight line
Dr. William: Wrong. The shortest distance between two points is Zero and thats what the gateway does. It folds space, so that point "A" and point "B" co-exist in the same space and time. When the space craft goes through the gateway, space returns to normal. It is called a gravity drive."

I could not find the video of it, but I will post add it to this post whenever I find it.

Christopher Nolan for some reason puts the same scene in Interstellar of course with his characters with almost the same explanations. Event Horizon made in 1997, actually had only 2 factual errors in terms of logic. Interstellar has striking similarities to Event Horizon like travel through wormhole/blackhole,  relativity and working around it in space, Dr Mann's distress signal and Event Horizon's distress signal, connections to gravity and time travel.

Luckily I have a collectors edition of Event Horizon and I saw it again immediately after coming out of Interstellar.

Event Horizon probably didn't get its due, but it was an awesome movie of its time.

Ministry of Health & Family Welfare in India

I always thought that the tiny message "Smoking and drinking is injurious to health" scrolling down every TV channel or in a movie scene was the works of I&B Ministry. It was a mistake. This message campaign is run by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and from the year 2005.

We all know that in 2002 Superstar Rajnikanth and his movie Baba saw protests in the Vanniyar belt esp after the speech by Ramdoss. After this protest, Rajnikanth has stopped acting in scenes that depict him smoking and/or drinking on screen, which I feel is a great thing to do. This ministry actually woke up after 3 years of that protest in Tamil Nadu.

Any movie goer today, in India or an movie goer watching Indian movie outside India will see the story of Mukesh first. Watch here, if you don't know Mukesh.

Ever since the active push for ban on smoking or drinking on screen, it has taken a toll on people who think "Health and Family Welfare" is not just in these two things. May be it is not under the purview of the  MoHFW, but if they consider drinking and smoking to be a social vice and destroyer of families, then they probably should take into account other things that are shown in the movies that can destroy a family. MoFHW has many departments tackling various diseases starting from leprosy, polio & all the way to cancer and AIDS. And they have a special department for injury and trauma too.

Days ago I was watching TV with my family and there was a scene, where few men were chasing down a woman (attempt to tease, molest probably) and our 6yr old daughter was sitting with us. As usual, we changed the channel.

At that second, I told my wife, "Why don't they put a message on screen that attacking a woman is a criminal offense?". Not that the child would read it, anyways we will be around to change channels.

I would go one step ahead and add "molesting a woman attracts IPC354". Sexual harassment or eve-teasing attracts IPC294. Murder attracts section 302 and the list is endless. Imagine, we would be watching a movie and come out as a law expert.
Today I was watching a song from a Shaam movie (6 is the movie name). In this song they capture Shaam driving with his son sitting on his lap. Have a look at the chopped video here:

(Click to view the full video).

This is a real, shot on camera. For me driving without a seat belt is a big no no, so is any person less than 10 year old sitting in the front seat. Children below 10yrs of age should be at the back seat with seat belt on. Babies and Toddlers should have their own special seats in the car that allows them to be buckled. Isn't the welfare of a baby or a child more important than that of smokers and drinkers? I think the younger generation are more important.

Also here is a post from my friend Kiran KS on Facebook on Tuberculosis:

I never seen an awareness program on TB like cancer (smoking & drinking).

But if there is a Ministry for Health and Family Welfare, they might as take the causes that are important to the society. I feel the MoHFW campaign is selective going by mere statistics.

The directors who make movies can also show some social responsibility wherever possible. I widely hold the thought that no amount of information dissemination will stop a person from doing what he/she wants to do.

5 Things Indian Railways can do!

1. Hotel Coaches:

Allow 3rd party to build coaches. Privatizing the Indian Railways is nowhere in the radar. Not even possible in this century. So, Indian Railways can get into some sort of an agreement with big groups such as Intercontinental, Hyatt, Sheraton or any other interested hospitality big name, who can conceptualize a coach and attach it to a train in a particular route. For example, people in Chennai having business meetings at Bangalore can book in the Intercontinental coach and this coach will be just like a hotel room booked. People can check in at Chennai, reach Bangalore, finish the meeting, stay for the night in the coach itself and then return to Chennai the same day or the next day. These coaches shall not be coach dependent. Depending on the schedule of the passenger, the coach can be coupled to any train to the required destination. These coaches can also work in the long route trains. Chennai to Delhi or Bangalore to Calcutta etc. Below is a cross section of a Maharaja Coach which looks like a single room at a lodge.

2. Fine Dine at 100 Km/Hr:

India is known for economical and cost effective food prices. An average vegetarian meal will be priced between Rs 100 - Rs 300 in a decent restaurant. Now instead of the traditional pantry car method, the Railways can introduce Restaurant Coaches to replace the pantry car. Chosen restaurant chains can be allowed to design and built their own coaches from any ICF. Imagine boarding a Shatabdi Express from Chennai to Bangalore having a Rajasthani or Gujarati restaurant. Or the Rajdhani Train to have a Saravana Bhavan restaurant. It will bring a cross country culinary experience. Most ICE trains in Europe have such a coach.

3. Station Lounge:

Most stations already have, but that is technically a "waiting area" run by the Indian Railways. These lounges owned by private corporates and available for people who can spend few hours before taking the train. Also open to the general public for a fee. Lounges should include food and beverages. These lounges could be present at major stations. Long distance travellers can use this lounge for meet & greet services and etc. Similar to the airport ones, it can have host of other services also. This idea stuck me since I started traveling almost 15 years ago, but seems it has been recently implemented somewhere.

4. Train Theme

From Tamil Movie Nanban

This picture is from a movie scene. This is a normal train that is painted for the purpose of the movie. However this can adapted by Indian Railways using various touristic themes, state or national themes. Important festivals and occasions can be painted on the train to promote tourism and culture.

5. Abolish Platform Tickets

What is the purpose of a platform ticket? Whatever might be the purpose it serves or the revenue it generates, it can be underwritten. Abolish platform tickets.

Periyar

'Kill the brahmin, if you see him with a snake' - The words of Periyar. Let me start with identifying myself as an NBbF caste. The very fact that I have to establish my caste credentials while writing something disagreeing with the ideology of Periyar is quite sadly the real legacy of Periyar today.

Periyar fought for the elimination of caste, which somewhere midway lost route and became anti-brahmin, anti-Hindu. He even encouraged people to convert to Christianity and Islam during the course of his various movements.

Periyar or Thanthai Periyar, was born in Erode, Madras Presidency, British India, on 17 September 1879. His name was Erode Venkata Ramasamy, and he was a businessman, politician, social activist and he was the founder of the Dravidian Movement.

Periyar also started the self-respect movement that is today the roots of the DK or Dravida Kalagham. Today the Dravidian parties that have been in power for most of the time since Independence are DMK and ADMK. Both these parties have a populist, social-democratic orientation by virtue of their roots.

But why is there a caste problem that still resonates all over Tamil Nadu even today? We still have caste cards played out in full for votes. And, non-Brahmin vs Dalit conflict has been growing in all scales. The Vanniyar Dalit, Thevar Dalit conflicts in south Tamil Nadu are still there today. Quite recently in Ramanathapuram a Thevar caste leader made a speech that was regarded as directly inciting violence on Dalits. We have the undemocratic quota or reservation in almost all places of work and sadly in education as well. Probably because the very foundation of the the Dravida Kalagham is based quite strongly yet loosely on Communism and never on the concept of "all are equal under the eyes of law".

Maybe Periyar fought to eliminate caste. But his movement was largely never one. It was only politicised and became a vote earning machine. For instance the concept of self-respect led TN to be the first state to legalize Hindu marriages without the Brahmin priest. This law was passed in 1967 by the then Chief Minister Thriu Annadurai of DMK. Allowing non Brahmin priests in Sanctum Santorum, performing rituals in Tamil are some of the achievements today of Dravida Kalagham.

The problem with the Periyar anti-brahmin idealogy is that it created a non-erasable identity for Dalit in the society. But it didn't stop there, it also gave rise to people identifying their own castes in the society and creating entities for the castes. It also created an elite circle of people who fought for the Dalit, who eventually become subjects of some political party enabling DMK or ADMK stay in power. When the dalit identity was strengthened, so did the other caste identities and probably today Tamil Nadu is probably home to many such caste political parties. Needless to mention the minorities that welcomed the Dalits into their fold, did so only to strengthen their own political interests.

As all the caste parties strenghted from Periyar time and since 1971 it is only DMK or ADMK that has been in power in Tamil Nadu simply using the local caste politics for vote bank. This caste politics has not yet come to a logical conclusion in Tamil Nadu. Uplifting the Dalits and reservation for minorities have been the top agenda for every political party for half a century, but never political isolation of the caste system. Not even in papers. All these have become mutually inclusive in Dravidan politics today. So it is quite clear that fighting with the anti-Hindu weapon against caste was only an political intent and never for social justice.

Eradication of exploitation of blacks started in 1950's in US. I took a decade or two for it to become negligible and today Afro Americans no longer face the racism their previous generations had to face. The only known example one can quote is Obama. This happens in a plural society and India is also a plural society. Eventually people would have shed this caste identity. I have.

MT Opinion: If we forget Periyar, the caste will eventually be eradicated. As long as Periyar's anti-brahmin anti-Hindu arguments are floating, there will equally opposite pro-hindu ideas.

By keeping the Periyar lamp alive, the society has become sufferers of an undemocratic quota system and caste votes. His ideologies in today's India is a greater burden than anything else.

Footnote:
1. All bold words can be searched directly on internet for further details. Wiki for instance.
2. If you are still interested in knowing my caste which I have not disclosed...