The Jaya-Karuna tango

Tamilnadu has always voted in an oscillatory manner ever since MGR left the scene. MGR as we all know, was a showman and a performer in movies. He was someone who acted and also produced a lot of movies. From being in the movies from the black and white era till the early 1980s, MGR benefitted from his own personal image and association with DMK. Sivaji Ganesan was running his own show as an superstar at that time, due to his commendable script sense and immaculate acting skills.But MGR’s onscreen superstardom and craze among young people was inexplicable.

DMK used MGR to further their political ambitions. It is fair to say, MGR developed some ambitions of his own along the way. MGR attacked Karunanidhi in a public meeting over party finances and the rest was history. MGR won and romped to victory in 1977. But what tilted things to his favour was the negative and personal campaigning against MGR. DMKs first mistake was the negative campaign on lines of regional and linguistic politics. Its second mistake was underestimating MGR’s appeal which was beyond movies.

MGR lasted for 10 years(1977-1987), his protege and successor Jayalalitha wasn’t expected to last much longer in politics. But she did and a tango was formed in politics. The alternative choices apart from Jaya and Karuna were very rare for the Tamilnadu voter. Jaya’s campaiging style was very unusual for a politician, whenever she was out of power, she was out of limelight for more than 2 years. As an opposition leader, she was nowhere as impactful that her partymen wished her to be. But even with certain limitations to her slightly impersonal campaigning style, she campaigned pretty hard and a year before the election date. This helped her gain visibility among people and also strike hard bargains with her alliance partners. There were certain moments when the moments when even the seasoned old fox Karunanidhi found it difficult to decipher her moves. She was an enigma and a mystery in herself.

The Jaya-Karuna tango lasted alternated for 25 years, culminating with the successive win of Jayalalitha in 2016. It broke, not only the shackles, of DMK, which went down to due to late campaigning of Stalin but also the alternating cycle of Tamilnadu politics. Jaya died in power in 2016, but not before embracing a more visible and aggressive form of campaigning from 2006 onwards.

Thoughts about movies

I remember watching Indru Netru Naalai(Tamil) and See You Yesterday(English). Both very different films in terms of story layers and execution style but similar in terms of the final motive of the lead character.

INN sources about 40-50% of the material from Back to the Future but flips the scenes around in an interesting manner. The death of the professor type character comes later in INN, the romance comes at a different stage in INN comes later. There are a few things that INN takes for granted related to the time machine concept. When the lead character and his comedian friend use the time machine for their personal and slightly devious uses, they don’t have any bad effects from the time travel. Also if you had seen Back to the Future, the lead character Marty takes some precautions while travelling to the past in terms of clothing and currency, while in INN the two characters just flip in and out of the past without taking much precautions. But there is a good mood established in INN, as they are the characters who could behave the same way as you and I would if a time machine comes into our hands.

Coming to the film, See You Yesterday, I am reasonably impressed by how the logics regarding time travel are addressed. It simultaneously address the BLM movement in a slightly subtle manner. However at some moments, this additional context becomes a burden for the film, like an albatross around its neck. The time travel portions doesn’t have the same punch, I felt as the emotional backstory of CJ losing her brother.

In the final analysis, both INN and SYY have the same emotional knot but SYY felt more emotionally fulfilling to me. Both are good films, and an important addition to the time travel genre.

The Mayakkam Enna Effect

Ouch. Life hurts!! This is the feeling many of us go through during various phases.Months back, I saw the critically appreciated Mayakkam Enna and concluded it was an ABOVE AVERAGE film. But some times, we can be blind to things which happen to us or the people around us. On a given day, a person A will come home in a happy mood but his dear friend B will be depressed. I can quote certain lines from the BHAGVAD GITA,

1.” Life is a pain. Birth is pain. Death is pain.”
2.” Jacob will be in a joyful mood on a particular day but his neighbor will be suffering from pain due to a scorpion sting”

I have never been religious like my mother. As I write these lines, I still have a sense of disbelief towards God.But that has not stopped me from harboring moderate levels of faith.

Coming to the title , most of life till now has been a struggle like the protagonist Dhanush. As he struggled through life, I found my life almost mirroring his. The only difference had been the purpose. Like him, I had found hardships when I needed to find joy.Almost all my life has been a cruel joke. It had not been about success all along. I was all wrong.It was about being in control, being bold and assertive. When I first graduated through a prestigious college like LOYOLA and got a job in a good MNC, I thought I was on the right track. But then certain aspects of my personality surfaced. I was shy and disliked taking risks. I often cursed myself for letting my team down.Feelings of GUILT plagued me. I was often given tough work but due to fear I frittered it away. It went to someone else. I find it completely silly but I subconsciously believed I could do it. Somehow I found myself alone.

But that was the past. It is now use now. I have lived through phases of ridicule. I have been a failure in life. There have been occasions when I have harbored thoughts of jealousy and even hate.Even when I see my friends photos in Facebook, a pang of jealously swept through. They are happily settled, married and I am not.I could see now. It is all about finding purpose and being in control. Most of time, my life has drifted. I search everyday of my life for a turnaround.Some thing that I could change in me. Many respected people like OSHO would say that there is no such as control element and life goes on its own. They are wrong. Can you drive a car without a steering wheel? You need a certain amount of control in your life. I have been searching happiness as well. Often I go to a hotel and find people happy, I would feel jealous.

Life has been cyclic for me. The highs of employment followed by the lows of job loss and depression.Just when I had found some purpose in French language I endured the same karma, the same fate. 7 Years ago, when I joined the French institute during my college, my teacher believed in me. She was a kind lady who believed I could be successful one in this field. I had to discontinue the course. And again, I am doing the same course with a good set of friends. I had to attend the course after a long period of absence due to illness involving my foot. And what does the ‘teacher’ say? That I bunked classes. I wore a pair of socks and came. Nevertheless, my friends believed me and I shall be ever grateful. Life is always a joy when you are around people. People who believe in you. I felt a pain in my heart. I cannot study French to prove anybody wrong or right. In fact, like Po of Kung Fu Panda, many a times I have felt or thought of quitting class and becoming an absconder. But somewhat deep withing me said a CLEAR NO. French may be my destiny or not, only God knows. But I have learnt a lesson.