Picking up the threads
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More than 100 people went to fish for the first time after the December 26 tsunami on Monday from Kadiapattanam, a coastal village in Kanyakumari district (Tamil Nadu) ravaged by the disaster.
The fisherfolk of Kanyakumari, the southern most district at the cape of India, are slowly rebuilding their lives 22 days after the tsunami washed away their houses, boats and 392 of their loved ones.
The day’s catch was just Rs. 350/- but the symbolic event marking a return to normalcy was a subdued affair, lacking the customary gusto of fishermen performing ‘karamadi’ (shore fishing).
http://www.indiadisasters.org/tsunami/
Do you have a child in you?
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One word for Finding Neverland - Magical!
Johnny Depp is slated to get nominated for the Oscar for this movie. Some say Kate Winslet also might get a nod for her role. The movie has a magical feel to it and chokes you atleast a couple of times. The plot has no regular punches as other hollywood movies, but that is the best part of this brilliant small movie.
I will be surprised if Depp wins the Oscar for this role, though he was excellent. (I only pray that Leonardo doesn’t win, unless Scorcese has reset his acting skills completely). If you liked Crouching Tiger, Amelie, Forrest Gump, Mermaids, then you will love the magic of this movie.
Must see, especially if you (still) have a child (in you)
We, the people
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Or, Swades. I don’t understand why people are trying to stamp this movie “classy”. The movie is a perfect example of how not to write an opening script — the way to give facts to the viewer and the reasoning, to establish the base of the movie. 50 minutes into the movie, it had not moved an inch!
The directing is mediocre, and script/span is bad. Ashutosh mentioned in an interview that this plot had been in his mind since 1995. But it didn’t show any signs of the fact that it was brewing in his mind for that long! Ashutosh failed to build a supportive plot around the core concept. But for Shah Rukh and the teacher (her opening scenes were good, but then the director lost his way), no other character was developed or supported, not even the cook or the postman.
The coincidence of meeting the girl in the only bookshop/place he goes to, and the fact that she recognises him, and the fact that she understands why he is here, and the fact that she gives him wrong directions, and the fact that she explaines this later to Shah Rukh is the silliest piece of writing from Ashutosh.
Less said about the relevance of the songs, the better. They were stupid. If Ashutosh was producing this movie, he had no compulsion to incorporate songs in it, did he? It shows his inability as a movie maker to judge the overall feel of the movie.
There are three good scenes in the movie. First when Mohan meets Kaveriamma. Simple and natural, well acted. Two, when Shah Rukh (not Mohan Bhargav) talks about Swades in the Panchayat. (The rest of the movie, Shah Rukh has given a good, subtle performance),
and the best scene, and worth watching the movie for is where Mohan, sitting in a 2nd class compartment of a train, buys water from a boy and drinks it. You could feel his thoughts then. And sense the tears build up in his eyes. Excellent scene, the spark of directorial ability can be seen here. Those who thought that Lagaan was a flash in the pan, will have to skip this scene to concretize their theory.
www.indiadisasters.org
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Last week Unni called from Sri Lanka. He was working in the tsunami hit areas in Tamil Nadu before shifting base to SL. According to him, there is utter chaos in terms of co-ordinating the relief efforts. State machinery response is slow, as usual.
Max and Satya are on their way to Chennai. Unni wants us to work on a ground reality site for information dissemation, like a “Tsunami Response Watch”. Initialy I thought I would go to Chennai to work on it, but since I can move more logistics from here, I decided to stay here for the time being.
There have been many sites that are giving out information about the tragedy and ways to help, most of them take their feeds from iNGO’s, and it is not unknown about international NGOs agenda bandwagons. The funds are not an issue, I hear. Let us see how much of the pledged money finally arrives.
So that’s where I have been for most part of the last 10-12 days, setting up a website that keeps an independant watch on the tsunami response in and around South India. You can go there from www.indiadisasters.org.
