Achchamundu Achchamundu is a thamizh movie that deals with a concept that has been rarely dealt with on the silver screen. The story of the movie is basically a one liner but the treatment of the topic is brilliant. The theme of the movie is Paedophilia. But the movie actually portrays much more than that. It also shows the lives of the Thamizh NRI family.
Prasanna, Sneha and John Shea are the main cast along with a sweet little kid.
The movie is the first Indian movie to be shot using the new Red One camera and one can immediately see the difference with the clarity being something that is really new. The HD quality is simply impeccable.
The background score of the movie by Karthik Raja is really of international standards. The background songs sung by the famous Carnatic singer Sowmya is very soothing to the ears and has some real good lyrics.
Coming back to the movie, the travails of the life of a Thamizh NRI family are well captured. For instance, Sneha compelling her daughter to talk in Thamizh, Prasanna's dream to own a nice big house with a big basement, the small fights over social drinking, the confusion over bringing up their child in American ways are some of the details the director has dealt with.
Ofcourse, John Shea, should also be given due acknowledgement for his role where he fits it aptly and he has done it with minimal dialogues and more with expressions.
The director, Arun Vaidyanathan, has done a really decent job in coming up with the movie both in terms of the script as well in direction (rather execution).
If you do miss it in theater try to watch it atleast on video as it is really something that we need to know about.
Monday, August 3, 2009
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Hinduism
Back after a long hiatus. This time I thought I would like to share my thoughts on Hinduism.
Hinduism is defined in Wikipedia as
"Hinduism does not have a "unified system of belief encoded in declaration of faith or a creed", but is rather an umbrella term comprising the plurality of religious phenomena originating and based on the Vedic Traditions."
Why did I choose to talk on this now of all? Well, the reason being that whenever we speak of Hinduism, the first thought that crosses their mind are the castes and untouchability. But Hinduism is more than that and I want to try to dispel this lopsided notion.
I guess you would have already heard that Hinduism is not really a religion but it is a way of life.
It is one religion where in a person can be an Aethist and yet be a Hindu. Criticism and debate is part of the religion from possibly the iron age. The concept of worshiping a God that we have visualized, which practically implies that God does not have a form, is very much Hinduism. Everyone is entitled to practice the religion as it fits their style.
It is one religion that has learned to evolve with times such as the abolishment of Sati and Polygamy (possibly even Polyandry) as early as the 19-20th Century. Ofcourse there are people who will call this a social reform rather than a religious reform but that is the beauty. This is because the laws of Hinduism are there to govern the life in a community, soceity. That is how the caste system came into being, to demarcate the roles for each of the 4 pillars of a soceity which are leadership, knowledge, entrepreneurs and the labour force. To draw parallels to todays soceity is legislative, judiciary and law & order as one, academecians, corporates and the all important labour force.
The laws governing Hinduism are written in something called Smritis and they also state that these laws are to change as time evolves. The laws are something that have infact evolved over time themselves.
The scholars incorporated religious rituals which are infact activities to instill discipline, cleanliness,respect and a lot more.
Ofcourse, I do agree that the religion did degenerate over a few centuries, but it is now back in revival with untouchability abolished by law and almost eliminated in most places in India. There is still a long way to go but it is coming back in all its glory. The reason is that the people of India are longing for a identity and Hinduism gives them one. Infact this is not only for Hindus but also people of other religions who reside in the Indian Subcontinent.
This is just a start and there are a lot more interesting facts about Hinduism which I shall write going forward as I find more about it.
Hinduism is defined in Wikipedia as
"Hinduism does not have a "unified system of belief encoded in declaration of faith or a creed", but is rather an umbrella term comprising the plurality of religious phenomena originating and based on the Vedic Traditions."
Why did I choose to talk on this now of all? Well, the reason being that whenever we speak of Hinduism, the first thought that crosses their mind are the castes and untouchability. But Hinduism is more than that and I want to try to dispel this lopsided notion.
I guess you would have already heard that Hinduism is not really a religion but it is a way of life.
It is one religion where in a person can be an Aethist and yet be a Hindu. Criticism and debate is part of the religion from possibly the iron age. The concept of worshiping a God that we have visualized, which practically implies that God does not have a form, is very much Hinduism. Everyone is entitled to practice the religion as it fits their style.
It is one religion that has learned to evolve with times such as the abolishment of Sati and Polygamy (possibly even Polyandry) as early as the 19-20th Century. Ofcourse there are people who will call this a social reform rather than a religious reform but that is the beauty. This is because the laws of Hinduism are there to govern the life in a community, soceity. That is how the caste system came into being, to demarcate the roles for each of the 4 pillars of a soceity which are leadership, knowledge, entrepreneurs and the labour force. To draw parallels to todays soceity is legislative, judiciary and law & order as one, academecians, corporates and the all important labour force.
The laws governing Hinduism are written in something called Smritis and they also state that these laws are to change as time evolves. The laws are something that have infact evolved over time themselves.
The scholars incorporated religious rituals which are infact activities to instill discipline, cleanliness,respect and a lot more.
Ofcourse, I do agree that the religion did degenerate over a few centuries, but it is now back in revival with untouchability abolished by law and almost eliminated in most places in India. There is still a long way to go but it is coming back in all its glory. The reason is that the people of India are longing for a identity and Hinduism gives them one. Infact this is not only for Hindus but also people of other religions who reside in the Indian Subcontinent.
This is just a start and there are a lot more interesting facts about Hinduism which I shall write going forward as I find more about it.
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