Perspectives

Two hours have passed since the credits of Endhiran (Robot) rolled up in a Cinema hall at Bangalore. I was there, dragging my feet along towards the exit, saddened that it is over. There will be a second time, but, it wont be the same. Hormones don’t function that way. I sit here and wish for another Rajni movie in a few years or for someone to rise out of the ashes to hold me captivated like Rajni. The latter…will remain a wish.

But, this is not about Endhiran or Rajni. This is an appeal to Journos, Commentators & Authors who are suddenly forced to write about an industry, a person & a movie they hardly know about. Asia’s costliest movie, Asia’s second most paid actor, 2000 screens worldwide: Everybody from Rajeev Masand to a Dog has to write with every drop of ink in their pen (Or, key in their keyboard). I have been keenly reading most of the content and, as an ardent fan of Thalaivar, have been able to notice the uber-cool, intelectual point of view that most critiques are taking. A common weaving thread of sarcasm hinting “How is this guy able to do this?“, is evident. One thing becomes clear. None of these guys know a god damn thing. Neither factually nor emotionally.

My understanding of the Hindi language & culture is far superior than an average non-tamilian’s insight into the dravidian likes & dislikes. Very recently, I quipped to a north Indian friend who has lived close to five years here- less than 40 kms from the boundaries of Tamil Nadu- “Well, Tamil does not have a script“. She innocently went “Oh! really?“. I don’t blame her. The exposure is such.

To bring about my opinion, Here is what I feel about, lets say, Singh is Kinng:

I didnt understand the punjabi/Hindi mix-bag in the movie all that well. Long ago, I was told that Akshay kumar worked as a Bartender in Bangkok. I thought he was averagely attractive (My wife goes head-over-heels, by the way). As a kid, I grew up on Superhit muqabla, watching him jump up & down with Big brother-ess on “Churake dil mera” Frankly, it/they did not go very well with the curd rice I was eating.

I couldn’t stop staring at the mis-spelling-”kinng”. Further research informs me how Bollywood believes in Numerology. Lucky Singh? This dude got to become a don in Australia with that name? Did he just get Lucky? And there is one more called “Happy”. Folks kept laughing around me on stuff that I thought wasnt worth a giggle. Hindi audience have an extremely low humour quotient, I felt. I was eager to get out. Katrina Kaif couldnt keep me in there.

Point is, this is not the true review of this movie. I am welcome to have a point of view, but not qualified to write under the pretext of Journalism.

Dear Journos from Bollywood and elsewhere, you all probably know this better than me. A Movie review isint exempt from best practices of Journalism. There are three things you need: Facts, Context & an opinion formed based on the former two.

I am extremely delighted that Endhiran is forcing you all to travel & see beyond Borivali. Furthermore, I have a few suggestions to you: Throw your suburban train tickets & Vada pav away. Fold up your Dhoti, Drink up Filter Coffee, Listen to Carnatic Music & dance for hard percussion on the road. Because, 60% of our 1256 million Dollars in Movie Industry is made by non-hindi movies.

I find it exhilarating that the costliest movie in India has to come from an industry half the market size of bollywood & 1/5th the consumer base. How does it make you feel?

Do you know that from down here, Bollywood seems low-grade (loaded with flesh & item numbers), SRK, pretentious & Kapoors, Comical? Still don’t know what I am talking about? Go ask Rotten Tomatoes on for review on Dabangg and compare it with yours.

DOT.

Here in India, we speak several hundred languages amongst the billion of us. Even the Government officially recognizes 23 of them. No single person can possibly learn all Indian Languages in his lifetime and so, most of us make do with a few. Yahoo! India Maps ( http://in.maps.yahoo.com ) is no exception. After sitting through a lot of language courses, Yahoo! India Maps has now learnt to speak nine languages (Hindi, Bengali, Telugu, Tamil, Punjabi, Gujarati, Oriya, Kannada & Malayalam) apart from English. Watch out for the “Vernacular” button along with “Map”, “Satellite” and “Hybrid” buttons to see an area in it’s primary language. We have covered the major cities and towns and will expand the “Language Map view” to other regions in the time to come.

Personally, Maps in vernacular languages is magical for me. Because for once, my Grand-moms and Grand-dads will get to see and understand what I do all day long sitting at Yahoo!.

We have also released “Walking directions” along with this push. If you are the one who walks, You could simply type a query like “Walk from Yahoo! egl bangalore to Yahoo! MG road, bangalore”. Alternatively, You could also choose the “Walk this Route” link on the right pane when you have driving directions.