Geo’s Talkies - Skyfall

“This is the end” sings Adele when James Bond falls of a train, that’s passing a viaduct, into a river having been shot by one of his own and the opening credits begin. Sam Mendes sets the tone right at this point on what is to come. The pre-credit sequences are high octane with chases on four wheels and two wheels and that mandatory train which always seem to have the CAT equivalent of L&T Proclain and some stunning cars that have to end up as crushed metal.

Before getting shot 007 was attempting to retrieve a stolen hard disk that contained the list of NATO operatives across the world and MI-6 continues to pursue the target to retrieve the data before the cover of the field operatives are blown. In Julian Assange style the antagonist reveals five names every week putting pressure on MI-6 and M who is not just fighting a battle with an unknown enemy but also keeping political pressure from inside the UK at bay.

How 007 comes back and saves the organisation from the antagonist forms the rest of the story. The antagonist is one of the cleverest villains Bond has had to face in the last 50 years, who also has a homophobic streak that plays humorously. The mandatory Bond girls are there, one of them, as it always happens, gets killed brutally. There is no mention of any physical intimacy between Bond and the other though the lines they speak are risqué. The Ashton Martin DB5 (BMT 216A) which first appeared in GoldFinger (*ing Sean Connery) makes it’s appearance in this one.

Q now is a computer geek who still needs Bond’s brain to figure the name of a tube station that’s involved in a core plot point in the movie. The gun he passes on to Bond should be made mandatory to own, why wouldn’t anyone want to possess a gun that won’t fire without the owner’s finger prints on the trigger?

Thomas Newman’s first attempt at scoring for the Bond franchisee is a welcome change, the music  is void of the bravado we’ve come to associate with David Arnold’s score. Except for the legendary Monty Norman’s James Bond Theme which plays in the OST as arranged by David Arnold, Thomas goes ahead and weaves his own tapestry around the drama which makes the score subtle, synthesized in parts and engaging. It’s only fair to Sam that he brought Thomas into the movie after their successful collaboration on The Road to Perdition, American Beauty and Revolutionary Road.

Roger Deakin’s cinematography captures the mood of every scene lucidly and the latter scenes in Scotland thankfully aren’t postcards for Scotland Tourism but are stark and vivid to carry forward the narrative. Sam Mendes is no Michael Apted (The World is not enough) or Martin Campbell (Golden Eye, Casino Royale). Therefore this Bond movie is more of a drama with bursts of superb action sequences. Skyfall is a must watch.

Formula1 – Force India on right track – A response

This morning’s TNIE has an article titled “Force India on the right track” is lazy, lame and appears to be the work of a journalist smitten by Vijay Mallya that the tone is flattering. Shouldn’t journalists spend a moment to ingest what the PR machinery of teams feed them and sift the fact from fiction and balance things out instead of appearing like extensions of a team’s PR machinery?

This piece contains wonderfully spun gems like: “Sahara Force India carries with it the weight of a nation, whose potential in sports is largely unfulfilled”. “Sahara Force India’s reason for existence is the promotion of auto racing in it’s home country”. “It is a very intense team, and not a whimsical off-shoot of a show-pony millionaire”.

Sahara doesn’t have lofty ambitions of educating the indian viewer on the intricacies of the sport, its probably more interested in furthering the reach of it’s brand. With the recent ruling from the Supreme Court of India to return money to it’s depositors, Sahara is going to be facing a financial crunch which will most certainly test it’s commitment to Formula 1, something this article fails to mention even in the passing.

Vijay Mallya’s expensive indulgence in the sport is also going to face a test of his grit and mettle, his own problems in Kingfisher Airlines worsening by the day and the pressing need to infuse his businesses with fresh capital. Sahara Force India has has done reasonably well in the sport this year, but will they be around next year? The last work is still in.

Requiscat in pace - Shri Shanmugham

Udal mannirkku, uyir thamizhikku
Ithai urakkacholvom ulagirkku

Vairamuthu’s from the movie Iruvar would have remained just lines if not for Sweet Uncle’s influence in my life. Any attempt to translate the lines into English would be a vain effort in conveying what it means. I was homeschooled to read and write Tamil, my Father was my Guru. He taught me the alphabets and how they were strung together to form words and how words lined up together to make sentences. However I owe it to Sweet Uncle for sowing the seed of love for Tamil in me, literature, poetry, movies and culture.

Shri Shanmugham, an employee of the erstwhile Cheran Transport Corporation, anointed Sweet Uncle by some cousins and workers of a press my Father used to own in the late 70’s. He never used to come without a box of Nellai Lala sweets when he came visiting and hence the name. I’ve known him all my life. He was a noble person who sometimes came across as a trite impatient at the world and it’s machinations.

His knowledge was vast & varied, he could regale anyone with stories about the Dravidian movement, hollywood movies, trade unions, Clint Eastwood, Bud Spencer, MGR, Shivaji, Gregory Peck, Omar Sharief, Kannadasan or Kalki. My childhood is replete with movies he’s taken me along, the best being Thevar Magan, which was a bit too violent when I saw it, but later was a movie that moved me by the sheer power of the actors on screen.

He wasn’t my classmate or playmate. More than 40 years separated us but that didn’t stop us from being friends.  My brother was ever his darling, affectionately called Renadi and pampered to no end. The distance kid bro took a walk with him in the Nilgiris when they went to attend Aunt’s wedding is a story he could narrate any day not to mention another detail around bro wanting to take a piss.

Sweet Uncle was a rare human being who was moved by human sorrow. He was a firm believer in the God and some saints, he was truly pluralistic in his religious outlook. His cycle was his prized possession and I vividly remember it took me many years to be able to get access to ride it. He was a collector, of books, magazines, paper cuttings and things like that. Sweet Uncle and Athai liked to serve food, to be kind and hospitable and no visit to their house was complete without more than a full stomach and heart.

As someone who urged me to read Kalki, more specifically Ponniyin Selvan, I owe it to him for having earned now the ability to appreciate Tamil and the vast literature that fills it. He could narrate a kural for any situation you ask. He could talk about the classic movies from the black and white era. I could never get him to say anything nice about the modern Tamil film music that I was exposed to, yet he had a liking for Kaviarasu but Kannadasan was his all time favourite.

The past few years have been harsh after been confined to the house all day and the loss of the grandson he doted so much on, life took a bitter turn. He recently was shifted back from the hospital to house after breaking a bone in the leg. This afternoon was a rude shock with the news coming in about his sad demise and a wave of images play in my head. Every single incident between us from the past. I on my part wasn’t able to make time for him as much as I would want and an impending change in the days ahead was going to help in that front but destiny had other plans.

RIP Sweet Uncle.

Inru un rojapoo mugathil muthamida ninaikiren,mudiyavillai
Mutti varum kanneerai moodivida ninaikiren, mudiyavillai
Poivaa nanba, poivaa
Un pakkathil enakkum oru padukkai virithu vei
Yendraenum orunaal unarugil naan varuvaen

*The lines above are Kaviarasu Vairamuthu’s from the movie Iruvar