That '70s show - Ungalil Oruthi

I love '70s, particularly when it comes to Tamizh films.
This is the decade of epic films by Sivakumar, Lakshmi, Jai Ganesh, Sujatha, Muthuraman, Jai Sangar, Thengai Srinivasan, K.R.Vijaya, AVM Rajan, Suruli Rajan, Ennatha Kannayya etc.
Also this is a decade, where one could see a glimpse of Madras of the '70s - the occasional car that would drive past Mount Road or the occasional human who'd be walking along in one familiar Madras road.

As a true fan of '70s films, I've decided to watch some epic padams and write about them. Today's film is 'Ungalil Oruthi'

Kya Re... Setting a?

Sujatha whose parents died off long ago, lives with her uncle, aunt, cousin.

They don't want her to get married, reject all proposals. But.. but…take money from ‘Ennatha Kannaiya’ and try one setup with Sujatha at their house only.

She beats ‘Ennatha’ who runs away. Sujatha moves out.

3 Idiots

Randomly, 3 men - Suruli Rajan, Thangavelu, R.S. Manohar make unwelcome advances at Sujatha and she invites them home, calls the police to teach them a lesson.

But after cop comes… she decides to lets them go.

But these men being villains hold a grudge against her.

When Sujatha became Sowcar

In the meantime, for some 1 hour, Sujatha cries.. and cries about.. what…I don’t know. Her neighbour Mr. hideous wig and Kannadi, Sivakumar falls in love with her and goes around calling himself her purusan. Sujatha is thrown out of her job thanks to him, but she falls in love with him. Wow, surprise!

Remember the 3 villains? They’re back and now they hatch a plot and convince Sivakumar that Sujatha is a sex worker.

Here's a pic of the louly Sivakumar from the film, for all of you.

I'm a Baaaaadddd Cousin

She is arrested and is thrown into a Remand home. She meets a lot of other "bad" women singing a song… She also meets her cousin! Vogaad, her cousin is a cigarette smoking-drinking bad girl who was also a sex worker. Sujatha escapes the home and hides in Jai Ganesh’s house. 

Wiggypedia

Forgot to say, this Jai Ganesh made his appearance in the first scene I don’t know why. Cops are on the lookout for Sujatha. She vows to ‘serthuvechify’ her cousin and Jai Ganesh. She vows to prove to the world is not ‘Vibaccchaaareeeee’. She hatches a plot with Mr.hideous wig, her lover Sivakumar. Yeah she is back with Sivakumar although he got her arrested calling her a ‘Vibachareeee’.

Pure Tamizh Ponnu

After long, tiring scenes, the three villains are exposed at her wedding where she calls the entire town. Ofcourse one old man had to call her ‘Vibachareeee’ and she puts one long dialogue that she is not one and she is ‘Pure’.

Oh that "bad" cousin doesn't smoke-drink and is a "good cousin" now & is in lou with Jai Ganesh.

There is also Manorama for kaamedy.

Final Verdict

Excellent, must-watch film for Tamizh pen-ness, empty Madras roads and Sivakumar's wig.

Subham.

Lockdown 2013

It was Deepavali 2012. A few months earlier I had quit my job after working for 17 years because I had wanted to take a break to... just sit at home for sometime and not worry about clients, concepts or currency. I was trying to put together a dish in the kitchen, for the festival.

Amidst all the not-so-hectic celebrations at home, the husband whispered "Er... wanted to tell you something..". He added, "... Things are not going good at work... nothing final yet.. Just thought I'd tell you". 

"What.. What. Wha..?" I didn't quite get what he said because my mind was mentally prepared for..."I'm planning to book their tickets for...". He sat me down to explain that things were not looking good at his organisation and well.. he may not have a job in the next few months repeating the "nothing final yet" a few times. At that point, honestly, I just thought "Poga Poga Seriaayidum..(We'll turn out okay)" in Stand up Comedian Alex's words, and was just not prepared for a traumatic year ahead of us.
It was only when he came home one day, in the next year, to say that it was his last month at work and he'd paid for the next 3 months, did it strike me that life was not going to be the same.

So - I didn't have a job and so did he. For the next few months, we just sat at home and did nothing but browse job sites all day. Sometimes if we were lucky, a consultant or two would call, once a month. His former colleagues and associates disappeared in no time not even wanting to take a call including a gentleman who lived in the same apartment complex as ours.

A few months later, thanks to a kind gentleman on twitter who had put out a tweet on a possible job opportunity, I landed myself a consulting assignment. Working from home made it less stressful... but only for a bit. With a huge EMI, our savings were saying tata bye bye to us , fast.

For the next many many months, we would be in two different rooms and meet or talk to, once or twice a day. For everyone's sake, let me add that I acknowledge the privilege of having two different rooms in the house before folks pounce and point out this fact.(happy?)
I would work from mine and he'd read / watch some series on TV (No Netflix then!) from his. I had stopped running / working out and would sulk all day long. We had stopped stepping out for movies, occasional restaurant visits or even that monthly parlour visit. We had to cook up different excuses for not visiting our parents in two different cities. "Busy with Work (Lol!)" was what parents heard from us every time they'd ask us about our next trip.

But one thing was clear. Except for, may be one or two persons known to us, we were not going to tell anyone about our tough times. Not family definitely, at least to avoid the "Did you get a job?" or for that matter "Do you need money?", every time they'd call. Ofcourse it was only obvious to expect them to be concerned, yet, we were exhausted.
As for others - I was definitely not in a frame of mind to fix appointments with friends / people I have known for decades, to call and discuss possible job opportunities. I detested (still do!) the idea of fixing up appointment with friends to call. Like what are you? Some dentist? Sure, not all of us can take calls 24*7. One would simply expect people to disconnect incase they're unable to take a call, text back with a time that they'd return calls. Anyway, when people were not a call away, too bad. Simply not worth adding to my pain.

Not blaming anyone, I guess everyone's so busy or wanting to pack their day with whatever they're doing , including liking instagram posts or watching whatever-the-downloadable-series-that-was-hot-then, that it was rare to find that one person who you could CALL AND SPEAK TO, to help you find a job, then. Things were going downhill. For those wondering why I didn't seek professional help, honestly, I found it extremely boring to meet a therapist when I had reached out to one 15 odd years ago. The drudgery of going to a therapist was more painful than the pain itself. Yeah, there I said it.

Back to Lockdown 2013 - It was traumatic to say the least, sitting at home, all day, for the next 9 months. Stepping out for anything would mean spending money. We had to be frugal. My Consulting assignments didn't fetch great money but kept me busy on calls and on online, all day.

Finally one of us found a job. One had to take a huge pay cut because one was desperate. It was the most boring job of my career in a television channel but I had to go through the stress. I'd cry every single day riding to work because I had to sit thru' insipid ideas and bum nakkis. But as a couple, we started enjoying the daily routine. At work, I'd look forward to a text at 5 pm from the husband to choose between Red and Green Pasta. For the next one hour, I'd dream of coming back home by 6 for a steaming bowl of pasta that he'd have prepared before heading for a walk. There was medical emergencies in the family and he could devote time being the care-giver, for a few months. We were both waiting for that good news of the job market bouncing back. I was working in a Business News Channel and the only question I'd ask the Editor of the channel repeatedly was when he expected the job market to be active again.

Things started looking good in the second half of 2014. Though the husband and I lived in two different cities, we managed fairly well because we finally had full-time jobs! We had a repeat of the same situation of just one of us with a job, again, in 2016, 2017** but we were better prepared this time. It didn't hit us suddenly because the two years had taught us to be prepared all the frikkin' time for a layoff, stress, anxiety and so on. Everything was in control except for my health. Things had taken a beating with all the stress in 2013 and 2014 and it took a good 3 years and several doctor visits to get back to normalcy. And I'd smirk every single time someone from a family or friends' circle ask me about my weight gain wondering where all this concern went 3 years ago.

Oflate, (in 2020) as we're going through the most stressful time of our lives - I have been reading about folks going thru' a lot of stress sitting at home, reading about rising Covid 19 cases. Ofcourse one needs to seek professional help whenever one needs.
The point of my post is that if you're reading this - Please be there for your friends and family. A lot of people out there don't have jobs. They have been laid off. Please reach out to them and give them a call. No, don't expect them to tell you. Please ask how they're doing at work and how the situation is. Don't be a Thumbsup idiot*. Don't whatsapp them giving them a time to call and expect them to share their anxiety between 3-3.25 pm on Tuesday because it's Ragukaalam or that's the time you'll be free when not liking instagram posts. Do let them know they can call you whenever they want to, specifically to address issues. for eg discuss possible job opportunities. Actively search for job opportunities for your friends and share it with them. Yes, all of us are going through a hard time, but some are suffering more than you and I are. And above all, please let not their political leanings decide your support. Some months ago, there was a huge campaign against a set of people by a social media gang, and folks were urged to unfollow, mute and shame people. I was wondering - what if one of them was your friend and someone who you could've helped professionally as an advisor, mentor?And you as an idiot, chose to unfollow, mute, disconnect from them because of some social media thugs. Will the same thugs or a Modi or Shah help your friend get back to normalcy?
NO! Don't be an idiot.

I repeat - Please be there for your friends and family.

*Persons who reply with a Thumbsup on 1-1 message. What are you? Some Salman Khan-Akshay Kumar-Ranveer Singh type Ambassador for Thumbsup?

**I realised I had mentioned the year as 2016 when I wrote it initially. Corrected to 2017, just incase those reading again noticed this.

Kaala

In one crucial scene, the cops (I think) try to shoot Rajini. Four others come and say "Engala Sudunga Mudhalla..."

No, I'm not talking about Baasha or Nayagan here. This is a scene from Superstar Rajinikanth starrer 'Kaala' directed by Pa. Ranjith. My biggest problem with the film is that its oosipoana presentation of a story which was filmed with MGR a dozen times in the '60s and '70s.

Thanks to Rajini, Easwari Rao, Manikandan, Samuthirakani and other actors, the film gets saved from being a mega blade fest. It was still a blade fest at the end of 2 1/2 hours + Jana Gana Mana + Interval + Rahul Dravid putting advice twice on No Smoking

Since you've already watched a dozen reviews on YouTube and read a dozen "thoughts" on how the story is about whether Hari dada won against Kaala or that the movie is more of a Ranjith film than that of Rajini's (this, I've read a million times across), I will cut straight to my other "thoughts".

Kaala, Kaadhal, Katthirikkai

Mahendran filmed this scene with Rajini and Sridevi in the '80s. The situation in Kaala is slightly different though, but the director saab has tried to create similar emotions between the characters Karikaalan and Zarina. Rajini is Rajini but Huma is no Sridevi, nor is Ranjith, Mahendran. Whenever Karikaalan and Zarina meet, the pauses in the latter's dialogue delivery are so awkward than the situation itself. Huma looked confused all the time wondering how she was supposed to emote.  Paavam Avare Conphuse aayittaru level.

Kaala -vs- Whitea

Nana Patekar, as an actor undoubtedly is great and all that. With two good actors - Nana and Rajini, in several scenes together, shouldn't the dialogues/ situation light up the bleddy screen? BGM is the only merattifying factor in such scenes urging you to mirandify.  Black Shirt -vs- White Kurta, White cushion -vs- Black Pillow, White SUV -vs- Black Mahindra, Black Panther -vs- White Neta and all the other nuances are ok yaar, but scenes between the two fall so flat. Not sure if it's the dialogues or the situation itself, the spark was missing and it was such a busvaanam.

Kaala, Kaamedy, Geemedy

The police station scene is funny because it brings you back the kaamedy Rajini we remember from Annamalai, Padaiyappa and so on. It's time He acts in a full on kaamedy film instead of clinging on his Ezharai a.k.a Ranjith type directors. And atleast this time, it'd be great if directors with such scripts approach him than scoot off to Bombay for 4 months sitting in Dharavi, writing one khichdi.

Easwari Rao and Samutthirakani are really good with kaamedy dialaaks that are fun. Really wish they cast Easwari in good roles like these that are not just Amma based. Else she'll become another Saranya Ponvannan doing the same thing over and over again.

Kaala's Cast

Along with above actors, Manikandan who plays Rajini's son and Anjali Patil as his friend are fabulous with their asaalttu acting. The casting overall is top notch with this Vengat Prabhu jaalra actor (who played Shivaji Rao Gaekwad), reduced to a 5 second cameo, which is a good thing.

SaNa for Kaala

Most of the songs work with the film. Yes, some of them have a Kabali-ish hangover which I was ok with. #YogiBRoxxx & Arunraja Kamaraj in Kattravai Pattravai are superb. This track along with Semma Weightu & Kannamma work really well in the film. Pradeep in Kannamma 😊

The Dopeadelicz tracks were such forcefits. Villains kill one fellow and these rappers start singing randomly "Sollu Kaala Sollu Kaala" types. Dei.

More than the soundtrack, most of the BGMs as standalone pieces were epic. Wish the scenes were as impactful as their background scores.

Kudaikkul, Colourukkul Kaala

The best sequence in the film is the Kudai fight filmed on the Marine Drive flyover. For once, I wish the film had more fight sequences than verbose dialogues which became repetitive after a point. "Shadaap and give us more Sandais", one wanted to scream.

Even the colourful climax in the end, to me, fell flat because after 3 hours, one wanted to sleep, singing "Raaman Aandalum Raavanan Aandalum enakku oru kavalai ille..."

Kaala - The Konclusion

It's very evident that Superstar has signed the film after Pa.Ranjith pongi ezhundufied with feelings about "Nilam, Urimai, Poraattam, Iyakkam..." type emushuns without bothering to read or listen to the script. Neither did the film push Ranjith's ideology nor did it justify Superstar's persona. In times of Vikram Vedha, Rajini who so wants to be cast in roles like Assault Sethu or a Vedha, ended up doing a Vedalam. What a wasted opportunity, this was.

Kaala - In Karthik Subbaraj we trust. 2/5

Kelviyin Nayagiye...

Do you also wonder....

What the real purpose of a bed cover is? Agreed it helps you keep your bed neat and you can keep your bedsheet crumpled and cover it up with this and all that. But that even your poarvai can also do no? And when you sleep where exactly do you keep your bed cover? Do you have the patience to fold that 'boodagaara' cover and put it neatly inside a cupboard before dobakkunnu plonk yourself on the bed? Just curious.

How people manage to keep their nails manicured all the time? Do they carry their manicure set with them to office, in the train, in the bus/car , wherever they go and keep plucking those ever-growing cuticles? How is it that their hands and nails look so neat 24*7 ? My once-a-year manicure lasts exactly for ten minutes. Then from somewhere these cuticles start growing and look like ugly thorns.

Why all dog-owners sound alike when they say "He/she won't bite you" when you visit them when the monster has ITS (no he,she for me) big mouth open and big teeth welcoming you not to forget its ecchal on your dress that makes you go eeyyuuuuck?

Whether people who shamelessly nakki-fy the bosses at work - be it in person or on facebook etc have maanam , rosham and other elements in their body constitution?

Yours truly,

Kelviyin Nayagi