greetings!

its been a while since plain joe here had his thoughts penned (or rather typed) here. plain joe’s been busy rearranging his already plain old life, getting back to business with things he’s supposedly good and bad in, lets just say, its been one hectic heckuva ride for him.

with all the running arounds, two things have been in my agenda, my cultural agenda to be precise. lets face it, one can never be a complete indian without having his or her share of the staple indian movies, be it hindi, tamil, malayalam, telegu, marathi, heck, can’t remember all 14 languages. by the way, heard of any sanskrit movies? i wonder how a sankrit movie might sound….hehehehehehe…

well, back from blabberings, i managed to watch two movies this month already, both tamil movies, and both in its class of its own. the first, a dr.kamalhassan starrer, aptly titled "hunt and play" (you figure the original tamil translation - like you don’t know???) and the second, "jillendru oru kaathal", which translates to love so cool….hehehehehe….broken tamil man…correct me!

watched both movies, and that too in the same cineplex. the thing is, watching tamil movies is a different experience altogether when ompared to watching an english, chinese (only been to one, and that too beacuse it was AR Rahman’s music, God, i’m so desi!!!! dang!), malay, or even to a certain extent, hindi movies.

first of all, its the acoustics. with speakers all around that can blow a man’s head off (ahem,), and the front huge ones blasting its way to heaven, you’ll be treated to some of the loudest DTS cineplex experience in the world. why? tamil movies are best savoured loud. everything is loud here. from loud actors, to loud villains, to loud dialogues, to loud clothes, loud songs and bakground score, need i say more? the louder, the better! did i mention loud motor mouth comedians?

the acoustics don’t stop there. then there’s the adoring fans. every major player in the tamil cine world has its own sets of fans, from diehard Rajni fans, to Kamal fans, Senthil fans, Shakila fans (ahem, got meh?) if you don’t have a clue of what i’m talking about, then here’s what you can do for starters ; get an Indian friend, more so a Tamil speaking friend beside you la, dei!

so whats the big deal with fans? well, its how we, indians, feel the movie when our screen heroes appea before us in the big screen. man, we feel for them, every pain, hardship, heck we even want to be figting like them when we come out from the cinema (and do crazy, physics defying stunts like Captain saaaar, such as catching a speeding bullet with an open revolver camber and firing it back to the villain…go figure. you do the thinking, while i do the laughing)

and there’s the fans again, with their timely wise cracks at every single word uttered in the movie. like its value for money, you know. watching two, or maybe three, wait, it can be a rerun of a few seasons ago, movies for the price of one. and it does not stop there. one can also hear the latest gossip revolving their favorite actors and actresses, from what they do, and where they go, and if they’re doing both together-gether, sigh…the list can, and will, mind you, go on and on and on and on……..

i see the rabbit from here….. duracell, i’m coming……

so, in a nutshell, watching a good tamil movie, if you must, is in the cinema with friends, and with loud friends, who talk the new york talk and act the new york act, but return to their roots with full blown mouth-whistling and desi flavoured-local dipped jokes.

its an institution, you know. you just gotta feel it, embrace it, and if you don’t like it, then there’s an option. get the dvd/vcd, preferably original, as they’re damn cheap compared to the original english movies, and watch it in the comfort of you four walls, where its you, your hero, your dream actress, and possibly your villain having a good time.

otherwise, head to the cineplex, and be a proud desi! watch it…..LOUD!!!!!

cheers everyone!

plain joe