Creator's eye, the height of enlightenment

Today I was fortunate enough to watch one of the upcoming film maker, Bobby Mana's short film. It is officially not released as such but I am blogging about it as I got to learn a few things today. He assists Shyamaprasad sir in his movies and I got to know him during 'Ritu'. I, my parents and Manoj (who had assisted Shyam sir in 'Ritu' but is a thorough IT professional) watched the film and then we were asked to convey whatever we felt after watching it. Obviously he was not expecting a 'good attempt' or a 'very intellectual idea' or any of those cliched comments. Honestly, I didn't understand the conclusion part. It was a little complicated or rather we Indians are too used to spoon fed movies. Even in a thriller when the lights go off and the heroine is frantically searching for a torch the cameras show every tiny little detail from the time she finds the torch to switching it on to clutching on to it showing her finger nails prominently. This too, I realized when Bobby pointed out how spoon fed our movies are. Where does it give us the time to think? To think about what happened when and why.. To think about something apart from the popcorn and sms-es we receive during the movie.

Except for Manoj the rest of us were blank. I told him very honestly, ashamed at my can't-figure-out-a-thing perception, that I din't get the conclusion which is actually the 'suspense'. Very patiently he explained the story and then asked us to watch it again. Keeping all the hints in mind as I watched it the second time I totally got what he wanted to convey. Later , Manoj and I were giving some critical feedback on the acting and few scenes we still could not connect with. As I was seriously complaining about a particular scene, Manoj was looking down as though admiring the earth beneath him was, with a smile, ridiculing him .When Bobby sensed the vibe and asked him about what he was thinking.. he replied something that inspired me to blog about this.

It is absolutely astounding to have a creator put in his imagination into practicality and it is another extreme to have the receptor analyzing only quarter of what the creator has portrayed. It's even more beautiful when you realize what you had missed and then get an opportunity to experience it once more... you cannot feel more enlightened than this. Creativity is like magic. I don't know how it produces or if it will last. But I know it's there. It's like an evidence without an evidence. It's the beauty of seeing through the creator's eye. That's exactly what I got to do today. With my perception I missed half of the fun and efforts he put behind the creation. Certain things in life are that way. We never realize it's beauty and we rarely see it through the other perception. Maybe if life was like watching a movie from the director's eye... things would have been much different. Definitely not for the worse.

Twittering all the way

I never liked Twitter before because I didn't get the point of tweeting . But now I am beginning to enjoy tweeting along with all the birdies... so you can now follow me on Twitter. Have sung for few jingles and now involved in few good shows. Will update all that in a while. Was watching the kids from Balika Vadhu in Koel's show and I must say that these kids are pretty smart. Sometimes I wish I had half the energy they have . Shyamaprasad sir and Rahul ji are getting the Vayalar award for RITU and I feel thankful to be able to play a small role in this. I and Suchith will be singing for the show on the 26th. Also on the 27th at the Tagore Hall the Vayalar group is holding a show dedicated to the great poet. Tc

Bollywood strip club

To see actors being really passionate about their acting is a good sign but not to an extent where people feel embarrassed to watch them even if the 'role demands it'. John, Neil, etc are some of the brightest actors of the future of our Filmdom. Though I am very supportive of most of the things they come up with nudity is something I do not support. Their justification is pretty convincing but even if the role demands, to watch it on screen with your parents... or even friends it's embarrassing. Maybe it's my mindset. Reality is not necessarily required to be copied on screen. Something’s are understood or they could cover it up in a way that it is understood. It's moving in a too-fast pace. The growth from flowers kissing each other has now brought us in a situation where we get to see love making even before wedlock. Even if we say that people have moved on and have started to support pre mature sex and old traditions have died, onscreen it's a different picture altogether. I don't support premature sex but I am sure that those who support also will not be comfortable watching it with their parents .There is a line drawn to mark a certain saturation point and when that is crossed it's a feeling of being a stranger. Almost all have a goof body to flaunt but when used in the right time at the right situation it doesn't feel awkward. One of the finest examples is Chandni Bar. Be it a two piece or no pieces I wish I soon become comfortable watching all this or soon I will be ditching the movie theatres near my place.

It pissed me off when so much hype is created about a movie with just a big star cast and no script. I never go to watch them and I am glad that public is giving thumbs down for such a heap of waste. I admire Bebo's wardrobe in Kambakht Ishq but I am glad that it was not declared a hit just cos of Stallone and Richards. I guess people have developed a sense of understanding the criteria for a hit movie. It's not about making a serious cinema like Black or something jazzy like CC2C..It’s about providing a story out of it. In some movie of the recent times I just love the acting of some of the superstars but it's such a disappointment to call a friend after the movie and tell him/her that I didn't get the story!

And another thing people should avoid is comparing movies Khamoshi should not be compared to Hum dil de chuke sanam and nor should Ore Kadal be compared to Ritu. They are fresh in their aspects and just show the various interpretations of the director's ideas on that subject. Being one of the singers of Ritu, people shoot questions like why was Asif shown as a gay in the movie. Apparently it was irrelevant. But my take on that subject is that it is relevant. Depends on one's perception. His gay shade was not portrayed cos of the recent hype created about the laws regarding gay rights. Sharath is a friend who believes he knows his friends better than himself and that no one knows him the way he has learnt them. At the point when he is told by some fellow worker that Sunny is a secretly a gay ,it's a moment where Sharath feels that the value created of his friendship is all gone. It' a moment when he self realizes that he never knew Sunny. It actually indicates that what we always see on the outside is not true. So he being a gay attributes a lot to Sharath's evaluation on the understanding he had about his friendship. It took him that long to realize it and that is the importance of Asif being a gay. To each his own.. This is just what I understood from the movie.

Nine @ Night will have some special interviews this whole week cos of Onam. I am not sure about which one will be telecast when. But tonight at 9 PM in Rosebowl channel we have Naresh Iyer opening his heart out. And on the 2nd of September we have 'The Big Onam Splash' on Rosebowl itself from 8 30 AM to 9 30 PM... catch it if possible.. Will be uploading most of it online anyways... till then advance Onam wishes...Ciao!

I need to thank Rahulraj for a hundred million reasons. But I'll mention one for the meanwhile. Promotiong Shyamaprasad's upcoming flick 'RITU' was absolutely fun. Actually the fun part was unexpected and now I am addicted. The whole team including actors and singers were called by a channel for promotion. The shoot was delayed by 3 hours and surprisingly all of us had a jolly good time. Ritu's music has an exceptional guitarist Sumesh who had come along with his guitar to play for us during the shoot. So initially Rahulji was just making us practice which ended being a complete unplugged session. Now I understand what it feels to be like a family! Another such event was when the movie was being promoted in technopark where major portions were shot. It was funny cos Rahulji informed me on the morning of the event and I was the only singer present there! As usual we had a gala time promoting as Shyamji was shot with a lot of questions and the I just jammed with Sumesh and Rahul. Before the shoot he was asking me to listen to Taylor Swift's music cos he thinks it will suit my singing. And trust me, IT DOES !! I am completely in love with the fun lyrics and her singing... If any of you have some good collection of spanish numbers do ping me :D

Ciao till then ....

Ritu- A Shyam Prasad- Rahul Raj combo..

April 21st: I wished Mom on her birthday and I thought of taking her out for dinner.. so I asked dad to chill out cos he wouldn't be asked for his credit card.. so we made plans for a movie and then thought of going for dinner. As planned we got the tickets and sat inside the theatre I got a call from Rosebowl regarding a show..so I asked my parents to continue watching the movie. Once done with the meeting my dad gave me a call saying someone called to his number asking for me and said it was urgent! So I went back to the theatre and gave a call to that anonymous number and the person on the other line was casually asking me where I was.. I asked him to intro himself and he said he was Rahul Raj! He asked me to come for the recording two days later and said it was for Shyam Prasad's next.

Two days later I started off to Cochin and reached there by around 2 in the afternoon. We were signalled to wait outside the recording room and I was so tired that I unknowingly took a quick nap. After half an hour of napping and waiting a man with average height stepped outside the room.. and the moment I saw him I knew who it was! He shook hands with dad and introduced himself as Shyam Prasad (as if the intro was required). After a little while Suchith, Jeetu and Job came out along with Rahul sir and they requested me to wait for 15 more minutes as they wanted to do some pet-pooja.

Finally they were done with the lunch and I was given the lyrics. I was made to sing every line twice or thrice with the music and so was Job asked to. After a little bit of rehearsing I was asked to go first and record :).. being my first proper playback experience in Malayalam I was a daaaaaaam nervous.. but Rahul ji always makes you feel comfortable with his lame jokes of course! Back in the recording room all I wanted to do was focus.. but with all the joking and pulling the leg.. all I could do was laugh and laugh :D ... But the most tension-ing part of the recording was that Shyam Prasad was there throughout! But the person is awesome infact I had such a nice time talking to him after I recorded the initial portions. Shyam sir had said it's a club song and said that we shoudln't record it thinking it's another semi-art movie ..hehe..great fun with such awesome people to work with..Job was awesome.. the feel he emotes so naturally is something we should have in us naturally...For dinner we all had chapathi and chicken and it was around 11 that I started from there for Trivandrum !!

Cindrella.mp3

I hope you guys had a wonderful time listening to this smashing number!! Do give me honest feedback :D



The Video




For the trailor click HERE.

Check out few posters of RITU Here.

To check out Shyam Prasad sir speaking about Ritu go here

The Hindu on Ritu

The article on Ritu... right hand side my lil name is mentioned :D