ACT 1978

 

Rating✪✪✪✪

 As a Cinema Buff, the scene, where in the midst of a famous bank robbery in 1972, in Brooklyn, Sonny Wotzik comes out to take the Pizza and also pays the delivery boy with tips. Played by Al Pacino in neo-noir crime drama Dog day Afternoon (1975)

 

How much have we yearned for similar plot and execution in sandalwood all these years! There is a scene in Act 1978 where Yagna Shetty tells her negotiator to pay the BESCOM bill and Paint Zebra Stripes on a Road hump. Well, if you think this is a silly demand, then aren't we all victims of such civic apathy and remained mute spectators for way too long?

 

ACT 1978, the movie, deals with serious anomalies in government departments. After losing her father, husband and hope, victim Geetha, pregnant and in pain, decides to take the entire department staff as hostages with strapping a live bomb with the help of Sharanappa, a wise old man. As the drama unfolds, the story deftly deals with the dilemma that government agencies face following the demand by Geetha that has many legal hurdles. With a sharp but factual presentation on how society and media behaves under the circumstances.  

 

Monsore and team have delivered an engaging saga and achieved what many directors and production houses failed even with hero worship, songs and stunts that are so unreal. Though there are certain shortcomings here or there, the focus here is the engagement from the beginning to the end which scores the most. With good background score and cinematography. 

 

In fact, there is a clear question to each one of us on how you deal with an issue? With violence, or the Gandhian way ? Visualizing with of the contradicting characters. As the final countdown begins with the ticking time bomb about to explode, the audience will be left shattered at the end for sure. Not to be missed, B Suresha's silence that is so deafening. 

 

ACT 1978 is an excellent watch for the family and a lesson or two in self introspection for all.

 

Anantha Subramanyam K

                                              

                                   Soorarai Pottru

 

4/5

 

Soorarai Pottru is it a Biopic or a Fiction?

Well, the answer lies in the life and tale of Captain Gopinath whose experiences in realising his dreams were no less than a fiction, but a drama in Real Life. And when the story is inspired by events that made Deccan Air a reality with Suriya as the lead, then you are bound to have a bon voyage, yeah with a lot of turbulence before a smooth touch down.

Suriya is Nedumaran (Maara) is a socialist by chance and  aviator by choice. And the movie is all about following the heart , come what may, to open up skies for the common man. The struggles and obstacles to achieve this dream forms the exhilarating journey from the first frame of the movie till the end.

The characters surrounding the protagonist are equally interesting and leave their mark on the viewers. Be it the parents, friends or his foes, every one has had their presence  throughout movies as the story oscillates between present and past with good screenplay. Suriya’s partner in the journey Aparna Balamurali is a perfect match only adds to the exploits of a daring couple ready to take the plunge with or without Bungee Rope!

All said and done, the making of this movie has taken a bit too much of cinematic freedom too. The best scene in the movie is in the airport where the hero cannot take flight because he falls short of airfare and the desperation followed is a sureshot award winning performance. In reality, does that happen that way? Or, just bargig into the President's office and the president calling him in because he is a Maduraikaaran. Well, that’s cinematic freedom and will be enjoyed by the audience for sure.

Overall, it’s a great team work led by Sudha K Prasad with BGM, Editing & Visuals all complimenting each other. It would have been great to watch the drama unfold on the big screen, but it was equally good on my TV screen also.

Anantha Subramanyam K

NOUGHT-a great story

 

Yesterday, got the news on the demise of our Mathematics teacher in Middle school Ms Shanbagavalli. As kids, we used address her as ‘Shambagoli’ miss, most of my classmates would agree. I have a short story to share with you while I was in my 6th grade.

We were to get our signatures on marks card after every test or exams. In one such test I had scored a perfect Nought! My father, who knew about my educational prowess, was bit annoyed. He told “normally you would get 4 or 5 marks out of 50, but how come a ZERO? Can’t you score at least 1 mark out of so many questions?” He was clearly disturbed, which was not common otherwise, (He was a cool dad) So, I replied that my Maths teacher had misplaced my answer sheets, it is yet to be discovered… So, the Zero! I didn’t know what was running through my dad’s mind, but he signed the progress report. Not a good progress rather!

Next day, in the middle of the class I was summoned to HMs chamber. To my utter shock I could see my dad to my left, Maths teacher Shanbagavalli to my right and a fuming Fathima Sister (HM) in the middle. And even more dreadful scene was that my teacher holding my answer sheets, intact, in front of my dad! My legs failed me, beads of sweat started to build on my forehead as my mouth went dry. A tight slap from my dad and a mouth full of gaalis, both by my teacher and the HM. To add insult to injury, a ‘stand up on the bench’ punishment in the class with my infamous story told to all the class by my teacher. I deserved it, it was absolutely no fault of Shambagoli miss at all. It was all of my own making.

In 2017, we, the Lourdes high school Class of ’85 had a grand reunion where most of our teachers too were gathered. Yes, Shambagoli miss also was there. Now being a photojournalist and all, I was also asked to speak at the reunion. I admitted at first that I was an outstanding student, because, most of the times I was asked to stand outside the class for my lethargy, dullness and falling behind in so many aspects. Later, I explained the gathering about this Zero Mark incident too (bit hilariously), to everyone’s amazement.

After I got down from the stage, many teachers shook my hands for being so frank in admitting my mistakes and our HM Fathima sister hugged me with fondness. After few minutes, Shambagoli miss came to me, held both my hands tightly and said “Anantha, your success goes on to prove that Zero has so much value in one’s life” them she fondly pulled my chin and said she was happy to see me what I am today.

Her last words echoed in my ears when I learnt about her demise.

RIP Shanbagavalli Madam. You will remain in memories forever.

Jaya through my lens

Any photojournalist who has spent time for quite a few years, will always have a tale to tell. They certainly would  have had their moment, an iconic picture of a personality in their collection that is worth cherishing.

In my career, I have covered many such characters, but nothing worth mentioning.  There were leaders like Ramakrishna Hegde, JH Patel among others, who are fresh in my mind because of their characters.

Yes, Jayalalithaa of course, but for the wrong reasons. By now we all know so many things on her as for last two days, almost all the media houses are digging up stories and hard selling it as ‘Things you never knew about Jaya’ blah…blah.

For me, memories of Jayalalithaa and BS Yeddyurappa will remain forever. Because, till date, these were the only two chief minsters who were prisoned on allegations of corruption. And, i had the misfortune of being witness to these occurring.

I have had my exclusive moments in both the cases. It was on a Thursday night in mid-September, 2004 when I came to know about Jayalalithaa’s articles arriving at City Civil Court. The scheduled time of arrival was at 4am in the morning. By 3am I was at the court steps on a chilly Friday morning. The cargo arrived by 6 and it was an exclusive for Deccan Herald. The case that started in September 2004 saw the end of it with Jayalalithaa’s conviction in a trail court in Parappana, again in the month of September 2014. I did cover Jayalalithaa’s appearance in court in 2011 and in 2014 when she was convicted. I had her last image when she waved goodbye to the gathering supporters after procuring bail. The last image of the iconic leader that I clicked.

One thing I have to confess here. There were leaders who had mass following and some do have even now. But, the kind of diehard followers this lady has speaks of volumes about her character. I have never seen the devotion of this magnitude to any other politician in my career.

And this lady, despite her health problems chose to spend time in jail until she got a bail without faking heart attacks or breathlessness. That was Jayalalithaa which I know.

Unlike Yeddyurappa, who was brought to Jayadeva hospital with chest pain the very day he was imprisoned. A soon I got wind of the story, I rushed to Jayadeva Hospital, because of my presence, Police had to cover their VIP patient with a white cloth and deployed around 20 odd policemen to physically throw me off from clicking pictures. But by then, I had my moments and it was a page 1 exclusive with my first person account in DNA Bangalore.

Spoilsports @ #TCSWorld10K

1) The much awaited sporting event in Bangalore just happened last Sunday (18th May 2014). TCS World 10K Marathon. The most anticipated moment to capture for photojournalists is the finish point when the elite runner crosses the winning tape and jubiliates. So, we are given a place, on the left side of the finish line where we are asked to cover from. We cannot cover the finishing moments from a straight angle to get the depth of field because of our position. See the picture

2) Then I thought I would stand really faraway with my tele-lens mounted with converter and take really nice straight pictures of finishing moments. And then came the first obstacle. A sophisticated 'foriegn' photographer from marathonphotos.com. Initially I thought he would move away. But, it was just the beginning of the spoilers.

3) Then the photographers from the organisers wearing CREW bibs joined in.I had to shift to a side and my whole idea of depth was already shattered. I seriously thought that these fellows to move away when the athlete finihes his run. See what happens, next.

4) They never budged, be it the winner or other runners.

5) You can see at the left, one crew member even gesturing the winner to come to the left side instead of clearing the cameraman and others.

6) This was the case with many runners who were blocked by these unmindful CREW whom i thought all these days that they were thorough professionals.

PHEW......... Hope better sense prevails next time.

When VK Murthy literally made it to the top, at 87.

I had a good fortune of covering VK Murthy felicitation programme once. After he got Dada Saheb Phalke award, many organisations started to felicitate him. Some out of respect while many for mere publicity. But Murthy sir obliged all of them. This assignment in particular, gave me heartburn. The felicitation programme was on third floor of Kannada Sahithya Parishath. Lift had conked out that day. The organisers could easily have shifted the event to the available halls on the ground floor. But they made Murthy sir climb three floors. Adding insult to injury, Murthy's specially abled daughter Chaya, too was made to climb three floors. They made it happily though, without any issues. But, I felt for them and the story appeared on page 1 of DNA on February 1st 2010 edition. Hats off to Murthy sir and his daughter for their simplicity, which is difficult to find in the new the generation celebrities. RIP V K Murthy sir.

Silent end to a Bitter-Sweet relationship-RIP Dad

Silent end to a Bitter-Sweet relationship-RIP Dad

Literally, the relationship was bitter sweet, like a sip of chilled beer, which on Sundays we used to share together in a dingy Manjunatha Bar near our home. Yes, both me and my dad on Sundays used to have beer together, sometimes my closest of friends too dropped in to have a sip with this unique father-son duo.

How can I ever forget the childhood days when my dad used to carry me on his shoulders to local market in Cubbonpet. There was a old vegetable vendor with caged sparrows whom I fondly used to call 'Kuruvi Taatha'. On our way back dad never forgot to hand me my favorite Parry's toffee wrapped in green polythene costing 1 paise.

I was never a good school going child. There was one or other pretext always to bunk the classes. Dad knew that my reasons were fake, yet, he pretended that my stomach ache was genuine. But, how can I ever forget the day when I flunked in my 6th grade exams and the results day happened to be April 17th, my birthday. Setting my results (that came by post, inland letter with bold rubber stamp DETAINED) aside, dad took me to Kids Kemp on KG Road and bought me new dress worth 700 bucks!!

I got upset with him when he forced me to work in Adlabs with him, while he promoted many youngsters to take up photography lending his own camera and encouraging  them. My dads skill and his out of the way co-operation had helped these guys attain stardom and a well settled job while I was made to work like a bonded labourer in that colour lab. The reason was, dad had lost his studio and all his equipments due to a devious plans by his partner. Hence, he never wanted me to be a photographer, ever. But, his brillinace was in my blood, I had to fight with him and pick up my own camera to venture into photography in late 80s.

There was a time when dad thought that I will not be able to take care of him and mom, and started taking solace with my sweet talking relatives. But, I never went nuclear, we stayed together until last 8 months of his demise because of his acute ailment and frequent hospitalization.

For last five years, his speech waned, he survived two cardiac arrests, but he was a man of iron will. Always on the move, always busy and always helpful to others.

The only asset he has left me with is, his brilliance and the knack of being different when others used to follow the crowd. What ever I have done till date with photography is just part of his brilliance, it can never be matched. There were lot of disagreements between me and my dad on many issues, but it was OK, as we have been friends all these years more than a father and a son. Probably these issues had kept our bond strong all these years.And, I don't know I was able to take care as per his expectations. If I have failed, probably it's too late to seek his forgiveness for my mistakes.

If at all there was any person to match the description 'Work is Worship' it was my dad. Or simply put in Kannada 'ಕಾಯಕವೇ ಕೈಲಾಸ' ಪತಿ. Yes, Kailasapathi was his name.

Love you dad.