The way of light

It’s anger,
Against whatever I could not achieve,
Against all those unfulfilled aspirations,
Against myself, through others.

How long,
Will the blame game continue,
How long,
Will i find solace in ficticious mistakes of others,
How long,
Will i take my side,
How long,
Will i try to prove without actually trying.

But i find my strength,
In my past and in my present,
I find it in my future,
I find it through others.

I will see the world,
With my own eyes,
Life as it is,
Discard as it is not.

Reality and not fiction,
Will show the light,
Ill move to those heights,
Which i thought ill never reach.

Vinnai thandi Varuvaya, a review

A guy who is "thunder bolted" and a girl who is forced to confine her world of romance inside a nutshell covered by her commitment towards the family, this is what Vinnai Thandi Varuvaya is about.

Time and again, Indian movie makers have narrated love stories by various means, but not many have attempted to do so solely by the means of the characters that they have carved out. Vinnai Thandi Varuvaya is such an attempt by Gautam Menon.

"Karthik" falls in love at first sight and believes that this is the way it should be, that this is true love and that he can do anything to pursue it. This is the philosophy that takes him from one point to another, both in time and in space. Even his aspiration to be a director blossoms due to this philosophy. And at the end of the movie he reiterates that his first love and only his first love would inspire him to live his life in his own way, whether she would be physically with him or not.

"Jessie" too falls for the "love at first sight" phenomenon, but is too scared rather practical to acknowledge it. Every time Karthik tries to get closer, she tells him that this is not going to happen. Just like Karthik, she knows that what she feels towards Karthik is the truth, but unlike him, does not consider it worthy enough to go beyond the boundaries of her family.

This difference in personality of the two characters takes the movie ahead, scene by scene. The music and the camera make this flow poetic, but never disturb its natural state.

Karthik is single minded, which he proves time and again through his perseverance. But this quality is highlighted the most when he uses his first movie to depict what he thinks the worthwhile ending of his first love should be. Jessie seems to be confused. She does her best to avoid what she thinks will lead to disaster. But every now and then she is not able to completely escape the magic of romance. But both these characters are strong and never let things go beyond what they believe is true.

Throughout the movie Karthik tries to convince Jessie what he believes. And like any normal guy of his age, he succeeds at times and fails at many. He gets agitated when he is not able to understand what is in Jessie's mind. It is almost as if he is screaming, "It is so simple, how come you do not see it" and every time Jessie replies "you will not understand." Karthik never understands, and this is what makes the movie both realistic and beautiful.

Gautam Menon makes use of some very basic rules in the Indian society to tell his story.

Rule No 1: There is always a point in a guy's life when he thinks of a girl and nothing else.
Rule No 2: Many Indian girls are torn between their family and love, at some point in their life.
Rule No 3: True love never fades away, it never makes a person perpetually sad. Instead it acts as an inspiration.

The belief in modern times is that a true piece of art should attract extreme reactions from a viewer. All feed backs from people who have seen the movie reiterates this fact. Some fell in love with Karthik and Jessie and flew in the moonlit stream of romance. Some hated it to the core, both for the slow pace and for the extreme form of romance used.

Thus this piece of art, whose title has been taken from one of the most beautiful songs in recent times, deserves applause. After all not many genuine creations we see in these times of masala and sensation.... Do we ????........................................