I N T E R S T E L L A R - An Epic Masterpiece with a Heart

I N T E R S T E L L A R – An Eternal Journey

What is the reason films are made for? What is the point in showcasing our creation? It's just for the people of the world to celebrate!

            Christopher Nolan’s “Interstellar”, honestly, is the greatest form of human creation on the celluloid. As the rare of the rarest directors, Nolan’s singular vision and artistic freedom to make the impossible possible and explore all the uncertainties infinitely, his “Interstellar” is just a ‘gargantuan’ making. Mankind’s next step is the greatest and Nolan has taken the most celebrated human invention – movies – to an all new level. The cerebral thread of “Interstellar” is the awesome experience of space and an altruistic portrayal of human emotions across solar systems. One would have never watched and never ever will watch a movie like “Interstellar”, henceforth. Period.

Christopher Nolan - Modern film-making genius

                “Don’t go gentle into the good night”. “Love is the only perceived human emotion that could cut across the dimensions of time and space”. “We are not meant to save the world. We are meant to leave it”. Some of the most memorable phrases in human history find a significant rank in the epic of “Interstellar”. Many suggest that Christopher Nolan’s “Interstellar” is the modern presentation of legendary director Stanley Kubrick’s evergreen space odyssey, “2001: A Space Odyssey” made in 1975, about 39 years ago, But for me, as an avid viewer of world cinema, I find these two films just contrasting in every way. While Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” has a timeline and truth, Nolan’s “Interstellar” is just timeless and an outcome of pure imagination with an endless voyage across galaxies. If not a fiction, “Interstellar” could be touted as the ultimate survival story in the history of mankind. Throughout the film, one thing was certain and many things were uncertain. Certainty is that no frame in the movie was seen ever before and never again; uncertainty is that no frame in the movie is predictable and even if predicted, went awry. A noble film-making is always in that way, and through “Interstellar”, Nolan proves it yet again that he ain’t just a normal film-maker but a superlative human-being who makes movies for the world to celebrate and be proud of them.

"Don't go gentle into the good night" - 5D Space with time and gravity dimensions

            I have been following the movie “Interstellar” ever since it was in the pre-production stage and I could truly tell, the making of “Interstellar” is insanely humongous just like the movie itself. Being a perfectionist himself, Christopher Nolan paid attention to every detail in the film including that of a dying earth, hopeless planets, image of the black hole, iced clouds, 5-D spaces which traverses time and gravity, time (years & light years) of space travel and a spaceship that included ultra-power navigation. To make the film look logically true, Nolan took theoretical physicist Kip Thorne in for the movie and started to build the look of the black hole by formulating equations. Newton’s “Laws of Motion” & Albert Einstein’s “Theory of Relativity” were used fundamentally to predict the movement of objects in space and how actually (or may be approximately) a black hole could look which tested the ultimate intelligence and creativity of the physicist. Possibly, Kip Throne believes that he might take his study which he did for “Interstellar” to the Noble Prize evaluators and who knows, he might even win that prestigious honour thanks to Christopher Nolan.

Theoretical physicist Dr. Kip Thorne with "Interstellar" star Jessica Chastain working on the physics of 'Black Hole'

            The finest aspect of the film is its reality and grounding to basic film-making. “Interstellar” is not about ahead-of-the-times film-making, but it is an elevation of contemporary film-making to an all new level. Many who closely follow Nolan might agree with me that he hates the use of technology and is an avid follower of grounded, realistic cinema. This is the reason why “Interstellar” was not made in 3D which he believes will ruin the core soul of the film and people will amuse more only for the 3D shots and leave behind the imagination and superlative storytelling. Nolan’s gigantic creations like “The Dark Knight” (2007), “Inception” (2010) and “The Dark Knight Rises” (2012) have also been a pioneer of contemporary films at their times and with “Interstellar”, Nolan has raised the bar for the world film-makers even higher. The main reason for making “Interstellar” in IMAX is that Nolan wanted people to experience the real sound of space and zero-gravity. And well, he has succeeded big time.

The 'gargantuan' making of space in "Interstellar"

            The casting for “Interstellar” is just perfect as it could get. Matthew McConaughey as Cooper lives the role of a bounded father and as an ace pilot of space-crafts. Anne Hathaway as Dr. Brand and Jessica Chastain as Murphy show their true class act and are definitely star performers. The other show stealers are the ever graceful Michael Caine and the surprising Matt Damon. Music by Hans Zammer is path-breaking and every frame and its mood are lighted up with his everlasting background score. Sound editing, cinematography and Visual effects lend justice to the infinite creativity of Nolan. Special mention to Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, Lynda Obst Productions, Legendary Pictures and Syncopy – all production houses – of “Interstellar” for bringing the film in time as promised. In the business side, “Interstellar” made at an estimated budget of $165mn – comparatively moderate for a space film of this level – has now grossed more than $200mn (within 7 days) – official figures awaited – and is set to become the highest grossing movie of 2014 (including theatrical rights worldwide, DVD sales, TV rights and brand partnerships). “Interstellar’, however, is more than just business.

Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway in "Interstellar".

            The interpretation of Murphy’s Law – “Whatever can happen, will happen” – and the unanswerable question of “they” are snippets of utmost intelligence, Nolan has given through “Interstellar”. People who question about the logic of “Interstellar” might need to revisit the theatre once again, as I find no reason to test the logic when the film is about fiction and represents imaginative creation. Overall, “Interstellar” is just extraordinary, completely satisfying experience and the cerebral of modern-day limelight for cinema. Maybe, sometimes, it strikes to be as the greatest film ever-made.

Christopher Nolan's "Interstellar" - a film that the world should celebrate. Infinite imagination and altruistic presentation. 

            Finally, if “Inception” gave us all fantasies to dream within a dream, “Interstellar” now gives us a chance to explore the space in an unadulterated brilliant way destroying all the impossibilities. Take a bow, Christopher Nolan. You deserve much more, more than your first Academy Award for Best Director, which happens next year.

I N T E R S T E L L A R (4.5/5) – Par Excellent! An Epic Masterpiece from Nolan.

The Broken Heart – An Ode To An Eternal Love Story Left Untold

- A Dream -           

            Life is all it takes to live in the present and that is it. But here, what we do every day is survival and search for a life which actually does not exist at all. Just imagine that you are living your bizarre wildest dream literally. A gigantic ship breaks down in the mid-Atlantic Ocean and you are freezing to death. There will be moments once the havoc happens which your brain will preach that you could survive somehow. As the minutes pass by, unconsciously your nerve drops and the hope of life starts disappearing bit by bit. A fight erupts within you whether to go for the life you truly deserve to be lived more or let go without facing the toughest non-sense reality prevailing outside. Your brain leaves you aside and there will be only your heart controlling you meticulously. There will be again moments of little hope and huge good-bye to the world. You are freezing like the polar ice and start drowning slowly into the deepest ‘black’ ocean. Your legs begin to tap for a life that doesn't exist. Your lungs want to breathe in as much air as possible for the one last time. Your hands wish to reach above the sea level and at-least ask for help for God’s sake. Those will be the minutes of your life that you would have lived to the fullest. There is hardly anyone inside that deadliest ocean to save you and that moment when you realize your dreadful loneliness, it is the most painful thing ever a soul could face. You keep drowning till the bottom and touch the land that you could never feel or maybe you might die before you touch at all. For the courtesy being attached to a soul’s body, your limbs will shiver. The moment will lead to an eternal silence. Your breath will never respond to your conscience. There is only one way to go to reach comfort and that is leaving your soul out of your own. There will be no brain. There will be no sunshine anymore. There will not be opportunities from here on to be with your dearest. There will no space. There will be no time. There will be only the heart echoing in that eternal silence which will be heard by none. The heart pleads, begs for mercy, punches every living cell to death and forgives the pain-givers at the very last moment. There will not be any desires. There will not be hope. There will be no God. There will be no Love. All that is left is regret that there is a promise which has been left unfulfilled.

            A promise made to your dearest leading to live this ‘one born’ life forever together. A promise pledged that whatever may happen, we together stand firm and beat all the ‘odds’ and achieve a life that we truly deserve. A promise made of eternal love united by Godly elements and driven by life’s biggest passion of being ‘us’ and not ‘me’ or ‘You’. A promise done that will stand between your life and death. A ‘promise’ decided in the name of God, heaven and Earth that could be only broken by death. A promise made to be immortal in every form which has never let mortal beings take leverage about it. But this ‘promise’ made never did anything except an intolerable pain and this cruel death day by day.

      

Deep from the deepest of the deadliest ocean, you keep wishing to rise from the dead which you already are. However, your wounds in life never let you come out of it. Your vulnerability and unpredictability which has led to the gruesome hatred in your life never even wants the soul to rise again. A part of your heart beats for the promise to keep while the largest part of your heart wishes to fade away in death. This fight of eternity is what love could give you at the end of it all. It all ends today. There is no life anymore. Always the bigger wins over the innocent smaller. Even in the societies we dwell in, large influential families take their own decisions and suppress the smaller, good-thinking, help-minded innocent family souls. It is not just about love and happiness of a living-being, for the narrow-minded ‘large’ families, it is all about the invisibly cruel ego, esteem, self-privilege, status, money and what not; it does include every form of trash, useless prejudice and pointless relative-peer pressure.

"வாயில்லாமல் போனால் வார்த்தையில்லை பெண்ணே..

நீயில்லாமல் போனால் வாழ்க்கையில்லை கண்ணே..

முள்ளோடு தான் முத்தங்களா சொல் சொல்!

பாவையில்லை பாவை ,தேவையென்ன தேவை.. 

ஜீவன் போன பின்னே சேவை என்ன சேவை ..

முள்ளோடு தான் முத்தங்களா சொல் சொல்!"

                       "காற்றின் அலை வரிசை கேட்கின்றதா..கேட்கும் பாட்டில் ஒரு உயிர் விடும் கண்ணீர் வழிகின்றதா.. நெஞ்சு நனைகின்றதா..இதயம் கருகும் ஒரு வாசம் வருகிறதா"

"வானம் எங்கும் உன் பிம்பம்; ஆனால் கையில் சேரவில்லை!

காற்றில் எங்கும் உன் வாசம்; வெறும் வாசம் வாழ்க்கையில்லை!

உயிரை வேரோடு கிள்ளி, என்னைச் செந்தீயில் தள்ளி, எங்கே சென்றாயோ கள்ளி..

ஓயும் ஜீவன் ஓடும் முன்னே, ஓடோடி வா.."

                   Love is a pledge; love is a bond for life; love is selfless; love is selflessly ‘selfish’; love is independent; love is not dependent on any other ‘external force’; love is internally-woven; love is a promise that lives forever. There have been moments in history where people have waited eons and eons for their disappeared loved ones to come back to them, only to find their death when that person never came back. There have also been moments when people have lost their lives in the nature of impossible chance to live together. I often wish that I could have born in that era. That era meant no travelling and everything happened domestically and not like today where people travel and stay away from home and made to be present in that moment where love happens and finally all end up in a disaster. You never knew when love happens but it just happens in the space of time by a heavenly force. A life full of love happens completely in that fraction of a section and from there on it only keeps growing to infinity like there is no sky or a universe to bind it. Nobody really knows what the future holds for you but when love happens, you decide the future presuming that you are the God of your destiny. But all that happens is a pure ‘lie’ which has never really been told even though millions and millions of souls have faced this ugly truth and still living like the logs of wood meant for house-fire. That moment of lifelessness takes away all your desires, hope, love, music and God in you. All it leaves behind is a soulless body of yours which is certainly depleted. You are left alone feeling like an age-old suffering in medical pain in the terrible winter in the Arctic continent. You wonder what life is all about and when you look back there is nothing but emptiness. You are said to ‘assume’ that we live in each other forever and for the information, that ‘assumption’ is the most dreadful thing as it keeps reminding about the dearest’s absence along-with the ‘golden’ memories and the present pain inside the unblessed soul of the sufferer. You cry like a man pleading for water in a desert, ultimately drinking his own tears. You become insane to the fact that your own room seems to be bigger like the whole world and it terribly frightens you to step outside. You feel like life is converging to a point called as “death’ and you keep wishing to converge any time sooner. Sooner the better will be your inner-call.

"உன்னாலே உயிர் வாழ்கிறேன் உனக்காக பெண்ணே; உயிர் காதல் நீ காட்டினாய் மறவேனே அன்பே! 

இதுவரை உன்னுடன் வாழ்ந்த என் நாட்கள் மறுமுறை வாழ்ந்திட வழி இல்லையா..

இருளில் தேடிய தேடல்கள் எல்லாம் விடியலை காணும் விதி இல்லையா..."

            Honestly, there is only ‘one life’. Naturally, you cannot know whether you are now living your n^th life or have you ever lived before nor will you live after. You are also not sure that whether you will be meeting your dearest in the next birth or not. It is poetically great to listen but the pure truth is that there is only present and only this moment which you are breathing now is real and nothing else. So life with so much of fantasies can now be narrowed down to this present point where there is only truth and let us understand there is only one opportunity for the world’s eternal beings in love ever. “If not now, then when? If not you, then who?” are the truest wisdom which needs to arise now. You need to be independent to lead a life that you truly deserve else there is no point in the ‘act’ which we all gratefully perform. “Deserve your dream” is the ultimate point in anyone’s life and if there is no life at all, then there could be no dreams which you know you deserve. If you do not live to deserve your dream, then what is the essence of life from its most fundamental point? True! There are always situations in life which gives us two options like the drowning to death in the Ocean. There will be hurdles, there will be tears, there will be panic but all that takes it make you live an ‘unworthy’ life. There will be sacrifices, there will be inconsolable pain, there will be loss but all it leads a pointless life which you often there is no need to live. The ability to deserve your dream and the fight to win in your love is always because of the ‘courage’, ’firmness in your decision’ and being ‘selflessly selfish’ in love. When this courage happens, you will find opportunities to achieve your ambition. You will soon realize that the night before the dawn is always the darkest and there is life if we fight. Words of condolence is easily said but taking and doing that into life is the hardest ever and you have to only live with that pain to understand how tough it is when the love has been the greatest ever. You have to find that opportunity to start living once again, and definitely there is always one, whether to keep drowning for endless pain or go above to fulfill that ‘one’ promise.            

"மின்னலே நீ வந்ததேனடி..என் கண்ணிலே ஒரு காயமென்னடி..என் வானிலே நீ மறைந்துப் போன மாயமென்னடி"

"கண் விழித்துப் பார்த்தபோது கலைந்த வண்ணமே..உன் கை ரேகை ஒன்று மட்டும் நினைவுச் சின்னமே!

கதறிக் கதறி எனது உள்ளம் உடைந்து போனதே..இன்று சிதறிப் போன சில்லில் எல்லாம் உனது பிம்பமே..

கண்ணீரில் தீ வளர்த்தே காத்திருக்கிறேன்..உன் காலடித் தடத்தில் நான் பூத்திருக்கிறேன்.."

         Wish we had been born elsewhere. I cannot understand the ‘societal rituals’ here and the reasons for ‘institutional weddings’ with pointless dumping of the real love souls. Two human beings (as taken in by Earth) and there is always the third human-being trying to interfere; what is this point? Who are you? What is this culture? Where are you from? You are entirely breaking the nature of this world. There is nothing that the two beings could when the third person is so heavier to influence everything these two persons hold to. This culture has to change. This has affected endless people and all they live is one aimless, regardless life filled with unhappiness, sorrow and guilt. All these sorrow has led to a regressive growth in the society and that has definitely affected the overall growth of the nation. How many people are aimlessly unhappy like this? How many are facing this ugly truth every day? How many start pretending to survive by performing their invincible ‘act’? But, I swear to God that there could no person other than me to be that ‘most unlucky, unblessed, unhappiest soul ever the world has seen’ just because I have loved the most. What is this point? God has to answer my call.

"சில்லென்று பூமி இருந்தும்..இந்த தருணத்தில் குளிர்காலம் கோடை ஆனதேனோ..

வா அன்பே நீயும் வந்தால், செந்தணல் கூட பனிகட்டி போல மாறுமே"

                  ‘Near, far, wherever you are I believe that the heart does go on’. The heart keeps reciting the name of you only. There is no place for any other as you have taken the heart completely and never really returned back and I don’t wish that you return it to me. Stay with it and wishing you all good things in life. Understanding and adapting to each other is the eternal form of love. Understanding you and getting to know that creating that chance is the most difficult thing. But I really wish, we could be re-born elsewhere soon and be together at-least in the next, as you always say. You are poetic, you are graceful and always the best things will happen for you. Never could stop writing all these thoughts and lots more to come, as will keep writing the whole life. I always wish and keep dreaming for that ‘dream’ to happen. ‘Once more you open the door, and you're here in my heart, and my heart will go on and on’. Hope is a good thing; maybe the best of things and no good things ever dies. I will be forever living with hope. It will be the first man drowning in the deepest ocean, facing death and even then hoping to fulfill the promise one day. ‘Love can touch us one time and last for a lifetime; and never let go till we're gone’. ‘Love was when I loved you; one true time I hold to. In my life we'll always go on’. I always hold true to what I believe the most in the world. It is you. The greatest love stories in the world have never been told and that is why we are unaware what the greatest is. Let this be the top right up there as the greatest just for us having lived, loved, breathed and prayed love like no one else ever in the history of mankind. ‘I can see you in the faces of the sky; but it never reaches me. I can smell your fragrance in the breeze; but how can you ask me to live like this’. There is no life without you. There is no sky without the Earth. There is nothing else. Deserve your dream. Try it out. Let us fight till our last moment. Live with the hope that the poles actually meet each other someday. There is still sunshine in this hopeless winter. ‘Thank you for everything’. You really meant it that day. I didn't know. I wish that these words are reversed. These words could be taken back. I really do. A dream. There is still hope for this ‘drowning’ man! The hope that will keep the soul alive, for little longer!

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The curious case of JIGARTHANDA - An Epic Feast!

              Through Jigarthanda, the quality of Indian cinema just got richer. After innumerable reviews and of course, loads of appreciation for Jigarthanda already, I still couldn’t stop myself writing about this epic classic. Karthik Subbaraj has taken the world into the historic city of Madurai in its contemporary style and delivered a world-class cinema that will be remembered for ages.

            When people argue about whether Jigarthanda showcases the crime imitating art or the art imitating crime, I see the movie depicting a crime which felicitates art and the art which suppresses that crime. It is quite unusual for cinema to come across a film like Jigarthanda which is nothing less than a humongous milestone for the entire industry. It is arguably the finest kind of film-making the industry could have seen in a decade or so. Such was the effort of the entire team that every frame is sculpted to a divine grace. The sculpture was built off a single rock and the final product was however having beauty all around. Truly, Indian cinema could have never witnessed a film that conveyed the power of cinema as a medium to influence people so much than what Jigarthanda did.

         Jigarthanda Trailer . The movie as an experience is unparallel to anything I have seen of late. Enthralling performances, quintessential music, parallel-quoted maverick screenplay, violent-patient fantasising cinematography and to top it all a commanding direction, Jigarthanda brings out the best from every resource to make it an epic composition. It takes the courage of Siddharth’s calibre to play the character allowing the demon to rock from other end. Many times, missions fail without a balanced launch-pad and Siddharth as a talented young director chasing his first film fills the role as perfect as anything to be that launch-pad for ‘Bobby’ Simha. After all the result is eventually to make Jigarthanda the sweeter it is meant to be. Simha’s lifetime performance as A.Sethu will remain longer in the hearts of filmgoers and there cannot be surprises if he wins as many awards as applicable, since every bit of them, he deserves it thoroughly. The characters Oorni, Raasu, Palani, Senthil, Soundar, Kayal, Muthu (the acting teacher, wow!) will be immortal just because of the fact that every character is uniquely sketched for a masterpiece.

Jigarthanda Poster

            








               Jigarthanda easily falls in the league of Mani Ratnam’s Kannathil Muththamittaal, Bala’s Nandha, Ameer’s Paruthiveeran, M.Sasi Kumar’s Subramaniyapuram and to a great extent Gautham Vasudev Menon’s romantic classic Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya for adopting meticulous, passionate film-making and inducing life in every frame remaining in our lives and as part of them forever. Very rarely such films occur in Indian cinema and Jigarthanda (rightly chosen as Forbes’s Top 5 Indian movies to watch in 2014) delivers a master-class attaining this cult-status. Films like these bring pride and joy together and cast away all the benchmark and blue-print for its legacy of films to come. It is fortunate as well as amusing to quote, the genius Karthik Subbaraj has just arrived. Therefore, it will be pleasing to know, there are lot of archery up his castle and the battlefields are getting ready to be made.

            The film is a monumental production in terms of uncompromising imagination and quality, special thanks to producer Kathiresan for allowing the director to bring his story to life. Santosh Narayan’s music is one of the greatest value-additions in the film; unbelievable music composition right from the beginning to end. The theme music for the don, the gibberish interlude, the Jigar and the Thanda montages, Kannamma song’s orchestration and RR, everything from Santosh is just mesmerizing and elevates the film to an altogether different level. Jigarthanda, I believe has also showcased how tearing apart the ‘image’ of a person could be an unbearable factor and that the cinema medium has every power on Earth to make or break anyone; everyone!

Karthik Subbaraj, Siddharth and Karunakaran during the making of Jigarthanda

            












          Karthik Subbaraj’s Jigarthanda is an immortal classic which will pave way for more similar ideologies to arise as movies in the years to come. The director’s vision has rightly given the confidence, pride and joy to the people at the right time which itself is the biggest achievement for the film. This is great for the entire team and particularly the director as the mastermind for bringing Quentin Tarantino kind of absolute film-making in Indian cinema. There are still secrets to identify even after watching the film multiple times and that is even more special for the film. Never before realized the value of tears and just by seeing the one drop of tear in Simha’s eyes, Jigarthanda says it all!

Jigarthanda: Epic Feast!