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Thursday, June 30, 2005

A dream, a post, Star Wars and some ramblings...

There are days when things worth writing about happen. Most of these things are disconnected, trivial incidents but they are funny and interesting.

I made my directorial debut yesterday. Yeah, in my dreams.. (That's not sarcasm.No, I mean literally :-)) I slept off after watching some Vivek comedies and in my dream, I started watching a movie. I switch on the TV, pick up the remote and hit the play button. Only the TV is in focus. And "Manichitrathaazh" starts playing except it is black-and-white. I haven't seen this movie and god knows what prompted me to dream it all up. And so the first scene is someone with a deep voice who describes what MPD means and he says: "The best example is the story of -----" and the scene cuts to a verandah. Two people are sitting reading newspapers. The camera focuses on the lady and she removes the newspaper in front of her face and lo! It is Shobana! Again, all this is in B & W for some weirdo reason. And she talks animatedly with her hubby (I can't see his face). After a while, Mohanlal walks in looking all serious and scholarly and he talks something in Malayalam (I swear to god I have no knowledge of Malayalam but believe me, Mohan Lal talks a full-length Malayalam dialogue in my dream! God knows how my sub-conscious made it up so well. I seem to be blessed with a fertile imagination...:)). Then, there is one scene where Shobana rips up at MohanLal like a wild cat. Then finally, when we get to the "Raa Raa" like scene a la Chandramukhi, my dream goes bust....kind of a sad, dull
ending to my directorial debut. I am curious to watch the original to see how it matches with my dream venture...:)

The funny thing is that in my dream, I watch the movie in a big bhoot-bungalow type place and I hear the echoes richocheting off the walls.(There was one place in the dream where I hear a scream and my actual self shuddered in response to it) So my dream-self decides to close/open the window and I lean out to do it. Now I know that in reality, I had opened my window that night before sleeping. So when I
woke up, I had an eerie doubt as to whether I actually leaned to close the window or not.......

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Baby K has written a post about money and investing. I liked it and found it useful. So here's to Lex's new found Sledgeman and Financial Advisor...:))

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I had to switch to a Japanese character set for Windows recently for some work I am doing. And I found it so hard to navigate through my system. I didn't even know which were the OK , Cancel, Apply buttons anymore for some screens. And I had to IM someone and without looking at the screen, I hit the keystrokes and pressed enter. Only to find gibberish (Japanese to those who understand it, Gibberish to me) on my screen. I am not sure but the probabilities are the person at the other end thought I was swearing at them. Embarassments galore.

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I have become such a lazy bum that I am far behind with schoolwork and if I don't get my act in place soon, I am going to be in a huge mess...Eeks! I wish I'd not have these great enlightening thoughts just before the long weekend. They just spoil my peace.

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Some movies should be watched in the context of the decade/era they were released to capture the awe and amazement. Watch them farther down the line and they just don't seem as eye-popping as they must've been back then. I watched Star Wars-IV last week. It was not mind-boggling for me. In the 70s, the concept of spaceships, aliens, robots etc...was a giant leap in creativity and it captured people's imaginations! Now I am used to having aliens pop out of woods and cupboards and have all sorts of Borgs, Romulans, Klingons, Cardassians walk across my living room daily. Sigh. This jaded feeling is what comes out of watching Star Wars after having heavy doses of Star Trek (Deep Space Nine, Voyager etc...),Earth-Final Conflict, Mars Attacks, Independence Day, MIB and so on and so forth. I wish I were a kid who'd be amazed with every thing that she sees.
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Why do people need to elevate a person talented in some field to iconic status to the point of making them non-human? Be it Rajinikanth (to the extent that he was doing all sorts of Vittalacharya style magic tricks in 'Baba'), Abe Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson or Gandhi, people simple make them icons to the point that any one negative quality attributed to them becomes totally unacceptable. Why not? I mean, weren't they humans too? So what if Rajinikanth has some bad qualities or Abe Lincoln doubted the divinity of Christ or Gandhi had (allegedly) been a bad
father? In my view, all that doesn't make any of these men lesser. I think it kind of cool that even people with imperfections can be great/famous. The quest for non-existent perfection in icons is dangerous.

19 comments:

dinesh said...

Hmmm ! I have had those complete dreams as well. Just like you were surprised you could dream them up, I have been too..Sometimes I have had surprisingly complete and "attention to detail" dreams which make me wonder for a second if there's any truth to the "You don't dream them, you actually experience them" theory.

I agree with your icons with imperfections point. It is dangerous in a country to be famous like that. You left Sachin out of that list !

Narayanan Venkitu said...

Thanks for the link to Baby K. ! Why is he dressed up in RED? Is he a MAPS bhakthan? FYI - MAPS ...according to me...Marvathur adhi para sakthi.

Your dream on manichithra Thazh in Black and white.! Very interesting indeed.!! Mohanl Lal's dialogue in all malayalam!. Umm...somewhere down your mind..!! there is some Mallu influence I feel.

BTW - There is no laka.laka...in that movie.! I can tell you for sure.! I guess you are not a Big Suresh Gopi fan like my wife..!! Reason - He didn't show up in your dream??

expertdabbler said...

"Manichitrathaazh" and some other evergreen mohanlal flicks are a must see.

You have one more reason to watch it. To see whose shots was better yours or Fazils:)

Agnibarathi said...

I read somewhere that dreams happen only in Black and White!!

The Doodler said...

Dinesh,
I am not usually a big dreams person. I usually sleep like a log and rarely ever dream. But this was weird cuz this is the first time that I have dreamt up a movie!! The icons with imperfections is something I feel strongly about...

The Doodler said...

Venkitu sir,
Baby K dressed in red amongst pumpkins..:) Guess it was Halloween time when he took the pic? You'd have to ask him..:))
I am not sure why I didn't think Shobana's husband was very important in my dream...Mallu influence? I hope I don't have a Chandramukhi inside of me...:)

The Doodler said...

PK,
agree with you...:) I really wonder if it'd be too eerie if my dream and the actual movie match up in some scenes..perhaps I might start believing in paranormal phenomena..:)

Agnibarathi,
The dream itself can be in B &W. But to watch a movie in B &W in a dream..konjam over.

Anonymous said...

Believe it or not , I've spoken Hindi very fluently in my dreams!

-Vasu

Prabhu said...

the reason for ur dreams to appear in b&w is because you are seeing the visuals through your brain and not your eyes. so the retina doesnt come into picture in a dream and hence the cones and the focal point also doesnt come into picture. thats why theres no color information present in ur dream.

( okay, am killing time till 3pm today to leave for the looong weekend :)

vasu - i guess people have put u in a complex that u can speak hindi only in ur dreams.. and thats why they appear in ur dreams ;)

Anonymous said...

I too sleep like a log...but believe it or not I seem to see only God in my dreams...
Muthu says people who sleep like a log go to heaven...so see u in heaven then...:)

(Vasu, I believe u, ooper daalo :))

KP.

సतीsh said...

The quest for non-existent perfection in icons is dangerous.
What is more dangerous is taking their word to be law, without factoring in situations, technicalities and realities.
.oO (STOP before you go off ranting about "non-violence", and the relevance of capitalism in India... and... eh.)

so the retina doesnt come into picture in a dream
But would that really matter? Doesn't all perception happen in the brain?

I read somewhere that dreams happen only in Black and White!!
I remember reading that most people dream in B&W. Howerver, some may dream in color occasionally. The more "creative" a person is, the more likely s/he will dream in color.

Venky Krishnamoorthy said...

Are you learning Japanese?

Venky Gopalan said...

Oops..The first one is kinda creepy and scary...thanks for the warning I will be alert when I am around you here after.

ioiio said...

idhu enna pudusa black n white dreams.. heehehehe.. 1920's chandramukhi ulla YERITTAALO?

Krish said...

Reading about your dream on stars (of the filmi kind), I was reminded of this quote on dreams by
Ralph Waldo Emerson: Hitch your wagon to a star (pun intended :-))

The Doodler said...

Vasu,
dreams-la dhaan Hindi pesuva nu mudive pannitiya? :)

Prabhu,
Eppo sir scientist aaneenga..:) Romba super explanation...Friday office-la semma kadi nu theriyardhu! :))

KP,
I am glad at least one amongst us is gonna end up in heaven in afterlife..:) BTW, don't believe all that PB says..:))

The Doodler said...

a.noname moose,
People somehow make a leap of faith when they idolize. That is even worse! Good point.

I'd have to tell you that I've never dreamt in B&W before. My dream was not in B&W but the movie in my dream was B&W..:)

I will stop here before some psychiatrist reads all this rant and decides I've got some serious mental problems...:))

The Doodler said...

Venkat Krish,
Nope. Not learning Japanese. I am just working on something that has been done in Japanese..:) This sounds like a little conundrum, I know but ah, the vagaries of the software industry!

Ramji,
thanks.

ioiio,
serious-a naanum adhaan ninaichen..:) Indha alavukku ennai oru movie aakkiducheee...!

The Doodler said...

Venky,
better be careful around me. Who knows, I might take it to just strangle you at times..:)

Thennavan,
LOL.