TN Poll Masala

I have been writing for about three months on my blog now. The highest amount of hits - I recently found out how to track this - was on the day Vaiko shifted camps and I blogged this. I got 96 visitors that day, the highest on my site so far. Cheers, guys.
The seating sharing within the Democratic Progressive Alliance (DPA), the main Opposition coalition in Tamil Nadu is over, for the large part at least. A few wrinkled need to ironed out. CPI has some grouches about it getting fewer seats than the CPM. Also, the fate of INTUC, the trade union wing of the Congress party, is ambivalent. There appears to be split that Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa has engineered within the INTUC. The rebel group has announced that it will support Amma's AIADMK.
The elections will be notified on April 13 and campaign, which has already begun, will really go into high gear after that.
I was surprised to learn that contrary to what I had said in my post on Vaiko, AIADMK does stand a good chance of winning. The last three elections having witnessed a sweep against one Dravidian party or the other, poll pundits are predicting another sweep. I am not sure if really AIADMK can win with such a weak coalition.
AIADMK swept to power in 1991 after former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's assassination and reports of DMK's alleged hand in it. DMK hit back with equal vigour in 1996, the sweep coming in the face of a widespread scandal over Amma's corrupt ways and the massive amount of money she had spent on marrying off her adopted son. In the absence of any major such reasons, AIADMK swept back to power in great style in 2001 even as legal questions hampered Jaya's quest for the CM's chair.
Will there be yet another sweep? Do the people of Tamil Nadu have an overwhelming need for change. Has anything really happened to boost Amma's chances of retaining power since it lost all the 39 Lok Sabha seats in the last parliamentary elections to the DMK-led alliance?
Two things of some significance of indeed happened. One, Veerappan was shot dead and two, Sankaracharya was arrested and is being tried in court.
Also prior to the elections, Jayalalithaa has rolled back many of the stringent measures she had imposed on the people. A source said that she is willing to pump in Rs 300 crore to win this election. Will she be able to do it with only Vaiko and Thirumavalavan on her side? That's the question that will and can be answered even as the campaign begins. Right now, people don't know which way they are going to vote. Not yet. Let the policians start gunning and then we will know for sure.

Swadeshi

Ahead of the Tamil Nadu polls to be held on May 8, actor Vijayakanth, who launched the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhakam (DMDK), is releasing two movies on the unsuspecting Tamil audience. Swadeshi is the first of them.
The actor's party - roughly translates to National Progressive Dravida Party - is largely an unknown in this election. If Vijayakanth does get some kind of role to play in this election, it would be great boost to his political career. The prospects, while unlikely, are not altogether improbable. Vijayakanth might just get to a Paswan.
Swadeshi is a pathetic movie. It's so bad that it's good. Watching it with a first week crowd can be an enlightening, funny and rewarding experience. Vijayakanth, not a great actor at anytime, no longer has any clue of the quality of the movie he is doing. He mouthes the usual, lengthy monologues, including the unintended funny one in a court, with much earnestness and sincerity. It's clear from the movie that he wants to be a kingmaker, realising that he is unlikely to be king.
The crowds that gathered at Vijayakanth's party launch was by all estimates huge. But these won't translate into votes. The actor is aware of this. He must also be aware that movies like Swadeshi can hardly improve his electoral chances. I really can't understand why he wastes this much time and money on a project that is bound to be a flop.

The secret world of a Geisha

Memoirs of a Geisha

The movie is in a way the female version of Gladiator. In the Ridley Scott movie, the Gladiator dares to challenge the power of a king. Here a Geisha dares to fight for her freedom, to have actual feelings and not remain in the shadows of a secret world. Ziyi Zhang plays the Geisha, who after a delayed entry into that world, makes it her aim to woo the chairman of a power company.
The cinematography by Dion Beebe, fresh from the success of Collateral and Chicago, is stunning. He gets excellent support from the costume and set departments and Beebe makes the most of it.
Suzuka Ohga makes a stunning debut as the young Geisha with beautiful, blue eyes. The lengthy sequence in the rain as Chiyo makes a desperate bid to re-unite with her older sister, who has become a prostitute, is superbly shot. Ohga makes a brilliant turn, Chiyo’s despair written large on her face.
Ken Watanabe (The Last Samurai) brings in the fresh air of hope both into the movie and into Chiyo’s life. It’s love at first sight between the chairman and Chiyo, even though the girl is only a child. Watanabe is all charm and has this peculiar way of bringing a lot of dignity into all the scenes that he has. In many scenes, he has more screen presence that the lovely women in kimonos he is surrounded by.
Ziyi Zhang looks a bit uncomfortable playing a 15-year-old in the sequences that show her transformation from servant girl to Zayuri, Japan’s greatest Geisha, but later on she shows some of the brilliance that made her so great in 2046.
One of the most memorable scenes Ziyi has is of her return to Geishadom after WW II. She approaches Michelle Yeoh, an older Geisha who has trained her, for help. As Michelle agrees to help her, the look on Ziyi’s face is great. In a series of four of five expressions, Ziyi makes this scene matter to the audience, etching in her love for the chairman, which simply just grows larger and larger within her.
The lives these extraordinary women, trapped forever in a world of deceit and deception, are shown in great detail. I haven’t read the book, but I suspect it’s from there that director Rob Marshall (Chicago) draws his passion for detail.
I expected the movie to be another House of Flying Daggers, full of bright, flamboyant silk costumes, but it’s hardly that. The costumes are understated, the camera work exceptionally functional. In scenes of elation, the camera quickly moves to great sweeping shots. Just the first set up of the fishing village in which Chiyo has grown up was enough to convince me of the greatness of the cinematographer. Then Beebe comes full circle in the last sequence showing it exactly the same way he shoots the first one.
Gong Li, in a special appearance, plays a rebellious, passionate Geisha, who in the sheer frustration of her inability to beat her rival Zayuri, almost destroys her own life.
Ziyi’s greatest moment and the film’s as well, though, is a dancing sequence, set up for Zayuri’s bidding by the town’s wealthiest men. The cinematography here is ethereal and Ziyi’s performance belongs to the floating world of Geishas rather than ours. I expect when the movie is forgotten after a few years, this sequence will continue to influence cinematographers and dancers in Hollywood.

Hollywood's biggest night

So you saw the Oscars. Big upset that Crash won. But when the nominates are split down the middle between best picture and best director nominees this is what the academy does: split it. Ang Lee became the first Asian to win the best director award.

Of the films released in India, King Kong won three - sound mixing, sound editing and best visual effects; Memoirs of a Geisha won three too - Best cinematography, best art direction and one award I don't even remember.

Apart from best picture, Crash won best editing and best original screenplay.
Clooney, winning the best supporting actor for Syrianna, delivered the best line of the evening. "So I won't be winning for best director.''

Reese Witherspoon won for best actress for portral of June Cartey in Walk the Line. Philip Seymour Hoffman, who won for best actor for Capote, thanked his mother for passing on her passions to him. ``We are at party, Mom,'' Hoffman said, adding, "Be proud, Mom. Because, I am proud of you.''