My article on an English Tele Film (published in ET Madras Plus (dated 19.01.2007))

CROSSOVER

Finding father

A telefilm by a cross-cultural team that attempts to capture the changing ethos and clear cultural misconceptions…

M D S Prabu

His passion for the film genre lay latent even as he retired from his traditional diamond business. Business travel took him to Singapore and the US, but somewhere along the way, Mahender Jogani knew that he would make a film. On one of his American sojourns, he met up with an old friend, once a Chennai resident,R Ganesh, who had a script and an idea. Things clicked, and the result is My Dear Father, a cross-cultural attempt at capturing human family emotions, which the duo feel, are the same the world over.

For Ganesh, a theatre person now settled in Atlanta, in the US, it was a meeting of minds when Mahender articulated his passion. In today’s current environment, ageing poses its own issues. `Retirement homes’, `old age homes’ and going the `western way’ are some of the oft-repeated realities. The telefilm seeks to explore this theme and break pre-conceived notions about family ties in the Western world. The crossover venture is aimed at Indian UK and US audiences, with a script written and directed by Ganesh.

"Those from the West have plenty of sentiments regarding their families," states Ganesh, "They have family reunions and maintain family trees. The spark for the script came from an instance a friend once narrated to me, about a European woman who came to India to find her father." The peg for My Dear Father is precisely this - the heroine, played by Linda Arsenio, comes to Chennai to find her father. The plot of the whole movie revolves around how she finds him after several struggles.

Linda, well known as the heroine of Kabul Express, tells us how the whole experience was special and helped hone her acting skills. "This is my first crossover film and each scene proved to be important," she says gladly.

The hero of the film Krishna is on cloud nine about this very different experience. Fresh from his notable success as a villain in Azhagiya Asura, he tells this newspaper, "This kind of film is a perfect balance between art and commercial films. While the former is too slow, the latter is not realistic most of the time." He explains that his role was very challenging since there needed to be a blend of accurate depiction and performance.

The film has been made for television and the makers are planning to showcase it at select film festivals. Mehendar tells us that songs have been added to the Tamil version, to ensure that it does not get slotted as an ’art film’.

Veteran Actor YG Mahendran who plays an important role in this movie hopes that this will be a trendsetter. "This film will be an eye-opener to the tinsel world where the potential for cross-cultural films are concerned," he feels, "I expect more of the genre to happen once this is released."

The English version of the film is scheduled to be released by the end of next month whereas the Tamil version is expected to be ready sometime in March.

My Article on Pongal celebarations (Published in ET Madras Plus ((dated 13.01.2007)

FESTIVE FARE

Rural Urban!

ET M+ takes a look at how the city deviates from the traditional norms of Pongal festivities…

MDS Prabu

Come January, and Chennaiites are all agog about Pongal, which, as we all know, is an embodiment of Tamil culture! But the question here, is about the spirit and attitude with which the festival is celebrated. While practical difficulties seem to be a great barrier for the celebration of the festival(due to space constraints), there are also a host of other issues that contribute.

J Hemalatha, a homemaker, says that the true spirit of Pongal is lacking. She blames the mushrooming of apartments, and also feels that the festival is merely restricted to the making of the much loved pongal. Similarly, subsequent celebrations like Maatu Pongal and Kaanum Pongal have no relevance at all within the precincts of the city. She does mention, however, that people are still courteous enough to pay respect to the ’God of the Sun’. "This culture has been inculcated in the minds of a majority of the youth," she says, with a smile.

For G Naveen Deepak, a software engineer with Altech Star Solution, the festival has nothing special to offer. He looks at it as a long weekend and an opportunity to catch up with friends. “I also catch up with the movies that release during this time," he says.

RS Damodaran, a businessman originally from Satthoor (a village down south), has been in Chennai for the past thirty years. He feels, "Whether it is the city or village, or even abroad, Pongal is a very special occasion." He says that his enthusiasm for the festival has increased during his stay in the city. He also reminisces about how he celebrated the festival in his native place. "We would get up very early in the morning," he recalls, "and offer prayers to God. Sugarcanes and other puja items would add fragrance to the serene atmosphere. Maatu Pongal was equally special and the youngsters would have a great time!"