If there was an award for wackiest movie of the year , then for 2014, Burma would win it hands down. It’s filled so much attitude , fun and flavor , it’s impossible to stop grinning while watching the movie. The best part is that all this craziness and a lot of details are packed in less than 100 minutes of running time ( in spite of two speed breaker songs towards the end.)
The story is about car “seizing” by a street smart young man and the people around him.More than the actual plot , the brilliance of the movie lies in how the scenes unfold. A song request on a radio acts as a commentary on the betrayal of a nemesis, ring tone of a famous dialogue from Kurudhipunal is a sly note on what the hero is really feeling, a scene from Pudhiyaparavai plays in the background during a murder. Add to this it has some unusual characters ( for a Tamil movie at least) – a violin playing , coke smoking female gangster, a loud mouth accomplice of the gangster, a cop who is largely in the background, two minor characters named Jet Lee and Bruce Lee etc.
Since the story is about stealing cars it has a resemblance to “Gone in Sixty Seconds” ( but way more interesting than that). Two heist scenes are staged superbly and the second one is an absolute riot. Thankfully the movie also avoids preaching Nalla Karuthu to the audience ( something Sathuranga Vettai did and disappointed me) and thus the fun is intact.
The fun begins to wear out a bit towards the end thanks to two needless songs that had me searching for a forward button.Also story takes a detour with a stolen Easter egg and another gang on the run and it’s not as much fun as watching Burma and his friend stealing cars.
If you are interested in watching the movie legally , try herotalkies.com . It costs only 77 cents( that’s about INR 50 i guess).
You are returning home at the end of another mundane day at work. Your idle mind is starting to play games with you. You suddenly catch yourself questioning the choices you have made in your life (“may be I really should have done MS instead of MBA, may be I should have avoided all the show boating with sky diving and saved that $300″ etc. etc.). Travelling with a sea of people in varying degrees of perspiration somehow adds to the irritation (“hell, I should have started an hour early from office, this is bloody suffocating”).As a matter of habit you plug the ear phones on your mobile and tune the radio, a blaring “en uchi mandaila” is the last thing you want to hear. You mutter a curse under your breath and continue tuning, a few more pointless songs and empty RJ chat later, you perk up listening to what sound like a thousand violins singing in harmony. In the next few minutes you are transported to a different world, you don’t even recognize the instruments that are playing but you are now immersed in pure delight of blissful music. The crowd around you seems to have disappeared, it as if you have been left alone in a concert hall listening to this divine music.
Just as you reach your destination, the music stops. Only then you check which radio channel is this, its AIR FM 101.4 and the RJ tells you it’s a band from France playing Mozart’s compositions. Live western classical symphony at prime time on AIR? Who would have thunk? You smile a satisfying smile and thank god for that unexpected blessing
This is an old post on the trek to Parvada Malai back in Jan 2007
It’s interesting howsometimes, random conversations lead to the some of the most memorable experiences of your life. Our trip to Parvada Malai also started on similar notes. On one of my regular trips to Thiruvannmalai, our conversation drifted to a temple on the hills nearby – Parvada Malai. The description about the place given by a person who has been there and done that was jaw dropping. As he explained how risky the climb is, how scary it is at times and most importantly the belief about a couple of dogs in the hills, which are considered incarnations of Lord Bhairava showing you the way through the hills really got a few of us interested.4 of us, Me, Sampath, Mani and Arvind Ram immediately decided that we have to make this trip at the earliest. We decided that Pongal holidays was the ideal time for this trip.
As with all good plans, we faithfully put it in the back burner for quiet sometime. Arvind Ram collected a lot of info about it, but in general we were lost in our supposedly busy office life. By the time Sampath gave me a call and discussed about the trip it was Jan 10th.We were still quiet hopeful of making the trip as planned. Arvind and Sampath handled the travel planning after that and had booked an Innova and so the trip was finalized on Jan 12th.A Toyota Innova for five guys, 4 of us and William, Sampath’ s colleague ,was a tad luxurious , but our enthusiasm to make the trip overcame all inhibitions we had about expenses. Arvind Ram also prepared a neat schedule for the trip with a list of items to be brought, a few precautions etc. As I found out later, the schedule was prepared for his travel with another group, but Arvind was fated to capture our photos in his camera.
In spite of my eagerness to make the trek, I did have an inkling of fear. I wasn’t exactly sure of my physical fitness and the hype given to the trip was giving me a few minor jitters.
So we started as planned on Jan 14th Morning. The ride on the Innova was super-smooth and but for an occasional glance at the speedometer I would have never guessed that we were traveling at 90-100Km/Hr for most of our journey.The talk during the journey was generally about ICICI bank , since I was traveling with friends who were either employees or ex-employees of ICICI bank, and occasionally I had to remind them that I am an outsider to the topic.We watched movies during the trip , but I really don’t remember discussing much about the actual trek till we reached Thiruvannamalai.
Our first halt was at Thiruvannamalai. After praying to almighty for a safe trek, we proceeded for a decent lunch.Meanwhile our driver, Stalin, had enquired the shops around about the hill and was in a dilemma about whether to come for a trek with us or not. He ultimately decided that it was a risky proposition as he had to drive all the way back to Chennai on our return journey.
We first went to Kadaladi , the village near Parvada Malai. We could see Parvada Malai on our way to the village and the sight was captivating enough for us to make a couple of “photo” stops .
When we reached Kadaladi, The arrangements were on for Jallikattu,the traditional bull-fight. There were oxen of all sizes lined with decorations. Though the rest of the guys were enthusiastic about it, I didn’t quite like the idea of waiting on the sidelines when bulls were running about. Thankfully we decided to proceed to the hills as it was 3:00 in the afternoon and we wanted to reach the ashram at top before dark.
The villagers we met were quiet friendly and were filling us in with stories about the hill. They made the trek on the hills sound much easier than what we had imagined.
We were introduced to our guide Jayavel. He was a local guy who was doing odd jobs in Chennai and had been to the hills 70 odd times. Though we trusted the story of a dog guiding us through the hills, we were too novice to let our trek be guided by myth alone.
We started our trek at 3:15. After the initial walk, the climb to the hills started. We were climbing through narrow passage way flanked on both sides by tall bushes. As we proceeded further, the climb got steeper and our bodies began to show signs that the physical challenge is getting tougher. My heart beat went up drastically and I began to pant like an old railway engine. Half an hour into the trek and my head started spinning just a little and my feet were getting a bit shaky. The plight of the rest of guys was not much different with Williams and to an extent Mani managing to hold themselves, so we took the necessary break.
Jayavel meanwhile was trying to gee us up and cajole us by saying, we can reach an easier part of the trek in 10 minutes and take rest. As we proceeded further we realized that what was 10 minutes for Jayavel was probably going to be half an hour for us , we had little pauses throughout the next part of our climb. All the while , the dog which was our unofficial guide kept a close watch on us and was coming along with us throughout. At all our short pauses, Arvind kept clicking snaps of the scenic spots around us and of course more than a fair share of our pictures.
After about one and a half an hour’s trek , we reached a shop. There are few shops in the hill, all set up as tents. All the owners have to bring all the items from the village and have to climb through the same path. Moreover all the items for constructing the Ashram at hill-top were carried by the same route. Considering the fact that we were finding it difficult to carry ourselves, the guys who carried cement bags, steel rods etc. through the same path sounded like super humans to me.
The shop we had halted was owned by pachayappan.We had a glass of fresh lime soda and it was getting cool enough to stop being bothered by sweating. The cool wind and the refreshment was pretty energizing and we went ahead to take on the toughest part of the trek.
Did I Sign up for this?
The next part was the “kadapaarai padhai” or literally the path of rods. The climb was very steep and there were steel rods drilled on the sides so that we could climb gripping the steel rods for support.At first I didn’t realize that we had reached that part when I saw all the rods lined up, and when I did I was like ” Am I supposed climb through this?!!”.I was carrying a cross bag on my shoulder which wasn’t exactly a bright idea. On seeing the steep climb, I promptly handed over the bag to Jayavel who was more than willing to help us. After climbing a bit and I quickly looked down just to see how far we have proceeded and decided that it was best to climb fast through this part without halting. It wasn’t as scary as I had thought as the steels were more than sufficient to climb through the steep path. Once we crossed the kadapaarai padhai,
considered to be the toughest part of the trek , there was a sense of relief and joy and we celebrated by taking a few snaps of each other. By this time it was cold enough to reach for our sweaters and monkey caps.
The mandatory group snap
The climb further was similar to our initial part only this time we didn’t have so much trouble climbing through the steep path. We managed it pretty well and the beautiful sunset only made the trek much more worthwhile. By the time we reached the peak it was 6:30 PM a good 3 hours from our start time and mist was just about covering the hills. We went to the temple at the hills. Hot tea and more snaps followed. Having a tasty hot tea on a cool evening on the hills is quite an experience.
We went back to the Ashram to rest for the night and were completely bowled over by the hospitality of the people there. The Ashram was quiet warm and we really didn’t feel much of the cold outside. There was a cave temple within the Ashram and there was puja in the Ashram. We waited in silence for dinner. When dinner arrived it was 9.00 and we were hungry enough to grab anything that was offered , so the Pongal that they served, which doesn’t count as my preferred dinner was lapped up happily. After dinner when we went out wash our hands , we could see nothing but mist and since we had removed our shirts for the Puja, the cold winds were even more telling. We were provided with all facilities for a comfortable night’s sleep.
The Ashram is run by a mouna samiar (Silent saint).
The Ashram provides all its visitors a comfortable stay and the way they treat you , makes you feel really at home. Since Jayavel is quiet a regular visitor there , we guys were literally pampered.
There is no power facility at the ashram and generators were used only during dinner time.
We had a good night’s sleep, though Williams had a bit of struggle coping with the cold weather. When all of us were awake at around 6:00 AM , we again found that there was nothing but mist surrounding us and visibility was quiet low. We thought that maybe we can start later when mist clears a bit but were advised that this is the right time to start as it will get really hot once the sun comes out. Heeding that advice we started at around 6:30Am.
Misty morning
The climb down was quiet a smooth one, though I got a bit scared at the kadapaarai padhai again. Since I was walking bare foot , I had few minor slips in the climb down with my feet hitting the rocks a few times. Apart from that the trek down was quiet casual.By the time we reached the bottom of the hill all of us were sweating profusely.It was a nice to have completed a 3000 feet climb and back to ground, something that seemed improbable when all of us were breathing our lungs out half an hour into the trek. Jayavel was an excellent guide as he kept telling stories about how villagers climb here with all type of loads and how easy the climb is. He also told us about mythological stories of this being the first place where Lord Shiva kept his foot on earth. Overall he ensured that we were never bogged down.
For me the trip was memorable for two things , one we actually managed to execute a much cherished plan and two the proof that I can push my own limits when required.
How to get there?
Parvada Malai is near the village Kadaladi which is about 35 KM from Thiruvannamalai. Frequent busses are available from Chennai to Thiruvannamalai. From there you can catch a bus to kadaladi.
Movies, especially Tamil movies, always treat love as a noble and exalting feeling. Very rarely do you see a film that depicts the relationship between a man and woman as a crazy amalgamation of their individual insecurity, ambition and selfishness. So it is refreshing to see Gautam Menon treat love as a messy confused state where the couple in love is the biggest problem for the relationship. First in VTV, he presented Jessy as a confused wishy-washy girl who wasn’t able to decide about her relationship with Karthik. He goes a step further in “Neethane en Ponvasantham” and presents two flawed individuals in Varun and Nithya – equal opportunity offenders who hurt each other without any restraint. He doesn’t give a convenient excuse to blame things here (like a weird Jessy)
The detailed nature of the movie is established in the long flashback of Varun and Nithya’s school days. The “vanam mella” song acts as a melodious background as the movie introduces its adolescent lovers. The push-pull nature of their relationship, their class difference (he being thrilled about a holiday in Yercaud, she holidaying in Australia) and their basic character is established. It also presents the first real flashpoint and their first of the many break-ups. You sense that this is going to be a troubled relationship. Nithya and Varun may love each other, but that love alone is not going to paper over their differences.
Much after their adolescent tiff, they meet and fall in love again. The languid pace at which things unfold on screen seems to be just right for the dreamy romance of the couple. (“Sayndhu Sayndhu” song is employed nicely in this stretch). Of course things can’t go on smoothly forever. So in a wonderfully understated scene, the movie makes us aware of Varun’s family circumstances and his need to focus on his life apart from his romance with Nithya.
The problems between the lead pair are mainly because of their tendency to wear their sacrifice as a badge of honor. “Look what all I did for you” sort of reasoning that makes them insufferable. For instance, Varun blames her unfairly, when he says that there is a financial burden on his dad because he joined her upscale school (Ignoring the fact that it was he who wanted to join the school to be with her). Later, she blames him for sacrificing her friends and other pursuits to be with him. (Ignoring the fact that he never asked her to abandon her friends).
This movie’s strength is the many conversations (and confrontations) between the lead couple. The conversations appear stunningly real. The two best stretches of conversation – one when he has to leave for Kozhikode and the one when he is trying to reconcile with her at Manapad are raw , alive and open up a thousand festering wounds inside them. Both these conversations start innocuously and degenerate into a full-fledged blame game where Varun and Nithya are delivering verbal blows at each other. The latter conversation gets especially violent. (With the mandatory F word that GVM cannot do without in his movies and the lady also getting to mouth her share of verbal abuse).
In spite of the strengths of the movie, the big problem is that it doesn’t pack the emotional wallop that you would expect. In VTV, when Karthik talks to Jessy in central park, his emotions practically leap out of the screen and hammer you. Not so in this movie. I think the reason is that the lead pair isn’t romancing each other as much as coping with each other. We don’t get to see much of romantic “cute” portions, as we would in normal movies. So you don’t feel the pain of the lead pair. The last stretch of the movie with the beautiful “satru munbu” in the background should have left the audience teary eyed, but it’s strangely subdued. Any which way, I am looking forward to Gautam menon’s next romantic movie. He sure is breaking the romantic movie template of Tamil movies.
