12 Angry Men - A good Movie.

I watched a very good movie, just now. 12 Angry Men. It is a serious movie and you can say, a courtroom drama.

In a courtroom, an 18 year old boy - Spanish American - is accused of murdering his father. The actual trial is not shown. The judge asks the jurors to go into the jury room and discuss and decide about the verdict, whether the boy is 'guilty' or 'not guilty'.

The jury is comprised of 12 men of different backgrounds. Now, first, the voting begins. 11 men vote as 'guilty' and one as 'not guilty'. The jurors are known by just numbers. No names are used. Juror no.8 (Henry Fonda), votes as 'not guilty', because he is not convinced fully to declare the boy 'guilty'. A 'guilty' vote will mean 'death sentence'.

Now, the drama begins. Everyone should convince others why they think the boy as 'guilty' because the verdict should be unanimous. Every juror has got his own prejudices according to their backgrounds. Some are soft spoken, some are argumentative, some are arrogant, merciless and so on.

The gist of the story looks so boring, I know! But once you are settled with the movie, you get so engrossed in it. This movie was made in 1957. A remake in Hindi was made in 1986. 'Ek Ruka Hua Faisla' was the name of the movie and unlike most of the remakes, this one was equally superb. K.K.Raina played Henry Fonda's role very well and the cast included Pankaj Kapoor and Annu Kapoor. I still remember the movie, which I had seen around 1987-88 in TV and enjoyed.

The English movie had great reviews and was nominated for 3 Oscars.

No female character, no attractive locations, nothing. Just one hot, sweaty jury room. The characters don't even address each other by name. In the last scene, while coming out of the court, juror no.9 asks juror no.8, 'What's your name?'. No.8 says 'Davis'. No.9 says, 'Mine is McCardle. Well, so long'. No.8 says, 'So long'! Everyone disperses.!

A very good movie!

People whom I admire!

I came across this article and I had goose bumps when I read it. Though we are not lucky enough to come across people like this writer, who wrote the article and the person, about whom this article was written about, at least let us read and enjoy, like I did:

It was probably the April of 1974. Bangalore was getting warm and gulmohars were blooming at the IISc campus. I was the only girl in my postgraduate department and was staying at the ladies' hostel. Other girls were pursuing research in different departments of Science.

I was looking forward to going abroad to complete a doctorate in computer science. I had been offered scholarships from Universities in the US ... I had not thought of taking up a job in India.

One day, while on the way to my hostel from our lecture-hall complex, I saw an advertisement on the notice board. It was a standard job-requirement notice from the famous automobile company Telco (now Tata Motors)... It stated that the company required young, bright engineers, hardworking and with an excellent academic background, etc.

At the bottom was a small line: 'Lady Candidates need not apply.'

I read it and was very upset. For the first time in my life I was up against gender discrimination.

Though I was not keen on taking up the job, I saw it as a challenge. I had done extremely well in academics, better than most of my male peers... Little did I know then that in real life academic excellence is not enough to be successful?

After reading the notice I went fuming to my room. I decided to inform the topmost person in Telco's management about the injustice the company was perpetrating. I got a postcard and started to write, but there was a problem: I did not know who headed Telco.

I thought it must be one of the Tatas. I knew JRD Tata was the head of the Tata Group; I had seen his pictures in newspapers (actually, Sumant Moolgaokar was the company's chairman then) I took the card, addressed it to JRD and started writing. To this day I remember clearly what I wrote.

'The great Tatas have always been pioneers. They are the people who started the basic infrastructure industries in India, such as iron and steel, chemicals, textiles and locomotives they have cared for higher education in India since 1900 and they were responsible for the establishment of the Indian Institute
of Science. Fortunately, I study there. But I am surprised how a company such as Telco is discriminating on the basis of gender.'

I posted the letter and forgot about it. Less than 10 days later, I received a telegram stating that I had to appear for an interview at Telco's Pune facility at the company's expense. I was taken aback by the telegram. My hostel mate told me I should use the opportunity to go to Pune free of cost and buy them
the famous Pune saris for cheap! I collected Rs30 each from everyone who wanted a sari when I look back, I feel like laughing at the reasons for my going, but back then they seemed good enough to make the trip.

It was my first visit to Pune and I immediately fell in love with the city.

To this day it remains dear to me. I feel as much at home in Pune as I do in Hubli, my hometown. The place changed my life in so many ways. As directed, I went to Telco's Pimpri office for the interview.

There were six people on the panel and I realized then that this was serious business.

'This is the girl, who wrote to JRD,' I heard somebody whisper as soon as I entered the room. By then I knew for sure that I would not get the job. The realization abolished all fear from my mind, so I was rather cool while the interview was being conducted.

Even before the interview started, I reckoned the panel was biased, so I told them, rather impolitely, 'I hope this is only a technical interview.'

They were taken aback by my rudeness, and even today I am ashamed about my attitude.
The panel asked me technical questions and I answered all of them.

Then an elderly gentleman with an affectionate voice told me, 'Do you know why we said lady candidates need not apply? The reason is that we have never employed any ladies on the shop floor. This is not a co-ed college; this is a factory. When it comes to academics, you are a first ranker throughout. We
appreciate that, but people like you should work in research laboratories.

I was a young girl from small-town Hubli. My world had been a limited place.

I did not know the ways of large corporate houses and their difficulties, so I answered, 'But you must start somewhere, otherwise no woman will ever be able to work in your factories.'

Finally, after a long interview, I was told I had been successful. So this was what the future had in store for me. Never had I thought I would take up a job in Pune. I met a shy young man from Karnataka there, we became good friends and we got married.

It was only after joining Telco that I realized who JRD was: the uncrowned king of Indian industry. Now I was scared, but I did not get to meet him till I was transferred to Bombay. One day I had to show some reports to Mr. Moolgaokar, our chairman, who we all knew as SM... I was in his office on the first
floor of Bombay House (the Tata headquarters) when, suddenly JRD walked in. That was the first time I saw 'appro JRD'. Appro means 'our' in Gujarati. This was the affectionate term by which people at Bombay House called him.

I was feeling very nervous, remembering my postcard episode. SM introduced me nicely, 'Jeh (that's what his close associates called him), this young woman is an engineer and that too a postgraduate. She is the first woman to work on the Telco shop floor.' JRD looked at me. I was praying he would not ask me any questions about my interview (or the postcard that preceded it).

Thankfully, he didn't. Instead, he remarked. 'It is nice that girls are getting into engineering in our country. By the way, what is your name?'

'When I joined Telco I was Sudha Kulkarni, Sir,' I replied. 'Now I am Sudha Murthy.' He smiled and kindly smile and started a discussion with SM. As for me, I almost ran out of the room.

After that I used to see JRD on and off. He was the Tata Group chairman and I was merely an engineer. There was nothing that we had in common. I was in awe of him.

One day I was waiting for Murthy, my husband, to pick me up after office hours. To my surprise I saw JRD standing next to me. I did not know how to react. Yet again I started worrying about that postcard. Looking back, I realize JRD had forgotten about it. It must have been a small incident for him, but not
so for me.

'Young lady, why are you here?' he asked. 'Office time is over.' I said, 'Sir, I'm waiting for my husband to come and pick me up.' JRD said, 'It is getting dark and there's no one in the corridor. I'll wait with you till your husband comes.'

I was quite used to waiting for Murthy, but having JRD waiting alongside made me extremely uncomfortable.

I was nervous. Out of the corner of my eye I looked at him. He wore a simple white pant and shirt. He was old, yet his face was glowing. There wasn't any air of superiority about him. I was thinking, 'Look at this person. He is a chairman, a well-respected man in our country and he is waiting for the sake
of an ordinary employee.'

Then I saw Murthy and I rushed out. JRD called and said, 'Young lady, tell your husband never to make his wife wait again.' In 1982 I had to resign from my job at Telco. I was reluctant to go, but I really did not have a choice. I was coming down the steps of Bombay House after wrapping up my final settlement
when I saw JRD coming up. He was absorbed in thought. I wanted to say goodbye to him, so I stopped. He saw me and paused.

Gently, he said, 'So what are you doing, Mrs. Kulkarni?' (That was the way he always addressed me...) 'Sir, I am leaving Telco.'

'Where are you going?' he asked. 'Pune, Sir. My husband is starting a company called Infosys and I'm shifting to Pune.'

'Oh! And what will you do when you are successful.'

'Sir, I don't know whether we will be successful.' 'Never start with diffidence,' he advised me 'Always start with confidence. When you are successful you must give back to society. Society gives us so much; we must reciprocate. Wish you all the best.'

Then JRD continued walking up the stairs. I stood there for what seemed like a millennium. That was the last time I saw him alive.

Many years later I met Ratan Tata in the same Bombay House, occupying the chair JRD once did. I told him of my many sweet memories of working with Telco.
Later, he wrote to me, 'It was nice hearing about Jeh from you.
The sad part is that he's not alive to see you today.'

I consider JRD a great man because, despite being an extremely busy person, he valued one postcard written by a young girl seeking justice. He must have received thousands of letters everyday. He could have thrown mine away, but he didn't do that. He respected the intentions of that unknown girl, who had
neither influence nor money, and gave her an opportunity in his company. He did not merely give her a job; he changed her life and mindset forever.

Close to 50 per cent of the students in today's engineering colleges are girls. And there are women on the shop floor in many industry segments. I see these changes and I think of JRD. If at all time stops and asks me what I want from life, I would say I wish JRD were alive today to see how the company we started
has grown. He would have enjoyed it wholeheartedly.

My love and respect for the House of Tata remains undiminished by the passage of time. I always looked up to JRD. I saw him as a role model for his simplicity, his generosity, his kindness and the care he took of his employees. Those blue eyes always reminded me of the sky; they had the same vastness and magnificence.

(Sudha Murthy is a widely published writer and chairperson of the Infosys Foundation involved in a number of social development initiatives. Infosys chairman Narayana Murthy is her husband.)

Article sourced from: Lasting Legacies (Tata Review- Special Commemorative Issue 2004), brought out by the house of Tatas to commemorate the 100th birth
anniversary of JRD Tata on July 29, 2004.

http://www.tata.com/aboutus/articles/inside.aspx?artid=UxG8Uwjyiks=

Kamal Haasan - Shathavathaaram man!

I read an article by Sudhangan in Ananda Vikatan, a tamil magazine, about Kamal Haasan. Sudhangan is a writer, journalist and TV anchor. Everyone knows Kamal, as an actor, writer, singer, director,choreographer and in so many other avataars. Basically, he is a dancer, who developed into so many other facets.

When I wrote an article about the movie 'Dasavathaaram', in my blog, I don't know how I forgot to write about the first avataar as Rangarajan Nambi, indetail (maradhi manni?!). The charecter, Rangarajan Nambi, recites 'Vishnu Sahasranaamam' in a booming voice (reminding us, the voice of Shivaji Ganesan). In the interview with Sudhangan in 'Ananda Vikatan', Kamal says that he knows Vishnu Sahasranaamam by heart and knows Suprabhatam, tamil shlokas - Thiruppallaandu, Abhiraami Andaadhi (he recites this shloka in his movie 'Gunaa', which is a milestone in his acting career and one of our favourite movies)etc. He recited some shlokas to Sudangan, during his meeting with him. Everyone knows that he is a staunch atheist. When questioned, Kamal said that when he was young, he was in a famous drama troupe, run by a veteran theatre artiste, Shri T.K. Shanmugam (the name of the movie Avvai Shanmugi was selected in his memory - Chaachi 420 in Hindi). They used to tour all the cities and towns, performing their drama. Wherever they went, the whole troupe would go to the local temple and sang relevant shlokas of that deity. So he knows Divya Prabhandam (shlokas for Lord Vishnu), Thiruvaasagam, Thevaram (shlokas for Lord Shiva). His grasping power is amazing. He is always surrounded by so many intellectuals like the late Sujatha, the tamil writer who wrote the screenplays for Kamal's, Manirathnam's and Shankar's movies, Vaira Muththu, the famous lyricist, director Crazy Mohan and others. He learnt to play mridangam for the movie 'Apoorva Raagangal', learnt to sketch from the famous cartoonist Madan, for the movie, 'Anbe Sivam'.....we can go on like this. He learnt classical music from Dr.Balamurali Krishna, the famous carnatic music vocalist, knows all the technical side of film making and writes screenplays for many of his movies. He is a perfectionist to the core.

He is good in comedy roles, in films like Michael Madana Kaamarajan, Thenaali, Sathi Leelavathi, Avvai Shanmugi, Pushpak....the list goes on. He has given classics like Unnaal Mudiyum Thambi, Anbe Sivam, Moondraam Pirai, Indian, Nayakan, Apoorva Sahodarargal, Varumaiyin Niram Sigappu, Sagara Sangamam, Guna, Mahanadi (I shiver when I think of the movie - too emotional), Raja Paarvai, Thevar Magan, Hey Ram, Nammavar... the list continues and should include his future dream project 'Marudanaayagam' too.

We have read his short stories in Ananda Vikatan, his poems, articles, huh, so many things to mention about him. Hey, I forgot to mention about the comedies, Pammal K (uvvae!) Sambandam, Kaadhala kaadhala, etc. Should we say he is good in comedy roles only? No, no, no - he was very good in Anbe Sivam, Gunaa, Mahanadi, Thevar Magan etc., which are master pieces of Kamal Haasan.

Shatavathaaram title will suit him, hmm???

Jodha Akbar - a heartwarming movie!

I missed the movie, 'Jodha Akbar', when it was released. I watched it yesterday and even now, I keep thinking about it! A beautiful movie. A story between a Mughal Emperor and a Rajput princess - sounds so nice, hmm?

I am not a big fan of Hrithik, but I have changed my opinion now! He is perfect for the role of young Akbar! He looks handsome and acts well too! I loved the way he expressed his anger, hurt and love in this movie. When his mooh bhola bhaai kills Waazim, whom Jalal respects as his father, his anger shows in his whole body language.

Music is by Rahman! No proper words will suffice to praise his music, esp. the sufi song, 'khwaaja mere khwaaja'! Rahman also sings this song along with the other singers. We get goose bumps while hearing and watching this song. Song picturisation also is superb. The last scene in the song, where Hrithik joins the dance, is still in front of my eyes. 'Manmohana' song is too good. I think Madhushree is the singer, I think. Her voice quality is very very good. The sound of violins and santoor and tabla is a feast for our ears! Aishwarya sings this song while doing aarthi. I liked the way Jodha asks Akbar (or Jalal - he was given the name Akbar later on in the movie!) to apply sindoor on her forehead and the way he looks at her! I had gone back to my youth while watching it! Both Hrithik and Aish make a good pair!

Aish looks her best in this movie in all the angles. Neeta Lulla's dress designing is matchless. All the jewellery designs, kundan works on the dresses etc. - I was pausing the video often to view the designs of the jewellery - beautiful !

Cinematography also is superb. The battlefield scenes are unbelievably scenic, in an Indian film. The beauty of the desert sands is a feast for the eyes!

Ashutosh has exploited the complete opulence of the Mughal art and architecture. The movie looks so rich and beautiful! Now, how many beautifuls have come here, in this blog?!

Now, about the slight set backs of the movie, in my angle: The climax battle scene - the scenery is good, but the plot looks very ordinary. Aish coming to the battlefield bedecked with jewellery, etc., huh, the overwhelmed feeling is burst like a balloon! We have to shut down the last half hour of the movie from our memory and go back and see the song sequences or the beautiful artistic scenes of the film and then the movie will be remembered as a classic, I am sure.

We will expect more movies like this from Ashutosh Gowarikar and it is going to be tough for him to keep up the quality! First 'Lagaan' and now 'Jodha Akbar'!

Now, I'll go back to watch 'khwaaja mere khwaaja'!

Balika Vadhu - Serial no.1!

We do not have a second thought about Balika Vadhu, being no.1 serial, even after 28 episodes!

The script is too good, background music is soft and the title song...all of us are bowled over by the title song (who is the singer - no one responded to my query!)! They are not displaying the names of the actors also. For background music they are using flute, ghatam, mridangam, tabla, saarangi, etc. unlike the shrilling sounds of keyboard violins!

Anandi, the child heroine is projected as a typical child, believing everyone and everything and we are going to see how she grows up slowly - how she is going to change. It is going to be happy/sad mixture - happy to see how she copes up with the situations, sad to see her suffering while facing the problems, the negative side of people, she has to deal with. Now she thinks if she lies, her nose will bloat! She feels sad for small things and within seconds, with the next sentence, she forgets everything and is happy again.

The incidents which are shown in the serial are still happening. The girls are not allowed to go to school, or allowed to go to school till they are 10-11 years old. Afterwards they are asked to do household work. Like daadisa says - first Anandi has to learn to cook and take care of the house. Anandi has got a good mother in law - best mother in law - who is there to protect her like a mother always. I liked the way Anandi said when Jagdish was eating slowly - we should eat food slowly for it to get digested easily - with a big smiling face because her stomach was full!

The last segment shows the parents of Anandi visiting her in her sasuraal. The look in her mother's face is enough for knowing the calibre of the actress, Raichura!

The music for the title song is by Lalit Sen. The song 'Kesaria....baalamu' is heard in the background often via instruments and vocal...beautiful song! Typical Rajasthani song!