Jacobinte Swargarajyam

 

Yesterday I watched this new Mlayalam movie : Jacobinte Swargarajyam (Jacob’s Kingdom of Heaven), written and directed by Vineet Sreenivasan, and starring Nivin Pauly. I haven’t felt such a positive vibe in years watching a Malayalam movie. I went to the theatre unprepared, recent hectic work didn’t give me time to read up on it. And I was pleasantly suprised and amazed that Vineet Sreenivasan could create such a nice feel good movie. And the how of it is explained in the end. This whole rags to riches to rags to riches (2nd time) story is based on real life incidents, one of many people who lost money during the financial crisis , and that of a personal friend of Vineet. And I am sure for years to come, this people are going to watch this movie just to get inspired.

For once, Nivin is happy playing Jerry,the eldest son of Jacob, and he watches silently from the sidelines as Jacob (the fantastic Mr Renji Panikker) shows him how to run their business. He talks to Jerry as a friend, and shares his philosphy and hard work, honesty and perseverance is all that one needs to succeed in life. Jerry takes control only in the second half of the movie, where he proves that he too has his father’s business acumen and won’t give up without a fight. Jacob and family live a very comfortable life in Dubai, where he has built his empire of business. He is extremely positive, and is proud of his achievements, and wants his children to become even more successful than him. He helps the poor, and the entire family is god fearing.  His family is his everything, and he knows that when he loses everything else, his family will be his only wealth. When a family is so well settled and close to one other, what could go wrong ? And then the movie plays out exactly this scenario. His business contact cheats him of millions of Riyals, and his investors come knocking at the door wanting their money back. Jacob stands ground, and finds a way to make some money, for which he has to leave Dubai. in an very emotional scene ,he asks his eldest son to handle matters till he gets back, and leaves Dubai.

All hell breaks loose. Jacob in stuck in Liberia (I didn’t even know such a country existed). The police arrest Jacob’s wife, and Jerry. Though Jerry knows the business, the establishment is tarnished, everyone knows the company made a huge loss, so no one is ready to do busines with them. Jacob’s second son turns out, is a black sheep,and they have to sell all their properties to generate some funds. Except for very few friends, Jerry has no one to help him. The second half shows how Jerry is able to surf this tide, and slowly win back some business, and in the process, some more time from his investors. There are long voice over scenes, where Jerry recalls his father’s wisdom. Even when he makes money, his mother reminds him that none of this is theirs, it all belongs to their investors.

Even during this dark phase in the movie, there are fun, light hearted scenes and funny dialogues. Vineet inserts himself as another self made rich guy, who is the first to trust Jerry with a small business. Jerry gets a rare opportunity to diversify his business, and gets into travels too. There is another welcome cameo by Aju Varghese. Muthu, the youngest son of the family, is an absolute delight, and a little genius, per his teacher. And of course, the story takes place in Dubai, so there are many many scenes of the beautfiul city. The director intercuts the dark scenes with fun, humour and even a little stunts to keep the movie steady. There is no antagonist per se, but that charachter Murali Menon, looks scary ! He really looks like a baddie who can cause some damage.

In the end, it all ends well. The family’s hard work pays off, they are able to pay back most of the money they owe, and buy sufficient time for the  remaining . Jacob is able to return to Kerala, and the whole family gets together. But we already knew this, they were going to get through. The movie is about their journey through hardships, and how they find strengh in each other.

• Casting coup. The entire primary cast, and every other actor are fantastic in their roles. TG Ravi as the driver, Sai Kumar as an uncle. And again, Murali Menon played in such a bad ass way. But special points go to…
• Renji Panikker. He plays a convincing self made successful patriach, the ideal head of the family. So when he falls, you feel his paint. Renji Panikker’s acting turns out better than his screen writing (from yesterdays..)
• Nivin does a superb job playing the eldest son , thrust with all the responsibilites of looking after his family. His humour is still on track, and cries and emotes as well.
• I was never a fan of Sreenath Basi, but turns out , this guy can actually act ! …if the charachter is wrtten for him. His deadpan humour contrasts Nivin’s, and gets to show off his singing skills as well.
• Lakshmi Ramakrishnan plays a caring well doting mom in the first half, and a brave mom in the second half. Even when she scolds, there was laughter in the audience, looks like no one can fight with this one mom.
• The cinematography and backgound music was awesome ! There is nice use of music throughout, lots of piano, strings..that first Onam song was fantastic ! It was nice of them to focus on Onam , even though the entire family is christian. Jomon T John surely knows his craft , and is improving with every movie.
• Vineet Sreenivasan has finally arrived as a capable, and smart director. Most of his movies featured youngsters, but shows finesse telling a family entertainer story. I still feel is a better director than an actor. Maybe he should quit acting fully, because there is surely a shortage of good directors.
• Dubai ! The scenes of the huge city play almost as another characther in the movie. Its only the last scenes which take place in Kerala, and you can finally feel the background shifting from a metopolitan city to green country side. They also satorize the sorry state of Indian roads, and KSRTC buses, an 50 years from now when you watch this movie again, that joke will still work.

 

Go out and watch this with your family. It could be the best family movie this year.

Stephen Colbert has the best writers

 

It seems I have a lot of free time at work nowadays. When I have to wait for things to get compiled, which sometimes take upto 45 minutes, I switch over to the web to ‘waste time’. Most of the time, I end up on youtube again, watching uploads of American Late Night shows. Fallon and Conan are two regulars, but then I stumbled upon Stephen Colbert.

Now every Late Night host out there has his own stlye. Fallon mostly plays games and music, uses twitter a lot and reads out jokes. Conan is plain sarcastic, uses his deadpan on anything. But Colbert by far has the best writers. His jokes blend into his dialogue, he even builds his own specially when debating things. No games, no sarcasm from him. He is just your friendly funny host. But then his writers come up with bizarre ideas to host a segment.

Take a look at this segment where he interviews Bruce Willis.

That has some phenomenal editing in there. Its obvious and visible that they used doubles for the actual stunt scenes, but then the edited that footage into the live camera footage, and the audience reaction is genuine. Fun part is that even the band plays their part fantastically. I have never seen any talk show make something like this.

Or this one: This episode aired after the Superbowl show. Stephen’s live show is cut with footage from Iraq, footage from Internation Space Station, and even the POTUS.

Once you see it, you can make out which parts were pre-taped earlier, and how they all fit in. But this is really awesome work ! Its clear that Colbert has a great team in place, specially the writers.

Check out this new one  !!

Kerala Elections

 

A survey by a leading television channel of the state suggests a close finish in the elections due in Kerala, with the opposition Left Democratic Front (LDF) having a slight edge over its rival, the United Democratic Front (UDF). This should not come as a surprise, for the state has been rotating between these two coalitions for almost as long as one can remember. It is as if the electorate is never fully satisfied with their performance after they have been given a chance to govern.

It could also be that it intends to place political parties permanently on probation. There is seldom anything like a “wave” in Kerala. This could be for one of two reasons: That a politically aware populace is not easily swayed by persons, or that interests are deeply entrenched and loyalties fully formed. Malayalis tend not to be heroworshippers. The charisma of E.M.S. Namboodiripad, unlike Jawaharlal Nehru, had derived not from his personality but from his luminous intelligence. The people of the state also very likely have a sense of the constraints faced by its economy and don’t accept great change as a quick possibility. But a churning is perhaps still considered desirable to keep in check the arrogance of politicians, preventing them from assuming that they will always remain in power.

There is, however, some genuine cause for popular dissatisfaction with the UDF currently in power. Despite the unusually mild manner of the chief minister and the efforts he has made to cultivate an image of accessibility to the public — via 24×7 CCTV coverage of his office and adalats held at periodic intervals — two corruption scandals have blighted the image of the UDF. The first is one in which the finance minister was accused of having taken money as quid pro quo for a favourable cabinet decision affecting owners of bars. Though K.M. Mani, the concerned minister, is yet to be indicted, he had to resign, bowing to public pressure. The chief minister is relatively unaffected by the allegations but has shown himself to be unduly sympathetic to Mani’s predicament and unwilling to let him go.

The other scandal has closer links to the chief minister. It has to do with the promoters of a private company dealing 3/29/2016 webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3Aindianexpress.com%2Farticle%2Findia%2Findia­news­india%2Fkerala­assembly­elections­201… http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3Aindianexpress.com%2Farticle%2Findia%2Findia­news­india%2Fkerala­assembly­elections­2016… 2/2 in solar panels advancing its prospects by claiming proximity to the government. Links between the promoters and the chief minister’s office, including an unusually large number of telephone calls from one of them to the chief minister’s official gunman, have been detected. Even though the chief minister has stoutly denied any wrongdoing, the whole affair has left him under a cloud. The two scandals surfacing so close to the elections is likely to have dimmed the chances of the UDF returning to power. In Kerala, there is low tolerance of the misuse of office in the pursuit of personal gain.

However, for the people of Kerala, the relevant question would be whether the present opposition, the LDF, has anything substantially different to offer by way of policies that can improve their lives. As the composition of the leadership of the LDF has not undergone any change in the past decade, there is little for them to hope for in this respect. Not only are the faces that matter the same, the announcement that they are both — V.S. Achuthanandan and Pinarayi Vijayan — to receive tickets means that we have not seen the last of the longstanding rivalry between the two. The public would be naive to overlook the impact of this on governance. But the issue is not so much of dissonance within the LDF but whether it has anything new to bring to the table after its lacklustre performance over 2006­11. Kerala’s fundamental constraint is that it is an economy dependent on the rest of the world, notably the Gulf region. Not only has the government, therefore, had little control over it for some decades, but this model is also unlikely to be sustained. The Gulf is reeling under the impact of declining oil prices and the construction boom, confined mainly to Dubai, cannot last indefinitely. Unbounded outmigration is not a reasonable prospect. Therefore, if unemployment — estimated to be three times the national average in Kerala — is an issue, the way out would have to be through domestic production. But for domestic production to be feasible, it must be competitive. Three factors determine a region’s competitiveness: The educational profile of its workforce, the industrial climate, and the availability of producer services. Historically, the CPM’s contribution to a negative industrial climate characterised by labour militancy is substantial. Labour militancy may have declined, but its shadow has apparently not paled.

Beyond trade unionism, which has been the opiate of the Left, both fronts share an approach to governance defined by welfarism. Even before establishing health and education on a strong footing, successive governments have championed the proliferation of welfare schemes. This has meant that little is left for investment in infrastructure for production, which only the state, as opposed to the market, can provide. Producer services, ranging from water supply to waste management, set limits to productive activity.

The said survey also indicated that the BJP may open its account with seats in the legislature for the first time. It is difficult to say right now which of the two fronts this will impact. But one thing is certain: Unless the manifestos of the two extant fronts contain something radically new, we are unlikely to see a change in the profile of the state. It will have to continue to live by exporting labour, with the attendant consequence for its autonomy.

Former Players Slam Afridi, Angry Fans Smash TV Sets In Pakistan

 

Former players slammed Shahid Afridi's "tactically weak" captaincy, while irate fans smashed TV sets in disgust as Pakistan reacted angrily to the national team's defeat at the hands of arch-rivals India.

Former players slammed Shahid Afridi's "tactically weak" captaincy, while irate fans smashed TV sets in disgust as Pakistan reacted angrily to the national team's defeat at the hands of arch-rivals India in the ICC World Twenty20.

Pakistan lost by six wickets to India in Kolkata on Saturday. The result ensured that India remained unbeaten against Pakistan in the ICC world events.

Soon after the Indians notched up the win, disappointed cricket fans came out on roads to vent their anger and television channels showed them smashing TV sets in anger in some areas. (Virat Kohli special nails Pakistan )

At some places fans also raised slogans against the Cricket Board and the team for letting them down again.

Former players and experts also lashed out at Shahid Afridi for his decision to drop spinner Emad Wasim and coming in to bat at one down.

Former Test batsman Basit Ali, who now heads the national junior selection committee, came up with the bizarre theory that former captain and great Imran Khan deliberately gave wrong advice to the team.(Virat Kohli wanted to stay calm and thrash Pakistan )

West Indian great Brian Lara was critical of Pakistan's decision to not play a specialist spinner.

The former Test captain also questioned the role of Afridi on PTV sports channel.

"I don't consider him a spinner or a proper batsman. I used to play him like a pace bowler. I am surprised that Pakistan dropped a spinner for the match against India," he said.

Lara said he was disappointed with the Pakistani performance.

"Neither Afridi nor Shoaib Malik are proper spinners and you needed a specialist spinner who can turn the ball in the match. Both bowled short of length and didn't get the right turn."

Pakistan's former captain Rashid Latif rued the absence of stability in the team. (Virat Kohli played an amazing innings: Shahid Afridi )

"It made no sense to not take a specialist spinner to India. Worst to also drop a spinner for this match. There was also no reason for shuffling the batting order it hit the momentum of the team. Why Afridi preferred to come in place of Hafeez at one down is a mystery for me," Latif told PTI.

Pakistan's former spin great Saqlain Mushtaq also questioned the team's tactics for the big match.

"They couldn't read the pitch. But for such a high profile match they should have played a proper spinner. It was not a pitch to field four fast bowlers," he said.
"Pakistan management should have noted that New Zealand beat India by playing three spinners."

Saqlain said he was disappointed that Pakistan had lost another big opportunity to beat India in a World Cup match.

"I don't know when it is going to happen. But we contribute to our own downfall by making tactical blunders."

Former Test captain turned commentator, Ramiz Raja also felt that the selection was not right against India.

"This team management to me does not appear to have the ability to make the right decisions. It is strange they had decided to field an extra pace bowler one day before the match," Ramiz said on Geo News channel.

Former Test opener and ex-head coach Mohsin Khan said that Afridi needed to now lead by example in the remaining matches.

"We got it all wrong tactically against India. We ended up at least 25 runs short and then we had no plan to dismiss Virat Kohli early despite knowing he has been the main thorn in our side in recent times," he said.

Mohsin said it didn't make sense for Afridi to come one down when Hafeez had scored 60 in the last match.

"Afridi's captaincy also left a lot to be desired. He and the management got the playing eleven wrong on a pitch on which the ball was turning square."

Mohsin, however, praised Virat Kohli, who struck an unbeaten fifty, and Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni for turning things around.

"They lost to New Zealand and were under pressure yet they bounced back beautifully in such a high voltage match.

They showed better tactics and nerves."

Former Test leg-spinner Abdul Qadir said the team should atone for its defeat to India by doing well against New Zealand and Australia and reaching the semi-finals of the tournament.

"We are playing cricket without any direction and we are not producing players who can cope with pressure."

Pakistan's former Test spinner Iqbal Qasim, however, felt the media built too much hype before playing India and this was unwarranted.

"I think we will win the day we take a match against India normally like we do against other teams," he reasoned.

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