Kokkadichcholai 166 + : A poem in Thamil translated
The following is a translation of a poem written in Thamil by Nadchathiran Chevvinthiyan, a Lankan now abroad. The English version by K.S. Sivakumaran appeared in the Sunday Leader of August 29, 1995.
Kokkadichcholai 166 +
Today's Headlines:
166+Thamilians horribly killed
In Kokkadichcholai
It doesn't stir me.
There'll be no exam
Tomorrow too
I'll study tonight
What horrible things.
Feelings didn't ooze
Hiccuping
Which back door
Would you have thought
About at that time?
If things happen like this
In your house too
If you stand in
Sun or shade
In your heat-wave street?
Dog turd crumbles and
Flows away on rainy days
If things like this happen
In your street
Which back door is open
For You?
Those adult males are
Crying in suffocation
As if they're laughing
They cry with tears
Falling on hairy chests
And on black and white
Moustaches with remnants
Of toddy on them
Kamal Haasan played ten different roles in Dasavatharam. Interestingly in Hindu mythology, Dasavatharam signifies the ten avatars of Lord Vishnu.
An avid-fan of Kamal Haasan, has found an intriguing connection between the 10 avatars of Lord Narayana and the film Dasavatharam, published in The Chennai Newspaper NewsToday:
[Krishna devotion in Dasavatharam, Evergreen Poet Vaali's song rendered by Sadhana Sargam]
Lord Krishna: Kamal Haasan plays a dark-skinned Vincent Poovaraghavan, a Dalit, who fights for a cause. Lord Krishna is actually a dalit, he is dark-skinned (Shyamalan). He saved Draupadi when she was being insulted by Duryodhana.
Lord Krishna died after an arrow struck his lower leg. Vincent appears when Asin is about to be molested and saves her. Vincent is the Dalit diplomat, fights for land issue and dies when a metal rod strikes his leg.
Lord Balarama: Kamal Haasan essays the role of Lord Balarama Naidu, an official with RAW. As the name suggests and the role personifies, one can easily see the connection.
Lord Mathsya: Rangaraja Nambi is thrown into the sea along with the idol of Lord Narayana.
Lord Varaha: Kamal Haasan plays Krishnaveni Paatti and during the mukunda mukunda song, she depicts Varaha avatar through shadow puppetry.
The frame freezes on it for a second. there is the clue.
Lord Vamana: Kalifulla Khan, the tall Muslim youth, played by Kamal Haasan reminds one of Vamana avatar. Lord Vishnu assumes a giant form in the avatar.
Lord Parasurama: Fletcher reminds one of Lord Parasurama, who goes on a killing spree, and slayed 21 generations of a particular kshatriya vamsa. Fletcher goes around with a gun killing everyone around.
Lord Narasimha: The Japanese martial artist Shingen Narahashi. Doesn’t the name Shingen Narahashi sound similar to Singam Narasimha? The words singam (meaning lion in Tamil) and Narasimha (the avatar being symbolised). Lord Narasimha uses his hands to destroy Hiranyakashipu.
If we look for a connection, even martial arts exponents fight with bare hands.
Lord Rama: Avatar Singh. Lord Rama stands for the one man, one woman maxim, kind of symbolising true love. Here Avatar Singh portrays that spirit by saying that he loves his woman more than anything and wants to live for her.
Lord Kalki: Govindaraj Ramasamy, the main hero of the story which happens in the present Yuga. As everyone knows, the saviour in Kaliyug can be none other than the Kalki avatar.
Lord Koorma: Obviously George Bush. This is the most loose adaptation. But if one looks at the koorma avatar, the Lord is the turtle that helps in stirring the ksheera sagara and bringing out the amruth. This essentially creates war among the devas and asuras.
While Kamal Haasan fans wait for the release of Dasavatharam, billed as his magnum opus, many celebrities from the tinsel world have already had a chance to watch the film. Kollywood’s crème, including superstar Rajinikanth, as well as others, were invited to special screenings here on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Kamal Hassan greets Rajnikanth as he arrives for a special screening of "Dasavatharam" in Chennai on Tuesday. Kamal Hassan's magnus opus is releasing worldwide on Friday. Photo: By Special Arrangement
And when the film concluded, they were effusive in their praise of Kamal, and director K.S. Ravikumar.
“Extraordinary,” Rajinikanth is reported to have exclaimed on Tuesday. The superstar was apparently overwhelmed by the film and Kamal’s performance. Scenes built around the tsunami particularly came in for praise. Impressed by Kamal’s different avatars, Rajinikanth discussed the details with him during the intermission.
Yesteryear comedienne Manorama, who was moved to tears watching the film, called Kamal the “real ulaga nayagan [universal hero].” Stars Satyaraj, Sarath Kumar, Radhika, Suriya, Prabhu, ‘Jayam’ Ravi and Bharat, and directors Dharani and Vishnuvardhan, were at the screenings.
K. Balachander, who introduced Kamal to the film world, was reported to have been astonished by Dasavatharam. The veteran director, who spent a sleepless night on Tuesday after watching the film, visited Ravikumar and Kamal at their homes on Wednesday and presented them shawls.
Veteran actor Nagesh, who was at a preview, lauded Kamal for his performance.
Dasavatharam, set to be released on Friday, features Kamal Haasan in 10 roles. The film is a mix of action, humour and romance, and has some impressive special effects by Hollywood-fame Brian Jennings.
To ensure that no more legal hurdles hit his Rs 60 crore Dasavatharam, which releases on June 13, Producer Ravichandran has filed a caveat before the Supreme Court. By filing the caveat, the producer has ensured that the International Sri Vaishnava Dharma Samrakshana Society and Kalyana Suba Society, whose PILs were rejected last week by the Madras High Court, don't approach the Apex Court in appeal. The Vaishnav Society had opposed the release of the film on the ground that it portrayed saint Ramanujam in poor light and that it incorrectly detailed violent clashes between Saivites and Vaishnavites. The Kalyana Society wanted the censor certificate revoked saying the title Dasavatharam -- which refers to the ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu -- would hurt religious sentiments. Producer Ravichandran had told the court that the film had no scene of clashes between the two groups. On the use of the title, the judges said, "Nobody can have any objection for the use of the title as there is no intellectual property or copyright over the title."
Jackie Chan came for the audio release and it looks like even US President George Bush will get to see the film. As Ravichandran of Aascar (he had to change it from Oscar) says, "As Kamal Hassan plays the role of George Bush, we thought it would be appropriate to show him the movie." They've approached Lousiana governor Bobby Jindal to do the needful. A Tamil film in the White House? Kamal Hassan sure goes places. [from OutlookIndia]
It's all about Bharatanatyam, Bharatiar and bonding.
In December 2002, Natyarangam, the talent promotional wing of the Narada Gana Sabha set about its annual routine of selecting a few artistes to choreograph some of Subramania Bharati's compositions to perform at Bharati Illam in Triplicane. That year it chose Roja Kannan, Priya Murle, Srikanth and Lavanya Ananth. Unlike artistes selected earlier for the purpose, these four Bharatanatyam dancers besides going to town (and abroad too) with their "Bharata Samudayam Vaazhgave" have sustained their artistic and personal bonding that has helped them set a record of sorts — staging more than 25 shows of "Bharata Samudayam Vaazhgave".
[Priya Murle and Lavanya Ananth, performing "Manathil Uruthi Vendum"]
"We never expected to come this far. But right from the day we got together on this project, we knew it was a coming together of like-minded people with a passion for the art form and an enthusiasm to do something creatively satisfying," says Roja Kannan, senior most in the group, even as others nod their head in agreement. "From the first show to the twenty-fifth, it's been complete fun and a great learning experience. We have helped each other grow as better artistes," adds the articulate Priya.
Though each is a well-known artiste in his/her own right, hailing from different schools (Roja is the disciple of Adyar K. Lakshman, Priya has trained under Sudharani Raghupathy, Srikanth is the sishya of Padma Subramaniam and Lavanya is the disciple of guru Rajaratnam Pillai and K.J.Sarasa) and with their perception of the art, they found a common meeting ground — Bharatiar's poetry.
"His powerful verses make you rethink about life, work, the happenings around and the people," smiles the tall and slim Lavanya. For Priya, the project brought her close to Tamil language and literature.
Bharatiar's work is not new to Bharatanatyam, but the creative foursome has done some imaginative choreography and has attempted to relate the writings to contemporary situation. "For instance, Priya in her piece on fire and water beautifully related it to tsunami and Rita (when they performed in the U.S.) calamities. These efforts have generated positive and encouraging response from the audience," says Roja.
Besides individual pieces, the team also performs to a medley of poems in the second half. "The second part of our programme showcases the navarasas, as we have tried to include different emotions. This surely is the highlight of all our shows," points out Srikanth.
The dancers wholeheartedly acknowledge Natyarangam for helping them know each other and senior artistes such a Sudharani Raghupathy for their able guidance. " We invariably do the last rehearsal before every show at Sudha akka's dance school for sentimental reasons. It has always proved lucky for us," says Roja.
What the four dancers find challenging is giving a unique expression to their imagination without stepping out of the idiom. [courtesy: The Hindu]
A beautiful and an exhaustive study on Sigiriya –Kassapa’s Homage to Beauty is the latest addition to the corpus of related material. The author is Siri Gunasinghe. The large sized book of 116 pages with colour photographs is a collector’s item. I like art and paintings having been a student of the arts and literature. But I am not willing to review the book for lack of knowledge on the subject. Instead, I will give information regarding the book so that based on such information, uninitiated readers will be persuaded to possess this historically relevant book.
First about the author: Emeritus Professor Siri Gunasinghe is a Lanka born Canadian academic. A linguist (Sinhala, French and English), he is a leading figure in the field of performing arts and literature, and a pioneer in modern poetry in Sinhala with his Nissanda Kavi. After having taught in the University of Victoria in Canada, he is now back in his homeland. His film Sath Samudra was one of the outstanding Sinhala films some decades ago. He has authored many books particularly on the history of Buddhist Art of Sri Lanka. His novel Havenella is translated into Thamil as well. He has many more achievements to his credit.
This illustrated book has been published by the reputed Vijitha Yapa Publications. The photographs in the book were taken by Vijitha and Lalana Yapa. Vijitha Yapa, as students of journalism would know, held Chief Editor post in three Lankan English newspapers before becoming a publisher. His articles and photographs have appeared in prestigious foreign journals like the Far Eastern Economic Review, International Herald Tribune, Financial Times UK, Gulf News Dubai, Asian Wall Street Journal, The Times London and Readers Digest. Vijitha Yapa has authored four books.
Apart from the elucidative descriptions and analysis of the author, the book also contains a valuable bibliography and a useful index.
The scholar’s thesis is presented under the following heads: Towards Sigiriya, Building Sigiriya – For what Purpose, Paintings: The Enigma of the Beauties.
Including the front cover, the back cover and the inside flap, there are about 45 photographs and a few drawings.
We must know what the writer is trying to say in the book. On page 10 he says that:
“It is perhaps time to demythologise Kassapa and his creation. My attempt here is to take a fresh look at the known historical and archaeological material on the one hand and, on the other, to search for historically valid information where nothing has been stated directly in the chronicle or in the epigraphic records. Reading between the lines in the Mahavamsa, I find that it is necessary and also possible, to revise our thinking about Kassapa and Sigiriya… I have advanced some thoughts that differ from the generally held views about Kassapa and Sigiriya.”
Read this book. It is a fascinating book in understanding oriental aesthetics.
