A Night with Martin Scorsese and Gautham Menon!!

It’s not every day that you get to talk to people like Gautham Menon. Thanks to RTFF, had a great night watching Gautham Menon curate Martin Scorsese’s movies. Though Gautham didn’t attempt much of curating stuff, surprisingly he liked interacting with the audience more. I haven’t attended an RTFF before. So I had no idea what was it going to be like. But as obvious as it seems Gautham’s handpicked Scorsese movies didn’t disappoint. The list included ‘Casino’, ‘Raging Bull’ and ‘Good Fellas’. Though you can’t help feeling at some point, like you are watching the same movie 3 times because of the repeating appearances of Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci and others in all the 3 movies, Scorsese’s plot and his way of storytelling saves you from that.

I’m sure most of us who know Gautham less, have an image of him like, not so easy going character or to be more colloquial, a head-weighted guy. But believe me, you’ve got it all wrong. He is so humble and funny. There’s a reason to why I say that. Just when he entered the event, the organizers played some clips from his movies. On seeing that, his first reaction, was this “I thought it was Martin Scorsese’s night. Why are you playing all these crap?”

When a guy asked him, “Why is that you always do movies with some well known heroes? And why didn’t you try doing movies with completely new faces? Are you afraid to do that?” He immediately reverted back saying, “I have also made a film with completely new faces. Nadunisi Naygal. Even I attempted that movie without any music. But then, that movie hardly ran 2 weeks in theatre! May be I will try again in future” How many directors here have the guts to accept that their own movie bombed at box office? I still hear people say, ‘Kuruvis’ and ‘Suras’ ran 100 days in theatre!!

Interestingly when someone asked him, in spite of some really good movies coming up in Tamil , why is it that still heroes are seen jumping from buildings to buildings, fighting 10 villains at a time and stuff like that, he replied, “ I will answer this question if you guys promise that this won’t go on YouTube..” But then even after knowing that’s impossible, he answered the question, “I just had a discussion with a hero, a few days ago and after myself narrating an interesting detective script to him he felt like the script is not much heroic and it had negative shades and that it will not suit him and finally he turned it down..”  Someone from behind whispered, “May be he is still expecting a Perarasu kinda script from you and you disappointed him with a good script..”  

Another great thing is that Gautham is keen on remaking ‘Goodfellas’. When asked whom would he cast for the remake, his answer was, “May be Kamal and Surya can pull it up..” Now that’s something, isn’t it? But he himself admitted, “ Believe me, these guys will never come together..” May be. But if that happens, that will be one hell of a movie.

When everything was going fine, suddenly everyone was stunned by a question. “Where would you see, 10 years from now?” WTF?! Before Gautham could answer, someone yelled, “ Dai **** Kekuran paaru kelvi“ Obvious anger. Must be one of those kid over dosed with placement trainings. Very obvious these days. Nevertheless, it turned out to be a nice experience. Though I’m used to watch movies all night, watching movies on an open terrace with lot of movie buffs and interacting with the most special Gautham Menon was really something special. 

A life less ordinary!!

Life is a race. Though I completely disagree with this, since most people say so, let’s consider this statement. There are two kinds of people in this world. One, who are leading the race, the other one who lag behind them, and then, there is this third kind of people, who are not even interested in this cat race. Proudly, I belong to the third kind. If you ask me to define life, my answer will be a question. Why should I define life? I don’t have the privilege of having 10 lives to waste, to understand ‘What life is?’ So, just keep it simple. Don’t question too much about life, just enjoy the way as it comes. Life is something that needs to be celebrated, not to be questioned about. Fine, here comes the question. Why am I blogging now? Is it because my friends asked me to do so? Or is it because I have an important message that needs to be conveyed to the world? Or is it because I want to show that I too can blog? No. It is rather simple. It’s a Sunday evening and I don’t have a much better work to do. So, here we go...

By the time I’m writing this, almost every cricket fan in India must be reading, commenting and writing about one thing, Dravid’s departure from International cricket. As a Dravid fan it’s very obvious that I’m starting my first post by writing about THE WALL. So here is my tribute, in words, to THE LEGEND.

I’ve always wondered how bad we people will feel if we were dumped with additional responsibilities, which we never like at all? How many times have we regretted for doing our work properly and because of which we were burdened with some extra works? Above all, even after doing all these and performing above expectations, if we’re not recognized well how worse does it feel?

Here’s a man, almost in his early 40’s, at the world’s most prestigious LORD’s where, even the GOD himself failed to glorify his greatness, when almost all his teammates succumbed to the mounting pressure, he stood and delivered. That’s what Dravid is all about. Whenever things get worse in Indian cricket, when everything runs out of control and when only a miracle can save you, that miracle is RAHUL DRAVID. I just love these famous lines about Dravid,

Sehwag is injured, Will you open? Yes!

We need to play seven batsmen, Will you keep wickets? Yes!

We cannot play seeming balls in England, Will you make a comeback in ODI’s? Yes!

Zaheer has hamstring injury, Will you bowl?  Okay! 

Captain is injured, will you lead the team? Yes!

And this one is a gem!!

“One of the seniors needs to retire, Will you retire first? Yes!”

And you call Hussey, Mr.Cricket??

But I’m sure Dravid will humbly deny this. He doesn’t like comparisons. He is unique in his own way. Perfectly unique, that the possibility of finding another Dravid is negative. He is more than just Mr.Cricket. What always mattered to him is his team. Perhaps he is one of the very few players in the world who played for their nation rather than for their own records. And that’s what makes him even more special.

The one thing rarely common between Sachin and Dravid is their humbleness. Nowadays you can see youngsters who’ve just entered international cricket or debutants who’ve just made a mark in IPL, shouting and jumping from sky to earth, the moment they hit a century. But here are these legends even after scoring so many centuries, even after breaking and creating numerous records, so silent, controlled and humbled. May be that’s why they’re still legends.

Unlike his contemporaries, Dravid has always been underrated, shadowed and recognized less. I really wonder how it feels, to have done all the possible efforts for the team’s glory, sometimes even more and still being shadowed by the superstars of Indian cricket. Terrible! But he never did show any sign of embarrassment, anger or any negative feeling for that matter, never at all. That speaks volumes of the man he is!!

Apart from a cricketing legend, what inspires me most is his character on and off the field. His simplicity, humbleness, humility will be a lesson to all, striving for greatness. Here are some words from the legend himself, just after he announced his retirement,

“The game is lucky to have you (fans) and I have been lucky to play before you…  My approach to cricket has been reasonably simple: it was about giving everything to the team, it was about playing with dignity and it was about upholding the spirit of the game. I hope I have done some of that. I have failed at times, but I have never stopped trying. It is why I leave with sadness but also with pride"

When something ends, it marks the beginning of the other. There will be someone playing in the place of Dravid and trying to fill the void created by him, but I’m sure there is just one WALL, one DRAVID.  Good bye Jammy!!