A surprise from Gautham Vasudev Menon

"Classy romance" is what we see in most of Gautham's movies. Almost all of his films are made for urban audience given its elite environment, English dialogues and portrayal of love. His latest outing, "Avalum Naanum, Avarum Naanum" (ANAN) was a true surprise to me, though he stuck to his strengths. As a part of the recently OTT released anthology film, Putham Puthu Kaalai, ANAN has captured love between two, in fact three, so beautifully!!! 💙💚💛

The whole short film features a high profiled grandfather (thaathaa) and his new generation granddaughter (Kanna). They both were totally awesome and effortlessly pulled us into their (less than half an hour) journey. The camera not only captures these two lead characters but also thaathaa's lovely house and its interiors. Emotions we find even on walls of the house match perfectly well with that of thaathaa and Kanna. 

The camera shows the two and their interactions, slowly growing bond and the love they finally find for each other, and interestingly music introduces the third character, VOICE!!!! For thaathaa, his pride of life is his daughter's voice, which according to him is strangled and lost!!! The way he expresses his love for his daughter and the latter's voice in the background, accompanying music are all soul stirring!

🎵🎶🎵🎶"Kanna Thoothu Poda" in Govind Vasantha's music, Bombay Jayshree's voice and karky's lyrics is the top notch of the whole film. The visuals too!! It solely communicates his daughter's love for him, her response to his disappointment 😊 and in turn thaathaa's love for his daughter 😊, the nucleus of this film. I fell in love with the song; in fact anyone would! Such a blissful one after a long time!! 🎵🎶🎵🎶

The title "Putham Puthu Kaalai" seems to be very apt for this short film (of course for others as well). Every dawn is beautiful and miraculous; so is the bond between thaathaa and kanna that grows, changing their lives more loving day after day! 

Life doesn't hide that beauty from any of us; may be sometimes we fail to spot it! Every dawn is a new beginning to pick up from wherever we left and however it is!!💗💗

Japan and I ❤

There are friends who travel across the world for various purposes. I feel jealous at times 😉 as I have never stepped out of my country. One has to make efforts to travel around, which I did not so far. So complete fault is mine.😝 Of all dreams to travel to different places, the most dreamt one is "Japan" 😍

Seeing my fascination for the country, my spouse tells me that I did have hidden connection with the place ages ago (something like "Japanil Kalyaraman"😜😲). Sometimes I feel that it must be true! 😄

The first thing I learnt about Japan during school days is the horrendous disaster they faced in the World War - II. I was always taught that the country bounced back with momentous growth in most fronts after the incident. Japan is not only a victim of war but also an active participant (Yes, Karma is a boomerang). Their learning at very heavy cost has transformed their outlook on life, is what I believe. I recently learnt that Japanese are raising peace monuments across the world to compensate their past war actions. There is a saying: "Learn from others' mistakes for life is too short to make it all by yourself." But it is a wonder why and how the adults (rulers) still fail to learn to spread "Peace"!!! Adults are adults! 😧

The next is my favorite TV game show during childhood, "Takeshi's Castle" 😎. OMG, What an awesome show it was! And I always wished that my town/state/country had something like that for kids to freak out.😞 Know what, when one of my friends travelled to Japan, I asked him to visit the place. He could take a picture of the place from the bus he travelled in as it was closed looong back. Still, I wish to get a glimpse 👀 of it some day.

"Totto-Chan" is my most favorite book (it is on a school in Japan that was crushed to pieces in World War II) since the time I read it. How could one dream of such a beautiful school and execute it to perfection!!! There is no place where I failed to make a mention of this book as I consider it to be a treasure and there are takeaways for anyone and everyone on earth!! I can simply speak for hours on this book 😆 I was unlucky to not have got such a memorable school life. Wish the next generation all around the world gets! 💞

Then the irresistible show, "Shin Chan" that we began watching with our daughter. One gets to know how child-friendly the Japanese city is by seeing the way the little boy goes around, in day and night, in sun and rain. Also it gives us so much insight about the Japanese culture that is looked upon by rest of the world. Such a cute show it is, not a single day goes without it! 💗

The most heartwarming life history I recently shared, Sadako Sasaki! Lesson for life for both children and adults all over, particularly to the rulers of nations. The meaning of "peace" it sow deep inside me is too intense to choose otherwise! How irresponsible we adults are, to make children go through all that they NEVER deserve! Neither does a parent on earth deserve to go through the pain of Sadako's family. Sadako and those peace cranes have become an integral part of our lives! 💖 We do make paper cranes often! 💝

And in the last week, the online site, Kanali have dedicatedly published series of articles/interviews/books on Japan. Beginning to read with the thirst to know more before I travel 😜😍

Every now and then I come across (both incidentally and accidentally) interesting facts, beautiful stories and everlasting history about Japan. Do not know if at all there is a connection between Japan and I, but it is on the top of my wish list!! 💓