The Great Shawshank Escape !!

I always thought I have seen the most of the good It would have been understandable to have missed a few not-so-famous or not-so-heard of ones. But to have missed these two for such a long time, was unbelievable. I hate to admit here that my close buddy, a hard movie buff himself, did not enlighten me about atleast one of these movies from a long time in spite of having the knowledge of its beauty.

The movies I am referring to are 1] The Shawshank Redemption 2] The Great Escape (written in the order of my tryst with them)

The first, Shawshank, landed with me in the form of a VCD just by chance. My buddy suppi when leaving for a visit to Japan gave me few of his collection (actually only ONE!) to spend the weekends. I remember telling myself the only two names I recognized was MORGAN FREEMAN and DOLBY!! I played the movie with little or no anticipation of a great cinematic experience. The few minutes I told myself it’s just another prison story and maybe Kamal hassan would have lifted some scenes for him MAHANADI from this movie. I was wrong on both the assumptions. Neither was it ANOTHER prison movie, nor an inspiration for Kamal Hassan for his MAHANADI (wonder why ?!). The movie though seems to be a slow narrative, keeps u hooked till the end. Some scenes are unforgettable even days after u have watched it, like the one where old brook inscribes "BROOKS WAS HERE"....and the way red does the same inscription...but leaves on to take a different journey !

The Great Escape is one movie that I have heard about a lot from my grandfather. Thanks to him, I always knew it was a great movie. One more person who deserves my gratitude is Tejas, one other close buddy of mine, who gave me this DVD to watch.Here too I made an assumption, thankfully only one, that ended up wrong. By the feel of the first few moments of the film, I did think it’s gonna be the tale of a successful escape from the highly guarded prison with a humorous note all along the way. The film did keep on quizzing my thoughts of what was to happen next and how. Brilliant performances and a superb photography, it was a treat to watch this film.

Now, after having watched these two films, something struck me. I do not know if I am right or wrong, but somehow these two films seemed to be related. But the stories and the concept were opposites. Both have a warden, Shawshank - a bad one, Great escape - Not a good one, but a man with a nice heart. Shawshank - One man made his escape plan, did not include anyone, not even his close friend. Great Escape - The escape plan was chalked out to accommodate everyone and all. Shawshank - The escape plan is know to the audience only at the end. Great Escape - The plan is there from the start. Shawshank - Unexpected happy 'HOPEFUL' ending. Great escape - Unexpected but a tragic ending.

My recommendation, if you haven’t watched anyone of these two films, grab a DVD soon and watch it!

Who will water the fire?

Water should never have become this big an issue. At least not to the extent of two states fighting it out mean.

When the POWER that created this land and water, I believe, it was meant to be shared. But today the sharing itself has become an issue and has demanded that we go to a third party seeking their interference and then when that third party does give a solution we again go on a protest against the solution. If both the interested parties will be satisfied only if they get more than 3 quarters of the total available water, this issue is like Kashmir, where for decades both the parties are going to be engaged in talks, meetings, conferences, petitions and not reach an agreement point.

The common man is more burdened by the day today protests of various self-centered organizations protesting in the streets demanding a better verdict (sic). And the sad part is that the main issue being the sharing of water, these mindless, ruthless so-called politicos have shifted the focus from water to Language and fighting it out on the streets. Its beats me as what has a language got to do with water sharing? The regional satellite channels of a certain language being blocked because the state that got more share of water speaks predominantly that very language, sounds ridiculous to me. Who taught these people that though the Indian states were divided based on languages, no other language speaking person can reside in a state. This demand was also raised by few agitating organizations. It’s high time they got a lesson on the fundamental rights of Indian Citizens.

Why am I so concerned about this issue? Simple. I am born, bought up, educated and working in Bangalore, except for a small fact that my mother tongue is Tamil. This has always given birth to a weird question from some of my acquaintances. I usually consider that to be, according to them, a test of my nativity. The question in question is, 'What do you think about this? Don't you think kannadigas are cheated?’

Though I try to mumble a diplomatic answer to that, my inner self as always asked me to ask them back a few questions. I believe the conception of the issue being a Tamil VS Kannada or a Tamilian VS Kannadiga should be erased.

1] The issue is more political than just about sharing of water
2] The inclusion of language and regional issues into this feud by some organizations is to gain some momentum for their popularity
3] A court order is to be followed or appealed against. Protesting against the order is a sheer display of disrespect to the judiciary
4] The issue is more complex than that could be discussed in the name of a language or state.


Here is my simple, humble request. We in democracy believe in a judicial system. Hence we are set to appeal against what we see as an injustice to our needs. Now it is the time to wait and await the final verdict of the judiciary and accept the same in all grace. Language and culture in itself is great. And one need not, or should not connect the same to controversial issues like this and try to gain mere publicity and momentum.


Let peace prevail in our country,

Jai Hind

Welcoming myself to the BLOG world !!

Its been a long time since i wanted a blog.....days when i did not understand what a blog meant.......not sure i do better now.....but here i am, finally having a blog of my own... !!


Jai