Humane Touch

"Suicide is not a solution to any problem" is the noble thought behind the Dhanush, Shruti Hassan starrer - 3. I would have been grateful to the director, Aishwarya R Dhanush, had it remained a thought and did not materialize as a real world movie! I would recommend this movie only if you have lost everything in life; then again, I might say "Get a life dude!" 

The movie starts in the present time where Dhanush is no more and Shruti is a grieving widow. But who is Dhanush? Who is Shruti? Who are everyone crying for the loss of this guy? All these questions are answered through an interlude flashback. The flashback does start with a huge promise and the stars breeze their way through the first half. Shiva Karthikeyan has done a great cameo that will make Santhanam a little jittery! A worthy competitor for Santhanam is on the anvil. We will have to wait and watch how Shiva carries his career forward. Dhanush and Aishwarya have done very well in their innocent teen roles in the flashback and the irrational puppy love that they share has been very well made. The sequence where Aishwarya goes to Tirupathi and the separation makes the couple go mad might strike a chord with the youngsters. No one can ask Aishwarya what was different in her movie. She has special aces up her sleeve just for this question.  One of the aces is the marriage happening in a pub! I mean, why? This is when the director decides to give a break. A hope blooms that things will continue and I won't feel so bad for spending 250 bucks on the ticket. The director has other plans for minions like me. I went out and come back with loads of popcorn, eagerly waiting for the second half to begin. 

I am now eager to see the super excellent romantic sequences. Again, here is the second ace, the mother of all aces. The second half is not about their life at all! It is about how Dhanush died. Now, you will think Dhansuh's death must be somehow connected to their life, the way they lived it or something. Minions!! You are all wrong! In the second half they took me through a meaningless roller coaster ride of Dhanush and Shruti crying at various pitches and locations. Then just like how a mokkai speaker hogs all the air time and then says, "Without much further ado..." the director also finishes the movie abruptly. Maybe she thought that was her way of causing a lump in our throats. Caused a lump she did, but not because of her movie but because I  realized I have been tricked!

Debut Musician Anirudh shows a lot of promise in songs like Kannazhaga and throughout the first half with his BGM. However, in the second half he is overshadowed by Shruti with her crying BGM and he takes a back seat. At least after seeing the "Why This Kolaveri Di" song, I hope people will allow it to RIP and I strongly recommend they do the same with any thought that arises to watch this movie. This movie is best described by any 1990s Indian cricket team chasing a target. They start well but then lost not just steam but also their sanity mid-way through and then laugh derisively at the audiences who have wasted their time and money. End of it all I have only two questions for the director – “Why the name 3?” and “Why (this kolaveri di)?” 

In the end, when the message of the movie is flashed across the screen I wondered if it is the director asking me not to commit suicide after watching the movie. As a good friend, I advise you to not even think about watching this movie. But if get a free ticket because you bought two juices at the karumbu juice kadai and happen to go for the movie then get out after interval. Save yourself!

This season is the happiest for everyone and I like happy times. Businesses are happy about the boom in sales, Parents are happy about getting their kids "settled" and kids are happy for having found the right match. Coming to think about it, everyone is actually optimistic about the future and I like optimistic thinking as well. However, in all the euphoria about the rosy future we still drag along a demon from the past which has no relevance, according to me, in the modern world. The demon is haunting me right now and what actually got me thinking about it was an interaction with one of my batch mates. This guy recently tied the knot with his girl friend and I met him for lunch as his office was near mine. We had worked together in the same committee while at Lucknow and knew quite a bit about each other. As usual the conversation started with a pointless, useless question when my friend asked me, "So when are you getting married?" I took a casual sip from my glass of carbonated poison and shrugged my shoulders. He persisted, "Arey! Tell me, saale. By now your parents must have started the hunt" He referred to the bridal hunt, which every Indian youth is aware of, as if it were the latest Roadies audition. I nodded in agreement accompanied with a wry smile. He continued, "Look, even if you go one chain lower in your FB friend list you will be able to find a suitable girl. I am sure!" I coughed up the poison that I was drinking and started laughing. Just because he has had a fairy tale wedding it cannot be that he has no clue about the system. The system of arranged marriage, which I call, deranged marriage. Initially followed by the western royal families who have now moved away from it to change according to changing times. While this practice is now prevalent in their colonial states. Intelligent buggers these colonialists!

As a dutiful friend and a co-societal being I explained the process to him. When I finished the entire process, especially the one that pertains to a traditional south Tamilnadu family, he was wide eyed in disbelief and gulped his poison, thanked his stars that he was not subjected to this torture. 


Of all the steps involved in a deranged marriage, what I find the most amusing is that you should only get married to a girl from your own caste and some parents even go into sub-castes, sub-sub castes etc. I have no clue how many levels they have. I have earlier in my old blog (which is defunct now) talked about why we should question the relevance of some practices in today's life. While we evaluate technology and adopt as per changing needs and time but refuse to do that with customs and rituals is a blinker. Let me tell you why I think the caste based marriage made sense for my ancestors but no more appeals to me. 

Why it made sense to my ancestors - 

Caste system in its inception, as narrated to me by history books and wiki, was a classification based on the work you do; in essence the skill you possessed. So a Brahman's son could end up being a Kshatriya while a Kshatriya's son could end up being a baniya etc. Also, even town planning was done in a way that all the people with related skills stayed together. This is further corroborated by several street names that exist even today. This not only made societal sense in terms of easy planning of town and facilities required in an area but also business sense in terms of clustering. 

Now, what does this tell me? Guys and girls from the same caste were in close proximity and had enough chance to interact with each other, observe each others' response to situations and other people. It gave them time and opportunity to evaluate each other. Also, the girls in the same caste understood the work life of her partner because she sees it day in and day out. She understands the difficulties, the opportunities, the up side and downside. So, it made sense for the same caste guy and girl to come together and say I understand you and I think we can make our lives easier, more pleasant and make it a journey worthwhile to be made together. 

Why it makes absolutely no sense to me - 

Slowly the caste system got corrupted in India. No surprises there! Any system in India is susceptible to corruption just like how any iron is susceptible to rusting. It is only a matter of time in both the cases. So it just took some time for the greedy Kings and ministers who wanted their sons and daughters to be with them. So they made caste system birth based rather than merit based. Then again, time wreaked havoc and we are in a state where it is a kichdi of the previous eras. While caste is based on birth, the work I do is not. The logical relationship between caste and work is abolished while the illogical relationship between caste and birth is still withheld. So, to find a partner in this kichdi world is to get married to a stranger who by birth is in the same caste which makes no sense to me. 

I find it logical for a guy to marry a girl from the same profession. Though this is not necessary, I find it at least appealing. But the idea of marrying a girl about who you have no idea is appalling. If you guys find any relationship between the castes of the guy/girl to get married to one another, please let me know! I will at least change the title of this post if you convince me.