Vishnu' s Space

I tied a rag to my head for a shadeless cap and started saying “Savari Giri Giri” to Amma right after reaching back home from watching Ravanaprabhu . My first theatre experience initiated my obsession over the greatest actor in the history of Malayalam movies, Sri Mohanlal.  As a child, my main hobby was to stay at home and binge on cartoons. When Binoy, my youngest Maman landed a job in Trivandrum, he shifted to our home for a year. He brought a VCR and a bunch of film video cassettes with him. Each of them were Mohanlal starring blockbusters. Ads of Narasimham were frequently published in newspapers during the time. So out of curiosity, I sat down with Binoy when he played the tape of Narasimham. Coming day onwards, Narasimham replaced all my favourite cartoons. I repeatedly watched it for days together. Ustaad and Aaraam Thampuran also became my favourites.    All the heroes I had seen till then maintained a trimmed physique. But this stout man wa...

Me and Amma used to regularly take part in the yearly festival held at Amma' s family temple, Bhajanamadom Sree Ardhanareeswara Kshetram. This was also an occasion of our annual family get together. Interestingly, the utsavam mostly takes place in December during the Christmas vacation. So, all my dear cousins would be there. Thiruvathira of Malayalam calendar marks the beginning date of the festival which lasts for ten days, usually up until New Year' s eve. Kodiyettam, the grandiose flag hoisting function kicks off the events in the presence of the whole neighbourhood. Special poojas such as kalasa pooja, sivasakthi pooja and laksharchana will be performed from the day onwards. Afternoon meal is also offered at the temple each day. There will be various entertainment programmes organised by the devotees in the evening. The debut performances of many native budding artists also happen in this stage. It is known as Arangettam. Indian classical dance and music are the...

When I was seven or so, the title ‘Carrie’ drew my interest. It was on the slot for 11 pm in the list of films that was to be telecasted on HBO. When I asked Appa about the film, he told me it is based on a book of the same name written by the master of horror writers, Stephen King. It was the first time I heard the name and I was fascinated. Years later, when I had to choose a topic for my college project, my guide lecturer turned down my idea of analysing a film’ s script. She encouraged me to go with analysing a post-1950 work of fiction. This made me think of choosing a book which was later adapted into a successful film, so that I can at least do something close to a film script analysis while working within the teacher’ s discretion. I skimmed through the list of the best book-to-film adaptations and found ‘ The Green Mile ’, an Oscar nominated film with Tom Hanks in the lead.  ‘ The Green Mile ’ was originally written as a serialized novel by Stephen King. It was lat...

Rajini films were always celebrated for the star’s trademark antics and unmatchable charisma. Anyway, since Lingaa bombed at the box office despite being helmed by Rajini’ s favourite director K.S Ravikumar, the darling of the masses has been trying to reinvent his image by collaborating with young talented directors. Kabali and Kaala featured Rajini playing characters of his age after a long time. Both directed by Pa. Ranjith, were met with underwhelming responses from critics and audiences alike. His next film was Shankar’ s 2.0, the sequel to tamil cinema’s biggest blockbuster ‘Enthiran’. Even though it was a  moderate commercial success upon release and gathered favourable reviews, thalaivar fans still didn’t get their fill. So when Karthik Subbaraj, a self proclaimed Rajinikanth fanatic himself, announced ‘Petta’ with Rajini in the lead, expectations skyrocketed. Before release, the fan boy director had said several times that Petta would be a proper Thalaivar film. After ...

It was the first time he ever slouched. Sweat drops kept pouring down the face, but he was not aware. When they irritated his eyes, he let out the tears. "God, please take this back.. '' he kept murmuring behind. The image of the blood-drenched driveway kept flashing in his mind. Earlier, he rose in his office like most days. A regular thing, even though Badra nagged a lot. ‘A trade off for everything the job has gifted’ in his own words. Otherwise, ending up in the streets like old friends from the ‘children’s home’ would have been the only option.The career as a policeman owes to the tough upbringing. Ruthless in the job, goons feared the attitude to their bones. They named him Choodan. No rogue was spared, the whole circle had to go clean. Once during his early days, there was a plot to finish him off. They rigged the subordinates and made sure he will be alone during the routine night patrol. That night, he was surrounded by a gang at the market. One of them step...

‘Parotta Hut’ grabbed my attention when I was once wandering through Pattom, conducting a survey regarding the Vattiyoorkavu by-election. Within a week, when me and Hari were riding to ‘Zam Zam’ for some Chicken Shawayya as usual, I found ‘Parotta Hut’ again. I asked Hari whether we could stop there for dinner. As we approached, I grew nervous because he normally never likes new food places. I could see Bun Parottas being cooked in a pan, near the entrance. They appeared really delicious, giving me hope to step in. It was a small place with dining on the second floor, separating into a room with a single low dining table and a larger area with five or six tables. The walls had some interesting art like Kareemikka from ‘Ustad Hotel’ and Don Vito Corleone from ‘The Godfather’ having a meal together! While we were skimming through the menu, they gave us a complimentary ginger tea drink as appetizer.‘Stuffed Parotta' of all chicken, egg and beef variants were highlighted in the men...

Almost two years back, me and my two friends Omar and Aswin set out to Kodaikanal on our first trip together. It was Omar’s idea all along, he h ad been to the place once and absolutely loved it there. I never went on any trips except for college and school tours. During then, I had just finished my degree and was keen to go on a journey. I was hooked instantly after hearing the idea from Omar. Aswin also showed interest. After getting consent from our families and also the money to meet our expenses, we left on 11 th of July.  Omar showed me some pictures from his visit to Kodai. Karuna Farm, the place where he stayed was an intriguing sight. The scenic beauty was almost unreal to exist.We tried to book rooms there, but the best one, ‘Shashi Big House’ was not available. So, ‘Shashi Small House’ was picked, another fairly good room. The three of us boarded a sleeper bus to Palani from Vytila, Kochi at night. We reached Palani at 3 am from where we had to catch the bus to K...