Bigil

Cast	:	Vijay, Nayanthara, Vivek Jackie Shroff, Kathir, Yogi Babu
Director	:	Atlee
Cinematographer	:	G. K. Vishnu
Music	:	A. R. Rahman
Editor	:	Ruben
Producer	:	AGS Entertainment
Release Date	:	25 October, 2019
Length	:	2 Hours & 57 Minutes
Language	:	Tamizh

My Thoughts

Atlee’s third directorial collaboration with actor Vijay, Bigil, is an intense emotional drama. With a running time close to three hours, it explores the father-son relationship and the importance of ambition, while also touch basing upon few issues that are faced by women in today’s society. In spite of such a long running time, Bigil is a winner because it not only holds the audience’s attention but also keep them emotionally invested throughout. The screenplay (by Atlee and S. Ramana Girivasan) is coherent and ties each scene with another like a free flowing water.

Bigil presents Vijay in a different dimension altogether. Michael carries the swag of a masala film hero, Bigil is cute and tender and Rayappan just steals the show. Vijay as Rayappan, father of Michael aka Bigil, portrays vulnerability and conviction, thereby establishing himself as a seasoned actor (who was in a hide-out since the Priyamanavale/Badri/Shahjahan days).

Nayantara as Angel is not around Bigil for the usual aesthetic reasons, but with a purpose and with an identity of her own which has become extremely rare in today’s mass hero films. She wears the most functional outfits as always and puts across her natural best on screen. She ensures that her presence is felt.

Special mention to the girls – the girls with the character names Vembu, Thendral, Gayathri, Pandiamma and Anitha are impressive!

AR Rahman provides a fan treat with the “Verithanam” song and a goosebumps with the much praised “Singapenne”.  The BGM elevates the scenes.

Bigil is a total masala film which determinedly offers something for everyone with the age group ranging from 6 and beyond. But where it differs is in the fact that it is a welcome deviation from the template masala films – there are no villains, not much punch dialogs and no flying cars. Instead we see that the villains are really the inner demons, punch dialogs are replaced by emotions and we see tastefully shot football matches instead of flying cars. While there are a couple of random scenes where the protagonist is presented as an omnipresent superhero, it could be excused because the film majorly offers much more!

In short, Bigil is a great excuse to plan a movie with family and friends and just step out. It offers great value for money and time. Isn’t that a good enough reason? Added to that are the facts that it is a great entertainer – saravedi!!!

Rating

4/5

Eight Years as Locomente

I have a special inclination towards number eight; maybe due to my date of birth. It has a unique shape too – two zeros placed over one another. We often think that zero is valueless and it is not great to be a zero, of course! But, when the perspectives change, meaning could also change. That’s exactly what number eight symbolizes, I infer.

Well, on that philosophical note, let me confess that I woke up with a smile today. It feels amazing to wake up on a special day, isn’t it? Special day could be anything - birthdays, anniversaries, festivals or as sample as a day where you have planned to wear your new dress!

In my case, today my “not so baby” blog turns eight years old.

It’s just amazing to be nostalgic and yet wonder – how did I manage to write for so long!!! In fact, my writing cycle has changed from being daily to regular to periodic to occasional. It’s just the saturation that any relationship goes through, I guess. I have stopped panicking about the fact that I don’t write much and have decided to be open to write anytime if “I really feel like!” No more pressures, Locomente. Lolzz!

Being an occasional writer has its own disadvantage though (well, as much as being a daily one). My readers think that I am just pouring my heart out, venting out or what not. They think maybe I am alone ad depressed or something. I really don’t know.

Guys, my blog is a public forum where I write what “I really feel like” writing.

THIS IS NOT MY PERSONAL DIARY.

To be honest with you, I have a personal journal where I actually pour my heart out or vent. Trust me, it nowhere reads/sounds like Locomente. So, if I write about melancholy, love, happiness, longing, belonging or whatever under the sun and beyond, it is just a creative expression from some random inspiration. Please understand!! Please. Please. Please. It’s been eight years and I am tired explaining that it was just a random thought and not my personal experience!

Agatha Christie is not a serial killer or a detective and JK Rowling is certainly not a wizard!

One of the birthday resolutions is to find avenues for inspirations. I miss those years when there were weekly challenges to write haiku, micro fiction and so on.

Those blogs used to give a word or image prompt and urge the writers to think.

I miss those sites.

Guys, if you know any such sites, let me know.

Taking such challenges are always good. I had almost forgotten about the high it gives until I enrolled for #inktober2019. I saw this challenge in Instagram where they had given some word prompts for drawing through the 31 days of October. The idea is to draw every day and by 31^st day, it would have already become a habit. On this 26^th day, I have to admit that I look forward to draw something as soon as I come back from office. It feels good - a quality way to spend some personal time.

Cultivating healthy habits should be our motto.

We are living in times where we feel that there is no time. Of course, this could be due to hectic workload, crazy commute hours and the inevitable mindless internet surfing.

If we consciously try to reduce the mobile/TV screen time per day, we would certainly have more time. Trust me!

Please prepare a timetable of what you would like to do in that additional time – exercising, reading, gardening, walking, drawing/painting, writing, cleaning and cooking and what not. See what interests you and challenge yourself to do it for at least 30 days. Voila! Before you know, it would not only become your habit but a great way to spend some quality personal time also.

Alright, on that note, let me stop romancing words.

Before putting the final full stop for this post, let me thank my parents who have tirelessly lent enthusiastic ears whenever I have passionately spoke about Locomente. My dear readers, thanks for all the love and patience and support.

When you spend few precious minutes of your time in reading my blog, I feel blessed.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR LOCOMENTE!!!

Cheers for eight years and more…

Miles to go before I sleep…

Love,

Locomente J

Birthday Girl

Details of the Book

No. of Pages   : 48 pages

ISBN-10          : 1787301257

ISBN-13          : 978-1787301252

Language         : English

From the book blurb

She waited on tables as usual that day, her twentieth birthday. She always worked Fridays, but if things had gone according to plan on that particular Friday, she would have had the night off. One rainy Tokyo night, a waitress’s uneventful twentieth birthday takes a strange and fateful turn when she’s asked to deliver dinner to the restaurant’s reclusive owner. Birthday Girl is a beguiling, exquisitely satisfying taste of master storytelling, published to celebrate Murakami’s 70th birthday.

  

Author

In 1978, Haruki Murakami was 29 and running a jazz bar in downtown Tokyo. One April day, the impulse to write a novel came to him suddenly while watching a baseball game. That first novel, Hear the Wind Sing, won a new writers’ award and was published the following year. More followed, including A Wild Sheep Chase and Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, but it was Norwegian Wood, published in 1987, which turned Murakami from a writer into a phenomenon.

 What I think

Murakami’s Birthday Girl is a short story about a girl’s magical, surreal rather, encounter on her twentieth birthday. With just 42 pages, the story has parallel narrative which seems to be between present and past. When a writer could convey a thought provoking story with less words, it is a success in itself. The book would need just ten minutes of your time. But, it would make you ponder. It would tickle your creative brain. It would make you think and maybe compel you to reread too.

Short stories are always difficult to write; more so is the choice to leave it open ended. We readers always prefer to be spoon fed with as much details as possible (at least, I do). But when they turn out to be something as interesting as this, the element of surprise overtakes. And this book is highly recommended because it is a perfect example of stellar story telling.

Unfortunately, if I talk more about this book, then I may have to give a spoiler alert. I really don’t want to do that. So I stop here and request you to read this book. It’s very cheap and definitely doesn’t take too much of your time.  After all, it is high on imagination quotient with a philosophical twist.

So, please let me know of your interpretation of the book. I would be delighted to hear!

You could buy here.

Rating

3.5/5

Coffee or You or Both?

You are just like a...

A perfect blend of some milk, coffee and sugar -
Just the way I like!
To which I am addicted;
Without which my day is incomplete.

A Farewell

Heart broke and tears spoke;
Words just remained unsaid. And -
It was a farewell!