BEHINDWOODS CELEBRITY COLUMN

Dear readers far and wide and closer to home, I'm so overwhelmed by the messages, mails, tweets, received regarding Kochadaiiyaan's single release. I owe a HUGE thank you to Sony Music Entertainment for not blocking my Lilliputian effort to take Thamizh cinema worldwide!

I'd like to present this week's 'rekhs underscore' with a song featuring Ajith from his much awaited Deepavali release, 'arrambam' I had the (un)fortunate experience of being the lone crusader in twitter recently  'typing my fingers numb' fighting against starwars online.

I was aghast and my jawline dropped when I saw a twitter handle #Arrambamflop! I felt it was in very bad taste. Very impulsively I tweeted my protest. I'd have tweeted with the same spontaneity had it been #Abctoz movie flop too! I have always emphasized the need for solidarity in promoting / displaying our worth to the world outside. Compared to less than 5% films being subtitled pre 2010, now 90% are being subtitled.

Much as I lament over south Indian cinema not being as well planned or aware of the need for subtitles as Bollywood is, I also take great pride in the talent and content, we from the south of the Vindhyas possess.

I was thrilled to bits that a theater owner from South Africa called me out of the blue to ask if Arrambam would have subs as many non Tamilians are waiting to see it. This is the magic of 'reel world'. Let's rejoice in this growing eagerness and enthusiasm to watch our films.

Let's not miss the wood for the trees!

Back to starwars! I feel it is an extremely petty, myopic and blinkers-on attitude that's being allowed to spread like plague online. The youngsters supporting their respective cine-idols fervently and sometimes (scarily) with a frenzy blinding their innate reasoning power is not a trend that augurs well. I request star-celebs, heroes, directors, producers, sane and sensible audience to come forward and voice their dissent against this. If we ourselves pull our own people down with madness, then how will we ever shine in the eyes of the world?

Makes me want to send a special 'thank you God' message prayer that these fans are not at loggerheads online over their favorite heroines too!

Just like corruption has infiltrated every inch and sq.ft and sector of our society and we accept it, like the number of men who pee in the streets and we turn a blind eye, this will also meet the same fate if we don't act now.

When I asked the boys to unite online they said they would after they malign this soon to be released Ajith starrer. Then when Vijay starrer releases this clan will echo the same sentiments as 'pay back' time as they call it! So where is 'the beginning' to become a better person / society? Please don't brush this as a lament of an idealistic optimistic soul.

Come forward...parents of such youngsters tell your kids...think of the huge investments made for a film...it's someone's hard earned money, that feeds so many people, right?  Why should we poke our own eyes?

Please think for a minute, act...protest...spread the word! This is my earnest request.

This song from Arrambam, adadaa aarambamae, penned by Pa. Vijay, rendered by Shankar Mahadevan and composed by Yuvan, I hope is the song for a new beginning of solidarity online!

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESxzcbmnhEg#t=22

Hoping for a better 'online ethics' I dedicate this week's song to a 'new beginning' for Thamizh cinema...one where we can hold our heads high and call ourselves proudly a 'THAMIZHan' and an Indian!

Jai hind!
rekhs

PS
Copyright owners:
My songs subtitled and showcased are a tool to spread awareness and not to gain any commercial or personal glory. So please don't block it, but showcase it worldwide, I truly appreciate your gesture.