Dear readers in every nook and corner of the world!
I would like to thank Behindwoods for initiating an award for subtitling, which I must say has never been done before in the whole of India!
Being the 1st recipient of this ‘first-time’ award, I am so overwhelmed and at a loss for words. Hence this note of thanks!
I was taking care of my dad whose days were numbered and from out of the blue, I got a call from Sudharshan of Behindwoods asking me to send in 3 entries for this award. My appa who heard my convo said, ‘don’t worry, da.I’ll go up and whisper in God’s ears for this to be a category in National awards too’.
He was a man with a peculiar sense of humor. I use the term ‘was’ because he left us (for a better place) on July 7th when I was subtitling ‘Kabali’ (actually busy convincing the assistant director Jeny of ‘Kabali’ that songs should rhyme and they are an ethnic feature of our brand of cinema)
I sent in 36 Vayadhinile, Papanasam and Puli. That’s in alphabetical order please, in case a die-hard Vijay fan accuses me of partiality! I am so proud of these 3 films specifically ‘cos Raja (of 2D fame) and Suriya, Suresh Balaje and his daughter Sitara, Ilayathalapathy Vijay who has been walking my dream from day 1 and producer Shibu have immense faith in my team’s capability.
So my team members Harini, Sraiyanti and I walked into the auditorium at Lady Andal along with my husband, Harini’s brother and Sanjay of API fame. Way ahead of the starting time I must say, faithfully following Sudharshan’s instructions to the T, much to the chagrin of my team and my guests.
In fact, one lamented not having done justice to the mouth watering mutton biriyani for lunch, thanks to my incessant calls!
I was nervous, trying my best to quell the butterflies swimming in my stomach in their carefree butterfly stroke! I saw this fair and smart man trooping in behind our director Shri Mahendran and I asked Sanjay, ‘Who is he?’ I got to know he is Vikram Kumar, director of 24.
After 3 awards, my name was announced and I was in for a pleasant shock ‘cos I was receiving this prestigious first-time award from Vikram! I went up, told him my subtitled version of 24 can be watched in ‘Hero talkies’ (I did not sub the theatrical version) made my speech albeit nervously, walked the ramp with my team and then, ‘Goodness gracious!’ realized I had forgotten to thank my =half, who continues to tolerate this ‘24x7x366 obsession’ of mine, went back, grabbed the mic from anchor Ramya and thanked Hari, with a huge sigh of relief went back to my seat.
I got back home and learnt from friends and well-wishers this is probably the 1st in the world! Feel free to correct me if I am wrong.
Behindwoods…my ‘Free Life salute’ to you☺. So well planned and executed as planned.
With love and satisfaction overflowing for being this tiny squirrel bridging the gap,
rekhs
