Viewer&#8217;s Voice: Arumugam (Istri&nbsp;Wala)

The episode has been added.

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Ruminating Aesthete

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/richard-brody/dvd-of-the-week-close-up

The intro wallah’s account, reminded me of Close-Up (nemā-ye nazdīk), a 1990 film directed by Abbas Kiarostami. Humanity and human condition is a highly complex and immense one. Only an art form as intimate as cinema can depict its depth. One of the most sincere works, on screen, I have ever screen.

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Ruminating Aesthete

Sorry its the istriwallah (intro wallah), my phone self corrects, pardon the frequent errors BR and others.

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People. Do watch this under-two-minute video — with subs — and circulate it (if you like it).

It’s about how the common man talks about cinema. Your support would mean the world — plus a hope that we can do more than just star-oriented shows.

Do spread the word. Thanks.

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Voldemort

The video is in Tamil, so why “Istri wala”? Wouldn’t “Istri kaarar” or “Iron Kaarar”, etc be more accurate?
Come to think of it, how do we call them in English? Presser isn’t very accurate….

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MANK

Great sound , great editing. More like watching a short documentary.This is a good beginning for a new attempt.
All the best Brangan

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Nice one. “Adhilil ulla karuthugalkaga paakaren” Wow.

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krishikari

All I could think was that man is so frail looking and his iron is so huge and heavy! Also, where are they still showing Shivaji Ganeshan or MGR padam? But great concept, looking forward to more.

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Venky

Voldemort: I think it is “Ironer”.

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MANK: Thanks. Yes, the idea was not just to shove a camera in the man’s face but to make something docu-like — with the formal elements of film. It’s been beautifully shot and edited. Very proud of my boys 😀

All: Do let us know if there’s any feedback. I don’t think increasing the duration is an option — as people just won’t watch. But someone said it would be nice if we had him humming his favourite song at the end. Things like that.

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Aparna

@Voldemort: I do think its “IronMan”

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Anu Warrier

Nice. 🙂 It’s great to get a completely different perspective. I did wish it was longer. More of an ‘interview’, sort of, instead of bullet points – it seemed like he was asked questions which were edited out. (If so, why?)

(Totally tangential: My husband would probably give his firstborn for that iron. 🙂 )

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mrinalnarayan

‪Aarvathukaga paakaren verum pozhudhu poku kaaga illai… ‬ Gold 🙂

With a bioscope instead of an iron box, will he be like “Kadhai Kelu Kadhai Kelu Nijamana Kadhai Kelu” Singeetham…‬

‪Looking forward to more video snippets.‬

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Siva

krishikari: I don’t think he meant that he watches Sivaji/MGR movies these days in ‘theaters’. I believe he said,

1) That in the olden days, he and his friends used to walk even 20 kilometers to reach a theater that showed Sivaji/MGR movies.

2) That he watches them even now, every night, when they ‘put it’ (literal translation) — Meaning, when they air it on television. Hence his usage of the term(!) ‘night-u night-u’.

🙂

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bellurramki

curious to know :
his/her fav. theatre
which movie they have watched most no. of times in a theatre
ticket and pop corn cost

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sanjana

Nice attempt. The generation which he belongs to is sadly vanishing and we are stuck with mani ratnam films and Ilayaraja, ARR songs! Bollywood still cherishes old films and old songs.

I dont mean disrespecting our generations’ choices. Just a thought to be in tune with the istree man.

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Rahini David

2 minutes is really too short. I kind of felt, “What about the fave actresses?”, “Did he also feel the same about Director based movies like Sridhar?”, “What about music?” and “What does he think of current cinema?” and “Did he mimic actor voices with friends?” and “What was the favorite line or dialogue that found it’s way to normal conversations” plenty of others. Will people refuse to watch even a 4-min video?

And comedians. Been ages since people talked about what they thought of Nagesh or Chandrababu.

And I would love it much better if older couples were interviewed. It will give a flavor like no other.

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MANK

Brangan, this program will require constant reinvention vis a vis , the form is concerned. Otherwise this will wear itself out once the novelty factor is gone. It would soon become boring and repetitive. sure ,make them recite their favorite song or favorite dialogue, but don’t make a fixed format for it. Keep changing it from person to person. Just keep the length constant at around one and half minutes. It can’t take more than that. The abruptness or the breeziness of the program has a lot to do with it’s success. Keeping the viewer wanting for more

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sanjana: Even in Bollywood, only Kaka/AB onwards is celebrated and Muslim socials with Naushad music/Shakeel lyrics are considered boring by the RD Burman crowd. Not talking about connoisseurs but the general crowd. Retro typically starts from late 60s with exceptions like Guide or Kashmir Ki Kali. 92.7 largely ignores Jubilee Kumar/DK movies.

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tambidude2

Madan: Isn’t the situation somewhat same in TFM too. A whole bunch of fanatics believe TFM was non existent before 1976, when Annakili was released.

Are there FM stations playing 50s and 60s music. I was exposed to much better pre 70s music in Radio and cheap T series tapes. They were the first one to sell audio tapes at cheap price. Granted it was pirated. But the temptation to buy “Best of Dev Anand” or “Best of Rafi” for Rs 8 (HMV tapes were all prices Rs 40+ in 1980s) was too much.

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Kay

Some points that I felt
– Video Could be longer. At least 30 seconds.
– Ask them to describe a movie which affected them personally and how.
– A bit more about themselves
– This segment can be added to a movie review and include what they think about that particular movie

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tambidude2: I suppose it is. There is maybe one TV channel – Mega TV, I think – which plays 50s/60s songs a lot. Doubt there are channels who do devote time to 50s and 60s TFM.

I grew up in Kalyan suburb of Mumbai in the 90s and don’t remember listening to much radio at all in that time. But my father had a good collection of cassettes (either original HMVs or self-made compilations sourced from different tapes) and which is how I got introduced to 60s stuff. Had a whole compilation of nothing but Rafi solos where I heard less heralded songs like Rang Aur Noor or Dono Ne Kiya. Original tapes were available for not a whole lot in stores even in Kalyan and maybe once in five years (lol) we visited Rhythm House (now dead) which was the ultimate music store in Mumbai. Used to be terribly crowded those days, a far cry from the mostly empty store I frequented years later when I worked in downtown Mumbai to stock rock music CDs. I did also listen to KK/RDB too, just grew to appreciate the older composers more and more over a period of time. The reverse happened in Tamil. Grew up listening to MSV/IR songs along with the Rahman stuff that was happening then. At some point, I just got more (most) interested in IR’s work.

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krishikari

@siva thanks, caught it on my second viewing.

Liked it a lot and hope it will be a frequent feature.

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tambidude2

@madan: I believe in the theory that the lifespan of popular music is about 50 yrs.

People of my generation, while growing up in 1970s, did go back to 60s and 50s. However we did not go to 40s. I remember my grand father was a big fan of C H Atma, K L Saigal. One uncle never considered anyone after C Ramachandra as a composer.

Now those born in this century will grow up listening to ARR and may, utmost, go back up to 70s. I doubt they will listen to 60s.

BTW I consider 60s music a notch below 50s. And in turn 70s music couple of notches below 60s. It was 80s which was the worst in HFM.

I have similar views about rock music. The music of 60s and 70s were the best. They have aged very well. The decline began in 80s. I don’t even know what pop music existed in 90s and afterwards.

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October 31, 2018

@tambidude: That does seem to be the lifespan of popular music. There are always out liers like the revival of Lag Ja Gale over the last few years. I am very divided about 50s vs 60s because Rafi reached his zenith in the 60s and Asha was properly utilised only in that decade. It was a great period for Lata too. There were probably more mediocre songs but sheer jewels too like Guide/Mere Mehboob/Mere Huzoor/Mere Sanam/Mera Saaya. Maybe it was like the difference between 60s and 70s rock. As far as rock music goes, there was plenty of good stuff in the 90s but nothing in the classic vein. It was either alt rock like Radiohead or heavy metal mistakenly labelled as grunge (Alice in Chains).

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October 31, 2018

80s actually has some great old school rock/blues-rock if we get past the glam metal turds. AC DC’s Back in Black, there was this excellent ZZ Top album whose name eludes me, SRV’s In Step. Even Van Halen’s 1984 belongs with these albums rather than Scorpions or Motley Crue.

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Sivakumar Kathiravan

November 2, 2018

The video is short and crisp as your review and good to hear the why factor on what movies mean to a person. This is so natural as he speaks of his mind and personally I feel that if you are requesting them to do a task like hum a song, it might become artificial, unless they want to do it.
Anyways expected to meet great minds among us discussing movies!@brangan

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November 12, 2018

A new episode is up (see post above).

Do watch and share.

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Siva

November 13, 2018

The full pants story and the ’16 vayathinile’ school master story had me in splits 😀 😀

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