Movie review of Missiyamma

                                                     Missiyamma

     This is a real classic old Tamil movie, charming in its simplicity and quaint humor.

The hero is veteran actor Gemini Ganesan, a dashing young man, a handsome hero with curly hair and extremely decent behavior.

      It is an extremely simple story where Actress Savithri plays the role of an educated Christian girl who is looking for employment.  Her name is Mary and Gemini Ganesan is an educated youngster who is also on the look out for a job. Savithri is troubled by the amorous advances of M.N.Nambiyar who has lent money to her poor father and is asking her hand in lieu of the loan paid. Savithri is desperate to escape his clutches; there is an advertisement in the papers where a wealthy Zamindar is looking for a married couple to work as teachers in his school. They have one daughter Jamuna and it is also reported that their eldest daughter had been lost in a crowd when she was young.

Gemini Ganesan suggests that they pose as husband and wife and on account of her desperation Savithri agrees and they travel to the village. The rest of the film is full of scenes where the rich man and his wife interact with the couple under the assumption that they are married.Savithri is also forced to act as a Hindu because she is now married to Gemini Ganesan.They jump to the conclusion she is pregnant and the old couple fuss over her when she reports to be sick.  .Savithri gets totally worked up because the situation is getting beyond her control.

     Slowly she falls in love with Gemini Ganesan and she repays her father’s debt to M.N.Nambiyar who gets hold of her present whereabouts and comes after her, troubling her. But he is beaten and sent away. Finally it also is revealed that Savithri is the long lost daughter who had been found and brought up by the poor Christian gentleman. All is well and the film ends on a happy note with the romantic couple getting united.

     The film is an all- time classic and would appeal to all generations. There are few songs in classical ragas and the situational comedy is something not to be missed. The scene in which the hero and heroine tell spontaneous lies to each other with the intention of eliminating competition because they vie for the same job is hilarious.

     The additional frosting is the presence of K.A.Thangavelu and the audience would be in splits in the scene where Savithri teaches him music.

     Songs are lilting and the song ‘Pazhaga theriya venum’ in Mohanam is a treat...

It is an extremely humorous song because it is a   counter attack on women soon after Savithri counsels her student Jamuna about the fickleness of men in her song ‘therinhdu kollanum pengal’.

     Rangarao is the rich man and is majestic as usual. Thangavelu is his young brother in-law who is also the detective solving the mystery of the missing daughter.

Home Remedies

All of us fall sick sometime or the other. It is only the ninety year and eighty year olds who are blessed with a wonderful constitution and did not face the need to go to a doctor off and on. However, we an easily resort to some age old home remedies for some minor ailments.

Cold-- you can easily battle a cold with steam inhalation at home. Keep gargling with warm saline water and this prevents infection in one’s throat. . Drinking soup with plenty of pepper, crushed garlic and salt also helps in diluting the phlegm in the chest and soothes the throat.

Stomach upsets- Make a decoction with ajwain and cumin seeds and drink this twice if there is a rumbling sound in your stomach. Swallowing fenugreek seeds or drinking buttermilk with fenugreek seed powder also helps in treating colic.

Take a cup of very hot rice, mash it and have it with buttermilk seasoned with dried ginger powder. This is an effective remedy against diarrhea. Sago powder made into a porridge using buttermilk also helps in this ailment. Keep drinking plenty of water ;add a pinch of salt and a teaspoonful of sugar to one litre of water and drink this every now and then.This will prevent dehydration.

Headache-- Boil water with two or three cloves in it and drink this hot. Steaming hot tea made with ginger also helps treat a headache. Powder half a teaspoonful of pepper, a pinch of dried ginger, a half an inch long cinnamon stick, one clove and add this to a large glass of boiling tea and have it hot. This also helps relieve headache.Make a paste of dried ginger and apply this on your forehead. It will burn severely but the headache will be gone.

Rasam

Rasam --Long live allrasams-

A Tribute to southIndian rasam and heartfelt thanks to mothers and grandmothers who have trainedtheir children in making this rasam.

Who inventedSouth Indian rasam? Whoever it was, he deserves a Nobel Prize. What can this NobelPrize be for? Perhaps we can christen it as a Nobel Prize for the best providerof a sense of wellbeing.

This southIndian rasam is one of the best dishes of South India.We have a mind boggling variety of this rasam. India is known for its differentcommunities and castes. Here too this rasam is made in different ways and hasbeen given two names.The Brahmin Iyengar community call it “Sathamudhu”probably a combined word of saaru[juice ] and Amudham[nectar] or saaru andamudhu[food]. Whatever the etymology is or the origin is, this is an unbeatabledish of South India, next perhaps only to thestaple all time favorite idly and Dosa. All the others call it uniformly ‘rasam’and this is the most popular name that has stuck here.

We can start withthe simplest form of dhal rasam where a delicious thin soup is made out of dhalwater, a bit of tamarind and salt, rasam powder and a pinch of asafetida. A little teaspoon of mustard fried in ghee makes your day.

Next we have combinations made out of the same base where we can add tomato paste, tomato juice, cut tomatoes .Just chop fresh green coriander into very small bits and add this to the rasam when it foams on the top of the vessel. Keep a teaspoonful of ghee in another big spoon [this is called iluppaikarandi specially designed for this purpose.] and heat it up and add a spoonful of mustard seeds and kariveppilai to this. When the seeds have spluttered add it to the hot rasam and immediately close it with a lid. The delicious flavor of the rasam[normally a well made rasam boiling in the kitchen teases the nostrils and makes the mouthsof guests water even when they are sitting faraway inthe hall] Closing it with a lid immediately after the rasam is prepared , ensuresthat the flavor is retained even after a few hours..This is our famous tomato rasam and do not be surprised if North Indian friends as for a second helping of this famous ‘soup’.This rasam tastes ideal when it is prepared in a eeya sombu[a vessel made out of lead] and though there are contradictory views about the hazards of consuming rasam made in lead vessels, ninety year old healthy and fit grandfathers and grandmothers do swear by it.

I have just described two simple rasams, a dhal rasam and a tomato rasam... Then we have Poricha rasam, [cumin seeds] rasam, hotpepper rasam, garlic rasam, Mysore rasam and many more. A very high award should go to the inventor of pepper rasam[milagu rasam] which is literally and figuratively a hot favorite of manypeople especially when they are down with fever. So we can call it medicinal rasam. If only a few pearls of garlic are added to the rasam the antibiotic effect is more fulfilled than ever.

Just serve yourself a hot bowl of rice and add this rasam to it and eat hot. Cold and fever would vanish into thin air.

 

Magpie Robin in my garden

Birds in my compound

‘Twee twee twee!’ -it was not yet dawn and normally being a late riser .I just did not feel like getting up from bed. February 2010 has not been too bad after all[the thought flitted in mind as I just pulled up the warm blanket up to my neck and huddling deep into it went back to my most coveted early morning sleep.’
Tweeeee tweeee’ -this time it was longer. It must be the magpie Robin .It had vacated our tree in front of our hall and had hidden itself into the depths of another almond tree in my backyard. I had been very disappointed that it had not only rejected my little dwelling for her and vacated the tree but had also chosen another comfortable nest somewhere where I could not even see her. The only redeeming thought was that her motive was not to reject me but was something else.
Twee twee twee --what was this in aid of now? I just could not sleep any longer. I rushed out of bed and quickly brushing my teeth ran to the grilled window in my hall. What a pleasant surprise!. It had made its appearance once again., not on the window but on the tree. I was happy with the small mercy. I felt it had conveyed something to me
“Don’t you think too much of yourself. Your two broken pieces of cardboard are mere junk to me. Can you give me this soft green cushion? Can you give me this dark brown branch to perch? I am a free bird. I can make my nest anywhere. You human beings think that you are giving us comfort by building houses for us. It would be greater if you preserve the houses given by our Creator.”

Let it not build its nest on my window; it has at least come back to sit within eyesight and entertain me. Perhaps it has found few other friends on this tree. Of late, I have been sighting some other little birds. I do not know its real name but I have christened one. It has a small , brown bun like chignon , right on top of its head. So we just call it ‘bird with the bun’ It looks like bul-bul..There is also another one. This is a slightly bigger one and looks jet black. But it has red beady eyes .
I have private chit chat s with these birds but one day one of them just let me down.Well,I admit it was really my fault. I had kept some milk on the stove and was getting ready to make my husband’s coffee, when this little koel started her melodious ‘kooh kooh ! ‘kooh!kooh’]it was too joyous to miss and I responded with a loud ‘kooh’of mine. The little bird became even more enthusiastic that there was someone playing anthakshari with her and gave a counter’kooh kooh’.Now I was just thrilled to bits that she had responded to my song and went on ‘kooh kooh kooh’ louder. She sang a counter tune. But suddenly instead of the ‘kooh’ sound emerging from my throat I heard a ‘sssss’ sound from the stove. The milk had boiled over and my husband ,on hearing the ‘sssss’of the milk rushed out to see what had happened. I’ just gave him a sheepish grin and made him his coffee. I had of course to clean up the mess but who cares? The little musical exchange I had had with my sweet little bird made my day and still the sense of well being is fresh in my mind.

There were two brown birds avidly flying back and forth today up to my window sill. They were vigorously inspecting the cardboard box that I have made for them. I even saw one twig in one bird’shand.But, I do not know what goes on in the mind of the crow today. It just snaps at the bird and almost clutched it and knocked it down viciously , refusing to allow entry to the bird. I just cannot understand why. of course I know I cannot figure out what goes on in the crow’s mind but this does not prevent me from cursing the cheapskate. I have been feeding this wretched crow regularly and am almost tempted to starve it henceforth. The only thought that prevents me from doing it is that it may not be the same crow.
Today the little brown bird peeked into the cardboard box, entered it and inspected it for quite along time. The next moment I see its mate sitting side by side and bother were looking out at the tree s in front like a honeymoon couple enjoying resplendent nature in Kodaikanal.Ah! I became very optimistic that some planning is going on in their little minds and the day is not far away when their little one is to find its comfortable nest here in my window sill. I also saw the brown birds flying across and believe it , one of the birds was tugging vigorously at a twig to pull it out from the branch. I am almost sure that it is planning to build the nest here. The house seems to have got its approval. Let me wait .After all , both of them had inspected the place. The wife has no cause to complain.
But these seem to be worse than a new couple who are inspecting a house , checking whether it has twenty four hour water supply , drainage problems, maintenance hassles or mosquitoes. Now they have been peeking every now and then but have not still started their building their nest. I am waiting and waiting.



Anthakshari-- a game where contestants sing film songs one after another, making it a counter tune to the previous one.

Movie review-Sivaji Ganesan's classic

Movie review of old classic
Motor Sundaram Pillai.


This is a very old film of the sixties , with a popular star cast--
veteran actor Sivaji Ganesan, Sowkar Janaki, Jayalalitha, Kanchana, Nagesh, Sachu ,Nagaiya etc..,
Sivaji Ganesan-Sundaram Pillai
SowkarJanaki- wife of Sundaram Pillai
Kanchana,Jayalalitha,Sailasri-Three grownup daughters
Manimala-Sundaram Pillai's wife's sister and his first girl friend who sacrifices her love for her sister.


The story is about a very rich man Sundaram Pillai, a self made industrialist who has a motor company of his own. He is portrayed to have established a good name for himself and looks the typical classic upper-class gentleman. He has a huge family of roughly eight children ; three of them are grownups while the others are kids in primary classes. While Kanchana is the eldest daughter married to Siva Kumar, Jayalalitha and Sailasri are the two other grownup unmarried daughters. Jayalalitha is in love with Ravichandran , the son of a college principal and Saialsri falls in love with the brother of a friend.
The love affair is brought to light but unlike other normal stories, our Sundaram Pillai raises no objection to the marriage and fixes up the alliance after talking to the boys’ parents. The parents are delighted and on an auspicious day they arrive at the big bungalow for the engagement. Here comes the sudden twist in the story..
While the guests are eagerly waiting for Sundaram Pillai[Sivaji Ganesan] to come back from his office, there arrives a taxi and a young adolescent boy enters the scene. He innocently enquires after Sundaram Pillai and reveals that he has come in a hurry to collect his school fess from him. To the utter dismay of all around he declares that Sivaji Ganesan[Sundaram Pillai ] is his father. Sowkar Janaki , , Sivaji Ganesan’s wife is appalled to hear this and the parents of the prospective grooms are shocked that there is such a mystery in the life of the respectable gentleman. They are hesitant to go through with the alliance because now the whole reputation of the family is at stake.
Sundaram pillai[Sivaji] makes his entry at this point of time and there is an unpleasant stillness in the atmosphere. The guests leave without a word and the whole family takes cudgels against the father.Sivaji Ganesan is at his best in this scene where he entertains the young boy with sweets and milk and gives him money for the school fees. The youngster is totally perplexed at the undercurrents and his embarrassment in the hostile environment is portrayed beautifully by the adolescent boy. He goes back and Sundaram Pillai is now condemned by the whole family. Soon after ,we have Sowkar Janaki going to the house of the ‘other lady’ with the intention of unraveling the mystery. Here she encounters two young kids, and a teenage girl. They are very well behaved and in the course of the conversation Sowkar Janaki comes to know that their mother is dead. She is further shocked to see the photograph of the dead mother and faints.
She goes back to her own place and the last scene unfolds another piece of drama where the eldest married d daughter is sent back to the father’s house because she is suspected by her paretnsinlaw of being a woman of dubious virtue. Sundaram Pillai has invited the college principal and the other parents too when the elder daughter’s parents in-law storm in accusing Kanchana of misconduct. There is a heated exchange of words after which Sivaji Ganaesan reveals his past. He was an orphan brought up by a gentleman who had two daughters. While Sivaji was in love with the younger daughter Manimala, the elder one[Sowkar Janaki] is also in love with him and the father fixes up the marriage with the elder daughter. Sivaji and Manimala decide to sacrifice their happiness and Sowkar Janaki is married to Sivaji. They go to Rangoon because Sundaram has a job offer from that city and they join his sister who is already there. The period is during the war and one day when Sundaram is in the factory there is a bomb blast and it is reported that people in certain streets have been totally wiped out.Sundaram is shocked and returns to India. His mentor, though distressed at the daughter’s demise , now decides to marry the younger daughter to Sundaram once he inadvertently hears their conversation about their personal sacrifice.
But, soon after the wedding is over, there arrives a telegram informing them that the first wife Sowkarjanaki has survived from the bomb blast. The father is now totally aghast and after extracting a promise from Sundaram that the existence of one wife should not be revealed to the other ,dies.
Sivaji Ganesan explains the trauma he had to face in order to keep his word and keep both the women happy and oblivious of the other.
The guests understand his plight and all is well at the end.
The film brings out the best in veteran actors Sivaji Ganesan and Sowkar Janaki.Jayalalitha is one of the daughters, bubbly and beautiful , dances gracefully and looks decorative.Nagesh is also in the cast and he portrays a character like that of Thupariyum Sambu, the famous ‘detective’ in Devan’s novel ‘Thupariyum Sambu’.
The film is a classic with excellent portrayals of subdued dialogue delivery and superb emoting.SivajiGanesan is every inch the perfect gentleman and all the stars vie with one another in their acting capabilities. The strong story line and the well-maintained tempo are highlights of this old classic.