Pazhassi Raja – The movie review

History

Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja was born in Kottayam Royal Family. The Kottayam Kingdom covered the present-day Wayanad, and Manathavaday was the capital of this Kingdom. The British were at war with the world in the late 18^th century, Americans had declared independence from British in 1776, In south Asia the Marathas and Tipu Sultan (Mysore) were fighting British (East India Company). Pazhassi Raja's revolt against British started in the same time. After Tipu left Malabar the British decided to collect the Tax directly from the Kings and Nair Lords. The Tax raised by British was unreasonable, and people couldn't comply. By listening to the people Pazhassi Raja stopped collecting the taxes.

On June 28, 1795 Pazhassi Raja challenged the British by stopping all tax collection and giving refuge to people who were considered revolutionaries by the British. The 1797 saw a series of revolts resulting in heavy loss to the British and they were forced to withdraw. After losing his palace and moving onto Wayanad forest, Pazhassi started the guerilla war in June 1800. In 1802 Edachena Kangan and Thalakkal Chanthu captured Panamaram Fort and killed atleast 300 British soldiers. Thomas Harvey Baber came as a sub collector (in 1804) took direct charge of capturing Pazhassi Raja on November 1, 1805. On November 30, 1805 Pazhassi Raja was surrounded and killed by the British army. His body was taken back with respect by the British and was cremated with customary honours. "He was our enemy, But he was a great man and warrior." Thomas Harvey Baber – December 31, 1805.

The Movie Review

The movie Pazhassi Raja brought the old team of Oru Vadakkan Veeragadha back. National Award winners – Mammootty, Director Hariharan and Script Writer MT Vasudevan Nair and the expectations were sky high – and the end result – they didn't disappoint us. They created a well crafted movie at par with Hollywood movies. Now let us get into the movie details.

Mammootty plays the role of Pazhassi Raja while Sarath Kumar plays Edachena Kangan and Manoj K Jayan plays the role of Thalakkal Chanthu. Mammootty does a controlled act and plays the role of Raja to the perfection while Sarath and Manoj, Padmapriya (Neeli) and Suresh Krishna (Kaitheri Ambu) brings in a different dimension to the movie with their excellent acting and action scenes. Director needs to be commended for the excellent star cast and using the stars in their right strength. The movie runs in for 3 ½ hours, however with MT (Vasudevan Nair) at the helm of the script it flows smoothly.

The team did an excellent job in finding the right locations and some of them are breath taking. The camera work (By Ramanath Shetty) makes the movie a visual delight. The music by the maestro Illayaraja is excellent. The cinematography peaks at the time of war scenes. Of course, you can't compare this (war scenes) with Braveheart or Gladiators but you can definitely put this at par with Kevin Costner's Oscar Winner Dances with the wolves.

The king (Pazhassi Raja) with limited resources at his possession has to resort to guerilla war fare. The action shot especially the camera angles and the sound design by Oscar Winner Resul Pookutty is at par with Hollywood movies. Even the friendly dual between Pazhassi Raja and Edachena Kangan is a treat to watch (lookout for the visual and sound effects). The sound effect of arrows from Neeli (Padmapriya) and Chanthu (Manoj K Jayan) brings the viewers right in the middle of the conflict. The thunder storm and the heavy rain when the British hangs Chanthu makes the scene touching and memorable. Pazhassi Raja's solo entry into British camp to avenge Chanthu's death is memorable too. Another highlight of the action scene is the attack of the Panamaram Fort by Kangan (Sarath Kumar) and Chanthu (Manoj K Jayan). This is one of the best war action scenes by the Indian Cinema. The sound effects and the background score of the movie definitely deserve another Oscar.

There are lots of cinematic moments scripted by MT (Vasudevan Nair) – Pazhassi Raja (Mammootty) with his uncle Kurumbranaadu Raja Veeravarma (Thilakan), the climax with Thomas Baber (Harry Key), with Emman Nair (Lalu Alex) before the final conflict. Of course you can't compare these with Oru Vadakkan Veeragadha but still Mammootty brings in his magical touch to these scenes. Another moment to cherish is Kangan's (Sarath) dialogues with Chandhu (Suman) on declaring the treaty as void. Excellent screenplay by the script writer giving ample scope for each actor to prove their strength.

Rest of the cast including Suman (Pazhayamveedan Chandhu), Jagathy (Kanara Menon), Nedumudy Venu (Moopan), Devan (Kannavathu Nambiar), Captain Raju (Unni Mootha), Jagatheesh (Bhandari), Kaniha (as Pazhassi Raja's wife – Katheri Maakam),  along with British Actors Peter Evans (as Major James Gordon),  Linda Arsenio (Dora – Baber's fiancee) and Harry Key (as Thomas Hervey Baber) did their part well.

The negative side of the movie.
The recreation of 18^th century villages looks too new. It should have given more rough look to the fences, hut roofs, roads etc. Authenticity of the dressings of the tribal (check for the red band on Chanthu – Manoj K Jayan's forehead). The dialogue delivery of Neeli – instead of Padmapriya someone else should have dubbed for her – as she doesn't speak Malayalam, her dialogues has an English slang. The key weakness (clean white dress of the tribals, sparkling white teeth of the tribal Neeli - Padmapriya) lies in the Art Direction. Some of the fight scenes (flying scenes - similar to Chinese movies Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and Hero) should have been made more realistic.

Final verdict: Excellent movie with very high production quality, excellent acting and action scenes. It will be definitely one of the best movies from India.

Rating: 4.5 / 5.0

On a side note: Production cost of Pazhassi Raja is Rs 32 crores ($6.92 Million Dollars) compared to Braveheart $53 Million Dollars, Gladiator $103 Million, Dances with wolves $19 Million Dollars.

Malabar Days By Nick Balmer - Thomas Baber was Nick's great great great great uncle.

The Hope

	Today is a historic day not just for America but also for the whole world. Hope and expectations from the new President-elect, Barack Obama, will be enormous. We all hope he will make the CHANGE happen by rescuing the American economy (along with the Global economy) and changing the global political landscape by bringing in peace and stability instead of blind aggression and wars. Three years ago (in 2005), I was sitting with one of my close friends, Buck Kulkarni, in Starbucks (Edison, NJ), sipping a hot cappuccino and discussing the political landscape of two great democracies - the USA, the oldest democracy, and India, the largest democracy. India was ruled by Dr. Manmohan Singh, a Sikh Prime Minister, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, a Muslim President, a Christian (Sonia Gandhi) ruling party leader, and L K Advani, a Hindu opposition leader. Where can you expect something like that? Will America ever elect a woman or an African American as President? And we thought it would take another 50 years for something like that to happen. How wrong we were.
Fast forward to 2008 - We got an African American, born to Muslim-Christian parents, brought up in Indonesia, and then by his white grandparents in Hawaii - Barack Hussein Obama, The President of the United States of America. This is the second instance that strengthened my belief in democracy. First, the farmers from India voted Congress back to power in 2004 when BJP's India Shining theme went down with the winds. These events bring back the most famous quote from Abraham Lincoln – that this (USA) nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- that government Of the people By the people For the people shall not perish from the earth.

References

• Barack Obama - Wikipedia
• Family Tree - Time Magazine
• Barack Obama - Interactive Family Tree
• Barack Obama - Web Site
• Obama's Brain Trust - CNN Money

Barack Obama's Victory Speech

Wholeness – From Advaita Vedanta to Quantum Physics

Wholeness – Greeks, Vedas & Quantum Physics

The concept of ‘Wholeness’ or ‘Oneness’ is more than 2000 years old, from Greek philosophers in the Western civilization to the Vedic scholars in the Eastern culture. So, the debate over mind (Consciousness) and matter is not new. These concepts were broadly classified under Monism (in Greek, ‘monos’ means single) and Dualism.

Monism and Dualism from Ancient Greek Philosophers

The term monism was first used by a German philosopher, Christian Wolff (1679-1754), even though the philosophies date back to Ancient Greek philosophers. A prominent Greek philosopher, Parmenides, proposed matter and mind as a single entity. According to Monism, the ultimate reality comprises matter or mind (Consciousness), a third substance, or a combination of all.

Based on these, Monism is further classified into three.

Monism				Dualism
Materialistic	Idealistic	Neutral
Ernst Haeckel	Plato	Parmenides	S	Rene Descartes
	George Berkeley	Baruch Spinoza	S
	Immanuel Kant	Bertrand Russell	A
	G W Hegel	Thomas Hobbes	A

Schopenhauer

G W Leibniz

1.

1. Materialistic Monism says everything in the universe comprises just one substance, ‘matter,’ and the mind is a by-product.

2. Idealistic Monism says everything in the universe is based on Consciousness (mind), and matter is an illusion.

3. Neutral Monism says that matter and mind can be reduced to form a new substance or energy.

· Substantival Monism (“One Thing”) believes that there is only ‘one thing’ and God, mind, and matter is part of this ‘one thing.’ The 17th-century Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677) proposed this view. Along with Western philosophers, Eastern mysticism also encourages similar views.

· Attributive Monism (“One Category”) believes that there is only ‘one thing’ however, it is made up of different things like matter and the mind. It disagrees with substantive monism, emphasizing that reality is not made up of ‘one thing’; instead, it is composed of multiple things.

In Hinduism, Advaita Vedanta subscribes to Substantival Monism, emphasizing the atomicity of the mind and the matter, while in Buddhism, all things are part of a connected world. Creationist philosophy supports the belief that God (Consciousness) and the creature (subject) are separate entities. God is the supreme, and ‘Idealism’ is the only theologically acceptable Monism.

One should know that nature is an illusion (Maya), and Brahman is the illusion maker

- Svetasvatara Upanishad

Dualism

Monism & Dualism in Eastern Mysticism

(work in progress………… watch out this space….)

President Kalam's mantra for national prosperity

Following is an extract from Indian President Kalam's Republic Day speech echoing the same concerns I raised in India's blog in 2020.

Changing Pattern of Society

When the world moved from the industrial to the information and knowledge era, we witnessed a changing pattern in the sectoral share of Gross Domestic Product and the number of people employed in each sector. The share of GDP percentage has undergone a considerable change. The contribution of agriculture to India's GDP has reduced from 39 percent to 22 percent during the period 1979 to 2004. During the same period, the gift of the manufacturing sector has moved from 24 percent to 27 percent, whereas the assistance of the service sector has increased from 37 percent to 51 percent. There has been considerable change in the employment pattern. The percentage of people employed in agriculture has decreased from 64 percent to 54 percent. Simultaneously, the percentage of people engaged in manufacturing has increased from 15 percent to 19 percent, and in the service sector from 20 percent to 27 percent. This trend has to continue, and by 2020, our employment pattern should aim at 44 percent in agriculture, 21 percent in manufacturing, and 35 percent in service sectors. The displacement of 10 percent of people from the agriculture sector has to be facilitated through skill enabling for undertaking value-added tasks in rural enterprises to reduce migration to urban areas. Instead of people from rural areas going to urban towns in search of jobs in the manufacturing and services sectors, PURA (Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas) will facilitate the creation of employment in rural areas. PURA achieves this by providing physical, electronic, and knowledge connectivities to a cluster of villages, thereby leading to their economic connectivity and prosperity.

National Employment Status

The National Rural Employment Guarantee Bill 2004 was tabled in Parliament in its last session to create employment opportunities in the rural sector. What is needed is coordinated planning and linking this Bill's spirit to productive and sustainable employment generation schemes for the unemployed youth. Now, I would like to discuss the national employment scenario.

As per the estimates of the Planning Commission, the total number of people eligible for employment currently is approximately 400 million. Out of this, nine percent are unemployed, around 36 million. In addition, there is a need to find value-added employment for 10 percent of those employed in the agriculture sector in rural areas. Our attempt is to find gainful employment for around 76 million people. This will add to our productivity and ensure a sustained 10 percent GDP growth for the decade, an essential need for India to become a developed country before 2020.

Dear Citizens, a nation of a billion people that is capable of exporting foodgrains, a nation that is recognized for its software products and services, a nation that can build its own aerospace systems and nuclear power plants, a country that is leading in the pharma and automobile industries, I am sure, will be able to put all its think tanks together and come up with many innovative wealth generating schemes for the productive employment of 76 million people.

The complete text of President A P J Abdul Kalam's address to the nation on the eve of the country's 56th Republic Day is available at this URL: http://us.rediff.com/news/2005/jan/25prez.htm

India in the year 2020

India's foreign reserves are around $131 billion (as of Jan 1, 2005) dollars. However, what is disturbing is our GDP and Labor force distribution.

GDP¹ (Gross Domestic Product) Distribution.

- 25% is from Agriculture
- 30% is from Industry (of which 19% is manufacturing)
- 45% is from Services & Information Technology

Labor Force: 470 million

Labor Force Distribution

- 60% Agriculture
- 23% Industry
- 17% Services & Information Technology

The decline in the contribution of agriculture towards GDP for the past two decades is in sync with the growth pattern of any developing country. The share of agriculture in the GDP has shrunk to 25% in 2004 from 40% two decades ago. However, the labor force reduction was only 10%, i.e., from 70% two decades ago to 60%.

	INDIA				China		USA
	2004		2020		2004		2004
	GDP	Labor	GDP	Labor	GDP	Labor	GDP	Labor
Agriculture	25%	60%	10%	15%	14.8%	50%	1.4%	2.4%
Industry	30%	23%	35%	35%	52.9%	22%	26.2%	24%
Services & Others	45%	17%	55%	55%	32.3%	28%	72.5%	73%
Labor Force	470 Million		700 Million		778.1 Million		146.5 Million
Public Debt2	59.7 % of GDP				30.1 % of GDP		62.4% of GDP
Exports	$57 Billion				$436 Billion		$714 Billion
Imports	$74 Billion				$397 Billion		$1.26 Trillion
GDP per Capita3	$2900.00				$5000.00		$37,800.00
PPP4	$3.033 Trillion				$6.449 Trillion		$10.99 Trillion
GDP Real Growth Rate5	8.3%				9.1%		3.1%

The transformation in the GDP is typical of developing country experience. However, if you look at the labor force distribution, we find that 75% of the GDP contribution comes from 40% of the labor force.

All successful developing economies moved significant numbers of people out of agriculture as the share of agriculture in the GDP declined. The developed nations' GDP (see the US) shows this fact.

So, over here, 60% of (Labor force) our population is dependent on Agriculture, and imagine the chaos it will create when there is monsoon failure. Another misconception is that while China has become the world's factory, India has become the world's knowledge centre in the last 10 years – which looks better on paper. China did the right thing in the previous 15 years to transform its agricultural labor force by bringing in industrialisation, which is natural progress (Agriculture to Industry to Service). 

Thanks to the liberalisation of the early 1990s, India did pretty well in the last 15 years. However, we did pretty well in the Service and IT (Information Technology) sectors, neglecting our Agricultural labor force. So, to bring our 60 Agriculture labor force down to 15% – 20% (i.e., approximately 220 million people), we need to create more jobs in our industry sector and have a good plan and commitment to do the transformation.

We (India) could become an economic giant in 2020 if we could move people from Agriculture to other industries, and how do we do that?

Education with an adequate skill set!

We need governments who could see into the future to do this transformation.

The question over here is –

WHAT CAN WE (The people of India) DO TO HELP THIS TRANSFORMATION?

1. GDP – Gross Domestic Product is the value of all final goods and services produced within a nation in a given year.

2. Public Debt – All government borrowings minus repayments denominated in a country's home currency. It should not be confused with external debt, which reflects the foreign currency liabilities of private and public sectors and must be financed out of foreign exchange earnings.

3. GDP Per Capita - GDP on a purchasing power parity basis divided by population.

4. PPP – Purchasing Power Parity (2004 estimate).

5. GDP Real Growth Rate - GDP growth is annually adjusted for inflation and expressed as a percent.