Happy Karnataka Rajyothsava

Image via Wikipedia

November 1 is the day when my home state of Karnataka was born, i.e. formed by amalgamating all the Kannada speaking regions of India. Today I am in Dallas, Texas, United States and pretty much not in touch with the language of Karnataka. Back home in Bengaluru there will be official and unofficial celebrations galore but in the US it is hard to get to know of these events and harder to attend one. For myself I have tried to remember the language by watching a Kannada movie on Youtube.

Wishing all Kannadigas worldwide a very very Happy Karnataka Rajyotsava 2011.

Today is Kannada Rajyotsava

Wallpaper by GaneshWallpapers.com

Happy Kannada Rajyotsava 2010

The day our great state was formed into its modern entity in 1956. The birth of a new political entity and the proud member of the Union of India. Two years ago I started the only Kannada Radio Show on this day but of course since then the station itself closed down and there is no Kannada show in the DFW Metro area now. Every other Indian language is being represented in the currently existing South-Asian radio station. Anyway that is not the point of this post. I just wanted to wish all Kannadigas worldwide on this grand occasion of Kannada Rajyotsava.

Movie Review: Venkata in Sankata

Laughter all the way
Cast: Ramesh Arvind, Mukhyamantri Chandru, Umashree and others;
Director: Ramesh Arvind

All through my college days I would hear about the loss of quality in the Kannada cinema. I was never a big time movie watcher and hence it didn't do much to change my opinion. Now after coming to the US I actually started watching movies of all types, primarily out of boredom. Being a poor student I can't afford to do many of the cool things such as bowling, going to the movies, eating out, etc. So what is the best form of entertainment. Yes watching movies on youtube. As I watched English, and Hindi movies I decided to look for recent Kannada movies and watch them.

Yesterday I watched this notoriously hilarious Kannada movie Venkata in Sankata. Out of the 2 hr 21 minutes, if I said I laughed for 2 hrs it would not be false. The movie is completely funny and every scene has a bit of humor. Ramesh is a great actor and he has proved that he is a great director too.

The movie traces the professional life and adventures of police sub inspector Venkata whose fate always seems to be against him. His colleague somehow always seems to take credit for his actions and a frustrated Venkata is yearning to do something about it.

There is a terrorist attack in the city and Venkata is assigned the case. The way he goes about doing it and win forms the gist of the story. In between there is the heroine and few songs which add the necessary "oomph" factor to the movie. Even without these added gimmicks the movie is a good entertainer.

If you have lost hope about Kannada Cinema, watch this and I am sure you will change your opinion.

Re-discovering Kannada Movies

"Absence makes the heart grow fonder" is a common saying that people use while talking about their loved ones, especially when they are away. It is true we miss our loved ones when they are not with us. Having moved from Bangalore to Dallas, I miss my parents and my home town. But after moving here one thing I find myself missing is Kannada films. That is surprising because back in Bangalore I rarely watched movies and Kannada movies were only on TV and probably one in a few years.

But having moved here I began to miss Kannada films and that is when I started searching online to watch movies in my mother tongue. I agree the films are not as well made as Hollywood flics or even Bollywood movies. But nevertheless there is some strange joy when I watch these Kannada movies. Even though the, barring a few, heroes look like ogres and heroines are almost always garishly made up, making them look more like vamps than heroines.

Anyway the purpose of posting this was to drive home the point that when one is away from an object of affection, be it an individual, vehicle, language or place, it is highly possible that the love for that something will increase multifold. This will make us do things which we would normally not do. In my case watching Kannada movies.