Khan Saheb Kamal Haasan's Jamaat/Jeba Koottam/Devasthaanam - Part 8

[Russellpei]

[geno]

All the lines quoted above are from his movies. I dont know why movie dialogues should be taken so seriously. He is just an actor, a professional who has been doing his job well. No one expects him to get involved in politics or raise his voice against his country. Simply showing terrorists as terrorists has made him suffer a lot. And now we blame him for enjoying the fruits of his labour?

If you feel he must have rejected the award, its just your opinion. IMO he deserves much more national and international recognition. For a man who does international business, every award he gets will help increasing his global reach.

Nope! Kamal IS taken seriously as a creator and an actor BECAUSE he chose to do films, write films which Sought to project - Moral Anger, Rebelling against religious dogma which bordered on what could be considered as Anarchy (a la Kejriwal's , well justified!). He carefully projected or emanated this as a creator.

That is why nobody cares about what "Ramakrishna madam + Dhayanandha saraswathi discourse lover" - Rajinikanth Says on issues like these, or even what a Socio-politically naive Ilaiyaraja says or acts in issues like these, but would carefully dissect people like Kamal.

This is an existential question for Kamal. 3 decades of carefully groomed image as a thinker/creator - now exposes that he selectively goes blind, amnesiac over important issues like the eezham genocide (comparing & contrasting to how he reacted in December 1992, March 1993 and for Kovai - February 1998 publicly)...

This is the morbid selective amnesia which will lead to questioning his motives, his selective silences!...

That is why Subramaniam Swamy and Cho Ramaswamy as open enemies of tha tamil ethnic identity would be "respected" a lot more than - "nanRikkadan seluththum" bleddy back-stabbers like Vairamuthu and on a idealogical plane - people lika Kamal's - aquiescence to Congress hindian nationalists machinations, would be despised more.

[oyivukac]

Nice pics of Marudhanayagam.

[geno]

Marlon Brando

Sacheen Littlefeather mentioned that he is not receiving the award due to "treatment of American Indians by film industry". I am confused on this.. american Indians means native americans?

Thats from an archaic practice of calling the Apaches and other Native americans as "Indians", probably because Christopher columbus originally wanted to find a trade route to India (Chera naadu to be precise) but instead found the american continent.

And Marlon brando's refusal/rejection of the Oscar was not "Just" for the way the hollywood projected Native americans, but also for the Hundreds of years of injustices meted out to Native americans by the Occupying European colonial caucasians. You have to read Marlon Brando's Life story to understand how much he contributed towards this efforts.

This is the statement read out on behalf of Brando at the Oscars of 1973:

http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html...ather-ar3.html



March 30, 1973

'THE GODFATHER'

That Unfinished Oscar Speech

By MARLON BRANDO



BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. -- For 200 years we have said to the Indian people who are fighting for their land, their life, their families and their right to be free: ''Lay down your arms, my friends, and then we will remain together. Only if you lay down your arms, my friends, can we then talk of peace and come to an agreement which will be good for you.''

When they laid down their arms, we murdered them. We lied to them. We cheated them out of their lands. We starved them into signing fraudulent agreements that we called treaties which we never kept. We turned them into beggars on a continent that gave life for as long as life can remember. And by any interpretation of history, however twisted, we did not do right.

We were not lawful nor were we just in what we did. For them, we do not have to restore these people, we do not have to live up to some agreements, because it is given to us by virtue of our power to attack the rights of others, to take their property, to take their lives when they are trying to defend their land and liberty, and to make their virtues a crime and our own vices virtues.

But there is one thing which is beyond the reach of this perversity and that is the tremendous verdict of history. And history will surely judge us.
But do we care? What kind of moral schizophrenia is it that allows us to shout at the top of our national voice for all the world to hear that we live up to our commitment when every page of history and when all the thirsty, starving, humiliating days and nights of the last 100 years in the lives of the American Indian contradict that voice?

It would seem that the respect for principle and the love of one's neighbor have become dysfunctional in this country of ours, and that all we have done, all that we have succeeded in accomplishing with our power is simply annihilating the hopes of the newborn countries in this world, as well as friends and enemies alike, that we're not humane, and that we do not live up to our agreements.

Perhaps at this moment you are saying to yourself what the hell has all this got to do with the Academy Awards? Why is this woman standing up here, ruining our evening, invading our lives with things that don't concern us, and that we don't care about?

Wasting our time and money and intruding in our homes.

I think the answer to those unspoken questions is that the motion picture community has been as responsible as any for degrading the Indian and making a mockery of his character, describing his as savage, hostile and evil. It's hard enough for children to grow up in this world. When Indian children watch television, and they watch films, and when they see their race depicted as they are in films, their minds become injured in ways we can never know.

Recently there have been a few faltering steps to correct this situation, but too faltering and too few, so I, as a member in this profession, do not feel that I can as a citizen of the United States accept an award here tonight. I think awards in this country at this time are inappropriate to be received or given until the condition of the American Indian is drastically altered. If we are not our brother's keeper, at least let us not be his executioner.

I would have been here tonight to speak to you directly, but I felt that perhaps I could be of better use if I went to Wounded Knee to help forestall in whatever way I can the establishment of a peace which would be dishonorable as long as the rivers shall run and the grass shall grow.

I would hope that those who are listening would not look upon this as a rude intrusion, but as an earnest effort to focus attention on an issue that might very well determine whether or not this country has the right to say from this point forward we believe in the inalienable rights of all people to remain free and independent on lands that have supported their life beyond living memory.

Thank you for your kindness and your courtesy to Miss Littlefeather. Thank you and good night.

This statement was written by Marlon Brando for delivery at the Academy Awards ceremony where Mr. Brando refused an Oscar. The speaker, who read only a part of it, was Shasheen Littlefeather.


Marlon Brando as Don Vito Corleone in "The Godfather."

[geno]

Brando!

I Bow to thine greatness! truly, truly moved.

[Russellpei]

Kamal Haasan speaks to Behindwoods after being bestowed with the Padma Bhushan
''Tamil cinema has the talent to reach Hollywood levels'' - Kamal Haasan

Following the announcement of the Padma Bhushan for Kamal Haasan, various people from the film fraternity and the press met him to congratulate him on the same.

On that regard, today the 28th of January, Kamal Haasan's office at Eldams Road, Alwarpet, Chennai was flooded with celebrities and close friends of the legend. S.V Shekar, Dhananjayan, Actress Lissy, Ramesh Arvind, Crazy Mohan were a few among the people who were present at the venue.

The Behindwoods team too met the legend and congratulated him on being honoured with one of the most prestigious titles in India. Speaking to Behindwoods, the actor said

"I am happy to have received this award. There are many other deserving people in our country. I am happy for Vairamuthu and Santosh Sivan too. They truly deserve it - in fact they should have won it a lot earlier."

Talking about where Tamil Cinema stands, this is what he said

"Our industry is really getting better. We have numerous talents in Tamil Cinema who have the caliber to take our industry to the level of Hollywood. When people like Vairamuthu and Ilayaraja can go places without any support, the talent bank in our state can definitely make a mark with all the support bestowed from their seniors."

[Cinemarasigan]

Thats from an archaic practice of calling the Apaches and other Native americans as "Indians", probably because Christopher columbus originally wanted to find a trade route to India (Chera naadu to be precise) but instead found the american continent.

And Marlon brando's refusal/rejection of the Oscar was not "Just" for the way the hollywood projected Native americans, but also for the Hundreds of years of injustices meted out to Native americans by the Occupying European colonial caucasians. You have to read Marlon Brando's Life story to understand how much he contributed towards this efforts.

This is the statement read out on behalf of Brando at the Oscars of 1973:

http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html...ather-ar3.html

Thanks Geno for posting this. can understand the greatness of Marlon Brando...

[Anban]

Salutes to Marlon Brando !

At the same time, the Oscars are given by an Academy.. Padma awards or the National awards are given by the govt of India.. rejecting this award means rejecting an honour bestowed upon an artist like Kamal Haasan..

so what is India? India can be any of the following ..

1. A country which is an off-shoot of the british colony called India
2. A country dominated by majorities such as Hindus or Hindi speaking people
3. The govt at the centre .. now the congress party and its corrupt coalition setup
4. The People of this country from varied cultures and races

etc etc ...

Geno should most probably think India as either point 1 or 2 ..

Kamal or any even me might have a slightly different idea of India.. a "Nation" (not a country) united by the ideals of our nationalist movement .. ideals like Satyagraha (though effective at the mercy of the British) .. now the democratic setup of our country is surely corrupt and these ideals suffer in the hands of politicians and bureaucrats.. though the majority among these clan is evil like those who sided with the Sinhalese in orchestrating a genocide, our nation also has good people.. people who are genuine, people who uphold human rights and people who truly appreciate the true achievers of our nation .. One can accept such awards in the hope of nurturing such ideals and the people who follow them, though they are a minority now ..

Kamal or any celebrity with high integrity, must speak up for atrocities like the one that happened in Srilanka when it has not been sufficiently highlighted in the main stream media.. I think Kamal has played a small role in speaking up for the affected .. he has done it since the 80's when he held a procession against the massacre in Colombo .. Tenali and now a few times in the media .. he could have done more but he cant be chided for his associations with Hindu Ram or DGP Karthikeyan .. who knows he might be arguing with them against their misdeeds..

Geno, just because some politicians and bureaucrats acted in an evil manner, one cant denounce the nation/country called India.. even i hate Hindi very much .. i hate ppl watching mainstream hindi movies .. but I can denounce my right not to lose hope on this country .. our constitution has enough in it to defend the natural rights of we Tamil people to live a self respectful and dignified life... inspite of its negatives, its much better than most countries .. if you are living in India, renounce your citizenship.. dont use any public service .. dont accept any direct or indirect favour from the govt... can you do that ?? can anybody do that ?? we need to learn to separate the good and evil parts of anything or anybody... accept the good, try to positively change the evil ..

[uruzalari]

Sreedhar Pillai ‏@sri50

.@Mohanlal's #Drishyam (Mal) 2 b remade in Tamil with Kamal Haasan produced by Wide Angel & directed by Jeethu Joseph who did the original.

[Anban]

come on Kamal sir ... periya amount-a amukkunga.. make changes in the script, dominate that director .. carbon copy of original edukkalaamaa?? thappu !!!!