எழுத்தாளர் சுஜாதா மரணம்

கடந்த புதன்கிழமை இரவு எழுத்தாளர் சுஜாதா இயற்கை எய்தினார். 20 ம் நூற்றாண்டின் தமிழ் இலக்கிய வரலாற்றில் தன்னிகரற்ற உச்சத்தைத் தொட்டவர். BEL இல் பொறியாளராக பணியாற்றி, மின்னணு வாக்குப்பதிவு இயந்திரத்தை உருவாக்குவதில் பெரும் பங்கு வகித்தவர். இலக்கியத்தில் சிறுகதை, நாவல், அறிவியல் தொலைநோக்கு கதை (Science Fiction), அறிவியல், நாடகம், திரைக்கதை, வசனம் என பல நடைகளிலும் கலக்கியவர்.

ஆனந்த விகடன், குமுதம், கல்கி ஆகியவற்றை வாங்கிய உடன் முதலில் நான் படிப்பது சுஜாதாவின் எழுத்துக்கள் ஆகத் தான் இருக்கும். தமிழ் இலக்கிய உலகில் அவர் விட்டு சென்ற இடம் நிரப்பப்படுவது கடினம்.

Tamil writer Sujatha (Originally Rangarajan) died on Wednesday night in Chennai. He was 72. One of my favorite writers in Tamil, he straddled across different genre of writing including short stories, novels, science, science fiction, plays, screenplay and dialogues. He was Dr.APJ.Abdul Kalam's classmate in St. Joseph's college, Trichy. He worked as an electronics engineer in BEL, Bangalore, wherein he was a key member in the team that created the Electronic Voting Machine.

Everyweek i used to start reading Kumudam, Ananda Vikatan and Kalki from the pages written by Sujatha. He has left behind a void which is very difficult to fill in the Tamil literary world.

Jodhaa Akbar

Back after a long time. Was busy with a number of things for the past 3 months. Trimester, Placements, marriages of 2 cousins and my only brother and the usual load of lazyness that i am endowed with. Got placed with Infosys as a Business Analyst on Jan 31.

Now,back to the content of this post.

Watched Jodhaa Akbar today at Chandan,Juhu. After Lagaan and Swades, I was dissappointed watching JA from Ashutosh Gowariker.

Good things first.

Hrithik and Aishwarya have lived their roles as Akbar and Jodha. While watching history, we tend to assume the actors with the roles they play, if they play it well.Krishna is Nitish Bharadwaj, Shakuni is Gufi Paintal for me even when i read Mahabharat, from the DD serial on Mahabharat of sunday afternoons in the 1990s. Akbar will defenitely be Hrithik Roshan in my history books.

The movie seems to have been made to show how visually appealing and artistic AG can make a period movie. A lot of effort has gone into building the sets and bringing to life the Mughal architecture and the war scenes. The art direction is greatly complemented by great camera work and editing during the fight sequences.

Words need not be wasted in describing how good ARR has done in his forte involving a lot of Sufi music. Khwaja meri khwaja and Jashn-e-bahaara are my favourites of the lot.

But all these good things are not enough to keep one riveted for over 3 and half hours. The movie becomes drab after a point becoming more like a chronicle of Akbar's life and achievements. The movie involves a lot of Urdu which went over my head. Subtitles in English/Hindi would have helped me.

Its unfair to compare someone's subsequent works with their magnum opus. But still, JA din't give me anything close to what i felt after watching Lagaan and Swades