Watched 13 Going on 30 last evening.
Mushy chick flick and I hate to admit I actually liked it. It’s yet another one of those “What if” movies Hollywood churns out.
Feel free to add to the collection.
What if:
A 13 year old girl who wants to be 30, wakes up next morning to find out she’s now 30: 13 Going on 30.
A little boy grows big: Big
You became God: Bruce Almighty
You meet Devil who gives you seven wishes: Bedazzled
Your Mom and you exchanged personalities: Freaky Friday
You have to win over the girl every single day cuz she does not remember: 50 First Dates
The same day repeats itself again and again and again: Ground Hog Day
You can read women’s minds: What Women want
You can read animals: Dr.Dolittle
You became an animal: The Animal
An attractive woman becomes a man: The Hot Chick
You can only see the inner beauty of women: Shallow Hal
You find a magic mask that can get you what you want: Mask
In most of these movies, there’s always a character who wants or does not want something to happen, and then by magic, it just happens overnight… and in some cases, they are back to their real lives as more enlightened souls.
There’s a willing suspension of disbelief from the viewer’s end, there’s no logic whatsover, pure magic. But it still works and how… My favourites are 50 First Dates, GroundHog Day and Bruce Almighty and What Women Want… all fantastic plotlines.
The ‘What if’ plotlines are a recommended exercise for those interested in writing scripts. You can start writing your film’s plot right away. Just fill in the blanks: What if man/woman/boy or girl finds out that _____________ (fill in situation there with adequate scope for boy loves girl) the next morning/moment and then learns/realises that he/she was better off before.
* * *
Off-topic:
But now, it’s time for Hindi films. I hope to watch Musafir tonight and can’t wait for December 17 for Swades. Meanwhile, here’s my review of Hulchul, in case you missed to read it in the papers.
Post Script:
And yeah, the last post is still open for discussion. Some interesting comments there. He he!
MADRAS INK. 
One more addition:
What if: You wanted your dad to be unable to tell a lie, even if he wanted to…
Liar Liar
Yet another overnight transformation leading to funny events…
And Sudhish, I am sure you are not new to overnight transformations… I am not even sure if you know of this… but, I must make a mention nevertheless…
Nobody knew Sudhish Kamath in DAV outside his class… at least none of us, few classes his junior, knew him until that one day in the (forget-its-name but not the memories) auditorium…
It was a debate competition…. and the topic had something to do with will power…. and we see (hear?!) speaker after speaker… and did not expect anything new when the next lanky lad walks on stage… until… when no one is expecting it… he throws a chalk on one of the light fixtures among the audience and goes on to make a point out of it… Truly imaginative… I might not be doing a good job of describing that moment(because I dont remember the exact details)… but with that the lanky dude totally swung the contest to his side… and then when we head back to classes, what do you know?!!?! everyone is talking about that guy who threw the chalk….
A star was born….
Couple of years later… Metro Ads, AnnaNagar Times follow…
Same venue… different setting
Razzmattazz ’94 DAV culturals…
that guy-who-threw-the-chalk is now Sudhish Kamath… this time, off the stage… judging JAM…
…. this one jammer(from where else, rival school with a four-letter name) known for his witticisms and tongue in cheek remarks was on stage and is his usual self…. until… our man Sudhish Kamath in a bid to put this speaker in his place goes… “In promulgating your esoteric cogitations or articulating your superficial sentimentalities and amicable, philosophical or psychological………”
The crowd erupts!!! (to quote the cliche….)
…. the world has its first glimpse of Suderman….
Two (or so) years more… The Hindu takes our man beyond AnnaNagar… I always used to rush to Page 2 to see if Sudhish Kamath has something to say… not wanting to stop there, I used to awe other friends with “yeah, that dude…. he and I were in the same school… veedu kooda enga veettukku kitta thaan…”… all the while concealing the fact that he never knew me…
….first brush with celebrity status….
…and now blogspot throws him open to the entire world…. something that I was always hoping would happen… a Sudhish Kamath blog…
… and I am loveen eet… what more to follow??
whew….. that was long…
I couldnt help noticing
sudhish kamath, journalist, who writes for the hindu. and suderman, the superhero waiting to be written about
in your about me
So now… Suderman has been written about….
Umm… No… I dont have any intentions of starting a blog chronicling the real-life heroics of Suderman…. but, wouldnt mind getting paid for this piece of eulogy…. 😉
-Maharajan (was your junior at DAV)
I enjoyed Maharajan’s eulogy more than Sudhish’s post.
You stole the thunder from him.
Wow! “The Making of Sudhish” all started with the chalk. I also threw a chalk but unfortunately not at a light fixture but on a super figure in class :-). The chalk thrown by me also made me famous, but for all the wrong reasons. Isn’t this what Einstien called relativity
Now,I have my own “What if” story to tell….
read my blog for the full story…:-)
Sud (a.k.a Sudarshan)
P.S: Coming back to Einstien on relativity, this what the man had to say
“Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for
an hour, and it seems like a minute. THAT’S relativity”
thambi maharajan!
orey touchitae pa! orey choked…
but i dunno what chalk throwing incident you talking about! are u sure that was me?
The “In promulgating your esoteric cogitations” was me, that I remember… chalk throwing ah?? well, no memories of that at all! Strange…
and where’s ur blog pa?
veetu pakkathala irukkae na drop in sometime… fone pannu rasa! 9382 11 8103.
ha ha Sud!
Me reading ur blog only!
See u there!
Cheers!
Sudhish
I thought I would use the time difference to conjure up the story…
I forgot journalists like Engineers go to bed later than the owls 🙂
So the story preview in 9 hours
Sud
Thalaiii…. thank you… thank you… thank you… (baasha style)
Yes, I am pretty sure it was you in “the one where he throws the chalks” episode… it was one of those “inter-house” debate competitions..
I couldnt be wrong… for that was what put you on the DAV map…
I am no more “veettu pakkathula…” far far away from dear Annanagar… but, now that I have your number… I will give you a call when I am in Chennai next and I’d love to meet up…
Sud, thanks a lot… that was a huge compliment… stealing the thunder from Suderman!!! whoa!!! that is too much for me… but, seriously flattered… hehe
And… funny…. your experiences with the same chalk throwing stuff yielded completely different results… I think you its all a matter of the target audience you guys chose…
…. hehehe (reference to previous post..)
And thalai (or would you prefer Captain??), I dont have a blog…. yet… my earlier attempts at blogging didnt go too far… umm… yeah… guess I was trying to blog too much in too less time… end result – I couldnt read my blog myself… I got burned out…. tsk… tsk… but, I hope I will make a re-entry sometime…. will keep you posted of that…
Adhu varai… I will continue posting comments…
-Maharajan
Suderman
Check out the “What-if” story now..I reached the end of my creativity… I am totally exhausted.. time for a hangover 🙂