Rendezvouz with Mani Ratnam @ PIFF

Yes, It is .....Day one(16th March) of the 5th Pune International Film Festival(PIFF), Seen three movies already for the Day- "Falling Sky"-A Norwegian Movie, "The Axe"-French Movie and "Double Life of Veronica" from Poland....about to catch the Fourth Movie- Tamil Movie-"Kannathil Muthamittal"-(meaning a Peck on the Cheek), and Lo behold you have Director of the Movie Mr. Mani Ratnam himself at Inox.

He addressed the audience before the movie on the theme- a movie set with the LTTE Civil War in Sri-Lanka as Background. He also promised to stay back to take queries from the audience once they finish watching the movie. The audience was a good mix of Indian as well as International movie buffs!

"Kannathil Muthamittal"- revolves around the story of a young child who is abandoned by her mother (played by Nandita Das)from Sri-Lanka in a Refugee camp in Rameshwaram. The child is brought up in Chennai by a Tamil writer and his wife(played by Madhavan and Simran), when at the age of nine they decide to tell the child that she is adopted. Hell breaks loose after this, since the daughter is adamant to meet birth mother and so begins the search which takes the plot to Sri-Lanka amidst the Civil war.

A Tale well told, woven well with emotions and songs which has also made the movie commercially attractive. The emotions of a 9 year old have been captured well and so is Simran's love for her adopted daughter. Nandita Das plays the role of the birth mother and comes across strongly during the climax. The movie ended to thunderous applause from the audience who were captivated by Director Mani Ratam's movie mastery.

The movie was followed by an interaction with Mr. Ratnam as per his word. Our gang too luckily got hold of seats amindst the people present there and I did ask him a question on his favourite movie which he has enjoyed making till date. His answer:- Movie making is a struggle and hence is a pain, ya but he has struggled(read enjoyed) most with Anjali and Thiruda-Thiruda.

The inspiration for the particular movie which we saw, was from multiple sources ranging from a Time Magazine story of a child searching her mother after a war to instances like the Sri-Lankan problem. He explained how he could show the emotions between the adopted daughter and her mother through the title song,thereby dispelling any apprehensions if he had included songs in the movie under any commerical pressure. He remarked that songs in his movies was by chocie.

On a lighter note to a question on whether he holding an MBA degree has helped in movie making ,he remarked that having an MBA degree had empowered him to take questions from the audience efficiently and that if ever he is thrown off films, he can go ask for a job based on his degree.

He was mobbed by the small crowd at Inox for autographs and we just could manage a snap with him just before he left. A memorable first day @ The PIFF

Meanwhile-I could see many juniors in campus struggling with their hectic schedule and wondering when wil they have the time we seniors are having right now!....Well I too went through that and my only word is patience.

Perfetti-India Chairman @ SCMHRD

Monday Morning-- 12th March-Got up early in somedays......and voluntarily went to a Guest Lecture arranged for the Juniors ....Well the guest was Stefano Pelle-Chairman of Perfetti Van Melle India Ltd, and author of the Book"Understanding Emerging Markets"-building BRIC by Brick.

Also had a small interaction with him at the end of the Lecture as a propective employee of the Organisation, ...........

Here is the Press Release:-

http://www.coolavenues.com/bschools/070312/scmhrd-stefano-1.php

Holi@ SIC Campus

Morning!!...My hostel door is almost brought down to get me out and colour me up....Mohit, Prabu, Subbu(Who ran away when i came out, fearing backlash),Subhash were there with colours......

Well these are the only remaining folks on campus for their Live Projects from the Senior batch, while the junior batch faced music for missing classes to play holi!!

One of the main highlights of Holi was .....Myself, Dinesh and Mohit hunting down Subbu Jr. from the Cafetaria .....and carrying him literally to the fountain behind the hostel and painting him with all type of colours...He tried his best to escape....even climbing a ladder attached to the wall in the cafetaria:)....even he did not know, where he was heading through the ladder.

Special Water Tankers were brought outside the campus by the college authorities to support the event, where we guys and gals had a bash!!...The Mess food too was awesome that day!....

In the meanwhile on the anvil is the Farewell and Jobbers Parties.........As tradition goes Juniors give a farewell, followed by a Jobbers Party from the senior Batch to celebrate their placements....

So SCMHRD is soon to witness these parties!!

Life after Placements-A Glimpse from Symbiolympics!!

Placements done! Senior Batch placed and exams to the fourth and Final Semester announced, thats the Status in Mid Jan!! The junta had already.... had a ball during the Lohri Celebrations on campus when the DJ went on till 3 AM in the morning...The Scrambling for notes and collection of essential photocopies is always a sure sign before exams, but this time ...the urge was missing..the rush was missing.....the interest lay somewhere else!!......

The SIC aka Symbiosis Campus was privy to a Sports meet titled "Symbiolympics" between three Institutes namely SCIT, SIIB and of course SCMHRD!!....

Matches predominantly in the nights..late nights to not disturb the schedule of the colleges!!....One memorable match.. from ... the matches is the Women's Throwball match-Finals between the SCMHRD girls and SCIT counterparts....a memorable one....

The match had got delayed from abt 9 in the night to as late as 2 early morning...on 21st...on which day..almost many of us had exams...in the morning and in the afternoon...(depending on the electives!)...infact the first day of exams...

so after a late wait..the stage was set....a small and sporting crowd of 30 people was there to cheer the SCMHRD girls who were happily sporting the Black NEEV T-Shirts!! and seemed ready for the kill..... moi was also among the crowd..thrust with a digital camera to click memorable moments...(rather I volunteered to..)..by no chance it seemed like 2 am early morning ....the enthusiasm of the audience should be seen to be believed....

The early to bed junta had hit the sacks, while some were up with their books preparing for the early morning exams, part of the football team members were seen with their notes around the ground..since the Football finals was slated next and could well go uptill 5 in the morning....

The rivalry was killing...and so was the cold ..and most of us were wrapped up in the "Journey is the reward" Sweat-Shirts...winning was crucial to the overall winning tally of SCMHRD.

So the girls started the warm up and just ...before the start whistle, they went into a small huddle (bilkul Team India Style!!..but I prayed these girls not repeat Team India results though!!)...I also leanrt from my fellow batchmates in the audience that this game is not played at the national level..but some of them in our team were great at it...

After seeing a few shots in the warmup..I had decided one thing..never mess with these girls ..ever...since chances of blows were more likely then slaps..:) ...one sure needs strong arms to play the game!!

Some of us through the entire tournament had acquired mastery in the technique of hooting, sledging and instant sloganeering......Every single opportunity to show the opposite team in poor light was never missed..and we were up to the task at all times....

Some of them actively involved during the match were Karan,(Have no words to describe his sense of humour and wit),Vibhor(is awesome with his instant slogans), Vinay(referred to as chutki among the match since he is the youngest), Santosh, Samir, Sharad and yours truly with a few contributions here and there...but my personal award for that morning would go to Sumeet for it...for every time he screamed..the girls of the opposite team missed and dropped the ball...
Infact during the last few points of the match..he successfully did it .with 100% success rate...The junior cheer gang was led by Anand aka Saraf...who had this typical jingle of his everytime..which i have no idea ... what it meant...(Or may be it was not meant for any understanding at all!!)

Few minutes in the match..and I clicked few pics..with the girls in action..and suddenly one of the junior girls complained...saying she was getting distrubed with the flash!!..well..i hence sensibly stopped the clicking....the wrath of my mates was too big a price to pay for the pics!!

Every point and service break was subject to thunderous applause and louder hooting....which made some of the studying junta to peep from their hostel room windows facing the court....The hooting team was also excited about the results of the swimming meet, where one of the junior SCMHRD girls had beaten all who contested*(Boys included)..and this was being constantly referred to during the exercise ....

The girls were at their task..and Sindhu(my junior and part of the team)..too invited continuous cheer from the audience for her on field aggression and play...and so were the other members of the team namely Suchita, Rashmi, Reema, Prashanthinie, Neha Takshak, Radhika and Gauri...(These include two substitutes).

The crowd also made sure on a lighter note to heckle the refrees from SCMHRD ...who gave decisions in favour of the opposition....all in a lighter note....

Voices like "Kill them, Butcher them!!"were eminating at intervals of successful times....the SCMHRD junta sure had every trick up its sleeve to make the situation lively with the momentum built up in the match...the girls did not disappoint either... they wrapped up the match in no time..straight winning 3 sets to 0 for the best of five game.

As the winning shot came through, the team was mobbed by the crowd and the girls enjoyed very bit of their victorious moment!! Slogan shouting was at its peak with the hooting gang having a field day!!

P.S- I was promised pictures of the event since I wanted to put them along with this post, but unforunately have not been able to lay my hand on them. All this inspite of clicking good pics!!