Dhanuskodi - Roof top ride

Michael Crichton - 1942-2008

Flipping through today's newspaper I was shocked to see a small news snippet announcing the passing away of the novelist, Michael Crichton.

I used to be a big fan of his during my college days. Those were the days when I had got tired of the only author everyone seemed to be reading. It was Sidney Sheldon, of course. I had read too many of Sidney's novels back to back that it all got muddled inside my head.

I picked up 'Jurassic Park' and got totally involved in the story in spite of having watched the movie years ago. That should say something about the way he writes. I followed up 'Jurassic Park' with 'The Lost World' which again had been translated into celluloid years ago. And I had always wanted to read 'The great train robbery' ever since a friend of mine raved about it. But I never got to do that. May be I should one of these days.

The last book of Michael Crichton that I read was 'Disclosure' before I moved to other genres. It was far removed from the premises he adopts for his stories which usually is great technology gone awfully wrong.

'Disclosure' is the story of sexual harassment but the twist is - the girl harasses the boy. If I am right, an upcoming Tamil movie 'Indira Vizha' is based on the novel and Namita plays the role of the girl.

Michael, thanks for all the hours when you made me forget my boring hostel life and transported me to a world of dinosaurs and secret codes. You were a wonderful novelist.

Rest in Peace.

Aati Kya Khandala?

Thought of saying something profound, philosophical, metaphysical & biotechnological about letting go of everything. The pain of clinging to things, the sorrow of attachment, the joy of detachment, the fear of the unknown, the adrenalin rush of a free fall, the peace when the body hits the tarmac, when the tangible cracks and the intangible explodes, liberation of the soul and the attainment of nirvana...

but let truth be told.

Ellam oru vetti scene than. All one advertisement yaa...

:)

Why not?

When DVDs of Hindi movies have English subtitles, why not the theaters screening them? What harm would it do? Am I missing out something obvious? Wouldn't the Hindi challenged folks like me welcome it with applause? Would not the masses without the knowledge of English be delighted to watch a Bond Movie with Tamil subtitles? Why not?

And most importantly, what about the people who are deaf? Old people with hearing impairment? They wouldn't understand even if they knew the language. Wouldn't it be of immense value to this segment?

If the rest, who know the language, consider it disturbing on screen and affecting their movie experience then how about allocating shows with subtitles in a separate (maybe smaller) theater in your multiplex on specific days and specific times and letting us know about it on your website? 

The subtitles needn't cover the entire width of the screen, then it would get too difficult for the guys in the front. A suitable width that pleases the eyes. And it has to change color in order to stand out and not blend with the current background image.

Or lets take it to a higher level as discussed here. How about some kind of glasses that you distribute at the entrance. People wearing them see the subtitles and the rest don't! Sounds futuristic of course, but quite possible too. 

If all this warrants the purchase of an equipment which is going to cost you dearly, may be you can charge us a premium for the service. And if that sounds risky how about conducting a poll online and see how many are welcome to the idea? Distribute pamplets to audience coming to the theatres and ask them to cast their votes in a poll box.

Just wondering. Why not?

P. S: It is already available in the U.K (not the sci-fi glasses but cinemas with subtitling)