Friday, February 3, 2012

Missed Tharoor and Lunchtime Illuminations!

My Main itinerary of attending Galle Lit Festival was to Listen to Sashi Tharoor, and make it I did as it was finishing. So, after running around the fort one hour late and in confusion, I made it only the last ten minutes of his conversation.

Lunchtime Illumination
Watched four short films.
Kerosene - Very beautifully shot, Full credit to the lights and the director. It was a serious but at the same time the taxi driver and some of the characters on it were humorous. (The sub titles did not do justice, if you understood tamil it was funny)

Koothu - Leprosy in a village in the seventies, eighties. Seriously I had no idea that leprosy was there in a village not so long ago. Never heard anyone mention such a case. It was heartbreaking listening to the people affected speak about how they were not allowed to take water from the well, kids not being included to play. The movie ends with the families playing street theater(koothu) to raise awareness.

Third movie- Doctor from England now moved to the North and making artificial limbs. The whole project is being funded privately. The best part of the movie was when the Doctor Says" I am a Buddhist and I feel its my karma to help these people out". It was a small realisation that there are people doing more than their share for the society and we don't even realise or know.
It continues with a Young girl from London who has come for the Nallur Temple festival with her family and spends time in Jaffna.

These short films were done By Kannan Arunasalam. He is brilliant in his work but with that I think comes a bit of an attitude. Later during the day saw that he was rude and impatient with fans who spoke to him out of Halle de Galle. A bit of a stuck up individual. He was interested to answer questions when he was on the stage but very different scenario outside?

Cause the fourth movie by Kathiresu was done on a five thousand rupee budget. He mentioned it many times in his talk. The movie was simple and funny but a tad too long. The slipper thief makes another one become a thief too without knowing that he was the cause. (that was what I understood)

Could have been shorter since how long can you look at the slipper walking around?

The hat out of the bag!