Working from home, I've always felt that those who work in the field of entertainment are blessed. I was fascinated, especially, with the back-screen workers like dubbing artistes, technicians for special effects and subtitling writers. I was under the impression that these people would be enjoying their work because they get to watch movies during their work.
So, a couple of weeks back, when I got the offer to do a subtitling job for a company, I was thrilled, to say the least. I jumped at the offer and I was on the job the next day. The first movie I got was Parashakthi. My dream of making a huge name in the field of subtitling, like Sivaji from his first movie, took wings . I began work very enthusiastically and was boasting to people at home that I am getting paid for watching movies. But what a nightmare it turned out to be!
I had to translate every 'ohh' and 'ahh' and I could tell anyone the number of 'Kalyani's uttered in the movie, even in my sleep. I never thought I would be cursing Karunanidhi (non-stop dialogues....only the crow and cuckoo didn't talk) for something other than his politics.
The worst part of subtitling the movie was translating the songs. I thinks it's utter foolishness to try and translate a song, which is generally a play of words that sounds good only in the original language. If saying "Kalyani ran to the edge of her life" was bad enough, imagine the difficulty I went through translating "Ananda Koothadinalum Thandavakone" song in the movie.
I've vowed never to comment about the bad subtitling in movies, ever again, now that I know the effort that goes into it. And next time you watch the movie Parashakthi with subtitles, you know who not to blame!
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Mahajan family
Recent news about Pramod Mahajan's brother , Pravin Mahajan's death made me ponder about the state of their mother. Do these sons ever think about what their mother would go through because of their actions? The newspaper article stated that their father had been a strict disciplinarian, who brought up all the children with good values and had faced lot of hardship to give them a good life. But the mother, witnessing her sons making such a mess of their lives, would have felt that all these values have had no effect in their upbringing.
I have known a few families where the children have gone astray despite the parents being sincere and honest in their efforts to bring them up with good values. Sometimes I wonder whether a strict disciplinarian father has a negative effect on his children. Children have such an overdose of discipline that they decide to take the opposite path, in rebellion. I have also come across families where the parents paid no attention to their children, who have grown up to have a good life.
So, whether all our efforts to be excellent parents to our children is really going to have any relevance in our children's lives is a real mystery...........we can only hope and pray for our children's welfare, after coming across such families as the Mahajans'.
I have known a few families where the children have gone astray despite the parents being sincere and honest in their efforts to bring them up with good values. Sometimes I wonder whether a strict disciplinarian father has a negative effect on his children. Children have such an overdose of discipline that they decide to take the opposite path, in rebellion. I have also come across families where the parents paid no attention to their children, who have grown up to have a good life.
So, whether all our efforts to be excellent parents to our children is really going to have any relevance in our children's lives is a real mystery...........we can only hope and pray for our children's welfare, after coming across such families as the Mahajans'.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Three women: Different Strokes
Weddings are always thrilling for me, as I get the chance to meet new faces, hear lots of family news and of course,relish good food. This time, three women who I met at the wedding struck me as different and they influenced me in different ways. The first one was a highly successful, middle aged woman who has travelled a lot and is doing great in her career. But she put me off by talking only about herself and by not bothering to show some common courtesy. She was so full of herself that after a while, all of us started feeling suffocated and wanted to move away. No doubt, she is a very successful career women who has balanced her personal life equally well. But then, showing no interest in others or showing no regard for the experience of the elders in the family just made me feel strongly that being grounded, having humility and applying the saying "Katradhu kai mann alavu, kallathathu ulgalavu" would make us realize that education and money alone don't equate to experience and knowledge.
The second lady was again a successful career women, but she has no airs about it. She is so simple and down to earth that it is difficult to believe that she is such an achiever. She was very simple in her dressing, despite the established custom of wearing Kanjivarams and jewelery for the wedding. We came to know about her achievements only through others and I learnt the valuable lesson that your achievements would speak for themselves and that there is no need to blow your own trumpet.
On the way back, during the train journey, our co-passenger was an old lady in her 80's who had amazing energy and was enthusiastically playing cards with her grandchildren. Although she could not converse in Hindi or English, she managed to carry on a conversation with her grand-daughter-in-law (who spoke only Marathi) and it was a delight to see people of two different generations , conversing with no common language between them. This old woman was so affectionate, even to her co-passengers, that all the children in the compartment came running to her when she called them. She was a perfect, living example of how one can enjoy life and be happy even at that age and thus, prove the saying "Anbirrkkum undo adaikkum thazh?" right.
Definitely, lots to learn from these women..........
The second lady was again a successful career women, but she has no airs about it. She is so simple and down to earth that it is difficult to believe that she is such an achiever. She was very simple in her dressing, despite the established custom of wearing Kanjivarams and jewelery for the wedding. We came to know about her achievements only through others and I learnt the valuable lesson that your achievements would speak for themselves and that there is no need to blow your own trumpet.
On the way back, during the train journey, our co-passenger was an old lady in her 80's who had amazing energy and was enthusiastically playing cards with her grandchildren. Although she could not converse in Hindi or English, she managed to carry on a conversation with her grand-daughter-in-law (who spoke only Marathi) and it was a delight to see people of two different generations , conversing with no common language between them. This old woman was so affectionate, even to her co-passengers, that all the children in the compartment came running to her when she called them. She was a perfect, living example of how one can enjoy life and be happy even at that age and thus, prove the saying "Anbirrkkum undo adaikkum thazh?" right.
Definitely, lots to learn from these women..........