#tollywood

Tollywood songs I grew up with

Who would have imagined that a movie could be made on cockfighting, and that too with a plot partially based on Shakespeare's Othello? It was made possible by the legendary Tamil film director Vetrimaaran.

The movie "Aadukalam (Playground)," which was released in 2011 and won several accolades including National Awards and critical acclaim for its exceptional cinematography and unique theme, had long been sitting on my watchlist, but I finally got a chance to watch it.

The film starts with a narrator explaining the long-held historical tradition of cockfighting prevalent in Madurai, Tamil Nadu. The opening flash-forward sequence immediately gets hold of your attention, where the protagonist Karuppu (Dhanush) is found in a suspicious situation, and then it cuts to another scene where Irene, Karuppu's love interest — an Anglo-Indian girl from an affluent family (Taapsee) — is on a stretcher, where we can see she has slit her wrist. Then a chase sequence begins, but it takes us back in time to another chase sequence where it all started.

Pettaikaran (Jayabalan) and Rathnavelu (Naresh) are big names in the game of cockfighting in Madurai. They have been rivals for 30 years, and Rathnavelu's roosters haven't been able to beat Pettaikaran's roosters in all these years, not even once — though his roosters have beaten all other big names in the game. Rathnavelu is a big landlord and also a cop. Pettaikaran's financial situation is not very sound. Rathnavelu's mother gives him a hard time every time he loses to Pettaikaran, for ruining the family's name. In a chase sequence shown in flashback, their roosters are fighting when the fight gets interrupted by police, as it's illegal to make roosters fight due to animal rights. Pettaikaran thinks Rathnavelu did this on purpose so as not to lose the fight one more time, and decides never to fight his roosters against him again.

As we follow along, we come to know the rules and terminologies of this game, and the different stakeholders involved in such fights — the owner, the handler, and the arbiter

The owner owns and breeds a specific kind of rooster, and none of the owners allow anyone else to use their roosters for breeding elsewhere. They choose the bloodline, fund the premium diet (ghee, almonds, specific meats), and spend months training the rooster. Pettaikaran and Rathnavelu are owners.

The handlers are experts in reading a bird's physical state. They tie razor-sharp blades (kanthi, or spurs) to the rooster's legs, blow water onto its face to revive it between rounds, and physically provoke the bird (billing) to incite its rage before letting it loose. Karuppu and Durai are Pettaikaran's best students and handlers.

The referee/arbiter is the neutral, absolute authority who stands inside the ring to enforce the rules.

We get to see people gambling and betting money on fights, ultimately resulting in enmity and rivalry — which seems very silly on the surface, but as we get immersed in that world in the movie, it makes sense.

The cinematography and camerawork are very unique and interesting. It's shot by acclaimed cinematographer R. Velraj, who used a realistic, documentary-style approach that transforms the city of Madurai and the subculture of cockfighting into living narrative elements. Handheld camera movements make the rooster fights look authentic, though due to the tight budget in 2011, the roosters sometimes look artificial in the fights. So most of the time, they took care not to linger the camera on the roosters for more than a second.

In the second half, the movie focuses more on each character — their personal grudges, Pettaikaran's jealousy, professional rivalry, and moral degradation. Vetrimaaran has beautifully woven Othello's theme of jealousy into the professional relationship between a teacher and his student.

Especially the fight scene between Karuppu and Durai is cinematic genius. Pettaikaran is the teacher to both, and due to his jealousy over Karuppu's success, he plants ideas and orchestrates events so that they come face to face at one point. It's shot and choreographed in such a way that we feel as if it's a metaphorical cockfight without an arbiter, with Pettaikaran the owner remaining in the shadows. The music is so apt that it gives the scene a sense of humans fighting like animals.

The movie is absolutely fantastic and worth watching.

யஷ் நடிப்பில் உருவாகியுள்ள ‘டாக்ஸிக்’ திரைப்படத்தின் டிரெய்லர் வெளியானது. 🔥

மேலும் இப்படம் வரும் ஆகஸ்ட் 26ஆம் தேதி திரையரங்குகளில் வெளியாகும் என படக்குழு அறிவிப்பு.

He's really introvert and shy and so is the fl so it's a cute romance fic with Bhalladev acting as a big brother to both and amarendra getting jealous.

Please please write it!! Thankuuu

Hello anon,

So I've told you that I'll write this request a few weeks ago but I don't think so I can write this. I just don't have the same motivation to write fics now. I really wanted to do this one but it's just I am dealing with a lot currently, I don't even have enough time for myself. I need to focus on my studies.

I already have a handful of unfinished drafts and oc x oc is not really my thing.

Very sorry that I made you wait for so long.