The Kite Runner

I am not a voracious reader. I don’t even know what section of literature I like the most. Am I fond of fictions? Would Biographies interest me? How about Philosophy? Should one have an inclination at all? Whatever!! The purpose of reading according to me is to expose oneself to the creative world of writing to gain enriching knowledge, an invaluable investment one could ever think of, complement the experiences we have amassed over years, act as a GPRS device for future endeavors and finally, get inspired to write. Keeping this in mind, I along with my friend visited Landmark (a book store). Without much thought, I stood in front of a rack of books, over which it was visibly written “All time best seller”. I ran my eyes over the colorful books like an insatiable kid looking over the menu from the Ice Cream parlor. I saw a cover where an 8 or 10 year old kid craning his neck from behind the mud wall, showing his back to us, with a title “The Kite Runner” that sounded familiar to me, may be some top of the mind recall. I read the synopsis and laudable quotes, which I sometimes think a marketing gimmick, and decided to buy.

In a nutshell, “The Kite Runner” written by Khaled Hosseini is a story of Amir, a well-to-do Pashtun (one of the clans of Sunni Muslim) boy from Kabul, who is tormented by guilt of abandoning his friend, Hassan, a Hazara (one of the clans of Shia Muslim), who is the son of Amir’s father’s Hazara servant. The story starts in US where Amir thinks about his past, his childhood in Kabul, his district in Kabul, his friendship with Hassan, his relationship with his father, his unforgettable guilt and his cowardice act that caused Hassan to undergo mental trauma, all of which is set against the backdrop of tumultuous events, from the fall of the monarchy in Afghanistan through the Soviet invasion, the mass exodus of refugees to Pakistan and the United States, and the Taliban regime. The story then unfolds as how Amir entered into the wedlock in US and finally gets a chance to redeem himself from the guilt by traveling back to Kabul to get back that precious gift. This is a multi-dimensional story of relationships, love, hatred, redemption, and guilt, focusing on humanity, child molestation and inequality. As I read through the story, I started loathing Amir, the protagonist, who turns blind eye to Hassan’s loyalty and love, and ends up leaving his home country for betterment of life in US, without thinking of his friendship. But half-way through, I was proven wrong. When I finished reading, all I could visualize was “Amir’, the hero, the complete human. The characterization, plot, conversations, and structure are well written and the emotions are brilliantly interwoven between the lines of innocence through the eyes of the characters. I had almost become part of the world described effortlessly in the book. I was able to empathize with the characters. I was even wondering that Islam has its faction groups, Shias and Sunnis, an unacceptable discrimination, be it any religion. Though war is unavoidable part of the story, it is not dealt in detail expect for few instances. The author did not go overboard, in my opinion, to move the readers with unwanted melodramatic events. The book has some of these but in minimal dosages. Being an Afganistanian himself, the author had captured the cultural aspects of Islam with a neat explanation.

Overall, it is a nice read, a page turner, the one that deserved to be called “All time best sellers”. Author has proved that a simple story with a power of great story telling can enthrall the readers and leave them yearning for more. Before that I have started yearning for something else, the boy on the cover, who could that be? Amir? Hassan? I am not that fool to look back of the cover to see who it is. Let me wrap this up with a line - from the book - that has more to it than what it means.

“There are a lot of children in Afghanistan, but little childhood”

Aayirathil Oruvan – Inspired By?

Indian filmmakers and technicians have often looked up to the western world of cinemas for every aspect of filmmaking process, right from scripting, screenwriting to marketing and promotions. The fact that the Hollywood movies are way ahead of us in creating and embracing technical advancements, trailblazing unprecedented genres, and crafting creative story telling, has to be accepted. Neither does this mean that our movies are devoid of creative thoughts nor that we should stop ourselves from embracing the advancements from the rest of the world. But at the same time this does not serve as an excuse for literally plagiarizing the plot, story or even the screenplay. Inspiration is welcomed, be it from other movies or novels, but not shameful lifting of scenes or the entire plot without even bother to tailor the movie to suit the local taste.

We have seen many tamil movies such as Nayagan (‘The Godfather”), Avvaishanmughi (Mrs. Doubtfire), Anbe Sivam (Train, Planes and Automobiles), Ghajini (Memento), Pachaikili Muthucharam (The Derailed) etc. that are inspired from Hollywood movies and are brilliantly scripted and executed. On this list comes an another upcoming movie “Aayirathil Oruvan”, which according to my research findings and guess, could be based on a famous fiction novel “Timeline” written by Michael Crichton, who also authors, Jurassic Park, The Lost World etc. Most of his novels have been translated to the silver screen, so does “Timeline”, which was released in 2003. Michael Crichton is known for his breathtaking techno-thriller adventure stories. Coming back to Selvaraghavan’s dream project “AO”, which he claims an adventurous-fantasy story and also a genre none stepped into. From the TV interviews, trailers, articles, I have come to know the basic plot of AO, where a group of archeologists travel to some medieval places to unravel the mystery or discover something, involving both present and past (Chola period). The fact that the same characters (though in different attire) exist in both present and past world (Chola period) is quiet intriguing and of course, this pep up the sci-fi aspect of this movie. Questions that popped my mind are, How could the characters travel back to Chola Period (3rd – 12th BC)? Why would they travel back? I unearthed answers to most of these questions when I read the plot summary of “Timeline” novel. This also led me to unravel the story of “AO”, which I believe could be inspired by this sci-fi novel.

Before I reveal my version of AO story, let us dive into “Timeline” plot summary. The story begins at the present, where a professor Johnston, who heads a team of historians and archaeologists, studying a site in the Dordogne region of France where the medieval towns of Castelgard and La Roque stood. Suspicious Johnston then meets the founder of the site for detailed knowledge and then decides to travel back to 1357. Johnston does not return and his whereabouts are unknown. This led researchers Chris Hughes, Kate Erickson, André Marek (a medieval enthusiast), and David Stern fly to meet the founder of the site to know the truth. They learn that Johnston traveled back in time to the year 1357 (using the plot device of the theory of many universes, or a "multiverse," to create the scientific basis by which time travel is possible). They also find the lens of Johnston eyeglasses and a letter dated 1357 asking for help. On founder insistence, the researchers travel back to 1357 along with a marine, an experienced employee of the site, by undergoing the process of transferring their physical selves back to 1357. When they arrive in the past, the team faces misfortune and is attacked by horsemen of the Castelguard, ruled by Lord Oliver, whose goal is to penetrate castle of La Roque, ruled by Arnaut de Cervole. The story then unfolds as how Johnston team escapes from the horsemen of Lord Oliver, penetrates the La Roque, and return safely to present using the same device which was destroyed by the marine. The story also throws some interesting twists when the team realizes that someone else from the present is also with them and one of the team members ultimately decide to stay in the past.

Let’s come back to present, I mean India 2010!!! By now I think most of us could relate the above said story to our adventurous tale, AO. If my guess is right, the casting of AO could be the following:

Karthi Sivakumar – Marine or an employee who works near the site and knows some vital information that could aide Reema/Andrea to travel back

Remma Sen – Archeologists (Researcher)

Andrea Jeremiah - Archeologists (Researcher)

P Parthipan – Lord Oliver/ Arnaut de Cervole

Pratap Pothen - Professor Johnston

Remma Sen and Andrea with the support of Karthi travels back to Chola period to save Pratap Pothen who had also traveled back. During this journey they fight with chola, help them penetrate the neighbor land, and finally escape from the past.

My thought is still that AO could mostly be inspired by “Timeline” novel but with a different story and screenplay, considering the credibility of Selvaraghavan. I could still remember Karthi saying in one of the Interviews “Why not we make movies like Lord of Rings?” Instead he could have said “Timeline” directly. But at the end of the day, we should definitely appreciate the courage and vision of one man, Selvaraghavan for attempting this uncharted genre with a sincere hope to provide a visual treat – though might not be at the scale of AVATAR - to the audiences who still has an appetite for good cinema.

Note: I have not read the novel “Timeline” yet and this analysis is just based on the plot summary.