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And now, cyber critics
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Tamil filmmakers may well have to contend with a new set of critics, who are unknown and unheard of, yet active, writes M. ALLIRAJAN
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ATTN. NETIZENS: "My rating for all reviews (films) will henceforth follow the scale — Extra Strong (Excellent), Strong (Good) and Mild (Okay)." Sounds like a regular announcement for a movie review? Yeah! it is.
The difference lies in the fact that these are not ratings by students and professionals in the State or abroad.
Software engineers, managers and college students, third generation immigrants to the U.S., U.K., Canada and Australia, and Sri Lankan Tamils, are all working on the Net with a mission — to take Tamil cinema to greater heights.
They have so far posted more than 1,000 reviews for 100 movies, making the most of a democratic medium that provides space for every expression.
While NRIs provide the technical assistance for setting up Net forums, people in Tamil Nadu give them the necessary inputs.
Members of the group identify each other only through their Internet aliases. Communication is strictly through e-mail and online chat.
As one movie buff puts it: "We only know their names, rather their fancy IDs. Yet, we remain closely-knit."
So, why do they want to collect information and write reviews despite their busy work schedule? "Simple. Our passion for Tamil cinema," they say.
Also, because of the lack of information about Tamil cinema and non-availability of avenues for discussion on the Net. Now, the Internet plays host to reviews, discussions and debates on cinema and music.
"When I wanted to know about Tamil cinema, I could find only 185 links in the year 2000. Leave alone forums, there were hardly any websites on the subject. Now there are more than 2,00,000 links," Pon. Rathnavel, a netizen, says.
Movie buffs agree in unison that it is the non-resident Indians (NRIs) who are more active on the web.
Rathnavel, an environmental engineer, says he has so far written 97 reviews. Predictably, hit films get a lot of reviews.
For 23-year-old S. Vasudevan, a final-year MBA student, doing reviews just happened. An ardent fan of actor Ajith, he happened to browse through the review of "Red" on the Net. On spotting some contradictions in the review, he posted a comment on the website.
Later, persuaded by friends, he decided to do reviews on a regular basis. "Doing a review improves my vocabulary. Initially, I used to go to a browsing centre and straightaway post my reviews. Following adverse comments on grammatical errors, I revise all my copies before I get into a cyber café," Vasudevan says.
How does one review movies on the Net? Just register yourself on websites offering this facility and start applying your creativity.
All those who are thrilled by the prospect of becoming wannabe reviewers, hang on. Reviewing also has its downside. Good reviews are greeted with compliments, yes, but bad ones receive painful criticism.
Despite this being just a pastime, some people get really serious. Members have even left groups following heated debates. Something similar happened in one of these forums during the nomination of a film for the online poll.
E-groups for A. R. Rahman, Ilaiyaraja and Mani Ratnam are among the most popular. The membership of some of these e-groups, if Net movie buffs are to be believed, runs into thousands.
"Members of these e-groups have all the information about cine personalities. Those in the Ilaiyaraja e-group even have some rare musical compositions of the maestro."
Reviewers say these groups are not a forum for gossip.
"We deliberate on the finer points of movies and technical issues," Rathnavel explains.
The lighting used in shots, editing and dubbing techniques are also discussed.
Interestingly, fans are aware of these developments on the Net. When they agree with critical reviews, they even request their favourite stars to pay heed to reviewers.
A software professional, who was appalled by the poor quality of lyrics, even compiled a transcript of famous songs and put it on the Net.
"In the last two years, Tamil movie buffs have become more active on the Net," concludes Karthik Nataraj, web administrator of the Nagercoil-based nanjilonline.com.
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