Saw this Tamil movie called Chandramukhi yesterday, with my mum and sister and a couple of her friends. I was initially skeptical about whether I'd like it, because I'm hardly a Rajni fan. Most of the crowd was, though, and did the usual whistling and clapping etc. the way they would've in Madras or Trichy or wherever. While back home I would've found this really irritating, that kind of atmosphere in Melbourne is amazing becuase you feel this sort of bonding. I have more in common with the people there last night than I would've at a movie back home.

There were some corny moments which you'd let pass because it was a Tamil movie after all, but then one or two people would laugh, and the whole theatre would just crack up. There was a scene where someone says they'll go anywhere to cure this other actress: America, China, Japan, and a couple of guys in the audience sugested Australia as one of their options.

I suppose a lot of people are more savvy or cynical after coming here, depending on how you look at it. For example when someone in the movie is defended by this statement: "Not only did he study in America, etc.", people in India would've been awed or indifferent, but here it was funny because we know there's nothing great about studying abroad, all you need is money to get into a tiny university which doesn't care if they never see you after the day you enrol.

One thing I noticed that the product placement is really getting out of hand. It's completely annoying. Just after the intermission was announced, an ad for Tata Indicom Prepaid came on, and guys shouted out we're on Optus, Vodaphone etc.

I guess in that way a lot of us here have this superiority complex towards things in India, even if we miss home madly. The way the country seems to be changing rapidly and becoming an Anywhere: all the McDonalds and KFCs and bowling alleys and everything else. It's becoming so much like here that we're afraid that actually being here has no value at all, and yet we'll still always be a few steps ahead in respect of the fact that imitation can't become the real thing.

That is a complicated thought process and I'll contradict myself a number of times if I try to expand on it, so I'll stop by saying I loved the movie. It was awesome. The funny parts were funny, the scary parts were scary, and the dramatic moments had impact even if they were sometime laughable.