ChatGPT: Remembering Turing with some Fun Trials

The arrival of ChatGPT, OpenAI's new chatbot feels like a pivotal moment in our lives. If you are haven't already checked it out, I recommend that you do. I give a few examples below to give you sense of how good it is.

Alan Turing, the mathematician devised a test to see if a machine has achieved human intelligence. 

From Wikipedia:

Turing proposed that a human evaluator would judge natural language conversations between a human and a machine designed to generate human-like responses. The evaluator would be aware that one of the two partners in conversation was a machine, and all participants would be separated from one another. The conversation would be limited to a text-only channel, such as a computer keyboard and screen, so the result would not depend on the machine's ability to render words as speech. If the evaluator could not reliably tell the machine from the human, the machine would be said to have passed the test. The test results would not depend on the machine's ability to give correct answers to questions, only on how closely its answers resembled those a human would give.

By this definition,  ChatGPT seems to have achieved human intelligence. At least, it is much closer to human intelligence than anything that I have seen so far. That makes me wonder if Turing would have been proud or concerned at how good it is.

It writes poems. On serious topics.

And frivolous ones!

I tried to use it a bit for self promotion.  It obliged!

It knows when it has produced something that is red hot. It censors itself!

I asked it to write about my friend's car. It doesn't know anything about it, but that didn't stop it from making something up. A quality I have seen in many people.

It can write a scene. See how good the dialog flow is and how much it seems to "know" about Einstein and Trump.

It knows Shakespeare's style, but does not undersand a phrase from Julius Caeser. It makes up statistics to compensate ('Beggers usually die during the day!'). Again, a human trait!

It is aware of investor sentiments on market crash and even takes the trouble to cheer people up!

It recognizes poetry in the text promt, even if you don't designate it so!

You can use it cheat in crosswords. But it seems to have trouble counting, just like some humans. ("Pity" is a five letter word?)

Finally, it seems self aware. Scarily so! It can keep track of the previous question for context. 

I haven't seen anything this good among chatbots. The only factor that suggests that it's not human is how quickly it writes all this.

We have seen new developments in AI generating images from text prompts. Now it can generate good quality text too!  It's exciting (and troubling) to imagine all ways this can be put to use! 

What do you think?

Turing Image Credit: Wikipedia.

Really Late Reviews#2: "Justice Jagannathan" - Tamil Novel (1954)

 

Tamil Novel by "Devan" (R. Mahadevan).

This novel came out as a series in Ananda Vikatan in 1953-54. It's a courtroom drama. A man dies on his sickbed. The doctor deems his death suspicious, and gets the police involved. The dead man's son-in-law stands accused of murder, As the case is heard, the readers discover the story and the cast of characters just as the jurors do. 

Karunakaran, the public prosecutor, and Easwaran, the lawyer representing the defendant, call the witnesses, examine them and try to bring out their respective stories. The witnesses represent a cross section of the society - doctors, nurses, policemen, drivers, maids, financiers, neighbours and servants. The two lawyers have a healthy respect for each other, but still fight each other tooth and nail, given their respective roles. Witnesses of varying levels of importance and truthfulness come and go, and the story gets revealed a bit at a time. The public reaction is captured through ‘water cooler’ conversations among members of the public, press and jury.

The judge lends his name to the novel. He plays a key role, but does not play as dominant a role as the reader might expect. Jagannathan is typical of Devan’s characters - genial, competent, and wanting to see goodness in others. I thought the author may have had a greater role for Jagannathan in mind when he started the series, but decided to let the flow of the story dictate the space for the characters.

The author, perhaps intentionally, has made education a goal of the novel. The members of the jury are educated on the protocols and their responsibilities by the judge. The readers are educated on courtroom procedure by the explanations along the way. It is no easy task for a storyteller to do this, and still keep the story moving. The court proceedings are authentic. The judge admonishes the lawyers when they seem to go on tangents, and brings them back on track. Contrast that with movies and novels made decades later, where lawyers and witnesses are allowed to make emotional detours for dramatic value.

The storytelling is breezy. The author uses mild humour in dialogs to keep the story readable amidst the gravity of the proceedings.

Reading the novel now gives us a window into society in the early 1950s. Most people use their caste names as surnames. Being overtly religious seems to be the norm. The use of English words (such as "defence", "prosecution") and Hindi words (“zaroor”, “sheesha”) shows their wide use those days. This is understandable in dialogs, but the author uses ‘manipravalam’ (mixed language) style in his descriptions as well. That seems a bit odd, and in contrast with the works of Kalki Krishnamurthy, who was Devan's contemporary.

Another reminder of how times have changed is how people are addressed. It’s hard not to notice that the lawyers address people in upper sections of the society, including the defendant in respectful language (plural), but use singular in addressing the nurse, the maid, the driver, and younger people. 

The members of the jury are key characters. I couldn’t help being a bit disappointed at them during the scenes of their final deliberation. (“Why are you wasting time talking about these? Haven’t you been listening to the judge all these days?”)

Arthur Hailey, the British-Canadian author popularized domain-specific novels. His stories tend to be dramas in areas such as aviation, banking and health-care. Devan wrote this Arthur Hailey-type novel a little before Hailey got his start.  Deven died young at 43. This novel makes you wonder what he could have achieved with a longer career.

I also wonder if the play “Dr. Narendranin Vinodha Vazhakku” (a later courtroom drama, written by Sujatha and dramatized by Poornam Vishwanathan) was inspired by this novel. There are striking similarities in how the case is revealed progressively, and how key characters keep silent to protect others, fully aware of the consequences of their silence.

I thorougly enjoyed the novel. There also seems to be an English translation by Lakshmi Venkatraman. Full disclosure - I haven’t read the translation.

Picture Credit: “Kizhakku”, New Horizon Media Pvt. Ltd.

Movie Review: Ponniyin Selvan 1 (Tamil)

In the movie The Father of the Bride, a man believes that his daughter is so precious that no man is worthy of her. When she picks a man to marry, he imagines every possible flaw in the prospective son-in-law. His worries get proven to be needless, one by one.

The movie Ponnyin Selvan reminded me of that father. On hearing of the plans for the movie, many Kalki fans - that includes me - were so anxious that we kept anticipating possible bad decisions in the cast, music, etc. I am glad that we were proven wrong on many of those counts.

I liked the movie. A lot. It blends political intrigue with action, sumptuous visuals and a touch of humour. The story moves at a breakneck pace, and the pace never slackens. Almost three hours fly by before you realize. This is no mean feat!

Someone called the movie a fictional recreation of Kalki’s fiction! That is largely accurate. Kalki took his time building his large cast of characters, and dreamt up beautiful ways for his characters to be introduced. The movie flits over those sequences due to time constraints. I had written earlier that Kalki fans would enjoy the movie better if they stopped looking for the movie to be an exact replica of the novel. That proved to be largely correct.

In my opinion, the movie stays loyal to the novel, with a few notable exceptions. Given the medium and the nature of the audience, some amount of creative license is reasonable. I’d say this movie has stayed truer to its novel form than some blockbusters of yesteryears, such as Malaikkallan and Thillana Mohanambal.

Casting:  I had expressed reservations on Aishwarya Rai and Jayam Ravi being cast in their respective roles. I’m glad to have been proven wrong. Ravi has done a very good job of playing the dignified prince. I was worried about his voice. He seems to have adapted his voice well enough to the role. His diction is clear enough. Aishwarya fits Nandhini’s role very well. With some help of course - the cameraman has used dramatic lightning to highlight Nandhini’s bewitching presence. Trisha as Kundhavai does a reasonable job.

Karthi as Vandiyathevan works better than I expected. He seems just as playful and brave, but seems a bit more of a playboy than he was in the novel. Vikram is brilliant as an angry, disappointed, brave and remorseful Aditha Karikalan. 

Parthiban (Chinna Pazhuvettaraiyar), Aishwarya Lekshmi (Poonkuzhali), Jayaram (Azhvarkadiyan), Rehman (Madhuranthaka Chozhan) and Prabhu (Kodumbalur Velalar) do perfect justice to their role. Shobita Dhulipala (Vanathi) doesn't have much to do in this movie. 

The crew is said to have made a conscious decision to not make the language too dramatic. It was a bit odd to listen to simplified Tamil in a historical movie, but I got used to it. Tamil diction is a problem in the movie. Surprisingly, the offenders were not the ones I had in the suspects list. Prakash Raj is consistently bad. (He does not pronounce “Chozha” right even once). Sarath Kumar and Vikram Prabhu botch their lines often as well. Trisha's diction is very good. Actually, it seemed too good to be true. Was there a voice artist involved?

Anirudha Brahmarayar’s character (the Chief Minister of the Emperor) has been reduced to a caricature. Mohan Ram does a reasonable job in the limited role.

Visual appeal is a great plus. The long shots of the forts seemed to have been generated through computer graphics, but thankfully they are not overused. The indoor sets are tastefully done. 

New Viewers: While this movie works well for folks who have read the novel, how well will someone who hasn’t read the story follow the relationships between the characters? The historical setting gets fed to the viewer through a firehose in the first few minutes. Retention may be an issue with unfamiliar viewers. This should not be an issue with the Amazon Prime version, with the ability to rewind, x-ray, subtitle, etc.

Overall, the music was a letdown. A couple of songs were pleasant enough. I like ‘Rakshasa mamane’.  Shreya Goshal’s sangatis are breathtaking. The song is filmed well. Alai Kadal is a mellifluous tune.  But the problem is that none of that fit the era of the movie. Re-recording score is also way too modern. You can hear the piano in a couple of key scenes. I found all that anachronistic.

Geographic Errors:. The Thanjavur fort seems to be built on an uneven, hilly terrain. The river Kaveri near Pazhaiyarai looks as wide as it might be, say, near Srirangapatnam. The ‘Ponni Nadi’ song refers to riding past ‘Karisal’ (Black, mineral-filled earth) while the hero is riding from a rocky terrain to the fertile Kaveri delta. 

Quirks and questions:

• Why does the Chozha Emperor undergo Acupuncture treatment? It seems a far-fetched scene to show the international connections the Chozhas had!

• Why is the charioteer in Sri Lanka East Asian? I guess it was possible, but it just looks odd.

• Why would the Kodumbalur princess dance with the street artistes? Shortage of dancers?

• The quip about Azhvarkadiyan’s people co-opting Buddha seems out of place; perhaps an attempt to court controversy?

As if the movie needs to make an attempt to generate controversies!

These are minor flaws. Despite these, it's definitely worth a watch. Or two. This is the grandest movie I’ve watched in Tamil. Mani Rathnam has kept an idea for decades and brought it to fruition. It was no mean feat to gather a crew this large and have them execute towards a common goal. No one other than Mani could have pulled it off.

My older articles on the subject:

1. Ponniyin Selvan, the movie: when the movie was announced (2019).

2. Picturizing Ponniyin Selvan: my preview of the movie (2022)

3. Is a picture worth a thousand words?: Challenges of the the movie (2022).

4. My English translation of Parthiban Kanavu, another Kalki classic.

Boycott Bollywood?

My reaction to the article Resident Evil.

Well written, but not balanced.

I too am uncomfortable over what you eloquently call the anticipatory boycott trend. I did not watch Laal Singh Chaddha (LSC), so can't tell you if it should have succeeded, but I know what you mean. I dislike the the over-the-top criticism on the movie Ponniyin Selvan over perceived distortions.  I did not like Amir Khan being hounded a few years ago for his comments on rising intolerance. I did not like Kamal Haasan being held hostage by the Muslim organizations over the perceived portrayal of Muslims in ‘Vishwaroopam”.  

The other side of the argument is that a good business considers the needs - including perceived needs - while designing a product. When it doesn't or can't do it, it is an exposure. A good example is the failure of Chevy Volt, a well-designed car we would now consider a plug-in hybrid. It was arguably ahead of its time. The biases against General Motors, resulting from financial handouts caused the public to view the product claims with suspicion. The product failed. GM has since discontinued its production. There were other factors too.  When the product hit mainstream production levels, fuel prices had come down, reducing the demand. But I believe the main factor was that the rise of ‘Occupy Wall Street’ coincided with its rise in production, causing GM to be cited as an example of how big business succeeds at the expense of a common man. GM had produced its share of bad products, bad decisions; but its good product failed, due to its historical baggage.

I believe that has a parallel to the pushback against films such as LSC.

The article does not acknowledge that some folks may have felt uncomfortable with movies in the past, but had not reached the tipping point. The examples I can think of are in Tamil movies, where “soft target” segments of the population were shown as the bad guys. When stories (either from novel or real life) were pictured, the core nature of the players was changed to reflect the beliefs of the film maker. (Was about to write “zealotry”, but restrained myself). Examples for this are:

• “Soorari Potru”, where the social segment of the hero was changed due to reflect the social views of the filmmaker; and 
• “Malaikkallan” (1954) was made from a novel that had been a runaway success. Religion was a predominant theme of the novel. The script writer for the movie, Mu. Karunanidhi airbrushed religion out of the story and changed all positive characters to reflect his socio-religious views. 

This is not whatabotism. I’m citing these examples to show that people may have felt a certain way about messages being shoved down their throats for decades. Now they start seeing patterns everywhere. A good businessman sees this social change and walks a line, just as the moviemakers had done before the screening of Bombay in your example.

Here are some examples of some good decisions movie makers have made. 

• When Rajinikanth heard that the movie Ponniyin Selvan was being planned, he offered to play the role of Periya Puzhuvettaraiyar, a minor king who plots against Chozhas, Mani Rathnam is said to have rejected the idea. (“No thanks! Do you want your fanbase to curse me?”). He turned down Rajini’s offer!
• Cho Ramaswamy had heard murmurs that political opponents had instigated Muslim youth to cause troubles when his political satire, ‘Mohammed-bin-Tughlaq’ hit the screen. The story was that the crowd, with its with pre-conceived notions, was preparing to exercise the ‘hecklers'-veto’. Cho heard of it, and a pre-emptive move, opened the movie with a religious song (“Allah Allah”) that mollified the crowds instantly. The song went on to become a hit in its own right. 

When social changes take place, the pendulum never stops in the middle. There are examples from all walks of life. India’s brush with socialism ended up denouncing profit motive in businesses. The long overdue women’s rights movement caused some of its supporters to take offense at all perceived slights, and lash out, alienating its supporters. 

Like I said, a good businessman is sensitive to the trend and walks that line. Film-makers are not exempt from this. In fact, I would argue that they have a greater need to be sensitive, as they are more likely to benefit from a possible popularity wave than, say, carmakers.

Image Credit: Wikipedia.

Is a Picture Worth a Thousand Words? Always?

 

Pic Credit: Tips Tamil

When I first heard of Mani Rathman’s plans to picturize Ponniyin Selvan, I wrote:

There was a memorable dialog in a recent Tamil movie that otherwise proved unremarkable. An author is asked why he refuses to grant film rights for his novels. His response is “I describe a dark street. I want each of my readers to visualize the dark street themselves, in a way consistent with their experiences. I don’t want a filmmaker to do the visualization for them”.

 

That argument captures my objections to Ponniyin Selvan being filmed. By anyone. With anyone playing Vandiyathevan, Kundavai, Nandini, Vanathi, or Poonkuzhali. It’s impossible to please folks like me. I have a mental picture of the Kadambur Palace that no art director can match. I have a vivid sequence in mind of the dark murder sequence in volume 4. How dare anyone imply they can match it?

With all the chatter around the trailer of Ponniyin Selvan, the movie, I have been thinking more. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. As a broad statement, it might be true. But what if those thousand words were written by a master, challenging himself to fire your imagination to create the scene in your head?

For the benefit of folks who have not read Kalki’s works, I want to illustrate this point with an example. Here’s the English translation of a segment that caught my fancy when I was a teenager. Try creating this scene in your imagination. 

Here is the setting. Vandiyathevan, our hero, is left alone on a ship. He is not a sailor. He doesn’t know how to operate a ship. In fact, he is terrified of the ocean, and can’t swim very well. The crew is dead. The two miscreants who engineered the situation escape on the lifeboat, leaving him to his fate. The weather deteriorates. Here is how Kalki describes the scene. (My translation).

Vandhiathevan emerged from his reverie, and noticed that the lifeboat had traveled a long way from the ship. ‘How did the boat move away so fast? The ship must have also been drifting in the waves!’, he thought. He noticed that the waves were surging higher. ‘And what is this? it is also getting darker!’

He looked at the south-western sky. What had been a small patch of clouds had now grown to occupy the whole western sky. The dark clouds rolled around, and advanced rapidly. As he was watching, the clouds covered the setting sun. The southern and western skies got even darker. The dark clouds reflected in the water, and blackened it too. In a matter of minutes, It became impossible to draw the line between the dark sky and the equally dark ocean. 

The clouds advanced and started descending down the eastern sky as well. He looked for the boat that had left. It seemed to have moved beyond his sight. The whispering, rustling noises of the wind had now transformed to a howl. The ocean started roaring. The sails were fluttering loudly. The wooden pieces making up the sail clattered, sounding like a thousand picket gates opening and closing simultaneously. Vandiyathevan looked up at the sails and realized that the ship was going in circles, rather than moving in a definite direction. 

‘Is this what they call a tornado?’, he wondered. He knew that he should lower the sails in such conditions, but also realized how impossible the task was. The sails were big enough to need ten people to attempt to lower or roll them. Four people, at a minimum. He decided to just leave the ship to its fate, and commend his soul to a higher power. 

Soon, it became apparent to him what the ship’s fate would be. It would be tossed around by the forces and sink. It might break into several pieces before sinking. No matter what happened to the ship, he had no doubt as to what his fate would be.

‘Death by drowning in the ocean! The astrologer of Kudanthai didn’t mention this as a possibility! What sort of astrologer is he?! When I see him next… What madness! How am I going to see him again?!’.

Something hard fell on his shoulder. It felt like a pebble. Soon, more of those pebbles fell and scattered all over the ship’s deck. They shone like marbles. 'How can they fall from the sky?'

A few more of those fell on his head and shoulders. They hurt on contact and then felt cool. And what is this?! The stones that fell on the deck seemed to melt away. ‘Ah, this must be what they call a hailstorm!’, thought Vandiyathevan, who hadn’t experienced anything like that before. ‘How fortunate that I got to see this before dying!’, he thought jubilantly.

He sat down on the deck and touched the ice pieces. The melting pieces of ice caused him to quiver. Touching them was like contact with fire, but without the skin getting scalded. 

The hailstorm stopped as abruptly as it had started. It must have lasted just a few minutes. It then turned into a rain. Vandiyathevan noticed that the rain water ran down the gentle slope of the deck and fell into the ocean. He marveled at the skills of the Chozha shipwrights. The ship was designed to cause any rain water or waves to drain off the edges into the ocean. 'Unless the hull breaks, water can't get into the ship'. 

This gave him some hope. He remembered that there was a door in the room where he had been imprisoned. It was low enough that water could get in if its doors were open. He ran down to check the doors. As he had suspected, the doors were clattering in the wind. He locked them tight. If the wind and rain get unbearable, getting into that room and locking the doors would be an option. Then it would be up to God. 

‘The idiots who abandoned the ship left this secure vessel and got on a tiny boat’, he thought. But the boat was constructed with equal skill. It would be hard for the winds to sink that boat. Even if the boat capsized, it might be possible to float by holding onto the large wooden mainstay. ‘Those murderers can stay alive by holding onto the wooden shaft and get ashore, probably around Kodikarai’, he thought.

His mind went to Pazhaiyarai. ‘How would the princess know of my fate? Who will tell her that I perished attempting to fulfill her wishes? Will she get the message from the winds or the ocean? Why couldn’t I die before meeting that queen among women? Could I not have met a brave end at the battlefield? Dying now is like showing a man a glimpse of heaven before throwing him in hell!’

The wind was getting stronger. The surges in the ocean were getting bigger. The sails were heaving and making eerie noises, resembling ghosts dancing. It was getting even darker than before.

Can there be darkness that is darker than black? It certainly seemed so. A lightning briefly went from one end of the sky and went to another. When it disappeared, it seemed darker than black. A thunderclap followed. The ship shook. Everything shook. 

Another lightning cut through the darkness. It stretched, split into branches, decorated the skies with wondrous patterns, lit up the ocean and skies, and disappeared the next moment. A thunder followed. The world seemed to be falling apart. More lightning and thunder. Just as Vandiyathevan was wondering, ‘why hasn’t the sky split apart yet?!’, the skies seemed to open. Floods gushed through the opening.

It was surely not appropriate to call it rain. It seemed that seas trapped in the sky had been struggling for freedom, and used the opening to pour through. 

The waves performed a dance of fury. Lightning showed mountains of water all around. The winds performed their exhilarating dance. Vayu, the lord of the rains uprooted those mountains of waves and tossed them in the air. Some of them crashed on the ship. 

Torrential downpour hit the ship from above. Waves attacked from all sides. The swirling wind was battering the sails. The ship withstood this onslaught and was spinning around. How long could it hold out? Surely, it was going to drown this moment or the next, taking Vandiyathevan down with it.

These thoughts did not discourage him. He thought it would be a worthy, exciting way to go. His mind joined the exhilaration of the waves. His laughter joined the howl of the wind, and the roar of the thunder. He had tied himself to the mast, as he wanted to be able to see the sights. When the ship spun, the mast spun, and so did Vandiyathevan! He couldn’t tell how long he had been spinning. His mind transcended time; it was impossible to tell if it was a few minutes, or a few ages.

Eventually, the rain had slowed to a drizzle. The wind seemed to be slowing too. Lightning and thunder had become less frequent. It was still very dark.

Vandiyathevan had closed his eyes after the last flash of lightning, and had closed his ears with his palms. He opened his eyes and ears. ‘Did I really live through this? Was God on my side? Am I going to see the princess in this lifetime? Am I going to be able to talk to the prince?’

As his mind asked the questions, a response seemed to come from above. A blinding lightning split the sky. It seemed as bright as a hundred suns. He could not see anything. He feared he may have lost his eyesight. His ears seemed to be buzzing too. He had heard several thunderclaps, many that night alone. But this one was louder than anything he had heard. It seemed to be a strike of Lord Indra’s weapon, Vajra, on his ears.

He could not open his eyes for a while. His ears were ringing. But he heard some howling noises. His closed eyes could perceive some light around him. There was another strange noise. It resembled the sound of a wildfire. 

Vandiyathevan opened his eyes and saw that the sails were ablaze. Now he understood why the lightning and thunder had affected him so badly. The lightning strike must have landed either on the sails or somewhere very close to the ship.

Two forces of nature had tried to destroy the Chozha ship. Varuna, the God of rain, and Vayu, the God of wind had failed. Agni, the God of fire had now accepted the challenge.

The trailer of PS1 shows a burning ship in rough waters. It appears that the movie will include this scene. Good luck Mr. Mani Rathnam!

Also see: Picturizing Ponniyin Selvan

Envy List: "I wish I could write like this!" - Part 2

Photo by Brandi Redd on Unsplash

More in the vein of envy list - part1; i.e. articles that I enjoyed; and made me wish I could write that well. Enjoy!

Three sides of Risk - Morgan Housel

Lessons from a very personal and tragic story. I'm not exactly envious of Morgan for having gone through what he did. But I can't help admire the clarity of thought and writing. The admiration is tinged with a teeny bit of envy. Authentic writing that leaves you thinking - for a long time.

The Last Days of Target

Target, the American retailer seemed all set to take over the fragmented Canadian retail market. They were headed by a rising star, and had the full backing of the management. They had a young team hired for the right personality. All they had to do was to replicate the American operations in Canada. What could go wrong? 

 A Portrait of the Investment Columnist As a (very) Young Man

Jason Zweig is an investment columnist and a fabulously good writer. He recounts his ability to spot art bargains as a young boy. Fascinating story. And could that ability be used to spot bargains in other markets?

Facebook and Political Manipulation - A whistleblower's Story

A data scientist exposed one of the greatest political scandals of our time. This is a story of how she recognized and exposed the fake activity on Facebook. A story of rare courage.

 Also check out the earlier instalment of envy list articles.

Picturizing Ponniyin Selvan

Pic credit: Maniyam

The wait is almost over. The first part of Mani Rathnam’s two-part film, Ponniyin Selvan is scheduled to hit the screens in a month and a bit. It’s a star-studded production on a grand scale. It's being released in 5 languages. The publicity machinery is in full swing. The teasers seem to have created a good deal of anticipation. But there is also a ‘this can’t be any good’ camp.  That got me thinking about the problems in picturizing a work of fiction that already has a cult following.

A filmmaker’s job is hard when they start with a story that is already well-known.  They start their work knowing that they’d be competing with the elaborate visuals already built in people’s minds. Ponniyin Selvan is by no means unique in that respect. There are precedents for popular novels being made into movies. The ones I've followed are:

• The Harry Potter Series

• The Lord of the Rings Series (and Hobbit)

• Forrest Gump

I tried to recall my reaction to these movies to get a sense of how I might react to Ponniyin Selvan.

I count myself an unabashed fan of the Harry Potter series. The books, to be precise. I read the books (especially the later ones) on the day of release, racing friends and neighbors and staying up late, fully knowing that I’d pay a price in productivity the following day. When the movies were released, I had a healthy curiosity as to how some sequences would be picturized, but I did not agonize over any deviation from the specifics in the book. I also did not rush to watch the movies. 

Lord of the Rings and Hobbit were somewhat similar. While I enjoyed the books immensely, I was fully aware that it was all fantasy, and hence would be subject to some changes in the screen version. I liked the books and movies equally well, with no emotional attachment to either. 

Forrest Gump was different. I had read the first book (“Forrest Gump”), and had found it funny, touching and original. I had some curiosity as to how the movie would be. When I watched the movie, my initial reaction was disappointment. Some of my favorite sequences from the book (such as the space mission and Gump co-starring in a movie with Raquel Welch) went missing in the movie. The movie was well-made, but it did not tug at the heartstrings the way the novel did. The movie was also a bit more cheerful, and managed to conclude on a relatively happy note by pulling in some parts from the sequel (“Gump and Co.”). It took me years to concede that the movie was great in its own right. But to be able to do that, I had to stop looking for the novel in the movie.

So coming to Ponniyin Selvan, the movie, I suspect I’m going to react somewhat like how I reacted to Forrest Gump. I (like many others) am fiercely protective of Kalki’s storyline, his characters and various undercurrents in the novel. My sense of possessiveness will make any deviation from those specifics unpalatable.  Once I get over that phase of comparison, I might enjoy the movie. At least, that is what I’m hoping is going to happen.

The elaborate novel (5 volumes) is going to be truncated to two movies running for 5 hours or so. The creators will invariably have to make some cruel choices on what fits within the given time. They have already been modifying the characters for the pan-Indian audience. Arulmozhi has become Arunmozhi. Aditha Karikalan (named after Rajyadhitha Chozha) has been renamed Aditya Karikalan. Annoying, I know, but keep in mind that it is a commercial venture, and they hope to make money in the Hindi version too.

Anecdotal evidence makes me believe that folks have started reading (or re-reading) the books or listening to the audio versions in preparation for the movie. While I feel happy for anyone discovering the pleasures of Ponniyin selvan, my advice to those folks is, don’t look for the book in the movie.

A vocal segment in my social media circles has been negative about the movie. I’ve heard misgivings and outright pessimism. The negativity has been somewhat startling.  Some of the objections have been on religious grounds. From what I can tell, these folks believe that Mani Rathnam, for secular reasons, has hijacked the characters from the Chozha royal family, who are known to be staunch Shaivites, by removing all religious symbols such as viboothi, the holy ash.

Pic credit: Maniyam

I think all those people need to take a chill pill. Kalki never portrayed these characters as being overtly religious. The most authoritative basis for the visuals is Maniyam’s art that accompanied the original series. (Described delightfully by Maniyam Selvan here). There were a few characters in the novel who are religious - Sembian Madevi, Azhvarkadiyan, Madhuranthakan, Sendan Amudhan and Anirudha Brahmarayar. But Vandiyathevan and Ponniyin Selvan are not portrayed as being religious at the age they were in the story.

On a lighter note, when I see social media posts describing Mani as a secular movie maker, I read them in the voice of Maggie Smith in Sister Act, where she dismissively describes Deloris’ entertainment as ‘secular!’

Pic credit: Wikipedia

My family and I have tried to play the casting directors for Ponniying Selvan several times over the last few decades.  In my childhood days, one of the family pastimes was to fix the star cast for the various roles. A cousin would say something like, ‘You know, this new girl Nalini has a longish face. Her facial features make her a great fit for Kundavai’s role’. As the rest of us pitch in, the session would turn into a full-scale debate and brainstorming. 

So, I get the misgivings. I have my concerns too. I fear Jeyam Ravi’s squeaky voice is going to ruin the great 'pinnacle of sacrifice' scene. And Mani Rathnam’s record has not been great of late. I feel like I’m watching Virat Kohli walk into bat. I want him to do well, but I also know his form has been terrible. That does not stop me from rooting for him.

Finally, I also believe that the movie can wake the rest of India to Kalki’s wizardry. People have started checking Kalki out. As a collateral evidence, daily pageviews on my blog with the English translation of Parthiban Kanavu (another novel of Kalki) have been climbing steadily.  

If a movie, even one that is made within the constraints of commercial cinema, is what it takes for folks to discover Ponniyin Selvan, Kalki’s works in general, and the history of Chozhas, so be it. Bring it on!

Also read my earlier post, written in 2019, when the movie was announced.

Edit: Here is my review, after watching the movie.