Discovered a new skill

My interests are rooted deep in music as I have been learning it from my child hood days. As I grew up, I found a new liking towards ad making, in creating new things, coming up with new ideas and so on. I joined a course related to that and did my visual communication and now I am going to complete my master’s in communication as well. Being a communication student I felt the necessary to be a good designer and learnt that art by gaining some knowledge in those software’s also. Lately, inspired by rachel’s articles that I read in the news paper’s, I took up writing seriously and I felt that I could excel in that field. Now being a copy writer, I think I can take up some chances to do a bit of serious journalism. The time is ripe and not too far, that any time my hands could hold that pen.

But apart from all this, I UN earthed a new potential within me. We had to conduct a PR campaign as a part of our project work during our third semester. So we decided to do it on books. This was a ten day event which was held in different parts of the city in many schools and colleges. Though, this was not my first such experience, I had done some organizing part before, I was totally clueless as to what to do to go about this event. With the help of my faculties we managed to conduct this campaign which turned out to be a huge success. I was a part of the designing and the publicity committee too. We got a lot of appreciations from many for the designing of our publicity materials, which boosted our confidence a lot. And for the publicity, there were a number of sleepless nights, planning and executing the things to make this event a grand success. Arranging the events, distributing press releases, contacting sponsors, corresponding with people, when I sit back and thing of all these things, I really wonder as to how we did it. Though this was a group effort, every one contributed in their own ways.

The recently concluded four day film festival called the ‘24FRAMES’ conducted by us at the MM preview theater was yet another display of good, smart event managing. Ten days before the festival, we came up with the plan of starting a film club and conducting a film festival. Fstop was the name of the club which all agreed on , then started the venue hunting, contacting sponsors, designing publicity materials, organizing the event, finalizing on the movies to be screened, deciding the schedule for those four days(we had the event for four days) , arranging the guest speakers(we planned to have some interactive sessions everyday). This ensured another lot of sleepless nights for us. But we enjoyed in what ever work we did, putting our heart and soul into these works, we ensured that this event turned out to be a huge success.

More than six news papers had written about our festival. There were many sponsors sponsoring our event. Many people even from other countries attended the film festival. 

All these things, when I gave it a thought, I felt a new potential which I discovered lately within me, hiding, which I could make effective use, if given an opportunity. I felt that I could never work in a group. But I did all these things with my friends. We worked together tirelessly, complementing each other, helping out in things we knew, encouraging others when they were down, coordinating with all, we could make this a grand event. Well in the near future, I have decided to do event managing and please let me know if any one who needs any guidance or help to do their events. Contact me to do an event for you or your organization.

The third day

Thats me from the third right . It was the moment of my life. Never expected that i will be sitting there.

F-Stop entered the third day on a high note. There were articles of our event in the De can Chronicle and the Rajasthan Patrika. DC had a color picture of the event in it. News today too had a good write up about the festival. Added to this we had a pretty decent crowd coming in , though we started the day with just about 7of us. It was a bit gloomy and dull in the morning when I meet just itch and smitha in the theater when I went in at 9 (the first show is to shown at 9) but then as the day progressed we had some people coming in. Added to the top class movies which have been screened in the last two days like Amma ariyan, Charulatha, where is my friends home, Casablanca, The Legend Of 1900 and so on, today was yet another day of specialty with the screening of “The Pickpocket” and “ Mathrubhoomi”. This movie, “ Mathrubhoomi” really stirred up my spirit , as it was a soul stirring film with a strong story line underling the evil that’s hogging around in our society even today in many places. A story of a young innocent girl who is sold to a family by her father in the name of marriage who eventually gets trap in the hands of some UN human men, drastically desperate to sleep with a girl and never realise what real love is. A girl been raped by a whole village. Pickpocket was just another great film completely different to Mathrubhoomi with its vivid kind of characters in the movie. A classic attempt made by the director.

The third day has come to an end and slowly the curtains are drawing near. But it has been three full days of entertainment and cheer fun .

The F-STOP Sega Continues

The second and the third day did see some fabulous movies screened at the ‘24frames’ film festival. Some finest movies like “Where is my friend’s home”, “Charulatha” “Amma ariyan”. The directors of these movies showcased their brilliance in this form of art. But the unfortunate thing was that not many were gifted with a chance to attend this festival. I can say that those who have missed this great chance of watching these rare master pieces of classic art in the visual form have missed something big in life. Satyajit Ray’s portrayal of Charulatha in his movie was beyond words, still keeps me wondering as to why he has to adapt to such a complex way of showing his characters. Charulatha , if miss taken a bit will end up like just a normal girl in search of lust .The interpretation of love in the most beautiful way ever expressed but not revealed to all. In short, I can say that ‘Love in parables ‘. The story revolves around Charulatha, whom the director shows as a faithful wife, but has fallen in love with her brother-in-law. Amma ariyan was another good treat to watch with the artistic hands of John Abraham, the director proving that he was a man of class. So far so good, the fest has turned out to be a huge success and iam very proud to be a part of the event.

The unveiling of ‘F-STOP’

Actress Rohini addressing the gathering at 24 Frames, the film festival hosted by F-stop, Department of Communication, MCC, on 14th March, 2007 at the M.M.Preview Theatre, Kodambakkam. College Principal Dr V J Phillip( second right) looks on.

It was a grand inauguration for our film club and our film fest on the 14^Th of March. The much eagerly waited day for the students (but it did not look like) of the department of communication arrived, when the clock struck 9, we were awaiting the arrival of our principal and the coordinator. As usual the chief guests arrived around 9.30 after which the principal cut the ribbon unveiling the F-stop club. He had a close look at the things which we had made for the fest and our HOD was explaining the events and the happenings of the club. Soon after the principal arrived it was Gautam Bhaskaran and followed by actress Rohini. She inaugurated the fest by lighting the lamp .

The day one was a pretty good show as we had some crowd coming in, at all parts of the day. Thanks to our sponsors the US pizza and Kolkata chats who had some decent food for the students through out the day. The highlight of the day was the screening of Casablanca. This beautiful movie based on the life of a woman captured the hearts of many. The Legend Of 1900 set up a perfect example for a good quality cinema. The dialogues in Casablanca were simply amazing and the story line combined with excellent cinematography revealed that cinema was the revelation of some finest thoughts molded into reality.

The main test for the day came when we broke for lunch. Some usual early on confusions after which we then decided to go and eat in a hotel near by. Peep wanted get into the a/c section of the hotel when there was a heated argument as to how much will it cost and what to have. Ruth and soumya had some breath taking moments when we all left that place after lunch when they were still there not sure whether we paid the bill or not. (Plans of peep guys and not me). But we had some gala time there in the restaurant.

Our mam considered it a very successful day for her. Some nice movies were screened with some useful speeches by the chief guests. On the whole, it was a wonderful day

My First Press Conference

There is always a saying that hard work pays. It always pays off in due season. After all the hard work and running about for our film festival we conducted a press conference at the press club in mount road. The meeting was supposed to start at 11am and we were not very sure if any news papers would ever turn up for the event. Only at 9 in the morning we realized that the press release was not yet ready. Then we had Rachel at our rescue, she typed the press release in just about 10min and after all the early morning confusion we rushed from Palavanthangal to reach numbakkam station at 10. Forgot to mention we went hunting for a net café to take printouts of the press release on our way to palavanthangal station. . As usual, the morning (peak hours, office goers) we could not board the train and I almost fell at one point. So then we reached numbakkam station , and as we reached mount road (thought we would reach there in time) adding up to our misery, all the traffic were blocked and there was a huge political rally(like not to mention the name of that party which was causing nuisance to the public). But thanks to Rachel she was familiar with the route to the club. It was my first experience, I have not attended any press conference before this, a bit of nerveness and excitement too and I wanted to get on to the stage very badly. To much of our dismay we had more than 8different reporters form different news paper organizations that had come. I, with a laptop with me I sat on the stage along with Dinesh, Itch and two of my juniors too. Dinesh started the meet with his opening talk followed by others.

I spoke with Mr. V . Pugazenthi, senior reporter, Dinakaran.. Though a bit of nerve ness creped in , I managed to gather some confidence and spoke. All the big news papers, like Dinamalar, Dinakaran, Rajasthan Patrika came. Also Maalai Sudar, reporter Balamarugan came. Maalai Sudar is the sister concern of News Today (Rachel is working for News Today). A reporter from Vartha had also come. It was a big day for us packed with excitement and anxiety. This will be our first step towards success because we managed to pull the attention of the media and not mention the fact that we had a write up about our event in the Hindu and the Express the previous day. Our HOD was very pleased with the response we had from the media and hope we have the same from all the colleges in the city whom we have invited for the event.

The main highlight of the festival will be the inauguration of the event by actress Rohini. We do have some eminent speakers like Gautam Bhaskaran, film journalist, The Hindu, Hariharan, Director , LV Prasad film institute, Ramakrishna, Regional manager, NFDC and Sudhish Kamath, Film maker(The Four Letter Word). Some of the finest films ever made will be screened like “Wages of Fear”, “Amma Ariyan”, “Not one Less”, “Casablanca”, “Charulatha”, “Pick Pocket” and many more such films.

F – STOP Showcasing the finest and brilliant thoughts molded to reality

I am very much privileged to have studied in the Madras Christian College in the Communication department as I was part in the forming of the first film club for students in the department. To make this clear for my readers, We are planning to start a film club called the ‘ F-Stop’ which will be conducting many film screenings in and around the city. The main objective of this club is to promote classic cinemas, a rare collection of movies which are not often screened even in many prestige’s film festivals. We will be showcasing some of the finest movies made from all over the world.

After much of planning and hard work, we finally decided on this club with the guidance of our lectures who helped us in making this dream project come through. As the inauguration of our film club we will be conducting a four day film festival under the name ‘24FRAMES’(this is the biggest film festival of its kind conducted by any student group so far) held at MM theater, kondabakkam high road, from 14^th march to 17^th march 2007(Wednesday to Saturday ) .

A Sensitive Issue

Children are the future citizens of our country. But the biggest question which now arises is that what is in store for them? How will their future be?

When a cup of tea costs 2 rupees (minimum in a tea shop near the road side) the government has allotted 300 rupees as a monthly salary for a degree holder under the new act and that the person should not have worked for the past 5 years. Leave aside the formalities and the corruption that goes with it. This situation is worse if a person has not completed his degree (Rs.150 for a 10^th standard student and 200 Rs if completed 12^th). Will this satisfy the basic needs of a person? When I asked a person whom I meet at the employment exchange (saw him standing from 6 in the morning till noon), he said with much of a frustration “sir I am not able to take this further”. It costs me about 10 Rs, each time I come here. How will this 300 be enough for me to live?

When the government is taking so many steps to give employment to our youth, why is there so much of a restlessness among the today’s youth. This problem, however may not be in light because it is the candidates only from the private colleges that are been employed on an average in good reputed firms. Even they, many of them have not been able to get into the best companies. Why is this happening to us and our children while we claim that we live in a land of opportunities?

The main reason for this is the non proper functioning of our government colleges. No proper facilities in many of the colleges. Moreover now a days these government colleges have been coined as “a set of useless rags” (sorry to use such harsh words) by many MNC companies and even our own Indian firms. People mostly belonging to the low income category level only opt for this option. This was not the case when we look back 15years down the lane when there were only government college, hardly were there any private college at that time and people used to compete to get into these colleges.

We do have the potentials and the resources in our country, in fact the best in the world. But the saddest part is that no one realize‘s the fact that we have these resources. Its time for us to wake up to the fact that we are missing something great and big if we don’t start using these opportunities. I hope the government takes necessary steps in providing good, state of the art facilities in our government colleges and by reducing the fees structure in the private colleges.