Birthday boy!

Hi everyone! Today is Pongal day, so heres wishing everyone a very happy pongal!

Added to that today is my birthday too.So its been another year since I've made it into this earth and believe me it was a long long time ago.Scientists are still finding out my age by using carbon-dating techniques.

Anyways today morning started at around 9:40 I guess with a call from our stoic Venki who managed some expression in his birthday wishing and all.Then Maapi called up and showered his blessings on me.This was followed by Spang and KR and then a host of others.Others whose names I haven't mentioned here must forgive me.Why? Because its my birthday and thats my wish - people must forgive me.And so, I invited Spang, Beta, Ananth, Shivi and Mrigank to come to my house.They all made it pretty early by around 2 P.M. I guess.Beta had bought Forrest Gump DVD for all of us to watch.And so we watched.This post is a movie review-cum-general post.But I promise I'll keep this short and not give long and boring reviews.

The movie Forrest Gump is a movie that comes once in a lifetime.The story is simple, teaches a few important things about life and most of all makes you think.Thats what I liked about it.Simple but effective.It doesn't require an IQ of 160 or something like that.75 would perhaps do.I was jus kidding.I simply have no words to describe the movie and the eruption of feelings within me after watching.I surely am moved by it.Its going to have an impact on my psyche atleast for the next one week.The last time I felt this was when I watched The Shawshank Redemption.

I'll quickly give you a basic outline of the story in case you haven't watched it.Forrest Gump is a differently abled person who has to wear braces over his legs at a young age.Moreover he is that kid who has an IQ of 75 which is I guess 15 or 20 below the normal.For a little more than half of the movie Forrest narrates his story to the people who wait for their buses in a bus stand.From his childhood to his very present, he undergoes every problem that could put people down.But Forrest's innocence, sincereity and straightforwardness is what takes him through these problems.His view of life is totally different, in that, he sees everything so simply and directly.He doesn't complicate issues like other normal people.He gets rid of his braces as a child by running when his friends bully and chase him.The spark that he receives is from his sweet childhood friend Jenny.In high school he becomes a member of the school football team and wins for them, as a result of which he is taken into a college.There too he breezes through and wins for his university.He gets to meet the president at that time, but isn't awed by it or anything.He is then taken into the army and goes to fight the vietnam war.His best friend Bubba dies in the war.Forrest tries to save his fellow soldiers, including his Lieutenant Dan, except Bubba.So Forrest returns home a war hero and is given the Medal of Honor.He is reminded of his friend Bubba's dream of setting up a shrimp boat as Bubba was very passionate about shrimps and shrimp business.So Forrest sets up the shrimp boat and calls it Jenny.He is joined in by Lieutenant Dan in the business, who has had both his legs amputated due to the war.Once after a storm, their boat is the only one that survives, which gives them a monopoly over the shrimp business.Forrest makes millions, but later goes on to do lawn furnishing job as he thinks that is good and that he'll enjoy doing that.Every now and then Jenny moves in and out of his life.The narration to an old woman at the bus stop stops as this is when Jenny has invited him to her home.Forrest then goes to see his lover Jenny, where he learns that he has a son named same as him from Jenny.In a few days Jenny passes away, as she is shown to have suffered from some unknown virus, which the doctors cannot diagnose.So Forrest takes care of his son.His son is seen going to school bidding goodbye to his father.This is where the movie ends.

The direction is simply beyond words as each scene is portrayed so beautifully.Robert Zemeckis is the impressionist director.The screenplay is well done with the nuances told well which is by Eric Roth.The movie is based on a novel by Winston Groom.Tom Hanks truly deserves his oscar for just being Forrest Gump.Robin Wright Penn is the beautiful and naive Jenny.Gary Sinrise does a fine job as Lt.Dan Taylor.





At every stage Forrest's mother never lets him down and makes him feel so normal.She always says things in a way that he finds easy to understand and relate to.Forrest is seen at some major historical events and with some famous personalities like Elvis Presley, President Kennedy etc.He is totally unfazed by whatever shocking that happens around him like death of Bubba, his mother, a bomb blowing nearby him and many more.Forrest knows that he isn't smart and even accepts it, but says that he knows what love is.I'll leave you with some dialogues from the movie.

Boy #1: This seat's taken.
Boy #2: It's taken!
Boy #3: You can't sit here.
Forrest (voice-over): You know, it's funny what a young man recollects. 'Cause I don't remember being born.

Forrest: I, I... don't recall what I got for my first Christmas and I don't know when I went on my first outdoor picnic. But, I do remember the first time I heard the sweetiest voice...

Forrest (voice-over): ... in the wide world.
Jenny: You can sit here if you want.
Forrest (voice-over): I had never seen anything so beautiful in my life. She was like an angel.
Jenny: Well, are you gonna sit down, or aren't ya?
Jenny: What's wrong with your legs?
Forrest: Um, nothing at all, thank you. My legs are just fine and dandy.
Forrest (voice-over): I just sat next to her on that bus and had conversation all the way to school.
Jenny: Then why do you have those shoes on?
Forrest: My momma said my back's crooked like a question mark. These are going to make me as straight as an arrow. They're my magic shoes.
Forrest (voice-over): And next to Momma, no one ever talked to me or asked me questions. Jenny: Are you stupid or something.
Forrest: Mommy says stupid is as stupid does.

Jenny: I'm Jenny.
Forrest: I'm Forrest - Forrest Gump.
Forrest (voice-over): From that day on, we was always together. Jenny and me was like peas and carrots..

Forrest: Will you marry me?
[Jenny turns and looks at him]
Forrest: I'd make a good husband, Jenny.
Jenny: You would, Forrest.
Forrest: But you won't marry me.
Jenny: You don't wanna marry me.
Forrest: Why don't you love me, Jenny? I'm not a smart man, but I know what love is.

Jenny: Hey, Forrest, were you scared in Vietnam?
Forrest: Yes. Well, I, I don't know.
Forrest (voice-over): Sometimes it would stop raining long enough for the stars to come out. And then it was nice. It was like just before the sun goes to bed down on the bayou... Forrest (voice-over): There was over a million sparkles on the water. Like that mountain lake.
Forrest (voice-over): It was so clear, Jenny. It looks like there were two skies, one on top of the other. And then in the desert, when the sun comes up...
Forrest (voice-over): I couldn't tell where heavens stopped and the earth began. It was so beautiful.
Jenny: I wish I could have been there with you.
Forrest: You were.

Forrest: Mama always had a way of explaining things so I could understand them.

One of the most moving of dialogues is when Forrest talks to his wife Jenny standing beside her grave.

Forrest: I don't know if we each have a destiny, or if we're all just floatin' around accidental-like on a breeze. But I, I think maybe it's both.

I thought it was one of the two best dialogues, the other one being -

Forrest: Mama always said life was like a box a chocolates, never know what you're gonna get.

I guess it just turned out to be a movie review post.And it turned out to be a long one too.Shit, I couldn't keep up with my word on my birthday.I just couldn't help it.Anyways, I'll call it a day.I really felt like a birthday boy today after a long time.My thanks to all those who called and wished me, those who came to my house and watched Forrest Gump, and to all those who lived to see this post ending.By the way I turned 20 today.So me is no longer a teenager.I am a 20 something today.

Enjoy & Think.