Me Thinks

Friday, December 29, 2006

Sad tale of Amerikka maaplai

I think all the current American maaplais and to-be-American maaplais should form an association and protest against the Indian film industry in general and tamil film industry in particular. Protesting against a movie, or a director or an actor is anyway in vogue, so why not do it before it goes out of fashion?

The character that comes as an America maaplai in movies is generally getting married to a girl who has had a love failure or has been divorced or raped or something. In most movies, the girl ends up dumping the American maaplai for her ex-love or anybody thats not from America. It could be an auto driver too. I am not saying that the reality is completely different from whats being shown. Why are the America maaplais always the "last resort"? Is that the case? You must be wondering why I am suddenly talking about American grooms. As a follow-up to the Dhanush interview, I watched his movie, Thiruvilayadal.

The guy that acts as an America maaplai(AM) in that movie could well have been replaced with a stone. The girl is all set to get married to the AM when the hero walks in. The surprised girl walks out of her sitting position in the "mandapam" and walks towards the hero. After a wordy dual between the girl's brother and the hero, the latter gets convinced that the hero is the best bet for his sister. Now, the girl refuses to agree with her brother and goes back to the mandapam to marry the AM. All the while the AM just sits in the same position without even moving his head to wonder whats happening. She is marrying you to spite her ex-love and her brother, pray do something, at least stand up and we'll assume you are reacting- I screamed from my cofortable position on the couch. No, absolutely no reaction there. He is ready to tie the thali when the girl sees the hero trying to flirt with another girl at the wedding and runs back to him literally and figuratively. Even then he just sits there.

The director knew this character was going to be a dummy one, so he decided to call that character an "Amerikka maaplai". What grave injustice! Come on maaplais, do something.

29 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ada ada enna akkarai ponga

9:52 PM  
Blogger ramya said...

mmm.... adengappa enna deepa idhuellam..ivlo akkaraiya irukareenga..

padam edukaravan kooda yosikadhadhu ellamneenga yosikareenga..

movie is jus a movie thanunga, edhula unmai or nijatha pradhipalikaranga...for ex. ponnungala kamikarachaye glam doll andha rangeku mattum than kamikaranga..

but tat doesnt mean ellorum apdi thanu, maximum apdi than..

nalla padam madiri kaadhal, anbe sivam etc...irukku..

anyway da ...gud post (akkarai ulla post)..

11:44 PM  
Blogger Arunkumar said...

nice post.. engalukkaga post ezhudinadukku romba thx :)
exactly same reaction i had seeing this climax.. i was yelling 'damn, react something'....

am thinking of writing a review abt this stupid movie and sure wud include this character :P

by the way, came here via OAU's blog.. u seem to have a nice blog. keep it up :)

Wish you and your loved ones, a very Happy New Year 2007 :)

-Arun

1:39 PM  
Blogger Ajay said...

haha....but what u said is true...be it Mani Ratnam or Gautham or ur average director...they r all the same in this..

4:51 PM  
Blogger I said...

they are bigger losers in real life.

6:28 PM  
Blogger Ananya S P said...

Well said Deepa...

This trend started with Alaipayuthey(Where Karthik Kumar played the America Maapillai getting a Bulb from Shalini), Kanda Naal Muthal(Karthik Kumar again). Guess we should call him 'America Maapillai Actor' :) Also the recent Vallavan had a UK guy all set to marry Nayanthara but gets bulb in the end :)

1:20 AM  
Blogger The Kid said...

please do not assume that all AMs have self respect and would show it to a girl who looks like a Tam movie heroine.

I can definitely see myself as the AM in that movie... (yea in a real despo mood right now..) ;)

4:09 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Deepa enna oru analysis! nee oru Ph.D vaangalam.
I am yet to watch Tiruvilaiyadal..T-VCD edirparkiraen.

Happy New year Deepz!

6:55 AM  
Blogger Syam said...

Wish you a Wonderful New Year!!!

3:10 PM  
Blogger Me too said...

'Vetkam, vetkam arasiyalvaadigale!' Why haven't you awoken the 'mora maaplais' sangam of the Tamil film industry to fight & get back their rightful place from the 'Amerikka maaplais'!!

9:28 PM  
Blogger The Talkative Man said...

Idhukaaga Cathedral Road vandhu Consulate munnaadi theekuzhikkava mudiyum? Andha dhairiyathula dhaan this type of depiction and all...

9:31 PM  
Blogger Me said...

...did you mess up with your feeds....new post yedhuvumay varla...seri adha appala paathukulam..vandha vishyatha koovaran....

...happy new year deepa...

9:33 PM  
Blogger Ajay said...

Happy 2007, Deepa

12:47 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Well, I have always wondered about this.

Here is my reasoning.

NRI's have created economic imbalances in society. To a certain extent we have increased the cost of living especially when it comes to real estate. It is very difficult for a common man to afford a housing in India now.

Another reason is certain parents vow themselves to get their daughter married to NRI's which causes some envy of course.

So the society sees us as evil in general :) The movie industry caters to the masses and hence produces scenes like these which has mass appeal.

We just have to live with the fact that IT people and NRI's will be hated in general. I mean think about it. A chief bank manager who worked for around 20 years probably earns less than a IT person with 2 years experience. How can we NOT be hated even though it is not our fault?

2:38 PM  
Blogger D LordLabak said...

Anon, nalla akkarai.;-)
Ramya, I am glad you included Anbe Sivam in the list.
ArunKumar, welcome here.
Ajay, thats very true.
I, just because you are a few hours away from the US border....
AP, try Jaaneman.
Kid, AMs need to be protrayed well at least for the sake of the honesty that you just displayed.:-)Bubby, thank you and did you watch the punju dance and ARR clip?
Thanks Syam.
MT, true and that should be another post.
TTM, for starters that would be a good idea.:-)
Thanks Me, A very happy new year to you too. BTW, are you the newest AM in blogosphere?;-) No, I didnt do anything with the feed.
Thank you Ajay and same to you.
Anon, still its not justified I feel.

3:20 PM  
Blogger Mahadevan said...

Tamil film masses, who contribute handsomely to the producers coffer, cannot think beyond type-cast marwari money lender and America Mappillai. To them America Mappilai is a specie. Producers, irrespective of the class of Directors they employ, cannot deviate from this formula, without hurting their fortune.

6:50 AM  
Blogger Mahadevan said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

6:50 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Well... obviously i would have said that this is ridiculous, but indha blog partha appuram, well why not form a sangam

Hari

8:50 AM  
Blogger Harish said...

Know wat...i was thinking the same thing when i saw the movie. enga roomate who may get married soon was pulled and killed. Avar padatta paathu bayandu poi kidakaar.
aama...america s.w engg maapilai sangam edaavudu irukka enna ;)

9:00 PM  
Blogger D LordLabak said...

Mahadevan Sir, I agree but nenju porukkudhillaye. (Am married to one you see!);-)
Hari, I am glad you are enlightened.:-)yeshudeep, no. No, infy association.
Harish, apdi already illa na, watch this space for updates. Hari might start something.:-)

10:12 PM  
Blogger Lavanya said...

monee,
i think this case is handled so well in monson wedding. that guy is the usual IIT MS settled in US. When VDas confides in him, he is like what the hell do u think of AMs. You think all we deserve is on used up girl kinda thing...At the end of the day, thats an Indian movie too. So the AM did marry VDas. :)

9:01 PM  
Blogger ramya said...

ammani enga aalaye kaanom...vandhu post podunga vegama

9:17 PM  
Blogger The Kid said...

I wonder if any girl who ever goes to US or European country to study/work, ever goes back to India to find a guy.

hmpf!

4:32 AM  
Blogger D LordLabak said...

Lavu, thats true. I was thinking about that guy as well.
Ramya, naan konjam somberi.:-)
Kid, I know of a few girls who were born & raised in the US and were married to guys in India. But "almost" all of them dont live in India after marriage.

3:06 PM  
Blogger Oracle said...

American Mappillai:

IP phone at Indian home
Mom and dad become Yahoo messenger experts
Expensive perfumes, discarded US mobile phones, boring tales of American winter, Chicago temple, Honda Civic driving gurukkal, 911 service.
Wishing their daughter was nearer

Indian Mappillai:

Ponnu's Mamiar is a villi
STD bills exploding
IRCTC train bookings/flights booked 6 months in advance.
Grand children aren't as focused in their studies as their daughter was..
Wishing she had married and settled in America "peacefully"

Either way an imperfect world!

12:46 AM  
Blogger The Kid said...

Yesterday, I saw this movie. I did not realize that this was the same movie commented here till I heard "america mappillai" part. After I recognized the AM character, I was so focused on that guy that I missed the rest of the movie!

This movie had so little sense... and that kinda justifies the dumb AM. Nevertheless, Dhanush is really funny. The first encounter with the Anna in the girl's house is damn good.

8:00 AM  
Blogger ramya said...

adangoppuraney, innuma somberiya irukeenga, namma new year resolutiona oru varamavadhu blogs parunga ammani.

8:45 PM  
Blogger R R R said...

yov AM's,

neenga bulb vaangarathu reel life'la thaan, aana real life'la bulb vaangaradhu naanga thaan..local'la irundhu kashtapattu manasukku pudicha ponna correct pannni life'la santhoshama irukkalam'nu nenacha, "Am working in States with $$$$$ salary" appadinu scene pottu, ponnoda father'a correct panni kalyanam kattikeereenga..

konjam gnayama manasau thottu comment ezhuthunga pa!!!

4:53 AM  
Blogger Kaps said...

saw Priyasakhi recently. Madhavan's wedding with Sadha was not progressing too well and Sadha's mom Aishwarya tells her that she can get Sadha married to an America Mappillai.

i guess filmdom thinks that america mapillai's are open to all sorts of girls.

10:43 PM  

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