Doing Jalsa & Showing Jilpa

Shakespeare in Louww

Written in

October 9, 2007

krishashok

Due Apologies to the non-Tamil crowd. This post may not make sense to you. But you can participate in the contest though.

Final Update: Bikerdude, Farkandfunk and Ramsu win the contest. Please send me an email with your address, and a pathbreaking CD containing groundbreaking music shall be shipped to you.

I saw this on Anantha’s blog and it got me thinking. What if we superimpose Madras Bashai (The holy, exalted, pure and divine tongue of the wise citizens of Chennai) on Shakespeare? Click on the title links to see the original scenes.

King Lear

Hamlet

Julius Caesar

On a serious note, my personal favourite part of this speech is when Antony is overcome by tears in between and he says “Bear with me, my heart is in the coffin there with Caesar and I must pause till it come back to me”. If that isn’t eloquence, tell me what is.

On a frivolous note, here’s the contest. There’s 2 parts.

Part 1. Desi (Hindi, Tamil, Telugu or Malayalam) dialogue (can be both filmy as well as original dialogue) superimposed on famous Shakespearean scene

Part 2. Shakespearean dialogue superimposed on famous desi movie scene.

Upload your entries to your blogs and paste the link in the comments section. If you do not have a blog, email your entry to me. My email address is krishashok [at] gmail [dot] com. Winning entries will get an mp3 CD featuring Bappi Lahiri’s greatest album of all time – Rock Dancer.

And to make this a little more challenging, only entries that do not rely on humour targeting specific individuals, groups or risque references will be considered.

Update: We have responses, and what responses they are! Bikerdude, Ramsu and Farkandfunk have gotten their creative juices flowing like the Yangtze river in spate.

Here are some. Go through the entire comments thread though. If you belong to this select lucky group of Indians who love Shakespeare and desi kitsch equally, you will enjoy this immensely.

Ramsu gives us a few more scenes from R&J, including this Blockbuster Balcony scene featuring Bappi da.

(original: What’s in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call’d )

Farkandfunk spices up Romeo and Benvolio with someT-Rajendar style rhyming dialogue.

And one of my favourites. The Three Witches meet Macbeth,

Bikerdude brings us some God’s own flavour,

KuttigaLey, pattigaLey,
MaakrigaLey, peerkrigaLey..
Ningakku ichchiriyengilum puththiyunda dei
Pombey chaettane polum arinjoodey?
Ninda montheykku orotta kuththu kuththiyaalundallaa..

You blocks, you stones,
you worse than senseless things!
O you hard hearts, you cruel men of Rome,
Knew you not Pompey? (Julius Ceasar 1.1.39)
Translated to Trivandrum Malayalam circa 2007

22 responses to “Shakespeare in Louww”

Rekha Raghavan

October 9, 2007

Indha dhabaa velaya enga thalaila kateetenga ba..
Ashok: In my official peter-vudra language, its called “leveraging one’s social network” 🙂

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Bikerdude

October 10, 2007

Here you go

KuttigaLey, pattigaLey,
MaakrigaLey, peerkrigaLey..
Ningakku ichchiriyengilum puththiyunda dei
Pombey chaettane polum arinjoodey?
Ninda montheykku orotta kuththu kuththiyaalundallaa..

You blocks, you stones,
you worse than senseless things!
O you hard hearts, you cruel men of Rome,
Knew you not Pompey? (Julius Ceasar 1.1.39)
Translated to Trivandrum Malayalam circa 2007 😛

Reply
Bikerdude

October 10, 2007

PS: Died laughing when I read “Pongala, escapa ” hehehe. Too much boss!

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farkandfunk

October 10, 2007

You got yourself a deal sir. I’ll update my blog tonight with my entry! Work SUCKS 🙂

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Ramsu

October 10, 2007

Ya chee! Per-la inna keedhu?
Koovathukku per maathinaa gabbu adikkaadhaa inna?
Adhu pola, Romeo-kku per maathhinaalum avan porampokku budhdhi maaraadhu.

— R & J, Act II, Scene 2

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Ramsu

October 10, 2007

Maamu, Romeo-va konjam ittaandu va.
Avan puttukinapparom, avana thundu pottu bajji panni viththa
Oore Marina beach-ande koodum,
Beasant Nagar beach-ula ee kaaka irukkaadhu.

The original version (Act III, Scene 2) was more romantic and less Sweeney Todd, of course:

Come, gentle night, come, loving, black-browed night,
Give me my Romeo. And when he shall die,
Take him and cut him out in little stars,
And he will make the face of heaven so
That all the world will be in love with night
And pay no worship to the garish sun.

Incidentally, this is one of my favourite plays, simply for the poetry of the language. Claire Danes’ rendition of this soliloquy was one of the few memorable moments in the Baz Luhrmann version.

More to come later. Gotta get back to work.

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Ramsu

October 10, 2007

Ellaathayum pottu oru kalakku kalakku…

— To be rendered a la Janakaraj, more specifically like Mayilsaamy in Sirippo Sirippu

The original, of course, being:

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.

Reply
1. laxmi
  
  November 17, 2013
  
  Ellaathayum pottu oru kalakku kalakku…
  
  Ramsu – do you know what film is this?
  
  Reply
Ramsu

October 10, 2007

Here’s one that combines your post and Anantha’s:

Insert picture of a victorious English team holding the 2005 Ashes, preferably with Michael Vaughan in the forefront.

The caption reads:

Now is the winter of our discontent, made glorious summer by this son of York. (Richard III)

For all I know, someone in the English press has done this already. Seems likely.

Reply
Ramsu

October 10, 2007

My apologies for multiple postings: this is quite an inspiring topic. Not to mention the fact that I’m getting a bit bored with work right now.

Would you also consider variations on Part 1, such as the possibility of Petruchio singing Eei aatha aathoramaa vaariyaa to Katherine in The Taming of the Shrew?

Reply
Bikerdude

October 10, 2007

Romeogaaru, Romeogaaru, Yekkadunnarandiiii?

Jusht ala walking velli poyeraa?

Vankai pulsu, gongura anni chesi pettinenandi, vachchi theeskunte bettruga untundhi.

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krishashok

October 10, 2007

Whoa. This is awesome. Let me see if I can squeeze some photoshop time to convert your entries into images

//Would you also consider variations on Part 1, such as the possibility of Petruchio singing Eei aatha aathoramaa vaariyaa to Katherine in The Taming of the Shrew?

Absolutely. The contest works both ways.

Reply
tenyearslate

October 10, 2007

Biker, Ramsu

I bow and scrape before mastery thine.

In the face of thy bounteous talents

I doff my azhukku lungi washed in brine

and repose to await more from thou gallants.

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farkandfunk

October 10, 2007

Folks,

I’ve made a quick entry on my blog before running out of office. Couldn’t resist it. Will post more in the night! 🙂 Have a look at it:

http://farkandfunk.wordpress.com/

Reply
farkandfunk

October 10, 2007

I’ve got Merchant of Venice , Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet so far at :

http://farkandfunk.wordpress.com/

KA, Biker, gang, please feel free to have a look!

Will try more later!

Reply
maxdavinci

October 10, 2007

Even for a guy like me who is alien to the great literary works of ‘Seshadri Iyer’ except ‘Romeo & Juliet’ as it was made into a crappy movie starring Leanardo deCaprio.

The comments in this post have been fantabulous. bikerdude, ramsu, farkandfunk take a bow!

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Bikerdude

October 11, 2007

haha thankyou thankyou, though the madras bhashai posts by KA and ramsu are waaaay more kickass in comparison.

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Ramsu

October 11, 2007

Thanks, folks!

Here are a few more, this time involving the use of film music at crucial junctures:

1. Romeo & Juliet: Instead of quietly drinking the potion and faking death for a while, have Juliet lock herself up in her room and soulfully sings Nee enge… enn anbe…. while the other Capulets frantically try to break down the door. Of course, before they get through, she drinks the potion and the story proceeds as before.

2. More R&J: Introduce Romeo singing and dancing to Jab bhi koi ladki dekhoon mera dil deewana bole… Ole ole ole, just to establish his credentials as a womanizer, before having him meet Juliet and “reform” into a monogamous sort of guy. You could even set the song in Spain.

3. Hamlet: How Shakespeare got away without having an item number in Claudius’ court, I will never understand. But having some local Danish hottie (maybe Helen Christensen’s ancestor) gyrate to Babuji zara dheere chalo, and suddenly have it interrupted by Hamlet standing in the doorway, unshaven and distraught, singing i>Yeh duniya agar mil bhi jaaye to kya hai… that would be a nice touch, I think. ‘Tis wondrous strange, I know, but like the man himself said, there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in our philosophies.

4. Twelfth Night: Have Viola and Sebastian sing Yaadon ki baaraat at multiple junctures.

5. King Lear: Have Goneril and Regan sing O mere Papa the Great in chorus, while Cordelia looks on in disgust.

6. Hamlet: A bit of an oldie, this one. Have Ophelia sing Maalai pozhudin mayakkathile naan kanavu kandein thozhi.

7. Julius Caesar: When Brutus dies, have Vaanam thottu pona maanamulla saami play in the background. Or Ullathil nalla ullam from Karnan. You could do this when Hamlet dies as well. Maybe use the latter for Hamlet, given how Horatio says something about a noble heart cracking, and the former for Brutus, given how Anthony talks of him being the noblest Roman of them all.

8. The Merchant of Venice: Not a song this time. Have Shylock use Rajni’s dialogue from his showdown with Sarath Kumar in Annamalai, vowing revenge on him for his misdeeds.

9. One final R &J suggestion: Have Bappi Lahiri croon Lovers… Night lovers in the background in the famous balcony scene.

KA>> Please note that, in compliance with your conditions, I have not put in any Himes-bhai songs.

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krishashok

October 11, 2007

Ramsu, Bikerdude and Farkandfunk,
I am Janakaraj’s assistant peering through the Hubble space telescope, seeing you guys as small distant specks, going “Saars. Engyoooo poiteenga”

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Rajendran

October 11, 2007

Ramsu,Bikerdude and Farkandfunk –

I am like Janakraj’s assistant’s sidekick echoing the assistant’s reaction. “saars- neenga engiyo poiteenga”

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farkandfunk

October 12, 2007

muhohohaha!!! thanks folks. Madras baashai in my opinion is highly complex and evolved, I’m far away from even being passable at it , unlike stalwarts like KA and Ramsu here. That’s why i had to employ TR’s help 🙂

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the palagaara kadai

July 10, 2010

saar… seen this previously in your plog. I’m reading this post for the first time today. brillaint. the compliment does seem odd coming after 2 and half years but love this to bits. Incidentally, yours truly wrote a version of Shakespeare albeit with a tinge of politics.
http://thedrunkenmonk.wordpress.com/2010/07/09/william-shakespeare-to-me-et-tu-scumbag/
do go through if you see my two cents.
Gracias.

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