Naa Oru Dhadave Sonna....

Indha kodumaiya en vaayaala epdine solven?

2010-11-07T23:23:00.003-05:00

Thalaivar very rarely (meaning never) grants such interviews. Most likely, Kalanidhi Maran would have told him that in order to produce this movie he would require Rajini's dedicated involvement for marketing too. Sun TV, even though it is a powerhouse of wealth and supposed technical expertise has some of the worst shows and comperes. Vijay Saarathy is a prime example of the kind of boot licking, kozhanjufying oafs that forms that lot and why he would be given an opportunity to interview Rajini for more an hour is anybody's guess.
The interview could have been at a different plane had it been handled by someone more adept at such things. But lets leave it. We all know nincompoops can only deliver sub par quality. But the wtf moment is the last scene of the interview. My God. Can any one of the lorry drivers in Chennai do everyone a favor and run this guy over the next time he is seen on the roads?

2010-09-29T21:49:00.000-04:00

People make fun of TamilNadu as the state to have built temples for actors like Kushboo. What they don't realize is TN people have found clever ways to work around issues of religion and still build temples that 'unite' everybody instead of getting into quagmires like this.

Idhela...am chonna nambala paithiyakaaran nu solraanga...

Kanna, paneengadhaanda pathinoru peroda aadum, chennai singangal pathu peroda aadi win pannumda..

2010-09-17T21:33:00.003-04:00

Dhoni has picked up this strange habit of always persisting with one player in the team whom everybody wants out. But he would have none of that. While the rest of the World threaten, swear, plead and cry he continues to pick that wild card player in his team - even if his performances continue to redefine the word abysmal match after match.

In that context, Hayden: CSK::R Jadeja: India. Unless, our Namakkal Anjaneyar drops himself we are going to see more embarrassments.

2010-08-19T09:27:00.003-04:00

What most of us do is complain, fume, rant, write a blog post (the lazier ones just tweet) when we experience the lumbering behemoth that is our Indian system of governance and politics. But we can verala vuttu ennify the number of people who actually do something about it. Here is one person I can at least have the pleasure of claiming to know who went that extra mile.

Short Films

2010-08-08T23:21:00.004-04:00

Recently, I came across a slew of short films most of which were part of this show called Naalaiya Iyakunar in Kalaignar TV (yes, even they make some watchable shows apparently). Many of them were impressive. The way the amateurs have packed some concept within 10minutes is highly commendable. Some are light hearted, some deal with the kind of emotions only Indians can empathize with, some deal with a social message and some pack a real punch. Great stuff.

2010-08-06T18:27:00.001-04:00

A lucky friend of mine is moving to California tomorrow. Dammit, I am so jealous as he has already started taunting me about the better place, weather blah blah etc. Ok, back to my dreary life now.

2010-08-01T11:01:00.004-04:00

What a karuvaad!!
Caught this screenshot during the pre-movie ads from a local desi theater.

2010-07-31T10:30:00.001-04:00

Brilliant composition. Very techno and some interesting instruments in the BG. ARR is opening this supposedly intro song for thalaivar, followed by his daughter and then only SPB starts singing!

Public Enemies

2010-07-30T23:27:00.004-04:00

Just finished seeing Public Enemies. Have been wanting to see it for quite some time especially since it had two of my most favorite actors in the lead roles - Johnny Depp & Christian Bale. The movie is about a gangster in the Midwest during the 1920s, John Dillinger. He embarks on a series of Bank robberies that prompts the police force in Chicago to hunt down John along with his accomplices. The movie spans the states of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois and makes a good viewing. Johnny Depp & Christian Bale deliver as would be expected of them. The Direction is not top notch and I did feel my attention wandering away at times. But the movie has some real good BGMs and it adds to the cinematic feel which the Director had striven hard to bring, with some success.

The surprise package was Marion Cotillard, the french actress who must be famous by now for her role as Leonardo DiCaprio's wife in Inception (aahh, there is a movie that deserves some special mention!).

Meanwhile, I chanced upon this teaser video for Pirates of the Caribbean 4: On Stranger Tides and some leaked photos from the shooting. The news here is that Penelope Cruz is starring in this edition as well. Awesomeness!

Unna naanga varasolli kooptoma?

2010-07-15T09:51:00.004-04:00

There is this guy in my office. I talked to him because I was told he is from Chennai. Apparently, he is one of those pseudo chennaiite (Bombay roots, Kannadiga stem etc.). This fellow got American Citizenship, thinks he was born in Ohio and talks like he studied at MIT (not Muthukumaran Institute of Technology, mind you!). I was forewarned by others that he is a psycho and one of those desis trying to assimilate with the Whites by berating Indianism (any act or stereotypes associated with an Indian, basically). Still I got to talk to him, mainly because he takes a smoking break every half hour and the designated smoking area happens to be near the labs where I work. To quote a colleague, he walks like Sid the Sloth in Ice Age; slow with drooping head as if he is ready to drop down any minute.

Anyways, so this sloth went to Chennai for 2 weeks after complaining loudly a 100 times how he doesn't feel like going, and he is forced to go only because his mother is there and his wife wanted to go visit her parents, and how the company stock prices are going to crash in the two weeks of his absence. After two weeks of granting bliss to people in my office with his absence he returned recently. I avoided him by taking all the preplanned routes out of my labs so I really didn't get to hear his horror stories, except for the one time when he complained how sewage was literally running everywhere in Chennai's roads and how Spencer Plaza and all the Mega malls and Mini malls were baaaddddd and uaaackkk.

Anyway, I ignored all these nonsense because you know that story about throwing kallu on seru. But soon my colleagues started coming to me one by one and asking, "Is this true? Is there garbage everywhere in your city?", "Is your house situated amidst a huge pile of trash? Because this guy just showed me pics of his trip and there were houses right next to garbage","There were dirty cows on the road. He said they are everywhere in the city, is it true?" and the kickass "he said it touched 125F when he was there it must be horrible".

Ok, there are dirty cows, garbage heaps but they aren't everywhere. This guy found immense pleasure in saying how dirty his city and country was and had tried to tell them he never wants to go back. And I am damn sure it didn't touch 125F in the last two weeks for sure. In fact for the first time there were a few days during which it was hotter here than in Chennai! So I couldn't hold back anymore and gave a long lecture to my colleagues on how this guy has been exaggerating many things, and how temperatures never touch 125F unless you are in Sahara desert. Anyhow, at the end of it all I felt angrier than ever.

Ivana elaam paduka vechu Asok Leylaand lorry aala yethanum. Raascal.

2010-06-28T23:09:00.001-04:00

கண்ணனுக்கே அழகூட்டிய ஒரு பாடல்!

2010-06-27T22:49:00.003-04:00

The best part of this video is at 7:30 when Rahman removes the Oscar statuettes from his potti, carefully wrapped around with a vellai thundu.

2010-06-24T09:15:00.004-04:00

Thiru Krishnan, Thiru Muthu avaragalai medaiku vandhu thanga chain matrum thanga modhiram petrukollumaaru azhaikirom! Thiru Krishnan, Thiru Muthae!

Raavanan aanda enna, Rahman aanda enna..aaga motham padam mokkai

2010-06-19T09:00:00.006-04:00

Ok, the movie sucked. Really. Neither was the Direction good nor was the screenplay coherent. There is no point in narrating the story because the movie was so blatantly lifted off from Ramayana I really got bored after a while and could predict what would happen next. For me such adaptations doesn't reflect the prowess of the Director at all. It was a very run of the mill kind of story/screenplay which was tailored to reflect a well known epic. Maybe the audience are supposed to shriek in ecstasy when they relate to characters resembling Hanuman and Vibheeshanan, but I most certainly was put off by that. There was no elaborate build up to the story. The movie begins with Veeraiya (Vikram) kidnapping Ragini (Aishwarya Rai) and her husband Dev played by PrithviRaj prepares to mount an all out attack on Veera. BGMs sucked because there were no true BGMs. The bits and pieces from the songs were just rehashed to form the BGM. What happened to the good old days of our Ilayaraja when people actually spent as much time on BGMs as they did on songs?

The first half moves slowly. I mean so slowly that it feels more stagnant than all of Aishwarya's facial expressions can muster. The Director is only focused on portraying the love sprouting in Vikram's heart for Ragini. It is not a bad concept if it had been handled well but he had gone overboard with the Screenplay part. The scenes were too jumpy; in the sense there was no smooth flow. Yet the same scenario was being shown for one hour; Ragini falling down the cliff for some five times in Vikram's mind. There is actually no good characterization in the first half except for Vikram's. Suhasini has written the Dialogues for the movie and I couldn't help but laugh during those 'typical' one liner exchanges in the first half when Dev was told his wife was kidnapped. It went something like this:
Hemanth: siiirrr, river la oru accident
Dev: Eppo
H: Ippodhan sirrr
Dev: Enna aachu
H: sirrr, inoru boat idichu....adhula vandhu...
D: enna?
H: unga wife...
D: solunga Hemanth..
It reminded me of that classic spoof in Thamizh Padam of that 'Thalabadhi' scene where Mammooty visits his injured henchman in a hospital.

Karthik gets totally wasted by ManiRatnam. I felt great pity for such a talented actor reduced to doing buffoonery just because one of his 'mentors' asked him to act in the movie. His intro scene when he does some 'Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon'isque jumping around of trees looked so bad and made no sense. Later, in the movie Kartihk gets to be the Hanuman of the story and if those initial tree jumping scenes were intended to give the audience a clue about that, then I am sorry to say ManiRatnam but Perarasu would have done a better job of it. If his role was intended to be that of a comic relief with his monkey acts, then somebody like Vivek etc. would have done a much better job of it. Same is the case with Prabu. The continued references to the epic was also irritating. People should have been left feeling a resemblance to the epic. Instead, ManiRatnam makes sure that the audience have no doubts whatsoever. Somebody should count the number of times references are made to the numbers 10 and 14 in that movie! We all know Raavanan had ten heads, Sir. Please. No need to remind us again and again. Also, we all know that Ramar went to vanavaasam for 14 years. No need to give not so subtle hints such as 'she will die in 14 hours', 'she was supposed to be held for 14hours but now she should be held for 14 days' etc. Maybe you were making this movie for an 'international' audience who have no idea what Ramayanam is about and probably you would give a quick guide to Ramayanam along with the movie tickets to those audience so that they can croon in delight when they see those cross references making sense.

Amidst all this drudgery, there are two things in the movie that is spectacular. Firstly, the Cinematography. It is just indescribable. It was not just one or two scenes but the entire movie that was shot in vivid colors and some breathtaking camera angles. Some do stick to the mind: Vikram's standing on the cliff edge and doing a 'will he jump or won't he' kind of thing, the scene where the officers cut through the dense forest and the camera focuses on a dragon fly perched on the branch and slowly pans out to the bunch of people (the dragonfly looked totally like a toy though), the waterfalls, the final scene in which Vikram is shot and falls down in a SloMo. Breathtaking is the only word that justifies all this.

Secondly, Vikram. The story was not just centered around his character but his performance in the movie is so towering that all the other flaws seem more magnified because of that. Seeing Aishwarya's banality of expressions and PrithviRaj's stonyfaced reactions (thanks to ManiRatnam's idea of a steel nerved Police I believe) Vikram seemed to really possess ten times the prowess of the other actors! If Vikram hadn't captivated the audience enough till the end of the movie then he definitely delivers the sucker punch in the climax when he realizes the trap he has fallen in. Even his expressions as he falls to his death lingers in the mind. As a friend of mine said, his performance in this movie is like watching Sachin score a century in a losing cause!

If I see this movie again it would be for the Cinematography and Vikram. And I hope this refocuses his immense acting abilities and makes him a better chooser of movies in the future!

P.S.: It feels so good to say, I told you so!

Adraa Sakka

2010-06-13T01:50:00.005-04:00

I saw two videos well after midnight and I still have trouble sleeping because of them. First one was this. The way she imitates the Singh, the Patel and the Italian and her emphasis on Vasantha was awesomely funny.

The second video was this - Our very own TR. Earlier in the day I was seeing some of the videos of the internet sensation Wilbur Sargunaraj and read about how he had become popular in the US as well (with well known movie critic Roger Ebert mentioning this video in one of his twitter message). I was wondering if this is guy really like this? I mean, does he have a secret identity which is his real life that is hid behind this character? Surely there has to be. Having said that it is really hard to believe when someone actually are just the way they appear to be - like our TR. Whaat a maaannn (as Abbas says in Padayappa). Not only does he have the gumption to render his version of an African beat for more than a minute but he also says it would become an internet sensation. And the way he ends the call - "Ellaa pugazhum iraivanuke, inshah allah".

Ada Raama....

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

2010-06-06T00:26:00.004-04:00

Nothing beats seeing a good movie in a awesome theater. Except, of course, if you get to see an awesome movie in an awesome theater! I saw Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and I thoroughly enjoyed it enough to think about going for a second time!

The movie is about the famous Prince who most of us would have known when trying to take him to the Princess through the dungeons with the help of 4 keyboard buttons. Later, came the gaming consoles etc. that popularized the franchise enough to merit a movie out of it. But unlike ventures that were made into poorly made cheesy movies (ala Tomb Raider), PoP is a perfectly served blend of action, magical forces and stunning visuals.

Prince Dastan, the protagonist, is played by Jake Gyllenhaal. I had some serious doubts on the credibility of the movie once I saw the trailers: the trailer was more of a select scenes of action without much insight into the story itself and moreover Jake seemed a total misfit for the role. Strongly lingering images of Jake playing the young guy trying to escape the snow in the Day After Tomorrow & the boyish ranch hand in the Brokeback Mountain made him a suspect for this role, in my opinion (Jake is the younger brother of Maggie Gyllenhall, in case you din't know it!). But to his credit, at the end of the movie I could not think of a better person for the role.

Dastan is an orphan who gets adopted by the King of Persia after showing courage in the face of adversity. This makes him the youngest of the three Princes in the line to the throne - Tus & Garsiv. When the King is away from the city, news reaches the Princes about the treachery by the sacred city of Alamut which is selling weapons to the enemies of the Persian empire. The two Princes decide to invade the city aided by the counsel of their uncle Nizam, against the suggestion of Dastan. This leads to a trail of events during which the King, on his return to the city, gets killed and Jake is blamed for his death. Jake escapes with Princess Tamina (played by Gemma Arterton, and she is Hot!)of Alamut. Tamina is the guardian of the Dagger of Time which she safeguards from falling into the hands of evil men. The rest of the story is about how Dastan proves his innocence and also helps Tamina in returning the Dagger to safety. The strength of the movie is the realization by the Director that a story like this would abound with cliches during movie making: the culture of Persia has to be showcased in a way that everyone identifies with but yet must not be too banal, the hero has to be agile and fight many kinds of enemies yet there must be no poorly placed wise quips etc. The Director has walked this fine line and never let the movie drift away. The focus and packaging keeps the audience riveted. He has cleverly avoided pitfalls of loud mouthed villains (if you see The Mummy movies, you know what I am talking about), unnecessary number of mushy scenes with the female lead, sidekicks etc.

The film editing is by a trio that includes the legendary Michael Kahn who is one of my all time favorite and he has done a fabulous job in this movie. The movie has some stunning visuals that includes panoramic scenery and intelligent graphics. Soundtrack is a big plus for the movie too. I am a big sucker for multi-channel audio tracks and a movie with a storyline like PoP provides ample opportunities for it and the way it is has been smartly interspersed and employed, I just fell head over heels for it.

One of those movies that I would probably end up seeing many times over.

Minute by Minute Commentary

2010-06-01T13:52:00.005-04:00

Friend: Why are you not updating anything on Facebook?
Me: I don't know. What is there to update anyway?
Friend: So many things! Like that trip you went on 2 weeks back, India's T20 matches etc. You have to let people know what you are thinking by writing on your wall.
Me: Why would I write on my wall? I always like my walls to be clean and white! In fact, I am going to see if I can prevent others from scribbling on my neat wall as well..
Friend: Loosu..seri leave it. At least you can twitter, no?
Me: What am I? A sparrow?
Friend: But everybody twitters now. This is how people share their thoughts and opinions.
Me: But I already write a blog for that. If I want to force my opinion on people who refuse to read it then I will call them and let them know what I think. Who is going to be interested in where I ate lunch, which place I went to last night and how I "Juz feel lazy to go 2 work 2day". If Sachin tweets "I should have blocked instead of trying to drive that ball", it is worth reading. Who would be interested in knowing what a nobody like me feels looking at the sunset on a lovely summer night!
Friend: &*$#%@

2010-05-29T11:45:00.005-04:00

First look of the Semmozhi video for the Ulaga Thamizh Maanadu. Impressive track from Rahman, though I feel it has a much more contemporary feel to it than it should have in terms of the instrument used as well as the singers. Especially considering the fact that the conference is meant to serve as a point of discussion on the 'thamizh kalaacharam' (that includes the contemporary relevance of literary pieces such as Tholkaapiyam & Thirukkural) and spreading awareness to the current diaspora).

Gowtham Menon has tried to do a Mile Sur Mera Thumhara with the video but there lacks a distinct flow to it. I have no idea why Shruthi Hassan and Blaaze are even there in the video.

But anyhow...

2010-05-18T13:25:00.003-04:00

Like the saying "Ennadhaan naaya kulipaatti naduveetla vechaalum, adhu vaala suzhatindu therukudhaan odum nu", ivanunga ennadhaan adipaatalum thirundha maatanga polarke!

Mani Ratnam

2010-04-27T21:51:00.004-04:00

I like Mani Ratnam's movies a lot just like many others. Some of his earlier works are real masterpieces, with each subsequent movie of his exploring different genres with no similarity in the stories that would have made any Director predictable ala Shankar.

But what I don't understand and what makes me recoil with confusion bordering on hate is his obsession to simultaneously direct a version in Hindi. Why does he want to do that? Imagine filming two movies at the same time. Irrespective of both having the same storyline you still have to manage different cast, schedules, slightly modified screenplay to suit different audiences, etc. Why this masochism? What does he get out of it? Is the recognition and pleasure of seeing the movie run successfully in Tamil too small to satisfy his über sized ego? He wants his 'art pieces' to be applauded by all of India? Is the desire for wider recognition driving him to do this crazy stuff? Wasn't he recognized as a great director till Iruvar? Then why does he have to bend backwards to cater to a bigger audience? I myself can think of 10 answers to this but still none of them make sense.

2010-04-26T17:43:00.002-04:00

"..more than the game, there was more pressure from my friends for passes. i had never felt so much pressure before...." - MS Dhoni during the toss interview. One reason why Chennai won. The other reason being of course Mumbai sucks which was why they cleanly took Hayden's catch while dropping Raina's.

Kaasedhan Kadavulada

2010-04-25T00:20:00.007-04:00

"Dooode!! Are you ready to be thrashed? Bewarrre". The threats from my colleague, who is from Bombay, only increased in frequency since that first call. He seems more excited that Chennai made it to finals than me. Immediately, plans were made to watch the finals together duly accompanied by more threats of 'thrashing', 'clobbering', 'smashing' and other superlatives that only war-mongering American Presidents can think of.

Soon after our PC offered to resign following the Maoists attack, which was categorically rejected by our Honorable PM, a member of Twitterati (which is no way related to the Illuminati, lest Dan Brown gets all too excited about writing a book in which Robert Langdon reveals the truth behind the covert operations of the BCCI/IPL with trip to exotic locales such as the BCCI's head office in Mumbai aided by cutting edge technologies such as the MRF blimp) has been asked to resign. My glee at the guillotine that has been falling can be expressed only to some extent through words. Scenes of Modi's head & hands wedged between the wood waiting for the guillotine to fall (even as he tweets from his Blackberry "@unsuspectingmedia: i wonder how individuals & companies had so much money to spend on ipl teams. fishy isn't it? ;) " ).

As this year's edition of the grand circus draws to an end, Modi has redefined the very definition of commercialism. The viewers have been caught unawares with the modern technological marvel that the blimp is. The sheer awesomeness of it is mindboggling. I, like million other viewers, was wondering after the first few matches what is so special about the balloon suspended 100 feet above the ground. But the organizers cleverly withheld the secret till the semi-finals. After impatiently scratching around for 3 matches and 12 time-outs, it eventually dawned on me. It is amazing. The MRF blimp is the first ever object in the time-space continuum to be there at a location; yet not quite there. The camera kept panning out to the giant screen on the ground which shows the blimp every now and then, even as Sivaramakrishnan and Danny Morrison croon in unison with ecstasy on sighting the blimp. Obviously, the blimp is over the ground as per the assertions of all the commentators yet it can be seen only on the giant screen! Awesomeness. In fact, the blimp is so popular that people are flocking stores to get a model that can float around their living rooms.

Meanwhile, as the Overlord of the IPL sinks deeper and deeper into the quagmire, there are great expectations that the entire cricketing structure is going to be revamped. By cricketing structure, we are referring to the people who can make the big bucks and rub shoulders with Mukesh Ambani, Siddharth Mallya (No, it must be Vijay Mallya, I think, because Siddharth Mallya is only seen rubbing shoulders with Deepika Padukone) etc. There are even some preposterous rumours that Ravi Shastri would be given an important post. Maybe a good thing. If he can shout at the franchise owners half as much as he shouts during the toss then running the IPL would be a piece of cake. But Modi is reported to be unfazed as of now, challenging the BCCI to try and sack him as the IPL commissioner. With nobody seeing any light at the end of this tussle, the prescient Sachidhaanandha Swamigal (now that he doesn't have to attend training sessions till the finals because of injury on his hand, suddenly finds that he has lots of time on his other uninjured hand) has predicted that the IPL will overcome the crisis. But there are reports that Modi is showing no signs of let down. In fact, for the closing ceremony of the game (which would be yet another grand ceremony that usually begins with pledging for green, blue, pink and all other color coded environmental benefits and ends with spectacular fireworks display and 1 million kW of electricity consumed for the lights and the show) it is believed that Modi will make a spectacular appearance by descending from the 'Technological Marvel' MRF blimp (complete with a cape and everything thereby laying to rest all doubts of his perceived superhuman qualities) and would declare the entire tournament a grand Citi 'Moment' of Success.

So amidst all these distractions the focus shifts to the DY Patil stadium (which is staging the 10,347th match in the last 3 years) after the bomb blasts in Bangalore stadium 'forced' the organizers to shift the venue to the safest city in the world where the spectators known for their knowledge of cricket will come in full attendance for the neutral matches (Take that you dumb Chennaiites). Here is hoping Sachin is fit to play (otherwise even if Chennai win all the bloody Mumbaikars and Maruticars will be saying 'only because He wasn't playing') and Chennai thrash them and execute on Mumbai all the other forms of mutilations that my Mumbai (or Bombay. Whatever dude! It doesn't sound half as cool as Madras) friend talks of inflicting on the CSK team. If not, then I would have to wear that stoic face only a 'rathathula Chennai oori ponna' people can pull off and say "Its ok dude, it was a good game, I am happy that we came to finals, so many positives, Vijay, Ashwin, etc." and then to quote Dhoni's "from the semis it is just a lottery..".

P.S.: Watching people like Gavaskar, Shastri and even Bhogle struggle between the by-now well honed instinct of praising anything Modi-sque and then refraining because of the controversy he is in right now is amusing. Bhogle 'aathu aathunu aathifies a sorpozhivu' on Cricinfo where he half assails Modi and then retracts to shower praises on how Modi single handedly made IPL into a behemoth etc. Only because he is still on the payroll of you-know-who. All hypocrites, I say.

2010-03-24T08:26:00.004-04:00

In today's Read as section:

Car manufacturer Daimler AG will pay $185 million to settle a criminal investigation in which the company is accused of paying tens of millions of dollars in bribes to officials of at least 22 foreign governments..

Read as, "Car manufacturer Daimler AG will pay $185 million as compensation to the Justice Department & the Securities and Exchange Commission to appease them after pleading guilty on charges of not adopting a universally fair standard of bribing."

Alice in Wonderland

2010-03-21T21:17:00.003-04:00

I have been wanting to check out the nearby IMAX theater for quite some time. Not because I have never been to an IMAX before but just that I have not been to this one before.

The movie was really amazing and worth being seen in a 3D IMAX if you have one near you. The story was nothing great. The end is totally predictable and so are quite a few scenes in between. But seeing some of the legendary characters such as the White Rabbit and the Cheshire cat (and the Mad Hatter, of course) with some top class animation made the movie special. The story is a take off from Lewis Carroll's original Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. Alice is 19 years old and about to be asked for marriage by a Lord. Finding these sudden rush of events difficult to handle, Alice tries to bide some time by running away from the party thrown out for this occasion. She sees the White Rabbit and follows it to the burrow of the tree that is the entrance to the Wonderland.

Johnny Depp plays the Mad Hatter and Anne Hathway plays the White Queen. Johnny Depp really doesn't have to do anything different than what he did in the three editions of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. The swagger in his walk, the lilt in his talk and the animated gestures are quite familar to everyone and fits the role perfectly. Anne Hathway doesn't have much role to play and other than grinning wider than the Cheshire cat. And oh, there is the Cheshire Cat.

Easily, my favorite character of the movie which is saying something as it beats my default overwhelming favorite, Johnny Depp. The cat's character is quite...hmm...what is the right word for it...yes, magical. The fluid appearances and the disappearances, the way it saves the Mad Hatter and its mystical dialogues makes it the star of the movie. Only later did I realize that the voice for it was by Stephen Fry! The voice for Absolum, the dreamy yet wise old Blue Caterpillar, was by Alan Rickman (of Severus Snape fame).

It is a movie worth seeing if seen in an IMAX. Not sure about its impact on an ordinary 2D screen.

Quote of the day

2010-03-16T22:19:00.004-04:00

நான், ரொட்டி என்று சொன்னால் உதடுகள் ஒட்டாது; பரோட்டா, சப்பாத்தி என்று சொன்னால்தான் உதடுகள் கூட ஒட்டும்.

Thamizh Padam

2010-03-05T10:55:00.000-05:00

What do you call a movie, for which the dialogues are not by Crazy Mohan but still ends up providing the same kind of entertainment? A movie where you had to pause some scenes so that you can finish your laughter so as not to miss the next quip or dig that would immediately ensue? Only one way to describe: Utterly brilliant. (A friend of mine said we should not pay to watch Thamizh Padam as it is produced from our tax money (guess why!) anyway)

The movie is a 2.5hours of non-stop good humored dig at every watershed movie and cliche of Tamil cinema; and the best part is that it has been handled with some real class. When you make fun of movies, you are invariably forced to infuse some crassness in it. Lollu Sabha did a wonderful job of it but if you have seen lot of its episodes you would know what I mean.

The movie is about Siva, who is born in a village but comes to Chennai with the aim of becoming a Superstar in movies. Mirchi Siva plays the protagonist in the movie and one could not think of a better choice for the character. He convinces his Paati not to kill him with branded kalli paal and instead take him to Chennai where he can become an actor. How he ends up achieving his only goal in life forms the rest of the movie. I could narrate the entire story here but it is tiresome and also useless because the story is not what the movie is about, even though it is coherent enough. But some of the scenes do warrant a special mention.

The hero is still a boy when he witnesses few rowdies thrashing some people. He wishes to grow up soon so that he can fight those baddies. So his Paati (Paravai Muniyamma) advises him to pedal a cycle that is 'parked on its stand'. The confused boy does so and the camera pans to his feet and then in the next few seconds the grown up hero has arrived! After the baddies are thrashed the hero gets the opening number where he refers to himself as not only a pachai thamizhan but also a pink, blue and yellow thamizhan! It is really hilarious when you see it as a video. The hero also gets angry when the dance master jumps in and starts dancing with him stealing away his limelight ala Prabudeva in recent Vijay movies!

There is this mystey person called 'D' who the hero is fighting. First, he takes on D's main henchmen. The first encounter is a spoof of Thalabadhi and the following scene of Devaraj visiting Ramana in hospital brings down the roof. The 2nd encounter with the villain is a spoof of Rajini's faceoff with Raghuvaran in Baasha. It is a riotous moment when the hero says 'kanna konjam ange paaru' to show his hidden bodyguard and the camera pans to an imitation of Kandhaswamy doing his seval movements. The 3rd encounter is a spoof of Dhool when he saves a young guy from being molested by the female villain! The scene where he offers his shirt for the guy to cover himself with is rib tickling. The 4th villain is killed during a spoof of Anniyan's buffalo stampede scene.

Siva is friends with three others - MS Bhaskar, Venniraadai Murthy & Mano Bala. And guess what their screen names are? Nakul, Bharath and Siddharth! The scenes involving the four are terrific as they go about in Boys style trying to woo girls and discuss life in general. My only disappointment was that MS Bhaskar and Mano Bala did not have much screen time though Venniradi Moorthi (Bharat) makes full utilization of the extra screen presence he had. The two scenes where he says he found a girl using Orkut & Facebook and he refuses to sleep saying he is going to study for semester exams cause spontaneous laughter.

The hero has a love interest as is typical of any movie. The scenes in which the lovestruck hero sees his girl's face everywhere including toilet doors, women fighting for water and a funeral procession deserve mention. The heroine's dad refuses to give his girl (of course) because the hero is not rich enough. So the furious hero works hard ala 'Vetri Nichayam', 'Vetri Kodi Kattu' and in the span of 5 minutes becomes a millionaire and opens many business ventures including Siva Electricity Board, Siva Beach, Siva Mortuary etc. When the hero returns to his future father-in-law's house as a rich man at the end of the song, the FIL is taken by surprise as the coffee he asked his servant to make when the hero left is given to him at the same moment the hero returns. He is dumbfounded and can only utter, "Adhukullayaa?". Brilliant!

During the engagement ceremony, a casual remark by a person that Siva doesn't know his parents makes Siva go in search of them. This is where the movie really takes off in humor leaving the first half in a shade. As Siva and Bharat travel to his native village, Cinemapatti, they meet a villager (played by Shanmugasundaram). The following scenes abound with several references and spoofs including that of Raj Kiran, Ramarajan, Ramanarayan and a slight bow to Kamal & his controvery ridden film Virumaandi.

The twist in the end is not that Siva is a police officer (!) under cover but that 'D' is none other than his paati (Paravai Muniyamma). Even AR Rahman is not spared, as the movie ends with a lighthearted take on his now famous statement "Ella Pughazhum Iraivanuke. I really had to pause the movie control my laughing at this stage. Such was the impact of scenes such as this.

There are references to several movies such as Mozhi, 7G Rainbow colony, Nayagan, Sivaji, Ghajini, Mouna Raagam. Nobody can maintain their equanimity after the heroine solemnly states that she is a great fan of SJ Surya and TR and proceeds to see Veerasami DVD saying "Idhu kadhai alla, Kaaviyam".

There are two noteworthy songs in the movie other than the opening number (Pacha Thamizhan). One is the OmaahaZeeyan which is a duet song made up purely of all the nonsense uyalaalas and ballaelakas of Tamil Cinema. The other is an item number that is a tongue in cheek reference to the all too common item numbers of contemporary Tamil Cinema. But the surprise element here is the item girl: Kasthuri. The dhaavani clad heroine of yesteryear movies goes full blown in this song (and to say the least, she looks hot!!)

It is a neatly packaged movie with intelligent sense of humor that opens up a new genre for Tamil cinema.Kudos to the Script writer of the movie who stitched together a taut screenplay. It is so easy to drift away when trying to include so many references but still he has managed to make the scenes flow coherently.

2010-02-24T10:11:00.001-05:00

It was expected of Him. If He did not get to it first, Sehwag would have. But it is better that He is the first.

2010-02-16T07:15:00.002-05:00

Yet another case of false reporting, more due to ara-gora knowledge than anything else.

The TREAD act was passed in response to dozens of deadly Ford Explorer rollover crashes caused by faulty Firestone tires. No fines were ever levied in that case.

In that case, both parties were culpable, especially Ford whose Explorer design was faulty and was known for years to be prone to rollover in industry circles. But it never came to light until a tire that caused the instability to worsen was put on it. See here and here, if interested more in the history of one of auto industry's biggest lawsuit and recall mess.

Thala's vendukol to Thalaivar

2010-02-07T09:39:00.006-05:00

Recently, our Kalaignar granted land (asku busku. avaru enna pocket lerndhu edutha kodupaaru, elaam govt sothudhaan) to the members of FEFSI (adhavadhu Film Employees' Federation of South India) group. So the cohort comprising of mundhirikottais like Vijayakumar, Bharathiraja, Vairamuthu, Radhika, Sarathkumar et al. had to felicitate Kalaignar and so organized yet another bramaanda nigazhchi to potrify thamizh thaai's kalai sothu. One of the comedy highlights for it was having Harris Jeyaraj compose a 'thalaivar potru' song to praise our thalaivar. Naa edho Puli Urumudhu range ku song compose panni, they will superimpose images of our thalaivar from his young and dynamic days till the recent 'stephen hawking' stage with mandatory pictures of Valluvar Kottam, Mini-Flyovers and Kanyakumari Valluvar statue (because no Tamilian can recall any other achievement in our thalaivar's aatchi) nu edhirpaathen. Instead, Harris surprised everybody by going for a melody. Infact, the surprise was even more when he did not have Bombay Jayashree sing the melody. But anyways, listen to the wonderful lyrics. There is a goosebump causing line (sung by Unnimenon I think):

Neela nirathu kanaadi, kangalin mele koluviruka

Also, Ajith created a furor during the felicitation that was held on Feb.6 (probably at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium which has now become a dedicated paaratu vizha/audio launch/kalai kondaatam arangam). Unlike others he did not do the vazha vazha kozha kozha talk of potrifying thalaivar. After the mandatory couple of lines of he did that and this, he boldy made a firm request to thalaivar (which was actually more of a message to all the Tamil Industry's self proclaimed leaders and the general people) to not drag all actors and the cine industry into politics and force them to attend functions (he did not go as far as adding the line 'such as this' but it is implied). This must have been made long before the likes of Bharathiraja etc shot to limelight through the Neyveli fast or like Sathyaraj through the Hogenakkal fast. Both were for the same issues, by the way, but separated by few years which only goes to show the futility of such mass fasting. Rajini once came quite close to it (watch the video from 3:58). So, Ajith much be greatly appreciated for having the guts to say it in front of everyone. I am sure there are going to be a lot of calls for his head now!

2010-02-05T09:23:00.003-05:00

One of the many articles that show Toyota's nightmare in real light (without the media glare that is). An interesting anecdote towards the end though, where the writer has mentioned about the infamous Audi 5000 issues of the late 80s:

Toyota either blames its customers and faces the wrath of the media or expresses contrition and admits it has quality issues. Perhaps having learned from the backlash against Audi when it—rightly—blamed its customers, Toyota has chosen the latter course of action.

Now you know why Toyota is in a fix. The real problem is not the recall but how to firefight right way. Because whatever it does now, the mass media will pounce on it. Say it is the driver's fault, they get thrashed because they were arrogant enough to pass the blame onto innocent blonde heads whose only fault was texting while driving and not knowing how a car functions other than knowing about its stereo system. Say it is their fault, they still get thrashed because Toyota is no longer the bastion of quality blah, blah, blah.. A classic case of the modern global organizations' operations being influenced by things out of their hands.

I have a mic, so what I say must be right

2010-02-04T22:58:00.002-05:00

Continuing with the topic of Toyota's troubles with its massive recall, the media which glorified Toyota in the late 90s is now happily thrashing it. After all, the media does not care who you are or what you do. All they need is some news to create a frenzy. They ride on your good times and your bad times and feed off it; just like parasites.

When TMC recalled its cars for accelerator issues, immediately there was a wave of people owning older cars (that were not part of the recall) claiming 'sudden acceleration' which led to their vehicles crashing. Obviously, they follow it up with lawsuits claiming obscene sums from TMC. There was this guy who says because he is not able to get the accelerator pedal replaced in time for his car, he had to suffer mentally, and is depressed blah, blah blah.. Naturally, when the news of some braking issues with the 2010 Prius came out, people suddenly were saying their cars don't brake either.

So with all the bashing of Toyota that has been going on ( I am no Toyota enthusiast, mind you) I cannot help but notice the statements from several news agencies who have no clue of what they are talking about. Explaining a mat that holds on to the accelerator is simple enough. A worn out shim inside the pedal mechanism gets a bit more complex to explain. But a hybrid car's brake system? That is where the real fun begins.

It is reported that while driving on slippery or bumpy roads, sometimes the drivers of Prius suffer a momentary loss in braking. So some wise guy assumed that 'a moment' that is described by drivers equals a second and came up with a calculation that at 60mph the car would have traveled another 90 feet before it stops. This is going around in all channels and reports including America' s Dhinathandi, CNN.

Let us see in a simple way how the hybrid powertrain works, especially on a Prius. The Prius has a normal gasoline powered engine that combines with an electric motor to drive the car. The electric motor drives the car at low speeds (city driving or stop-and-go traffic) upto 30mph. Once the car accelerates to higher speeds, the gas engine takes up and drives the car. The electric motor continues to serve as power boost for rapid torque requirements. An important feature of such hybrid systems is the concept of regenerative braking. In simple terms, when the car brakes while it is being operated by the electric motor, the motor actually reverses its function and acts like a generator by using the kinetic energy of the vehicle to charge the battery pack. So in essence, this braking happens when the electric drive is functioning, i.e., at speeds less than 30mph. If the braking power needed is more than what the motor can apply, then the braking is done by conventional means using brake pads that slow the vehicle by friction. This transfer of control from the regenerative braking to conventional braking takes place during a fraction of a second giving the driver a feeling that the car is not braking as hard as it should, especially on surfaces where the ABS feels the need for more brake power causing the brake pads to step in.

So coming back to the original reports of 90 feet of increased stopping distances at 60mph: firstly when the car is at such high speeds, the braking is directly by brake pads and so there is no instance of control transfer. If considering a maximum speed of 30mph, the car requires another 44 feet to stop. Adding to it is the fact that the lapse is for a fraction of a second. Even if it is half a second, you are looking at 22 feet. And this control happens only when the car is already being braked by the motor. So you are looking at speeds less than 30mph, after which the brake pads step in, if required. So maybe 10 feet? 15? Significant number yes, but not as much as CNN and rest of the media says it to be.

CNN showed a segment in the evening, in which one of its viewers, Jessica Yellin had this problem with her Prius. Jessica is a smart lady, I should admit. She clearly mentions in her interview that the car does not lose braking power at high speeds but only when she is driving within city. When she applies the brakes hard it stops as it should but only during slow stops from low speeds does it give that feeling of momentary loss of braking. CNN then shows her trying to contact TMC to get an answer about her issues with Prius but they do not respond to her. Duh! Obviously, if 5million customers and 1million news reporters call you at the same time, you cannot expect a response.

Talk about shaping public opinion.

Not sure why Toyota is not coming out with a media blitz yet against all these propaganda.

And I should stop sounding like their P.R.O!

'Moving Forward' with Unintended Acceleration

2010-02-02T15:52:00.005-05:00

With Toyota's massive recall over the last few months culminating in yet another recall last week for a 'sticky pedal', the company has taken severe beating to its image. Now, TMC has admitted to braking related issues in its marquee 2010 Prius. Though, I am not sure how much of a headwind it will prove to be for GM and the likes, I believe it will take Toyota Motor Corporation much work to regain the market share it lost in Jan. 2010 (as much as 20% drop in sales I believe).

I think issues like mats holding down the pedals are made out to be much bigger than they really are. Manufacturers have had much more serious recalls before (such as the Ford Explorer); Ford has million recalls in their 2009 models. But of course, it is bigger news when the King trips compared to a commoner tripping. So US house wants to hold a hearing and NHTSA is considering a fine that could total up to $15m! Good chance to recover some of they money that GM has swallowed, I say!

The common perception of Toyota's quality being far superior compared to GM & Ford (let us not include Chrysler in this even now), was created largely by GM's self initiated downfall in the late 90s and the seemingly never wrong-footed steps of TMC accentuated by the generous publicity by American media. Though it is no longer realistic, still the two American giants had a touch time of convincing people about it. But now that TMC has fallen down a notch, the playground seems to be more leveled. Will this prove to be the watershed? It will be interesting to see how TMC's PR division handle the crisis and how their sales fare in the next few months.

2010-01-31T19:24:00.000-05:00

Enadhu?? Mahatma Gandhi sethutaara?

Goa not Go'a?

2010-01-31T10:07:00.007-05:00

If you are asked to line-up Venkat Prabu's movies in the order of its quality, it is simple. Just list them in the chronological order. There was an innocence with Chennai28 because of the obvious amateurish treatment of the subject that was fun to watch. With Saroja, he took the 'amateurishness ' to the next level with a serious and taut screen play in the 2nd half of the movie. With two hits and the weight of expectations, Venkat Prabu should have realized he can no longer hide behind that tag.

What I could not comprehend was if it was meant to be a full length spoof or a movie like Saroja where real story was interspersed with fun. If it is the former the movie appears undercooked and if it is the latter it grossly fails due to the thin screenplay that drags on.

So there are these three youths: Ramarajan, Vinayagam and Saamikannu from a village. They are summoned for the panchayat. The father of these youths are played by Vijayakumar, Chandrasekhar and (yes!) Shanmuga Sundaram. They have fought the nefarious activities of a local mirazdar (played by Anand Raj). A funny bit in which our three do-gooders fight the men of Anand Raj wearing shirt & pant with wigs on their heads is shown. So the scene goes back and forth in to give a brief glimpses of everyone's character. Saamikannu was conceived with divine blessing which makes him a 'theiva kuzhandhai' for the village. He grows in a highly confined environment where in he is restricted from enjoying life like the rest of his village friends. This makes him yearn for a freedom and the taste of life outside the village. VInayagam just wants to go to Americaa while Ramarajan is shown as a modern day Don Juan. So ultimately these three hatch a plot to escape from the village when they have specifically forbidden to do so.
They go to Madurai to see a friend Azhagar. But they learn Azhagar, the dark colored villager, is getting married to a vellaikaarachi. Azhagar tells them he met her at Goa, which is described in the movie as a paradise on earth.

So our trio decide to go to Goa, find a vellakarachi and make her fall in love with them and marry her and settle in a foreign country. The rest of the plot (?) surrounds this aim. They meet Danny (played by Sampath) and Jack (Aravind Akash) at Goa. They are a gay couple and offer a place to live in Goa while embarking on their search for white women. Now, Sampath is an excellent actor. He manages to pull off the role somehow. He neither overdid the kuzhayara part that has become synonymous with a gay nor does he fail miserably in that fake accent. If at all he (or Aravind) irritates you at any point of the movie it is not because of their acting but because of some of the long and unnecessarily dragging scenes involving them.

If there is anything that the Director has managed to pull off perfectly, it has to be the choice of the female cast in the movie! Melannie Marie, who is the love interest of Saamikannu, is undeniably cute while Piaa Bajpai is (ahem..). Sneha, the cunning and seductive business entrepreneur, looks good too inspite of the multiple folds in her neck.

Hopefully, references to Subramaniyapuram stops with this movie. The number of times Premji Amaran shakes his head ala Jai in Subramaniyapuram takes away the initial amusement it caused. In an effort to surprise the audience with the unexpected, I think the Director attempts some stuff that falls flat. If you manage to take the audience off their guard you should let them relish that moment and move on to the next scene instead of rubbing in the same scene (the gay couple sequences being a point in case). The climax speeds up like Ocean's Eleven with a heist planned to steal the jewels that is locked up in Sneha's ship. But stops dead when Ramarajan falls on Sneha's feet. Less said about the blink-and-you-miss appearance of Nayanthara and the closing scene of blood coming from Sombu's nose the better. Things are not made any better with the acknowledgement of Sombu's guest appearance with a Little Superstar as prefix to his name. Oh well if you can Yuvan Shankar Raja as Little Isaignani, then....

So anyway, the movie comes off as a masala with no pretentions but does not leave the audience with any satisfaction either.

P.S.: Sampath's portrayal of the gay character somehow kept reminding me of Vikram's Ambi and the CBI aapicer role in Kandhasaamy. Hmmm.

P.S.:2: Indha padathuku Soundharya 3crores kadan vaanginadhu romba adhigam. Andha 3crores, which is picha kaasu for her appa, kooda thirupi tharaama settu pasanga case podra alavuku vechukardhu adha vida romba too much.

2010-01-29T07:11:00.004-05:00

My HR is just like Obama. He spoke to me for about half an hour but at the end of it, I forgot what I went to see him for and also could not remember if he told me anything new.

Sorgame endraalum...

2010-01-09T09:04:00.003-05:00

It is that time of the year again: when the GRT calendar on the wall gets replaced as the month of Maargazhi draws to an end. Time to replace the Aircel simcard with a seemai naatu sim card. Chennai got more than its normal share of rains this month. Tried to convince paati and others that 22C is not cold at all and maargazhi pani is nothing compared to -20C, only to catch the cold several times and have them rebuke me for acting like a know-all.

A deep sense of regret would fill the mind as the flight takes off, as the separation from all that is home for an unknown period along with the periodic beepings of the in-deck announcement adds to the melancholy. Like a maniac, I ate at all places I knew from Mambalam to Adyar and went to so many places in the last one month to satisfy my longings of the last one year. And the cycle would continue for the next as well.

A dying city awaits me, welcoming me probably with a feet of snow.

SPB!

2010-01-08T10:08:00.007-05:00

While waiting in Chennai airport and looking at the flight departure time get postponed once again in the continuously changing time display, I was feeling bored and sleepy. It was then I heard a voice behind me say, "Excuse me, please". Moving aside for the person to go past me I was more than surprised to see none other than SPB, dressed in his usual white pant with a generously sized brown shirt.

I was hesitant to talk to him immediately because of the crowd but soon people slowly started making a beeline to him and so I summed up the courage. He was polite with a benevolent smile and gave me his autograph. But then he took it back and said he is still stuck with the past year and changed it to 2010. He was with a man in white shirt & white pant and I believe he was the famous erstwhile Director SP Muthuraman.

Woohoo!

2010-01-07T12:28:00.001-05:00

Though it is redundant on my part to state it, my recent stay in Bangalore reinforces my belief that there is no better place than Chennai!

2009-12-30T12:07:00.004-05:00

First, it was DoKoMo during the cricket matches. Then Vijay started selling CocaCola every 5 minutes in each channel with ad breaks spread out such a way that whenever you switch channels you will see the ad in some channel. Now, Sun Network is killing everyone with Vettaikaran trailer every 2 minutes in all of its 1,43,724 channels it has on air as of date.

Vettaikaran

2009-12-25T22:46:00.002-05:00

Just like the protagonist of the movie District-9 realizes to his horror that he is slowly transforming into an alien, I have been discovering my tolerance bordering on penchant for Vijay’s movies. I really wanted to see Vettaikaran at Sathyam because I have never seen a Vijay movie in theater (just one of the several justifications I had to give to people to have them accompany me to the movie).

I heard of several bad reviews about the movie, mostly hearsay. So I had rock-bottom expectations when I went for the movie but I actually ended up liking the movie. I am not sure if going with a low expectation helped or maybe it was because that idiot Prabudeva was not the Director again.

Ravi (Vijay) is struggling to pass Plus-Two examinations while he aspires to become an IPS officer on the footsteps of the famous encounter specialist Devaraj. The movie opens with a scene on a Chennai suburban train (any movie that starts off with a scene on the Chennai trains have to be good, no?) when Devaraj shoots a thug named Sura-Baskar. This sets off a series of events which are revealed later.

Ravi hails from Thoothukudi and finally passes +2 exams after 4 attempts. He then leaves for Chennai to pursue his education in the same college in which Devaraj studied. He wants to model every aspect of his life after Devaraj and was looking to drive an auto for living. The first day of his college makes him an instant good friend of Uma whose father (played by Maanicka Vinayagam) rents out vehicles. Ravi gets an auto from him out of which he makes his living and pays for his education. Chella is a local goon and is the son of Vedhanayagam, played by Salim Ghouse (Sakkara Gounder of Chinna Gounder fame). Chella sets his eyes on Uma, while indulging in his spree of coercing women who catch his attention to come to him. This forces Uma’s father to flee from the city along with his daughter. On hearing this, an infuriated Ravi, goes to Chella’s place and thrashes Chella and his men in the first fight of the movie. Incidentally, this comes only after an hour and a half of the movie has elapsed!

The movie picks up pace after that. Ravi has to face-off with Vedhanayagam which forms the rest of the movie. It is revealed that Vedhanayagam had killed Devaraj’s wife and son and also blinded him rendering him harmless. Ravi gets the help of Devaraj and some of his friends from his town join hands and he creates a mini-empire for himself which usurps Vedhanayagam’s power regime. An emasculated Vedhanayagan tries to regain control leading to the climax in which Ravi has Vedhanayagam killed, not by his own hands but by that of Devaraj and has the blame subtly forced on to one of Vedhanayagam’s henchmen. The movie closes with Ravi telling Devaraj that he has realized that he does not need to become an IPS officer to do what he always wanted to do because everybody has a bit of policeman inside them and they only have to make sure that inner self is allowed to function. Salim's acting is a relief from the stereotypical villainy of Prakash Raj in recent Vijay movies. The absence of Nayanthara and Trisha (and Vadivelu) also raises the bar.

As far as Direction goes, this is by far the best Vijay movie in recent times (which includes trash like Kuruvi, Pokkiri, Villu etc.). Notably, there is neither an formulaic intro song nor an intro fight. The inherent idiosyncracies, the drawling dialogues rendered by Vijay (that was most likely introduced to him by Prabudeva), the notorious ‘ennungna?’ are all absent in this movie.The fact that Vijay breaks down and cries when his close friend is tortured to death when the easier alternative would have been to give a close-up of is reddening eyes and sparks emanating from his footsteps are some of the deft handling by the Director that makes this movie different and tolerable. One could draw parallels to previous movies such as Baasha, Bheema to name a few but it is ok. In order to fully justify the movie experience I have to state that this movie is far better than Kandaswamy & Aadhavan. The only similarity with the other two movie stops with Vettaikaran stretching to slightly longer than 3hours. This could have been avoided by trimming a few dragging scenes towards the climax.

The soundtracks are decent in the movie. The song ‘Naan Adicha’ is not a great number but the visuals and the context justifies the song. ‘Puli Urumudhu’ is a typical hero-worshipping song sans any frills because everybody would already have a clear imagination of how the song would look. The BGMs were also good, especially the music bit from the song ‘Karigalan’ which is used often as a romantic interlude and the hero’s run-ins with his lady love (played by Anushka Shetty). Nothing much to be said about Anushka’s role except that her ‘nothing is impossible’ dressing beliefs in Telugu movies are left unexplored by the Director & Costume Designer until the final duet song ‘En Uchimandai’. Sound editing was below average as well. The DTS mixing has been grossly underutilized by the editor who has decided that increasing the volume up a few notches would be a good substitute for using the different audio channels. This results in a really noisy climax where one loses count of the number of gunshots and glasses breaking.

The editing was below average, expected for a movie like this, but that does not mean two ‘dreamy’ duet songs have to be immediately followed by scene in which villains with mutilated faces open their eyes in hospital (ably aided by a close-up shot and a crashing metallic BGM). Some comedy scenes were totally artificial (such as supposedly humorous scene with Delhi Ganesh, who plays Ravi’s father) and some blended well with the movie. Fortunately, there was no distracting separate comedy track that includes a Vadivelu or Vivek who end up taking up half hour of the screen time for themselves.

Overall, if you do not expect much other than average entertainment this is a movie worth seeing. And for Vijay, whose career badly needed a jumpstart after the recent failures, this would be a good break.

P.S.: Now that a movie with low expectations has fared better, I am trying to see Avatar that is being over-hyped in all channels. Since I am prejudiced already against the movie, let me see how it fares.

2009-11-19T22:44:00.003-05:00

On behalf of our auto stand, I am pleased to release an update to our official kanavu kanni list. Post Aadhavan, Nayanthara is dropped unceremoniously to the 3rd position from her currently held 1st position which is being taken over by Tamanna. Chennai Mangai Thirisa continues to be in 2nd. List is rounded off by another Palaghat Iyer, Priyamani at 4.
Podungada pudhu cut out.... engal kanavu kanni Tamanna vaazhga vaazha...

2009-11-16T15:53:00.002-05:00

At this rate, if Sachin announces retirement from cricket, National Govtu will declare a week's mourning even as all arai-vekaadu reporters of indhi channels talk incessantly about his great deeds like Duracell's drum-beating rabbit.

Idho vandhutten....

2009-11-08T12:02:00.004-05:00

It has been a rather long break from blogging - self imposed as well as forced. Just when you thought you got everything figured out, life throws out another sucker punch at you and leaves you breathless for some time. Taking things in stride and applying the philosophy of everything that happens is for the best is tough but not something I have not done in the past.

Anyways, just wanted to scribble myself back into existence. Missed out on a lot of fun. So many things have happened. Cricket has been banned at Marina, Australian C Team beats India while Sachin scripts a magnificent innings, Rains lashing namba Madras (maybe as a punishment for making terrific movies such as Aadhavan) and the depressing winter starts in my part of the World. And for no apparent reason I want to link this song. There was a time I used to question movies like these. But now I realize it is movies like this that act like pressure valves in our life. Long live C grade movies!

சார் லட்டுடுடுடு.....

2009-09-16T21:30:00.005-04:00

இருந்தாலும் ரொம்ப சீன் போடுறாங்கப்பா. Ok I admit it is the best and I am one of the millions who often yearn for it but does that mean a religious establishment patent its prasadam like a business entity. Clearly shows where the TTD is heading to nowadays and where its priorities like notwithstanding the lakhs who make a beeline to the temple and dump their wallet, suitcase and manja pai contents into the hundi.
On this line though what are the other products for which one could file a Geographical Indication patent? First and foremost ofcourse is Thiruneveli Halwa (Yumm. Seriously there is nothing else that equals the sensation of it sliding down the throat after stretching the taste buds). Then we have Pazhani Panchamirtham, Puliyodharai (now, there are so many temples that can lay claim to this one), Oothukuli Vennai, Beach Sundal (Marina?), Anjaneyar Kovil Vadai (again many temples will lay claim), etc.
I say, I must get one for Mambalam Mani as well!

2009-09-16T15:13:00.003-04:00

There is this story about you declining a nightwatchman, where you said you were not an able batsman if you couldn't last 25 balls at the end of the day. Is that true?
It is true. What is the difference between batting at the end of the day or at the start? If you make a mistake you'll get out. So I don't think a batsman really needs a nightwatchman, but it is totally an individual decision. Whenever a captain or coach asked me for a nightwatchman I would say, "No, why? If I can't survive 10 or 20 balls now, then I don't think I'll survive tomorrow morning." I believe that's the best time when you have the opportunity to score runs, when everybody on the field is tired and you can score 20 runs off those 20 balls.

Sehwag reveals his mindset in an interview to Cricinfo. Nobody can keep things simple in cricket as much as Sehwag does. There was another interview of Sehwag which was full of many such nuggets that make you wonder at the genius that is buried beneath the flippant exterior. Watch out for the second part of this interview.

இனிமே என்னை கூப்டுவீங்க.....?

2009-09-13T00:19:00.002-04:00

I saw these two videos (Part 1 & Part 2) sometime back. Thalaivar must have either had several rounds before coming to this function or he must have had some major gaandu on some one. After the function was over AVM Saravan must have been slapping his forehead for inviting thalaivar.

Unnai Pol Oruvan Trailer

2009-09-01T22:22:00.000-04:00

Nadodigal

2009-08-31T14:20:00.005-04:00

The problem in seeing a movie after some considerable time since its release is that I end up reading reviews that are both favorable and unfavorable which affects my perception subconsciously. Initially, I had some friends tell me that this is a good movie and then I read reviews which said the movie had nothing new to offer.

The movie is directed by Samuthrakani (who is the director of mega serials such as Selvi and Arasi). Sasikumar plays the key character in the movie. It is worth noting that previously Samutharakani acted in Sasikumar's Subramaniyapuram. The movie unfolds at a village near Rajapalayam. Sasikumar plays the role of Karunakaran who is a BA (History) gold medallist. Not surprisingly, that doesn't fetch him any job and his father makes sure that he criticizes Karunakaran for that. Karuna has two friends Chandran and Pandian. Karuna is in love with his uncle's daughter whose father is adamant that he will give his daughter to him only if he has a Government job ala Mudhalvan. So Karunakaran tries his best to become a policeman, write IAS exams etc. Chandran has dreams of opening a computer center and settle in life. He is in love with Karunakaran's sister. (I should mention here that this girl is played by Abhinaya who is deaf and dumb. It is really incredible that you cannot notice it in the movie at all) Pandian wants to go abroad and get a job. Things go at their own pace till an old friend of Karunakaran, Saravanan, comes to their village. Saravanan is in love with a girl in Namakkal. Her dad (who is a big shot) disapproves of it and he comes to see Karunakaran for an unapparent reason. When Karunakaran comes to know of his depression (after Saravanan attempted suicide) he decides to kidnap the girl and marry them. His friends Chandran and Pandian accompany him to Namakkal. When they try to kidnap the girl things go horribly wrong as the henchmen of the girl's father (whose character is incidentally played by the guy who was the school teacher inPasanga) chase and attack them. While running away from them Chandran accidentally gets run over by a truck and loses his left leg. A rowdy strikes Pandian on his left side of the head with a steel pole and as a result Pandian loses his hearing. Karuna sustains a gash on his right forehead. Somehow they successfully get Saravanan and his lover married. Karuna gives Saravanan money to elope and also arranges for them to be with another friend of his who works at a resort. The girl's father files police complaints and the police arrest Karuna and his friends. With a criminal history to his name, Karuna's hopes of landing a Govt. job is dashed. Pandian and Chandran, who lose their hearing and a left leg respectively, are forlorn too. The rest of the movie is about how they stick together and slowly limp back to life coping with the dissapointments of lost love and dreams.

Meanwhile, the married couple lose that initial fascination they had for each other and slowly arguments start creeping into their lives. Lacking a conviction to keep their marriage going and sparing no thoughts for the personal sacrifices of their friends, they decide to get divorced. This irks Karuna and his friends a lot. They feel cheated and are furious at having given their lives and futures away in vain. Pandian wants to kill the couple but Karuna talks some sense into his head. Eventually they just vent out their frustrations by kidnapping the couple to an isolated spot. Karuna and Pandian vent out their frustrations verbally at the couple and leave them alone in each other's company. The movie ends with a scene where the trio are at a tea shop when some stranger is talking on the phone about arranging for some people to help his friend with his love. Karuna and his friends brighten up and offer to help the stranger's friend.

The movie waxes praises on the virtues of friendship and how a friend is someone who is there for you when you need him the most. The message is conveyed at various points of the movie. Some times it comes across effectively and some times it feels highly contrived. Towards the end love is also praised by the director and it is not clear if the director was trying to say friendship is the only purest form of relationship or love is equal to that because the trio are ready to help strangers with their love even after suffering so much. There are several references made to current day scenarios of divorce cases queing up in court and how such things should be and could be avoided.

The first half hour of the movie is frivolous and the acting of the cast are even more so. Their facial expressions seemed highly artificial with a narrow range of emotions. Sasikumar, definitely, does not have his best moments of the movie in the humorous scenes. But once the kidnapping scene begins the movie moves faster and for some unknown reason all the cast members seem to slip easily into role of their characters with a loud click and the movie makes a rivetting view till the end.

I would say it is one more to the list of good movies that Tamil cinema has churned out in the last two years. Irrespective of his suspect credentials, Samudharakani has given a good movie with a smooth screenplay and direction.

Inglorious Basterds

2009-08-31T14:17:00.003-04:00

I am not a big fan of Brad Pitt. In fact, whenever I see his movies I try to find some fault so that I can criticize him for it. Maybe it is due to the hype he gets every time or because he seems so full of himself in his movies. But even a prejudice could not prevent me from admiring his performance in this movie. In fact, I would say he carried the movie through though I am sure many would argue that the movie is bigger than Brad Pitt or the character he played.

The movie is set during WWII. It is a fictional tale of a group of men from the US who land in France with the intent of killing every German in sight. Brad Pitt plays Lt. Raine the leader of a group of Jewish Americans who are referred to as the Inglorious Basterds by the Germans. They are ruthless in their killing and cut the scalp of their victims as a souvenir. Col. Landa is a high ranking officer in the German ranks who comes to be known as The Hunter because of the way he sniffs out Jews in hiding and exterminating them. The movie starts in rural France where Col. Landa was about to sniff out a family of hiding jews. Somehow a girl escapes Landa's men and comes to the city, assumes a new identity of Emmanuelle Mimieux and ends up being the owner of a movie theater. A chance visit by Frederick Zoller, who earned the reputation of killing 300 odd people after being isolated in a bell tower, changes the life of Emmanuelle. Frederick is a war hero and a movie has been made about his exploits in which he plays himself. He decides to premiere the movie in Emmanuelle's theater as he is 'infatuated' with her. The twist here is that Hitler chooses to attend the premiere which makes the event a prime target for Lt. Raine and his men. The story unfolds with sudden twist and turns, some out of the blue and some totally as expected such as Emmanuelle getting gunned down by Frederick (come on dumb blonde, when you shoot a guy you make sure he is dead).

I should admit at this stage that I have not seen a single movie of Tarantino before this. I see a lot of movies but somehow I have not seen his movies till date even though I have Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction at home. So I saw the movie without any expectations or idea on what to expect. The screenplay was mighty impressive and so was the direction. The story was not too taut and had some incosistencies with few things left unexplained (such as how come Landa lets the girl escape), which I am sure would be attributed to the brilliance of Tarantino or whatever by his fans. But the highlight of it, as I have said before, is the acting of Brad Pitt. His demeanour and the accent of a southerner that he has pulled off was a treat to watch. The pace of the movie is pretty good. It has some gory scenes but other than that it is a good movie to watch. But definitely not the greatest.

A Typical Weekday

2009-08-27T15:57:00.002-04:00

Kandhaswamy, Pasanga, Saroja

2009-08-22T20:32:00.008-04:00

கந்தசுவாமி - முடியலடா சாமி!
Apparently all main actors are falling into a rut and dishing out the worst movie of their career. Rajini came out with Kuselan. I thought it was the worst movie I saw in some time. Then of all the people Kamal came out with something like Dasavatharam. After hitting the forehead with a 'enna koduma kamal idhu..' I thought the worst was over. Then Vikram says I am also in the race. Everybody said his previous movie Bheema was pathetic and gay etc. I thought it was ok and not too bad. So to silence the few people who actually liked the movie he has now acted in Kandhaswamy.

The movie has a storyline typical of Shankar's movies. Kandhawamy is a CBI officer. He raids many corrupt and rich people and somehow syphons the money to good use. Seriously I don't remember how he does it. The movie was so bad with so many distractions I couldn't even remember what the exact story was.

The movie opens with a scene in Thiruporur outside a Lord Murugan (Kandhaswamy) temple where a woman needs money for some surgery. She writes on a piece of paper and ties it on the branch of a sacred tree. Next day morning she finds a bag of money in her home. Scared, the woman takes it to the police station where the apparently corrupt Inspector (Mansur Ali Khan) seizes it for himself. In the night, when Mansur is drunk and getting ready to sleep Kandhaswamy makes his entrance. He is dressed like a super hero and makes a grand entrance through the roof. He has the feathers of the Cock (Seval) which is the flag of Lord Muruga. So here is our super hero with a cape and stuff and few cock feathers on his head. The funniest thing is his mannerisms. He maybe the cock-man or whatever but that doesn't mean he has to act so cocky. Vikram imitates the cock as he chases Mansur Ali Khan around the room. He moves his head sideways, tilts it and then does a full throated crowing. The BGM was high adrenaline but the scene was so out of sync with it I couldn't suppress my laughter. I knew that moment that the movie is going to be a riot. Anyways, so Kandhaswamy goes about doing good for people as the cock-man and raids rich people as the CBI man. Shriya is the daughter of Ashish Vidyarthi who gets raided by Kandhaswamy. Ashish acts as if he gets paralyzed when his house is raided. Shriya promises to seek revenge and pretends to love Kandhaswamy.

Anyways, no point on talking about what happens for the rest of the movie because it is all so muddled up. Devi Sri Prasad did some decent numbers and the picturizations were decent. Other than that nothing much to remember from the movie except Shriya's omnipresent cleavage. Like a kitten, she tries to purr and rub againt the feet of the audience to seek attention all through the movie but only ends up irritating them instead. Also, I have no idea how long the movie was. I think it was like an interminable 3.5hours or something! What the hell.

I discovered my extraordinary ability to even tolerate some of Vijay's movies like Aadhi and Pokkiri in recent times. Even I was not able to sit through this trash. And I paid $20 for the tickets. Talk about being swindled.

பசங்க - Cute, realistic, childish and mature
This is a movie set in a small village in Pudukottai district called Virachilai (which is the native village of the debutant director of the movie, Pandiaraj). It shows the world from a child's point and how they perceive it. Anbukarasu is a new kid in the village's school. His father moved there recently due to many reasons which include cost of living, a disgruntled wife etc. Anbukarasu is a bright kid. He is the typical mundhirikottai of the class. Jeeva is the typical backbencher with two aides Kuzhandhaivelu aka Pakada and Kuttimani. The movie is about the friction between Anbukarasu and Jeeva, how their families go on the warpath because of them and how they end up together. The story has a gentle love story that is the trend nowadays ala Sasikumar (who is incidentally the producer of this movie).

It is a Director's movie. Pandiaraj has absolutely loved what he was doing and we can clearly see his fine touches in the movie. For example, the scene where the warring family heads slowly mellow down. There is a friction between them even though they sit down to talk(at 2mins in this video). They sit with their legs crossed in a sign of dominance between two alpha males. But as they begin to talk freely and the barrier breaks down they both uncross their legs and face each other. It is a very simple scene but I thought it meant a 1000 words. There are many such nuances in his direction. The way he has captured the rural life, the activities of kids in school, their dialect, the kind of games they play in free time etc are all etched in the movie. Pandiaraj has written the dialogues too. A friend of mine said 'Anubavichu ezhudhirkaan da'. That sums up the effort.

James Vasanthan is brilliant. He doesn't compplicate his works too much. He is not AR Rahman and is never going to compose songs like Harris Jayaraj. But he is brilliant. He proved the doubters that Subramaniyapuram is not a chance hit. His song Oru Vekkam is of the same genre as Kangal Irandaal and one cannot be blamed for drawing comparisons between the two. But his BGMs are equally amazing. He has this flair of using some Ilayaraja's blues in certain love scenes that are a bit comic yet effective. And his own pieces are exceptional too. For example, there is a violin piece that comes in 3 different instances. The first time is when Anbukarasu wants to hit Jeeva after being humiliated in front of the entire class. The music starts off slowly and gathers pace along with Anbukarasu's anger(at 3:50 of this video). The same bit is used differently when Anbukarasu's father apologizes to his wife thus bringing peace and relief to the family (5:55 of this video).
A must watch. Hopefully, movies like these encourage other people to attempt and veer away from love centric storylines.

P.S: I wanted to write a review on Saroja too but it is not relatively new. Anyways, I loved the movie. Another casual appearing movie taken with some serious intent from Venkat Prabu. Interesting characterizations and timely comedy scenes liven up the movie. Makes me eagerly wait for their next venture Goa.

மனசுல லார்ட் லபக்குதாஸ்னு நினைப்பு..

2009-08-20T20:21:00.007-04:00

Now that the King Kong of Indian cinema is really popular worldwide (or the US since the US considers & refers to US as world and vice versa), maybe people will quieten down. How many people will recognize Brad Pitt if he comes to Chennai Airport? The desk clerk who stamps the immigration stamp? Other than the prolonged stares any white skinned person will get in any part of India he wouldn't be recognized in most parts. Then why is Khan an exception if he is treated differently in a land which is so self centered.

Meanwhile, our respected Minister for Information & Broadcasting spreads the message that we should take up the arms with Americans visiting India (yes, all the Yankees and Texans who queue up at Chennai, Bombay, Delhi beware!) that they be meted out with the same treatment. Tobe precise she says, "I am of the opinion that the way we are frisked, for example I too was frisked, we should also do the same to them".

Many a times I have wondered why some people deserve to be treated specially. How does being an actor entitle you to benefits that the common man is deprived of. The answer is obvious but it is still irritating to see it happen. So when the stars are made to wait in line or meted out the treatment that a common man gets it is a humiliation, embarrassment etc., If the Ministers and other politicians really feel that we are discriminated against, why did they wait till Khan was detained? Were not thousands of Indians detained before him?

Not satisfied with the publicity stunt he has performed, our hero returned home and as expected patiently answered the ara-vekaadu reporters. "I did feel bad. I felt angry. I am glad my family wasn’t there. God knows what they would have done to them,” said Khan who was chilled to his bones when he thought of the image of his family also sitting next to him like lowly beings waiting for their baggage to arrive for an hour.

He further shows that he is a smart guy. “Normally, 99 percent [of the time] I leave early, because I have to stand in line; you have to remove your shoes. I have started wearing shoes with no laces,”. Paradesi. Wear Hawaai chappals from next time. Will save you more time.

Still in a hangover after watching too many Hollywood movies intending to copy the scenes in Indian cinema, the Khan offers advice to USCIS on how they should verify people : “If my identity is my fingerprint and retina, they (airport authorities) should have done this. This was not done, and they were asking me questions for two hours and kept on saying that ‘Your name is common.Maybe my fingerprint would have been uncommon, my retina would have been uncommon,”

According to a report by the Press Trust of India, as soon as he was allowed to use his phone, Khan sent messages to his home, his secretary, and Congress MP Rajiv Shukla, who informed Indian Embassy officials nearby who were able to come to his rescue. Mr. Shukla, can you please publicize your phone number so that all Indians detained in the future can avail of your help. Unless of course they are not worthy enough to deserve special attention.

Khan also makes it clear that this is not a publicity stunt for his upcoming movie. “I don’t want to sound pompous here, but I don’t need publicity to promote my movie, I am too big a star for that.” says Khan with utmost humility.

And also being not a person to miss an opportunity, our Khan also states "If you want to give a tit-for-tat policy to American actors, then call me to frisk Angelina Jolie and Megan Fox whenever they are visiting India.”

Meanwhile, our own expert on National Security Farah Khan (who also doubles up as director of such meaningful movies like Om Shanti Om & Mein Hoon Naa when not offering her unsolicited advices) says, "The officer who was on duty wasted so much time, energy and resources interrogating Shah Rukh that three or four terrorists must have entered the U.S. within that time.” Dei Mandaya! It is because of the reason that there is a chance of 3 terrorists entering the country in that time that they are being so cautious. In the name of celebrity if they give special status to all movie stars, drama actors and villu paatu artists then terrorists will enter just like they enter India by talking a short walk. Since 9/11 make a list of the terrorist attacks in US and India before offering your wise quips.

Here is Jon Stewart putting things in perspective even as Arnold Schwarzenegger invites the Khan for no apparent reason!

Now I know why college graduates go for campus placement

2009-08-13T15:09:00.005-04:00

At a stunning 110-hectare campus in Mysore renowned for its modern architecture, Infosys trains as many as 12,000 new recruits each year before they join the company. Many of them join for the boost to their marriage potential-a major concern for young Indians.

In an article about Infosys, the writer meanders in all possible directions. From India'a traffic congestions to population to H1b visas etc. It is amazing how the writing style and content is dressed so that it always has that exotic air that pleases the western readers. Mention has to be made of India's poor infrastructures, how Infosys is the dream of aspirants blah blah blah. He could have written the script for Slumdog Millionaire if he stretches it a bit more.

And what is this line about most of those being recruited by Infosys only joining the company to boost their marriage chances? So after they marry do they resign the job, sit at home and become house husbands or start a tea kadai in their area? Maybe he thinks everybody in their college final year sits and discusses as follows: "machi which company is best if i want to marry a fair, good looking, homely girl da?"

Haven't we seen millions of articles chronicling the timeline of Infy's growth from a backside office to a global corporation, how its the dream of 100,000 aspirants every year, the magnanimity of its founder etc. Summa aracha maavaye arachundu.

On a not so unrelated note, I had a conspiracy theory cross my mind that came back when I was reading this article.

co-founder and former chairman, Nandan Nilekani, has been made the head of a federal government agency to create a national ID system for India's 1.2 billion people

Will be interesting to see who gets to do the IT work for all this integration of databases etc. If Infosys gets it....

2009-08-11T21:39:00.002-04:00

Yappa! Raama! Mudiyalada Saami. Already its a bloated version. And he wants almost twice the number of matches with three new teams in 2011. And ofcourse it ends 5 days before that useless tournament ICC conducts under the pretext of a World Cup which makes it all the more meaningless. By the time people lap up 90 odd matches who wants to see within 5 days time all the players jumble back to their home countries and play against each other again.
He thinks he is some Noah of Ark!

2009-08-07T23:22:00.002-04:00

Yes, this is good. But what India should have done strongly is this. They could still reemphasize the travel advice to people against traveling to and from the US which is the primary source of the flu virus. All these bloody NRIs are somehow catching this virus in places like McDonald's, Walmart, Dollar theater and the nearest Toyota dealership and come sneezing to India. That should also teach US from issuing future travel advisory concerning India on issues like open manholes in Bombay, terrorist threats, soiled notes and poor water quality.

2009-07-24T11:40:00.001-04:00

நான் ஆட்சிப் பொறுப்புக்கு வருவ தற்கு முன்பும், பின்பும் என் பெயரில் வாங்கப்பட்ட சொத்து என்று பார்த் தால்கோபாலபுரத்தில் நான் வசிக்கும் ஒரு வீடும் (இந்த வீட்டின் இப் போதைய சந்தை மதிப்பு ரூ. 8 கோடி), திருவாரூக்கு அருகில் காட்டூர் கிராமத்தில் 14 ஏக்கர் நிலமும் தான் உள்ளது. இந்தியாவிலேயே தனி பங்களா என்று இல்லாமல், தெரு விலே உள்ள பல வீடுகளில் ஒன்றாக ஒரு முதல் அமைச்சரின் வீடு இருப் பது என்று எடுத்துக் கொண்டால், அது என்னுடைய வீடாகத்தான் இருக்குமென்று நினைக்கிறேன்.

Thalaivar vaazhga!!

Movie Marathon

2009-07-20T16:29:00.006-04:00

I had a movie marathon in the last few days and here are some reviews.

Aathi: Either my taste has gone bad or my immunity has reached sky levels because I watched Aathi and I liked it. I admit it is masala movie. There is an intro scene for Vijay where he saves a guy from suicide just to let him rattle off a few punch dialogues. It has lots of stereotypes unique to Tamil cinemas and Vijay. There is hyper irritating phrase that is more common nowadays in Vijay's movies: 'Nee enna periya Gilli'aa?' Still it is a good time pass.

Vijay and Trisha are from the same family. She is like a mora ponnu to Vijay. They are in a big joint family whose head is the irritating Vijayakumar. Vijay's dad is the honest police officer Prakash Raj. Their entire family gets killed by the villain after Prakash Raj has a run-in with him. Trisha escapes with her Dad played by Nasser while Vijay escapes alone. Their paths are separated. Vijay is adopted by Manivannan and his wife and they raise him in Delhi. Vijay comes to Chennai for college and starts killing off the Villains one by one and the climax scenes include how Vijay and Trisha discover each other to be related (Not as anna-thangai though as this will render all duet songs redundant) and they kill the villain.

Happy Days: I saw this Telugu movie after a friend recommended it. I watched it with subtitles of course. The movie is about a group of students who get into college in Hyderabad. The movie takes us through their 4 years together as they start out as freshers, experience ragging, fall in love, struggle through friendships, lessons etc. It is a neat, feel-good movie and has the same main theme as Ullam Kekume. Ullam Kekume was a director's movie. It had some subtle nuances and touches. It carries a distinct heaviness throughtout the movie (well captured in that single song 'Mazhai mazhai').

Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince: Generally for movies which are based on books, such as this, I give the director some leeway. Mainly because of the inevitable comparison that ensues which usually ends the same way: the book was much better than the movie. Even with Ron Howard's Da Vinci Code, I actually enjoyed the movie when many people did not. They accused that the movie took on a softer stand, left out crucial details etc.

Similarly, I enjoyed Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince book. It had lots of magic, action and other good scenes. So I went to the movie with good expectations. But about 2hours into the movie I was squinting at my watch in the darkness and thought "What the hell? the movie is only half hour more and they showed nothing till now. When are they going to get the Horcrux, when will Dumbledore die, etc." And as I feared they were more like passing references. The bulk of the movie was focused on how pink could Hermione's cheeks get from crying and feeling jealous and for how long could Ginny stay away from giving Harry that inevitable kiss. I felt like watching a teenage drama. My friend argues rather pedantically that these scenes were very much a part of the book. But, I say, it had much more in the book than blooming love.

So, anyway, it was a total yawn fest.

The Hangover: It is a good movie. A bridegroom-to-be is given a bachelor party at Las Vegas by 3 guys. They get drunk and drugged and have a wild night about which they have no recollections on the next morning. But the problem is the bridegroom is missing. So the rest of the movie is about how they find the guy. The plot takes us through some funny scenes. But I didn't find them too funny. I think American Pie was more hilarious, given that both movies dealt with slapstick humor of the same level.

Weekends are good!

Sarvam

2009-07-20T16:27:00.001-04:00

It is good to see Tamil cinema veer away from stereotypical love themed movies. There were many off the beat stories in the last few months and most of them were made with a serious intent and with real talents. Some directors like Sasi Kumar used love subtly as the central theme around which the movie progresses and others like Venkat Prabhu chose to ignore it altogether. Some were good like Subramaniyapuram and some were bad like Dasavatharam. The director of Sarvam, Vishnuvardan, apparently got inspired by these movies and wanted to direct such a movie. He must have been one of those idiots who liked Dasavatharam's fate, chaos theory blah blah blah but still couldn't totally write a script without love and instead ended up making a chaotic movie.

Sarvam feels raw. It feels like watching the unedited version straight out of the cinematographer's camera. There is no continuity between scenes. There is a serious scene followed by a mind numbing scene of supposed comedy and then a song. These drastic changes keep occuring till the end of the movie and rather jarred my nerves.

The movie starts off with some buildup by showing a phrase from the Upanishad that states 'with every death, there begins a new life' or something to that effect. Karthik, played by Arya (who is wasted in this movie and appears like a novice in acting mostly thanks to the director) is an architect who falls in love with Trisha (who is a doctor). Meanwhile, Naushad is a Software engineer who while driving a Mahindra Scorpio, accidentally loses control of his car and hits two pedestrians: a woman and her son. Ishwar, the guy who loses his wife and son is traumatized and sets out for revenge with his Rottweiler dog. He threatens Naushad that he will kill his son so that he can understand his pain. The movie progresses with generous intermixing of romance, repetitive scenes of Ishwar threatening Naushad and amateurish comedy. Naushad relocates to different places with his son to escape from the psychotic killer-to-be. Just when things seems to settle down, Trisha gets killed even before the interval. The directorial touch should be noted here. Imaan, the son of Naushad, is flying a kite with friends in the terrace of a a building. Naushad warns his son not to fly kite because it has maanja in it which could his cut his fingers. So his son looks up at the kite yearningly and suddenly collapses. It is later revealed that he has a heart condition called Cardiomyopathy which essentially means he could die soon if he doesn't have a heart transplant. As Imaan collapses his friends are shocked and let go of the kite and rush to his side. The kite flies away towards the road and falls on a lamp post and dangles down. Nearby, Karthik is racing with Sandhya on bicycles. Sandhya is leading the race when themaanja kayiru of the dangling kite slits her throat and she dies. Ofcourse, predictably the directorial touch is to have the heart from Sandhya given to Imaan who survives that terrible disease.

So Karthik who is deep in sorrow suddenly livens up on hearing his lover's heart is living inside a person. Here comes the never-before-seen moment of tamil cinema. We have seen sorrowful songs after lover dies where the guy thinks of his girl doing mundane things and relishes those moments while singing in despair. We have seen ghosts of the girl descend down to sing a mournful high pitched rendition while the lover looks dejected. But in this movie Vishnuvardan has excelled really with his imagination. Karthik, on hearing that Sandhya's heart is beating somewhere else, sings a duet with her (which is the Siragugal Vandhadhu song). Then the movie rolls on. Ishwar chases the kid to kill him. Imaan steps in, protects the kid in the process of eliminating Ishwar. But in the last scene the director shows the viewer that Ishwar is not dead but is recuperating in a hospital (Oh my God no! Please don't think of a sequel!).

Apparently, its a new kind of emotion that the director shows through Ishwar. He wants to cry out aloud in anguish but doesn't. Instead, he keeps a straight, emotionless face that is supposed to convey the pent-up feelings. But he looks more like a drug addict floating in ethereal world. Trisha should stop acting in roles where she gets killed (like Bheema). Already, her roles are getting dumber atleast we could have the pleasure of seeing her till the end (because that is why I saw the movie anyway). And Yuvan could use some imagination instead of re-recording his father's yesteryear BGMs throughout the movie.

And thank God, the dog gets killed!

2009-07-16T10:59:00.002-04:00

Beware! But no worries. India has issued another Joint statement with Pakistan. So all is well.

I am a genius (all consultancies please note)

2009-07-15T15:49:00.005-04:00

I can't help but indulge in braggadocio. Because nothing is greater in the egocentric world than getting a chance to say 'I told you so!'. I predicted long back that this was coming, albeit in a lighter vein. But atleast its good to see the ICC getting their act together before cricket gets 'Modi'fied. I have no idea why the ICC would need a consultancy to tell them to have a World Championship. Seriously, it is pathetic that a group of people who administer the game can't think of something so simple by themselves.

Also, it is rather irritating to see the amount of importance attached to the Ashes. It is supposedly a marquee event. What the hell? England has a sucker of a batting lineup and nobody other than Pieterson creates a flutter when they come to the crease. I believe that noway are they going to win this tournament. Flintoff is a useless player and they can't stop talking about what he did in 2005 (Yeah, who cares that he actually did nothing since then). Idiots.

Come on NDTV and CNN-IBN! Make an analysis of how the Indian team has challenged the Australians the most in the last few years and have a panel discussion on why Border-Gavaskar trophy is more valued than some dumb urn probably having burned stumps.

Naan Kadavul. Nee Paithiyam.

2009-06-28T19:41:00.004-04:00

A friend of mine labels movies categorically. Some are Soora padam ( சூற படம்). Eg. Baba, Azhagiya Thamizh Magan, Yaaradi Nee Mohini etc. Some are Psycho padam. Eg. Thamizh MA, 7G Rainbow Colony etc. Though I don't always agree with his classification, I think Naan Kadavul easily fits into both.

I wanted to see this movie even before it was released. But ever since it released I have been putting off watching it for some reason or the other. Finally today the wait ended.

I really have no idea what the movie is all about. Here is how i think the movie was conceptualized. I think Bala somewhere read that there are people called Agori Sadhus in Kasi who eat dead people, smoke Ganja, shout expletives and relieve people from rebirth and bless them to moksha. Ok, now all he had to do was make it into a movie. Throw in some visually excruciating disbled people who will rip the hearts out of the audience. Show suffering and have the Agori end their suffering.

But wait. Agoris live in North India so how to make movie for Tamil audience as you can't have a horde of beggars and other people talk in Tamil at Kasi. So let's give the Agori a father who banished his son to Kasi for 14 years of vana vaasam and once the son graduates and becomes a fully qualified Agori, have the father bring him back to their native village. Add some tearjerker scenes whenever possible. Then, this Agori settles on a temple atop a hill where the beggars frequent. The parents cease to be a part of the script now. Focus on the cruelties meted out to one blind, female beggar. Let her sing some songs (because I have seen blind beggars sing songs in trains). The interesting directorial touch is that the girl sings many old movie songs. But everytime the actual song from the movie is played in the background and acts as a voiceover for the girl's lip movements with all the musical accompaniments. Then we introduce a lighter moment where the inspectors harass some koothadis who dressup as MGR, Sivaji and Rajini (in surprisingly good costumes) in the police station. Then ofcourse, the girl is sold to a villain. The girl seeks asylum under the Agori's feet who attacks the attackers. The Agori is arrested and remanded to 5 day custody by an excuse of a judge. During the 5 days, the police patiently accompany the Agori to rivers, hills and funeral pyres as they have been instructed to take good care of him. Meanwhile, the angered villain-in-chief tortures the blind girl to near death and disfigures her face which is revoltingly shown to the audience. Then he attacks the Agori who promtply kills him. The one line about Agoris I mentioned at previously about Agoris having powers to grant moksha forms the climax. The blind girl talks too much about life's cruelties, God's inequality in creation etc and pleads the Agori to relieve her of this tortured life. The Agori accedes and slits her throat and blesses her thus freeing her from rebirth.

No points made and none taken.

The Greatest Performer. Ever!

2009-06-27T11:37:00.005-04:00

If there ever was a person who could unite and divide opinions globally, it was Michael Jackson. He was adored. He was chastised. He was worshiped. He was scorned. He was idolized. And he was humiliated. If you remember him for the music and songs he probably he is the greatest ever to have transcended the global music industry. If you take into account the idiosyncrasies, one would know that after all he is a human too.

When I was in school, I had never listened to an English song. In fact I had never listened to a song in any language other than Tamil. We did not have cable TV then. One fine day, DD Metro decided to start showing a piece of program from MTV during prime time on weekdays (between 4 to 6PM or something). I started seeing it more out of curiosity than any real fascination. But one day there was this musical video of MJ called the Moonwalker. I watched the entire video which ran for 2 hours or so and I was totally spellbound. The music, the beats, the movements, the hype and the aura. It was magical. It was no surprise that I got hooked to the songs of MJ. When I discovered that my dad, who never listened to music after the days of Amitabh Bachaan's Qurbani, had a cassette of Thriller I was euphoric. I listened to the tape on our Sony Walkman in repeat mode for hours together.

When I first heard about accusations of MJ as being anything from being a child molester to a lunatic, I was furious. I was of the strong belief that such a genius could never be wrong. I mean, if you were sane enough to sit and creatively produce such masterpieces you can't be that crazy. But apparently, the fame, the money, the fan following and the frenzied media attention did jangle his nerves. What happened really is anybody's guess. His transfiguration and skin color change were a big source of confusion. I had a friend in school who was a maniac MJ fan and we spent hours discussing MJ's songs, his life etc.

Though its really hard to choose from the list, my all time favorites are Smooth Criminal, Billie Jean, Who is it, Heal the World, Thriller, Don't Stop Till You Get Enough, Human Nature, Stranger in Moscow and of course Beat it.

The lines from his song Who Is It kind of summarises his life and the pain he underwent:
I am the damned
I am the dead
I am the agony inside
The dying head
This is injustice
Woe unto thee
I pray this punishment
Would have mercy on me

I really hoped his forthcoming tour would finally help him get rid of his huge financial debts and even if it does not resurrect his career, atleast let him live in peace after that devoid of controversies. But with him you cannot predict anything and take for granted. The King of Pop always surprised people and he pulled off the ultimate one now.

May his soul rest in peace, in death. Michael Jackson's image of doing the Moonwalk would be frozen in the annals of history and would never age. Just like the characters from Neverland that he always wanted to be.

2009-06-25T06:52:00.002-04:00

Uugh. Yuck. Uaack. Naai. Punaaku Mandayan.

The Conscience

2009-06-24T16:47:00.003-04:00

He was very bugged. Embarking on a marathon flight journey to a place across the world always depressed him. More so as he is leaving behind everything he loved. And missed.

The flights made it worse. Having to squeeze into the seats and sit with his knees pushing against the row in front for 8 hours on the trot was not a pleasing prospect. So with a sullen face he walked to his seat, trying not to bang his carry-on luggage against any seated passengers and those who refuse to seat themselves even after stowing their baggage in the compartments overhead and checking them for the 100th time to ensure it does not fall out during the flight. At least, he had the foresight to reserve a seat in the row that was next to the emergency exit. These seats have no immediate row in front of them and allow the passenger to stretch their legs or to dance a jig as they deem appropriate. He didn’t get the window seat this time as he didn’t want to behold the melancholic sight of the aircraft taking off, leaving his home behind; and the bright lights of the city at 1AM always seemed to radiate towards him in the misty cold night as if beckoning him to return.

It was to his consternation that he found an elderly man ensconced on what was supposed to be his seat. Next to the old man was an equally old woman who was apparently the wife. He tells the man that he is on his seat. The couple, who appeared to be in their late seventies if not into eighties, had the appearance of belonging to a lower middle class family ailing from a small town. The old man replied with a mix of badly broken English and Telugu and couldn’t speak coherently because of age induced frailty. The woman who appeared to know nothing in English decided to keep quiet with a smug face. He called the Stewardess. The German lady spoke a smattering of English. But this was enough for her to get the information across to him aided by her animated gestures. It seemed that the elderly couple had got seats away from each other and so the elderly guy moved in to the seat next to the wife’s, which should have been his. So now he had to move to a seat in the row behind. The Stewardess asked him to tell the elderly man to move to his actual seat, since he is an Indian and so he should be able to speak Indian. After, several attempts he convinced the Stewardess of his inability to do so; primarily since there is no language by that name and also because the elderly man spoke only Telugu. So he resorted to talking to the elderly man in what little Telugu he knew. After several minutes and numerous attempts in communication, he realized that the flight doors were closed and it was ready for take-off. So he resigned to fate and took the window seat in the next row.

He has never slept properly in a flight and this time was no exception. He was awake most of the time and could see the elderly couple in front of him. They had difficulties when the Stewardess came with food plates. Neither could comprehend what the other was saying. A couple in their early thirties were next to him. But except for the time the meals came, they were fast asleep leaning on each other and did not bother to help the elderly couple out. Even when they were awake they were mainly preoccupied with whispering in each other’s ears. So, each time the Stewardess looked at him when she wanted ‘translation’ of what the elderly man was saying.

He was wondering how they are going to fill out all the Immigration forms. And like he feared, the moment they were handed out, the elderly man turned back in his seat to face him and asked for help. So he tried to reply in Telugu. The elderly man understood the problem and said he knows Tamil a bit. Not much, but still better than English. So he tried explaining to the man in Tamil. In the end, he decided he would fill out the forms for them. As he was doing so, the man was explaining that they were coming to see their son in US. Their son was working there and has not come to India for few years because of work. So he invited them to come and here they were.

He cursed their son for letting his aged parents take on such a long and complicated trip without a proper companion. At least he could have explained to them what to do at various point of the travel –changing flights, immigration forms etc. But they were aware of nothing. He explained it to them from scratch. He was angry on how some one could leave such old people to find out for themselves. So as he was cursing the son and filling the forms, the old man told that he was a farmer in Andhra and somehow managed to educate his son who found a job in US.

The flight landed. There was a long queue at the Immigration counter. He tried to patiently explain to the couple as much as possible about the process. The lines were moving slowly. He was standing for more than half hour and was getting fidgety. Suddenly some new counters were open and there was a mad scrambling for them and all lines got broken. When normalcy was restored, he realized that the couple was far behind in another queue. He was confused. Already he was late. Should he go back to where they were standing? But there were so many Indians behind him. Surely, some one would help them when the couple’s turn comes. Even as he was thinking he saw a woman travelling alone who spoke only Telugu. The Immigration officer asked people in the line for help and some one who spoke Telugu helped the lady. He was sure the couple would get some similar help. Some one will. So he went ahead with his Immigration. All the while casting furtive looks at the couple who were completely unaware of what was going on at the counters. He went ahead, collected his bags and rolled them away in the trolley. The guy who was supposed to pick him up would already be waiting for him. Surely, some one would help them. He was exiting the hall and he turned around to take a last look. They were almost last in the lines. Not many people in front of them either. There was an Indian in another line. And another who was doing the Immigration interview and would be done soon. He turned around the corner quickly not to let the sight bother him. Somehow it did. It was the fault of the son, he reasoned to himself. The son is an idiot. Let him come running. He must be here to pick them already. So if there was a problem he should be able to assist them.

Somehow it still bothers him.

2009-06-21T21:23:00.003-04:00

Oh Dear Lord! Pardon thy son, who in a moment of weakness, committed the ultimate sin of enjoying Afridi's bowling in the T20 WC final.

Meanwhile, the television commentators were profuse in their praise of the Pakistani team's performance and how this would lift the spirit of the countrymen. Now that your flagging spirits have been restored, please arise and cross the border with renewed vigor.

I had many conversations with my friends about the Pakistani team and one of the popular opinion was that their team has so many bad asses, who would have quite easily become a terrorist (such as the great cricketer mentioned in the 1st para) if not for the fact that they fortuitously learned to play cricket. We used to say that out of frustrations and hatred. But it seems, that apparently is the truth according to the admission by none other than the team's captain. QED.

I have a mic and I can say whatever I want

2009-06-15T21:15:00.005-04:00

Finally and predictably the Dhoni luck has run out. And ostensibly the media are having a field day (actually it began even before the World Cup started as they cited differences between Sehwag & Dhoni).

Now, I am a great fan of Dhoni. He is charismatic and intelligent. But people seem to assume that Dhoni can make no mistake to the extent that the distinction between luck and strategy have blurred. I am not saying he is a messiah like some nincompoop. But he really is the best player India has produced in a decade. Finally, some one who exceeded the expectations. Can some one count the number of promising talents India had in the last decade and end up with a list of players who lived upto it? We had numerous players oozing talent but struggled to make it to the big level. Even Yuvraj is still a suspect at the Test level. But this guy who started off as a trigger happy swinger of the bat has metamorphosed into a level headed captain. It is not just a luck thing but mainly because he is intelligent.

The IPL drained everyone. It drained the players and the viewers. The only thing it filled was Lalit Modi's pockets. You didn't have to be a Nostradamus to predict that Gambir was not in form going into the T20 WC. He was struggling in IPL. I can't even remember Sehwag playing a proper innings in IPL because of the injury he sustained during the event. Now that the team for the pointless 4ODI series in West Indies has been picked, you can find that half the team is injured and dropped. And none of these injuries were sustained in the T20 WC which implies that they were the baggages from IPL. I don't know how else a team that is mentally drained and physical exhausted could perform even if loaded with the best in business.

Now coming to my favorite punch bag. Under the pretense of disseminating the true(?) information, the media, especially the 24 hours channels have become quite a nuisance. Most of the arai vekaadu reporters who speak with such self-conviction would miserably fail if asked to take up a simple GRE's analytical writing section. In fact, I am of the opinion that news channels should be stripped of their rights to telecast news throughout the day but that is another topic. If I was the guy behind this reporter I would have gone on a mad rampage like Jack Nicholson in The Shining. Idiots. Look at the conviction with which he talks! As if he is some Lord Labakudass. He accuses Dhoni of beind cocky, insecure, arrogant and warns him to face the fire for his treatment of the media and is raising questions of national importance such as if BCCI would let him go scotfree because of the criminal sins he has commited. Dei naaye, the next time India wins a tournament you will be praising of Dhoni and his calmness and his captaincy. vekkame ilaya?

Yes he made mistakes. Yes he is not in form. But please don't pull down the most versatile player India has because of your buffoonery.

Motcham

2009-06-05T23:15:00.005-04:00

Another item checked in the 'List of things to do before dying'. Yanni gave a concert in the Motor City as a part of a series of concerts across US and I sure didn't miss it. Not in a lifetime!

This concert is different from his previous ones. He is trying out a new concept called The Voices. He has identified and trained 4 young singers who sing along for some of his popular pieces. I must say I am not a great fan of this new thing because the beauty of his works were the story told by each instrument that shapes the mood he wanted to convey. When the main music is replaced by a voice, I felt, the effect is not quite comparable. But the four singers: Nathan Pacheco, Ender Thomas, Chloe and Leslie Mills, I should admit are terrific. Nathan and Leslie Mills are a bit of tradionalists in their singing. Nathan is inclined more towards a operatic kind of singing while Leslie's songs are mostly soft and mellifluous. Chloe and Ender are the party animals. They swing, dance and do wild stuff. Chloe is not only beautiful but also has a voice whose depth and throw is remarkable; especially for some one so young.

Yanni started off with Santorini which was first performed by him at Greece. He stuck to the original musical version. After this came the new 'voices' pieces. Though I liked them it didn't quite give the goosebumps I get even while seeing his concert videos. For some of the pieces, they unrolled a translucent screen in front of the stage and projected a video on it. It was surreal to see the artists perform in the backdrop with a video in front of them. It looked spectacular.

Yanni wrapped up the show with his standard finishing piece, 'Niki Nana: We are one'. But the audience weren't done with him yet. Everyone shouted for one more piece. So he presented his amazing creation, 'Standing in Motion', which again he performed at the Acropolis in Greece. It was so mindblowing that it only further increased the adrenaline of the audience who shouted for more. Yanni who had gone backstage by then came out again and this time he played one of my all time favourite song 'Nostalgia'. It was the best! I was actually praying for some time that he would perform this. The piece requires a tremendous performance in piano. When he was finished it, he got a long standing ovation but some people still weren't content. They chanted in unison for another piece. Yanni was thrilled and asked us 'Aren't you people planning to go home tonight?'. But he packed the powerpunch for the last bit and gave us the whirlwind of a song, 'The Storm'. With that he took the final bow.

What a night. A true genius indeed! I came home with the desire of 10 years finally fulfilled.

2009-06-03T18:12:00.009-04:00

அடங்கொக்கா மொக்கா! இதுக்கு அடுத்து, முதல் குழந்தைக்கு தங்க செயின், அடுத்த குழந்தைக்கு தங்கமோதிரமும் கொடுப்பாங்க போல இருக்கே!! பொறக்காத குழந்தைய வெச்சு ஊழல் பண்ணிடலாம் டோய்!!
தேர்தலில் கறக்க முடியாதத இதுல கறந்துடபோறேன்!

2009-06-01T13:15:00.001-04:00

How the Goliath filed its way to Manhattan.

Rajapakse

2009-05-30T23:17:00.005-04:00

A very interesting interview with the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse. He talks candidly about the war, his views on Indian Government's stance towards the conflict, politics etc. I don't claim I understand fully the conflict but I like Rajapakse. In an era of weak kneed and corrupt politicians in India, he seems to be a determined and iron willed man. Some one fit to be a president during tough times. Will his achievements be more than any of his contemporaries including Obama? Time will tell.

Fall of the Goliath

2009-05-29T13:10:00.003-04:00

The Giant gets humbled on Monday :(

When it was healthy and standing tall, people were proud and content to prance around it in its shadows. Now when it falls on them, everybody says, 'I told you so'.

The beginning of the summer movies marathon

2009-05-24T09:37:00.006-04:00

I saw three movies in the last few days and completely enjoyed only one. I have this craze for seeing it on the big screen with real surround effect so much so that sometimes I see even dumb movies and animation movies in theaters. So I am not the one to miss out on good action movies.

X-Men: Wolverine shows the travails of Logan as he starts off as a mutant with self healing powers and ends up with his bones being supplanted with an 'indestructible' metal. The movie keeps losing direction as it follows Logan chasing down Victor, his brother, for killing his girlfriend. Except for Hugh Jackman's acting and few special effects packed scenes, the movie fails to pack a punch unlike its predecessors. Cinematography looked good on the big screen with nice touches of CG.

Terminator: Salvation (4th in the Terminator series) is the story of John Connor who leads the resistance against Robots controlled by the Skynet. Originally started as a Defense program, Skynet becomes sentient and starts to control all robots (or cyborgs). The movie was as cliched as it could get. It stooped down to the levels of being a run-of-the mill hollywood action flick that packs all the stuff from mind blowing (and mind numbing) action sequences to a love between a robot and human. Some scenes were so cliched that I thought that the director actually saw some Indian films for inspiration. This was particularly dissapointing for some one like me who is a die hard fan of the Terminator movies (esp. Judgement Day). And I thought what lacked sorely in the movie was none other than Arnold himself. Maybe, he could have made even this poor plot interesting. Also the soundtrack was nowhere near T2. Though the famous track gets played here and there, the BGM never sticks in the mind. Christian Bale could have hardly done anything better with such a plot. After all, what else could you expect from a Director whose previous ventures include Charlie's Angels.

Angels & Demons was the best of the lot. I thought it was even better than Da Vinci Code (the movie). Again, the movie couldn't help but fall short of the book in some aspects. The beauty of the two books being that the plot is merely a vehicle used to deliver the rich information gathered by the author: the truth and fictious part of it. So there is no way anybody can make a movie that can have the appeal of the book in its purest sense. But what the movie did achieve was to hold the audience enthralled with some nice cinematography, taut plot, enough information about the Vatican and some suspense at the end. I read somewhere that Ron Howard is thinking about a trilogy for Robert Langdon's adventures. I am not sure if Dan Brown is writing another book on those lines, but if he does it sure does promise to be a good one.

When past meets present

2009-05-18T09:08:00.004-04:00

I slowed down the car near a stop sign before turning right to see if any vehicle is coming from the left. Instinctively, I looked to the right to see if there was a policeman standing. For a second I was confused as I know policemen don't stand in the middle of the roads here. Still something familiar was flashing before my eyes and superimposing itself on what I was seeing at that moment.

It was the junction right outside the present location of Pothys. When going to school, I used to pedal along Duraiswamy road and turn right onto S.Usman Road. Those were days when such earthly things were still possible in T.Nagar. There was absolutely no traffic at 8.15AM those days. A no right-turn rule was formed only a few months back but as usual rules don't apply to cyclists. Still that policeman used to give me a stare but never stopped me from turning right.

But the 'vision' didn't stop there. As I turned the car and went a few meters, immediately I thought I saw the wide and empty Usman road with the platform shops still covered with tarpaulin sheets and tied with nylon ropes to the right, and some over eager shoppers sitting outside Kumaran Silks before they open at 8.30AM.

It took me a few minutes to erase those images and concentrate back on the driving and think about the day's work in office. It was eerie and nostalgic at the same time. But nostalgia is always depressing.

Election times are good

2009-05-16T11:40:00.003-04:00

We shifted residence some time back and did not find our names in the local poll booth. Apparently, the names were struck off promptly from the area we moved out from but the supplemental list that was supposed to have the names in the new area did not have them. Now, my Naina is furious because he cannot get that 200 rupees that the thaatha's katchi paid everyone in our area to vote for them.

My Aatha is ruing differently. She wishes she had been in Madurai. Apparently, our relatives in Madurai got a nice saree in addition to variable payments of Rs.200 and above. They were compelled to swear on their kids' heads (தலை மேல கை வெச்சு சத்தியம்) that they will vote for thaatha's katchi only. But that is ok.

I was smarter. I got involved 'voluntarily' in the katchi's local sangam and allowed my auto be used for katchi service. Got paid handsomely for that and also a few TV sets that was supposed to be distributed through ration shops. I can sell them each for a few thousands. Moreover, I got to vote multiple times in different booths.

The race to 7, Race Course Road

2009-05-15T21:52:00.003-04:00

The marathon voting process ended (May 13) in India with Tamil Nadu, one of the decisive swing states. With the magic number of 272 only a dream for both Congress and BJP led UPA and NDA respectively, a lot of shift in the political alliances are to be expected once the results are declared a few hours from now.

DMK raked up the Tamils issue, quite some time before the election was in the horizon, to use it as a political agenda (The Tamils in Sri Lanka have been suffering for years now. But their sufferings have opened the party's vista only now). It is going to be there for the next state elections too and for the Assembly elections after that and so on. It is like Pakistan dealing with Al-Qaeda. Everybody knows its a problem but nobody will want to do anything about it. But what really sent me hopping with rage was the sycophantic acts of the tamil film industry. Lead by minions like Bharati Raja and Sathyaraj who tow the lines of KK (K.Karunanidhi) shamelessly, the entire industry were arm twisted to take part in the fasts and protests to end the atrocities in Sri Lanka (Yeah right. The minute they protest, Rajapakse would be cowed into submission). And people like Vadivelu groveled behind.

The Third Front's fragility is as obvious as the lack of a common ideology for the 'alliance'. Continuous assertions notwithstanding, I really expect the alliance to shatter as offers are made by both UPA and NDA to woo the individual parties, and the star of the show would definitely be Jayalalitha.

Seriously, I do wish AIADMK wins though, not because I think JJ is good but because she is better (I know this is not state elections but its been sickening seeing Dayanidhi Maran's face in the TV). Even as I am typing this, NDTV is predicting 20 for DMK, 18 for AIADMK and 1 for Vijayakanth's DMDK. I hope JJ gets much more than 18 AND choses to go with BJP. Another, 5 years of weak-kneed UPA is something India can do without.

If for some reason UPA wins more than NDA, I still sincerely hope that AIADMK wins more than DMK. This way, Congress will try to take JJ under their wings (who cares if JJ called Sonia an Eunuch a few years back?). Why this would be significant is, JJ's only main, if not the only condition, for proferring support to UPA is the withdrawal of support for the DMK alliance in TN. This would mean the collapse of the state government and new state elections for TN. Woohoo.

P.S.: Just for the kick of it, I would like to see Modi become the PM. It will be fun to see US Consulate to try and refuse a VISA for him again.

2009-05-15T14:23:00.000-04:00

Should'nt it be named 'CTV HINDU'?

Time Pass....

2009-05-14T21:34:00.004-04:00

Its going to be a great summer as far as movie releases go. Angels and Demons has been released. I am yet to see that. Terminator Salvation with Christian Bale as the new John Connor is releasing on May 21.Christian also has another coming up with Public Enemies (along with Johnny Depp!!!). Then Ice Age 3 on July 1. And this sequel to Night at the Museum (Oh well. No harm in just sitting in the theater for a hour and a half for this I guess).
Then Selvaraghavan's Aayirathil Oruvan. The T20 World Cup begins in England on June 5. Kamal's Unnai Pol Oruvan is expected to release in July too. Phew..At least somethings to look forward to till the end of July.

2009-05-12T12:42:00.002-04:00

A write-up on the Chennai constituencies based on the electoral 'distribution' for the upcoming elections.

ஊருக்கு மட்டும் உபதேசம்..

2009-05-06T20:45:00.004-04:00

Rick Wagoner, the CEO of a company, flies in corporate jet spending $20,000 and gets fired. Then the Obama headed Government authorizes a photo-shoot flight of Air Force One costing $328,835.
I wonder why they needed a photo shoot for the plane anyway. Planning to sell it on ebay? Hmm.

On an entirely unrelated note, Bristol Palin is now advocating that abstinence is the best form of birth control.

2009-05-02T22:24:00.002-04:00

TIME has come out with its list of most influential people for the year 2009. Like any other lists and awards (including the Oscars) it is contentious. I have no idea why some people are even there, because as far as I know they did nothing notable in the recent past. But then again, all lists are subjective. Some notable inclusions are Nandan Nilekeni, AR Rahman and Maya Arulpragasam aka M.I.A.

P.S.: I am personally peeved at the fact that Dada fails to get a mention (yet again). These amrigans....what do they know?

Say Hi, but how?

2009-05-02T07:08:00.005-04:00

My Doctor in Chennai used to say, that we (Indians) had one of the healthiest cultural practices but it was ruined by the Britishers under the name of modernization. "For example", he says, "we used to greet people by saying Namaste (or Vanakkam) with our hands, people cannot enter the house without washing their feet etc., to name a few. But what did the Britishers (Vellai Kaarans) teach us? Handshakes, paper towels, Toilet seats etc. The worst cases of direct and indirect physical contacts that spread unwanted germs."

2009-05-01T19:12:00.001-04:00

Hi Whitehouse. Can I be your fraansip? pls pls pls dont say no. ur luking very gud.

Chennai Super 'Nak'Kings

2009-04-27T16:08:00.005-04:00

It remains to be seen how long Dhoni will persevere with Parthiv patel and Morkel. Parthiv never seems to sight the ball and Morkel never seems to send the ball out of sight. Less said about his bowling the better. And Joginder Sharma. Urrgh.

Badrinath was pathetic today in the dearth overs. Looks like he had a notion that when you got 3 balls left, it is better to waste deliveries trying to take singles to give the strike to Oram than trying for boundaries. Flintoff wasted a few matches. Thank God he got injured or else he would have wasted more matches in the name of an (overpriced) allrounder. Balaji seems to still think he is jogging in Natesan Park and slowly ambles upto the wicket and bowls gentle full tosses.

It is time for others to be given a chance. Else, CSK would end up one place higher than the Bangalore Royal Wallowers. Hopefully, Mumbai doesn't win the finals and KKR doesn't win a match from now. Delhi and Deccan are my other favs.

My previous views on IPL are here and here.

I am smart; therefore I am radical

2009-04-17T14:59:00.005-04:00

Whenever you want to sell a ridiculous idea, the easiest way to pass it off is to propose an even more ridiculous idea. When everybody argues about the idea and cast it down as being the most ridiculous idea ever, you then implement the original idea which would almost go unnoticeable. Clever marketing.

Even though I like McCullum, I really pray hard for him to fail. This would finally shut the big-headed guys like Buchanan. And if Ganguly doesn't still learn and continues roping in self-proclaimed Aussie coaching gurus, he deserves his fate.

And this is why I always hate Shah Rukh Khan: this portrayal of being smarter than he really is. If you randomly pick a person and ask him to name a person or thing or a way to garner the emotional support of Bengal, the answer would be unanimous. But this King Kong thinks he is smart, wants to show himself off as a real 'team player' and goes about prancing behind Buchanan. I wonder if the fans would disassociate themselves from the team after this. After all, IPL is about marketing. If you can't sell the team to Bengal with Ganguly, you do not deserve it in the first place.

How the world changes..

2009-04-09T18:07:00.002-04:00

I was amused by this. There is no relation between this and this. Still amusing.

Even CDOs have better prospects

2009-04-06T14:53:00.011-04:00

They told him when he was a kid and didn't have the time to study for exams, that if he is so irresponsible he will never get a good job. And somehow, his parents, like most of the other million parents in India convinced him that getting a good job tantamounts to working in the US and this is the ultimate requirement for a marrying a beautiful girl. However, now that he did the former the latter doesn't seem to happen. He is facing a crisis that was a resultant of the sub-prime crisis which if not resolved quickly could very well lead to a premature mid-life crisis. He could not find a life partner.

His parents have tried a lot. They went to Brahmin's Association and released multiple editions of his horoscopes and followed it up with frequent updates of his resumes. They never missed a marriage because that is where most of the networking for future alliances happen. And they were proactive enough to even attend all Sabhas in December. Still, nothing happened. His parents even told him that if he finds a girl in US it is alright with them as long as she is a Tamil Brahmin. How would they know that they are talking about an impossibility. Girls nowadays are 'committed' before they even come to the US. Those darned guys in colleges are smarter now than they were during his college days. Still if there are some single girls in US they tend to get into a relationship within their first year at a University to a proactive guy who provided them with unsolicited taxi services. And the microscopic population of girls who escaped all these vices and are still in the market tend to be those that are too overwhelming for him because of their newly acquired 'independent, career oriented' mindsets or because they just dont live up to his expectations of being a homely girl.

His parents broadened their scope and shortlisted some girls and asked him to come to India. When he went there, he realized that people no longer were interested in US: either they did not like going to US or they were just afraid to marry a person whose job is dangling more freely than the sacred thaali. Apparently the stocks of a guy working in US have crashed along with Wall Street.

He felt totally short-sold and had almost decided that his fate was to be a bachelor for life, when he picked up today's newspaper. His eyes skimmed through the entire article but locked onto one paragraph:

For instance, Ms. Seth says she likes nice clothes and would like to have a flat-screen TV. "Is he really prepared to provide the kind of lifestyle that I have right now?" She expects a husband to earn more than she does.

This somehow made him happy. All hopes may not be lost yet. So with a renewed vigor and with an optimism fueled by desperation, he logged onto his computer. "can i be your fraanship?" he typed. Maybe she could be the one, he thought as he clicked on send.

P.S.: This was obviously inspired by the linked article and a recent spurt in the demand for a story by me from some good samaritans who, I think, did it just to keep me in good spirits hoping that I don't take their request seriously.

Worn out terror

2009-03-31T22:05:00.002-04:00

Finally, the Obama team does something sensible. Whether it is out of a sense of compunction or aimed at primarily distancing itself from the acts of the previous regime is debatable. I have already harped on about how the phrase infuriated me.

Hyprocricy en masse

2009-03-30T15:33:00.008-04:00

Finally, a piece in CNN that I can completely agree with. I thought the day would never come. Everybody, including the Government have a easy punch bag with the Big 3. Though they are far from being innocent, nevertheless they provide the ideal outlet for people to vent their ires on: a highly paid CEO of a struggling company who goes on a leased jet to ask for money to run a company that fires people in thousands, the same people who are part of the infamous UAW and supposedly getting paid a fairy tale amount of $30/hour. It couldn't get better. It is a clear case of the bully picking on the weakest kid and twisting his arm. That is what is being done to the auto companies. Even though they deserve it, everybody should take responsibility instead of pointing fingers. For example, Wagoner is being accused of turning a blind eye to fuel efficient cars and instead focusing on SUVs and pick-up trucks. Well, who bought those pick-up trucks? Did people buy the pick-up trucks because that was the only vehicles in the market or did GM make those because it had the biggest demand? Naturally, a company would exploit the demand in the market. You want a big car? You get it. You want a retrofitted Corvette? You get it. Clearly, these are not the days when you can say, "you can order any color as long it is black" and get away with it. So why blame them now for having provided you with what you wanted all these years? Look within.

On an another note here is a piece from Paul Krugman, one of the most vocal critics of the way the current crisis is being handled:

Underlying the glamorous new world of finance was the process of securitization. Loans no longer stayed with the lender. Instead, they were sold on to others, who sliced, diced and puréed individual debts to synthesize new assets. Subprime mortgages, credit card debts, car loans — all went into the financial system’s juicer. Out the other end, supposedly, came sweet-tasting AAA investments. And financial wizards were lavishly rewarded for overseeing the process.
But the wizards were frauds, whether they knew it or not, and their magic turned out to be no more than a collection of cheap stage tricks. Above all, the key promise of securitization — that it would make the financial system more robust by spreading risk more widely — turned out to be a lie. Banks used securitization to increase their risk, not reduce it, and in the process they made the economy more, not less, vulnerable to financial disruption.

பாம்பையும் பார்பனையும் கண்டால் முதலில் பார்பனை அடி

2009-03-23T22:54:00.003-04:00

Hahahahaha. Oh my God. I couldn't stop laughing on reading this:

..he (S.Ve.Shekar) said he would soon meet Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi and request him for 7 per cent reservation for the Brahmin community. “I am sure he will agree, and when he does, I will show my gratitude by campaigning for him among the Brahmins. Even if I don’t, the community will unanimously thank him and lend support"

He might as well expect Karunanidhi to turn up at Kapaleeshwarar temple with him, since he is the current Mylapore MLA. What an ass! After criticizing politicians in his plays, he doesnt mind becoming one of them now.

Make hay while the sun shines

2009-03-19T08:12:00.004-04:00

It started with the CEOs of the big three. Now, the latest person at the receiving end is AIG's recently appinted CEO Edward Liddy who has to defend himself against the 'malfeasance' of his predecessors.

The politicians all over the US have rallied unanimously for the good of the common people by taking the opportuned moments provided by this recession. The result: all CEOs of failing companies being summoned one after the other to stand at the center of Capitol Hill's Rotunda and get fired from all sides. All of this creates good visuals and catchy headlines. But the same Congressman where wallowing under the money rain that was pouring everywhere when these companies where doing what they did always: indiscretionary spending.

What a farce!

What happened then? Did it work?

2009-03-15T09:08:00.003-04:00

The one thing I hate about media is their lack of accountability and responsibility. When they report an incident considering it to be newsworthy (even though it is totally unimportant), the readers have the full rights to know the complete background and the end results. If you say that the Indian cricket team is touring New Zealand, you do not leave it at that. You follow it up with complete coverage of what happened in New Zealand (with some times going into really unwanted details). I demand that same yardstick applies to all reported news items; especially those that receive a big coverage.

We have read many reports of how marriages are performed to animals in different parts of India for several reasons, though the most common reason tends to be for invoking rain. Now everybody who reads news in India knows that such marriages are common. In fact, there have been coverages of marriages where a man or a woman ends up getting married to an animal such as a donkey or a dog. So when you report something that is already known just because it creates some false excitement amidst the readers, you better hold yourself accountable and follow up with that news piece. In this case, I claim my right to know whether the move paid off and if the Assamese did get rain very soon after this marriage or if Barun Devata was unmoved even after such a great offering. If it did work maybe everyone can practise these rituals whenever rain is wanted.

When people start demanding that providing coverage of just the incident is not enough and that they need further follow up, then the media will stop coverage of such silly things.

The Thin Line

2009-03-12T23:20:00.003-04:00

Did some one call Sachin a monkey ala Symonds?

ஐயா பாருங்க, அம்மா பாருங்க, நானும் யோக்யன்தான்

2009-03-06T23:03:00.003-05:00

Its like a TASMAC shop owner organizing an Alcoholic Anonymous. He will stake a claim for being righteous and the society will praise him for that.

I.R. Baboon

2009-03-04T19:03:00.003-05:00

“The West is promoting obscenity in Pakistan by promoting sports among girls’ educational institutions. It is a matter of shame for us that our daughters are playing cricket, hockey, football, and so on. The conspiracy is to change madrasas into regular schools and colleges. These conspiracies have been hatched by the enemies of Islam.”

- Editor of al-Qalam, a Weekly Magazine in Pakistan

Zarb-e-Taiba, Lashkar-e-Taiba's magazine, adds,

"Israel is a very tiny country but it does not play cricket. Therefore, it is progressing. We should throw the bat and seize the sword and instead of hitting six or four, cut the throats of the Hindus and the Jews. The sports of a mujahid are archery, horse-riding and swimming. Apart from these sports, every hobby is un-Islamic. The above are not just sports but exercises for jihad. Cricket is an evil and sinful sport. Under the intoxication of cricket, Pakistanis have forgotten that these Hindu players come from the same nation that had raped our mothers, sisters, daughters, wives and daughters-in-law.”

Even Ravichandran has Oscar

2009-03-02T20:27:00.005-05:00

We, in India, have so many talents both inside and outside the film industry that winning an Oscar is no big deal. I rest my case with this video.

P.S: The above is not a sarcasm. I really think the guy who did this editing and remix deserves an award :)

சட்டம் தன் கடமையை செய்யும்

2009-02-24T20:16:00.005-05:00

அட ஆபிசர்களா! உங்க கடமை உணர்வுக்கு ஒரு அளவே இல்லையாடா?

2009-02-24T19:57:00.002-05:00

இதுல என்ன பெருமை?

Vaalga thamil

2009-02-23T20:24:00.006-05:00

It was a real goosebump moment when AR Rahman won the Oscar. I was over the moon when he said 'எல்லாப்புகழும் இறைவனுக்கே'. But what might escape the viewers is the fact that he said ' I want to say something in Thamizh' and not Tamil. Simple matter, considering the fact that everyone is accustomed to saying and writing 'Tamil' when speaking in English (and especially when addressing a foreign audience), but still......

The Imminent $Crisis$

2009-02-22T15:42:00.002-05:00

Here is a follow-up to my earlier post on the Dollar crisis. Scary but not at all impossible.

2009-02-21T17:08:00.005-05:00

Any one who thinks Slumdog Millionaire is better than The Dark Knight deserves capital punishment for retarded thinking, the failure of which has resulted in the former being nominated for the Best Picture category while the latter is not even nominated. And if SM pips TDK in even one of the categories of Best Cinematography or Best Film Editing then you know I am right.

Even in the categories of Sound Mixing and Sound Editing The Dark Knight is better. But TDK was eeriely marvellous whereas SM provided the American audience with the refreshingly exotic and nothing more which makes it better according to them but not for me. The Dark Knight deserves Oscars for atleast 4 categories, but the Academy Award voters are prone to be nuts.
P.S.: Add to this my conspiracy thoery of how a movie based on India is nominated purely to attract the large base of Indian viewers to watch all the Awards shows (and thus increasing the TRP ratings) and you get the full idea. It is all the same, like how an Indian 'beauty' inevitably ends up in the top 3 of the Miss Word paegents of late.

P.S.2: Have been thinking about this. How come this movie is superior to Jeans, the pathetic romantic movie directed by Shankar and sent for Oscar consideration by our Indian Govt.? Jeans also showed the story of 'hope', blah blah blah happening in US which appeared exotic to most of the audience at that time. My argument is that this movie (Slumdog Millionaire ) appeals to the American audience the same way. No story but lots of appeal. For the Indians you have to show nice skyscrapers, flashy suits, neat roads and they will buy it (atleast that was how it was). For the Americans you have to show utter poverty, destitute, chidlren with bloated stomachs fighting for food packets, tenements alongside sewers. Basically, people like seeing in movies what they dont experience in reality.