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| Friday, November 27, 2009 |
| Bhavan's Music Festival |
Today, the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan at Mylapore kick started their series of Carnatic Music Concerts.
Andrew Simkin, the Consul General for the United States was the Chief Guest. Other know people were Nalli Kuppuswamy, and Leela Samson (Kalakshetra).
Nithyasree Mahadevan's concert marked the beginning of this wonderful journey for the Bhavan for the year 2009.
The concert was delayed by almost 30 minutes. Nithyasree began with a salutation to Lord Ganesha singing Sri Vignarajam in the raagam GambheeraNaattai. This was followed by Shambho Mahadeva in the raagam Bowli. The next one was Smarane Sukamu in the raagam Janaranjani. Entha Naerchinaa was the next rendition set in the raagam Suddha-Dhanyasi. Ayyane Nadanamadiya set in the raagam Nadai-Bhairavi followed next.
The most important piece of the whole concert was Sri Kanthimathim set in Hemavati raagam. By the time this song ended, it was time for me to leave. So, I could not sit and listen to the songs that followed this keerthanai. This segment is usually the best because the artists sing very popular songs.
I was also pretty irritated because of the person next to me. He was coughing like a diesel locomotive from the 70's. And on top of that he was chewing paan I guess. That smell was killing me.
The average age of the people who came to listen was 58. It was so sad to see such a boring crowd. Half the people were hungry by the time the concert started and then started to leave right from half past eight.
And then there are some people who still follow the practice of reserving a seat using their hand-towels. Since they are in the post-retirement stage, you cant even argue with them. you just have to dismiss them and move on.
one other thing i noticed is that there are more medical insurance companies at these concerts than any other business entity. i guess they know their target segment in this time of the year. haha.
more to come by as and when i come out of concerts.Labels: carnatic, chennai, concerts, festival, music |
posted by Narayan @ 9:28 AM
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| Friday, November 20, 2009 |
| Let the music begin |
Thats the tagline for the HINDU FRIDAY REVIEW NOVEMBER FEST. And as it rightly says, the month of music began for me today at the Music Academy.
I was there to witness OS Arun and Sanjeev Abhyankar enchant the audience through their wonderful renditions of the poems by Surdas. Every composition was unique.
Arun and Sanjeev took time to explain to the audience, the underlying theme of every poem and the emotions that Surdas brought out.
Poems were about Lord Krishna's childhood, his friendship and respect to Dharma, Surdas' interpretation of hw the Lord would appear to him. Akhiyan Hari Darshan Ki Pyaasi, Jasumati Man Abhilash are the poems that I remember.
Compositions were rendered in different scales. So the raga was not important. Abhogi, Behag - if i remember right, were some of the ragas.
The Raas Leela at the end was the highlight. OS Arun's aalaap during the Raas Leela was fantastic.
This is just the beginning. The Chennai Music Season is warming up and will be in full swing, roughly about 10 days from now. And I am going to be in as many sabhas as possible. It only gets better and better.Labels: chennai, classical, hindustani, music |
| posted by Narayan @ 10:03 AM
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| Thursday, November 05, 2009 |
| Blank |
It was food poisoning I thought. I was feeling weird on Monday evening. Went to bed without taking any medicines. On tuesday morning, I had fever. Decided to take it light and had medicines. The fever was under control but I had to go to the doctor in the evening.
Wednesday was spent pretty much in heavy doses of paracetamol. The doctor did not give me any antibiotics because he thought it was just fever.
I got up on around 3am on Thursday. Entered the bathroom and locked the door.
I am lying on the bathroom floor. I am trying to open my eyes, but I am finding it difficult. My head is spinning and there is a feeling that I have been struck by a huge club. I felt like I was falling into an abyss. Heavy noises in my mind and I am going crazy but unable to do anything. Breathing had become extremely difficult and I was nauseous. I still hadn't figured out what had happened. There was a conflict between what I wanted to do - which was, get up on my legs somehow; and what was actually happening to me. One part of my brain was telling me to get up but there was an overpowering force that was just putting me down. I just couldnt think at all.
Seconds after I locked the bathroom door, I had fallen unconscious. And then somehow by God's grace, I regained consciousness.
I am lying face down. I try to push myself up, but I still cannot do anything. I try and hold the water pipe but that does not help. There is pain all over the body. I turn myself around a bit but the spinning never stops. I still cant see anything around me clearly. I start shouting. My dad is woken up and he rushes, but he cannot help. I have locked the door. He is communicating to me and I am able to hear. Cant do much. My body is still failing me. I push myself a little bit towards the door. I am trying to reach the latch but I cant. I try harder and my hands reach the latch but I still cant push it. It was such a difficult moment for me. Almost like escaping from the clutches of a demon. That instance, I almost gave up. There was absolutely no energy left. Few seconds. I tried to reach that latch again. This time I managed to push it. My dad opened the door and dragged me out.
The sweat was gushing out of my body. My body was COLD. I could feel it. There was no strength to do anything.
From then on, it took almost 3 hrs to get back to normal. And 2 bottles of glucose drips.
Now, this is not the best way to start blogging after a break, but certainly is a shocking start. Hoping to get back to normal soon.Labels: chennai, health, life |
| posted by Narayan @ 11:02 PM
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| Sunday, September 20, 2009 |
| Someone Like You |
This time it was Springfield in Arkansas. The Tamil Assoc here decided to screen the film at Sunset Cinema, 15 miles from my place. Closer the better. I HAD to watch this movie. Every tamil from around this area was there. The hall was packed.
Unnai Pol Oruvan - as we all know, is a remake of the Hindi movie - A Wednesday. The Hindi movie, when it was out, created an amazing impact, was immensely successful and brought a new dimension to the until-then-trashy Hindi cinema. The Tamil re-make hence, had huge expectations.
And the tamil version does not let you down one bit. Considering the fact that the Tamil movie has come out in a time when you could have forgotten a good number of scenes from the Hindi movie, it manages to keep pace with the original in all aspects.
Strong characters - Kamal Haasan and Mohanlal play the lead roles.
 Mohanlal, who is narrating the story for us, as the commissioner, has done a wonderful job. His patience in dialogue delivery and then moving into the comfort zone of malayalam when he gets tensed is very interesting. The conversations with the Chief Secretary and then the Chief Minister - I would rather call them intervention, show the need for protocols required when any action needs to be taken. The right use of police terminologies and words, brings intensity to the movie. Mohanlal also scores in handling dialogues with subordinates. The change of tones when giving orders and then making discussions with police officers is a great way to characterize a commissioner who controls the whole of Chennai.
The use of Karunanidhi's voice for conversations with the CM is quite funny, but makes the situation feel important.
Ganesh Venkatraman makes a comeback, after Abhiyum Naanum, as Arif, the hard-hearted police officer. I am sure that he is going to get noticed after this movie and will do well in films to come.
Aunja Iyer is the TV reporter. I wouldn't say that she scores better compared to the one who did the role in the Hindi movie. She is okay.
Being a re-make, there is not much to comment on the storyline or the screenplay. Its just the same. People, dialogues.. every bit. Art by Thota Tharani is worth a mention.
Shruti Haasan is a rockstar! Right from the titles, she has ensured that her Dad's movie gets the perfect score. Well, we know that the mood of the movie is extremely serious and Shruti's music brings that out, right from Minute One. Judicious use of Rock and not exactly Metal, shows that this Berkeley grad is out to achieve a lot more in the future. What I think could have been avoided is Kamal's voice for the songs. Those are not exactly songs, but bits and pieces in the background.
Padmasri Kamal Haasan. I dont need to tell you that he has done a wonderful job. He can never screw up. For serious roles, we dont have to judge him at all. It comes to him naturally. Kamal has portrayed Naseeruddin Shah's role in a flawless manner. His description of the "common man" is touching. His dialogues are powerful and have an iota of humor hidden here and there. In the first half, Kamal comes across as a powerful character. This is when he is in command mode only. In the second half, we get to see other dimensions of this multi-faceted personality. This is where it gets a bit emotional and conversational.
The other good things about this movie, like the original - No one has had to change costumes. No songs to waste your time. No unnecessary fights.
Something to mention. Sriman plays a role in the movie as a famous actor asking for police protection. His dialogues remind us totally of Illaya Thalapathi Vijay. Its a total dig at him and its hilarious.
Overall: Brilliant Movie.Labels: chennai, kamal, kollywood, movies, review, tamil |
| posted by Narayan @ 12:10 PM
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| Sunday, September 13, 2009 |
| Scared? |
An afternoon in LA. A car is speeding. At 110 miles per hour, down a road, that I am not sure of. There is not much information as to who is driving the car.
The cops have begun the chase. There are 4 cars following. The speeding car slows down to normal speed. The cops are still behind. Now, there are two helicopters that are part of the operation as well. The cops wait to see what's happening. The car takes off again for some more distance. This keeps happening for a while. Atleast 15 minutes. The cops stay, way behind the speeding car. No one is taking any action.
The speeding car comes to a stop. Its a lady inside. Looked like a more than middle-age woman. She couldn't even get out. The cops were still behind with their guns. They never came close. Very Very slowly, they came closer and then took her into custody.
Watching all this, live, on TV, I was wondering.
It takes so much time for cops with a lot of advanced technology and equipment to stop someone?
4 cars and 2 helicopters to catch an old woman on the car?
Wasn't that such a big waste of time and resources?
And why did they have to be so careful before trying to just nail that person down?
The day it happened was September 11. All over the country, everyone is cautious about crime happening on that day. They fear anything could happen. Anything unusual and everyone is on the alert.
The other thing I realised is the level of freedom that this country has given its people which is now turning against the same people. Anyone can get a license to buy a weapon - that can range from a small pistol to almost a shot gun. The cops who were chasing the car were, I dont know, maybe afraid or over-cautious, of the woman in the car. What if the woman just pulled out a gun and opened fire? Or if she had something else lethal?
The only point I can get out of seeing all this around me - The country wants its people to be free enough to do what they want to do. So they allow them to do anything and everything. Ok, not to the extent of building nuclear arms but something way lesser. And then they build their laws around what they can allow people to do. And when they do that, the law backfires. People start taking the law into their advantage and dont bother about the protectors. And that's exactly the reason why this place seems to be such an insecure society.
No one knows what his neighbour is doing. Its not his business, the neighbor could be doing a lot of scary things under the basement, but they dont care. One day it errupts like an uncontrollable volcano and then they wake up.
Agreed that they have enough control points. They track everything about you, but does that really help?Labels: life, people, terror, USA |
| posted by Narayan @ 10:14 AM
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