Ghajini - In Hindi

Prayer to God - SRK please dont watch Vaaranam Aayiram and ask Karan Johar to copy the movie for you.

When I walked out of the movie hall, that was the feeling I had about Aamir Khan's Ghajini - a remake of the tamil version. Comparing two movies is not the way to go, but what the hell. I think this way I can represent my thoughts better.

Two hours of this movie is just the same. Copy Copy Copy. This is Bombay and that was Chennai. The last 30 minutes was dealt with concentrated effort to make it look professional.

Aamir Khan has done a lot of hard work in this movie, but gets distinction only. You have to give it to Suriya for his outstanding performance in the tamil version. Khan looks very royal in the first bit. So its a bit difficult for a third tier model to visualise him as an aspiring model. Surya does that part well. He looks pro when he is a CEO and he appears very down to earth during his part with Asin.

Props look more sopihisticated this time. A posh apartment in Hiranandani Gardens is too much to ask for. That too, well laid plans and pictures. Everything looks clean and doesnt look like a house that belongs to someone who suffers from short term memory loss.

Asin steals the show. She is the same Kalpana we saw a few years back but what an amazing performance. Bollywood lassies - beware! Miss Thottumkal has already established her position with class.

Ghajini might be a hit in Bollywood because Bollywood has not seen movies with meaningful scripts for a very long time. Most movies are luxurious commercials. So this movie will definitely go a long way.

Jiah Khan plays Nayantara's role in the movie. I thought Nayantara was such a waste of time in the movie. Jiah says - No, how can that be! I will prove that I am the worst for that role.

AR Murugadoss has done a great job. He has ensured that the second version is much better and cleaner than the first one. As a director he scores more points for the hindi version.

AR Rahman's music. I seriously could not appreciate the songs. Background score was mindblowing. Songs - sorry. Sanjay sees Kalpana and falls in love with her. "Oru Maalai" in Tamil was such a fantastic representation of the mood. Here in the same situation, the song sucks. And then Suttum Vizhi - it was another mega hit song. Perhaps Rahman thought that he shouldn't bring the same mood inside the hindi version but these songs in tamil gave such a boost to the storyline. It didnt do that much impact in Hindi.

Overall: A new experience for hindi movie lovers.

Silambattam - Little Star Rises

Little Star does it again. A complete entertainer. A bit of everything that you would expect in a excessively commercial movie.

I think the main highlight of this movie is Yuvan's music. I should talk about it before anything else. Yuvan has given the best again. The music is well aligned with the commercial aspect of the movie. Dont expect the song visuals to be aligned to the script. NO WAY. The songs are just to enjoy. 'Vechikkava' - a remix and mega hit from Simbu and Suchitra, after 'Dandanaka' in Kaalai. This song sets the mood for all the songs to follow. 'Vechikkava' also reminds you a bit of 'Maarugo maarugo' from Vetri Vizha. 'Nalamthaana' is also a cool one. Yuvan has made ilayaraja sing for one of his songs and its come out really well.

Story - well, its again related to revenge and gory fights between two families. They just keep killing each other and then you know what happens in the end. but still, there is a reasonable twist in the story and its quite nice as it generates enough masala content for the audience.

Simbhu does the role of a priest in the temple. What I dont like here is the way they have portrayed the priest community in the movie. They just make a lot of fun and its not good. I mean, I haven't seen a lot of movies that make fun of the christian nor the muslim community. In fact, I cant even think of one where they made excessive fun of these two communities. Even for that matter, a chettiar or a nadar or those deep down south ones. most movies take a dig at brahminism and this movie takes it to an unbearable level. So, Simbu's characterisation is quite nice. He has acted well, the typical styles follow. He has also worked well on the song sequences.

Sana Khan - major time pass girl in the movie. she is best used only for the songs. exposure - yes. that element is there too. lip sync is quite bad i thought. dont know whether she will go a long way. but definitely item number material.

Prabhu does a character role in the movie and it goes quite well for him. Sneha is also around for a while. She plays her part with elegance.

Action is an important element of this movie. Rather the main element. Kanal Kannan manages to pull it off again. Very skillful and neat.

Comedy by Santhanam and Manobala in the Brahmin setting really sucks. They just take a dig at multiple people and sometimes sound quite offensive. Karunas in the second half of the movie makes you laugh naturally.

Overall: Mass entertainer. Try once if you have time and money to waste.

Weekend Well Spent

My weekend started on Thursday evening when I boarded the train to Kodai Road. It was a fun filled three day weekend. Highlights as follows:

1. Ran to catch the moving train. I was actually sitting inside another train on the opposite platform until my friends came and told me that I was sitting in the wrong train.

2. Was forced to listen to a torture conversation from a supporting actor by name Y.Vijaya. She always comes in the tamil movies as someone who belongs to the bad guys family.

3. Got to see some of the spots where the movie Subramaniyapuram was shot.

4. Awesome breakfast at Sholavanthan.

5. Got to check out the Vadipatti artifical turf ground. Apparently, Vadipatti churns out the maximum enthusiasts for hockey from Tamil Nadu.

6. Tried Paneer Soda after almost a decade. God, it was so refreshing. And then, Bovonto, another amazing drink.

7. Took a small walk in Kodaikanal on Friday evening. Visibility was like 2 feet.

8. Saturday morning was bright and sunny. So, we ended up doing a 30 plus km cycle ride in the hills. Went around the lake and took the upper lake view road straight to the golf course, then Pillar Rocks and then the Berijam Checkpost. From there headed down another hill for about 15 kms.

9. Amazing uphills and downhills. Downhill speed of atleast 35-40kmph. Got knackered completely on the uphills. Every hill was a challenge. There was always this tendency to give up and get on to the support truck. But, giving an extra mile of effort is such a pleasant feeling and it gives you a great feeling at the end. So I kept riding the cycle until the guys just forced me to stop.

10. Bought half a kilo of home made chocolates from Kodi - Raisins, Dates, Butter Scotch, Almonds. Every possible flavor.

11. Took a scary ride back to Sholavanthan. The driver drove the Omni at 60kmph through the hills. He reached the foothills in about an hour. Every minute, I was fearing whether I was going to throw up.

12. Reached Madurai on Sunday morning and tasted the world famous Jigar-Thanda. There are only 2 shops in Madurai that are famous for this. Every other seller is trying to fake it.

13. Visited the Thirumalai Naicker Mahal, which was under renovation. So nothing much to see, other than concrete, cement and paint all over the place.

14. Silambattam - the best thing to happen in Madurai. Totally Simbhu style and killer movie.

15. A mindblowing concert by Vedanth Bharadwaj at the INTACH Madurai to end the holiday.

Just heard

One of our relatives came home on Sunday evening. They had something to tell.

Someone in their family was the Revenue Manager(RM) at the TAJ. He was leading a team of 5 people. They were holding a meeting at the TAJ about the arrival of a cricket team for the ICL. After a while, they got news that the cricket team was going to get delayed indefinitely.

The team plus RM was reporting to a General Manager(GM), who had recently joined the TAJ in Bombay. He still hadn't found a place to live, so he was living at the TAJ with his family as well. After this meeting, the GM asked the RM to leave since the cricket team wasn't going to come to the hotel.

So, our relative, who was the RM, left the hotel. He was just 10 minutes away from the Hotel, when he heard the news. Obviously he couldn't get back to the hotel to see what was happening. But he got the news three days later.

The 5 people who were in the meeting room with him that day were brutally shot by the terrorists.

The GM, who heard the news of the attack in the Hotel, was getting down the elevator. There was so much commotion that he could not get to either the team nor his family. He wasn't allowed to go anywhere, rather. But the mean terrorists had entered in multiple places. The family was shot as well. It took them three days to get the bodies out. The mother had been holding the child locked in her arms when they were being shot by the terrorists. After three days, the rescuers could not even unlock the hands to separate the bodies.

Just hearing to this was so painful. I seriously cannot imagine what the immediate families would be going through.