Kadhalil Vizhunthen - Review

Everyday for the last two weeks or so, in fact, every 20 minutes or lesser, all the SUN NETWORK tamil channels (SUN TV being the producer for the movie) were showing the trailer for Kadhalil Vizhunthen(KV).

The music was pre-released on the Internet very long time back. The famous Naka Muka song was topping the Kollywood music charts for months. No one had a clue about this movie and the songs were already a treat to the common Chennai listener.

The run up to this movie was quite good. I was impatiently waiting to see the movie.

Before we go the movie, I should definitely praise Vijay Anthony - the music director. What an amazing score!!! Simply superb. Peppy numbers that would make you remember. And not just one song. Every song in this movie has been composed carefully. With so much effort and thought, the songs bring a whole new life to the movie.

KV is a movie about obsessive love. The first half of the movie is extremely fast. I really meant it. There is enough entertainment that you dont realise the passage of time. The storyline has been dealt with so much skill that you are just wondering as to whats going to happen. The second half gets SERIOUS. So much that you get tired and disgusted; just waiting for the movie to get over. The entertainment value curve gets to the third quadrant and remains only there.

The story at the base level is the usual poor boy - rich girl love story but it does get disturbing to the eye and I would defnitely not recommend watching this with your family. School children - definite NO. The suspense in the movie starts off quite well and then gets so much out of control that it becomes just a waste of time. Turns out to be a bug drag.

Screenplay, script, dialogs, direction - all these aspects are absolutely worthy until the Intermission bell rings. Second half is disastrous.


Nakul - the fat guy with spiked hair in BOYS movie is the hero. Being half his size and for a first movie as hero, he has done really well. The best part is dance. It looks like this guy is going to have a good future. But he could have chosen a much lighter subject to start launch his career. After a point, his actions in the movie just intolerable.

Sunaina - simple and pretty. A newcomer gets so much screen presence. Quite commendable. In tamil movies, that too in recent times, female leads have just been for time-pass. Sunaina as Meera is quite an angel in the movie.

Sampath - the bad guy in SAROJA, has an important role to play in this movie. He has done well. Two good movies in a row for him. We'll see more of him I guess. Livingston does a good role too. All other characters are very random and not worth any special mention.

KV comes across as a movie that has borrowed/copied themes and ideas from so many other movies in the past - GUNA, Kadhal Kondaen, 7G Rainbow Colony. By this time you should have guessed the outcome of this movie. Yes, its a major TRAGEDY.

Overall: First Half - Wonderful. Second Half - Super Torture

Marc Faber on US Economy

Investment analyst and entrepreneur Dr. Marc Faber concluded his monthly bulletin (June 2008) with the Following:

”The federal government is sending each of us a $600 rebate. If we spend that money at Wal-Mart, the money goes to China. If we spend it on gasoline it goes to the Arabs. If we buy a computer it will go to India. If we purchase fruit and vegetables it will go to Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala.

If we purchase a good car it will go to Germany. If we purchase useless crap it will go to Taiwan and none of it will help the American economy.

The only way to keep that money here at home is to spend it on prostitutes and beer, since these are the only products still produced in US. I’ve been doing my part.’

Sakkarakatti - Damn Shitty

Let me ask one simple question. Do sons and daughters of actors have to necessarily become actors as well? Can't hey just study and do something else? And why completely tarnish the image of their parents who probably did really well during their time in the film industry.

Such is the case with Bhagyaraj's children. His daughter screwed up big time, in a movie a few years back and now its his son Mr. Shantanu. Like Vadivelu asks in one of his movies - YAEN !!!!

Shantanu - please! I am very sorry for you, son. I can already see your career plummeting. Unless you do something phenomenal. There should be a director and a producer who never heard about or saw this movie and they should cast you back in a movie. Thats your only hope. I dont know whether its your inability or the script, but this never worked for you. Your ratings - sorry, I dont think anyone would want to rate at all.

The movie is a crappy love story. During the movie, my friends and I were wondering whether its something wrong with the movie or we have grown out of such stupid ways of showing love. The way the movie treats love and relationships is absolutely at gutter standards. I wonder if college going people nowadays are like this.


AR Rahman - why Sir? Why did you do this to yourself? Did you really hear to the script before composing? Did someone influence you politically or catch you by the neck? Songs are nice but could have been composed for another film. For these films, it would have been good to have some random amateur music director. I am not taking any names.

Picturisation for songs - what a disaster! Too much of graphic effect that doesnt even gel with the movie. Themes copied from famous Hollywood movies. Learn guys. Learn.

What I am feeling is - Kalaipuli Thaanu made a lot of money with Dasavathaaram and maybe a few other movies previously. So he gave some black money to his son Kalaaprabhu and told him to just spend it with no sense whatsoever.

Shantanu's friends in the movie - what a bunch of losers! I hope I dont get to see any of those guys on the road. I dont think they'll come out too. They have lost even a crowd role in any south indian cinema.

Ishita - I think thats her original name. Screen name is Deepali. Whatever. How did they find her. She has no idea what she was doing in the movie. Did she act for free?

Vedika - remember the Kutti Pisaasu in Simbhu movie Kaalai. Yes, thats her. She is the one who does a reasonable role in the whole movie. Some good acting compared to everyone whho screwed up. Someone in the team had a mind to give her a good role. He/She definitely needs an award for having thought so much because no other person involved in this movie gave a thought about anything while making this movie.

I can just see the movies' revenues taking a downward shift right from day one. The van driver at Sathyam Cinema in Chennai told me that someone influenced the cinema management and made this movie run in a big hall. Pity Sathyam.

Overall: Worst movie of the year!!!

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suddenly something funny is happening. i am sitting in the office right now and chatting on google. i don't know if this is with my keyboard or mozilla or google but whatever i type on this browser gets scrambled and shows up on the screen like this. i cannot understand a word of this. what the hell is happening?

Like they say in X-Files, ARE THEY HERE NOW?

SAROJA

Ok, no critical review about this movie. SAROJA, an adaptation of the english movie "Judgment Night (1993)" is a great movie. Its a must watch. WHY?

Venkat Prabhu - the director, has done a NEAT job. For a person who is quite new to the art of direction, he has proved himself.

A very successful low budget movie. More than 70% of the movie has been shot outdoor with minimum requirements. A run down factory is the main place of action. Best use of available resources. No money for costumes as well. Its pretty much the same throughout the movie.

Most of the people in the cast are ones you see everyday in all the mega serials on SUN TV and other TV Channels. And since the movie particularly runs around these four friends and some key characters, I am guessing that most of the others made just a guest appearance. If thats the case, then so much money saved as well.

Movie is never serious. Comedy kicks in every now and then. So, you don't get tensed, get to the corner of your seat or bite your lips as to whats going to happen next. Even if you tried doing that, a unexpected Premji Amaran's dialog or expression will totally put you off-track.

Ok, one thing I don't understand is why did they give a name called SAROJA to that girl. I mean, its such a prehistoric name. Whatever.

Movie Team takes a dig at some Kollywood stars after their first attempt in Chennai 28 became immensely successful. Here its on Vijay's dialog "Evlovo Pannittom, idhu pannamattoma" and Rajni’s "I was helpless; I was kaarnered"

Nobody is a HERO in this movie. So, there is no one man beating 20 people phenomenon. Every thing is quite natural and acceptable to the mind. What would you do, if you are in trouble. You wont fight or fly in the air. You'll think and act. Thats what happens here as well. So, its a good reflection of a normal person.

Yuvan's music is very youthful and apt to how the story flows. "Dosthu bada dosthu" may end up being the latest friendship anthem and perhaps beat "Mustafa Mustafa".

You Knew?

Stunning
Beauteous
Ravishing
Graceful
Bonnie
Comely
Lovely
Attractive
Pulchritudinous
Exquisite
Resplendent
Splendiferous
Gorgeous

GOD, I never knew that the word "Beautiful" had so many similar words. Well, a few months back, everything in this world used to be Good and Pretty. It was so simple. Now those two words seem to have no meaning.

By the way, the image here is called "Aquarian Awakening". It was quite a surprise for me to find a picture like this.

Stylish Coke Ad

This is such a cool ad. I liked it a lot.

Dham Dhoom

Dham Dhoom is one movie from which you can learn a lot. Such as:

1. Toyota Innova is a great car for sensual love and romance.
2. In a foreign land, everyone around you, even your own country man, is a stranger.
3. A pole dancing stage in a bar is usually for women strippers and not men.
4. Don't get carried away by pretty women in a new country. Known devil is better than unknown angel.
5. Gut feeling can do magic.

Gautam (Ravi) is selected to go to Russia for a medical conference. He gets into trouble there and how he manages to set himself free is all what this movie is about. Jeyam Ravi's performance is quite good. As a stranger in a new land, he acts well.


Late Director Jeeva, who had worked with Director Shankar for a lot of movies and also independently gave hit movies like Ullam Ketkume and Unnale Unnale, had begun this project and was later completed by his team due to his sudden demise during the journey of this movie.

The first 20 minutes or so has almost 3 songs. That was like a shocker. In a way, its good too because later we will not have songs to distract us from the pace of the movie. As the movie gets to Russia, one of the guys from the Indian doctors team shows extreme emphasis about being careful in a new place. This gives enough ideas that in the next few scenes, our hero is going to have big trouble.

What I wonder is how Russian Immigration allows the Indian team to just enter without clear immigration checks. Also, why would you want to help some random woman in a foreign land, when you know that you are going to get married in like 15 days. Why try last minute flirting.

Harris Jeyaraj is back again with some numbers that are melodious. Background score reminds you of the Bourne movies. Its quite a straight copy.

Kangana Raut as Gautam's ladylove, Senba, is extremely skinny for a village girl and its completely unacceptable for "Tamil Nadu Village Girl Standards". Some flesh, especially near the hips, is required. Also, lip sync is bad.

Lakshmi Rai, supporting actor, is the advocate who helps Ravi in Russia. After a few glamorous roles, Lakshmi is back with character and substance to prove herself.

Malayalam actor Jayaram plays a very important role in this movie as an official from the Indian Embassy. When you closely observe his dialog delivery in the beginning, you get a feeling as to why it lacks assurance or assertiveness. Later, when things unfold you understand this well.

Overall: Good time pass

Jeyam Kondaan - Doesnt Win

Satya Jyothi films is back again helping director Kannan make it big.

Jeyam Kondaan takes us through few incidents in an ambitious young man's life. At the outset, its a brother-sister movie. So, this movie is somewhat like a re-jig of the Mani movie Agni Natchathiram. Definitely not any close.

Vinay returns from London to start a venture in India. After he lands, he finds that the money he had sent to his dad is missing from the bank. His quest to find out what happened to the money and then solving all the problems connected is the rest of this movie. A group of close friends, a step-sister with whom the sibling rivalry begins, a house in Madurai and its tenants, a local goon, are the main characters that shape this movie.

Vinay, as the lead role, in this movie, has done his part quite well. Most of his expressions remind you of his previous movie Unnale Unnale. His work on the songs part is hopeless, but what can he do. You just have to blame the choreographer.

Lekha Washington is the pinion of this movie. This is her first here and she has performed like a seasoned actor. Her arrogant and adamant nature reflects the generation of headstrong people whom you'd come across. If there is anyone who deserves credit for this movie, its Lekha.

Bhavana's performance is nothing to mention. She is just a supporting actor in this movie. Yeah, she has a few songs with Vinay. Otherwise, her role is very restricted to cute talking and she has no scope. The director has tried a "Dum Dum Dum Jothika intro song" similar with Bhavana in this movie. It hasn't worked well.

Vidyasagar's music doesn't deserve a clap. Songs like "Athai Koodava" and "Adai Mazhaikaalam" are melodious but don't strike a chord with the audience. You wouldn't want to hear to these songs again. The background score isn't any effective either.

Comedy takes two separate tracks, one with Vivek in the city and another with Santhanam in the suburbs. Both do well. In a certain instance, Vivek travels into a serious note which is quite commendable.

The movie comes with a host of extra characters who try and make as much impact as possible. Thalaivasal Vijay, Nizhalgal Ravi, Megha Rajan, Cochin Haneefa are a few to name. Krishna, who is Vinay's friend in the movie, has given an excellent performance. I would also appreciate the director for showing some depth in Krishna's character.

Overall: Watch it only for Lekha

Learnt

THERE WAS A GIRL
WHO WAS
TALL THIN AND FAIR

HER HAIR
HER HAIR
WAS VERY VERY LONG

Invitation Fiasco

I suppose, the idea of a perfect wedding never works that well with the men.

So I spent like one or two weeks deciding how to send an engagement invitation to my friends - BCC them on an email or send them a prepared invitation from an external site. There was a need to know the numbers, so the best way was to get people to reply on a page that was available from a site. I started searching on the internet. Narrowed down a few sites, created login ids on all those sites and also got a few templates shortlisted.

As this needs suggestions and validations from you know who, I spent considerable amount of time on chat, discussing what needs to be done. My initial research was well appreciated. Then, she rejected two top priority sites of mine and came up with another site that she had seen. Later, she told me that all the templates that were available on the sites I suggested were hopeless. So she spent some time creating a new template. It came out really well. We spent a few days making some final changes. It was good to go.

She had decided how she wanted to send the invitation. She did that. In fact, she sent me a test invitation as well to see whether everything worked fine. Field Engineer's mind works with precision. Like everything you do on the rig is important as the operating cost is extremely high, same principles worked with the invitations. Extra care and attention was given.

I took extra time and finally realized that it was high time to send the email out. Last minute pressures. I created an account in a site that I liked (actually it was the one she had used. you know how easy it is to copy-paste) and started preparing the invite. While adding email ids to the address list, I did an overconfident import from my gmail account and 1500 plus email ids were added to the address list. Until then it was okay.

Something funny happened. I was on some screen on that website and then I saw a button which said "PREVIEW and SEND". I clicked that and then it started showing me an hour glass button on the screen. For about 10 seconds I didnt know what was happening. Suddenly it struck me. I knew something was going wrong and then I pressed the "CANCEL" button on the page.

By that time, the deed was almost done. The system had already started sending emails to my friends. Worst, it sent emails to some yahoo and google groups that I had subscribed to, as well.

Sometimes its typical IT Industry mentality. Do something called development and send it. When it bombs, we will do maintenance and support. And thats exactly what I have been doing. I have no clue as to how many people have got this invitation email. Every reply is like a support call now. I am answering back with thanks and letting them know about the incomplete invitation. I hope I dont spend the whole of tomorrow doing this.

What a fiasco !!!!
Enna Kodumai Saravanan Ithu

Trip to Rameswaram - Part 1

On a Friday evening; especially when the saturday is a no-moon day; you definitely don't want to take a train to Rameswaram from Chennai. The average age of the passengers is 50 or even more. All through the train, you get the smell of onion or tomato chutney. Let me not forget to mention the amount of home cooked food as well. These are some routes where the railway catering probably makes no money. And then you have a bunch of people singing songs in the name of God.

And fortunately or unfortunately; a bunch of us, office friends, boarded the Rameswaram Express at 5pm from Chennai Egmore station. 12 hours to reach the temple town. What a painful journey! And guess what, everybody on that train is going to be at the temple in the morning. Thats like a lill more than 1200 people. Dont forget the people who are going to take vans, buses and all other forms to transport to the town. Moreover, this weekend was after the no-moon day when the eclipse was also around. So according to some priests, there is more reason to crowd around Rameswaram.

At 5 in the morning, the typical smell of a fisherman's town woke me up. At that time, the train was just going to enter the Pamban Bridge. In about 25 mins, we reached the station. Our rooms were booked at the Tamilnadu tourism hotel which was near the sea shore. There arent too many hotels here. Only a few good ones. If you plan to be here during a festival or any important weekend like this one, you better book rooms. Otherwise no chance!

Agnitheertham is the point to start your tour of Rameswaram. This is the spot on the sea right opposite the east tower of the temple. You need to take a dip in the sea and then walk to the temple. There are 22 sacred wells inside the temple where you have to shower as well (not really shower, but a guy will pour some water from a bucket on your head). If you take the standard temple queue for this, then the rates are very nominal, around Rs.17 i think. If you use an agent; of course, they will come and find you, then it varies between Rs.50 and 75 a head. Definitely, an agent does a good job. So, dont mind the money at all. Once this is done, you have to get back to your room, change into dry clothes and come back for darshan. Ramanathaswamy (Lord Shiva) is the main deity here.

After darshan, you can go around the hallway of the temple and see the architecture and paintings. There is also a shrine for Parvathy, Lord Rama and Hanuman. This temple is one of the 12 Jyotirlingam temples in India. Some of the other things about this temple is the Palliyarai Darshan you shouldnt miss. At around 8.15pm, the puja for the Lord ends and the lord is brought by the priest to the Palliyarai near the Devi Shrine. The Palliyarai has a golden cradle where the lord and the goddess rest. A special puja happens and then sandalwood paste is given as prasadam to every devotee present. At a Shiva temple, its usually Vibhuti (ash) and never sandalwood paste. So this is also different. Next day morning (5am to 6am) is the Spatika Linga Abhishekam. This is the only time when the Spatika Lingam is taken out and bathed with milk. Just before this happens, you can watch the priest bringing the Lord back from the Palliyarai to the main shrine.

This temple also has a nice legend associated with it. Click here to read about that.

After completing our morning dips, we went back to the lodge. I had my breakfast at a hotel near the temple. The roads on the east and west side of the temple are the only ones that have decent hotels. Don't expect great service. They serve good vegetarian food. Thats all.

Our next trip was to Dhanushkodi. We hired a jeep. A jeep can take 5 people and it will cost you Rs.950. This place is about 20 kms away from Rameswaram and its the point of confluence for the Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal. The ride was extremely tiring, but the views we got of the seas was amazing. On this picture, you can see one of the islands. Jump a few of those islands and you are in Ceylon. On the way back, we visited the Kothandaramswamy Temple - the place where Lord Rama crowned Vibhishana.