The word GURU is split as GU and RU. GU means darkness and RU means removal. A GURU is someone who removes the darkness that is present in our minds.
The song "Guruleka Etuvanti Guniki" composed by Saint Tyagaraja is an excellent piece on the importance of the GURU.
There is a definite difference between a GURU and the ACHARYA. The GURU is supposed to give us Diksha and prepare the disciple for mukthi. An Acharya is for Siksha and that is why we have Vijayadasami. Acharya gives us vidya to be successful.
Purandaradasa says that without Guru, you cannot have anything in life. Whatever you do, even if you read the Shastras on your own, you will still need a Guru. Kabirdas also says that given a choice he will always choose the Guru over God. This is because the Guru is the only person who will accept you as you are and try to change you into being a better person.
A person needs Guru for three reasons - Samithpani, Shrothriyam and Brahmanishtam. The Guru needs to have Anubhavam and Aanmeekam and should be able to follow both. If the disciple does something wrong, then the sin comes to the Guru.
The disciple needs to look at the Guru in 5 forms - Father, Matropadesha, Vidyopadesha, Annadaata and Bhayadrata.
"Guruguhaya Bhaktanu" composed by Muthuswamy Dhikshithar is a great composition where he says that my guru is the one who is the supremo and knows everything.
There were two main Gurus, one for the Devas - Brihaspati and one for the Asuras - Sukracharya. When Lord Vishnu came to ask Mahabali the whole world and in turn wanted to send him to the bottom of the earth, Sukracharya asked Mahabali not to give anything. This brings us to another point. The Guru should never teach the disciple two things - To not believe in God and Be dishonest.
The vedas state that there are instances where the sishya has surpassed the Guru in knowledge. Prahalada learnt in less than 10 years what Sage Narada has learnt in 3 lives.
This is what I learnt about the Guru in today's concert by Dr.Vijay Siva.
Monday, December 07, 2009
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Friday, September 25, 2009
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.
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.
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?
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?
Friday, September 04, 2009
Important Discussion at the Oval
I thought it would be better that I put my creativity here rather than on FACEBOOK.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Kandaswamy
Of all the movies I have seen this year, I will definitely remember Kandaswamy.
When I heard that Kandaswamy was going to release, I did my google research on where all in the US the movie was going to release. I found out that Kansas City, 220 miles from my place was the closest. I got excited. I knew that it would take the whole day but what the hell. Can't I do this much to see a blockbuster tamil movie!
And boy, the movie was worth every mile and every penny I paid for the trip. It was a GREAT ENTERTAINER
When Kandaswamy begins, you feel a little bit annoyed because of the attire and the funny actions that Vikram makes. But thats only the beginning. The story immediately takes a turn and gets only extremely interesting.
Kandaswamy is like a lot of other movies. Themes are heavily borrowed from Ramana, Sivaji and then Chiyaan's own Anniyan, Gentleman of course - basically a lot of movies that put a question on stopping corruption, black money and helping the poor.
Vikram plays the role of Kandaswamy, an IPS officer with the CBI. Kandaswamy is also the main deity of the temple in Thiruporur (Kanchipuram district). Kandaswamy helps the poor. Anyone who needs monetary help, writes a request and ties it on the tree and Kandaswamy helps.
Vikram plays his role with ease. As the CBI officer, he acts very polished and smart. I would appreciate the director for using the stunts as and when necessary. It really shows that the protagonist is much like a common man. Vikram singing all his songs is quite a big thing. I dont think anyone has tried anything like that. And I can only appreciate Vikram for this.
Shriya - what can i say about this piece of beauty! Right from the beginning till the end, you cant take your eyes off her. Pretty, vibrant, bold and magnetic - thats how she comes across throughout the movie. Her coiffure is so sexy. Lip syncs did not work well. Suchi did a perfect job in the dialog bit. Emotions came out extremely well. But Shriya didnt learn her dialogs. Costume selection are a 150% above the mark. Very Chic and suit Shriya's personality.
Prabhu plays an important role in the movie. I am sure that he will be appreciated a lot. Ashish Vidyarthi has Shriya's dad and YG Mahendra as his secretary - both of them play the bad guys. The two of them have done a wonderful job. Towards the end, we dont see Ashish. God knows what happened. There is one more bad guy. I dont get his name. He is the one who gets the song. This is one movie in which the bad guys dont fight with the hero directly. In fact, there are hardly any fights. I could count three I think. There is less emphasis on the Dishyum and Kaboom stuff. More work for the brain.
Comedy by Vadivelu is definitely a treat. Its a separate track. After a long time, comedy gets its place in the film. Usually heroes do a bit of comedy as well and sometimes it doesnt go too well. And then heroes join with the comedian too. But in this movie, I think it made a lot of sense to keep the hero in his serious mood and leave the job to Vadivelu. Tremendous effort to keep the audience laughing. Connecting to previous movies during the comedy track is fantastic. Mansoor Ali Khan is back in this movie and he does some light comedy as well.
Music by Devi Sri Prasad is actually amazing. "Excuse Me", "Meow Meow", and "Mambomamia" have been favorites for a very long time, topping all charts. I liked "Mambomamia" the best, for the choreography and setting. This song was taken completely in Mexico and its just beautiful. Background score just gives an amazing lift to the whole movie.
Its almost towards the end of the movie and somewhere the bad guy has to get caught. And like any other tamil movie, the bad guy gets an item song and then the hero enters. So, "En peru Meenakumari" doesnt really come as a suprise.
Susi Ganeshan needs to be congratulated for giving us a total entertainer. His story may look like the ones from before, but the entertainment value is very high. The storyline has been handled with meticulous effort. Everytime you see that the bad guys and the police get this close to catching Kandaswamy and then the story takes a small turn. Which is good because the director has understood the mood of the audience well and planned the twists in the story accordinly. This is not some movie where the hero keeps flying in the air. The director shows that its actually science and engineering that makes it happen. Well, its not 100% believable but its still a great attempt.
I think Kalaipuli Thanu will make a lot of money.
OVERALL: GREAT ENTERTAINER. MUST WATCH
When I heard that Kandaswamy was going to release, I did my google research on where all in the US the movie was going to release. I found out that Kansas City, 220 miles from my place was the closest. I got excited. I knew that it would take the whole day but what the hell. Can't I do this much to see a blockbuster tamil movie!
And boy, the movie was worth every mile and every penny I paid for the trip. It was a GREAT ENTERTAINER
When Kandaswamy begins, you feel a little bit annoyed because of the attire and the funny actions that Vikram makes. But thats only the beginning. The story immediately takes a turn and gets only extremely interesting.
Kandaswamy is like a lot of other movies. Themes are heavily borrowed from Ramana, Sivaji and then Chiyaan's own Anniyan, Gentleman of course - basically a lot of movies that put a question on stopping corruption, black money and helping the poor.
Vikram plays the role of Kandaswamy, an IPS officer with the CBI. Kandaswamy is also the main deity of the temple in Thiruporur (Kanchipuram district). Kandaswamy helps the poor. Anyone who needs monetary help, writes a request and ties it on the tree and Kandaswamy helps.
Vikram plays his role with ease. As the CBI officer, he acts very polished and smart. I would appreciate the director for using the stunts as and when necessary. It really shows that the protagonist is much like a common man. Vikram singing all his songs is quite a big thing. I dont think anyone has tried anything like that. And I can only appreciate Vikram for this.
Shriya - what can i say about this piece of beauty! Right from the beginning till the end, you cant take your eyes off her. Pretty, vibrant, bold and magnetic - thats how she comes across throughout the movie. Her coiffure is so sexy. Lip syncs did not work well. Suchi did a perfect job in the dialog bit. Emotions came out extremely well. But Shriya didnt learn her dialogs. Costume selection are a 150% above the mark. Very Chic and suit Shriya's personality.
Prabhu plays an important role in the movie. I am sure that he will be appreciated a lot. Ashish Vidyarthi has Shriya's dad and YG Mahendra as his secretary - both of them play the bad guys. The two of them have done a wonderful job. Towards the end, we dont see Ashish. God knows what happened. There is one more bad guy. I dont get his name. He is the one who gets the song. This is one movie in which the bad guys dont fight with the hero directly. In fact, there are hardly any fights. I could count three I think. There is less emphasis on the Dishyum and Kaboom stuff. More work for the brain.
Comedy by Vadivelu is definitely a treat. Its a separate track. After a long time, comedy gets its place in the film. Usually heroes do a bit of comedy as well and sometimes it doesnt go too well. And then heroes join with the comedian too. But in this movie, I think it made a lot of sense to keep the hero in his serious mood and leave the job to Vadivelu. Tremendous effort to keep the audience laughing. Connecting to previous movies during the comedy track is fantastic. Mansoor Ali Khan is back in this movie and he does some light comedy as well.
Music by Devi Sri Prasad is actually amazing. "Excuse Me", "Meow Meow", and "Mambomamia" have been favorites for a very long time, topping all charts. I liked "Mambomamia" the best, for the choreography and setting. This song was taken completely in Mexico and its just beautiful. Background score just gives an amazing lift to the whole movie.
Its almost towards the end of the movie and somewhere the bad guy has to get caught. And like any other tamil movie, the bad guy gets an item song and then the hero enters. So, "En peru Meenakumari" doesnt really come as a suprise.
Susi Ganeshan needs to be congratulated for giving us a total entertainer. His story may look like the ones from before, but the entertainment value is very high. The storyline has been handled with meticulous effort. Everytime you see that the bad guys and the police get this close to catching Kandaswamy and then the story takes a small turn. Which is good because the director has understood the mood of the audience well and planned the twists in the story accordinly. This is not some movie where the hero keeps flying in the air. The director shows that its actually science and engineering that makes it happen. Well, its not 100% believable but its still a great attempt.
I think Kalaipuli Thanu will make a lot of money.
OVERALL: GREAT ENTERTAINER. MUST WATCH
Saturday, August 08, 2009
The Natural State
For the next 8 weeks, I will be stationed in the Natural State. I didnt know that this American state was called the Natural State. When you look around, you'll definitely feel so. Nothing much around other than lots of empty tracts of grassland. And then some buildings just to show that its not a forest reserve or something.
My flight to the US was quite exciting. The chennai to bombay flight took almost 3 hrs. After a point, I was wondering what the pilot was really doing. the next leg to frankfurt was sleeping time. in frankfurt, i met prof rakesh vohra - our ISB Eco prof from Kellogg. it was very nice to talk to him after almost 2 yrs. we were talking about consulting, ISB, the mohali school, the placement scenario, my new client and all sorts of stuff. i got into the flight to chicago and then figured out that my seat was also allocated to another german girl. knowing this, the air hostess gave me a business class seat. it was a pleasant shock. maharajah seats that turn into a bed at the touch of a button, all sorts of controls, special treatment from the staff, amazing food spread - i had a wonderful time.
then the wait in chicago was terrible. my next flight was only after 6 hrs. so i had to literally waste time. one thing i noticed at the domestic terminal 3 in chicago was there is only one payphone that allows you to use a credit card. for everything else, you need to put coins.
the next flight was for 1.5hrs. when the flight reached XNA (the airport in Arkansas), i was really tired. there were less than 20 ppl who came with me. my luggage had already arrived on a previous flight.
my hotel was like a 30mins drive from the airport. on my way, i figured out that walmart, jb hunt and tyson foods are the only big employers in this state. and in bentonville, where i was going to work, its was just walton's world. i noticed a delivery center that was as big as an international airport. there must have been a thousand trucks waiting to load goods.
office is very strange. everyone here comes to work at 7am!!! and then they leave only by 5pm. do they really have that much work to do? also, this place is a real factory. we've heard of factory model in IT, but here i saw it live. there are thousands of people around you working for the same company. everyone walks in a line. when they reach a junction (inside the office), they slow down to see oncoming traffic and then they proceed. especially during the lunch hours, if you tried to jump the line or go on the wrong side, you'll create chaos maybe. it feels as if you are in the middle of programmed employees. Like the ones in i-robot.
on friday, i got a car as well. when i entered the rental car office, they showed me PT Cruiser. I had no intention of taking that. Then they showed me a Chevy HHR which was an extended version of the Cruiser. I was definitely not taking that too. Then I noticed a Pontiac G6 in the garage and I asked them about it. Apparently it was available and they had no idea that it was there in the garage. I signed up and took the car.
so thats the travel update and i hope to write more about the natural state and maybe from the factory as well.
My flight to the US was quite exciting. The chennai to bombay flight took almost 3 hrs. After a point, I was wondering what the pilot was really doing. the next leg to frankfurt was sleeping time. in frankfurt, i met prof rakesh vohra - our ISB Eco prof from Kellogg. it was very nice to talk to him after almost 2 yrs. we were talking about consulting, ISB, the mohali school, the placement scenario, my new client and all sorts of stuff. i got into the flight to chicago and then figured out that my seat was also allocated to another german girl. knowing this, the air hostess gave me a business class seat. it was a pleasant shock. maharajah seats that turn into a bed at the touch of a button, all sorts of controls, special treatment from the staff, amazing food spread - i had a wonderful time.
then the wait in chicago was terrible. my next flight was only after 6 hrs. so i had to literally waste time. one thing i noticed at the domestic terminal 3 in chicago was there is only one payphone that allows you to use a credit card. for everything else, you need to put coins.
the next flight was for 1.5hrs. when the flight reached XNA (the airport in Arkansas), i was really tired. there were less than 20 ppl who came with me. my luggage had already arrived on a previous flight.
my hotel was like a 30mins drive from the airport. on my way, i figured out that walmart, jb hunt and tyson foods are the only big employers in this state. and in bentonville, where i was going to work, its was just walton's world. i noticed a delivery center that was as big as an international airport. there must have been a thousand trucks waiting to load goods.
office is very strange. everyone here comes to work at 7am!!! and then they leave only by 5pm. do they really have that much work to do? also, this place is a real factory. we've heard of factory model in IT, but here i saw it live. there are thousands of people around you working for the same company. everyone walks in a line. when they reach a junction (inside the office), they slow down to see oncoming traffic and then they proceed. especially during the lunch hours, if you tried to jump the line or go on the wrong side, you'll create chaos maybe. it feels as if you are in the middle of programmed employees. Like the ones in i-robot.
on friday, i got a car as well. when i entered the rental car office, they showed me PT Cruiser. I had no intention of taking that. Then they showed me a Chevy HHR which was an extended version of the Cruiser. I was definitely not taking that too. Then I noticed a Pontiac G6 in the garage and I asked them about it. Apparently it was available and they had no idea that it was there in the garage. I signed up and took the car.
so thats the travel update and i hope to write more about the natural state and maybe from the factory as well.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Ebony and Ivory
First of all, I should thank Vedanth Bharadwaj for having sent me a Facebook Invitation for this concert.
Ebony and Ivory - a concert by Anil Srinivasan and Sikkil Gurucharan accompanied by BS Purushottam on the Kanjira.
On a beautiful Friday evening (24th July 2009) in Kalakshetra, Anil and Guru entertained the audience for about 1.5 hours through some amazing raagas.
The concert was dedicated to the great MS Subbulakshmi. MS's piano, which dates back to almost 1947 was gifted to the Kalakshetra by the MS family. The school already had a piano that belonged to Rukmini Devi. Anil Srinivasan, Leela Samson and a few like minded people decided to restore the piano and celebrate the hard work through a concert. This free concert that was conducted on Kalakshetra premises attracted people like Anita Ratnam, Aruna Sairam and Unnikrishnan.
Anil played both pianos. MS's piano had been recently restored and did not have the capacity to stand a whole concert. So Anil just played one song on that one. All other songs were played on the other one.
All through the concert, Anil explained about how the piano was restored and the effort that had gone into the concert. He also talked about every song, gave a bit of background and history when it was required.
The first one was a ragamalika - Sindhu Bhairavi, Kalyanavasantha, Poorvikalyani, Neelambari and Madhayamavathi. It was such a free flowing music from Guru and Anil on the piano. The transitions from one raagam to another was very good and when it came towards Neelambari, it sounded so sweet that there was a feeling of happiness rushing through me.
Gurucharan also sang "Naan Oru Vilayaattu Bommaiyyaa" and the music was played on MS' piano.
There were two Annamacharya Krithis that were also sung. I forgot the songs. I think one was set in Pantuvarali.
There is no Sikkil-Anil concert without one from the albums they have released perviously. So Guru embellished the concert with Poonguyil from his album Maayaa. This Kalki Krishnamurthy song was set in the raagam Kaapi.
The last piece was Hari Tumharo set in Darbari Kanada and this song reminded me of Malare Mounama from the movie Karnaa and Vedant told me that even Poo Maalai Vaangi Vanthaal from Sindhu Bhairavi was quite similar.
Even though the concert seemed to be very quick, it was a great experience to see some stalwarts around me. It was simply wonderful to see the pride that everyone took in associating themselves with the MS Family or Kalakshetra. Whoever came on stage, gave us anecdotes about the piano, MS, musicians of the same era.
The concert was called Ebony and Ivory because the keys on MS' piano were made of ivory and the wood used was Ebony. The piano was bought for a princely amount of Rs.2000 during the pre-independence years and its great to see that it has been restored and will be housed within an institution that is world famous for its carnatic roots.
Ebony and Ivory - a concert by Anil Srinivasan and Sikkil Gurucharan accompanied by BS Purushottam on the Kanjira.
On a beautiful Friday evening (24th July 2009) in Kalakshetra, Anil and Guru entertained the audience for about 1.5 hours through some amazing raagas.
The concert was dedicated to the great MS Subbulakshmi. MS's piano, which dates back to almost 1947 was gifted to the Kalakshetra by the MS family. The school already had a piano that belonged to Rukmini Devi. Anil Srinivasan, Leela Samson and a few like minded people decided to restore the piano and celebrate the hard work through a concert. This free concert that was conducted on Kalakshetra premises attracted people like Anita Ratnam, Aruna Sairam and Unnikrishnan.
Anil played both pianos. MS's piano had been recently restored and did not have the capacity to stand a whole concert. So Anil just played one song on that one. All other songs were played on the other one.
All through the concert, Anil explained about how the piano was restored and the effort that had gone into the concert. He also talked about every song, gave a bit of background and history when it was required.
The first one was a ragamalika - Sindhu Bhairavi, Kalyanavasantha, Poorvikalyani, Neelambari and Madhayamavathi. It was such a free flowing music from Guru and Anil on the piano. The transitions from one raagam to another was very good and when it came towards Neelambari, it sounded so sweet that there was a feeling of happiness rushing through me.
Gurucharan also sang "Naan Oru Vilayaattu Bommaiyyaa" and the music was played on MS' piano.
There were two Annamacharya Krithis that were also sung. I forgot the songs. I think one was set in Pantuvarali.
There is no Sikkil-Anil concert without one from the albums they have released perviously. So Guru embellished the concert with Poonguyil from his album Maayaa. This Kalki Krishnamurthy song was set in the raagam Kaapi.
The last piece was Hari Tumharo set in Darbari Kanada and this song reminded me of Malare Mounama from the movie Karnaa and Vedant told me that even Poo Maalai Vaangi Vanthaal from Sindhu Bhairavi was quite similar.
Even though the concert seemed to be very quick, it was a great experience to see some stalwarts around me. It was simply wonderful to see the pride that everyone took in associating themselves with the MS Family or Kalakshetra. Whoever came on stage, gave us anecdotes about the piano, MS, musicians of the same era.
The concert was called Ebony and Ivory because the keys on MS' piano were made of ivory and the wood used was Ebony. The piano was bought for a princely amount of Rs.2000 during the pre-independence years and its great to see that it has been restored and will be housed within an institution that is world famous for its carnatic roots.
Friday, July 17, 2009
Pasanga
9th grade - we were asked to help in moving the new notebooks to the library on the 3rd floor from the ground floor. we formed a chain and started passing notebooks from one hand to another. one bright idea during the whole execution and we pushed a few notebooks into our classroom. no one from the staff noticed and 30 notebooks were in our hands. but there was someone accounting for it somewhere. the next day we were all standing in the assembly hall in front of the whole school.
7th grade - i still remember standing in front of the principals room with my dad. my friend and i had done some mischief during science class and triggered a big commotion that someone decided to complain.
8th grade - my friend copied an expected exam essay question answer on his test notebook's last page and then forgot to tear that page off before handing over the notebook. the teacher accidentally found out and gave him a zero for that test.
7th grade - i was on a casual running race with my friend and when we were almost close to finish, i ran close to him and did a smart leg trip. he fell down and was badly hurt.
10th grade - my science teacher asked my friend who was sitting on the first bench to tuck in his shirt. obeying her, he immediately unzipped and started tucking in. she got furious and made him stand outside the class without his shirt on.
Pandirajan's directorial debut for the movie PASANGA, although set in a small town, brought back all those wonderful years in school.
PASANGA - as the name suggests, is all about kids, their lives in school, friendship, inter-gang rivalry, mischievous children playing spoil-sport and double gaming on each other, competition, their influence on parents lives and vice versa, ambitions, expectations when they see people around them, the list could go on.
Anyone who has been seen life through the eyes of a middle class family can definitely understand the vibrations this movie sends out. Of course, the director had to add an element of romance to keep the audience interested. Otherwise, I would have been bored with just the kids fighting with each other.
Anbukkarasu joins a corporation school in a new town. He is a super achiever and very down to earth. Jeeva, Pakkada and Kutti Mani are the trio who hate Anbu and there starts our story. Small skirmishes between Anbu and Jeeva's gang lead to even the parents shouting at each other. I am sure that we have seen a lot of this even when we went to school.
Meenakshi Sundaram (Anbu's uncle) and Sobikannu (Jeeva's sister. saw her last in the movie Saroja) bring a smile to the whole movie. Their love story has been dealt with simplicity and fun. The exchange of dialogs using cell phones is highy innovative and impressive.
The kids are the central theme of this movie. Playing small games, inducing jealousy between each other are part and parcel of the movie. The movie goes on to tell us that the emotions that the kids go through are quite the same as we do. Ours is a bit more magnified. Trying to put honey on the head of the guy you hate to make his hair go white or setting up an elder cousin to punch the guy on his way back from school or asking some random guy to chant some hymns to ensure that your rival fails in class - I am sure that all of us thought of some thing or the other, to oust our rivals in school.
The rivalry goes a little further. The parents start hating each other initially until an honest conversation between the two dad's brings the families a little closer. The kids still remain enemies. The love story unfolds. The parents decide on a wedding. The kids dont like it. Whether they remain friends is the remaining part of the movie.
James Vasanthan's music is definitely a treat. "Oru Vetkam Varudhe" - the romantic number is simply beautiful. The background score fits well into the scheme of things, especially when it comes to the fights between the kids.
Kudos to the director and cameraman for having given this movie a natural yet professional touch. Nothing looks very funky or unbelievable. Its just what you'd see in school or inside your house and its right there on the screen. No overacting from any of the kids. Powerful dialogs and the delivery from all the kids is amazing, as professional as any seasoned actor in the industry.
Overall: Great entertainer and a must for all parents and children.
7th grade - i still remember standing in front of the principals room with my dad. my friend and i had done some mischief during science class and triggered a big commotion that someone decided to complain.
8th grade - my friend copied an expected exam essay question answer on his test notebook's last page and then forgot to tear that page off before handing over the notebook. the teacher accidentally found out and gave him a zero for that test.
7th grade - i was on a casual running race with my friend and when we were almost close to finish, i ran close to him and did a smart leg trip. he fell down and was badly hurt.
10th grade - my science teacher asked my friend who was sitting on the first bench to tuck in his shirt. obeying her, he immediately unzipped and started tucking in. she got furious and made him stand outside the class without his shirt on.
Pandirajan's directorial debut for the movie PASANGA, although set in a small town, brought back all those wonderful years in school.PASANGA - as the name suggests, is all about kids, their lives in school, friendship, inter-gang rivalry, mischievous children playing spoil-sport and double gaming on each other, competition, their influence on parents lives and vice versa, ambitions, expectations when they see people around them, the list could go on.
Anyone who has been seen life through the eyes of a middle class family can definitely understand the vibrations this movie sends out. Of course, the director had to add an element of romance to keep the audience interested. Otherwise, I would have been bored with just the kids fighting with each other.
Anbukkarasu joins a corporation school in a new town. He is a super achiever and very down to earth. Jeeva, Pakkada and Kutti Mani are the trio who hate Anbu and there starts our story. Small skirmishes between Anbu and Jeeva's gang lead to even the parents shouting at each other. I am sure that we have seen a lot of this even when we went to school.
Meenakshi Sundaram (Anbu's uncle) and Sobikannu (Jeeva's sister. saw her last in the movie Saroja) bring a smile to the whole movie. Their love story has been dealt with simplicity and fun. The exchange of dialogs using cell phones is highy innovative and impressive.
The kids are the central theme of this movie. Playing small games, inducing jealousy between each other are part and parcel of the movie. The movie goes on to tell us that the emotions that the kids go through are quite the same as we do. Ours is a bit more magnified. Trying to put honey on the head of the guy you hate to make his hair go white or setting up an elder cousin to punch the guy on his way back from school or asking some random guy to chant some hymns to ensure that your rival fails in class - I am sure that all of us thought of some thing or the other, to oust our rivals in school.
The rivalry goes a little further. The parents start hating each other initially until an honest conversation between the two dad's brings the families a little closer. The kids still remain enemies. The love story unfolds. The parents decide on a wedding. The kids dont like it. Whether they remain friends is the remaining part of the movie.
James Vasanthan's music is definitely a treat. "Oru Vetkam Varudhe" - the romantic number is simply beautiful. The background score fits well into the scheme of things, especially when it comes to the fights between the kids.
Kudos to the director and cameraman for having given this movie a natural yet professional touch. Nothing looks very funky or unbelievable. Its just what you'd see in school or inside your house and its right there on the screen. No overacting from any of the kids. Powerful dialogs and the delivery from all the kids is amazing, as professional as any seasoned actor in the industry.
Overall: Great entertainer and a must for all parents and children.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
The cycle ride
3.15 am on Sunday! I dont think anyone would think of getting up at that time on a Sunday. I had to and the only reason was the bike ride to Mabahalipuram.
TI Cycles was organizing a ride to Mahabs. They started new group called Chainreaxion on Facebook and then informed a lot of us about the ride. It was a while since I did my last ride. So I decided to do it. Manu, Kaushal, Bajji, Subbu, Abhinav and myself signed up for the ride. Subbu dropped out because of two full days of management training prior to the ride and that was more than enough to tire him out. Abhinav was dehydrated from the previous day's party. I wonder how because he was inside the swimming pool most of the time. Ultimately, it was just the four of us.
4.00am - picked up Bajji from Abhinav's place.
4.15am - reached the starting point to find out that no one had come. quite a shock. the emails that were sent out mentioned that if anyone turned up late, they would be left back.
4.30am - some ppl were there but no signs of the organizers. they were supposedly on their way. by this time, manu and kaushal were already there. we decided to start warming up and do some stretching. bajji was fast asleep in the car.
4.45am - some more ppl arrive. one car comes with some really cool Bianchi cycles. the employees of TI decided to show off with some of those expensive bikes.
5.00am - most of the organizers are there but the trucks with the cycles have not yet arrived. we were already 30 mins late. Tanvi Shah lands up. I have been talking to Tanvi about the ride over the last 2 days or so. In fact, I have been asking her questions over questions and she has been patiently replying to me. So I met her and told her that I was the one who was quizzing her so much. Later Bajji comes and tells me that she is Tanvi Shah, the playback singer. I didnt believe him. And then a lot others confirmed the same. I was like - Oh my god! I have been talking to Tanvi 'Slumdog' Shah! I hope I didnt annoy her too much with my silly questions.
5.15am - first set of cycles arrive. they are the usual BSA machs and the hercules ACT series. I rode the ACT during the last TI ride and i had a very bad experience. the resistance was very high and the gear shift mechanism was hopeless. so this time i didnt take the ACT. everyone is testing cycles, pulling up seats and making all sorts of adjustments.
5.30 - two other trucks arrive and i finally managed to get one mach cycle. there were a bunch of so called new cycles. and these cycles had air pumps, mud-guards, rear-carrier etc. I was like - who will buy this. all these things add so much weight to the cycle. it affects the ride quality. anyway, TI was supposed to come out with a geared version of the Mach, but they are probably sleeping on it. the one i pulled out had no gears. i changed my seat to a smaller one because it had to fit my gel seat cover that i had got. i was also wearing cycling shorts for extra comfort. just to ensure that i dont sleep on my chest the whole of sunday.
5.50am - we were all set to leave. we entered the road to ECR from thiruvanmiyur bus depot. myself, manu and kaushal crossed the road. bajji was a little behind. after we crossed, i started pedalling. i never looked back for a while. after sometime i noticed that there was no one behind me. i didnt know what was happening but i didnt want to stop as well. i kept riding.
our first stop was the PIT STOP restaurant. this was the only time for which, the vehicle that carried water was in front of me. I had some water. emails promised gatorade but there were no signs of that. started riding again. from there on, it was a very long ride. there were two stops before the final destination but i did not stop because then i will have had to wait for the vehicle to catch up with me. the vehicle was following the crowd and the crowd was way behind. only one guy (a blue dart pilot) was riding with me. and we were cruising at 25kmph roughly. the first half was really tough. i was quite pained to ride a cycle with no gears. it was horrible. i wanted to take my TREK but the only problem was getting it back; because our way back was by a bus that was arranged for us. when i saw the board that said 13km to Mahabs, I was thrilled because from there it was downhill by the numbers and I had to just keep going.
i was pissed that the vehicle was not leading us and trailing somewhere behind. i needed water and there was no chance of getting it. the only option was to walk up to some hut on the way and ask for some. i decided that i'll manage somehow. in exactly 2 hrs we reached the destination - Chariot beach resort. about 45 kms from chennai and past all the architectural beauty of Mahabs.
i guess the guy at the resort wasnt expecting us so early. breakfast tables hadnt been laid out. he took some time to do all that and in the meantime i stretched. english breakfast was served - cereals, muffins, donuts, baked vegetables, juice etc.
slowly people started getting in. by the time everyone arrived it was 10am. Action King Arjun was also there. his daughter was riding with us. so he decided to give us company. i heard that NDTV HINDU made some coverage during the ride but we were way past all of that action.
it was a great ride. would have been better if we had started by 5am. could have avoided a lot of sun. also, there werent any helmets. we were promised but it wasnt there.
hopefully, next time, this will get better.
TI Cycles was organizing a ride to Mahabs. They started new group called Chainreaxion on Facebook and then informed a lot of us about the ride. It was a while since I did my last ride. So I decided to do it. Manu, Kaushal, Bajji, Subbu, Abhinav and myself signed up for the ride. Subbu dropped out because of two full days of management training prior to the ride and that was more than enough to tire him out. Abhinav was dehydrated from the previous day's party. I wonder how because he was inside the swimming pool most of the time. Ultimately, it was just the four of us.
4.00am - picked up Bajji from Abhinav's place.
4.15am - reached the starting point to find out that no one had come. quite a shock. the emails that were sent out mentioned that if anyone turned up late, they would be left back.
4.30am - some ppl were there but no signs of the organizers. they were supposedly on their way. by this time, manu and kaushal were already there. we decided to start warming up and do some stretching. bajji was fast asleep in the car.
4.45am - some more ppl arrive. one car comes with some really cool Bianchi cycles. the employees of TI decided to show off with some of those expensive bikes.
5.00am - most of the organizers are there but the trucks with the cycles have not yet arrived. we were already 30 mins late. Tanvi Shah lands up. I have been talking to Tanvi about the ride over the last 2 days or so. In fact, I have been asking her questions over questions and she has been patiently replying to me. So I met her and told her that I was the one who was quizzing her so much. Later Bajji comes and tells me that she is Tanvi Shah, the playback singer. I didnt believe him. And then a lot others confirmed the same. I was like - Oh my god! I have been talking to Tanvi 'Slumdog' Shah! I hope I didnt annoy her too much with my silly questions.
5.15am - first set of cycles arrive. they are the usual BSA machs and the hercules ACT series. I rode the ACT during the last TI ride and i had a very bad experience. the resistance was very high and the gear shift mechanism was hopeless. so this time i didnt take the ACT. everyone is testing cycles, pulling up seats and making all sorts of adjustments.
5.30 - two other trucks arrive and i finally managed to get one mach cycle. there were a bunch of so called new cycles. and these cycles had air pumps, mud-guards, rear-carrier etc. I was like - who will buy this. all these things add so much weight to the cycle. it affects the ride quality. anyway, TI was supposed to come out with a geared version of the Mach, but they are probably sleeping on it. the one i pulled out had no gears. i changed my seat to a smaller one because it had to fit my gel seat cover that i had got. i was also wearing cycling shorts for extra comfort. just to ensure that i dont sleep on my chest the whole of sunday.
5.50am - we were all set to leave. we entered the road to ECR from thiruvanmiyur bus depot. myself, manu and kaushal crossed the road. bajji was a little behind. after we crossed, i started pedalling. i never looked back for a while. after sometime i noticed that there was no one behind me. i didnt know what was happening but i didnt want to stop as well. i kept riding.
our first stop was the PIT STOP restaurant. this was the only time for which, the vehicle that carried water was in front of me. I had some water. emails promised gatorade but there were no signs of that. started riding again. from there on, it was a very long ride. there were two stops before the final destination but i did not stop because then i will have had to wait for the vehicle to catch up with me. the vehicle was following the crowd and the crowd was way behind. only one guy (a blue dart pilot) was riding with me. and we were cruising at 25kmph roughly. the first half was really tough. i was quite pained to ride a cycle with no gears. it was horrible. i wanted to take my TREK but the only problem was getting it back; because our way back was by a bus that was arranged for us. when i saw the board that said 13km to Mahabs, I was thrilled because from there it was downhill by the numbers and I had to just keep going.
i was pissed that the vehicle was not leading us and trailing somewhere behind. i needed water and there was no chance of getting it. the only option was to walk up to some hut on the way and ask for some. i decided that i'll manage somehow. in exactly 2 hrs we reached the destination - Chariot beach resort. about 45 kms from chennai and past all the architectural beauty of Mahabs.
i guess the guy at the resort wasnt expecting us so early. breakfast tables hadnt been laid out. he took some time to do all that and in the meantime i stretched. english breakfast was served - cereals, muffins, donuts, baked vegetables, juice etc.
slowly people started getting in. by the time everyone arrived it was 10am. Action King Arjun was also there. his daughter was riding with us. so he decided to give us company. i heard that NDTV HINDU made some coverage during the ride but we were way past all of that action.
it was a great ride. would have been better if we had started by 5am. could have avoided a lot of sun. also, there werent any helmets. we were promised but it wasnt there.
hopefully, next time, this will get better.
Friday, July 03, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
Celebrity Tattoos
With Transformers up for release in India quite soon, I was looking up stuff about Megan Fox and I came across this somehow.
I saw this movie "How to Lose Friends and Alienate People". Its about this British journalist who lands up in New York and finds it very tough to be an honest journalist. The one reason for which I wanted to see this movie was Kirsten Dunst. And then, I noticed that Megan Fox played a not-so-significant role in the movie.
In the meantime, I was also thinking about why people still keep telling everyone around them about recession. I dont really think there is any recession.
Atlantic City on the east coast had full casinos. All the roulette tables were full. people were playing on piles of cash. these people are all retired from work and they dont know the meaning of the word SAVE. and if you are one of those unfortunate US taxpayers who has to just pay tax and not get any benefit, yes, you really get pained seeing all this.
here in home country, TATA has unveiled the Jaguar and Land Rover - serious gas guzzlers. and costing a bomb. yeah, people will buy, because there is a lot of money available. the recession is just a rumor.
im doing a lot of random talking. enjoy the tattoo for a moment. Its from a Shakespeare story.
I saw this movie "How to Lose Friends and Alienate People". Its about this British journalist who lands up in New York and finds it very tough to be an honest journalist. The one reason for which I wanted to see this movie was Kirsten Dunst. And then, I noticed that Megan Fox played a not-so-significant role in the movie.
In the meantime, I was also thinking about why people still keep telling everyone around them about recession. I dont really think there is any recession.
Atlantic City on the east coast had full casinos. All the roulette tables were full. people were playing on piles of cash. these people are all retired from work and they dont know the meaning of the word SAVE. and if you are one of those unfortunate US taxpayers who has to just pay tax and not get any benefit, yes, you really get pained seeing all this.
here in home country, TATA has unveiled the Jaguar and Land Rover - serious gas guzzlers. and costing a bomb. yeah, people will buy, because there is a lot of money available. the recession is just a rumor.
im doing a lot of random talking. enjoy the tattoo for a moment. Its from a Shakespeare story.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Crash Boom Bang
On Tuesday night I left home a little before 10pm towards Anna Nagar. I was on 2nd Avenue, which is one of the main roads towards the city.
It was past 10pm when I was half-way on that road. The lights had gone Amber and almost everyone on the road was riding at a more than average speed. As I was coming close to the junction near the Ayyappan Temple, a car suddenly came into the main road from the right side, out of nowhere.
That was it.
In seconds, I braked as hard as possible. My car turned and then it was the bang sound I heard. The right side of my car collided directly with the left portion of the Maruti A-Star. Nothing had happened to me. I got out immediately and went to the other car. A woman was riding the other car. I checked if she was ok. She was. By that time, a huge crowd gathered. Luckily both of us did not have any injuries. My car was badly hit. The plastic bumper on the front gave in and had a huge hole. The bonnet was bent. I figured out that it was a major accident for my car. But luckily, my car was mobile. So I managed to drive it away from the spot to a place that did not affect the usual road traffic.
The Maruti A-Star was in quite a shape. The whole wheel assembly was bent. The car could not move. We had to lift the car somehow and move the wheels to a stable position before moving the car to the edge of the road.
Since, it was not peak time, there weren't too many of these unwanted interferers on the road. Most people who came to help were reasonably educated and they did not cause any trouble. Also, I kind of took charge of the whole situation and then ensured that I will manage anything going forward.
What followed afterwards for almost 3 hrs was what irritated me. By this time, my cousin and uncle reached the place. We wanted to call the police and let them know about the incident because the insurance agents usually ask for a report. The woman's family did not want to do it. I really didnt know why. They were telling that we could just leave and create individual reports from the police station. After some time, they agreed. But they wanted to write a report mentioning that the dad was riding the car and not the woman. We were wondering if there was anything fishy. We didnt care. We just said No.
Then the police came. He talked to both parties and then he told me - "the fault is on you. since she has almost come into the road, you should have stopped". I was like, "do you know what the rules are?" the fact of the matter was, the woman was crossing a main road after 10pm without even looking at whether vehicles were approaching from both sides and then I get the blame. my uncle got furious and he started blasting the police. he told them that they had no idea of the rules and they were just talking some random shit. and he was right. the guy on the main road gets the right of the road. anyone crossing has to wait, in fact, to be safe especially when the signals dont work, also flash both the indicators to show that you are crossing to the road straight across. the maruti was only 6 months old. so i got a feeling that the woman was probably inexperienced; these guys were just supporting the woman and trying to frame the case on me. or maybe they wanted to extract money.
then it was finally decided to get a police report about the collision. the report would just state the facts and it would not be any kind of complaint. by the time we did this, it was almost half past midnight.
now the other horrendous formalities have begun. estimation, insurance claims, verification etc. each one has an SLA. i went to the insurance office today and then i asked him when i should show up tomorrow. that guy says - "come after 11am". thats probably when his day starts.
anyway, the way i look at it now, it seems as if i am going to be seriously immobile for atleast a week. hopefully not more than that.
my relatives tell me - "thalaikku vanthathu thalappa oda pocchu" which means "something was targetted at the head and luckily escaped by taking only the turban"
It was past 10pm when I was half-way on that road. The lights had gone Amber and almost everyone on the road was riding at a more than average speed. As I was coming close to the junction near the Ayyappan Temple, a car suddenly came into the main road from the right side, out of nowhere.
That was it.
In seconds, I braked as hard as possible. My car turned and then it was the bang sound I heard. The right side of my car collided directly with the left portion of the Maruti A-Star. Nothing had happened to me. I got out immediately and went to the other car. A woman was riding the other car. I checked if she was ok. She was. By that time, a huge crowd gathered. Luckily both of us did not have any injuries. My car was badly hit. The plastic bumper on the front gave in and had a huge hole. The bonnet was bent. I figured out that it was a major accident for my car. But luckily, my car was mobile. So I managed to drive it away from the spot to a place that did not affect the usual road traffic.
The Maruti A-Star was in quite a shape. The whole wheel assembly was bent. The car could not move. We had to lift the car somehow and move the wheels to a stable position before moving the car to the edge of the road.
Since, it was not peak time, there weren't too many of these unwanted interferers on the road. Most people who came to help were reasonably educated and they did not cause any trouble. Also, I kind of took charge of the whole situation and then ensured that I will manage anything going forward.
What followed afterwards for almost 3 hrs was what irritated me. By this time, my cousin and uncle reached the place. We wanted to call the police and let them know about the incident because the insurance agents usually ask for a report. The woman's family did not want to do it. I really didnt know why. They were telling that we could just leave and create individual reports from the police station. After some time, they agreed. But they wanted to write a report mentioning that the dad was riding the car and not the woman. We were wondering if there was anything fishy. We didnt care. We just said No.
Then the police came. He talked to both parties and then he told me - "the fault is on you. since she has almost come into the road, you should have stopped". I was like, "do you know what the rules are?" the fact of the matter was, the woman was crossing a main road after 10pm without even looking at whether vehicles were approaching from both sides and then I get the blame. my uncle got furious and he started blasting the police. he told them that they had no idea of the rules and they were just talking some random shit. and he was right. the guy on the main road gets the right of the road. anyone crossing has to wait, in fact, to be safe especially when the signals dont work, also flash both the indicators to show that you are crossing to the road straight across. the maruti was only 6 months old. so i got a feeling that the woman was probably inexperienced; these guys were just supporting the woman and trying to frame the case on me. or maybe they wanted to extract money.
then it was finally decided to get a police report about the collision. the report would just state the facts and it would not be any kind of complaint. by the time we did this, it was almost half past midnight.
now the other horrendous formalities have begun. estimation, insurance claims, verification etc. each one has an SLA. i went to the insurance office today and then i asked him when i should show up tomorrow. that guy says - "come after 11am". thats probably when his day starts.
anyway, the way i look at it now, it seems as if i am going to be seriously immobile for atleast a week. hopefully not more than that.
my relatives tell me - "thalaikku vanthathu thalappa oda pocchu" which means "something was targetted at the head and luckily escaped by taking only the turban"
Tuesday, June 02, 2009
Poem: Root 3
i fear that i will always be
a lonely number like root 3
a 3 is all that's good and right
why must my 3 keep out of sight
beneath a vicious square root sign
i wish instead i were a 9
for 9 could thwart this evil trick
with just some quick arithmetic
i know i'll never see the sun
as 1.7321
such is my reality
a sad irrationality
when hark! what is this i see
another square root of a 3
has quietly come waltzing by
together now we multiply
to form a number we prefer
rejoicing as an integer
we break free from our mortal bonds
and with a wave of magic wands
our square root signs become unglued
and love for me has been renewed
----------------------------------
PS: if you can let me know where you've heard this, WITHOUT doing a Google search, i'll buy you a beer. Women get martini.
a lonely number like root 3
a 3 is all that's good and right
why must my 3 keep out of sight
beneath a vicious square root sign
i wish instead i were a 9
for 9 could thwart this evil trick
with just some quick arithmetic
i know i'll never see the sun
as 1.7321
such is my reality
a sad irrationality
when hark! what is this i see
another square root of a 3
has quietly come waltzing by
together now we multiply
to form a number we prefer
rejoicing as an integer
we break free from our mortal bonds
and with a wave of magic wands
our square root signs become unglued
and love for me has been renewed
----------------------------------
PS: if you can let me know where you've heard this, WITHOUT doing a Google search, i'll buy you a beer. Women get martini.
Monday, June 01, 2009
What are you doing?
The place I live (hotel, I mean) is quite a fantastic place. Its a Marriott and its a wonderful place for long stay.
There are a lot of firms around this place, the well known ones - Satyam (erstwhile), Alcatel Lucent and then a good number of pharma firms. NJ is the pharma hub. Novartis is just a few miles away and employs a lot of indians.
At the Marriott, english breakfast is served everyday. During breakfast everyday, I definitely make it a point to note what the other people are doing. And with respect to the Desi and ABCD crowd, I wanted to validate whether the Desi junta did go through some cultural adjustment training before they landed here and whether the ABCD junta still have some of their original indian roots. So here is the scoop.
There is one ABCD family - 3 to 4 children. I see them almost everyday. They first have their breakfast and then they start packing. The volume they pack is perhaps double the quantity they have for breakfast. Each one of them would carry a huge tray full of food - apples, banana, yogurt, milk cartons, just about everything you can find on the table. Then today evening I noticed them again. In the evening, Marriott serves snacks. Fortunately, we reached on time for some snacks. This family was again loading some 5-7 plates of snacks. I am surprised that the "if given free, i will drink phenyl" attitude is still around. So this is one side.
The other thing I noticed is about the indian mother with kindergarden kids. I dont know if this can be generalised to all indian mothers who come to the US but this was way too funny.
One guy landed here a few weeks back from India. His wife and kid joined him like a week later. One morning, I saw them at the breakfast table. The guy had his breakfast and left to the office. The mom was having breakfast and the kid was sitting on a baby chair. I think the kid was getting a bit uncomfortable. So, he tried getting out of the chair. The mom was chatting with her husband's colleague. When she noticed the kid, she raised her voice "Aman! What are you doing?". The child looked a bit perplexed. He didnt utter a word. Few minutes passed. Again he started moving. The mom goes "Aman! What are you doing? Why cant you sit in one place?" and all that "cant you keep quiet" type speech.
I was like. What the hell. A week back, you were probably talking to the kid in Hindi, or Gujarati or definitely an indian language. And all of a sudden, you switch to English? Are you out of your mind.
I am sure the kid had a mind to say this - "WHAT ARE YOU DOING? Talking to me in a completely unknown language. Are you out of your mind?"
God save these people.
There are a lot of firms around this place, the well known ones - Satyam (erstwhile), Alcatel Lucent and then a good number of pharma firms. NJ is the pharma hub. Novartis is just a few miles away and employs a lot of indians.
At the Marriott, english breakfast is served everyday. During breakfast everyday, I definitely make it a point to note what the other people are doing. And with respect to the Desi and ABCD crowd, I wanted to validate whether the Desi junta did go through some cultural adjustment training before they landed here and whether the ABCD junta still have some of their original indian roots. So here is the scoop.
There is one ABCD family - 3 to 4 children. I see them almost everyday. They first have their breakfast and then they start packing. The volume they pack is perhaps double the quantity they have for breakfast. Each one of them would carry a huge tray full of food - apples, banana, yogurt, milk cartons, just about everything you can find on the table. Then today evening I noticed them again. In the evening, Marriott serves snacks. Fortunately, we reached on time for some snacks. This family was again loading some 5-7 plates of snacks. I am surprised that the "if given free, i will drink phenyl" attitude is still around. So this is one side.
The other thing I noticed is about the indian mother with kindergarden kids. I dont know if this can be generalised to all indian mothers who come to the US but this was way too funny.
One guy landed here a few weeks back from India. His wife and kid joined him like a week later. One morning, I saw them at the breakfast table. The guy had his breakfast and left to the office. The mom was having breakfast and the kid was sitting on a baby chair. I think the kid was getting a bit uncomfortable. So, he tried getting out of the chair. The mom was chatting with her husband's colleague. When she noticed the kid, she raised her voice "Aman! What are you doing?". The child looked a bit perplexed. He didnt utter a word. Few minutes passed. Again he started moving. The mom goes "Aman! What are you doing? Why cant you sit in one place?" and all that "cant you keep quiet" type speech.
I was like. What the hell. A week back, you were probably talking to the kid in Hindi, or Gujarati or definitely an indian language. And all of a sudden, you switch to English? Are you out of your mind.
I am sure the kid had a mind to say this - "WHAT ARE YOU DOING? Talking to me in a completely unknown language. Are you out of your mind?"
God save these people.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Monday, April 27, 2009
First Impressions
So I was in New York yesterday. I arrived in the US on Saturday. There wasnt too much of a jet lag, so we decided to see some parts of NY.
Our train reached the New York Penn Station and the one thing I was surprised to find out is that no one knew where the tourist information center is. Everyone was guiding us to the tickets and information center which was servicing for the train journeys. anyway, we figured something and got out.
we decided that we'll walk to times square. why? because we were somewhere close to that area. nothing special.
whatever. NY on first impression is such a boring place. its crowded everywhere. all you can find is tall buildings. the sight of just stuctures around you kind of irritates a lot. the only factor that saves is perhaps central park and the rivers that run on either sides. otherwise, NY feels like an over-crowded jungle.
and again, if a city is like that, you cannot expect anyone to be in order. although the vehicles dont jump signals because of strict policing, there are enough number of people who would cross a busy road when the signal is green.
so we walked past all the famous stops - times square, grand central, rockefeller, chrysler, trump, united nations, and all that shit. nothing phenomenal about all of these places. some have shopping malls attached, so people like to just get in and waste time.
i think my opinion of NY would never change. i would prefer a lesser built up city. more open space and less crowding. the place where i live right now - parsippany jersey is actually a nice place. there is lots and lots of space around you and its pleasant to be outdoors.
Our train reached the New York Penn Station and the one thing I was surprised to find out is that no one knew where the tourist information center is. Everyone was guiding us to the tickets and information center which was servicing for the train journeys. anyway, we figured something and got out.
we decided that we'll walk to times square. why? because we were somewhere close to that area. nothing special.
whatever. NY on first impression is such a boring place. its crowded everywhere. all you can find is tall buildings. the sight of just stuctures around you kind of irritates a lot. the only factor that saves is perhaps central park and the rivers that run on either sides. otherwise, NY feels like an over-crowded jungle.
and again, if a city is like that, you cannot expect anyone to be in order. although the vehicles dont jump signals because of strict policing, there are enough number of people who would cross a busy road when the signal is green.
so we walked past all the famous stops - times square, grand central, rockefeller, chrysler, trump, united nations, and all that shit. nothing phenomenal about all of these places. some have shopping malls attached, so people like to just get in and waste time.
i think my opinion of NY would never change. i would prefer a lesser built up city. more open space and less crowding. the place where i live right now - parsippany jersey is actually a nice place. there is lots and lots of space around you and its pleasant to be outdoors.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Anandha Thandavam
Theory: Aascar Ravichandran profited a lot from his last movie. So he decided to fund some of that on a project that wouldn't really take off well.
AR Gandhikrishna, who shot to fame with Chellame; thought that he could turn a Sujatha novel into a fantastic movie. But the movie was too late to the audience.
Sujatha's novel - Pirivom Santhippom was based on situations that were perhaps a decade old. Affluent NRIs marrying innocent pretty girls; going back to US to lead a luxurious life. The girl never realises that she is being ignored. Emotional drama, but not suited to how things are at present. Especially, when everyone is talking about RECESSION!!!
Anandha Thandavam (dance of ecstasy) is a movie that failed to capture the characters that Sujatha had created in his novel. In between, we also have a hero who is the most vulnerable character I have seen, maybe in years. The director, even after sticking to the novel, could not create the right impact.
Pathetic Editing - We see a car getting onto a highway in the US. In seconds, the same car is hit by a trailer in Malaysia and then the next minute, everyone's in KL Airport.
Great locations near Tirunelveli and Tenkasi. Bana Theertham is a place to visit. The cameraman has captured some wonderful landscapes in interior Tamil Nadu.
I must definitely talk about the music. An amazing rendition by Shubha Mudgal and Nithyasree Mahadevan. Kanaa Kaangiren (see my previous post) is a brilliant song with splendid choreo. Worked well for Rukmini. GV Prakash's music is just getting better and better. Poovinai sung by Srinivas and Shreya is also a great song that is shot in Atlantic City. These two songs will stay on your mind for a while.
Tamannah plays the innocent pretty girl. A mix of the child and woman - young at heart and mind too, she plays silly pranks with her brother, listens to her parents and doesn't have a clue of the outside world. If this was what the novel wanted from her, then she did 125% of what was required.
Siddharth (a newbie), does exactly what a newbie is expected of. Everything goes belly up for him - acting, dance, delivery, emotions. Totally shreds up into pieces.
Rukmini is another actor we have to watch for. She scored pretty high in Bommalattam. In this movie, she definitely strikes a chord. Her character and then few others (eg. Kitty and the US Uncle) bring a lot of direction into a screenplay that just goes astray every now and then.
This movie is a pot pourri. Its about love at first sight through the eyes of an unemployed youth who has no direction in his life; parents wanting their daughter to live a rich life abroad without understanding what could be in store; a father who gets blamed and ignored for being concerned about his son's life; a loser who cannot come to grips with what is not his own. There are too many characters who in their own way impact the storyline, but I am thinking that these characters would have been carved well in the novel.
Overall: Fails to deliver.
AR Gandhikrishna, who shot to fame with Chellame; thought that he could turn a Sujatha novel into a fantastic movie. But the movie was too late to the audience.
Sujatha's novel - Pirivom Santhippom was based on situations that were perhaps a decade old. Affluent NRIs marrying innocent pretty girls; going back to US to lead a luxurious life. The girl never realises that she is being ignored. Emotional drama, but not suited to how things are at present. Especially, when everyone is talking about RECESSION!!!
Anandha Thandavam (dance of ecstasy) is a movie that failed to capture the characters that Sujatha had created in his novel. In between, we also have a hero who is the most vulnerable character I have seen, maybe in years. The director, even after sticking to the novel, could not create the right impact.
Pathetic Editing - We see a car getting onto a highway in the US. In seconds, the same car is hit by a trailer in Malaysia and then the next minute, everyone's in KL Airport.
Great locations near Tirunelveli and Tenkasi. Bana Theertham is a place to visit. The cameraman has captured some wonderful landscapes in interior Tamil Nadu.
I must definitely talk about the music. An amazing rendition by Shubha Mudgal and Nithyasree Mahadevan. Kanaa Kaangiren (see my previous post) is a brilliant song with splendid choreo. Worked well for Rukmini. GV Prakash's music is just getting better and better. Poovinai sung by Srinivas and Shreya is also a great song that is shot in Atlantic City. These two songs will stay on your mind for a while.
Tamannah plays the innocent pretty girl. A mix of the child and woman - young at heart and mind too, she plays silly pranks with her brother, listens to her parents and doesn't have a clue of the outside world. If this was what the novel wanted from her, then she did 125% of what was required.
Siddharth (a newbie), does exactly what a newbie is expected of. Everything goes belly up for him - acting, dance, delivery, emotions. Totally shreds up into pieces.
Rukmini is another actor we have to watch for. She scored pretty high in Bommalattam. In this movie, she definitely strikes a chord. Her character and then few others (eg. Kitty and the US Uncle) bring a lot of direction into a screenplay that just goes astray every now and then.
This movie is a pot pourri. Its about love at first sight through the eyes of an unemployed youth who has no direction in his life; parents wanting their daughter to live a rich life abroad without understanding what could be in store; a father who gets blamed and ignored for being concerned about his son's life; a loser who cannot come to grips with what is not his own. There are too many characters who in their own way impact the storyline, but I am thinking that these characters would have been carved well in the novel.
Overall: Fails to deliver.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Kanaa Kaangiren
Kanaa Kaangiren - I am glued to this song. From the movie Anandha Thandavam (Dance of Ecstasy), what an amazing song.
Sung by Nithyasree, Subha Mudgal and Vinitra, this song would go into the history of tamil music as one of THE BEST wedding songs of the 21st century.
The video is set in Belur, Halebid and nearby temples. The one below just has pictures and not the original video.
Following the lines of the wedding songs in Alaipayuthae (Yaaro Yaarodi) and Paarthaale Paravasam (Adhisiya Thirumanam).
This song has amazing lines and the beats are excellent. If you get on to youtube, you can see the lyrics on the side bar.
I am just waiting for the video to arrive on youtube.
Sung by Nithyasree, Subha Mudgal and Vinitra, this song would go into the history of tamil music as one of THE BEST wedding songs of the 21st century.
The video is set in Belur, Halebid and nearby temples. The one below just has pictures and not the original video.
Following the lines of the wedding songs in Alaipayuthae (Yaaro Yaarodi) and Paarthaale Paravasam (Adhisiya Thirumanam).
This song has amazing lines and the beats are excellent. If you get on to youtube, you can see the lyrics on the side bar.
I am just waiting for the video to arrive on youtube.
Thursday, April 09, 2009
Horse-Do?
A new hairdo for the horses. And guess what, these are based on some famous people in the world.
Can you take a guess?
Clues:
Left: American celebrity, model, singer
Center: English model
Right: Australian actor
Post your comments
Saturday, April 04, 2009
Ayan
Ayan - What does Ayan mean? Well, it means a lot in different languages. I am not going to delve into that.
Ayan - Suriya's latest movie after V.1000 is a super entertainer for the masses. Suriya has been telling everyone that he couldn't give a fun-filled movie because he devoted more time with character based roles in movies such as V.1000 and Kaakha Kaakha. For the long wait, Ayan surpasses all expectations.
Suriya plays the role of an educated street smart under-the-table-business associate. A computer science graduate who uses more of his brain than muscle to get rid of people who come in his way. In a lot of places, he would remind you of what Clooney did in Ocean's or Leonardo did in Catch Me. I mean, its a lot of fun to watch. Nevertheless, tamil cinema cannot do well without fights. So, there is scope for that too. One fight that was shot in Congo is bleddy amazing. Its like the one that Daniel Craig does in Quantum. Extremely fast, through small buildings, windows, terraces, winding streets. Kudos to the guys who planned the cameras. It was PERFECT.
Ayan introduces you to another world that's flourishing big time in India. A world of dvd's, cocaine, gold biscuits, diamonds - everything unaccounted. Talking of diamonds - I like the way they explain the diamonds business in Africa.
The villain gets introduced in less than 10 minutes from the beginning. So no great shakes. We always know that if something goes wrong, its always because of him. Villain is a Bollywood import and he does quite a shitty job. Very bad voice syncs.
Prabu is Suriya's boss and he controls a lot of this business. Its interesting to see how these guys get the smuggle the stuff from the airport to India and back to other countries. While we know that a lot of this could be true, its quite shocking to see what happens.
Jagan - the guy who hosts America's Funniest Videos on Star Vijay is Suriya's pal in the movie. Tamannah is his sister. NOW THATS A VERY BAD MATCH UP for a family. Black Coffee and Milk. Jagan as Chitti has a very interesting role. He has done a fantastic job. I am guessing that this is a great break for him and the future holds a lot for him.
Tamannah - this hard working Punjabi kudi rocks! In this movie, its not just love and songs for the actor. Love happens in like 5 mins. They meet and the next scene they are already in love. Costume selection would score a 4 on 5. She is surely getting better in every movie of hers.
There is no separate comedy track. Suriya, Jagan, Tamannah, Karunas, Renuka (Suriya's mom) - everyone does comedy to their own capacity. When prime characters perform comedy, it gels into the movie and it also lightens the audience's view about a particular character.
Songs and the picturisation are a treat. Hariharan's voice in Pala Pala is so FRESH. Like always, Harris' music reminds you of all his previous creations. Grinding the same dough. I am guessing that Harris is fond of a few raagas and he composes only on those. One of the songs, i think Nenje Nenje, was shot in Walvis Bay, Namibia, where the sea and sand dunes are next to each other. Beautiful Place.
Story, Script, Screenplay - would give a min of 3 on 5. Very skillful. Even though we have heard of so many con-job movies in the past, this one is quite entertaining. There is more focus on smart smuggling rather than using plain ammunition with mobs. Creativity is fabulous - KV Anand and his team will be appreciated for this. In a lot of instances, they quickly show the way things unfold from the past. That's very thoughtful and neatly done.
Overall: Great entertainer from Suriya, after a long time.
Ayan - Suriya's latest movie after V.1000 is a super entertainer for the masses. Suriya has been telling everyone that he couldn't give a fun-filled movie because he devoted more time with character based roles in movies such as V.1000 and Kaakha Kaakha. For the long wait, Ayan surpasses all expectations.
Suriya plays the role of an educated street smart under-the-table-business associate. A computer science graduate who uses more of his brain than muscle to get rid of people who come in his way. In a lot of places, he would remind you of what Clooney did in Ocean's or Leonardo did in Catch Me. I mean, its a lot of fun to watch. Nevertheless, tamil cinema cannot do well without fights. So, there is scope for that too. One fight that was shot in Congo is bleddy amazing. Its like the one that Daniel Craig does in Quantum. Extremely fast, through small buildings, windows, terraces, winding streets. Kudos to the guys who planned the cameras. It was PERFECT.Ayan introduces you to another world that's flourishing big time in India. A world of dvd's, cocaine, gold biscuits, diamonds - everything unaccounted. Talking of diamonds - I like the way they explain the diamonds business in Africa.
The villain gets introduced in less than 10 minutes from the beginning. So no great shakes. We always know that if something goes wrong, its always because of him. Villain is a Bollywood import and he does quite a shitty job. Very bad voice syncs.
Prabu is Suriya's boss and he controls a lot of this business. Its interesting to see how these guys get the smuggle the stuff from the airport to India and back to other countries. While we know that a lot of this could be true, its quite shocking to see what happens.
Jagan - the guy who hosts America's Funniest Videos on Star Vijay is Suriya's pal in the movie. Tamannah is his sister. NOW THATS A VERY BAD MATCH UP for a family. Black Coffee and Milk. Jagan as Chitti has a very interesting role. He has done a fantastic job. I am guessing that this is a great break for him and the future holds a lot for him.
Tamannah - this hard working Punjabi kudi rocks! In this movie, its not just love and songs for the actor. Love happens in like 5 mins. They meet and the next scene they are already in love. Costume selection would score a 4 on 5. She is surely getting better in every movie of hers.
There is no separate comedy track. Suriya, Jagan, Tamannah, Karunas, Renuka (Suriya's mom) - everyone does comedy to their own capacity. When prime characters perform comedy, it gels into the movie and it also lightens the audience's view about a particular character.
Songs and the picturisation are a treat. Hariharan's voice in Pala Pala is so FRESH. Like always, Harris' music reminds you of all his previous creations. Grinding the same dough. I am guessing that Harris is fond of a few raagas and he composes only on those. One of the songs, i think Nenje Nenje, was shot in Walvis Bay, Namibia, where the sea and sand dunes are next to each other. Beautiful Place.
Story, Script, Screenplay - would give a min of 3 on 5. Very skillful. Even though we have heard of so many con-job movies in the past, this one is quite entertaining. There is more focus on smart smuggling rather than using plain ammunition with mobs. Creativity is fabulous - KV Anand and his team will be appreciated for this. In a lot of instances, they quickly show the way things unfold from the past. That's very thoughtful and neatly done.
Overall: Great entertainer from Suriya, after a long time.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
HDFC Standard Life Insurance
So, in July last year, the guys from HDFC Standard Life Insurance called me and told me about their pension plan. You know how they can make it sound very attractive and all that crap. I am not going to go into the details of all that.
My dad was telling me that just one insurance policy and a PPF account is not enough. Maybe I should put some amount from my salary somewhere else as well instead of just keeping it in the bank.
I signed up for the Pension Plan. The moment you say yes for the policy, you know how fast things happen. The representatives came home. The application forms were just ready to make the signatures and nominations. I paid the first premium through cheque and then opted for ECS to pay the remaining premiums. I had to sign a blank cheque, cross it. Also sign in two different places, just for matching signatures. Everything happened with ease. In about 2 weeks time, I got the policy papers.
August, September, October, November and December. No problem at all. Every month, HDFC would get a payment from my bank. I would get a copy of the receipt through the mail and I would also check it online once in a while.
In January, I got a call from the call center informing me that HDFC could not take an electronic payment and so I should make an online payment or go to the nearest office and may by cash or cheque. I didnt bother. I had signed up for ECS only to avoid all this headache. Then I got another call 2 weeks later telling me that the ECS payment was not taken because the signatures did not match. I was like - WTF, you morons. You took payment for 5 months using the same signature and suddenly in January the signatures did not match? I asked them the same question and you know about these call center executives. They hardly have any knowledge. The only answer they have is pre-programmed - "Sir, according to our system, the payment could not be processed because the signatures did not match. In order to avoid further delays with respect to your policy, please contact the nearest HDFC Standard Life Office."
So, obviously, you know that these good-for-nothing fellows are not going to be of any help to you. And the funny part is that they also ask you one question towards the end - "Is there anything else that I can help you with?"
For which, you have to say "NO THANKS". And the conversation ends there. The ball is in your court. For no mistake of yours. In all this while, the guy who is your policy advisor has no interest whatsoever to take up your case or do anything in that regard. If you want something, you have to call him.
With my wedding coming up, I had better things to do. So, I kept quiet. By this time, I got a letter from HDFC that the policy is lapsed and if I need to renew the policy, I have to call some random toll-free number. All this while, the guys at the top are not bothered at all. All they follow is some senseless protocol. There is no relationship manager or anything of that sort who takes up this case and tries to find out what happened. They just send letters one after the other.
A few days later, one more guy called. He had the same story but he sounded a bit more sensible. He told me that I could make an online payment. I did that. By this time, it was end January. In about a week's time, I got a receipt for the payment I made. February passed and in March second week, I got a call again from HDFC Bombay about my policy. I told them that I made one payment in Jan and will make another payment that week for Feb and March, which I made. I got a call again from someone in Chennai. I told him that I made the payment. Then the Bombay guy called again. I confirmed with him again that the payment was already made but its not reflecting on the site yet.
Then that smart ass fellow says "Please call the toll-free number and lodge a request giving all the details". Again, I was like - idiot, you get all the time to do follow up calls and check whether I have paid, but you cant do a simple help for your customer?
After so much help that they did to the customer, HDFC also did one more thing. After taking payment for 3 months, they sent me a letter yesterday.
It says
"We wish to inform you that we are unable to revive your policy since we have not yet received the information/clarification that we had sought from you vide our earlier letter"
And then some more bulshit in the letter. The letter has also come with a cheque for amount that is like one tenth of whatever I have paid till now.
I called the call-center and told them that I have a letter like this. They know that I have already paid whatever is needed to revive the policy. But all they have to say is "Please visit our nearest branch tomorrow"
I cant believe that a company like HDFC is doing stuff like this. RIDICULOUS. They put ads like "Sar Utha Ke Jiyo" and all that effin crap on every TV channel. Why the **** ??? It makes no sense. Sad part is; I guess I am locked for a very long time on this. The next thing I have to figure out is how to reduce this already "pain in the ass" pension plan to something bearable so that even in the future if i dont get the money, i wont be too worried about it.
Every private company seems to be a blood sucker of the third rate. LIC would have been better I guess. Any comments?
My dad was telling me that just one insurance policy and a PPF account is not enough. Maybe I should put some amount from my salary somewhere else as well instead of just keeping it in the bank.
I signed up for the Pension Plan. The moment you say yes for the policy, you know how fast things happen. The representatives came home. The application forms were just ready to make the signatures and nominations. I paid the first premium through cheque and then opted for ECS to pay the remaining premiums. I had to sign a blank cheque, cross it. Also sign in two different places, just for matching signatures. Everything happened with ease. In about 2 weeks time, I got the policy papers.
August, September, October, November and December. No problem at all. Every month, HDFC would get a payment from my bank. I would get a copy of the receipt through the mail and I would also check it online once in a while.
In January, I got a call from the call center informing me that HDFC could not take an electronic payment and so I should make an online payment or go to the nearest office and may by cash or cheque. I didnt bother. I had signed up for ECS only to avoid all this headache. Then I got another call 2 weeks later telling me that the ECS payment was not taken because the signatures did not match. I was like - WTF, you morons. You took payment for 5 months using the same signature and suddenly in January the signatures did not match? I asked them the same question and you know about these call center executives. They hardly have any knowledge. The only answer they have is pre-programmed - "Sir, according to our system, the payment could not be processed because the signatures did not match. In order to avoid further delays with respect to your policy, please contact the nearest HDFC Standard Life Office."
So, obviously, you know that these good-for-nothing fellows are not going to be of any help to you. And the funny part is that they also ask you one question towards the end - "Is there anything else that I can help you with?"
For which, you have to say "NO THANKS". And the conversation ends there. The ball is in your court. For no mistake of yours. In all this while, the guy who is your policy advisor has no interest whatsoever to take up your case or do anything in that regard. If you want something, you have to call him.
With my wedding coming up, I had better things to do. So, I kept quiet. By this time, I got a letter from HDFC that the policy is lapsed and if I need to renew the policy, I have to call some random toll-free number. All this while, the guys at the top are not bothered at all. All they follow is some senseless protocol. There is no relationship manager or anything of that sort who takes up this case and tries to find out what happened. They just send letters one after the other.
A few days later, one more guy called. He had the same story but he sounded a bit more sensible. He told me that I could make an online payment. I did that. By this time, it was end January. In about a week's time, I got a receipt for the payment I made. February passed and in March second week, I got a call again from HDFC Bombay about my policy. I told them that I made one payment in Jan and will make another payment that week for Feb and March, which I made. I got a call again from someone in Chennai. I told him that I made the payment. Then the Bombay guy called again. I confirmed with him again that the payment was already made but its not reflecting on the site yet.
Then that smart ass fellow says "Please call the toll-free number and lodge a request giving all the details". Again, I was like - idiot, you get all the time to do follow up calls and check whether I have paid, but you cant do a simple help for your customer?
After so much help that they did to the customer, HDFC also did one more thing. After taking payment for 3 months, they sent me a letter yesterday.
It says
"We wish to inform you that we are unable to revive your policy since we have not yet received the information/clarification that we had sought from you vide our earlier letter"
And then some more bulshit in the letter. The letter has also come with a cheque for amount that is like one tenth of whatever I have paid till now.
I called the call-center and told them that I have a letter like this. They know that I have already paid whatever is needed to revive the policy. But all they have to say is "Please visit our nearest branch tomorrow"
I cant believe that a company like HDFC is doing stuff like this. RIDICULOUS. They put ads like "Sar Utha Ke Jiyo" and all that effin crap on every TV channel. Why the **** ??? It makes no sense. Sad part is; I guess I am locked for a very long time on this. The next thing I have to figure out is how to reduce this already "pain in the ass" pension plan to something bearable so that even in the future if i dont get the money, i wont be too worried about it.
Every private company seems to be a blood sucker of the third rate. LIC would have been better I guess. Any comments?
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Back
Oh, its so difficult to get back to something after a very long break. Here I mean work and blogging.
Three weeks of vacation - first my wedding, then a trip to delhi to attend a close friend's wedding, a day trip to agra, back to chennai for the reception, then to perth via singapore; to chrischurch from perth, a week in the south island, back to perth again for about 5 days, stop over at singapore and then back to chennai. Whoooaaah!!
Whattaaey TRIP maan.
After all that, when i came back to work, there was no work. Thankfully, I had come back for something more interesting. Ultimate Frisbee. Yes, the Kodaikanal Fly Baba tournament is coming up during the last weekend of March. And Chennai is going to Bendy Field in Kodi with a 35 member team. This time we got our own bus!!!
Other than ultimate practice, i dont have much to do. the week i landed, i spent one day in office sorting out proofs for tax purposes. the recession is quite bad. bad bonus, no promotion and maybe no hike too. promotion and hike decisions have been postponed till june or july. management is buying time to see what the market reactions will be. haha. last year, around 200 people were made directors in the office. i was like - WHAT is WRONG with the guys in talent management?
Whatever, I still have to write atleast one post about my kiwi land trip. Until, then I am just signing off.
The Persians are waiting for me to lead their army.....
Three weeks of vacation - first my wedding, then a trip to delhi to attend a close friend's wedding, a day trip to agra, back to chennai for the reception, then to perth via singapore; to chrischurch from perth, a week in the south island, back to perth again for about 5 days, stop over at singapore and then back to chennai. Whoooaaah!!
Whattaaey TRIP maan.
After all that, when i came back to work, there was no work. Thankfully, I had come back for something more interesting. Ultimate Frisbee. Yes, the Kodaikanal Fly Baba tournament is coming up during the last weekend of March. And Chennai is going to Bendy Field in Kodi with a 35 member team. This time we got our own bus!!!
Other than ultimate practice, i dont have much to do. the week i landed, i spent one day in office sorting out proofs for tax purposes. the recession is quite bad. bad bonus, no promotion and maybe no hike too. promotion and hike decisions have been postponed till june or july. management is buying time to see what the market reactions will be. haha. last year, around 200 people were made directors in the office. i was like - WHAT is WRONG with the guys in talent management?
Whatever, I still have to write atleast one post about my kiwi land trip. Until, then I am just signing off.
The Persians are waiting for me to lead their army.....
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Monday, February 09, 2009
Kabadi
A sport that has a small connection to an epic like Mahabharata, also widely played in many states across India, a prominent sport in Bangladesh. Yes, its Kabadi.
Director Susindran has perfectly executed a script based on Kabadi with simplicity and finesse. This is not like Chak De, Lagaan or any other sports movies like Goal or Victory. This movie has a completely different take on Kabadi. There is no money, glamour and fashion. The game itself has little popularity among the masses. We hardly find anyone talking, which probably makes it easy for the director to have a small village like Kanakkanpatti as the nucleus of this movie.
A group of youngsters, who have different backgrounds, in terms of caste, work, status, are great friends and stand united only because of Kabadi. Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu is what they call themselves and they take pride in attending the local kabadi competitions. Winning is almost like a nightmare to them and to keep their heads high amongst their villagers, they play the weaker team from the next village. Their ultimate aim is to win a tournament so that they can walk inside the village with their heads high up.
A movie where almost everyone is a newbie, maybe a budget of a few hundred thousands, no expensive props and mostly everything natural is what makes VKK so special.
Mari, the uneducated young lad who is a goat-herd, is the principal character in this movie. Other than a very sad background about Mari, what we get to see is only his inclination for the sport and his love for the anonymous girl Saranya Mohan, who comes to the village festival from Madurai. Its interesting to note that the director has beautifully brought out the love between the two without even letting out the girl's name. Also, its awesome to note that they never exchange any contact information. They decide to wait till the next years festival. It works like that in villages. How difficult but at the same time, fascinating.
The other characters have been neatly sketched. Each one has an interesting background and they bring vibrance and color to the movie. Kishore, as the Kabadi coach, sets the pace in the second half of the movie.
Comedy is not a separate track. The kabadi players by themselves are an enthusiastic crowd. Moreover, being villagers, "nakkal and nayyaandi" comes automatically to them, atleast the director has made sure that there is no need for an extra character to bring humor to the screen.
Music is quite a plus to this movie. The songs are simple and melodious. No powerful instruments to make you feel jolted out of the blue.
Overall: MUST SEE
Director Susindran has perfectly executed a script based on Kabadi with simplicity and finesse. This is not like Chak De, Lagaan or any other sports movies like Goal or Victory. This movie has a completely different take on Kabadi. There is no money, glamour and fashion. The game itself has little popularity among the masses. We hardly find anyone talking, which probably makes it easy for the director to have a small village like Kanakkanpatti as the nucleus of this movie.
A group of youngsters, who have different backgrounds, in terms of caste, work, status, are great friends and stand united only because of Kabadi. Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu is what they call themselves and they take pride in attending the local kabadi competitions. Winning is almost like a nightmare to them and to keep their heads high amongst their villagers, they play the weaker team from the next village. Their ultimate aim is to win a tournament so that they can walk inside the village with their heads high up.A movie where almost everyone is a newbie, maybe a budget of a few hundred thousands, no expensive props and mostly everything natural is what makes VKK so special.
Mari, the uneducated young lad who is a goat-herd, is the principal character in this movie. Other than a very sad background about Mari, what we get to see is only his inclination for the sport and his love for the anonymous girl Saranya Mohan, who comes to the village festival from Madurai. Its interesting to note that the director has beautifully brought out the love between the two without even letting out the girl's name. Also, its awesome to note that they never exchange any contact information. They decide to wait till the next years festival. It works like that in villages. How difficult but at the same time, fascinating.
The other characters have been neatly sketched. Each one has an interesting background and they bring vibrance and color to the movie. Kishore, as the Kabadi coach, sets the pace in the second half of the movie.
Comedy is not a separate track. The kabadi players by themselves are an enthusiastic crowd. Moreover, being villagers, "nakkal and nayyaandi" comes automatically to them, atleast the director has made sure that there is no need for an extra character to bring humor to the screen.
Music is quite a plus to this movie. The songs are simple and melodious. No powerful instruments to make you feel jolted out of the blue.
Overall: MUST SEE
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Women and IT
Sometime back, a company ran this intolerable ad.
Between 2001 and 2007, 37000 women in the UK have abandoned IT Careers.
And Tim Berners Lee said this about sexism in IT "A culture that avoided alienating women would attract more female programmers, which could lead to greater harmony of systems design. If there were more women involved, we could move towards interoperability. We have to change at every level"
Is IT predominantly a "boy thing"?
Between 2001 and 2007, 37000 women in the UK have abandoned IT Careers.
And Tim Berners Lee said this about sexism in IT "A culture that avoided alienating women would attract more female programmers, which could lead to greater harmony of systems design. If there were more women involved, we could move towards interoperability. We have to change at every level"
Is IT predominantly a "boy thing"?
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Padikkathavan - Cool Cocktail
Super Star's son-in-law is back. A movie of the same title was another feather in Super Star's cap during his career. I guess the same holds with Dhanush. His performance in this undoubtedly commercial movie will definitely take him a long way.
Padikkathavan is a generous cocktail of all the commercial aspects that any one would look for in a movie. This movie is all about how Dhanush - a 10th Fail, who gets humiliated by his father at home for not studying, decides to get ahead in life by almost forcing someone who is highly educated fall in love with him, who happens to be Tamanna.
Dhanush is the everything in this movie. He fights, dances, jumps, runs, does all sorts of stunts in the movie. With his Bruce Lee figure, he takes a dig at punch dialogs and excels in comedy as well. We know for a fact that Dhanush himself did not complete his education before entering films, but he has to be appreciated for the great work he has done in this movie. The title of the movie by itself had raised expectation of the audience by a few notches. Dhanush has carried this movie quite well.
Music is a plus for this movie. Mani Sharma's music may not be something innovative or out of the box, but it definitely gels with the script. "Raanki Rangamma" and "Hey Vetri Vela" are numbers that would stay on charts for a few months.
Milky White Tamanna - is she going to ride a wave like Simran? She sure does a wonderful job in the movie. With the kind of offers she has been getting from directors and producers in tamil cinema, if she continues the hard work that she has been doing, I am quite sure that she will give native actors a big run. In this movie, she is total entertainment material. But what surprises all of us is how her character evolves in this movie.
This film has got too many bad guys. At one point you are bored seeing people just killing each other. Extremely Painful. And by the time, the twist in the movie is revealed, you just want everything to get over. Suman, one of the bad guys, has more scope in this movie than just handling rifles and knives. Suman's acting in those extra scenes brings some seriousness into the movie.
Vivek's comedy begins only in the second half. First half comedy is completely ruled by Dhanush and his "tea-kada" friends. Vivek starts off well, but is somewhat annoying a little later. In the second half, he is always accompanied by dhanush. so, as soon as comedy gets a little off-track, the script ensures that patching work is done.
Overall: Only entertainment, no logic.
Padikkathavan is a generous cocktail of all the commercial aspects that any one would look for in a movie. This movie is all about how Dhanush - a 10th Fail, who gets humiliated by his father at home for not studying, decides to get ahead in life by almost forcing someone who is highly educated fall in love with him, who happens to be Tamanna.
Dhanush is the everything in this movie. He fights, dances, jumps, runs, does all sorts of stunts in the movie. With his Bruce Lee figure, he takes a dig at punch dialogs and excels in comedy as well. We know for a fact that Dhanush himself did not complete his education before entering films, but he has to be appreciated for the great work he has done in this movie. The title of the movie by itself had raised expectation of the audience by a few notches. Dhanush has carried this movie quite well.Music is a plus for this movie. Mani Sharma's music may not be something innovative or out of the box, but it definitely gels with the script. "Raanki Rangamma" and "Hey Vetri Vela" are numbers that would stay on charts for a few months.
Milky White Tamanna - is she going to ride a wave like Simran? She sure does a wonderful job in the movie. With the kind of offers she has been getting from directors and producers in tamil cinema, if she continues the hard work that she has been doing, I am quite sure that she will give native actors a big run. In this movie, she is total entertainment material. But what surprises all of us is how her character evolves in this movie.
This film has got too many bad guys. At one point you are bored seeing people just killing each other. Extremely Painful. And by the time, the twist in the movie is revealed, you just want everything to get over. Suman, one of the bad guys, has more scope in this movie than just handling rifles and knives. Suman's acting in those extra scenes brings some seriousness into the movie.
Vivek's comedy begins only in the second half. First half comedy is completely ruled by Dhanush and his "tea-kada" friends. Vivek starts off well, but is somewhat annoying a little later. In the second half, he is always accompanied by dhanush. so, as soon as comedy gets a little off-track, the script ensures that patching work is done.
Overall: Only entertainment, no logic.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Poem: Her favorite steel tumbler
she woke up
morning birds her alarm
this sunday
was no different
nowadays she was
used to the rhythm
prepare
deck up
new batch arrives
stand straight
genuflect
sit gentle
sing devotional
serve coffee and snacks
listen to elders jabbering
ancestral connections
nothing made sense
hot and bothered
acted with obedience
she held her emotions tight
never spoke an extra word
in her own territory
the hand had moved
a few degrees south
in some time she thought
life will be normal
with anger and hatred
she looked
at the kitchen sink
tumbler and plates
put to wash
for,
the seventeenth time
a stranger's lips had
left
another dirty mark on her
favorite steel tumbler
morning birds her alarm
this sunday
was no different
nowadays she was
used to the rhythm
prepare
deck up
new batch arrives
stand straight
genuflect
sit gentle
sing devotional
serve coffee and snacks
listen to elders jabbering
ancestral connections
nothing made sense
hot and bothered
acted with obedience
she held her emotions tight
never spoke an extra word
in her own territory
the hand had moved
a few degrees south
in some time she thought
life will be normal
with anger and hatred
she looked
at the kitchen sink
tumbler and plates
put to wash
for,
the seventeenth time
a stranger's lips had
left
another dirty mark on her
favorite steel tumbler
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Villu - Hopeless Bow
In an era, where actors struggle to make an impact among the fans, Vijay gives a pedestrian performance for a movie that lacks every aspect of a good movie.
Third day after the movie has released and I saw people walking out for every song. Intermission - complete chaos. Fans were frustrated. Second half - complete damage. Atleast the first half was bearable. Second half is a disaster.
Villu opened this Pongal hoping to be a commercial success. This time, the Prabhu Deva - vijay combination has backfired. Pokkiri was phenomenal. After that one, this movie comes across as a major letdown for Vijay fans.
Now, Vijay has a few flag. An emblem rather, from his fan club. So thats the introduction for the actor. Vijay in the lead role has just killed time on the screen. No acting. Nothing that any person from the audience could appreciate. Ok, the dance sequences are quite nice. Comedy hasnt gone well. Everything else is below average. Villu for Vijay's career is like how Kuruvi did sometime back. Just more damage. I hope Vijay finds a way to fix his script choosing skills. This commercial mass entertainer formula is not working well. Gone are the days of the standard formula. Everyone wants something different and out of the box.
Music by Devi Sri Prasad. Another let down. Jalsa song is okay. Every other song has an amazing telugu touch. Devi Sri - please understand. We don't like movies where actors do 5 stunt scenes and 5 songs. We know to appreciate good music and we always like it that way. You have done a good job before. So I dont understand why you have miserably failed this time.
Prabhu Deva - the director. Some say that this movie is similar to Soldier in Hindi. The bobby deol movie. I dont remember that one. Whatever. But whats there to direct in this movie. Deva told on TV that this movie is like an MGR movie - wholesome entertainer. Well, definitely not. This movie is a pain in the ***. Was there anything called STORY in this whole movie? Bottomline is REVENGE, but the way it has been handled - extremely atrocious. Its usually the end of the first half where you can try all your direction gimmicks and possibly screw up. in the second half, you have to patch up and give a powerful comeback so that people walk out with a enthusiastic feeling about the movie. In this case, post intermission is complete trash - especially the flashback.
Nayantara - she is beautiful. Camera captures her well. Comedy goes great. She has done a neat job. Otherwise, no scope for acting.
Vadivel - first half comedy is AMAZING. Keeps you rolling. The sequence with the english song "I just cant stop loving you" is a fantastic and innovative effort. Second half comedy is again waste. Hopeless.
Prakash Raj, Anand Raj, Sriman, Gita, Manoj K Jayan, Ranjitha - all these characters add more trouble to the weak storyline.
Overall: Huge letdown for Vijay fans
Third day after the movie has released and I saw people walking out for every song. Intermission - complete chaos. Fans were frustrated. Second half - complete damage. Atleast the first half was bearable. Second half is a disaster.
Villu opened this Pongal hoping to be a commercial success. This time, the Prabhu Deva - vijay combination has backfired. Pokkiri was phenomenal. After that one, this movie comes across as a major letdown for Vijay fans.Now, Vijay has a few flag. An emblem rather, from his fan club. So thats the introduction for the actor. Vijay in the lead role has just killed time on the screen. No acting. Nothing that any person from the audience could appreciate. Ok, the dance sequences are quite nice. Comedy hasnt gone well. Everything else is below average. Villu for Vijay's career is like how Kuruvi did sometime back. Just more damage. I hope Vijay finds a way to fix his script choosing skills. This commercial mass entertainer formula is not working well. Gone are the days of the standard formula. Everyone wants something different and out of the box.
Music by Devi Sri Prasad. Another let down. Jalsa song is okay. Every other song has an amazing telugu touch. Devi Sri - please understand. We don't like movies where actors do 5 stunt scenes and 5 songs. We know to appreciate good music and we always like it that way. You have done a good job before. So I dont understand why you have miserably failed this time.
Prabhu Deva - the director. Some say that this movie is similar to Soldier in Hindi. The bobby deol movie. I dont remember that one. Whatever. But whats there to direct in this movie. Deva told on TV that this movie is like an MGR movie - wholesome entertainer. Well, definitely not. This movie is a pain in the ***. Was there anything called STORY in this whole movie? Bottomline is REVENGE, but the way it has been handled - extremely atrocious. Its usually the end of the first half where you can try all your direction gimmicks and possibly screw up. in the second half, you have to patch up and give a powerful comeback so that people walk out with a enthusiastic feeling about the movie. In this case, post intermission is complete trash - especially the flashback.Nayantara - she is beautiful. Camera captures her well. Comedy goes great. She has done a neat job. Otherwise, no scope for acting.
Vadivel - first half comedy is AMAZING. Keeps you rolling. The sequence with the english song "I just cant stop loving you" is a fantastic and innovative effort. Second half comedy is again waste. Hopeless.
Prakash Raj, Anand Raj, Sriman, Gita, Manoj K Jayan, Ranjitha - all these characters add more trouble to the weak storyline.
Overall: Huge letdown for Vijay fans
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
Nature's New Year Gift
Straight from the tree at home. Organic Produce from the home garden. After quite a long wait, we managed to get hold of these fruits. Thankfully, the arboreal rodents and the birds were busy doing something else.
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