Enai Noki Paayum Thota

Truth - Gautham Vasudev Menon has inspired me to start writing again.

ENPT - I have been waiting for this movie for such a long time. I guess all of us Tamil movie fans have been waiting for this movie. 

I finally got to watch this movie and then I told myself, maybe I should start writing again! So here's a start.

ENPT is a complete GVM movie in all aspects. Right from the first frame. It is a love story and more specifically a GVM love story. So you can imagine how it will be. I'll give you a few pointers and spoilers.

Of course there is an engineering college. Remember Minnale and Vaaranam Aayiram. Yes, mechanical engineering would have been an overkill but we can live with the engineering college.

Then we go to dialogues in English. This has been repeatedly used in all movies and has become a trend now. Without English dialogues, its not a GVM movie any more.

The relationship with parents - this is something GVM explores time and time again in every movie. In Minnale, it was grandson and grandpa. In VTV, it was the parents to some extent but not a lot, mostly sister. In Vaaranam Aayiram, it was just dad bonding all the way. Even here, its a lot of family - especially elder brother. This area has not been touched earlier by GVM. So I guess it was natural that he brought this in.

The narrations using the hero. This has just worked wonders. I clearly remember this from Kaakha Kaakha when GVM used Suriya to narrate and it was brilliant. The same carried on to other movies like VTV.

GVM also has this amazing talent to kill a love song by giving it a totally different scene / background. Just like how he used "thallipogathey" in that Simbu movie in an accident scene; he does the same here with a killer love song. I was thinking that I'd be in for a treat with that song and then I was in for a completely different ride.

Dhanush has acted well. There is no need to review his acting. Of course, when he misses the first bullet, then you kinda get the feeling that he's going to miss the next bullet as well. And when GVM sets the scene for the second bullet, you already know what's going to happen. Its a child's play with respect to script.

The entire episode in Mumbai with Sasikumar is so boring and feels wasted. I mean, if you'd added anything in there with a similar revenge sequence, it would have worked fine. Bringing a lost brother back and then killing him in the middle of a gang war with the police involved is all just a means of trying to close a hole in the script or trying to add some extra scenes to a movie that could have been cut short. But then GVM had to do this. Otherwise, this would be very similar to the Jayam Ravi movie Varsham, with Shriya Saran. Similar story line of falling in love with a cinema actor.

Megha Akash is alright. I mean, she has a lot of work to do in the acting department. All other characters make sufficient impact or as required.

The music is fantastic. We all know that and we've been playing the songs for years now.

Overall - this movie is only worth watching if you like GVM's signature strokes. Beyond that, this movie is not good at all.

Tinder in India

Time to write a post. Its been a really long time since I came back to this. Honestly, I miss writing but at the same time, I have been delaying it too - thanks to Netflix, YouTube and of course laziness.

Now there's a huge gap from the last post to this one. I'll perhaps come to that later. I did spend a lot of time in India - from mid-June 2017 to early Jan 2018 and during that time I decided to explore the Tinder app. I was quite sure that India has progressed over the last 5 years to appreciate random conversations over an app.

Tinder in Chennai

I think Chennai is one of the worst cities for Tinder. Chennai hardly has any migrant population compared to Bangalore or Hyderabad. So every now and then, you'll find your friend on Tinder. Also, you have to expand the distance meter to the maximum (which will also include parts of Pondicherry, read Auroville.. LOL) if you need any results. After all that, you'll see one you like. Without wasting time, you'd super like her. She'd accept. You ask her out for a coffee (Of course you cannot ask her out for a beer. You are in Chennai. Filter coffee is the best. In fact, her guardian may also be sitting a few tables away from you). She will un-match because she still believes in an arranged marriage. She is only on the app to waste your time.

Once that episode is done, your meter will keep rotating for ages. You'll find nothing. You need to wait for another eclipse.

And then there was another match. Another super like I think. Sent her a text and by the time she replied, I could see that she was a few thousand kms away in the country. She'd accepted a job in the north. Didn't see her back in the city for a really long time. I did meet her but maybe that's reserved for another post.

Tinder in Bangalore

This is perhaps the best! A lot of women, to be honest, and some really worth the super-like. And there have been times when women have super liked me too. This generally never happens anywhere else but I think India has started noticing that my physical appearance is quite stunning after all the Crossfit (Thanks to all those people who inspired me. That list is a few pages long).

Anyways, I am chatting with girl 1 (who is into sales I gather from her profile, quite irrelevant). I ask her out but she doesn't have time and its also closer to my travel date back to Chennai. So we just decide to meet when I am in the city the next time around. In the end, I never met girl 1. We decided to meet somewhere and she cancelled. Maybe she got cold feet or she didn't like me. Who knows.

Second trip to Bangalore and I had 3 matches. Voila! Chennai seriously sucks in this department.

Ok girl 1 says hello, we chat for a bit and then decide to meet! Awesome. We go out for a nice dinner. Wow this is so cool. And I must say, she was really nice. I would definitely go out with her again if I was in Bangalore. But that didn't happen.

Girl 2 said hello. We decided to meet for coffee. The intended place was quite crowded so we ended up at the coffee place for kids - Cafe Coffee Day. We had common friends. So we were chatting a lot. So, this is the problem with Chennai or Bangalore. The network is so bloody small that if you are in a good job or studied in a reputed institution, there's a 100% chance that you and your Tinder match would have common friends. Not one, but like a herd. So girl 2 actually told me some horror stories about Tinder in India which was quite shocking to hear. Girl 2 is also a Bangalore lover. I didn't get a chance to meet her again.

For all the men - If you match with a girl, then learn to take baby steps. This is India god damnit. Do not - wait outside their workplace, send them messages on Facebook or ask them why they don't want to meet you again. If they don't like you, just get the fuck out of there. Don't make them uncomfortable.

Girl 3 matches. Quite late in the night. I ask her out because I was driving back to Chennai the day after. Then she gave me this huge lecture about how we should chat, exchange phone numbers, get to know each other and then meet. I was SO not ready for all that. I just wanted to meet and say hello. That's all. Not even in the mood to take it to the next date. And then I heard all these conditions (owing to previous experience meeting dickheads). So we never met.

So overall, Bangalore scores way better than Chennai for Tinder. There are many many dry days in Chennai (when you have no matches) but Bangalore has a fairly large migrant population and also open minded people who want to date or meet people this way.

Of course, there's more to talk about the people I met. Maybe another time. But for now, I think this will be a good start for 2018.

Kaatru Veliyidai

There's one scene in the movie Kaatru Veliyidai where Dr.Nidhi and Dr.Illyaas are in conversation and it translates to "VC is all about VC". That's pretty much the centrepiece of this movie.

VC is an airforce pilot who only cares about what he wants to do in his life. He occupies higher ground and he is always looking down at you, even when he is in love. Every time he smiles, you can see he exudes pride and arrogance. He feels superior, compares himself to God, perhaps even mightier and says that he will kill. You know the term "airs and graces" (the affectation of superiority). That's the "Kaatru" in this movie.

Of course, when there is a movie about someone at the border, there has to be drills and war. With war comes capture and then the whole drama of planning to escape and doing it. Mani Ratnam brings back a bit of Roja here, but leaves the patriotism out for a bit and takes the journey of love. This entire sequence of VC being in Pakistan and escaping to India through Afghanistan introduces us to his life at a slow and steady pace.

Leela has heard enough about VC for years. She grew up listening to stories about this individual who is perhaps compared to a superhuman (in the eyes of her brother). She is besotted. The job in Kashmir is only a reason. 

We all say "opposites attract". This is not the storyline here. This is the story of a girl who is fascinated about a guy, gets to meet him in person and is faced with some serious questions, perhaps a reality check.

Leela is already in love. And VC is just getting started but like I said in the beginning, "VC only likes VC". We get many visions of this during the movie - the registrar office, the single malt challenge, Leela's opinion, pregnancy.. there's plenty. So he finds it difficult to isolate himself from himself. He is caught for his actions. Actions that would have been encouraged and found very normal among a group of alpha males.  

The dysfunctional family is a distraction. Yes, there is a bit of affirmation about VC's character when we get a glimpse of his family but its not important. And merged into that family sequence is a song with a wedding and a lot of colour powder which looked good on screen but made no sense. I haven't been to any wedding where one of the events is like Holi.

When two headstrong individuals meet, there's bound to be a bit of an explosion. VC is controlling but Leela stands her ground. And that's where Mani Ratnam excels. He brings out shades of his women characters from his previous works. He gives them space. He lets them fall madly in love but not lose self respect. Leela may look vulnerable but her displeasure at numerous instances shows that she cannot be taken lightly. Her disapproval of VC, choosing to stand by her decisions, and still being honestly in love with VC is what breaks VC.

Kaatru Veliyidai is not a Breezy Expanse (as suggested by Wikipedia). Its the air of superiority slowly leaving VC after numerous rough patches in his life and how he finds his feet on the ground. Its one man's journey through solitude to find his true calling - a submission to love.

The Middle Class

She wakes up. Starts cooking and in parallel, dresses up her son for school. Off he goes. She packs a box of lunch for her husband while he gets ready for work. She hears him complain that he is getting late. That's "ALL" she hears from him. Then she goes to work. They get home in the evening. She makes dinner. They all eat and go to bed. He is in the mood. So he has sex. She doesn't seem to enjoy it. She is aware that their son who is sleeping less than two feet from them might wake up and you know what next. But he continues to arrive.

Its their middle class life. She goes to work and he goes to work. That's what they all do. A one bedroom apartment with very minimal privacy has its own boundaries but he is not bothered. He just wants it. He gets it. He gets it every day. He doesn't care about what she wants. That's how he imagined life should be.

One evening, his phone rings. An unknown caller. She questions. He brushes it off. She realizes. He is cheating on her.

She wants to give it back. She decides to cheat.

In between, there is also a reference to the great poet Bharathiyar and his thoughts on women. On how he wanted women to be what they want to be; on how they should carve a path for themselves and not be dependent on a man; on empowering women.

This was a short film. When I finished seeing this, I had many thoughts going on in my mind.

What makes a marriage work? Is it equally distributed commitment from two people? In the case of an imbalance, is it okay for one person to give more?

Deception or infidelity is just wrong. Doesn't matter who. If he does it, does it mean that she has the right to retaliate and do something similar? How does that work?

What if 'she' gets a call from an unknown caller? Let's say we let Bharathiyar's dream version of women to choose what they want to do, and let them find romance outside of their relationship. What if he finds out, but he doesn't think that he needs to take revenge. How does that play out?

We are a high class society who have enough problems at our own class, where women are slightly ahead of the men in these familial circumstances. And we dramatize/empathize about middle class and low class.

Chennai Heat 2013 Feedback

Click image to see larger version

Welcome to the feedback post. Before you proceed, let me warn you that this post is going to be extremely long. Read only if you have time, patience and a sense of responsibility to make India Ultimate better.

Before I begin my criticism, I would like to take a moment to thank every person who was involved in the preparation and execution of Chennai Heat 2013. Its not just the tournament directors, committee members, party organisers or the list of volunteers but everyone else who whose names we did not hear in the “thank you list”. Being close to the organizers of the event, I know that they ran into many problems with sponsorship, especially in the 11^th hour. They had to make some decisions which did give them a bit of headache. Nevertheless, they rolled up their sleeves and worked harder to make the event successful.

Feedback begins. The next few paragraphs are my thoughts. After that, the consolidated feedback follows.

Every tournament in India should have a dedicated team to organize the event. The TD or TD’s, other members and volunteers should not be working for the tournament and playing for a team. It just doesn’t work that way. There have been many instances in the past and also in CH13 where people did not know who the volunteers were or who was keeping time or any damn thing for that matter. This is mainly because players want to run the event and play for their team. Consider this idea – going forward, give the tournament organization to a club. Let them organize the event. They don’t get to play but they get to keep a good percentage of the profits from the tournament. If this is not an option, then you HAVE to create a team that will not play.

We need to have a place called GAME CENTRAL during the tournament. This should be the official desk for all matters related to the tournament. This desk should be manned by volunteers throughout the duration of the tournament. All communications should go from here and every query should be answered from here.

Okay, we divided the tournament feedback into many sections and this is what we have.

Communications

By and large, all communication was done through Facebook which according to many is not the preferred option. The tournament website was hardly used for any form of communication.

Schedule and changes were all communicated within a span of less than 1 week to the tournament. This is totally unacceptable and should be taken seriously by all tournament directors. Going forward, schedules and pools should be released atleast 2 weeks before the tournament.

For urgent and important updates, a smarter form of communication such as SMS or phone calls should be used. The idea is to ensure that players or captains get the message.

Registrations

Registration details should be communicated well in advance. Teams should be instructed to pay to an account number before arriving for the tournament. Only registered teams (read paid money) should be considered for scheduling.

Competition

Every player is attending the tournament for a great experience on the field and I think that the competition format affected many teams.

Seeding and groupings were not effective at all. Sometimes looked very biased and beneficial to some teams. Its not UPAI’s responsibility to manage the seeding but the organizers of Chennai, Bangalore and Delhi (these are the biggest tournaments in India right now), should sit together and come up with a standard ranking system which works for all tournaments.

The number of teams should have been restricted considering that it gets too hot after 9.30am. Many teams did not have games at 9.30am or 3.30pm and some teams had many games at these times. This may not be a bias but the scheduling is sometimes insensitive. By reducing the number of teams, the game time per team could have been significantly increased. Having 3 pick-up teams and not counting scores against them is just ridiculous. Period.

Playing a kid because you don’t have women or you have lesser number of women IS NOT ACCEPTABLE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. I thought the rules had clearly mentioned this and hence I don’t understand why this issue came up in the feedback. Whichever team did this, I am sorry guys, you are not fit to play a tournament. This is such a dispirited act. I cannot accept any BS explanation in this regard.

Everywhere I have played, the teams have 2 time-outs during the entire game and generally time-outs are not given during the last 5 mins or so. And what was this floating time-out I heard about? Who comes up with these ridiculous rules? Apparently time-outs ran for 2-3 minutes. This is why we need assigned volunteers for every game. These volunteers should be responsible to conduct the game, keep time and manage other administrative tasks. We cannot ask someone on the sideline to manage time because no one else did.

Spirit captain and WFDF accreditation was a great move and has been well appreciated by all teams but the organizers should also consider having observers for certain games. People standing in the sidelines have no authority to give opinions. Also the playing teams should ask them to please shut up.

Fields

The fields were not in the best form. Many teams had complaints about glass pieces and stones. Organisers should look to allocate some money to run the sand sifters before the tournament.

Many spectators were very close to the sidelines. Going forward, it may be good to have two lines at a 3 meter separation just to keep the crowd away.

Facilities

All teams were happy with the availability of water, ice, physio and first aid although some teams did not know that the physio was around. Portable toilets would have been a boon for the women.

Merchandise reaching the fields on the last day was such a bad idea. Efforts should have been made to get it on the first day. This all ties up to ensuring that registration is done atleast 2 weeks before the tournament so that the organizers can get everything sorted out much earlier.

For CH2014, we definitely need to provide sunscreen.

Food

This is where the organizers scored a lot. Bananas were good. The next step is hydration fluids. The tie-up with CFG for discount food coupons was an awesome idea. We need more!

Social

No concerns about the party as well. Everyone loved the party for the atmosphere and food. Although a few think that the price was slightly on the higher side, I still think it was a fab effort from the party organizers.

Travel and Acco

Apart from parking problems which are strictly not in our hands there was nothing much.

Overall

Chennai Heat 2013 gets an overall score of 7.8 on 10 which is very good. Can we say that people have been very generous with their scores? Haha. I am not undermining the efforts taken by the organizers but we have a long way to go.

Why do we still have to play 7 on 7 when the international standard for beach ultimate is 5 on 5 with a 3-2 ratio? Choosing this option would give us more fields and shorter games. The number of games per team would increase as well. Sooner, we will be able to have Open and Mixed divisions if we choose 5 on 5. On the other side, with soaring temperatures in the south, next year’s Heat may definitely need a supply of sand socks.

Chennai Heat 2013 - Predictions

The cat is out of the bag now. You should get a better version of the above picture on the tournament facebook page.

First look comments - I am not sure what even distribution of seeding means. Also, there needs to be a mention of what benchmarks have been used to come up with the seeding. In my opinion, every team needs a ranking before the tournament and after the tournament. The criteria for allocating teams is sensible but can be contested for logic.

When you look at the pools, the results of pool-play just stand out in front of you without any reason for a second look.

All the teams against A1-F1 respectively are going to top their pools comfortably. The only pool games that would be worth a watch for the spectators are Flywild vs DoD and Spinergy vs Falcons. I must mention that the games between 3 and 4 numbered teams in all pools would be interesting in a way that you can never predict the outcome.

If we have 3 pools at the end of pool-play, then Gold pool will have Stall7, Flywild, L2F, Spinergy, Blitz, Airborne. Now that's 6 done with 2 more slots remaining. DoD has a very good chance of making the 7th spot. The last spot will be a fight between Chakraa and Falcons. I would give that last spot to Chakraa because of the home advantage they have but still be doubtful about the points difference they can make with the other teams in their pool. Which gives Falcons a good chance to make it to Gold. Fringe Flickers are capable of throwing a surprise but they have never done that yet so I wouldn't place my bets on them.

With a minimum of 4 Chennai teams in Gold pool, there will be enough pressure on the other teams to even get to semi-finals. L2F has not been very successful on beach for a very long time. Spinergy has reached semis but crumpled as well. L2F and Spinergy have a good chance to move up in Gold if they play teams like Airborne, DoD, Chakraa and Falcons. Blitz, Flywild and Stall7 are going to give a menacing blow to anyone playing against them. I am not sure if Blitz still has a problem with their women ratio but if that's sorted out, then there is no stopping them at all. This also means that if neither of these three teams meet in the first round of Gold, then there is only spot left in the semis between 5 other teams.

In the end, the finals of Chennai Heat 2013 will be a repeat of the last year. With no doubt, Stall7 will win this edition of the Heat making it three in a row - a record that any other team can only dream of achieving on beach.

Flywild and Blitz are great teams as well and deserve credit for being fantastic teams, but they have a panic / choke button hidden somewhere. When they see their opponents score, they switch on automatically and its only downhill from there.

Like it or not, its going to be a Chennai domination all through.

Chennai Heat 2013 - Pools teaser

Excessive hullabaloo from my side over the last few days and many facebook posts by others did give a wake up call to the organizers of Chennai Heat 2013 to bring out that piece of classified information - The Seedings. I was so irritated that at some point I was even thinking of getting someone from WikiLeaks to help me break into the TD's mailbox.

UPAI - this one is for you guys to address in upcoming tournaments. 23 teams had registered for Chennai Heat by 12th Sep or something. Why does it take TD's such a long time to release information about pools? Pools for tournaments are definitely independent of schedules. I understand that it may take time to fix the fields and the slots but the pools can come out within 10 days of registration. We definitely need a booklet called Tournament Guidelines and I will author that. Mind it.

So, here are the pools. Well, not really. I am not supposed to reveal anything until the TD announces the same. I had a sneak peak into what is going to come out and here is what I have to say.

It looks like there will be 6 pools with 4 teams in each. In effect, three games before you step onto the next stage. I would have preferred a bigger pool which also means that you get to face-off against many more competitive teams but in this case, you will be moved to your comfort zone on day 2. From then on, it becomes a smart play for many teams, especially the ones that just missed the bus for the gold pool - to keep their head above the water and maintain the lead against the smaller teams.

Anyways, the predictions are still to come by. Ciao until then.

Singam 2

The original Singam was a treat to watch. An emotional yet strong police officer story with all the commercial ingredients to make it a perfect Tamil entertainer. Singam 2 is not quite there. Too many characters, bad music and not so great villains make this movie longer and boring.

Singam 2 shows a quick recap of Singam before leading into its theme, just to let you know that they are following the original track that was laid (which also means that we have to provide screen space for all the characters from the old film - what a pity). Tamil cinema still hasn't reached a stage where they can do something like a James Bond franchise with unrelated movies and yet do fantastic at the box office. I am sure we have the capability but many directors still are hung up on song and dance.

So what's new! An item number with Angadi Theru Anjali, local and international baddies, Hansika, and Santhanam.

Singam 2 is all about Suriya. If at any point you removed all the surrounding characters (esp family, love, and comedy), the movie would still make sense. And if the director had made any attempt to remove a few of those characters, the movie would have been slightly better too.

Hansika as an infatuated school-girl adds just color to the Tuticorin backdrop. Santhanam's sequences are not very enjoyable but his mockery of scenes and dialogues from the first movie are definitely a treat. Three villains and one of them calling himself the King of the Indian Ocean (absolutely ridiculous), I definitely think that Prakash Raj did a much better job in the first movie. Rahman does a good job in playing his part as one of the bad guys.

The movie takes us to all sorts of places. Starting from Tuticorin to Chennai, Kerala and then South Africa as well. Scenes are quick and short but predictable and weak.

Don't even get me started about the music. In this one, DSP fails to make your feet tap. After the first song, you are convinced that the first movie's soundtrack was worth every minute of your ear.

I find it very difficult to continue this review because of the confusion the screenplay creates by having so many scenes. In the end, all I can remember is Suriya finding a way to ensure that every bad guy is out of business. Beyond that everything about Singam 2 is waste of time. Having said that, a theme to just oust baddies is quite horrible because that's been the premise of Tamil Cinema for generations. So director Hari doesn't churn out anything interesting.

Going at this rate, actors like Suriya, Vijay and Vikram will become a forgotten trio if they don't invest their time and talent in working on meaningful scripts.

Kumki

Kumki, the latest movie by Prabu Solomon is a ridiculously stupid movie. I am writing this at the beginning to save some time for readers who do not want to continue.

The name Kumki actually refers to a type of elephant that is used to drive away wild elephants from troubling villagers in mountainous districts. These elephants are specifically trained by the forest department or other factions to keep people safe from wild elephant attacks.

Anyway, the Kumki that released last Friday is a nonsensical love story under the pretext of an elephant. A mahout brings his unconditioned elephant to protect a village and ends up being there because he falls in love with a girl there. Total rubbish.

Before any further abuse, I would like to credit the director for having chosen an amazing shooting location. The mountains, fields, waterfalls and the forest was a treat for the eye. Photography and Cinematography take top honors.

Music was literally a pain in the ass. There is a song pretty much every five minutes and that kills the interest for anyone who wants to watch the movie. The background score is amazing and I think the music director should have stopped right there.

Vikram Prabhu - I am sorry. This movie will not do any charm for you. You have to write this movie off and hope for another director to give you a break. And also hope that the new director has not seen this movie. Or even better, fund your next movie. Other than showing off brawn here and there, Vikram has not done anything worth mentioning.

Lakshmi Menon - the female lead has no scope as well.

The only person who saves this movie right from the beginning till the end is Thambi Ramaiyya. His dialogues, expressions, and sense of humor made me sit through the movie. If not for him, this movie wouldn't have crossed the weekend.

The elephant came of use only during the last 10 minutes of the movie. Until then it seemed like a complete waste of time. And Vikram Prabhu's dialogue in the end where he says to the elephant "Everyone thought you were mad but actually I was the one who was mad" is the only dialogue that made the presence of the elephant in the whole movie worthwhile.

Overall: Kumki is a big headache and not worth even a pirated VCD

Thuppakki - Quiet and Racy

It takes so much time in Melbourne to get an opportunity to watch a Diwali release. Gosh two weeks!

Anyways, I guess the wait was definitely worth it. AR Murugadoss proves that he is not a director who can be taken for granted. And yes, there is hope in Tamil cinema for good movies.

Thuppakki is a very quiet yet racy film. For once, the commercial aspects of a mass hero film has been played down very efficiently and the presentation of the rest of the screenplay has moved up a few notches without heavy damage. The theme of the movie is based on eliminating terrorist sleeper cells operating within the country. Maybe the theme by itself was a reason for the director to keep the extravagance under wraps. Good decision indeed. Execution becomes a key element of such movies and I should give the director a big salute. Scenes did not seem stretched at all.

In a year when most other superstars of Kollywood have wasted their talent and screen space on delivering over senseless scripts, Vijay has stolen the opportunity to shed his mass hero appeal from the likes of Sivakasi, Thiruppachi etc etc and play it down, a bit mellowed is the right word. No punch dialogues in high intensity and measured usage of words makes his character more believable in a number of instances.

With everything going right with the script, someone got drunk and introduced two characters to waste time. Kajal Agarwal and Jayaram.

Kajal Agarwal was hopeless. For a movie of this kind, she was zero value add. I would have been happy if she was kidnapped by the villain, like the typical Tamil movie climax but that didn't happen too. Am sure someone gave her a voice over and that was pathetic.

Jayaram - an actor whose talent was made worthless by the script.

Sathyan, as Vijay's friend, plays a very good role in the movie. His reactions and sense of comedy was more than enough for screen. The director didn't have to experiment another side-track with Jayaram and Vijay which turned out be a fiasco.

Oh yes, music. Harris J. He should have stuck to background score. Every song in the movie was just another loo break opportunity.

Tamil cinema can never end without bloopers. The climax was the best here. A bomb had been set to blast in 15 mins. And there was exactly 15 mins left for the whole movie to end. And in that time, the hero fights the villain, jumps out of the ship, the ship blasts and later he also manages a tearful send off from his family. This was hilarious. When people say, cut the crap, they really mean it. So, in future, please cut the crap.

Overall: Thuppakki entertains

Fiction: Separation

They were good friends. Absolutely no strings attached. He'd been observing her for sometime now. There was something strange about her. He didn't know what. She was smiling and sounded normal from the outside, but deep within, she had locked herself into the room of dark secrets.

He imagined there was pain. The good person in him didn't give away. There was an urge to help. He wanted to help her break free and smile. He thought about it - really hard. It wasn't easy getting into someone else's life. There were risks. It could affect him as well.

He asked her. Told her that he felt strong about seeing her happy. She didn't respond. He was persistent. He was not the kind who would just walk away from anything. In him, he had already decided that he wanted to do this and he wasn't going to change his mind for the world. She suddenly sounded stronger than him. She wasn't giving him a chance to intrude and for a moment he felt that he was losing the battle. While this happened, he noticed her full eyes. He couldn't say more. He walked away.

 

Months passed and one fine day she had gone, untold. He looked terribly pained and there was no one to hear. As time passed he realized why she had hesitated, in the very beginning. It was the pain of SEPARATION she was afraid of.

PS: Something I had written years back and I don't even know if this makes sense but it was lying in the archives; so decided to give it a little polishing.

Mayakkam Enna

A group of friends are always fun to be with - drinking, gossip, dinners, lying around the house drunk, late nights at the beach. Your friends are your best judge and sometimes your worst enemy. Nevertheless, its only your friends who can forgive and forget because they have seen you every moment. They understand what you are going through; your toughest moments are easy when they are around. You can do what you want when you are with them and not bother about consequences.

Love happens. You don't know when it hits you. It could be your friend's girlfriend too but she doesn't care. 'She was never serious the first time' she says. You try to resist the feeling but this time, it hits you like a hurricane. And this is when life gets complicated. You are torn between the most cherished parts of your life - your true friends and your new love. The weirdness begins. You want to be lonely. Its not the loneliness but the fear that makes you run away from believing the truth. You don't want to accept. You tend to think that running away would solve all the problems, rather that creates the most uncomfortable situations.

Amidst all the chaos, life begins in a modest way. Being a part of the middle-class you have your own share of difficulties in life. There is pain, struggle, betrayal, frustration, alcohol, bruises, blood, tears and definitely lack of power. With so many negatives in your life, there is nothing much to look forward to except for that simple reason called hope which emanates from the love that you originally had, to begin that life. 

Selvaraghavan lets us walk into the life of an aspiring photographer Dhanush who neither has the education (atleast we don't know this part) or professional support to be successful. The meek and submissive character that he is, although he bosses around with his friends, he is mentally affected by failures. Success comes his way in a big way, but life has taken the toughest turns until then.

Mayakkam Enna is a true director's movie with the least "masala" elements available in the typical tamil movie package. The movie has Selvaraghavan written all over it without any doubt. The hilarious first half makes you wonder what's going to happen in the second and that's when he decides to give you a high voltage shock.

Overall: Fantastic movie. Would be a great script for a malayalam movie sans   the songs. Tamil cinema lovers may hate this.

7-Aum Arivu

What was Murugadoss thinking when he decided to make this film? I still havent figured out that. Sometimes I think that he was partly inspired by Michael Moore.

7AA is a commercial documentary. The first 20 mins of the film is a technologically advanced version of the usual videos that films division used to show in cinema halls years back. Remember the video about Nehru; this was no different. This is where Bodhi Dharma is introduced. ARM goes on to tell us that whatever we saw in Crouching Tiger and other films - I mean flying swords, people and stuff that we saw in Shaolin soccer; is closely related to what Bodhi Dharma taught the Chinese.

The present day Chinese Military begin Operation Red whose only objective is to kill a girl in Chennai.

Suriya plays a circus performer in this film. I still can't figure out why he agreed to do that part because it didnt go well with the script of the film. I wonder if it was done to help the script where Shruti is looking to experiment with a monkey or ride an elephant (this scene is horrible), it still doesnt convince at all. We definitely know that a connection needs to be established between Bodhi Dharma and Suriya but not through a circus.

Coming to the main plot - The Chinese want to kill Shruti Hassan because they think she has done some research that would make India, some kind of a superpower. What I dont get from all this is the depth. Its never there at all. If it were such a research, then how come the Indian scientists are not bothered? And there are a bunch of people fighting about Tamil and English. Gimme a break director!!! There is a lot of cross-border tension between India and China, but China sending someone to India to kill Shruti is like watching a cartoon. The chinese villain using hynotic techniques to use people to his advantage is quite weird and at times very irritating as well.

Shruti Hassan has a very long way to go. I doubt if she will be very successful in the movies. She is awesome on the screen but dialogue delivery needs a lot of work. It feels like watching some US return tamilian on screen. We cannot put the heavy weight on her shoulder that she is Kamal's daughter. She is super talented but I am not sure if this film has done the magic for her.

I cant speak much about the new chinese villain who we have seen in many other hollywood movies. I dont remember doing anything other than staring.

The movie tells us that our traditions and superstitions have scientific reasons behind and we should understand the science and not blindly believe everything. And some of the examples are very effective. What I cant get to grips is when Shruti starts a scientific experiment on Suriya for 12 days; the villain manages to kill the experiment on the penultimate day and miraculously Suriya is still in great form. Suddenly, there is a superhero who has broken the scientific laws. Did I watch a Science Fiction?

What can I say about the songs. Same Harris style. He reminds you that every new song will remind you of his previous compositions. The SPB song in this movie reminded me of the 'Kanne Kalaimaane' sung by Yesudas but a few beats faster in the former. Most other songs are typical and sometimes the beat feels like a lift-off from ARR too.

The movie definitely lacks a good script and depth. Sometimes it looks as if the scenes were just put in place to make some logical sequence. I am supportive of the fact that ARM took up a different subject and exlpored a lot, but converting that into a bio-war is again like venturing into the lines of Dasavatharam. All of a sudden, the film starts wrapping up. The last 30 mins has all the prime content and I wonder why it was only for 30 mins. Romantic sequences were just time wasting tactics getting nowhere and only becoming script spoilers.

One piece of information I got from this movie is that the Chinese definitely have a great idea to eliminate the stray dogs in India but we never want them to help us do that.

A new life?

Landing in Bombay one day before the immersion of the Ganapthy idol was not a bad idea but the day of the immersion was a big mess. The whole of Bombay felt like that main road in Triplicane.

Thank God, Madras is not this bad. Sunday evening here was a mess. Crackers bursting everywhere, policemen all the place, people dancing, processions and the icing on the cake was the rain. What a horrible evening it was. But I made most of my evening by choosing to do something more useful. I made a rush to FAME Cinemas in Vashi to watch Thala 50 - Mankatha. Ooooohhhhh!!! Whattay movie!!! I was impressed. The only thing that I didnt like about watching the movie or rather I deeply regret is the crowd. No one is shouting or whistling. Such an indecent and obedient audience. Of course they are all Tamilians. Dont know what Bombay has done to these people.

My Amex co-branded card with Kingfisher was so useful at the Chennai airport. I got a Priority Check-in and Priority Boarding allowance for my Gold Status. Also managed to get free lounge access. I helped myself with some really good food while I was there. Finally realizing the true benefit of using my Amex Card.

Bombay never sleeps. Very true, these guys where pulling the carts with the idol of the God all through the night. My guest house overlooks the main road and its probably the route in this locality that has been allocated for the procession. Every half hour I was woken up by drums. What a huge public nuisance!!! I hope I am not in Bombay for the next such procession.

Trains are always a pain here. For the next two weeks, I need to take two trains to work and its quite a bad experience. Its really disgusting to see someone crush your 60 EURO pure leather bag atleast 50 times during that one journey. Also while you are standing there, a few bald headed idiots would wipe their sweaty foreheads on your shirt while they rush to get down at the next station. No amount of cursing is going to help because these guys do this everyday. I was just one of today's victims. So from tomorrow, no bag.

House hunt has started. I looked at a few apartments today. Nothing great but still charging a bomb for the place. Thankfully this is New Bombay and hance its lesser than original Bombay. And on top of that you need to pay the brokerage as well.. which is sometimes 2 months rent. Ridiculous. What more.. if you renew the contract after one year, you need to pay the brokerage again for the next year. This stuff doesnt even happen in the UK!!!

The Wake Up Alarm

So what's the purpose of having an alarm?

Well, the intention is to get up at the set time.

As long as that is clear, I guess we are okay.
Then why press the snooze button for the next one hour? Might as well, set the alarm to ring after one hour? Doesnt that make more sense?

Actually it truly does, but who wants to buy logic.

Its an Alarm! For you, it may sound like birds chirping inside the room trying to wake you up. For the other person who doesnt want to get up, its a damn alarm and when it rings for 12 times in the next one hour, its definitely annoying. Aint it?

I really wonder if the mind works like clock-work. Every five minutes, find that snooze button, press it and then get back to routine.

So you dont like me keeping an alarm to get up? I wont keep an alarm at all ever.

With this, I am trying to start the regular updates on my blog. Hopefully, interesting events would trigger and that would give a chance for coverage and representation.

Jessie

The base guitar chords create a magical moment to start with. When the camera moves from the Punnamada Lake in Allepey to the beautiful church, you hear...

"Of all the girls in this world, why did I fall in love with Jessie?"
This dialogue is repeated a number of times in the movie.

When you hear this dialogue from Simbu, you can feel love.
When his camera-man friend says this, there is a bit of fear.
When his sister says this, it comes like a natural warning and disapproval.
When Jessie herself asks the question back to Simbu, you can understand the confusion in her mind.

Sexy, classy, well read. Thats Jessie for you.

Gautam Vasudev Menon, in his latest movie, Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya (VTV), has taken a very simple subject - Romance, given it the exact touch it needs for the year 2010 and has displayed brilliance in execution.

With romance in the air, you can be rest assured that AR Rahman is definitely going to treat you. In fact, romance is a subject where every music director shows his best. With ARR, you dont have to ask. Remember Bombay - those beats and background scores when they show Shaila Banu. Its the same with VTV. Rahman has given importance to melody along with modernity. In fact, the screenplay for VTV is best explained only through ARR's compositions.

Hosanna - a song picturised in the shores of Malta introduces us to love. This song is the beginning of a wonderful love story; a simple love-at-first-sight song yet powerful. What I like about VTV is the way the story is being told. The viewpoint is always from one angle - that is from Simbu. The story is what he sees and feels. There is not one scene where Simbu is not there, which probably supports my argument as well.

Omana Penne - the second song in the movie and another love song. Well, actually the love is still not there completely. Its still one sided. Before this song, Trisha asks Simbu why he liked her so much and this song gives all the answers. Every word in this song is reflective of what Simbu feels or atleast what the director wants Simbu to feel.

Kannukkul Kannai - Jessie is confused. She does not want love because she thinks its going to hurt her. But she does not stop her lover. She wants the relationship to be open and at the level of being friends. When its love, you cannot make such boundaries. Thats what this song comes to say passionately. The violin portions in the beginning show the intensity of the lover, his anger towards Jessie for being impossible. Even though he is angry, he loves her and he cannot leave her. The line "Kadhal endraal kaayam thaan" - meaning love always hurts brings so much meaning to the situation.

Mannippaaya - sung by Shreya Ghoshal and ARR. If you ask me, I would say that this song is where love actually begins in the movie. Jessie is madly in love. She accepts, realizes her mistake of not revealing her love for Karthik. "Mannippaaya" sounds like a sad song but its nothing like that. Its a true reflection of how Jessie understands the real feeling of being in love.

Gautam Menon has always kept some part of himself in all of his movies. He has given his voice for Jerry, Jessie's brother. We also notice the "GVM 8004" written on the ship in the song Kannukkul Kannai.

VTV's story maybe the same as what we saw in Alaigal Oivathillai. Hindu boy falls in love with Christian girl, family doesnt like, and then there is a rift. But the good part about watching a movie with the same theme in 2010 is how each of us can connect with it. In love, there are no enemies who will come in 10 Tata Sumo's to attack you. You dont have to jump across 20 men or hit all of them at one go. Its only about love and the two people involved. VTV is like just another love story that happens in your college or friends circle; the songs and locations are to add some flavor for the 2.5 hrs you spend in the cinema hall.

Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya - Thamarai's lyrics beautifully rendered by Karthik, the splendid guitar chords take us to the peak of love.

Aromale - a complete malayalam song written by Kaithappram (a well renowned musician and lyricist, brilliant carnatic singer as well); sung by Alphonse (a music director as well). Karthik is reflecting back on love. He takes us back to those wonderful moments in few minutes. This song reminds you of some accoustic compositions of Bryan Adams. There is a bit of soft rock in the beginning; the tempo builds later.

Anbil Avan - celebrating love happily. Jessie and Karthik say their vows and get married. Chinmayi and Devan mesmerize you completely with their voice. ARR blends carnatic instruments perfectly into this themed song where they show a church and temple wedding.

Gautam Menon should always be appreciated for his choice of actors for the movie. The way he conceptualizes a character and fits the actor there is mind-blowing. Trisha is so perfect for Jessie. Eevry dialog, expression is so hand-crafted. Just like how they make the Rolls Royce. But sometimes you dont like the trims. Like I didnt like the way she kept reminding us that she was a Malayali by talking three words in malayalam every 20 minutes. And grow up Simbu rather Gautam, you cant be so dumb in 2010. Kerala is not just about "puttu-kadalai". You get the same quality or even better even in Chennai. We know that you want the guy to act stupid in front of his girl; the typical girl-guy conversations when the guy has to make some stupid arguments or comments, but could have done better there.

Overall: Awesome movie if you like love stories

Swimming

Summer time in Chennai. To beat the heat, I decided to join swimming classes. Today was my third class. I am still learning to float properly. My body has become very stiff - I guess its mainly because of going to the gym. Quads are not moving as required. Shoulders are also quite rigid.

Anyway, today the instructor was watching me do the float drill for sometime. And then he also asked me to do the float and kick drill. While I was doing that, (obviously I wasn't doing it right at all), he tried to help me. And then he started.

First, you should take a deep breath. Then push the wall with your legs; go inside the water, keep head down, touch chest with chin and keep your hands straight. You should loosen your body and try to float. While doing all this correctly, you should also start kicking with your legs straight.

The moment he finished this and I started my first try at what he told me, I remembered this sequence below (starting at the 55th second) and I just went straight inside. Took me a few seconds to come back on my feet and bring up head out of water. In process drank some as well. Enjoy

Aayirathil Oruvan

Well, this was definitely the most awaited movie. But post the imtermission, you really start to wonder - Is this what I get after 2 years and 4 months of effort! That is Selvaraghavan's Aayirathil Oruvan (AO) for you - A period movie which sometimes makes you feel like a period porn movie. Never watch it with your kids.

12th century - The last remaining Chola king orders his people to escape an invasion.
21st century - a team led by Reema, with support from the army and an archaeologist (Andrea) start an expedition in search of Andrea's father who is reported missing from an island off Vietnam. Researchers believed that this island is where the Cholas landed centuries back and still lived there. The remaining part of the story is how the team gets there and what happens henceforth.

Andrea Jeremiah plays the role of an archaeologist. What makes me wonder is why she gets very little screen space in the whole movie. Hardly any dialogue. For an archaeologist who is going in search of her father who is also an archaeologist, what I would think is she should be playing an important part. Andrea is of least importance to anyone.

Karthi is part of a gang of workers, who are helping the team carry stuff during the expedition. Again, this is just a small graduation from the previous movie where he was an uneducated village rowdy. Karthi does his part really well in the first half of the movie. His random comments about the expedition, trying to show some style on both the women and his fears about what's happening keeps us laughing and interested in the whole movie. In the second half, we dont get much of him.

Director Selva has done brilliant work on the script and theme. Trying to create something in the lines of Indiana Jones, Jack Sparrow, and the likes of King Solomon's Mines for the Tamil audience is actually wonderful and breathtaking. Talking of the rivalry between Cholas and Pandiyas, going in search of a kingdom in an unknown island, crossing obstacles - fire, warriors, snakes, hunger, haunted village, quagmires etc is mind-blowing. I dont know what happened to Selva after having come up with such a nice theme. There is enough foul language. Soon, we have the women shaking their bottoms violently, showing the belly, hurling abusive words at each other. "Govinda" song is like a bondage and domination song.

Post intermission, we see interactions between the people of the lost kingdom and the team (Reema, Andrea and Karthi). This is where the story loses pace. Reema and Andrea are flashing their you know what (obviously we dont get to see them). Soon, Reema and Parthipan (playing the role of current Chola King) have a part that keeps dragging and dragging. Seemed like an awful waste of time and money. The Chola king is thinking only about sex and food. And this is where you begin to hate what you liked all the while. Then there is a war and the movie comes to an end at some point.

Hats off to the cameraman, art team (graphics and props). It definitely is an amazing display of talent. Be it the ancient village, warriors, scary snakes, fireballs, stonehenge type rock settings, a golden town, and then the kingdom inside the caves - every penny has been well spent.

Reema has an awesome role. Leave apart the places where she is wearing less clothes, showing her back, little bit of front as well - her character is full of fire. Reema is the only person who makes a definite impact in the second half of the story.

AO is a bold attempt in an era where directors only think of making money through hopeless commercial movies. I would have been happy if there was less emphasis on displaying the body. This kind, of shows, that in history, we were more bothered about sex and nothing else. That sucks. Also, we don't have to have songs in such movies. The movies can be made for 2hrs and can still do well.

Overall: Historical adult movie

The Guru

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.