My own scribblings

I'm moving...

2008-10-27T03:30:00.000-07:00

I'm moving to wordpress. All my future posts will be posted here. Now I am working on a creative(??!!) header image for this new blog, so the first post may not happen very soon.

See you there.

Kemmangundi on a team outing

2008-10-20T10:23:00.000-07:00

A trip which got materialized after 11 months with 11 members. Thanks to all those leeches, which made the trip more adventurous and dramatic with all that blood scenes. Yes, that was one bloody good day.

Rest of the pics here

A weekend in Kerala

2008-10-15T06:15:00.000-07:00

One weekend. 2 guys. 1 Alto. On a mission to Kerala.

Onwards:
Started-Bangalore: Friday night 12.30am
Reached-Bekal : Saturday morning 10am
Route: Bangalore-Mysore-Madikeri-Sullya-Kasargod (pathetic roads from Madikeri to Sullya)

In Kerala:
Places visited on Saturday: Bekal fort, Pallikunnu beach - near Kasargod
Places visited on Sunday: Dharmadam, Muzhupuzhangad beach and Kannur fort - Kannur

Return:
Started-Kannur: Sunday evening 4am
Reached-Bangalore: Monday morning 5am
Route: Kannur-Thaliparamba-Iritty-Kottiyoor-Boys town-Mananthavadi-Batheri-Gundalpet-Mysore-Bangalore (Excellent roads without any traffic, but complete ghat roads till Batheri and very steep hill climbing between Boys town and Mananthavady. Crossing the Bandipur forest zone was thrillig to see road signs saying "Go slow-Wild animals crossing". Car puncture after Mysore made things worse and got struck in the highway in the midnight. Finaly someone came for help.)
Rest here

Solutions just a mail away

2008-10-15T02:04:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I mailed to the head of a bank, Karnataka-loan recovery division with copies to the south zone and country heads. The content of the mail below:

Hi,
This mail is to bring to your notice regarding the issues I have been facing with your recovery team.

I had a two-wheeler loan from your bank in 2006 (loan a/c no LTBNG0000XXXXXXX) which I cleared it in 11 months EMI. Few months back, I was stopped by the recovery team of your bank claiming that I have bike loan due. After producing my loan a/c no to the bank, I came to know that there is another loan account created for the same bike registration number and also with my name for which the EMIs are in due. I made it clear to the bank then, that I have no dues( I remember it was someone named Harish from Bangalore office who talked to me, ofcourse in a harsh way thinking that I have absconded for this loan). After few days, I was stopped again by the recovery team, claiming that I have not paid the loan. After proving themn again with the correct loan no, I was told that there are chances of ceasing the bike without my knowledge if they see it in public and they demanded for money (for reasons I dont know) and I paid them an amount considering the situations where I would have to park my bike somewhere in any public place.

Yesterday, I was again stopped by a group of people asking for the loan due. I would call it as an harrasment, the way they approached me on the road. It needed again another 30 mins for me to prove them that its not my fault and I dont have any dues. This has become so annoying that everytime they stop me when I am in a hurry to go to work. Again, they were asking for some money (read as bribe) saying that if I pay the money, the issue will be solved immediately. This time I didnt pay any money and am sure that they are not happy with this. Also, I am really scared now to park my vehicle in public places as am aware of recovery people taking the bike. I may not be there always with my bike to prove them that my loan has been cleared already.

Immediately, I made a call (Call no ref: XXXXXX) to customer care with hopes that they would be in a position to take action or atleast lodge a complaint or service request. But they denied to take it as a complaint and asked me to approach the bank for the same. I have mentioned the details below.

Details:
Loan no: LTBNG0000XXXXXXX
Bike No: KA 04 XX XXXX (you may search with this bike no and you will be surprised to see two loan accounts created for this bike no)
Bike model: Unicorn
Bank Ac No (ECS payment) : XXXXXXXXXXXX

Please do the needful and remove my bike no from the list.

Thanks,
--
Abubaker Siddiq. A

I got a call from the local head within hours asking for apologies and assuring me that my number has been removed from the records immediately. He was going on with the usual stuff that 'we value our customer..blah blah blah". He said nobody would touch my bike and I am free to park it in public places. Also he assured me that I will get my NOC delivered to my address within 2 days for which I appplied long time back. After that call, I wrote a mail saying:

Hi X,

Thanks for your efforts on solving this issue. I dont know how fast this would be materialized but I am glad that at least someone was there to hear my concerns.

You were asking me on the names of the people and I could remember one name -XYZ (Mob no: 9731XXXXXX). I think he is a Police official who came along with that recovery team. Please make a note of it. Well, I hope that giving this number doesnt get me into any other unnecessary problems.

Again, thanks for your efforts. I really appreciate that.

Thanks,

He called me back again to assure that everything is clear now and asked me to keep a copy of the NOC always when I travel to be on safer side.

Now I am just sitting relaxed and waiting for the NOC. Well, this is just one instance where you get into problems for someone's mistakes. But atleast now things have changed to an extent to solve your problems in couple of mails. They say its as simple as that.

Chim Chim Cher-ee

2008-09-19T04:02:00.000-07:00

Mary Poppins hangover here. Yes, I watched my first musical play yesterday night. We managed to get a ticket 3 days earlier to the show and as expected the theatre was packed. It was really surprising to see people coming in coaches to watch a play.

Grand stage, beautiful sets, amazing choreography, incredible perfomances and a jaw dropping scene of Mary Poppins flying over the crowd. Altogether, an helluva experience it was. At the end, it had its deserving standing ovation.

Now, I want to see the Beauty and the beast as well and I am missing it by a week's time. I hope that it comes on a tour to India. Yeah, I know that is too much to ask for but you never know. So till then I sing,

Chim chiminey
Chim chiminey
Chim chim cher-ee!
A sweep is as lucky
As lucky can be...

Onsite and all that…

2008-09-04T05:48:00.000-07:00

In a country where eligible bachelor status is directly proportional to the duration you spend in a foreign land, it’s always considered blasphemous when you don’t have an ambition of settling in a foreign country. Its not that I don’t like traveling (for that matter I really love traveling and visiting new places) or I have any personal grudge against a country, but just that India is so beautiful that you would realize it only when you are visiting another country. Yeah, some would argue that it’s all about people and not place. In a way it is true, but India works better for me even as a place. After visiting places like Statue of Liberty, Tower Bridge (London Bridge), Big Ben and the most-hyped skyline views, Taj Mahal still stands out at the top as my first choice for the second visit. The skyline view of a city would be the most boring thing to do as sightseeing and you get to do this more often in the “developed” countries. Given an option of free stay in NY’s most luxurious hotel for a week or a stay in a farm house of a village in Kerala, it would be Kerala hands down for the very obvious reasons. This reminds me of a conversation I had with an American-born-Chinese girl in a flight from Chicago to Atlanta and here is the conversation excerpt.

She: so, when are you going back to India?

Me: Next month.

She: Oh, so you have already planned for the vacation?

Me: No. Actually I am here only on a short business trip for two months.

She: Wow. That’s great. I have been to India for few weeks on a scholarship program. It was this city called Cochin in South India. I just loved that place; it’s so beautiful with the rivers. I loved the samosas over there. I was so happy that I would get 10 samosas for 1 dollar.

(Me trying to say something about samosas but she never stopped)

She (continues): I went to Mother Teresa’s home in Kolkata and I cried there. I didn’t manage to learn wearing a saree. It was so great in India.

Me: Wow. That’s so nice.

She: So how did you like US?

Me: Hmmm. US is Ok.

She (with a wide-opened-mouth in surprise): Jus’ ok?

She was really surprised that I wasn't excited about visiting US. Like that, it wasn’t that fascinating to be there except for taking some new pictures.

Onsite trips are not always fairy tales, at least for me. You will be bored to death in a new place that you start eating lunch in your cubicle; your only entertainment would be internet in home as well as office. Even worse if you are on a completely different time zone, you will not have any of your friends in your messenger in your time. All you get to do is work non-stop which would ultimately increase the productivity. You get to eat everything which has a tag ‘ready-to-eat’, ‘frozen’ and ‘instant’. Above all this, there is a soft part to these onsite trips, where you get to meet your old friends in that land. But mind you, if you don’t have any friends in the place you are doomed. Well, it is a different case if you are settling with your family.

That said, onsite trips are always good where you get to see new places, earn lots of money, meet new people and learn new things in work, but the place you want to get back soon is always, you know, home.

Google Chrome - First Look

2008-09-03T04:55:00.000-07:00

Google Chrome. The new browser from the Google team is out and am blogging from it. Here are my some first (random) thoughts about it after using it for 4 hours.

Simple design and fast in loading the pages.
It doesn’t look great with no toolbar and menu bar. People who were used to clicking home buttons will have a problem with this.
It failed to import my settings from my live Firefox. I didn't want to close it.
The idea of running a multithread for every tab doesn’t look so great with many processes running.
Open in incognito window is already there in Firefox3. So it isn’t a new feature.
A little delay when opening a new tab when you have more window previews in Most Visited.
The autocompletion of URLs work as same as the Awesome bar of Firefox3.
I will have to try out the bookmarks bar on a new window. It looks cool.
Opening a new tab with "+" button is very easy. It still follows the firefox shortcuts to open and close the tabs. The tabs are shown above the URL bar.
The “Press [Tab]” option to search for a string in the website which you have typed in URL is very cool.

That said, it has got its own advantages and disadvantages at this beta stage. It can be a very good alternative to IE but it will take ages to beat Firefox. With Google renewing the relationship with Mozilla Foundation till 2011 and a strong response from John Lily, my fingers crossed for the next version of Firefox. Now let me go and have a look at this.

Update: When I was about to publish this post, Chrome went to non-responding mode and popped out a small dialog to stop the Shockwave player and after stopping that, I got back the control.

Update 2: Mozilla is back with a sneak preview of Firefox version 3.1 alpha, which shows the performance of TraceMonkey faster than V8 (the Javascript engine used in Chrome).

Let’s put a smile on that face!

2008-08-13T14:53:00.000-07:00

With a legendary performance from Heath Ledger, the Joker character of The Dark Knight is one of the best characters ever written for a villain role. Jonathan and Christopher Nolan have created the Joker character so dark in such a way that Jack Nicholson of 1989 edition reminds us of a funny clown. This Joker is evil, insane, psychotic, terrific and scary and above all a perfect enemy for any super-hero. There is no doubt about Ledger’s performance as the Joker or the buzz which he has created with his performance. His untimely death taking its credit over the hype and his performance is a blasphemous act. This Australian born late actor seems to be a strong contender for this year’s Oscar and if he wins that would be the second time by any performer (actor or actress) to win a posthumous Oscar after Peter Finch, for the film Network in 1976.

With a cynical smile, Ledger made all the dialogues to be memorable quotes forever. And here are my favorites. Yeah it’s a lot, so what? I like all of them.

“I’m like a dog chasing cars. I wouldn’t know what to do if I caught one…I’d just do things.”

“I thought my jokes were bad.”

“The only sensible way to live in this world is without rules!”

“You know, madness is a lot like gravity… sometimes all you need is a little push.”

“Do you want to know why I use a knife? You see, guns are too quick. You can’t savor all of the little…emotions. In their last moments, people show you who they really are. “

“I want...I want my phone call. I want my phone call.”a

“If you're good at something, never do it for free.”

“How about a magic trick? I'm gonna make this pencil... disappear.”

“Call me when you want to start taking things a little more seriously.”

“You… you just couldn’t let me go could you? This is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object. You are truly incorruptable aren’t you? You won’t kill me because of some misplaced sense of self-rightousness. And I won’t kill you because…you’re just too much fun. I get the feeling that you and I are destined to do this forever.”

“I don’t want to kill you. What would I do without you? Go back to ripen off mob dealers, no, no, no, no, you…You complete…me.”

“Introduce a little anarchy, upset the established order, and everything becomes chaos, I’m an agent of chaos , and you know the thing about chaos? It’s fair.”

“I believe… whatever doesn’t kill you simply makes you…stranger.”

“It’s a funny world we live in, speaking of which, you wanna know how I got these scars?”

“It’s not about the money; it’s about sending a message. Everything burns!”

“Come on, I want you to do it, I want you to do it. Come on, hit me. *Hit me!*

“You look nervous. Is it the scars? You want to know how I got 'em?

“See, I'm a man of simple tastes. I like dynamite...and gunpowder...and gasoline! Do you know what all of these things have in common? They're cheap!”

“Why so serious?”

“See I’m not a monster, I’m just ahead of the curve.”

“Let’s put a smile on that face!”

Image Courtesy; rottentomatoes

Firefox 3 - AwesomeBar hacks II

2008-06-26T11:22:00.000-07:00

When you type an URL in FF3, it displays all the history/bookmarks URLs which matches any part of the typed pattern. This was not the case with Firefox 2, where it would show only the results matching the beginning of the URL. In this latest version, you can have both the features. You just type '//' and then the the URL to match only the beginning.
This new feature to match any pattern comes very handy when you are typing a blog or a flickr URL where you just have to type the profile/nick name. This is an awesome feature and am just loving it.

Firefox 3 - AwesomeBar hacks

2008-06-21T03:16:00.000-07:00

Firefox 3 is awesome with lot of new features added to it, but its AwesomeBar has been annoying me with autofill of bookmarks. With thousands bookmarked, I had to find a way to get back the old bar or at least to disable the bookmarks autofill. When searching for that, I came across some really good tweaks which made my life easy with this new version of Firefox.

No of pages to show:

The number of results it should show in the awesome bar can be controlled. In about:config, browser.urlbar.maxRichResults sets the value for number of results. When it is set to 0, it will show nothing.

(To get into about:config page, just type about:config in the url and hit enter)

Hide unvisited :

Installing this add-on, hides a bookmark that you have not visited since clearing or deleting history.

Edit middle:

Installing this add-on, shows the result even when editing the middle of URL bar. For example, if you have entered gogle.com and editing in the middle of 'g' and 'o' shows up the result.

Hidden places

This add-on stops specified URLs being added to the AwesomeBar. Enter a comma separated list of domains that you don't want to be added to places:
google.co.uk,digg.com,microsoft.com

Web pages from those domains will then be removed from places (history) without having to turn off the history completely.
Note: This will not stop bookmarked items showing up if they belong to the same domain.

Enter Selects:

This add-on allows you to press enter in the AwesomeBar to select the first result (without pressing down).

Old bar:

If you don't want both the title and the url to be shown in the result, this add-on reverts back to the firefox 2 style with only urls.

Distrust ( Private browsing):

Hide surfing trails that the browser leaves behind.Once turned on, this extension monitors FireFox for its activities. Once turned off, Distrust will remove history items cache and cookies that were used during the distrust session.

Hide the Bookmarks icon:

Open your userChrome.css file located in your profile folder. Add this line to the end of the file: #star-button {display: none !important;}

Hide the web feed icon:
Open your userChrome.css file located in your profile folder. Add this line to the file:
#feed-button[feeds] { display: none !important; }

P.S: I got the above two tweaks from here. This page has got more tweaks which I haven't tested yet.

P.P.S: This page has got Tabbed browsing tweaks.

A Dios le Pido

2008-04-03T16:17:00.000-07:00

Que mis ojos se despierten
con la luz de tu mirada, yo
a Dios le pido
que mi madre no se muera
y que mi padre me recuerde
a Dios le pido
que te quedes a mi lado
y que ms nunca te me vayas, mi vida
a Dios le pido
que mi alma no descanse
cuando de amarte se trate, mi cielo
a Dios le pido

Por los das que me quedan
y las noches que an no llegan, yo
a Dios le pido
por los hijos de mis hijos
y los hijos de tus hijos
a Dios le pido
que mi pueblo no derrame tanta sangre
y se levante mi gente
a Dios le pido
que mi alma no descanse
cuando de amarte se trate, mi cielo
a Dios le pido

Un segundo ms de vida para darte
y mi corazn entero entregarte
un segundo ms de vida para darte
y a tu lado para siempre yo quedarme
un segundo ms de vida, yo

A Dios le pido
que si me muero sea de amor
y si me enamoro sea de vos
y que de tu voz sea este corazn
todos los das
a Dios le pido
que si me muero sea de amor
y si me enamoro sea de vos
y que de tu voz sea este corazn
todos los das
a Dios le pido
a Dios le pido

Que mis ojos se despierten
con la luz de tu mirada, yo
a Dios le pido
que mi madre no se muera
y que mi padre me recuerde
a Dios le pido
que te quedes a mi lado
y que ms nunca te me vayas, mi vida
a Dios le pido
que mi alma no descanse
cuando de amarte se trate, mi cielo
a Dios le pido

Un segundo ms de vida para darte
y mi corazn entero entregarte
un segundo ms de vida para darte
y a tu lado para siempre yo quedarme
un segundo ms de vida, yo

A Dios le pido
que si me muero sea de amor
y si me enamoro sea de vos
y que de tu voz sea este corazn
todos los das
a Dios le pido
que si me muero sea de amor
y si me enamoro sea de vos
y que de tu voz sea este corazn
todos los das
a Dios le pido
a Dios le pido

Artist: Juanes
Album :Un Día Normal

How I learned to stop criticizing and love…

2008-04-02T22:02:00.000-07:00

I have been suffering from an unknown fatal disease lately. Its a disease which has got a ‘z’ in its name; a weird pronunciation; few silent letters; and no info in Google. It’s a disease which changed my senses of cinema. With different stages over a short span of time (say 4 years), it changed the way I perceive cinema.

Early stage (Pre-torrent era):
In this pre-torrent era, I watched all the Tamil and most of the Hindi movies. I managed to sit in the theatre for Oru naal oru kanavu full movie. The English movies varied from Starwars to Incredibles to War of the Worlds to Cindrella Man. (trivia: Iqbal and Cindrella Man in back to back shows). Then it happened. The entry of World Cinema with the beautiful Children of Heaven and brilliant Amorres Perros to make an impact and a yardstick for all the movies I watched from then.

Mid Stage (World Cinema era):
In this stage, I had a great difficulty in tolerating some Tamil and Hindi cinema. I thought that I should avoid watching such movies as it’s an insult for my senses of cinema. I watched all the movies in world cinema I came across and I compared that with the Indian cinema. It was the time, when all the Indian directors were criticized. I just made a point on a plagiarism everywhere. I categorized people as two: people who like Pokkiri and people who don’t. I got frustrated with Kabhi Alvida... and avoided Lage Raho... just to prove a point that I don’t watch normal entertainers. I watched a movie every single night and sometimes two or three in a row. IMDB became the most visited site in my browser history. I spent a huge portion of money in Burma bazaar for dvds every month. (Trivia: for foreign language movies, contact Rahman, Shop no: F-10, Burma bazaar, Chennai). I watched the movies of Ray, Almodovar, Wong Kar-wai and others. Ray became the most favorite director in India. It all happened so fast.

Final Stage:
It reached this stage where this kind of behavior can only be associated to a disease. This is the stage where some part of early and mid stages got back its position. A déjà vu feel when I saw most of the movies. Sometimes it happened when watching a movie for the first time. The movies just failed to register in mind. It took till end credits to confirm that the movie has been watched before. Shockingly, Azhagiya Thamizh… looked like a very entertaining movie for me and so did Kallori and OSO. “Okay” was the comment to every movie. I never bothered to write any reviews. I just enjoyed reading reviews and blogs.

In the end, I just started enjoying movies for its making and its writing. If I didn’t like it, just that it wasn’t intended for me. What do you call me? A movie buff or a movie maniac?

A Star is born

2008-04-01T18:32:00.000-07:00

It’s very rare that you will find an actor with all the required skills. Here we have an actor with everything… every bleddy thing. The most charismatic actor our film industry ever had.

Hearththrob!!!

King of kings!

A dark horse in the next superstar race!

And he is…

SAM ANDERSON

Some scenes from him impressive debut ' yarukku yaro'

Hero s intro

Best choreography..

Advice to robbers

David, the automobile genius

and the climax punch..

Sam Anderson will be the next superstar... hands down

Top 20 Tamil Songs of 2007

2007-12-06T10:43:00.000-08:00

Here is MY list of top 20 songs for this year. The songs which I had in my playlist looping for long time. Mind you, these are MY choices.

1. Para para pattaampoochi - Thamizh M.A, Yuvan Shankar Raja
Rahul

2. Akkam pakkam - Kireedom, G.V. Prakash
Sadhana Sargam

3. Unsirippinil - Pachaikili Muthucharam, Harris Jeyaraj
Gauthami Rao, Robby

4. Athiradee - Shivaji, A.R. Rahman
A.R. Rahman

5. Pesukiren - Satham Podathe, Yuvan Shankar Raja
Viva

6. Kadale Kadale - Ammuvagiya Naan, Sabesh-Murali
Mathangi

7. Arabu naade - Thottal Poo Malarum, Yuvan Shankar Raja
Haricharan

8. June pona - Unnale Unnale, Harris Jeyaraj
Krish, Arun
(*Album released in Dec 2006)

9. Intha Nimidam - Pallikoodam, Bharadwaj
Srinivas, Janani

10. Mudhal mazhai - Bheema, Harris Jeyaraj
Hariharan, Mahathi, Prasanna

11. Alaigalin osai - Rameswaram, Niru
Haricharan, Kalyani

12. Vizhiyil - Kireedom, G.V. Prakash
Sonu Nigam, Swetha

13. Manasu maruguthe - Pallikoodam, Bharadwaj
Narayanan, Subiksha

14. Neeye sol - Polladhavan, G.V. Prakash
Ponni, Sunitha Sarathy

15. Thamizhselvi - Koodal Nagar, Sabesh-Murali
Haricharan, Sadhana Sargam

16. Unnai saranadainthen - Ammuvagiya Naan, Sabesh-Murali
Harish Raghavendra , Kalyani

17. En jannalil - Mozhi, Vidhyasagar
Karthik

18. Idhu enna maayam - Oram po, G.V. Prakash
S.Mahadevan, Alka Yagnik

19. Pogathe - Deepavali, Yuvan Shankar Raja
Yuvan Shankar Raja

20. Perunthil nee - Pori, Dhina
M.Balakrishna, Madhushree

The Kite Runner

2007-11-21T10:49:00.001-08:00

The Kite Runner is a stunning first novel by Khaled Hosseini. It is about innocence, friendship, betrayal, guilt and redemption. It is about Afghanistan's culture, history, politics and truth. Unforgettable, touchy and powerful. A striking debut by this Afghan-born writer and a must-read for all readers.

Evano Oruvan -Trailer

2007-11-20T07:50:00.000-08:00

Evano Oruvan is a remake of Marathi movie 'Dombivli Fast' directed by Nishikanth Kamath. For the first time in his career, Madhavan has written dialogues for this movie. This is the movie which I am just waiting for.

Polladhavan - A quick glance at the reviews

2007-11-12T08:20:00.000-08:00

'...dark and disturbing tale, throwing light on the bad and ugly underbelly of Chennai underworld ...Polladhavan is racy and worth a look.'
Verdict: Good (see full review)
-Sify.com

'Director Vetri Maran’s non-linear narration and packaging style are unique...shows promise but still has a long way to go as far as finesse is concerned. '
'...there is certainly going to be a section of crowd who find the narrative good.'
Verdict: Strictly for the brave hearts! (see full review)
-behindwoods.com

'...captures the daily life of the local goons in north Chennai to near perfection.'
'A movie for action-lovers, Polladhavan is a filter coffee served with the right Chennai flavour '
(see full review)
-newstodaynet.com

'The script is obviously tailor-made for Dhanush but it is no different from gangster movies, which make audiences feel jaded. ..'
'...The movie falls short of expectations of even the fans of Dhanush.'
Verdict: 2/5 (see full review)
-nowrunning.com

'‘Polladavan’ is a clear winner with its reality, style, and performances. '
(see full review)
-moviesyndrome.blogspot.com

'As a debutant director, Vetrimaaran's sincere efforts and Dhanush's hard work makes the film watch worthy.'
Verdict: Watchable (see full review)
-oneindia.in

'இவ்வளவு வேகமான திரைக்கதையுடன் கூடிய படம் சமீபத்தில் தமிழில் வந்ததில்லை...'
'...இந்த தீபாவளிக்கு அழகிய தமிழ்மகன் விஜயையும், வேல் சூர்யாவையும் கைவிட்ட நிலையில் பொல்லாதவன் தனுஷ்க்கு வெற்றிக் க்ரீடத்தை சூட்டியிருக்கிறது.'
(see full review)
-madippakkam.blogspot.com

Evam and Me so far

2007-11-07T11:12:00.000-08:00

It was a blog (which I don't even remember now) through which I came to know of Evam when I was surfing one day. From then, I just waited for these people to perform in Bangalore and to my surprise they visited very soon. What follows here are my experience with Evam plays I have watched so far. Mind you, these are not the reviews.

The Odd Couple (Rangashankara, Bangalore)
The first experience was just amazing with the perfect ambience of Rangashankara. It was my first visit to Rangashankara and stunning would be the least to say about the auditorium. It has the perfect theatre setup and I was surprised that I didnt know about this place being in Bangalore for years. I was so excited then when I entered the auditioruim as it was my first English-theatre-play experience. The play was a laughter riot and all I could remember was laughing for every dialogue and every scene of the play. Karthik and TMS(?!!!) were simply superb with their performances. It was fun, fun and fun watching Odd Couple except that music they had before the play. It really sucked.

Hamlet – Original Spoof (Chowdiah Hall, Bangalore)
With so much expectations after Odd Couple I went to this play and it was little disappointing. The Python chapters thrusted before the play were more funny than the actual play on that day. Hamlet- Original Spoof just fell short of being a great entertainment. But the Python chapters were hilarious.

Python Hyssssssteria Side A (Sivagami Pethachi Auditorium , Chennai)
This was great even though few chapters were repeated from the Hamlet-Oringinal Spoof show. All of them were funny and the show was full of laughter. Some chapters were awesome.

Always look on the Bright Side of life (Alliance Francais, Bangalore)
This was just a repeat of what was titled as Python Hyssssssteria Side A in Chennai and this time with a different title for Bangalore. Bleddy marketing gimmicks. I wanted to hate this people but in the end I just loved watching all the chapters again. Whatever, I would have enjoyed it more really if it were some new play or at least some new chapters in Python style or atleast an announcement that its the same would have been better as this turned out to be a disappointment for me. Did I mention about that mattress seating arrangements?

Five Point Someone (Music Academy, Chennai)
This being the much awaited play and they announced it months before, I was just wondering how the play is gonna be. The guys who played the characters Alok, Hari and Ryan were just perfect with their performances. The play was a perfect adaptation of the novel. I enjoyed every bit of it and very sad in the end when they announced that it was the last show performance of a guy who performed the role of Hari. It was huge crowd on that day and we had a great difficulty in parking area after the show :)

And now, waiting for their next visit...

The Terrorist - Review

2007-10-05T11:47:00.000-07:00

The Terrorist is about a young girl who is on misssion to assassinate a leader as a human bomb. This is not the usual suicide bomber movie as the incidents of this movie relate to the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi but it stays to be non-political as no reference is made throughout the movie. It starts off with the mission directly without wasting much time. The director is not much bothered to explain about what the group is or what their moto is. It just sticks to the main plot of the movie where it shows how a suicide bomber is trained, their beliefs and their duty. The movie ends with suicide bomber changing her mind to peace with the rose petals over her hand and the screen goes blank.

All the characters whether it is Malli (Ayesha Dharker) or small boy Lotus or the suspicious old man Vasu gives away some remarkable performances. The understated cinematography by the director and veteran cinematographer Santosh Sivan takes this movie to a different level. This could be one reason why I am watching it again and again. In the end, I would have enjoyed this more with a open-climax.

Recently I watched

2007-08-29T11:24:00.000-07:00

(Order: Recent on top)

Persepolis
La Sconosciuta (The Unknown Woman)
The Fountainhead
Alvin and the Chipmunks
Omkara
Life in a ... Metro
Rope
Om Shanti Om
Chung Hing sam lam (Chunking Express)
Buffalo '66
Taare Zameen Par
Stardust
Kallori
Rameswaram
Jab We Met
Vel
Polladhavan
The Bourne Ultimatum
Father
Pachaikili Muthucharam
No Smoking
Apur Sansar
Katradhu Thamizh
Volver
Pan's Labyrinth
Satham Podathey
The Terrorist
Aparajito
Pather Panchali
Rashômon
Ammuvagiya Naan
Illusionist
Babel
Good Will Hunting
Zodiac
Dirty Pretty Things
Charulata
À la folie... pas du tout (He loves me ...he loves me not)
Chak De India
Pulp Fiction
12 Angry Men
Awarapan
Cheeni Kum
Le Million (The Million)
Sivaji
Munich
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
The Last King of Scotland
A Clockwork Orange
Mou gaan dou (Infernal Affairs)
Bheja Fry
Chennai 600028
Sideways
Caché (Hidden)
Zhou Yu de huo che (Zhou Yu's Train)
Spider-Man 3
Out of Africa
Jing ke ci qin wang (The Emperor and the Assassin)

À la folie... pas du tout - Review

2007-08-27T11:46:00.000-07:00

À la folie... pas du tout ( He loves me...he loves me not) is another movie which has Audrey Tautou as Angélique in the lead role. For people who dont like spoilers, continue reading at your own risk.

This Rashômon styled French movie takes the screenplay in two different perspectives. The narration of the first half is from the protagonist Tautou's perspective where she is deeply in love with a doctor who has a pregnant wife at home. Tautou, a college student and a neighbour of that doctor gets more possesive and she gets into the extreme of killing a lady when she sues the doctor on sexual abuse and harassment. When Tautou tries to commit suicide, this story takes a twist and starts the narration in a different perspective from the first scene of the movie. But this time, its from the doctor's perspective you come to know of the real truth of how you got cheated and forced to believe from Tautou's perspective.

The screenplay is at its best where you dont get the repetition feeling when watching the scenes again. Audrey Tautou makes yet another stunning performance where she just makes you feel for her, cry for her even when she causes the miscarriage for that pregnant wife. Samuel Le Bihan as the doctor just does the role to its perfection. This short French romantic thriller will stay in your mind for sometime for the innocence and intelligence of Angélique.

The climax of the movie and the shot where she leaves the hospital is what I believe it to be inspired in Vallavan when Reema Sen does the same in the climax(atleast that single shot). 'Simbu sir, where did you rent this DVD from?'

Dirty Pretty Things - Review

2007-08-26T11:48:00.000-07:00

Dirty Pretty Things is all about the survival of a Nigerian doctor and a Turkish girl in London life. Okwe (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and Senay (Audrey Tautou) work in a hotel where the doctor finds something in lavatory which leads him to discover more about the illegal activities in the hotel and the secret life in London.

This Oscar nominated movie(Best Original Screenplay) shows how the life of illegal immigrants and asylum seekers would be in London. It takes us into the darker side of the city's life where the immigrants degrade themselves so much to survive for their living. Ejiofor as a kind doctor or as hotel worker gives a remarkable performance whereas Tautou with her innocent New York dreams or as chambermaid pulls out convincingly on her first(!!?) English movie . This movie casts with mix of cultures such as a Nigerian doctor, Turkish girl, Spanish hotel manager, Chinese friend of the doctor and a hooker from West Indies. Though the movie has got some flaws(didn't want to tell more on that as it take away the suspense), it gets unnoticed when the movie maintains its unpredictability till the end. Altogether this movie is unpredictable, romantic and a thrilling documentary.

Kireedom - Review

2007-07-23T09:44:00.000-07:00

Kireedom, a remake of Malayalam classic is not that bad as everyone says it to be. The idea of remake should have popped up in early 90’s as the original came in 89. If this had been made then, it would have been a roaring hit. Now it has come almost after two decades, the story being inspired in parts by many Tamil movies (such as Sandaikozhi) looks very old and simple and usual.

This is all about the relationship between a father and a son and the father’s aspiration to make his son a police inspector before he retires. Ajith plays a role of a sincere son who in every aspect wants to fulfill his father’s dream. The role he has chosen here looks like he s keen in making a comeback with a bang. Rajkiran pulls out a convincing performance when the text book for this role was already scripted by Thilagan years back. In a movie which deals with father- son relationship, you can’t afford to have a big role for heroine and Trisha is more convincing to what has been given to her. The newcomer Ajay being very tall just screams out in the movie. Vivek’s role is a dud whereas Santhanam makes his presence clear with his wits. Vivek, who made a remarkable appearance in Sivaji fails miserably here and his scenes in the second half with Haneefa looks like the director wanted to apply some cine-formula into this. The water-tank and market scenes are unamusing and the theatre scene is a cliché.But why does he want to end Vivek’s role in a villain note.

GV Prakash’s ‘Vilayadu …’ is very bad in music and choreography and everything it related but he impresses with ‘Kanavellam…’, ‘Vizhiyil...’ and ‘Akkam Pakkam…’ He has to get special training for the BGM score from his uncle. Thiru’s cinematography is attractive and pleasing if you are person who observe this department in a movie.

The newcomer Vijay though not making an impressive debut here but just scores for making a Tamil remake living up to its expectations for the first time. This remake does more justice to the original than Chandramukhi did for its Malayalam original. This is not a usual Ajith masala-flick where he plays a local goon and his heroism but a movie where a hero turns out to be a loser in the end. If you have the mindset that Ajith films are crap and a flop, then please save your bucks else this is a ‘wokay’ kinda family entertainer and far better than many recent movies. This ‘Kireedom’ is worth watching once.

Sivaji - Review

2007-06-20T00:49:00.000-07:00

I watched it twice in first 4 days of the movie release and I will be watching it few more times. This should say all about the movie.

The story is more similar to Shankar’s earlier films where the protagonist plays the Robin Hood role to uplift the society. But this time, the director deals with the black money in the society.

This costliest Indian movie starts with an unconventional introduction of Rajni, you had ever seen in your life.The introduction song of the hero comes a few scenes later but with a glossy Nayantara touch. Vivek, who pulls out a remarkable performance of his career with his one-lines saves the dragging first half and a weak screenplay. Every single dialogue he delivers fits into the genre of comedy so well. He is at his best when he delivers the punch in music shop. Shreya, who plays the coveted role of this film does show her acting skills where needed. Suman, the villain of the movie is the best of villains in recent Rajni movies. With Rehman’s music, Sujatha’s dialogues, Thotta Tharani’s expensive sets for ‘Sahana..’ and ‘Vaaji..’ and KV Anand’s cinematography, this movie had everything to become the blockbuster of the year but it all needed one name to just carry it with STYLE. The one man, which Indian cinema had failed to recognize.

No matter it’s a scene with Vivek or Shreya or Suman, its just one-man show all through the movie. The dialogue delivery in the tea-stall scene after the interval is just to prove a point that he didn’t reach this position in industry by luck but by his acting skills early in his career. Yes, people can’t afford him to do some ordinary roles. We want him to be always a larger than life character in his movies.

The first half of the movie shows Rajni in comedy and romance. The second half of the movie takes Rajni into aggressive role of taking revenge against villain that we always wanted him to do. The gimmicks of coin and chewing gum are incomparable. The scene where he imitates Sivaji, MGR and Kamal are the best you would witness in this movie. In the end comes the bald character, MGR that sets the theatre with whistles and whoops. This would be remembered forever like his Alex Pandian in Moodru Mugam. What a surprise package it would have been, if the images of ‘mottai boss’ were never leaked.

The fight in music shop would have been perfect if comedy was not forced into that. The fight in drive-in theatre is a bit too much but the end of it is just ‘wow’. I liked it. The small fight in the farmhouse is the best in this movie. The song sequences are just a proof that it’s an expensive movie and the painting to everything around sets the trademark for Shankar. ‘Athiradee…’ song is a visual masterpiece and a treat to watch Rajni dance.

Though Shankar had failed to make an impact with the story and screenplay, he had just got everything what every Rajni fan would have wished him to be. Only for the first time, you will go for this movie expecting Shankar to do something. But the second time and from then, it is just for the one man you would hit the theatre again and again.

For a general viewer, if you had liked Shankar’s Gentleman and Anniyan you will like this even more and for Rajni fans, “THE BOSS ROCKS”.

“Six ku appuram seven da, Sivaji ku appuram evanda”

Life in Chennai Metro: FAQ

2007-06-06T06:54:00.000-07:00

This FAQ is just another humble retaliation to all the Chennai-bashers and non-Tamilians who live in other parts of the country and have no idea of how great is life in Chennai. This would also serve the purpose of answering all those myths about Chennai.

Is Chennai a costly place to live?
No. It is very cheap compared to Bangalore, Mumbai or New Delhi. The house-rent was not even into my consideration in my monthly expenses when I lived happily in midst of that busy T-Nagar crowd.

Is Chennai very hot?
Yes, Chennai is hot and humid as it lies on thermal equator and also on the coastal side. Every different place has got different climatic conditions. This isn’t worth an argument if an IT guy asks this as we sit inside office throughout the day without having any knowledge of what is happening outside. But there are beaches where you can go out in the evenings to get fresh air. I miss those night walks in Besant Nagar beach after 10pm.

Do we get north-Indian food in Chennai?
Yes. You get to see more north-Indian restaurants than the number of Tamilnadu restaurants in Bangalore, Mumbai or New Delhi. I would rate the taste of Chennai ‘kayyendi bhavans’ (road-side shops) more than a high class sagars in Bangalore. I really miss those ‘podi-dosas’ near Natesan Park.

How can I communicate in Chennai as people over there don’t speak Hindi and they are all Tamil fanatics?
Yes, you will have problem with language if you know only Hindi. But the people are not Tamil fanatics, they just don’t know Hindi. If Chinese or Japanese does the same, you admire at them but when it comes to Chennai, they are fanatics huh?
By the way, Hindi is not our official language but English. If you argue that Hindi is our national language and you can speak in India, so do we. Tamil is our regional language and we have all the rights you claim to possess to speak Tamil in our region. Also why single out Chennai? It is the same condition in Kerala but no one makes a fuss about that.

Do we have night life in Chennai?
If you refer to the availability of food after 9pm as night life, then yes we do have. Or if you are talking about pubs and discotheques, yes there are few. But it is not life in night is all about. FYI, the closing of pubs by 11 in the night is not the most horrid thing in our country to happen.

Do we have multiplexes in Chennai?
Sathyam. This one word should answer all your queries on this. This Cineplex is far better than PVR and Inox. I still remember the sound of that pop-corn munching in a Bangalore multiplex when watching Harry Potter.

How do we get to travel inside city?
You have buses and local trains to connect all parts of the city.

I heard that Chennai auto-rickshaw drivers loot your money. Is that true?
Not always. Yes, there is no meter-system in auto-rickshaws. They charge you based on their mood and not the distance. But if you know the place, you can get a better deal out of them. But lately the problems I have been facing in Bangalore are all the same with meter system. They start the 11/2 meter at 8 in the night which is supposed to be after 10. Even worse, they come to only places where they get customers returning from that place. But I have not received a single mail (even a hoax) saying that Chennai drivers threatened an IT guy and looted the credit cards and money which I receive often about Bangalore.

How bad is traffic in Chennai?
You get jammed in traffic signals. (I think that’s what signals are for.) You get hardly struck in roads unlike my daily episodes of traffic jam here in Bangalore.

Is Chennai a very conservative place?
People in Chennai have other better work to do than making an issue for your skimpy clothes and other stuffs.

PS: I lived in Chennai for 4 years and living in Bangalore for 3 years.

Mayakkanadi - Review

2007-04-26T00:27:00.000-07:00

Cast : Cheran, Navya Nair, Radharavi and others.
Language : Tamil
Music : Illayaraja
Director : Cheran

Summary:

Cheran and Navya work in saloon.
Navya’s family is a typical middle class family where buying a new slippers and tuition fees for children are put into serious consideration. But Navya is least bothered but to hang around with her boy friend Cheran.
Cheran’s aim is to have some lakhs to spend it lavishly.
They both join as LIC agents and approach all their customers in saloon. They fail miserably by getting only 3 policy holders.
Cheran gets inspired to become an actor.
Cheran loses his job as hairstylist. So he starts trying for movie chances full-time.
He is offered a work from a business tycoon who deals with peddling drugs and makes use of our hero. After knowing this, he quits the job.
Navya’s parents come to know of her affair (phewww!!! Finally) and demands Cheran to earn 2 lakhs to marry her.
Cheran’s mother is admitted to hospital and the operation expense is some lakhs.
He approaches the business tycoon for money and gets caught for peddling the drugs.
He spends 3 years in jail.
He rejoins the old saloon and works peacefully after listening to a big lecture from Radharavi.

Watch out for:

Cheran’s dialogues like “Aye vaa pissa sapidalam”, “vaanam poligirathu …” where he can’t even pronounce the ‘zha’ properly.
The FM channel in background playing a song from Mayakkanadi composed by Illayaraja when they approach as LIC agents.
The change in straightened hair to curly hair when he comes out of jail.
Guest appearaces of Malavika, Sarath Kumar, Arya and director Rajkapoor.
The old Nayagan dialogue from the business tycoon.
Pudupettai movie house-full in mayajaal on a weekday. J

My Cut:

Cheran should get the point clear that people cannot bear with him as hero if he says that main hero is the story line and not the cast of the movie. Yes, true but not always.
@Cheran: Stretching the movie with the duration of approximately 170 minutes doesn’t make it a good movie.
Why on earth did he think of having the rape scene? Where did he get that guy to act in that scene? I hope he is not the main character in his next film.
Illayaraja’s music is the sole convincing part in the movie.
Navya throws up an over-acting performance in the scenes to show up her curiosity over Malavika’s life or in the place to show her interest in the bride’s jewels.
What made Cheran think that people will not identify his inspiration of Nayagan dialogues?
Cheran who made the perfection to brought realism in his earlier movies had failed this time to bring something even close to perfection.

Mayakkanadi (-) Cheran (-) clichéd scenes = an average movie

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang...

2007-04-18T09:01:00.000-07:00

Celebrity Big Brother winner Shilpa Shetty is back in the news again for her kissing act with Hollywood star Richard Gere at an AIDS awareness event ‘Seena taan ke’ organized for the truck drivers.

The Hollywood star Gere held Shilpa’s hand and kissed it. He hugs her and bends over her and kisses her on her cheeks. No this is not a scene from any stage play or from any Richard Gere’s bollywood flick. The kiss act was a part of an AIDS awareness event organized to highlight the importance of safe sex. This happened when Shilpa appreciated Gere and this Hollywood actor responded it in a style for which he would regret. She giggled “Ye thoda zyada ho gaya tha”(this was a little too much) with an embarrassment.

“An attack on our cultural ethos”, the protesters claimed. In other part of the country, students burnt the effigies of Gere and demanded him to go back from the country. (Did he ever apply for a visa to stay with Shilpa? :P). “Such a public display is not part of Indian tradition”, cries another political party.

The Big brother winner in replying to this issue said, “I understand people's sentiments, but I don't want a foreigner to take bad memories from here”. What is this supposed to mean? Did she really think that this is an attack on cultural ethos but she didn’t want to refuse the kisses from People magazine’s Sexiest man Alive (1999) /one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world(1991)?

Shetty tried downplaying the event saying “it was not so obscene”. And finally she made one sensible statement saying “this was not such a big thing for people to over-react in such a manner”. Yes, it is not. After all, we want something else on news channels and newspapers and not your romance with any actors.

Anjali Gopalan, head of Indian Aids prevention group says, “I think he responded as an actor. He was playing to the gallery. I don’t see anything bad”. You are right. This isn’t too bad.

Every news channels had the kissing scenes played regularly and the next day morning all the newspapers carried the picture on their front pages. Are there any sms contests around the country to report the count of the kisses he planted on her cheeks? :P I thought news channels are only to give a minute by minute update on Bollywood’s biggest wedding of the year and the details of bride’s saris and mehndi designs.

But in the end, the fortunate ones were the 4000 truck drivers who were part of this ‘Seena taan ke’ event and also audience for this entertaining show. Lucky you J

World Cup Fever- THE END

2007-03-27T07:15:00.000-07:00

Mission-2007, the magic phrase which was a faith and belief of millions on Indians failed miserably when India lost to Srilanka in the world cup first round match. Most of the hearts were broken after Bangladesh won the match against India. It says all about Team India’s performance in this World cup. Three deaths were reported all over the country so far. It was waiting for a chance to get into the second level of tournament depending on another team’s win/loss. How disgraceful it could be? It was a shameful exit to the title favorites and runner-ups last time. The fact remains that a team which boasts to have the best batting line-up in the world couldn’t reach 200 runs against Bangladesh. If Bangladesh had lost to Bermuda, it would have been embarrassing entry for Indian team to the Super 8. Thanks to Bangladesh for winning that match. Luckily we were not in the same pool with Australia or South Africa. Team India would have had a humiliating defeat. There is nothing wrong in the Team selection or the players. This was the team which reached the finals in Johannesburg four years back. So what went wrong this time? Are those Greg Chappell’s experiments? Or the new entries of players like Dhoni or Pathan? No, but it’s a back foot drive of team effort from the players. The confidence in every player was the missing factor. It was very clear in the match against Srilanka where no one had the intention of staying in the middle to have a partnership to score runs.

The fans deserved something better than this. We had every right to demand a victory. At least for the angry fans back at home they should have won the Srilanka match. But none were interested in the game. It would be less if we say that their hard work on modeling and acting in advertisements had taken away their skills in the game.

Here are my opinions on few concerns of the fans:

Should Rahul Dravid continue as Captain?

Yes. He had always done his role perfectly. His role as a captain had no impact on his batting skills where his predecessors failed to do so.

Should Sachin quit?

Yes and No. Yes, he should quit from the one day version of the game before the board drops him. But he should be in the test team as he does play a vital role there.

Did Ganguly do justice to his comeback? Should he be made captain?

Ganguly, since his comeback was more interested in making runs for him and not for the team. No, he should not be considered again for the captain role. We are happy now with what he is scoring.

Should we drop Sehwag?

Yes, definitely. A century once in 3 years and that too against Bermuda isn’t worth a consideration.

Should Dinesh Karthik replace Dhoni?

Yes, we should give more chances to Karthik. We need a player who is more consistent than a player who can hit once in a year.

And last but not of the least concern, should Chappell go?

YES. He made the team worse than what it was before.

Rest all players wouldn’t make much difference if the key players perform their best as they used to.

PS: Now am supporting Australia in this world cup. I don’t want to end up supporting another losing side :-P

Yipppeeeee!!!!

2007-03-16T07:23:00.000-07:00

My review on Paruthiveeran got published today. In other words, my first post in merinews.com got approved and published. I am so elated. Thanks to merinews.com editor and other people behind the screen who made this happen. A special thanks to the team who made the corrections and modifications and added the description for the review.

For more details, click here.

Review: Paruthiveeran

2007-03-06T03:34:00.000-08:00

Finally I got to see this movie last Friday in Hosur. If your question is why Hosur, then the answer is no Tamil movies in Bangalore theatres after the Cauvery verdict.

I would say that this movie is the best in Tamil film industry since ‘Kadhal’. This movie opens well with a shot of a fair in a village near Madurai. From then the movie takes you to a trip to the Paruthiyoor village where you live in for the rest of the movie.

The story is nothing new to our industry. It’s all the about the relationships in a village and a small love story in that. But the way it has been taken shows the hard work of the whole team. Ameer has led the team to its success. Karthi has made a remarkable debut with a splendid performance. I don’t think that any actor in Indian film industry had such a debut. Anyone watching the movie without any prior information about him would never believe that this is his first movie.

What to say about Priyamani? I can’t think of anyone in our industry in her role. She fits in the Muthalagu’s shoes perfectly. No voice could have been better than her voice. (Trivia: No dubbing artists used. Everyone had their own voice). The other special character is of Saravanan’s role in the movie. I didn’t know that he can act like this. Where did he hide his talents all these days? I should also mention about the roles of Ponvannan, his wife, the two old ladies. Ameer had the perfect cast for his script.

The songs and background score of Yuvan would take of him to the next level in his career. With his first village film in which his father ruled the industry for decades, the son’s composition has come up really well. The cinematography of Ramji is the best, our industry had seen in its recent years.

In the end, it is a team work which worked. TWO THUMBS UP.

Abbas Kiarostami’s Close-up and Taste of cherry

2007-02-20T05:12:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I got a chance to watch Kiarostami’s two movies Close-up and Taste of Cherry. I always have the zeal for Iranian cinema ever since I watched Children of Heaven.

I would say Close-up is more of a special report of a true story happened in Iran. It is about an individual who claims him to be a director Mohsen Makhmalbaf who directed Cyclist and gets in touch with a family. But when I got the DVD I didn’t know that this is such kind of movie where I was expecting something of Majidi Style. In the end, it is a different way of depicting an individual’s mind and his feelings.

I was more hesitant to watch this Taste of Cherry due to the effect of watching Close-up as I didn’t want to watch documentary kinda movies back to back. But you would get the feel of different taste in it. It is all about a man who wants to commit suicide and he is finding for someone to close the ditch which he had already made so that he can go and sleep having the sleeping pills. In the end, I didn’t get what he is trying to say in the climax. I had to do some research on that movie and found something here. Kiarostami refers to this style as “Unfinished Cinema”.

You get a different feeling after watching these movies that you would not get it in any other commercial movie. I got it after watching it. I would recommend it as a case study for all the movie fanatics.

Thamirabarani- A disaster

2007-02-19T03:42:00.000-08:00

Iif you are worried that this is about some natural calamity to do with the river Thamirabarani, please don’t panic. This has got nothing to do with that. This is all about the latest movie in Tamil from the director Hari which I was destined to watch it yesterday night. I had few questions in my mind after watching this movie. Is this movie worth at least a little to be written over? Do the makers of a movie ever watch after taking it? Why Hari has to show his anger in this way to people? Is this his way of taking revenge for not making his previous ‘Aaru’ film a hit?

The story is the most creative story I had ever seen in Tamil cinema. Forget about Tamil cinema. It’s the first ever movie of this story line we ever had in world cinema. The story is about two families and its rivalry between them in a village in Southern Tamilnadu. A love story from the two families, and later they come to know that they are cousins. Everyone turning out to be good in the end and a happily lived ever after end. Wow. !!! How creative a director could go in Tamil cinema? Are there any standards set for that? If so, Hari has broken all the heights, limits whatever and set a new height for creativity.

This movie should be made as case study for all the students involved in film studies. Hari should be selected as Juror for all the film festivals happening around the world. C’mon he deserves more than that.

He should be given a ‘Life Time Achievement’ award and sent back to his native. The reason it has to be made the case study is so that the students should realize that they should take better movies as an act of condolence for the viewers who watched it.

In brief, one more disaster from Tamil film industry.

Simple facts about me

2007-01-11T06:36:00.000-08:00

This is the list of some simple facts about me. I do not guarantee that all the facts mentioned here are true :-)

I am passionate about few technical stuffs like Linux and Vim text editor . If I had powers to control the whole IT industry I would force everyone to use only Linux, Vim and Firefox browser. This is just a wish and I don’t have any personal feelings either against the world’s richest man or with his best company. But I seriously don’t like working in an operating system which a normal person hears of it's name can only think of as a fitting for his house.
I am a movie geek. I watch movies in all categories and all languages (with subtitles). The list of my favorite movies is a big one.
I am more interested in Photography nowadays. This has turned out to be a disease after buying the close-up kit for Canon powershot.
Soy de estudiante de español. (Am a student of Spanish). I completed Basic and Intermediate-1 levels from Instituto Hispania, Bangalore. I will do the next level Intermediate-2 soon. Italian language is in my list next.
I do read novels but a very slow reader. Fountainhead tops my favorite list. I still think that Ayn Rand should have more concentrated on Gail Wynand than on Roark in the novel. Don't ask me reasons for that.
I belong to the category of people who think that mobile phones are just to make/receive calls and messages. If you want a camera or a audio player go for a separate device with better features.
You can spot me anywhere with my Honda Unicorn or with my Orange Footloose bag (iPod nano and my Canon Powershot inside). If I miss it somewhere please hand it over to me. Thanks in advance.
I live alone in a 2BHK house in Kasturinagar, Bangalore. No, it’s not as boring as you think to stay alone if you have your own things to do. Trust me.
Above all, I am more pious in my religion and am a Muslim by choice and not by chance.

I came, I saw, I conquered

2007-01-11T02:50:00.000-08:00

These 3 ‘I’s became very popular since Julius Caesar succinctly described one of his victories as “veni, vidi, vici” (in Latin). After many years another set of ‘I’s are making a wave but this time in the field of science and technology. These are nothing but Apple’s iMac,iIPod and its latest sensation iPhone. They launch everything at the right time when people are in real need of something which should be the best in the market. Some may claim that their stuff is expensive but if there are people ready for that price why would they bother about others who cannot afford high-end devices. This may sound harsh but its not in that tone. They are coming up with fully featured devices which cannot be priced at low cost. In a long term, I can see only Google and Apple standing tall in the IT industry with their innovative ideas and products.

So it is iMac, iPod, iPhone

Anatomy of Indian cinema-I

2007-01-05T02:07:00.000-08:00

Plagiarism can be of two types. One is copying a piece of writing from somewhere else and presenting it in his own work. The other form of plagiarism is copying someone’s ideas as if there were own which exactly is an act of plagiarizing. This is not a blog about a novel of Indian-American in Harvard University where the author’s fairy tale turned into a thriller with ups and downs. This blog is all about the second form of plagiarism in which ideas of someone are plagiarized. This is about Indian cinema which instead of taking a stand in the stage of world cinema is taking everyone’s ideas. This is all about how far a cinema can demolish the style and all the techniques which were possessed by the original.

The idea of making movies from the world cinema in Indian film industry is applaud-able when the beauty of the original remains the same. After all it’s a step to make every movie-goer in our country get the vision what others are getting in western countries. But in the process of converting them into Indian versions, its loses its original style, the technique and everything. The conversion process is not an easy task as it includes the commercial value.

What happened to the creators in our own country which had produced some legends like Ray, Mrinal sen. Yes, there are few who are seriously concerned about parallel cinema in India. They are very few, at least to my knowledge like Adoor, Padmarajan(though I haven’t seen their movies),Aparna Sen and also Blessy(making a great impact in his movies). But the question is, how many of us know that there are some serious cinemas made in the streets of the God’s own country or in some corner of this country. Do we get easy access to their works like the other commercial works?

Someone may boast that there are many good directors like Maniratnam, Selvaraghavan, Cheran, Sanjay Leela Bhansali. But I feel like they are missing out something in their films. Even they do have ideas plagiarized from other foreign cinemas in their movies.

Do you call these ideas as the inspired ones?? Then where are the credits to the originals? What is stopping them from revealing us the architects of the original?

Update: Check my other blog for more on plagiarism and Indian cinema.

(To be contd..)

A trip to Nandi Hills

2006-07-10T22:56:00.000-07:00

It was a mourning ceremony for the defeat of Brazil against France but in a different place and in a different style. This trip to Nandi hills, 60 kms far from Bangalore could be named as craziest plan ever made. We started immediately after the match and reached at 5 in the morning and I was told that we are not the only crazy people living in Bangalore. To everyone 's surprise, the place at that time was awesome with the showers of mist in the dark and the stereo systems of the parked cars breaking the silence and people sitting in front of camp fire waiting for the guard to open the main gate .

Though a place to have a view of the sunrise, no one had regrets of it showing up very late. May be we should plan for another trip in summer to have a view of its beauty. The hills had nothing in special but a couple of bungalows surrounded by beautiful gardens with flowers of different colours in it , a view point named as "tippu drop" where you can feel the wind flowing at heavy speed and also a nandi temple( sorry, didnt get into that). Yes, there is a restaurant too to fill your stomach with bread toasts, omlettes and teas.

After few hours, our eyes reminded us that we didnt sleep through the night and its high time for us to get back to home. Finally, it was all fun as my camera got loaded with some great shots of nature's beauty for the first time.