The Observer

A New start beckons

2010-08-05T13:46:00.002+08:00

Good day to every single person who have come across my blog in this past year or so. For anyone who have followed my writings and articles for the past year, I would like to sign off warmly, and say a warm thank you.

I am moving sites to my own domain site- addressed as such : www.ramyuva.com effective on August 8, 2010.

If you had even been remotely hooked by my writings so far, you are free to start visiting my domain site, and trust me, it offers even more than the sparse levels that I have written on the blog.

:)

With beautiful regards,

Ram Anand

"One is loved because one is loved. No reason is needed to love".

The whatever-ness

2010-07-27T23:00:00.002+08:00

My hands and my brains can't take it anymore. The ludicrousity that is offered in a beautiful platter every night on Sun TV has been ringing alarm bells in my head for an incredible amount of time now.

Let's get to the bug. We all easily have a laugh at the Tamil TV serials that are being dished out like candies but the day has come when I have to note what makes the world go round here.

Okay, here's a list of things that I have against serials (I can sue them if there's a chance of doing so).

1. Every other cinema actress who fails there take a 'leap of faith' into serials. And she ALWAYS plays the ever-so-goody, exemplary, she loves everybody, she helps everybody, picture perfect woman. Get a life.

2. Oh yeah, all serials are female centered. The leading character is always a woman. Never a man. Male characters are totally incapable of hooking people to the screen for a mind blasting 600 episodes in a row.

3. The lead female is almost always a stand-alone woman at some point- she will live without her husband. She has to do that because she needs to be the strong one, you see? All of them will go through a bit of rocks in their married life. In some cases, the husbands are just plain BAD, you know. Otherwise, it's just sinful isn't it?

4. They waste 5 minutes of each serial with a song. It runs 5 times a week, and that song plays every freaking time. They hire a team of dancers to dance to that, and by the time you get to the story, we are nearly 10 minutes in the time slot. Excellent time-wasting, producers. Be proud.

5. Oh, the easiest job in the world is to write a freaking STORY or even a script for a Tamil drama. It's easy- maybe let's say three scenes for every episode? Rest just leave to the dialogue writer, they know how to stretch even a non-event scene into a cruelly long one.

6. The music composer is the biggest criminal, he places the most thrilling, heart beat music for scenes that turn out to be pure duds. It's like a character comes and says, 'hey, you've got a dirt on your back'.

Jeng Jeng Jeng.

The other character (the one with the dirt) stares at person A with such shock and disbelief.

And don't forget they have to slow mo at some point. If at a scene which is being shot there are five characters around, the director generously ensures he captures the eye contact between all those characters- each one of them with each other.

By the time the fella realizes he's just got a freaking dirt on his freaking back, you passed a freaking say, 6 minutes? This people are just amazing.

7. Ridiculous dialogues happen in the most ridiculous places. There'll be a court trial and the characters will be pouring their emotions to the judge, or the policeman, or the lawyer. And these people will actually listen, it seems. For god's sake these officials will only ever collect details. Try standing up to one of them that you had some 'avamanam' two days ago. They'll finish writing a verdict by the time by the time you finish narrating an unrelated event. Goodness me.

8. Here's the masterstroke. They want to end the drama for that episode, but they don't know how. What they do, they cut through a lame scene, make one character say a statement of accusation (or it sounds like one), and they put 'to be continued'. Next day, it turns out the whole scene has little significance.

9. It's very educating religiously. They expose the most ridiculous rituals that many would have thought must be banned for their sheer stupidity in the modern world that we are living in now, but they will still show you scenes of a ritual to separate families, and how the families will actually adhere to that rule because it will become 'sami kuttam'.

Why don't they just show 'Amman' rising up and sticking blades in their eyes when they slightly breach any ritual rules? With a serious music this time.

I'll ban dramas from showing scenes that can mislead if I have the authority. But too bad people choose to be ignorant about it.

It's just as bad as a guy accidentally placing 'kungumam' on a girl's forehead and the next thing he knows he has to marry her no matter what. Grrr.

End of the day, I walk out after watching a drama and look for a wall. So that I can bang my head on it. The easy way to attain high blood pressure? Tamil dramas.

Inception- Movie Review

2010-07-23T22:19:00.003+08:00

Christopher Nolan comes on the back of redefining the Batman series a couple of years back with The Dark Knight, and Leonardo Di Caprio has built a reputation to be an actor of fabulous calibre with the ability to almost always choose the right scripts to participate in despite his relatively young age.

When these two come together, you know that you are in for something extraordinary. With 'Inception', Nolan brings together a mixture of two of his best-written movies- 'Memento' and also the 2006 magical thriller 'The Prestige'. The most telling factor about the film is that the film comes with a concept and theme which is so complex- as it always is when it involves the infinite spectrum of our mind, yet it manages to remain in control and not spiral out to become a self-indulgent psychological thriller as it could have very easily been.

'Inception' is the story of Dom Cobb (Di Caprio), who is an extractor who extracts the deepest memories of individuals by invading their sub conscious mind while putting them in a dream state. Legal problems means that Cobb is always on the run and when a job to extract an information from a Japanese business magnate Saito (Ken Watanabe) goes wrong, Cobb has no choice but to go hiding with a proce place on his head. But Saito traces back Cobb and offers him an interesting proposition- that he'd able to clear all the legal problems that Cobb is facing and allow Cobb to return to his two children- only if Cobb agrees to do an 'inception'- an act of planting an idea in the head of Saito's business rival.

Cobb brings together a group of able assistants, including a dream architect (Ellen Page), to execute the complicated task. However, the recurring presence of Cobb's dead wife Mel (Marion Cotillard) in his dream projections threatens to sabotage the mission, and Cobb has to embrace the disturbing truth and face his own demons in order not to let the memories of his wife haunt him forever. The complicated job carries enormous risks for all involved and Cobb struggles to make it work in order to attain his liberty again.

The first thing that makes Inception work, just like all the other trademark Nolan movies is the screenplay. The movie has a relentless screenplay, with Hans Zimmer's background score being an essential pillar of strength, so much so that you don't feel the pinch of the movie's 148 minutes of running time.

But the catch is- it makes you think. Inception, make no mistakes, is an intelligent movie, and the four-layered dream pattern that forms the climax of the film has to be one of the most complicated action sequences that was ever shot in cinema. You have to pay close attention to all the factors that happen around in the movie in order to really grasp the story of each character and also the logistics and realms of the dreams.

Di Caprio carries the weight of the film on his shoulders and delivers with even a sign of hamming, understating or overdoing it. His calibre as an actor is further reaffirmed with this accomplished, near flawless performance. Inception comes with plenty of CGI and despite the grandeur of images that explore the infinite possibilities that exist within our mind, Di Caprio still carries the emotional weight of the story magnificently, which makes the story more connecting, rather than being just a well-shot dream unique concept.

Ellen Page gives an assured performance in a colorful starcast, and is a real standout. Ken Watanabe also shines in his role as Saito, while Tom Hardy and Joseph Gordon Levitt combine to provide rare moments of laughter throughout the movie. Marion Cotillard is just passable, as her character has the same emotional shade every time it appears, thus having very little to no development (which is the way it is meant to be).

All in all, Nolan once again beats himself to it by pushing the envelope of fine film-making even further. Inception could have become a movie for select audiences with high levels of intelligence, but the film instead threads a fine line between entertainment but at the same time not underestimating the intelligence of its audience. And such an achievement is rare at a time when the movie going public is so often getting divided with recent movies.

And for that, Nolan's got a winner and shows that creativity and popular success can come in the same package.

The death of Samaritans

2010-07-14T13:38:00.004+08:00

When my Arabian Scicom trainer told me he preferred the kind of privacy he has gained since coming to Malaysia in comparison to the overtly-concerned Arabians back in his country, I couldn't but to help but raise an eyebrow.

I'll take a love nuisance any day over ignorance. Wouldn't we all? Ask the Malaysians, the pure Malaysians who have actually lived all these years outside their comfort zone, and have actually been faced with situations which left them lurching for help from somewhere.

One thing is for sure- the so-called 'privacy' mentioned before is not something that we Malaysians can smile about, nor to be even proud of. Most importantly- it's about time the alarm bells rang for us- it's nothing to be ignorant about as well- at least not anymore.

Ignorance ain't a bliss anymore.

Not when a couple of lazy petrol bunk assistants have become so disilluioned that their buts would have teared off if they had carried a fire extinguisher and passed it off to a hoillering Samaritan whose nerves are wrangling out for a girl literally burning to death inside a car.

Listen to a piece of that story and immediately the image of two lazy, or if could even mention, utterly stupid guys looking out as if they can't comprehend a a simple call for help, the simple urge of an accident, or above all, the rocking value of a life strikes across your mind. Then you think, would they be just as blurred when they are trapped in a car with the petrol leaking and they know they are burning to death?

The kind of ignorance that we have stamped on ourselves have become so overwhelming that we have accustomed to turn a blind eye to so many things- things that even decides life or death. Like when I was lying on a road drenched in serious wounds and found out that passers-by who apparently have no urgent work to attend to would rather wait for me to clear the road myself rather than helping me up.

Here's a fact we have to embrace- beneath the face of the elegant, ever-growing with tall buildings man that we have epitomized ourselves with over the years- there lies an ugly truth.

The man is actually a lazy, ignorant one. If over the years the individual determination of that man's cells helped him rise up taller than some of his counterparts and build a respectable image for himself, the lazy, one dimensional, selfish natures of his cells will eventually spell the ruins of the very man. The cells which built him had lost their original vision, and are now drifting, many colliding with each other in their destinations.

The man is now short-sighted and one dimensional at the core. It'll be only a matter of time before it eats into his entire body.

Will the cells change? At least don't let someone die when you can afford to prevent it while seating at your very comfort zone.

And the one who dies wasn't a hapless young lady, but the one the two attendants actually murdered was the little left off from the good nature of Malaysians. Next time a Samaritan wakes up, he might think twice. And what will be the consequences of that Samaritan thinking twice?

R.I.P

The warrior will be alright.

2010-07-08T23:22:00.001+08:00

It’s dusk. The sun sets solemnly across the horizon- the warrior loves dusk. He has always felt that the spates of colors strewn across the sky at dusk leave behind a flicker that the eyes will never feast upon at any other time of the day. He sat at the nearby branch, a sole stricken one in the middle of an unknown desert, and he looked up towards the sun. The cloudy horizon have made the sun hardly visible to the naked eye. A faint light shimmering beyond the thin veil of clouds, that was all his eyes could muster to witness at the time.

The thin haze that has been coating the horizons around the place on a consistent basis had also deprived the warrior of his most cherished view- a peek towards the top of the mountain- bright and glistening. Every time he witnesses that peak, he feels like he does belong to that peak, to reach there one day has been etched in his destiny.

But now, there is no dusk, no mountain. All that exists was him, the desert, and the village, a village which he had long assumed would be an useful pit stop in order for him to reach his dreams. The warrior did not like it the moment he arrived in this village- where everyone worked very hard in premeditated routines in order to win the breads to survive the day. The warrior wasn’t an exception in this- he wasn’t given a prince treatment- he had to work to win his bread- for he has to wait until the clouds clear and the sun can rise up confidently and unleash its ray on earth without any barriers again.

Now, as the warrior lay against the sole broken branch in the middle of a dry desert on which the village is located, he feels exhausted, tired, dread. The everyday routine at the village had had its taxes on his energy and enthusiasm. His resources are drained by the end of the day, and he couldn’t have his daily glance beyond the horizons to look at the peak of the mountains that he wishes to conquer one day.

What is happening to his life? Where have his dreams brought him to? Why is the haze so thick he can’t see his destination? He abandoned a kingdom of comfort, security, all to secure the reality of this one dream- he travelled through ages of uncertainty about where his destination would lie, spent so many years of the journey travelling all alone- but as long as he was on the move, when he had his evenings by the crystal clear lake, or under an autumn tree drooping with gorgeous brown leaves, practicing the art of swinging and slinging his sword, as his horse fed on the natural leaves at every stop he pauses at, looking at her master in awe and loyalty.

Today, the sword rusts in the little camp, in which the warrior retires every night- and the warrior shoots the sword a glancing, solemn look, wondering when the time will come for him to ride off into the sunset again, the sword piercing elegantly across his back. His horse waits tied outside the camp, feeding on the same grass everyday, entitled to the same routine the warrior is being subjected to.

The warrior sits and contemplates, wishes he is on the move rather than remaining here- but this is the pit stop he needs to take in order to reach the peak of the mountain. He is made to be on the move, not to rut in a rust. He is made to conquer that peak, not to sit idle doing regular work.

But then he thinks of that sunny day where, when the warrior did not know which direction he should take to reach the mountains which seemed so distant away- when a saint appeared while the warrior was walking on a bed of tulips holding hands with his princess.

The saint pointed in this direction- on the first morning in which the princess held his hand- the direction of this small village; that the warrior should start a life there, and that’s where his journey would have its starting point. The warrior knew there and then, that it was a sign, for he was holding the princess’ hands when the saint looked down from the high hills and pointed his ageing stick in this village’s direction. Upon which the princess gave him a warm smile- so wide it made his insides tingle with joy and warmth.

The warrior walked deeper into his tent, wondering about the crossroads and uncertainty he is facing in his life. Every warrior has to trudge a path of mud in order to be worthy champions. This is his alley of mud. An alley where he can lose all that he is- where he has to hold on tight in order to retain his will, passion and dreams. That is his test.

The pain is true, the discomfort is true, the itchy feet is true, the difficulty is true. But the warrior has accepted it- come to terms with it. This is what will make him a worthy champion.

But as he lies down his head gently on the princess’ shoulders with her brimming smile still there, he knows for a fact- it’ll be alright.

Raavan- Movie Review

2010-06-18T20:26:00.004+08:00

Do we judge the qualities of our lives and that of our own self with a contrast as simple as black and white, good or bad? That is what Mani Ratnam had tried to bring out with his densely shot 'Raavan'. It took Mani and his team a grueling three years to complete this flick, which says alot about the kind of effort it took to shoot the movie in the dense forests of Madya Pradesh.

First of all, Raavan is one of those movies that can't be compared with Mani's previous works. Some may claim it is not on par with his other movies, while some may claim it is as good as any. Admittedly Mani's best movie to date, Iruvar, had a similar response during its initial release before it picked up steam and played to the gallery of classics around a decade later. Raavan might fall in the same mould- few years from now, it'll be seen as a classic.

Mani seems to cut loose whatever is left of the thin veil of ropes that tied him from fully expressing his ideas in his previous movies, and he executes Raavan with a newfound freedom- thus pushing the envelope further as far as the qualities of his own movies go. We all saw what happened when Mani went bold in Iruvar- the movie collapsed on a commercial structure, and like someone who failed in a first real jump, Mani was very subtle in the movies that he made after 'Iruvar', and it took him some time to attempt something with complete boldness again- and by some time I mean 13 years. Because it's only in Raavan that he rediscovers that touch.

Even Iruvar wasn't a perfect movie, but it was classic- so much to the extent that even the unanswered grey aspects of the movie, the hanging threads, and the flaws have come to be accepted to be part of what makes the movie even greater- and Raavan's imperfections might work the same way, they will dissolve as time passes by- and the movie will be accepted as one to be remembered for a long time to come.

To begin with the story- Beera (Abhishek) is another one of Mani's Nayakan moulded character. A man who stands firmly at the wrong side of the law, but not necessarily at the wrong side of life on a larger scale. He is at logger heads with Dev (Vikram), a ruthless local policemen who is hell bent in killing Beera, and thus erasing the image of a lawbreaker ruling the roosts in the rustic rural area of Lal Maati. Once Dev and his fellow policemen contribute heavily to the ill-fated death of Jamuniya (Priyamani)- Beera's stepsister, Beera goes out for revenge. He savages few of Dev's colleagues, and abducts Ragini (Aishwarya Rai), Dev's apple of the eye. Beera vows to kill Ragini within 14 hours of abduction to avenge for his sister, but when Ragini's lack of fear strikes him like a bolt of thunder, Beera retracts from the stance and instead keeps her alive- an act that would set a motion of unprecedented events and upturn of emotions leading to an emotional and poetic climax.

Abhishek Bachchan without doubt is Mani's personal favorite, and Beera was tailor made for him. He plays the character with such effervescence that his facial expressions alone are sufficient to deliver the kind of emotional turmoil he goes through when he starts falling in love with Ragini. He gives a weak look full of love at one glimpse of his vulnerable moment, and at the very next, he returns to his sadistic smile that is his trademark. He comes across as a good-hearted character who shouts out loud to the world that he is indeed a ten-headed Raavan, and a devil in order to hide his own soft side. You start by despising Beera's madness, slowly get intrigued by the layers of emotions he has within himself, and you start adoring him towards the end of the movie. On another day and at the hands of a lesser actor, the character Beera can easily come across as just being a pure psycho, but Abhi prevents that with great deliverance. Every little detail of his performance is polished put exceptionally, so much so that when he finally strings together a dialogue to express himself, no matter how short or incomplete, you'd know what he was actually saying. This is Abhi's best career performance to date, and betters even Guru in many aspects.

Aishwarya Rai never lost an ounce of elegance even after all those years, she looks genuinely charming even in the scenes where she is thrashing about in torn clothes with dirt smearing all over her body. And her performance is no less elegant as well. She stands out well in the plethora of visually poetic scenes between Abhi and her, and yet she stands her ground, and makes the duel and the battle of eyes even more interesting. She is convincing in the latter half when she is torn by her blossoming care for Raavan and also her existing love for Dev, as the two men seem to be heading on a collision course- she struggles to differentiate black and white anymore, which is what the film is all about. In short, Mani tells us the story through Ash's bewildered eyes- the entire darkness and gray shades about it.

Vikram is convincing as the ruthless policeman, and also manages to bring out well the demonic obsession that consumes him towards the end of the movie, when he was killing people at the snap of a finger just to get Beera. His need to get Beera weighs over his need to find Ragini, the kind of obsession not associated with a typified 'good guy'. As Raavan shows love and care for the woman, Dev shows more thirst for blood that tends to be justified by his khaki uniform. The gray shades of Dev were so effortlessly brought forward by the National-award winner.

Priyamani leaves a lasting impact despite her brief appearance, and manages to evoke sympathy for her ill-fated character- a good cameo to get herself introduced in Bollywood. Govinda is underutilized, but manages to evoke humor in the eariler scenes that he was part of- as the story focused more on Beera's side of things.

Technically the film is too good, in one word. Santosh Sivan returns to wield the camera for the larger part of the movie, for the first time since 'Dil Se', and his camerawork is simply mindblowing, not to take any credit away from V.Mani Kandan, who was also the joint cinematographer. The denseness of the jungle, and the depth of the river are simple natural settings, but the way the shots are composed makes this one of the most, if not the most visually poetic movie ever made in Indian cinema. Scenes between Abhi and Ash especially deserve special mention- the shots used for the song 'Behene De' steals your breath away. Mani stays true to his common principles of using natural lights for his films and it is evident again in Raavan.

Kudos should go to every member of the production team for executing the film with such a natural look in such a difficult location- every actor is made to work and go through genuine physical barriers to enact their roles, as it is evident in the movie.

AR Rahman's music as usual carries the film forward almost single handedly at times. There is a variation of music for every different setting, for every different mood, and what tops it all is ARR's own slow humming song 'Uduja' that is used heavily during the climax, bringing out the exact emotional content of the moments.

'Thok De Killi', 'Khilli Re' and 'Kata Kata' carry Mani's usual trademark of songs being executed exceptionally well, as the choreography of all three songs captivates a great deal.

Mani excels in writing the couple of plot twists in the lead up to the climax, and perhaps his biggest achievement would be that despite the plot twist, he doesn't lose the core emotional content that sets the film running. Mani may have not written the dialogues himself, but staying true to his trademark of minimal dialogue usage, the dialogues are great whenever delivered, especially around the climax and the emotional scenes between Ash and Abhi. Vijay Krishna Acharya lost so much credibility after his Tashan flopped that he was sacked from Yash Raj Productions, but with his dialogues for Raavan alone, has attained himself from credibility again, as it looks like he is still Mani's trusted ally in that particular department.

All in all, Raavan has its flaws and unfinished threads- but it is by no means a cumbersome movie- in fact it is a classic for that very reason- the film ends like an open ended question, a question that reverts back to the audiences, to pick up the pieces and find the Ram and Raavan within their own selfs as they makes their way home. Some might say this movie is not for everyone- it is in fact for everyone. But some might find it hard to stomach or dismiss it. But give it sometime and it'll grow back on you.

Mani Ratnam is a gem for the Indian film industry. And with a great deal of help from his actors and technical team, he proves that once again with Raavan.

A couple of cheers and now the wait begins for the next Mani Ratnam film. :)

Rating: 9/10

p.s.- don't listen to the critics. They don't make movies. Mani Ratnam does.

Taran Ardash, please humbly quit reviewing movies.

The new rainbow

2010-05-15T11:23:00.003+08:00

The warrior once sat down bespectacled, wondering if at all he will attain what he desired. What he wanted. He is still making that journey, but the perennial doubts keep visiting him, throwing him into a whirlwind of uncertainty. Is this a battle that he has to fight alone? Will it be a futile one? Is he making a journey in which the destination will never materialize?

Word of wisdom had drained his ears. Some wise man had once told him that when you want something so badly, the whole universe will conspire to make you achieve it. The warrior knew for sure that his destination is not even remotely close yet- the only way to continue is to keep going despite all the uncertainties riddled in his mind- that's when he had realized that what he was actually looking for is a shoulder to lean on, somebody who could accompany him in this bewildering, taxing journey. The warrior knew that he had had been looking for this person for a long time, hoping someday she would come in his line of sight, but now the thought of whether she ever existed was needling him.

And then the warrior realized he had someone to pick him up from his troubles all along. A companion who has always been there to help him through a hard times, a woman adorned with qualities that he has been looking for all along- but how did he not realize it? Now that woman rides with him through that journey, and the warrior does not fear falling or being defeated. For he knows she will be there to hold him up in good stead. The lack of soldiers had once been his greatest concern, but now he know he wasn't actually looking for soldiers, but instead looking for someone like her- he was looking for the most magical word of all- love.

And they say love can conquer mountains. The warrior still has to climb up the mountains himself, but facing demons doesn't seem like an ardous task anymore- if anything, love conquers fears and uncertainties.

The warrior once reached an edge of the mountain which looked like a dead end, he could not see a way put or a way further up from it. All he saw was a small path that was heading nowhere, he took it, and the only thing that rang in his mind was the same adage that he has so blindly followed for six years- when you want something so badly, the universe will conspire to make you achieve it. Next thing the warrior knew, he was climbing a difficult slope, but at the end of that slope, he realized that he had taken a step closer to the peak of the mountain he wants to conquer. He looked down back, and realized how impossible an task it was, and yet he did not heed to the difficulty at all. The wind of the mountain seem to be telling him that he has embarked on a new phase in his journey.

Few days later, the warrior had made a new group of friends, a pack of travelers as well to different destinations-- they were all at an altitude where they were exhausted and have not feasted for a long time. Word has it that somewhere around the mountain, a feast has been prepared for them. There's plenty of food still left around the place, little scraps of bread here and there, on which they have been feeding on for some time. But they felt it was time for some feast, but to find the feast there is a price to pay. They to abandon their breads behind as the luggage would prove to be too heavy, and with starvation already visiting them, they made the journey. The warrior once again remembered that old adage that the wise old man had told him once- and after a seeming futile journey that reduced all of them into a state of weakness, they were starring at a faint light inside a dark cave. As they sauntered inside, they were shocked to find that they were starring at the feast that they were looking for. They found plenty of offerings on the way, that of breads and mountain guards and old men discouraging them from their ridiculous urge to find the feast. For reasons they themselves could not explain, they were adamant on finding the feast, and at a time when the exhaustion had totally caught up with them, they found the place.

And when the warrior had his feast and walked back outside of the cave to a bright sunshine greeting, he realized the adage wasn't a blind one. When you want something so badly, you do eventually attain it. And he also realized something else- that the journey might be grueling, but it will never be futile- just when you thought your energy has been drained out, the desire will materialize, the dream will come true. The universe will conspire to give it to you when you least expected it- and when you do get it, you will realize that the tools to reach the destination has been lying around you all along- the journey is about attaining that wisdom to be able to look at things differently, and when you reach that stage, you shall be able to look around you and find the hidden treasures that were meant for you.

Today, the warrior has love- which he once though was an endless search. And with the universe seemingly ready to give him everything he pursues without an iota of fear, with only faith and hope in his heart- he looks up at the peak and smiles. He knows he will get there too. But there's no rush. He will enjoy the journey with love, faith and hope. He has abandoned fear at the foot of the mountains.

And he walked on.

Raavanan- Music Review

2010-05-07T17:28:00.001+08:00

Mani Ratnam and AR Rahman are probably two names that the industry most desperately want to see come together- there is never a bad time for both of them to come up with an album on all respects. The music of Raavan was already creating ripples in the Bollywood arena, now it is time for ARR-Mani to grace Kollywood for the first time in almost six years (let’s discount a dubbed version of Guru out of the way).

Though it turns out hard enough to judge one version over the other, the Tamil, for one, doesn’t come across as even remotely inferior to the Hindi version- probably a repeat of the 2004 scenario, when the music of Aayitha Ezhuttu were more at home compared to the Hindi Yuva. More at home? That seems to be the case with at least few of the songs, while others seem to have fitted the Hindi version better.

Veera Veera (Vijay Prakash, Keerthi Sagathia)

The opening song of the album which has already become a catchy sensation in Bollywood, Veera retains the same tune, beat and length. The lyrics are uncharacteristic of a Mani movie for a start, probably a clear indication that the number was composed originally for the Hindi version. A change of singers was made clearly to fit a more southern environment, and lyrics which exude reference to Ram and Raavan makes it intriguing nevertheless, even though words such as ‘Veera’, ‘Sura’, and ‘Kala’ seems a little over the top. A good number but not great.

Usure Pogudhey (Karthik)

Forums and listeners were full of ‘Behene De’ when it came out last week, many comparing it to the same breath as ‘Satrangi Re’ from ‘Dil Se’. Usure Pogudhey meanwhile seems to go even a notch higher than the already famous and highly appreciated Behene De. This has the potential to be another sparkling song to add to Karthik’s CV, which he sings with such panache that all the infusing passion is almost tangible. Vairamuthu’s lyrics are spot on, bringing out a distinct rural feel about them (which is where the movie is set). Karthik alone carries the song on his shoulders and his modulation and timely stressing at certain stanzas and certain words makes this one of the quality compositions to have come out from the Rahman stable in recent times. Two thumbs up.

Kodu Potta (Benny Dayal)

Though ‘Thok de Killi’ sounded decent in the Hindi version, it got monotonous after some time with Sukhwinder Singh’s singing keeping the song with the same tone variation throughout. However, with Rahman’s own favorite Benny Dayal crooning here, Kodu Potta sounds more unique and pleasant. Once again, lyrics that represent a rustic rural environment prevail and even the tune seems to have been tailor-made to suit a southern environment. Combined with synthesized Arabian sounds, Kodu Potta is a good number.

Kaatu Sirrukki (Shankar Mahadevan, Anuradha Sriram)

Talk about using the same tone and composing a number which would fit a rural Bollywood setting and also a rural southern setting, no one does it better than Rahman. Ranjha Ranjha was an instant hit when it came out last week, and although Kaatu Sirrukki takes a little longer to grow on you, it eventually strikes a chord and looks every bit like a hit that will stay there for an awfully long time. Look out for Anuradha Sriram’s unique voice modulation at different parts of the song, singing again under ARR after such a long absence from his albums. Shankar Mahadevan infuses more life to the song than Javed Ali did to the Hindi version, proving once again that his experience definitely counts for something. Another quality composition. Whether it will become an instant market hit remains to be seen, but any music enthusiast would never deny that this is one composition off the top shelf.

Kalvare (Shreya Ghosal)

The lone classical number of the album, that should immediately appeal to those who love to listen to such classical, almost pure compositions. Rahman opted for Shreya Ghosal for the Tamil version and she seems to be able to bring out more emotions and more variation here than the Hindi version ‘Khilli Re’.

Keedaikari (Benny Dayal, Tanvi, Reyhana)

Just like in ‘Kaatu Sirrukki’, ARR tweaks masterfully to make ‘Kedaikarri’ sound just as southern, original and catchy as the Hindi version ‘Kata Kata’. Understandably, Bollywood wedding songs have the tendency to run at a higher tempo and for that very reason, the Hindi version sounded extremely catchy. Should the same tempo retained in the Tamil version, it might have looked a little out of the place, but ARR’s tweaks works the song wonderfully, sounding as refreshing as ‘Kummi Adi’ from ‘Jillendru Oru Kadhal’.

All in all, AR Rahman and Mnai Ratnam have definitely not disappointed, with the Tamil version of the Raavan album not sounding even an inch like it is a translated version of Raavan in Hindi, but instead sounding just as fresh and infusing as the Hindi version sounded, and even in certain parts, better and more variated, and ultimately sounding more like at home. Maybe because this is home. Mani Ratnam’s home. And also Rahman’s. And no composition elsewhere can better the ones they are able to produce in Tamil (for an original film that is).

Curtains raise...let the ten-headed evil mind come...

2010-04-24T21:40:00.005+08:00

Raavan has come, riding with it expectations as heavy as anything, yielding his ten heads and ten minds on a horseback. Two names is enough to make you swirl around with expectations at this album- Mani Ratnam and AR Rahman.

Without giving verdicts, I'll get straight to scrutinizing all the songs.
Beera Beera

Obviously an introduction song for the main character in this movie- Abhishek's Raavan. Set against the backdrop of a rural area, the song has an unique mixture of African and Indian folk, and the result is just as good as any. AR Rahman hits the notes right once again to bring out the entire environment and a glimpse peering into Raavan's characterization. The song oozes with energy, and celebrates Raavan to the tilt. Vijay Prakash has become such a favorite of Rahman's that he is being used in all colors of songs by Rahman in recent times, coming in the back of the super-melodious 'Hosanna' in VTV, he's here stretching his vocals for 'Beera', accompanied by Mustafa Kutoane.

Now you are in the vehicle, you know the atmosphere, a solid start to the album.

Ranjha Ranjha

Don't expect a Tere Bina in Raavan. Obviously Ratnam has set the tone for all of Raavan's songs to fit a more situational frame, in flow with the entire narrative structure; and Ranjha epitomizes that perfectly. Rekha Bhardwaj dominates with her impeccable rendering, and once again ARR throws in a surprise with Javed Ali sounding unconventional supporting the vocals.

This song too brings out the vague smell of the terrains of the more rural areas in Madya Pradesh, which is where the film is mostly set in. Full of life and full of environment (atypical of ARR), Ranjha is just as pleasing.

And we go on knowing its getting better.
Tonk De Killi

Look for the name Sukhwinder Singh, and you'd know what to expect right away. The song is absolutely high on spirits, the sounds and beats staying with the environment of the album so far. Nothing too spectacular, but good nevertheless, but might end up looking as exquisite as anything on the screen. Earmarked.

Khilli Re

If I had not mentioned it so far, Aishwarya Rai plays a singing tutor in this movie, and this song definitely has something to do with that fact. For some reason reminds me of Thalapathy's Yamunai Aatrile. Minimal instruments, mainly classical, with the full scope given for Reena Bhardwaj to take centre stage and deliver the best of her vocal capacities.

Breezy.

Kata Kata

Remember 'Rukumani Rukumani' from Roja? Mani and ARR revisit among their first ever hits together with Kata Kata, which is also a song about a newly married couple, but the beats is even more livelier, and seems to go one better than the classic hit 18 years ago.

Just like 'Beera', the orchestration is heavy and vociferous, and ARR even interludes at some points. Listen to it a couple of times, and you are tapping your feet at the really catchy beats- ranking right beside Alaipayuthey's 'Yaro Yarodi' in terms of overall impact.

Very Good.

Behene De

A killer of a song. Karthik is sensational once again in this situational song that definitely to be used as an all-important number to move the story. Infused with such passion and deliverance of atmosphere, Behene De makes for a good impression.

On an overall note, Mani and ARR prove once again that they are in their own league. ARR still gives his best for Mani, and Mani still extracts the very best of Rahman. And that magical combination wouldn't waver anytime soon. 18 June shall come, and I'd be among the first to grab the tickets.

Come with your ten heads, ten minds, and a hundred voices Mani. I'm awaiting it.

Verdict: 9/10

Why we need to grow up?

2010-04-16T14:14:00.005+08:00

Grow up. Grow up. Stop acting like a kid.

We probably have heard this statement repeated over in almost every household there is in this country- after a certain age, parents, or any elders that be, would nail the point hard through to the teenagers- the time has come for us to start acting adults. We need to talk mature, learn how to live (or survive), be cunning enough in our acts not to be taken advantage upon, learn how to earn money, not to be choosy, not to ask too many questions, and just live with a given situation.

You are walking flanked at either side by few of the most significant peoples of your life, on the midriff on a Sunday afternoon, the sun blazing nakedly over the horizon, unleashing its utmost ray- literally bathing you in sweat. You obviously don't like it, you have walked a far distance, and there's still that substantial amount of journey to go. Suddenly you see an elegant-looking car swoosh past you at the highways, covered in hue dark tinted windows, barely revealing the individuals inside. An element on mystery, an epitome of comfort. You envy at that drive, you wish immediately that you are in that car, and you tell yourself you will be in that car one day.

Few years later, you are in a very similar car, breezing past the terrains- watching from the cold, cozy comfort inside your car- and you witness a flock of people walking and talking with each other. You look at the vast spaces of your car and there you are, driving alone, and for the split moment, you'd think you make do without your shades, comfort, and elegance if you could take that walk again- flanked by people you love talking to, making them laugh and letting them make you laugh. You want, for once, for the journey to last longer so that you feel fulfilled when you reach home. What's the point of running to the destination? That one day in your life in which you will look back and say you wish- it will come.

Only that there is no reprieve when you are driving. You tell to someone the stories of your past, but indulging in past won't yield you a bread for the future, you have been told. On that ashen-faced day when you are actually sweating and walking, you take a cold drink with the people around you and bask at the great relief it provides. You don't feel like you need to be in that car anymore, all there is is a flicker of light in your eyes, gazing the future, imagining the day when you will have that elegant car in your possession, but with these people still around you, to enjoy it alongside you.

When you do drive, you realize you don't have time for that people anymore. They don't have time for you. All of you, as simple as it gets, have grown up. You have attained your pursuit, but why you wanted that pursuit in the first place has been long blown away with the wind- now brushing off the eyes and the minds of another young person, standing aloft with the world at his disposal- or so he thinks.

And then you think- that's life. And you say it with a sigh.

But why do we grow up? Why that maniacal need to grow up? It was once said that kids are God's favorite children. Ever wondered why? Is it just because they are small, innocent, unknowing? The answer is no. A child asks questions aplenty. Why is that tree green?- a child might ask. Why is the sky blue? Why don't rainbows last forever? Can we go nearer to those stars? What's beyond those skies? Why is this man begging to earn money? Can't we help him? How many countries are there in this world? Can we go around the world one day? Can we go to the sea?

What happens to all these questions? Do you get answers for them as you grow up? Obviously you don't. You just cease to ask those questions anymore- because you are told, those questions are not part of life as they say it is. Are they not? Have you figured out what life is all about? For sitting in your balcony one day and gazing into an empty space, sighing, and saying 'that's life' within the frames of your mind doesn't seem an exactly glittering way to look back at the form of life.

How do we smile when we look back? Only if we had had the courage to pursue what our hearts wanted. It's like a loose string when you let your heart rule you in life- instead of the more disciplined, rigid spaces of your brain with spoon-fed ideas, the heart's desires take you places, makes you take risks, makes you fall into deep wells, yet clamber back up to redeem yourself. The heart makes this life an incessant journey as long as there is breath in that body of yours.

And to pursue the heart's desires in the purest of senses, one must first have the ability to look at this world the way the eyes of a kid would look at it. Why shy away from questions? Do we, as the ever self-conscious adults that we are cultivated into, know all the answers that be regarding what life is all about, or even the world? We do not know anything, no matter if we are adults or kids. Why then, shouldn't we ask questions? Only then can we open new avenues for ourselves, can we conquer uncharted territories. Why look at life through the confinements of what the society thinks life is made up of? Look at the world and life, and start asking questions. You will realize there are much more answers to be found out there-- enough answers to last a lifetime. Stop sitting around, and start to make that journey that improve you as a person with every little baby steps you take. You won't end your life knowing everything even when you do that, but when you reach that twilight zone, you will know that you treated life as a journey that its supposed to be, and that you have traveled as far as you could.

The world is always at our disposal- waiting to be discovered, new wonders waiting to be unearthed. Only if you make that journey will you understand what's beyond those stars, and what's beyond those horizons. Some of us think we can't find answers by traveling at the very surface of this earth, but lest do we realize, the answers for everything in life lies right around you.

Can you be a kid again, attain that innocence and purity again, and ask those questions again, with an urge to discover?

The lines of a traveler

2010-04-12T11:55:00.001+08:00

Oh traveler,
You shall go on.

Behold,
The beauty of this world,

Forget your sorrows,
Bask in the blossoming of that new flower,

And embrace the colors of this world.

This path now tells me,
Someone, somewhere is waiting for you,

Why this restlesness?
Whom shall I meet in this journey?

It might be that your destiny,
Is about to happen.

For that oh traveler,
You shall go on.

For life is a vehicle,
And time are the wheels.

The is a river of tears,
And a garden of joy,

The journey is yours to travel,
Oh traveler.

Whenever I gaze through and beyond these paths,
Colors flicker across my eyes.

There's a cool breeze that tells me to keep going,
And I wonder whose village may be beyond those terrains,

The clouds have moved apart,
I could only see the clear sky,
How far has my heart brought me- I wonder;
For with each new step, I beckon a new dream,
And the journey prolongs.

Every single dream does come true,
Oh traveler,

If only you lit every passion of yours with the ray of love,
And choose the path your heart points out to you.

Time is an oyster,
Travel with love,
Oh traveler,
And you shall find the pearls in every oyster there is
All by listening to your heart.

Why does my heart feel light?
As if the breeze has carried off with it all the burdens of distress,
As if I am once again a kid,
Untainted, Innocent,
Gasping at wonder at every new nook this world has to offer,
And finding answers for every little question I ask myself.

I am wet, fresh,
Dipped in pure water,
Cleansing myself with only the forthcoming journey beckoning me.

My heart has only excitement,
Bonds are renewed and ebbed,
Life feels new.

There's love in my life,
There's a song on my lips,

This is the only ingredient of victory,
Oh traveler,
For those who can love purely can conquer your paths.

Wherever you shall go,
Never shall you lose love.

Light the lamp of love,
And brighten every road you travel on,
For it will make your paths visible.

Oh traveler,
Who is there calling out to me?

I look at the river, the mountain, the lakes, the streams and the jungles,
All seem to signify a sign,
Whose signs are these?
What are they trying to tell me?

Go on,
Oh traveler,
Destiny beckons.

All that She is.

2010-04-11T13:37:00.005+08:00

She loves coffee.

She's hyperactive at late nights.

She hates chocolates.

A sucker for shoes.

A Gossip Girl freak.

She dies for Harry Potter and anything to do with it.

She reads Enid Blyton to pass a short leisure time.

She can 'ter'-sleep whenever she's on the bed.

Her nails are always polished with various colors.

She's obsessed with Anushka Sharma.

Milo is her diet drink, and also the only remote form of chocolate she consumes.

She tortures her roommates by singing to them.

She's a no.1 person.

If allowed, she'd stare at me the whole day.

Gulab Jamun- another one of her obsessions.

Penang is the best place in the world for her.

Hanuman is like her imaginary friend, at all times.

She says I make her heart smile.

Little things makes her happy.

She has the best smile in the whole freakin world.

She can go on and on and on, and I can listen and listen and listen, and never ask her to stop.

She can be utterly childish and amazingly adult at the same time.

She can write, but she doesn't.

She dislikes labs for one main reason- she has to cut her nails.

She loves to cross her legs.

She hardly drags her feet.

She has fears- fears that makes me take her in my arms.

She has strength- strength that makes me lean on her shoulders.

If nobody ever says a word against it, her whole room will end up flooded in pink.

Green are Red is what you will see associated with her when Pink is absent.

If you see a salon, then watch for her gaze.

Food is the main reason why she loves this country.

UK is where the fairytale future lies for her.

She'd sleep on a bed of tulips.

If there is a personality test, the teacher will suspect her of having copied me blatantly, even though we didn't sit beside each other.

She loves being hugged from behind.

She's a Vijay fan...duh

AND

She is what Love is all about.

Sai Thaman- young and vibrant

2010-03-24T20:17:00.003+08:00

Let's admit it. Tamil cinema has had a fervent obsession in finding the next AR Rahman, at least for the last half decade. As if ARR's days in the industry are ever numbered, every flower that sprouted in the music arena in Kollywood has been tagged as the next big thing, and then settled into certain commonplace spheres. The best examples would be the sound rise of Yuvan Shankar Raja before he settled in becoming a composer on his own right, and also of ARR's own nephew GV Prakash, who has shown glimpses of brilliance so far. I am not excluded from the list of criminals who took some albums of young composers wanting to hear a next Rahman, only to half-meet expectations, the other measured by how far that composer has fared from Rahman's standards.

Thankfully, that trend has laid to a rest now (the Oscar and the Grammy probably made many realize gems like Rahman comes once in a lifetime and you don't simply find replacements in the nick of a finger). Before anyone reading this assumes it, I'm not on this to blabber about a next Rahman, but simply a composer who is showing much promise, and in my views, deserves greater opportunities to deliver on the large frame.

Ever remember the sexually mischievous plump boy who probably became the reason why many household parents (including mine) deem that Boys isn't a film appropriate for watching? Yes, that very boy is whom I am talking about- Sai Thaman. A product of the Shankar camp, he quickly faded after Boys, and has come back in a different avatar- that of a music composer.

He debuted last in year in Shankar's own home production- the subtle thriller 'Eeram' which featured much fresh, non-celebrity faces in the lead roles. Thaman's work was received with such accolades that grapevines had it that Kamal Hassan considered him to compose for his 'Yaavarum Kelir' (now re-titled as Karunyam)-- and I was probably the most dissapointed soul around when the Karunyam team, in an act that resembled false promise- went for typical instant churner Devi Sri Prasad instead. Not that DSP is a bad choice, but stars with big attractions ala Kamal are the ones who can really expose a slew of young musical talents in the offing for Kollywood. I'm not talking about Devi Sri Prasad or Srikanth Deva, or anyone in that melee, who attained fame with the fast-paced compositions. What about the composers who come in with striking quality compositions- melodious, heartfelt, yet your heart ache when you know they are not getting the attention they deserve for the supreme quality of their work. Given their age, people like Thaman show great promise, and even if they are not born gems- given the right opportunity, they can be honed into gems.

In a thriller like 'Eeram' where there was very minimal usage of music or songs for that matter, Thaman's 'Mazhaye Mazhaye' stood out as a musical statement for the entire film. The striking matter of this song is not only that its pleasing to the ear- but it really does bring the resemblance of rain/water when you listen to it. You can come almost feel the mist descending upon you, that's the aura and atmosphere that the song created, so fitting with the tone and the theme of the entire film. (He did do exceptional background score for the film as well).

And now you have 'Mudhinam Paartheney'. Of course, you might not even have heard of this film, but kudos to Thaman for staying off the music frame long enough, and comitting to a project like MDP. The film, made by a newcomer director with newcomers on the cover, has been receiving rave reviews since its release, and probably demonstrates Thaman's ability to choose films that can express his musical vistas. Again, the pity of the moment is that you probably have not heard MDP's songs- as they are not even aired on the radio channels frequently enough to attain the kind of exposure that it deserves. Instead, 'dappankuttu' or hardcore songs from low-budget, nonsensical, brainless movies get aired in order to beef popularity for that hopeless reel of 2 hours made without an ounce of creativity.

'Indre Indre' probably is the best melody of the year, second only to ARR's magical 'Hosanna' from VTV. The song is so soothing it left me cursing when I knew the length is just short of four minutes- too short for a song that leaves you asking for more. In fact, every song in MDP leaves a distinct variety about it- even though all of them are love songs, but Thaman brings out a different atmosphere with each of them- and all of them seemingly made to fit the narration- not one of them sound like they need to be taken out to Switzerland and be shot with lavish picturization. It's an art by itself to be able to convey the story and the theme of the film through its songs yet ensuring the songs remain catchy and pleasing to the ears. Every song in MDP conveys the urban romantic drama laced with realism that it is- and I could feel this even without watching a single motion of the film's promos to date.

'Manadhin Adiyil' is a combination of an urban journeyman song laced with classical fusion, another mark of Thaman's clear eye for creativity. The theme song reveals to us that Thaman sounds just like ARR. Does that tell us something? No, it doesn't. For once, let ARR be ARR, and Sai Thaman be Sai Thaman.

But it's time Kollywood grabs a blossoming young composer, and adorns him with opportunities of the highest to showcase his talents- not by composing mass-masala numbers for money-spinning heroes- but composing for fresh, off-the-trend films which still features big stars and big banners. Doing the former would only rust the apparent creativity Thaman has in himself. He'd do good to stamp his own forte before moving to mass-masala films where he would be allowed to experiment as he wishes to and bring different sounds without having to be rigid.

For once, I'm not hyping Sai Thaman's ability up. He has a long way to go. But he has made a textbook start to his career, and he needs to get noticed now. Let's hope that happens. Kollywood isn't hyping him up, which relieves great burden off his shoulders for once.

For a prospective career ahead.

Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya- Movie Review

2010-03-16T14:38:00.002+08:00

One a many had expected that Vinaaithandi.. would be Gautham's throwback days to Minnale, a winding up, feel good film with plenty of entertainment on offer, that doesn't take itself too seriously. But VTV definitely isn't a revisit of any kind towards Minnale, nor a throwback- Gautham tries to push another envelope forward in terms of his own accomplishments as a film-maker.

VTV, for the most part, is a films that resembles life in a poignant, unspectacular fashion. It's simple, not done with any over-the-top elements, extracts enaction of characters rather than performances. Gautham knows his characters like the back of his skin, and that translates onto the screen- he knows the story like the back of his skin, he knows what exactly he feels about the wafer-thin story, and tries to make the audience feel and experience the very same at the end of the movie. And he does succeed to a great extent.

The story, as mentioned, is wafer-thin. Yet without resorting to typical commercial fares to somehow pump excitement to a seemingly non-existent story, Gautham tries to appreciate the very subtleness and the thin story, and pay tribute to the tiny details of relationships, romance and love. The result would translate for some as slow and tedious, and for many as being nostalgic.

The story is not contained with good, bad archetypes of characters, that is so often portrayed as such in Tamil cinema; every character is adversely human. The male lead as someone who, despite his love and conviction, appears unable to force a happy ending to his see-saw love episode, the female lead as someone who is torn between loyalties, and tries to do what she thinks is the best for everybody- even the parents who fiercely oppose the relationship appear only as individuals is a cluster of pre-set notions and requirements that wouldn't be broken down with consummate ease. It's just the story about two individuals whose relationship did not work.

The film demonstrates quite effectively the complications that ensue through relationships, the psychological and mental delusion that follows when problems and fierce opposition starts knocking the door. It is a knock-down on the fairytale ingredient that we are so accustomed to seeing in Tamil cinema over the years- and thus, a fresh change.

Simbhu's performance is an acutely measured performance. Every minute detail is taken care of in his portrayal. Gautham ensured that his performance doesn't border on exaggeration- he behaves exactly the way a man at that young age, torn between a burgeoning desire to attain a woman he loves and his own career aspiration- would behave. Most of the sadness and pain taken intro stride within the character without any verbal expression, Simbhu fits the character, or its more fair to say the character was tailor made for him.

Trisha, though convincing at most parts, could have improvised more on her performance in comparison to the occasional stoic expression that is etched on her face.

VTV does fall at some places, with some scenes inducing a wonder as to whether the pace of the story will change anytime soon, and so on. With one too many songs crammed in the first half, that is another aspect that Gautham could have avoided. Manoj Paramahamsa's camerawork is a delight, as he captures the scenes in Kerala with consummate delight, while AR Rahman's fresh combination with Gautham results in a livelier and more varied BGM work, which can only get better with more films.

Eternal Ray of the Blossoming Minds

2010-03-07T11:46:00.003+08:00

Love? Yes, that is important, but the warrior went about his ride, telling himself along the way that finding a princess who would understand his burning desires and passion to conquer uncharted mountains and beyond would be an arduous task. If he had set in a sole journey to find her, it would distract him from the quest of conquering mountains.

So he went about, perceiving that love will just not come anytime soon. But life throws you surprises, in a way that you could never expect. By chance, traveling through the zillions of cybernetic data s that get sent and received everyday, the warrior found a woman, a traveler on her own right- an amazing blend of boldness and talkativeness. He had met her before, long before his journey as a warrior started, when he was still a young prince with eons of dreams waiting to be set loose from a world of rigid education, he saw her- a little girl with a tail that crossed continents. From far he watched, smiled to himself, and continued the journey. And now he marveled, and soon realized that she was a good companion to travel with. A cordial meet turned into a burgeoning friendship. The tail has shrank, the woman blossomed, yet she retained a fierce uniqueness that had always set her apart from the many women he had witnessed in his life. He adored the qualities, and enjoyed her company.

The journey continued. Despite having the woman close by, the warrior's heart yearned for a different woman he had met not so long ago. He did not pursue, instead, allowed the journey to unfold in its own pace, but struggled as the desires of his heart held him back from reaching his dreams. He couldn't travel. The woman he had wanted was making him unable to travel. His sword rusted, his horse laid rest, the warrior seemed lost in a world where the way forward wasn't visible, where his current desire had swallowed him and destroyed the dreamer within. The unique woman had moved on- she found a suitor for herself. She was lost in her own world soon enough. She was back in her own fierce world, as the warrior drifted into a world of uncertainty.

But she did not go away. She came back occasionally, gave the warrior a helping hand, told him that he has to move on to reach his dreams. The warrior was still uncertain, but later on, circumstances allowed him to finally mount his horse once again. His sword took its own sweet time to lose its rust and shine glaringly once again. The unique woman had helped him out.

The warrior did not forget the unique woman since then. He was grateful, thankful. And later, the unique woman realized her suitor wasn't the right one. They were both back in parallel paths, and traveled together, giving each other company, not knowing what the future destination might be. The warrior did not think much. He felt great to have a companion, and used the presence of that companion to great effect. They grew closer.The unique woman had gotten cautious. She sensed the possibilities, so did the warrior. They were reaching a point in the journey where they can't just be companions anymore, instead they need to proclaim to hold each other's hands and prolong that journey together.

The unique woman took a break, she drifted away from that journey. She rested her horse, sat idle, and the warrior, bespectacled, looked upon wondering and pondering what drove her to drift away. The woman said she will be back soon. She will join him again. But the warrior had lost the passion that he had had for her company. When she did rejoin him, the distance was apparent. The warrior couldn't return to normalcy. But he did not want to journey without her, and so the distance shrank once again. Months later, the warrior and the unique woman reached the same point of no return again. This time, the warrior ceased to hesitate. He had to make the decision. He disembarked his horse, and asked for the unique woman's hand to travel with him for the rest of his journey; finding her destination along the way.

She hesitated- her fears and uncertainties clouded her, but warrior knew what his heart, and also her heart- had wanted. Rest were just waves of details, and the warrior knew that in order to reach the destination together, both of them needed to exorcise their demons. He was ready for that inner battle, and conveyed to her that he was.

And she finally dismounted and took his hand, as dawn was setting upon that one opaque day. Yet beyond that cloud, the warrior knew what the setting sun had wanted him to do, and as the last spray of light vanished from the sky, the unique woman became the first woman of his life.

The journey of the warrior and the unique woman together was already a long one. Having already overcome the bricks of difficulties and distractions, they still traveled together for more than a year, and now are set to do it for the rest of their lives, without the fear of getting too close to each other. When the desires of the heart can be conveyed to someone, the journey of life becomes all the more easier. For you know there's someone ready to hold your hand even when he or she is not near you.

When the absence of someone, can still be perceived as their very presence through your thoughts and actions at certain moments, you know magic has happened.

You know that is the love you'd been waiting for all along.

And the warrior has now made the unique woman his princess, and now is embarking on a journey where he would be able to make her the queen of the kingdom.

For my princess- Rathi Maithily :)

May you become my queen when we conquer the mountains and last forever with me.

Deciphering The Thousandth Man

2010-01-29T17:43:00.001+08:00

It is no secret that the current talk that is presiding over the tinsel town is definitely Selva Raghavan’s Aayirathil Oruvan. While many have given their take on the movie, and much has been said, written, praised and criticized about it, I feel the necessity to conjuncture my own views and understanding that I have derived in the film. This purpose of this article is mainly to aid viewers who might have missed out or may have had trouble comprehending some parts of the film; and to help them appreciate what I personally think is a landmark achievement in Tamil cinema.

My friends have mainly directed plenty of questions as to what they believe to be loose ends that exist in the film, and though all my answers may not be accurate, I do have a faint idea about all the ropes that ties the movie together, so here are my two cents.

The Cholans are NOT zombies.

This is like a popular myth that has been spreading among many who watched the movie in their first viewing, assuming that the Cholans in the film are zombies who had somehow defied logic and stayed alive for 800 years. The Cholans have extracted themselves to the isolated island back in 1279 pending invasion to their hometown of Tanjoor. But they are not the same generation. In a normal human cycle, they have gone through the regular cycle of life and death for many generations, hiding themselves in the caves. The only person who has remained alive all these years is the saint, who is the protector of the entire dynasty, protector of the King and the prince, who, in turn, are protectors of the people. Thus, they are not zombies.

Why then, are they so dark?

The reason is simple. The Cholans have lived their entire life in the caves, without any exposure to sunlight or rain. Plus, all of them are shown to be thin and barbaric because they are suffering from malnutrition. One scene where the woman touches Andrea’s breasts while she tried to converse to Parthiban shows the result of malnutrition- The Cholan women could not produce milk and only blood will flow from their breasts.

Why did they abandon the Cholan city which is so nearby and live in caves? Why they refuse to return to the city at least, when it is so near, and still protected by their curses?

As one can see, the archeologists pass by two monumental ruins before the caves. First is a grey stone ruin where they are attacked by snakes, and the second a more recent ruins of a city where they are struck by the madness curse. As history in the film reads, The Pandyas never gave up in their efforts to trace down the Cholas. Thus, the first ruin that they pass through is where the Cholans lived in the island when they arrived there first, but upon discovery by Pandyas, they retreat further to that deserted city, and place extra curses in the path. If one could remember the seven obstacles mentioned in the story, the quicksand by theory is the seventh and final obstacle. Thus the madness curse is possibly an eighth. Thus the seven obstacles are what the knowledge of previous pursuers have told; with no-one discovering that they have abandoned the small city, placed another curse upon it and retreated into the caves; which must have happened much more recently, possibly only one or two generations ago.

And they are not seeking to return to the ruins of the old city within the island itself, they are waiting for a messenger to come and guide them back to their original hometown of Tanjoor, which is where they extracted themselves from in the first place.

How did Reema Sen make the tiger symbol appear and disappear?

As Reema narrates her flashback and intentions, one could easily notice the part where she mentions she is thought how to use her body well. This is not only about the art of seduction, but also the art of black magic. The Pandyas are aware of the Cholan prophecy, and believe that the Cholan people will only come out from hiding if their prophecy is proved true. Thus, Reema uses this knowledge to deceive the Cholans.

What is with Karthik miraculously killing the attacker at the battle coliseum?

As one could observe in the film, Karthik simply refuses to die on many occasions. When a Red Indian comes close to killing him, his uncle sacrifices his life for him. When Reema shoots him after their confrontation in the forest, the loaded gun doesn’t release a bullet. When Reema does shoot him with a bullet during the madness curse, he still doesn’t die despite the bleeding. In the coliseum scene, the saint, who is now bedridden, telepathically transfers his powers to Karthik, having identified him as the genuine messenger. The powers enables Karthik to judge the movement of the chain ball, and also see all the audiences as mere skeletons (an allegory that people who take pleasure in watching a game of blood are mere skeletons), and thus enables him to easily evade distraction and concentrate on judging his opponent’s movements. It is Karthik’s destiny to be the messenger and he simply refuses to die.

Why Reema Sen refuses to let Karthik leave?

Well, this is the fishy part. Is Reema aware that he is the original messenger? Is she trying to get rid of him in some way? This parts are unexplained much but they remain fishy. A second viewing might enlighten some on this.

On an overall note, it is important to add that it is hard to find a Tamil movie in the vicinity that makes us think so much and ask for a second viewing. That being said however, some of our audiences might term the film as being obscure or badly made rather than appraising its effort and intelligence. AO is an important step forward for Tamil cinema; however, this effort will only reach global shores if we, the audiences and consumers of this industry, give it its due credit.

Aayirathil Oruvan- Movie Review

2010-01-29T17:39:00.001+08:00

You don’t judge a film like Aayirathil Oruvan. You simply don’t. Allowing his imagination to bellow on us like a shadow, Selva Raghavan has simply stolen the thunder, to re-affirm that he is indeed one of the best film-makers in India today. In fact, you will not be chastised for saying he is the best based on this evidence.

AO floats beyond our judgement just because for the way Selva has made this film. It is already one big achievement of an Indian film-maker ventures into fantasy, but here Selva ventures into fiction, history, and also pulp fiction all at the same time. It is a combination that purists who teach the aesthetics of cinema would never fathom. It sounds that impossible on paper. But Aayirathil Oruvan isn’t a movie made on threads of scripts and intricate discussions on what will attract the audiences and what will not. But instead, it is made on the platform of Selva’s mind, his imagination, his vivid imageries, yet ultimately attaining an abstract meaning that makes ends meet, albeit also in an unconventional manner.

Archeologist Rajamouli (Pratap Pothen) is on the brink of discovering the lost civilization of the Cholan Dynasty, which went amiss back in 1279 after being conquered over by the Pandyan dynasty. However, he goes missing at his moment of glory, and thus the Indian Union Minister sends a professional team to track down Rajamouli, who is believed to be in a tiny unknown island located in the straits between Vietnam and Port Blair, where the lost civilization were believed to have extracted themselves to after being outcasted from their own home of Tanjoor. Anitha (Reema Sen) a bold, seductive, aggressive woman heads the team along with Lavanya (Andrea), who is Rajamouli’s daughter, and also an archeologist. Muthu (Karthik) heads a coolie group which is hired to help in the expedition with physical logistics.

The story centers on their expedition and their subsequent alarming discovery that the Cholan dynasty individuals are still alive, living in isolation inside a dark cave filled with wall paintings of their prophecy. What follows is a vivid unfolding of events that you can only find out if you watch it for yourself.

To begin with, performances in the film are top notch. Reema Sen makes you wonder if it is really her. Normally known more for her glamour than her acting; Reema manages to maintain unpredictable facial expressions throughout which makes you unable to gauge her true intentions. The story mostly centers around her attitude, and obsession, and she conveys the different facets of her character so well. In fact, she even seem to have been able to lip synch well enough while her character spoke Sangam Tamil.

Karthik seems to continue where he had left off in Paruthi Veeran, For most part, he is just a coolie with witty one-liners, and yet his facial expressions retain a tenderness about them especially in the second half when the story moves more and more towards him. Andrea Jeremiah is extremely likable, just as she was in her acting debut Pachaikili. She wasn’t given the scope to perform, but shares a cracking yet tender chemistry with Karthik, and the small, unadulterated love track between them is a pleasure to watch- though towards the end, she mostly wore a bewildered look as the whole story seem to take place around her but never participating her.

Selva obviously rates Azhagam Perumal as a calibre actor to play grey roles, as he had given him the role of an established politician in Pudhupettai, he plays his role as the obsessed, ignorant private army commando to almost perfection.

The only shortcoming on the technical side might be pointed to the graphics work of the film, as some of the graphics were laughable in terms of quality, which just shows Tamil films still have their wok cut out if they are to ever reach the graphic heights of Hollywood.

Otherwise, camerawork by Ramji is exceptional to say the least, but the real technical hero is GV Prakash. Apart from providing a good album, GV has stamped his authority all over the film with a stunning background score, which elevates every ordinary scene to extraordinary measures.

On the whole however, you can not inscribe this film to be everyone’s perfect idea of a good movie outing. Some hate it when films appear to be too intelligent for their grasping. Some hate to admit when a film is smart and downright bash it (like some critics in some websites have already done), and some will struggle with the Sangam Tamil and not fully comprehend it. Selva could, and should, have placed full English subtitles or added an extra scene to narrate in detail what has happened to the Cholans in order to enlighten those who have failed to grape the language.

The film, at the core shows that despite all of the so-called civilization progress, humans at the core retain a very barbaric nature, and that nothing much has changed since ancient civilizations. Yet the practices of ancient civilizations are shown to retain more tenderness than the greed that has consumed the current society. Sexual innuendos never go missing from Selva’s film, and this is no different. They provide a majority of the humor element for the film, and this might not please some parents. But these dialogues are common, and spoken a great deal among the public, thus they remain a realistic choice for the film.

Aayirathil Oruvan is one in a thousand. A stand-out Tamil film for all times. Watch it at least once so that you do not miss this experience. This is the film that will give some spring to the step that Tamil cinema wants to take to be noticed in world cinema. If the industry wants to be known for more than just routine heroism and dance around the tree songs, then films such as AO should be encouraged.

Kudos to Selva Raghavan! Please do bravely churn out a sequel!

A Kamal Life

2010-01-21T17:34:00.004+08:00

A few days ago, as I was watching Kamal Hassan’s 50 years in cinema commemoration event; Mamootty was giving a simple and straightforward speech about the man himself- stating that if so many people can praise and humble themselves in front of him, the sole reason that he is an actor, an artist of great caliber doesn’t justify all the praise Kamal gets, but instead, Kamal must have been a ‘great human being also’ in order to justify all that people shower on him.

I have read in various spaces how people constantly have waxed lyrical about Kamal’ s achievements and his credo that has taken him to great heights, and how his attempts influences and induces courage in some, and admiration in others. But how many of us had really given any kind of credit to Kamal Hassan for the man that he is, the person that he is?

It takes a very brave man, especially in an easily vindictive society like ours; it does take a very brave man to carve out his life entirely based on his ideologies. And that man was Kamal Hassan. One a many wouldn’t prefer to go to those areas which they consider ‘grey’ about him and discuss about it at any length, but I am more than happy to do so- and praise him with it as well. And the reason I had already stated above- it takes a very bold person to base his life upon his ideologies.

Kamal’s biggest point of controversy, as has been pointed out all these years- is that he was an atheist. First of all, let us acknowledge that fact that none of us, lest you or me, are aware of the entire truth as to what life breaks down to and what it is all about. All of us are travelers searching for that same faraway answer, and those hints we get, we keep them in our knapsack. Some of us have more hints (knowledge) than the others, but none, I can heartily and boldly state, knows the whole truth of it. Some find their calling and their purpose within the realms of religion, and Kamal finds his (as per his own words) in the society itself. There is nothing wrong in embracing those than you can see and attain a spiritual viewpoint based on that point itself. For the record, I’m not an atheist. But I will give all the credit in the world to Kamal for his ideas and his stronghold of them. I always say it takes a very strong person to be completely spiritual in a religious realm and also to be an ideological atheist. The former is because it takes a great man to be humble, non-assertive and completely submit himself to the powers that be above him. My friend once remarked to me that religion is a foundation and which we can fall upon, usually in times when life seems to be out of our control. All of us face hardships in life, but it does take a great man to discard that foundation so early in his life. What would that man fall back on? To entirely keep faith all by himself- that quality is as admirable as any.

His ideologies are universally adaptable- you can tell them to a Christian, a Muslim, A Hindu, and a Buddhist and it would ring true every time- Love is God. I have seen plenty of people who know perfectly well how to love God, but are the worst when it comes to loving those around them. Love each other- that credo is the same in every single religion in this world, and Kamal lives beyond the confinement that keeps us separated from each other with sensitive barriers. If everyone takes that credo and believes Love is God, will there be any terrorists left in the world? Will there be Any soul that would wield a knife and stab someone without being wretched by guilt for what he has done?

Some like to point to his family life as an indication of his imperfection- but which of us are perfect? The path Kamal has threaded was a path that he wants depending only on his passion and his ideologies. It wasn’t a familiar path- in fact I might say, he alone took up that road and travelled in it. He is bound to have made mistakes along the way- and lest I assert that he has paid the price and faced the consequences of his own mistakes. I have visited layman houses in India and find they do not think highly of that man just because he was married twice and at one stage of his life;was having children out of wedlock. But still for the young generation that would like to travel that same path, his journey is marked before us, so that we know what mistakes we could avoid to reach his heights. Normally we point at a loser and say- ‘Look, don’t do what he did, and you’ll be fine’. And yet today, we stare with such glaring amazement at the pinnacle of a mountain- despite stumbling, and being discredited along the way, he still conquered that mountain, and he has left for us the indication on what mistakes we could avoid, so that our journey is a much smoother one.

There is a saying in English- Success is measured by how much others measure their success using you as a yardstick. Kamal Hassan has given a very expensive value to success indeed, and me, and many other who adore him, use him as a yardstick to measure ourselves.

A great person is someone who manages to inspire and teach one of his students; but what do you call Kamal when he inspired me and many other (among my friends), whom he had never seen or heard about in his life? The mark of his legacy lives on us, for we acknowledge that flawed human that he was, and the great pains he took to improve himself and come out of that rut and proceed to his destination. And we know that even if Kamal has already conquered that mountain; he is already setting off to conquer another, and we shall continue behind him. Whichever path we may take when our calling comes, we do not know, but lest assured a piece of him will live on in those paths.

What have I expressed here is my personal testimonial of Kamal Hassan. Some may have assumed that I am a wannabe actor, but lest you are wrong. I am only a wannabe director, and a novelist, but nevertheless in terms dedication to the profession you are involved in, and as the complete artist that he is, he is still my idol. As Vivek so rightly asks in his poem of Kamal- ‘Is there any department that you do not know?’

I apologize beforehand if I had offended anyone with my views, but nevertheless I felt the necessity to express my views. And I take my leave with another one of Kamal’s credo- ‘No pain, no gain’.

That, in as simplest as four words could do, sums up Kamal Hassan- the person, the legend, the actor and everything else.

Dillema of a Kill

2010-01-12T01:31:00.001+08:00

There seems to be a new trend that has been haunting Indian cinema nowadays, the dilemma of killing characters. My cousin sister hardly ever watches Tamil films- having it in her genes maybe to criticize everything about Tamil films (even Vaaranam Aayiram failed to impress her), so I was surprised when I found out that she was pretty hooked to Venilla Kabadi Kuzhu when she had watched it last year. However, when she discussed the ending, she threw me a bewildered look, and I couldn’t find any explanation as to why the director deemed the best way to end the story is by killing the main character. Venilla Kabadi Kuzhu is just a mere drop in the sea as far as killing characters in Tamil films goes in recent years. What exactly started off that trend, I am not exactly sure of- it should be either Paruthi Veeran or Subramaniapuram. Blood and gore or nativity has been the only two subjects ruling the roosts for all the successful Tamil films for the past two years or so (I’m excluding typical commercial fares i.e Ayan out of the equation). Probably only Eeram, Vaaranam Aayiram and Unaipol Oruvan could be classified as good hits which didn’t have blood, gore, and nativity as their subjects. And it seems whenever such subjects are being discussed, even at a mile’s radius, a sound conclusion is reached that someone at the fulcrum of the story has to die at the end, or something violent should happen.

These films seem to give a false idea that violence is very much part of the Tamil Nadu lifestyle. I am still fresh off my trip to India, and I have seen plenty other stories that can be told rather than beating around the same bush again and again. It is a cruel world out there, people die. This line describes what ‘good’ movies out there is doing nowadays, and to add to that- they simply coat it as reality. Kill someone, and chop, you have realism. Show blood, you have realism. As much as movies do have to be realistic, one does watch movies to induce hope as well. Paruthi Veeran wasn’t a movie glorifying violence, but rather a movie that depicted so accurately the consequences of violence. But that same motivation doesn’t exist behind all the other movies being relased after that, they are good works, but they seem to thread a very misleading formula. Firstly, you should never have a formula to make a good movie.

The greatest recent example would be Delhi 6, where the whole story judgement seem to balance itself on why the main character wasn’t killed at the end of the movie. Killing Roshan doesn’t make Delhi 6 a masterpiece, neither does keeping him alive makes it a disaster. Killing someone alone doesn’t elevate a work to masterpiece status. The biggest concern for me in this aspect is that once again, Tamil producers are showing an unnering tendency to make a ‘formula’ out of everything. If we already have formulas for commercial Tamil films, now even movies trying to be different have a formula about them as well. So much so that Yogi came across as being such a predictable movie in my eyes, and also demotivated me from watching Renigunta. I do not deny that this reality exists, but you can’t point to one end and claim that it is ‘the reality’. Reality is not something you can ever achieve as a whole in making films- films are afterall, works of fiction. You need reality in films because you would want the audience to relate to your story, but at the same time, he film must be able to send out a message, a useful message to the audience. Watching Paruthi Veeran, according to what I read, made a Madurai goon change his ways after realizing the consequences of his actions. Now that is what movies should achieve. These others movies do not do the same. Fairytales are no crime, a bit of fairytale is needed if you want to seed hope in the eyes of those who are watching.

This trend is not only unhealthy, but it is dangerous to entire psychology of viewers and also makers. If you see a youth slashing someone else and claiming he did it because they do it in the movies as well, then do not be surprised.

There seems to be an universally accepted pessimism when movies like this are being churned out. It all boils down to the same Slumdog Millionaire argument maybe- movies are making a pornography of poverty in India. What we are seeing here is a pornography of violence and knife-wielding goons, cold men with a thirst for blood. Do not mistake me, I did not support India’s attack on Slumdog Millionaire. But Tamil films seem to unable to shake off the rust and move on. The coin on the table is not being turned over, it simply remains there, with only one side of it being exposed. I’m not saying no to movies like Subramaniapuram or Yogi, but it would be nice if these movies come out in occasional intervals in line with movies such Unaipol etc. Why do we have to wait so long to get an Unaipol Oruvan while movies like Yogi are coming thick and fast? Isn’t there a serious lack of balance here?

Everything that I had said here varies from different spaces of arguments, it’s difficult to piece them altogether and single out a main argument. But I guess my question at the end of the day would be simple- why so much pessimism? Why is pessimism becoming realism?

Let’s show us some light at the end of the tunnel. We all know there are plenty of dark tunnels, but there is some light at the end of it as well.

Let’s go for Oli, not Irul.

Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaaya- Music Review

2010-01-10T23:39:00.002+08:00

Here we go. A start to the new year with an album by AR Rahman, that too for a film that has romance written all over it. It has been almost two full years since ARR last composed for a Tamil movie (we can take the abysmal Sakarakatti out of the equation), and this would the first album in Tamil for Rahman since his Oscar triumph last summer. The music has created such expectations that a drafted version of ‘Hosana’ which leaked out on the net itself became such a big hit among enthusiastic downloaders. Vinnai…will witness ARR’s first collaboration with established director Gautham Menon, who is coming on the back of a ‘divorce’ with Harris Jeyaraj, but also riding high on the success of Vaaranam Aayiram. However, Gautham fans expecting a Minnale-like album with instant chartbusters are in for a shock, and so do typical music listeners expecting catchy numbers. This album might remind one of Kangalal Kaidhu Sei, an album that took a long time for the listeners to wind up to and appreciate its quality. Similarly, ARR has threaded and daringly experimented with new feels for his songs once again with this album. The whole album creates a very different environment. It’s not just about one or two songs taking you someplace else, but in this case, almost the whole album does. It’s soothing, unspectacular, and needs to be appreciated by an ear for great music.

Omana Penne

Benny Dayal, Kalyani Menon

Sets the tone for the whole album. A simple, soothing love number laced with Malayalam lyrics in the middle. ARR clearly experiments in the middle stanzas, and mixes beats with carnatic and classical beats. Benny Dayal is a favorite of Rahman for such songs, and he delivers the goods with panache, especiall in the middle stanzas. Reminds me alot of Behka from Ghajini, another unique Rahman number sung by Karthik, but only difference is that Omanna Penne is even better than Behka. Benny is in top form, and ARR assures that the music and the tempo remains at a soothing level thoughout with minimal beats.

Anbil Avan

Devan Ekambaram,Chinmayi

Reminds one about Azhagiya Tamizh Magan songs. No, this not folk village beat, but a fusion that is hard to classify. Lyrics suggest this is a wedding song, and just like how you can’t classify Yaaro Yarodi from Alaipauthey or Kummi Adi from Jillendru Oru Kadhal, this song threads on the same path. Unconventional beats all over, but the end result is nevertheless catchy. Might take some time to grow, but won’t take long for you to appreciate this number. The choice of singers is expectionally good. Devan and Chinmayi both excel. Very Good.

Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya

Karthik

Listen and close your eyes. Appreciate. Lyrics are almost non-existent, but Karthik is in wonderful form. The minimal instrument usage is the mark of a maestro. A pure blues number by ARR. Creates a great environment all through. Don’t expect this to be catchy, but this is pure upliftment. Music is simply brilliant. One would only wish there is a instrumental number using this tune. Brilliant. Pure ARR. His own league.

Hosana

Vijay Prakash, Suzzane, Blaaze

If you are already in love with the drafted Hosana, then you will fall head over heels with this. A striking improvement when Rahman tones down the song to fit the tempo with the rest of the album, additional orchestra and strings work wonders for it further. Vijay Prakash steals this song from the offing, and Suzzane and Blaaze both do admirable jobs. Will be in the charts for an awfully long time to come. Pick of the album.

Kannukul Kannai

Naresh Iyer

A fusion again. It looks like it will be hard to categorize ever song in this album, Kanukkul Kannai borders the closest to western sounds in the whole album. Music is catchy. Naresh Iyer is such an unique choice to sing a song like this. But ARR is no newcomer to experimentation isn’t he? And Naresh justifies the selection as well. A favorite of Rahman’s, he sings with panache and adds an extra appeal to the fairly appealing song.

Manipaaya

Shreya Ghosal, AR Rahman

Look at the two singers’ name. Arguably the sweetest young female voice nowadays, and one of the most soothing male voices in a single song. A class composition. Creates a great environment. Lyrics by Thamarai are great as well, the melody astounding. Credit should go to ARR for not overdoing the tempo and maintaining it to complement with the entire album. Soothing-ness at its best. Shreya is simply wonderful, her sweet voice giving goosebumps all over. ARR provides adequate support as usual.

Aaromalae

Alphonse

A full Malayalam number filled with guitar strings. And guess what, its brilliant. Great work by ARR on the instrumentation and the environment again. Every single sound is paid attention to, just an epitome of how a good a composer he is. Alphonse’s voice fits the bill perfectly. Brilliant.

All in all, you can’t ask for a better gift from AR Rahman to start 2010, that is if you are genuine ARR fan, you ‘d appreciate everything about this album that makes it work to the T.I do not know much about the masses, but I loved it. Hosana will definitely ruled the charts though.

****1/2. (Two Thumbs Up)

My Name Is Khan- Music Review

2010-01-08T13:17:00.004+08:00

Shahrukh. Kajol. Karan Johar. These three names are enough to raise humongous expectations of a film. Four years after failing to juggle commercialism and radicalism without dropping balls and making a near mess out of it, Karan Johar is returning to the megaphone with My Name is Khan. Everything about this film typifies with Karan’s earlier films- Shahrukh and Kajol, the classic KKHH and KKKG pair teaming up again under his direction, and for the fourth time in a row, the writer Karan has set his story on the backdrop of America. It is worthy to note that even though his previous films were often light-

hearted, Karan showed that he is not afraid to tackle sensitive subjects as he did last time around with KANK. And even at parts in the film, Karan’s execution and handling of the subject showed glimpses of great talent, but trying to make the film another one of his romantic fairytales backfired completely. MNIK takes over where KANK left off- once again, Karan is trying to break the mould that he is only good at ‘Rahul’ melodramas, and create a more versatile image of himself. If the music is anything to go by, then the signs are good. But if you are a typical Bollywood song listener who wants another series of Rock n Roll Soniye, then you might want to change your expectations. Because this time, Karan doesn’t give in to commercialism- there are no Mahives and Pretty Womans or Where’s The Party Tonight. There is only pure, simple, quality music.

Sajda

Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Ric

ha Sharma, Shankar Mahadevan

Well, that’s the way to start an album. You may have never heard anything like this in a Karan Johar film before- a slow, soothing, enchanting number with heavy Sufi touches makes this a must-hear for hardcore music lovers. Rahat who has been in fine form of late does a great job and Shankar as usual provides adequate cover. A great song to start the year with.

Noor-E-Khuda

Adnan Sami, Shankar Mahadevan, Shreya Ghosal

If you listen to Indian music often enough, you’d know that Adnan Sami is not accustomed to singing songs like this one, but he stands out like a shining light, overshadowing Shankar for most of the part, and Shreay as usual is at her effective best. The percussion and keyboard arrangements are the beginning are brilliant, and in so may ways, this song is similar in terms of class and delivery with Khwab Jo from London Dreams, also composed by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. I couldn’t pick one over the other, but given the fact that these song has three stanzas and mixes classical and synthetically, this one has to take the cherry. Very Good.

Tere Naina

Shafqat Amanat Ali

Similar to Sajda, another soothing, enchanting number about love, only this time, it is heavier with Sufi and ghazal, making it almost a hardcore ghazal number. Listen to it a couple of times and you’ll be hooked for sure. The opening interlude for 18 seconds is a great piece of orchestra and music, and praise has to go to Shankar and co. for that little piece of composition itself. The entire atmosphere and aura of the song takes you someplace else entirely- could go down as one of the best quality composition of the year. Mind it, the year has just started. Pick of the album.

Allah Hi Rahem

Rashid Khan

Khwaja Mere Khwaja. Arziyan. Going on the similar lines is this qawwali devotional mix, and with this song, the fabulous array of talent the Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy trio posses comes forth. If you are an intent music listener, you’d appreciate this, beyond religious boundaries. Class.

Rang De

Shankar Mahadevan

Completely different from everything else in the album. If I am not mistaken, it will probably take place after the climax or during the end credits. A simple, uplifting, meaningful number about peace, and Shankar does his regular bit by rendering with panache for this song. It sort of completes the versatility of the album.

The album concludes with a theme music number, which is an intriguing piece.

A solid start to the year, expect more great stuff from the trio of Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. Coming on the back of two solid albums in Wake Up Sid, and London Dreams, MNIK will continue SEL’s good form. As for Karan, the signs are that he has opted for only quality this time, and the results on the screen might be encouraging. And given the fact SRK is just as good an actor as he is a superstar, one can be assured that he has given his all playing an autistic character, and thus there are plenty of reasons for one to watch MNIK. At least I will.

Rating: ***1/2

The birth of a white flower.

2010-01-06T17:06:00.001+08:00

Some 18 years ago, singer Unni Menon was given a call way past midnight, awoken in his slumber, and was told that accomplished director Mani Ratnam is recording songs for his new film and Menon’s voice was required for one of those numbers. Who works at this hour, Menon asked himself. But due to the fact that the name involved was called Mani Ratnam, Menon freshened himself up and rushed up to the mentioned recording studio, where he saw a young composer calling the shots.

Mani Ratnam, who so often works with the Maestro Illaiyaraja, has discovered a new talent to associate with in the music department. Menon wondered continuously if this young guy- whose name is AR Rahman, could really live up to the humongous expectations of having to compose for a Mani Ratnam film. He was given the song lyrics, the tunes were discussed, and on the wee hours of that one day back in 1992, Menon recorded a song called ‘Pudhu Vellai Mazhai’ (A new white rain), and went back home, back to his slumber. The doubts that he had before recording the song existed even after that- he didn’t think that he had sung the most catchy of tunes, that thought lingered in his mind. Little did he know, that when he went to sleep that day, that just like lyrics of the song proclaims, he has witnessed a new white rain, that will reign the Indian music arena over the following two decades. All the uncertainties over the song that he had sung vanished into thin air as he listened to the final version of the song one day- and as he listened, he realized that this song is not catchy, but instead it makes the hair on the back of one’s neck stand up and applaud.

That AR Rahman back then was 26 years old. Today, as he turns 44, that white rain has poured down not only in Tamil Nadu, but up until on Hollywood’s most famous stage- the Oscar stage. Rahman was the very first composer in Indian cinema history to win a National Award for his very first film, an award that he would go on to claim two more times. A honorary doctorate and a Padmashri, India’s fourth highest civilian honor, are just a little peek into a mass collection of awards and applauds that this modest, humble, soft-spoken name with an ever present smile on his face has achieved in his career. That innocent smile never waned even as he stood next and around the best luminaries of Hollywood while collecting his piece of the biggest cinema cherry in the world, nor did it wane as he stood flanked by beautiful girls in Akon’s Beautiful Girls music video.

What is so special about his music, some may ask. Who introduced Hariharan and Shankar Mahadevan, two of the most famous, most accomplished male singers in the industry today? Who made Hariharan sing ‘Thamizha Thamizha’ with such sensitivity? Who is it that managed to evoke the atmosphere of an unborn child who is going to born into a world of chaos and uncertainty through Vellai Pookal? Who is it that managed to re-create a 50s and 60s atmosphere without sounding like direct throwback in Iruvar? Who is it that re-composed India’s national anthem with such passion and ferocity? Who is it that made the whole nation re-kindle a long-buried Vanthe Mataram? AR Rahman is not only a good composer, he is a symbol- a symbol of a nation struggling unleash itself from the strangling, rusting ropes of past differences and attempting to move forward as one, as one whole country. He is a symbol of passion, of the ultimate craftsmanship an artist could ever express with his own work. Above all, he is the perfect symbol of an artist, a celebrity. A man who has the talent to put the world at his awe, but has the humility not take all the credit for his achievements. A man who has the calmness to rise above petty differences and embrace goodwill as his nature, and has that smile that shows, without having to tell, that he loves what he is doing, that we love what he is doing, and God loves what he is doing.

Ever lost hope? Ever lost faith in goodness? Ever lost faith in the beauty of life? Ever lost faith in the impact of talent and artistry? Look up to AR Rahman.

Today as this man turns forty-four, there is no gift that we could possibly give him that would override 18 years of him showering us with gifts of music. But what we could do is to forget that he is forty-four, and make him immortal along with his music.

Many more happy returns of the day.

For,

AR Rahman- You are the rare white flower (Vellai Pookal) that tomorrow needs. May there be more white flowers like you to come in this world.

P.S. The first paragraph description was an excerpt of an interview given by Unni Menon.

Avatar- Movie Review

2009-12-24T22:49:00.002+08:00

It's been a long, forlorn 12 years since James Cameron last took his place in a director's seat. And 12 years ago, what he made made turned out to be the highest grossing motion picture of all time, in the form of the soap romantic tale of Titanic. When you foray into Avatar, which ends Cameron's long hiatus from direction, except nothing more that what you have been accustomed with while watching Titanic. You will be treated to watching a film where the storyline is something you are pretty familiar with, and Cameron will never try to surprise you with 'twist in tales' or anything such. You will know all along what's coming next, what's going to happen next. Why, if you are an ardent film-goer, like I am, you might even be able to tell how this movie is going to end within five minutes into its opening. It's cliched, its predictable. But Cameron never tried to make the film to seem to be something more than what it is. Clearly his ambitions lay in bringing out the eloquent world of Pandora into reality, to bring a humane connection between the audiences with the cultures and attitude of the native Na'vi people, and in creating an imaginary world, where the connection between the natural earth and its inhabitants is much more deep than just feeding and hosting.

And in that aspect, Avatar suceeds. Bringing forth ground-breaking array of technical and graphic capture achievements, Avatar is strung by stunning visuals, that will probably stick right into your pupils if you had went for a 3D version. Images that exude elegance and light, and in order to bring out the beauty of nature, Cameron has paid intrinsic attention to visual details, a blazing assortment of colors, timely sprinkles, all in all, it makes you feel there is a Pandora somewhere out there.

The story is pretty simple. An ex-Marin called Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) is called upon to a human base in an outer planet called Pandora which is inhabited by a native Na'vi tribe. He takes part in a large corporation's bid to coax the natives out of thair villages into order to posses large amounts of ubotranium minerals that are reserved beneath their village trees. It involves taking place in an 'avatar', a simulated fake body of a Na'vi, so that he could enter the tribal areas and demonstrate the friendly intentions of humans. Soon, the Avatar becomes who Jake Sully aspires to be and he earns acceptance among the tribe and fights for their rights against the greed of the corporation.

The villains are typically greedy, ignorant and cartoonishly evil, but the film on a larger scope has the feel of a saga about it, something that would appeal highly to the mass crowd seeking entertainment. Parts of the film's length seems stretched beyond necessity, especially the battle scenes around the film's climax.

Sam Worthington does a commendable job in the lead role, and even though half of the time he is lending the voice for his avatar, he manages to bring about the connection of the character transformation very well indeed. Zoe Saldana and Sigourney Weaver both are adequate in their roles as well.

The film is technically ambitious and delivers on the entertainment front with a decent script to go with a wafer thin storyline, though intellects shouldn't expect much substance from the film. If you have enjoyed Titanic, you'd probably nod for this. A good film for a light-hearted festive season.

Rating:***/5

The story of a man with a dream

2009-12-14T08:29:00.005+08:00

A warrior woke up one day with new seeds of dreams protruding from his eyes. He sensed that it is his duty as a warrior to conquer uncharted territories, his duty to be on the vast terrains of the world, exploring, and making a change.

As that warrior sling his sword, as the sun greeted his new endeavor, he knew that this is the only way he would live, or die. By pursuing his dream. His kingdom, would, at large, wish him not to go. Not to take the risk to travel to faraway kingdoms. If he had stayed, they would have summoned him for a battle many years from now, in a path that they have carefully engineered for him, a path on which his soldiers and generals will take to the battlefield first- him next. But the warrior wants to be the first to charge, he wants to lead, he wanted to do it his way. For six years he traveled in great lengths, and slowly, changes begun to appear.

His kingdom no-more discourages his journeys- they approve of it. The warrior found friends along the journey who would proclaim great support to his quest. Once a lost quest has now become a quest that is very much real, achievable.

And one fine day, the warrior finally sees the mountain that he wants to conquer, the mountain on which he wants to build his own kingdom- he continued walking on the path never taken before, up until he reached the foot of the mountains- he has to start climbing. The time traveling on that steep roads flanked with bright colors on the left and the sea to the right is up, now it is time for another arduous task- climb up the mountain. And at the foot of it- demons who are ready to force him to give up- demons who want that mountain never to be conquered, never to be charted on.

He looks at the legion of demons and realizes they are much tougher opponents than he had expected, he takes out his sword. For a brief second, he looks behind him, and he realizes, how much faith had his friends and some individuals from his kingdom had shown for him, and he had to do this, using their faith in him as a spur. He fought the demons, and with each blow he took, scampering him onto the ground, the warrior pushed himself back up and continued to battle. The warrior has been battling it out for more than a week, at the foot, trying to clear off the demons and find the platform on which he could finally start climbing. But as the battle prolongs, the weaker he begins to feel.

This time, another blow was struck and with a loud thud, he fell on the ground much worse than ever before. He is bleeding badly. And then he realized, despite all the faith that spurred him on, he is after all made of flesh and blood, having to battle it out all by himself here doesn't seem a possible task anymore. He wishes he had a soldier, or a fellow warrior, or a general, someone who would charge the moment the warrior in unable to pick himself up quickly enough from a blow. As much as he pushes himself up time and again, he feels his hands have broken this time around, he couldn't push himself up. He needs a hand to help him up. His sword alone won't do the job, his conviction alone won't do the job. The warrior continues to battle, because that is the only way he knows he could and would live.

But today, ask the dusk sets upon the sea, watching silently this battle at the foot of the mountains, the warrior knows no-one out there listens to his groans, no-one could see that he is bleeding, no-one would offer a hand. He will continue, because that's the only thing he knows how to do.

But as he watches the stains on his sword, blackened clusters of blood, he becomes convinced he would end up dying way before he reaches the top of this very mountain he wants to conquer. Despite clinging on that faith- faith that his destiny is here, the warrior is on the brink of losing hope. The pain pierces through him once more, a faint light flickers across the distance in this dark land. Faint lights aren't enough anymore, he couldn't find the strength to walk to that light.

Wouldn't someone, someone who would finally aid him in his quest, bring the light towards him? Is he not entitled to have his soldiers, ever? Is this a quest of a lone warrior? Will he die here alone, oblivious to the rest of the world, beaten and destroyed with his spirits?

The Cybergypsies- Bear, (((rrrree)))(llie**&^ Good

2009-11-26T16:47:00.005+08:00

Best book I have read in my life? Maybe. That was what I was telling myself some 2 weeks ago. Now, yes. It is the best. Indra Sinha's Cybergypsies is a stunning tour de force, entertainment in the form of book reading at the highest quality.

What doesn't the book have? Imagination? Yes. Suspense? Yes. Reality? Yes. Humor? A big fat yes. Sattire? Thoroughly. Emotion? Greatly. Intellect? Yes. Enlightenment? Yes again.

Everything one should and would ask from a book is in this 392 page of absolute great craftmanship.

Cybergypsy is the account of Bear (Sinha himself), a copywriter at an advertising firm who details his travels on the electronic frontier and also in his 'real' life, often hovering on a guilt of losing his real life as he gets addicted to the Vortex of imaginations, and trying to recuperate and win back the Eve- the woman of his life, the woman he married.

In between this two ends, Bear travels to deep aeons of humanity, through his work with Amnesty he is exposed to the biggest conflicts that took place in the world at the time of writing- i.e. Saddam Hussein's crude mass murder on thousands of Kurds in Kurdistan, The Chinese prison guards' electric raging brutality on Tibetan freedom pledges, and also a corporate company's crude blindfold after a gas explosion in its factory wiped out almost an entire skirt of Bhopal in 1984. Harsh realities yes, but Indra mixes these harsh realities with a pint of imagination, narrating the story to us a-la a Shades or a Vortex game. The book is a celebration of the reality in which we live in, telling that of a man who transfixed himself to a fictional world and by the end of the world, realized that the gargantuan reality, no matter how harsh or unnerving, is where he wants to be. How subtly he narrates he wants to be Eve more than a Luna he never knew, and how he sees a soil homing so many little insect lives to be more of a miracle rather than Cyri, the beautiful horse in the Vortex.

Above all, the book subtly reads to us that instead of choosing 'not to know' realities which are harsh and live in our own imagination, we could stand up and make a difference, and be counted for if we had the guts to be honest to ourselves and accept the truths around us.

Sinha is a phenomenal writer, one who relates deep humanity with his narration, a touch of subsequently stunning humor, and also is, on a personal level, an amazing person because he has in fact travelled to such contrasting ends in his travels. From writing an ad for a nuclear plant, writing a Kama Sutra book and narrating a voice over for a video adaptation of the book, talking to pornographers, trying to hack and sabotage into the computer of a person believed to be nude-picturing underage girls, sitting beside a man who writes an indefatigable, utterly logic defying letter to Saddam Hussein pledging him to flee Kuwait,receiving a letter containing torture items that were personal belongings of the Dalai Lama, and narrating ad voice over with actor John Hurt. He has done it all. And he tells it all to us in this brilliant book.

We get a glimpse of how the pre-internet generation were already addicted to the online bug, how viruses were already a fashionable trend back then, and above all we see how much the Internet becomes a vortex that sucks people in and caters as a permanent hom for many people, leaving them both destructed and delusional, and at the same time, how it acts as a channel of reality, an expression of free speech, a flow for information that were blocked by governments and also companies.

Read this book if you could. In one word, this is 'Important'.

THIS IS IT- REVIEW

2009-11-25T17:14:00.003+08:00

If you are a Michael Jackson fan, then you’d be hard done to miss this wonderful piece of musical documentary.

If you are not, then Wikipedia him up, get to know him further, and go to theatre and discover the man you never knew. Yes, none of us knew him. Michael might have spent the eon of his adult life scrutinized in the public eye and by the unforgiving media which gave him a torrid time, but ever wanted to know how this reserved, silent looking enigma behaved, talked, walked, smiled behind all the images that the media is? Here is your answer- that is if you are observant enough to notice the small things that are shown in the film, things that define and paint the ‘real’ MJ for you.

First of all, talking on a technical point of view, Kenny Ortega should be given all the credit for making this film. Many predicted this will be just a PR stunt in order to recoup all the lost money when ‘This is It’ did not materialize after MJ’s demise. Instead, this documentary showed MJ and his passion, and also showed how much hard work it involves in making a concert of this magnitude. Everyone who conceived the idea of executing ‘This is It’, especially Michael and Kenny should take the cake for being such wonderful visionaries. By the time you walk out of the theatre, you will think it’s a waste. Not that the movie is a waste, but that the fact that ‘This is It’ was never executed is a waste- Never before has a concert of this magnitude been attempted to, and MJ, even at 50, had all the energy to have made it a stunning spectacle. ‘Smooth Criminal’ was re-shot in a 60s style, ‘Thriller’ was shot with a 3D effect, and also the ‘Earth Song’ had a new brilliant music video accompanying what already was a wonderful song. 10 dancers are transformed into a 1000 using CGI to be used as a background for ‘You Don’t Care About Us’. All these things are of such untried magnitude, we haven’t seen something like this on the stage before, and it is a pity we will not see it now. At least, the most we could do is watch this documentary.

Secondly, this film shows you an assortment of the very best. Check out MJ’s new lead guitarist, she could easily rival the legendary Slash, she was that talented (her name doesn’t stick with me yet), and the fact that she was a young woman on a guitar, and also pretty, makes her and her talent a feast to watch. The dancers are all from the top shelf, they are not only from US, from are spread from all over the world- from Holland to Australia. Only the very best are chosen for this project- from all involved areas, even for dance masters who even come from Russia. And of course you have MJ. If any of you thought he had lost it after not having performed at such an arena for almost a decade, you are definitely wrong. MJ sounds pretty much the same, and amazingly when he is on his attires, the ‘Prince’ looks genuinely like the ‘Prince’, his half-a-century age never showed.

To round it all, there is the somewhat personal side of MJ. Notice him having a lollipop in his mouth while watching dancers rehearse for a Thriller 3D video. Watch him give a wide smile full of satisfaction when Kenny says, ‘Lights out, hold for applause’ after rehearsing a song. I read once that the stage was MJ’s sanctuary, it definitely shows here. Such a perfectionist he is, he even knows accurately about the beats and the tempos of his own song that he can instruct his musical director. He takes enormous responsibility on the stage, he walks up and says ‘wait for my cue’; though he would be at the middle of the stage singing, already having his hands full, he still raises the cue for a new beat, or for the entrance of dancers, all the miniscule things were channeled through him. In an era where pop starts are pampered and look for a rest as soon as possible, MJ is like a God on stage, he keeps trying, he keeps going. ‘Let’s do it one more time, that is why we have rehearsals’- you hear him say that line thrice in the film, and that line summarizes his dedication to his cause. MJ only gave probably less than half of this effort (he says after singing ‘Can’t Stop Loving You’ that he shouldn’t sing because he should be saving his throat for the concert) yet it already looks a good enough effort in the rehearsals, imagine what he might have gave to the audiences if he had been at the concert. Apart from that, he always uses phrases such as ‘God bless you’ when anyone, anyone at all does a good job during the rehearsals, and every time he wants to change or disagrees with something, he would say ‘do it for love, L.O.V.E’. For some, it may have been cheesy that such lines are uttered during a stressful rehearsal, but be a skeptic if you want to be, but that is who MJ was. Notice him hugging everyone from the crew after a session. Watch him give a meaningful speech to his team when they wrapped up the rehearsals.

‘This is It’ is easily one of the best documentaries on rock music ever made, and the quotient of it was elevated even more by the fact that MJ did not manage to realize the one more dream he had, the one more vision that he had. However, This is It saves it from being a waste- cameraman who captured those magical moments, so that the people would know what actually went on in This is It.

And as the film rightly says- it’s a film for the fans. Cherish it. With love. L.O.V.E.

The Observer- Episode 8- Campus Tapestry

2009-11-23T18:47:00.003+08:00

It started one day in a narrow corridor, I walked up clumsily, already missing the orientation, bespectacled at the size of a small orange class located in middle of many other orange classes.

Orange. A color untried. A display of difference. A blatant shout-out saying aloud to the rest of Malaysia- 'we are a stand-out'- all done from a distance, in a small shadowy, lonesome street in the middle of what was supposed to be the future city of Malaysia- Cyberjaya.

Before we turn back to actually take notice, three years and seven months pass, and you look at each other and realize that you need to ask that question- when are we going to see all of this again? Except for that one day in December when we might all stand in hordes, smartly-dressed- but the most we will be able to do is nod and smile in approval- flanked at one side by our parents of relatives- the other mentally relishing the end and a new journey to begin. But how many of us will take that long glazing glare, and look beyond this humane flaws, this criticisms, this less-than-perfections, this hype, and actually reflect what has happened in the past four years?

They got nothing to do with the purple, yellow, orange corridors. They have nothing to do with a fancily named Makan 'Lah', nothing to do with a sneering library baggage room caretaker, nothing to do with pregnant lecturers punching a doorknob in frustration, nothing to do with a class-whole attempt to remove a wisdom-plucked lecturer from teaching us consumerism, nothing to do with a herd-like rush to the labs and faculties as deadlines draw to a close. Nothing.

All they have to do is with us- the people. We made those 4 years. And beyond all these, I see stories that are worth carrying in our memories. Life often passes by being mundane and unspectacular, but little do we realize that all we need is the ability to spot an unique story.

When I came here, I was a youngster chasing a dream, who thought the dream was more important than anything else, that obsession is a good thing. Today, that obsession has transferred to passion. And unlike when I had come, everything else does matter- life's greatest lesson- nothing is trivial. Everything matters. Treat every matter with due respect and consideration.

Remember the young man who fought against the odds to be here- most of us neglect to know too much about him because it would make us feel guilty at our inability to cope with hardships as well as he has done. As well as he has fought against pain. When I came, I used to think my severe gastric was a pain off the top shelf. It is then that I realized so often we people try to potray ourselves on a standout by just inducing self-pity. Pain is an escapism to short-handedness. Since I met this man, I had stopped making pain a barrier for myself. You don't need to fight pysichal pain, but you need to accept it, and adapt it. When you do so, it becomes so much a part of you that you do not recognize that pain as a pain anymore. To date, it has been two full years since I last had a truly recognizable gastric attack. Now and then it threatened, but I never fed myself to entertain that notion. And would I have made this progress if I hadn't come here and met this person? No.

Many have viewed me over the course of these past four years as someone passive, quiet, reserved. I had a majority of my youth being just how I describe myself- an observer. Though detached to the normal eyes, I remain very much part of my surroundings, observing people, their attitudes, and always looking for stories. And when I told any small story I had found to my friends, they used to say they'd never find such stories in their campuses. My campus is unique- they'd say.

We all might stand up and yell a loud, deafening no to them, saying that our campus is just an overhyped rubbish- that the () sucks, that this () is ruined, so on and so on. But all those things don't matter. We matter. The stories came and were viewed because of who we all were and are. True again, we never had the environment of spending that much of time together as it would have been in any other campus- another thing we could rue about.

But at the end of the day, we can't reverse four years, and neither it is justified to have regrets as we collect our black caps and robes next month and make a beeline for escapism.

I do not know whether the place we had studied in for four years is unique per se or not. But a place is not unique by itself- it is the people who make it unique. I do not know the president to realize whether he is one unique man or not- but I do know this much- We are unique. We, when molded together, is like an assortment of different characters of different colors, a stunning variety- from an Indonesian bright mind whose humbleness beats you to death, to an eccentric tall guy who knows little more than being a nuisance, which is how I saved his number in my phone, to date.

Remember this assortment, as live fizzes too quickly, you might realize someday that this assortment was really something else. And rest assured, I will remember this assortment, even the tiniest parts of it, and even as years pass by and life drains any images of past- I will still be here, writing, typing, the quiet observer that I am, reversing the order of life and collecting larger images the quicker life passes by. We all stand at crossroads now. My path is visible. I need to travel alone. I know this day will come.

But though I travel alone, my path is one that collects stories, that is who I am, who discovers the little ironies of life and makes tapestry out of it. So go on in your paths. I hope when the day comes, you will have the time and memory to come see my tapestry.

Lost in Ganges- A reflection of my trip to India- part 2

2009-10-31T09:31:00.004+08:00

I remember seeing a Hollywood science fiction film called ‘Contact’ once (if I am not mistaken), in which the human race’s attempt to establish contact with an alien race is dettered by many institutional beliefs that humans are different because they believe in God, while aliens don’t.

That is how much we seemed to pride in our ability to have faith in God. But would it be criminal on my part to state that we have made a mess for ourselves using religion as a tool rather than using it for the good that it was supposed to be used?

We all are well aware of the plenty of arguments laid out before, saying how do people kill in the name of God, which reminds me of the dialogue from Mani Ratnam’s Bombay (If all religions head to the same destination- God; why do they have to kill each other?). That much of common sense has eluded us in the past, and when I went to India, what I have seen is an alarming amount of delusion among the people- not realizing that they have turned religion into a business center of sorts.

What I may say here might make some of you uncomfortable; I am not trying to hurt religious sentiments, but merely commentating on a system that has slowly but certainly, contributed to India’s rich-poor diversity- the country’s imbalanced landscape that leaves your stomach lurching with discomfort and your eyes sore with the images you see at times.

In the country, I was first taken to Kanchivaram to a temple that was deemed powerful by our guide. The first thing I saw at the temple was a signboard at the entrance- non-Hindus are not allowed. There goes the religious unity many of us are beginning to hope for in the 21st century. Religious constraints still exists vastly in the country, as that image first indicated to me as I laid my steps into the temple. And what followed is a very tight ‘tour’ around the temple. The last time I checked, temples are supposed to be places where we could walk freely and spend as much time anywhere within its premises in order to nourish our spiritual deprivations, but here in India, there is a line that we have to follow without any choices, there isn’t any freedom left for us to move around. You walk, you get a glimpse of the God, and then you walk away. Anything more than that, you’d better pay. Cameras? Pay for it. A blessing? Pay for it. A pooja? Pay for it.

But what tops this disturbing image is in Vellore, where lies an enormous, elegant, Golden Temple, as they call it, a temple made, entirely out of pure gold. The sight of it wonders you. But once footballer Diego Maradona said, “I’d rather the money that is spent in building golden churches be used to help poor kids.” Rare words of wisdom from a footballing legend, but this quote is no peripheral matter- it actually makes sense. You are walking out of this Golden Temple and you see a beeline of beggars, and poor people waiting for you to donate them money. You turn around and you wonder something is so essentially wrong about all this- religion is about faith, guidance, seeking aid from an entity we do not see with our eyes but rather feel with our hearts, our souls. Since when had religion discriminately determined a luxury barrier for faith? Why it is that, only we could enter this temple, and those poor people are unable to do, but are rather turned away at the entrance, limited to a peripheral sight of their own Almighty? We live in a postmodern society where monetary gaps has placed such a huge divide between the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’. Religion is possibly the only universal aspect that doesn’t separate these flawed and misleading, intangible social classes between people. It is for all, in equal measures. How could it be right then, when only the ones affording it are allowed to offer a prayer to Lord? And that too in a monetary perspective? A puja in this temple, trust me, is very expensive, why does one’s quest to see the God be so materialistically expensive?

I was stunned, to say the least, by a row of office-attire wearing staffs sitting at one corner of the temple, in front of computers, like technology geeks, and offering to place booking for our pujas. Now, we even have to make appointments to offer the Lord a prayer. ‘VISA and Mastercard accepted’- that was the obvious sign placed there. I have only one word to describe this convolution- a sacrilege.

Why is this the case? Why aren't we using religion to boost knowledge? Isn't it supposed to be that way?

Not only that, a common feature, as I have mentioned previously, in almost all Indian temples that I have visited, is a strict ‘line’ or ‘queue’ that you have to follow all around the temple. Since when has religion become rigid? Since when, have temples placed its own exclusive brand of divine meterials shopping outlet purposely on the path of this rigid, no-other-way line in a blatant act of PR, that ones again, makes a mockery by tying up business and religion?

If I were a poor man with no means of a good life- religion will probably be my only form of escapism, the only direction I would look to for some miracle, for some guidance. Wouldn’t it be unfair to deny me the pleasure of visiting God’s shrine by asking me to pay for that as well? When I couldn’t afford anything else in life, and now I couldn’t afford religion as well- where to I turn to? What will, ultimately, keep giving me my hope? Will I keep having faith?

Look at this mess through that poor man, or that poor kid’s eyes- and you will understand the sacrilege I am talking about here. There sits a mass figure of pure gold- imagine how much architecture, funding, government approvals, donations, and exclusivity would have taken to build something of that magnitude- yet ultimately it falls way short of serving its purpose- being an indiscriminate shrine of Lord where people could visit and spend as much time as they wish to. All that crores of rupees, if even a tenth of it was directed to this very street full of needy people- how many lives would the entire cause have improved?

Bill Maher once said in the opening sequences in his highly acclaimed documentary called ‘Religulous’- Religion is proving to be detrimental to the progress of humanity. When you see images that I have seen- you will feel a strong urge to agree with him. Though I give credence to his words, I don’t echo his thoughts. Just like how the Pope’s Cemerlengo says in the final scenes of Angels and Demons- ‘Religion is flawed. Because men is flawed.’ Yes, religion is indeed flawed. But its not flawed by itself, its flawed because we made it a flaw. Instead of using it as a gauge to improve ourselves in a whole, we are using to further regress and mess ourselves up. Religion is used in the right direction will channel all the right energies- but it seems we are doing almost entirely the opposite way nowadays.

Yes, men are flawed. But lets stop making religion a mirror to our flaws- lets stop making it reflect our flaws. Make it reflect the best in us, the strength in us instead.

Pray for me Brother- India's reflection

2009-09-28T12:24:00.001+08:00

India. The country. The landscape. When my parents first called me asking whether I had any desire accompanying them in the pilgrimage they are about to make, I hesitated big time. My stomach lurched because I knew deep inside that I’m not going to see the India that I want to see. I’m not going to see Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, or Delhi. Neither was I going to Kodaikkanal, Ooty, Goa, or Kerala. I did not see the India that tourists would like to see. I did not see Sathyam Theaters, or Spencer Plazas, or the hustling streets of Bangalore, the IT Parks, nor the Taj Hotel.

What I saw was quite the opposite- and I knew I this is what I can expect when I somehow, for a reason unknown to myself (because I wasn’t very eager to make the pilgrimage myself), I said ‘yes, I would come’. When I first landed back in Malaysia, I knew my friends are going to hoard me with numerous questions about how the country was. But I do not have words that they would like to hear about the country- I do not have niceties to deliver for them. I only ever have two words- overwhelming, and disturbing. I am 21 years old, and I perhaps have seen everything that the world has had to offer. I have seen the pinnacle of development, living in the centre of KL, and now, I have seen the possibly the ugly face of poverty- one experience that would leave any person shaken to its core, unless, that is, you are ignorant (or brave) enough to turn a blind eye and pretend you are walking on a perfectly fine road.

I travelled through the terrains along the National Highway, crossing state borders, watched elderly women limp in desperation while trying to avoid a high speed van from ramming into them, watched women and children walking in a seemingly endless and fruitless road carrying logs upon their thin, calcium-deprived shoulders in faint hope that the end of the road will provide a ray of light. I watched severely disabled people, and for once, was led to think- what’s the point of going on? What are they hoping for? I was never surrounded with so much pessimism. Carrying their children and begging with a statement that they do not have enough to even feed the child. Beggars are like milestone tombs, you see them at every corner that has even a remote landmark in a certain street. For once I was there, starring at a problem, and unable to think of a solution. How actually do you solve it? I could take a whip at politics at the tip of a finger (which is exactly what my mom did), but I knew that would do gross injustice to those whom our concern is directed at, and to those who our wrath is directed that.

I have long argued that our system is rubbish, the system of living that the society has created and enslaved its own self to, there is something so wrong about it- the system that emphasized on tall buildings, intense developments, public relations (you do not know whats genuine and whos being honest anymore), compromised values (there is no absolute truth or absolute lie anymore), conspiracy theories (there’s always something to fear about, walk out of your house with the fear you will get bombed, killed randomly, something would collapse and kill you, the train you are on will crash and kill you, be cautious, be cautious, don’t take risks, ever, and of course for the past few years, the world has met its doom time and again and somehow continued berthing us on its soil without us even realizing the jerk it made while going through the whole hassle of exploding, or being completely covered by a disaster, and then recovering itself). And if you have seen what I have seen- then you are bound to ask- where are we heading to? At what cost does success knock your door- humanity? When I was sitting at a bus station in some rural bus stop in Andhra Pradesh, I saw a girl (a fairly poor one by the looks, lower middle class I suppose), of around 10 years old sitting and isolating herself behind a couple of elderly citizens in one of the benches, with tears emanating from her eyes; she was trying ever so hard to fight them off. She shot a couple of wandering looks around the station, and then resigned back to being a subdued figure on the bench. I knew that look. It was the look which asks- where the hell is my mother/father? She was holding a small parchment of money in her hands, it became ever so obvious that she was asked to wait there. And she has waited for an awfully long time. At one side, I felt furious at whoever she is waiting for, leaving a girl of that age all alone in a bus station that even scares me by how it looks is not the act of any responsible parent. And as she continued that horrible routine of waiting while her heart just wants to whither and cry aloud, shouting for where her caretakers are; a conflicting cross over between acting like a baby and a grown up girl, munching her fear and consoling herself, I discontinued listening to my iPod; it just didn’t feel right anymore. I was standing a small distance away from her, relinquished my seat, and simply followed her act- my eyes wandered to where her eyes wandered- I looked at an approaching adult and asked- could this be her mom or her dad? And as that process continued, I found myself yearn for her parents probably just as much as she does. I imagined me losing my parents and stranded alone in a faraway bus station where people sleep on floors smelling of expired pee, as if it’s a fluorescent sprayed cushion. I knew that same tears were dwelling in my eyes. A few minutes later (which I was distracted as my mom surveyed for the right bus we have to get on), I looked back and found her talking to a woman nearby. There was relief in her face. And the smile which came out of my face was so blatant that anyone who saw it would have thought that I was a loony. But I couldn’t care less. That humanity in myself is still there, it’s still a child’s humanity, uncorrupted, uncompromised, untainted- it did not grow into an adult and I never want it to be an adult. And I told myself- the next time I come across such a scene in my life, I shall be in a position where I could comfortably denounce my insecurities behind and offer a hand to help, or probably give an ear to listen. This time sadly, I was just as hapless as she was during the wait, so I allowed myself to feel the same agony she is going through. It makes you cherish smiles, pleasures and moment of painless living even more.

What desperation might have driven the parent to abandon her young daughter in a place like this? Again we retort to the basic question- system. All these are the scraps that the unmerciful development is leaving behind- scraps that pursuit for luxury and comfort is leaving behind. It’s just plain war, isn’t it? As the old adage goes, in war there will be casualties. And this war, here are the vast amount of people who are becoming casualties. But my questions is- whose war is this? We can clearly see the casualties, but who is fighting who? Who are the winners and the losers? What will the winners get? What will losers get? It is about time these questions are given serious thoughts. But somehow many of us know its quite too late to change much- as I said, we had become slaves to the routines we alone invented, to the systems we alone invented; we have made negligence and turning a blind eye part of adulthood, we have made lying and cheating a part of maturity, we have made being stone-hearted a quality for success.

Then I remembered one of my favorite songs of all-time, and the message of it made complete sense- Pray for me Brother. AR Rahman’s composition about eradication of poverty probably has the best view on what we could and should do to help the needy- Appreciate the life you’ve got.

He (the poor man) is searching for a reason to stay alive;

Are you searching for a reason to be kind?

That’s the hypocrite in all of us. Many of us do just that, we search for a reason to be kind, while that poor man across the street searches for a reason to just stay alive. You see them closely and you wonder, whats the point of going on- when you are living in the scraps, when you are considered a filth, when people don’t want to look at you because either they consider you to be an irritation or just because you are not an image they don’t want to stick up in their minds? Is there any point at all in going on?

And think, how many of us, despite all the comforts that life provides to us- us with hands to write, legs to walk, eyes to see, money to travel, wisdom to analyze, clean clothes to wear, how many of us think life is cruel when faced with a hardship? We sit and complain as if we are the worst treated beings on earth- ignoring that poor man. And many of us just cease to go on- we do have an alarming suicide rate. If that man who has nothing but possibly a small parchment of hope could muster the courage to stay alive, why can’t we at least do that, and give life the value it deserves?

I’m ashamed ah, be brother dying of poverty,

When he’s down on his knees only then he prays.

How many of us only pray when we are down on our knees? That’s us hypocrites. In joy, there’s hardly any space for a prayer, but when there is a hardship, a desire to be fulfilled, something you need God to open up ways for us, we’d pray profusely. But that poor man across the street, treats even 20 rupees of earning as a blessing. Yes, these people do still have faith in God, and instead of moaning and complaining, they say thank you for the smallest of rewards. How many of us say thank you for being given a bed to sleep, proper food to eat, a proper house to live, a proper car to drive? How many of us say thank you for being bestowed with this life?

Many of us struggle to wear even a smile in our lives. We think the rest of the world is corrupted and we walk around, getting frustrated and irritated at the smallest of imperfections- we frown at other people, we throw insults at people whom we think are intruding a space that we alone deserve. We world is no private space, its everybody’s space. And wear a smile on that face of yours, because these poverty-stricken individuals, with almost no reason do smile- do exactly that. They walk barefooted carrying logs and rubbish for miles, yet they smile, converse happily when they meet another poor person- the kind of conversations we have while we are sitting in classy restaurants with our friends.

I’m not saying we should abandon our comforts to understand their struggle, but appreciate the presence of their struggle and improve the quality of your life. Wear a smile and acknowledge you do have a reason to be grateful, if you are being bestowed with all happiness and don’t find a reason to say a prayer, say a prayer for those who are in need.

Could you ever listen, could you ever care

To speak your mind?

Stop turning a blind eye on everything that matters- thinking that somebody will take care of it. Everybody thinks somebody will do something about it, but in the end nobody did what anybody could do. Be that somebody, don’t be a nobody- by being a nobody, we are only wasting away the life we have, reducing its value, its impact; make life worth living- there’s no bigger crime in my eyes that a failure to appreciate life- that is what possibly every religion has fiercely highlighted.

The joy is around us,

But show me the love that we must find.

The joy is indeed around us. We just fail to find it. Little do we know that every small action we take will gradually have its consequences. You release a negative energy within a crowd of people because it’s a bad day-but actually it’s a bad day because of the negative evergy that you are allowing yourself to give. It takes 54 muscles to frown, and only 14 to smile, why spend so much effort in making this world a worse place to be in? A smile, trust me, can make a whole lot of difference. It gives more hope to those in need.

Don’t let me take, when you don’t wanna give

Don’t be afraid, just let me live

Don’t give if you don’t have the intention of giving. If you want to give, give with your hearts open, let them take ot from you with a cheer. You are not helping a filth on your street, but you are helping a brother, a fellow human being. Always remember that. Many of us are afraid to give. Giving has become a crime. ‘Don’t give, it’s not gonna make any difference’, ‘don’t give they will just cheat’. Who, then, will make a difference? It’s a tiny particle of your attempt to make a difference which will slowly accumulate to make a bigger difference.

Try giving with a smile, and notice that you will sleep with more nourishment than you have ever slept. Walk ignorantly, you are bound to be ignored by another person at some other time. What’s the problem if others don’t give? You make the difference and you be happy about it- because you are different from others. And being different is no crime. What’s the problem if others don’t smile back at you? You smile, you will only leave the other person feeling ashamed for failing to smile back. The guilt exists in all of us, it’s just that have enslaves ourselves to pretending and thinking we are a higher being than those on the street. No, we are not. In fact, they understand life’s value better than we do. I’d rather stay humble and say they are greater beings, because they just live- they are not dominated by worldly pursuits which posseses us to a manic level, they know how to make the smallest amount of money count.

Cos life is a blessing,

It’s not just a show.

Acknowledge that blessing. The word needs it. Every change in this world starts with self-transformation.

And I’ll pray for that brother and that sister.

The Observer- Episode 7

2009-09-15T21:50:00.007+08:00

The Blood Brothers

We sat one cozy night outside of that small house in a small village in the small yet vast, empty spaces of road stretching up to a place called Bagan Datoh. We looked at each other, and shared a cordial smile. Because we knew these moments are hard to come by. For all of us to be at the same place at one given time was a big ask. And that too we were there, at that same house where we had all the times of our childhood, the house that stockpiles all the good memories of childhood that all four of us have. The 'we' were four of us. The four who grew up together. The macho tall guy, the glass man, the VIP doctor, and me, Jones.

All of us are busy chasing life-fed aspirations now, busy seeding the plant so that it could grow tomorrow, busy finding our calling card and making it big in life. But these are those rare rare moments when you just dump all those aspirations to a temporary recycle bin, you just want to stand still and fully immerse in a given moment.

And here in this space, I try to recollect the best of memories we have shared since our childhood.

Accidents

Glass Man is the prominent hero among the countless number of 'accidents' or simple nutty mishaps that have happened when we were small. That's why he is a glass man, because he has developed a constant ability to run into mishaps since a kid. I can't possibly remember a person who had taken more physical bruises and falls than he has. And you could tell them all with a big smile stretched on your face, because they were just that- funny. Once he dropped a coin in a stand fan which is on and running at full speed and was utterly confident that he would be able to retain it without turning the fan off. 'Don't be crazy, will you?'- I said. But he was just that. He tried anyways. And next thing you knew, he was reeling down the stairs calling out for his mom with two of his fingers drenched in hardcore red liquid. Probably even his mom has got used to all of that.

He and doctor were on a bike once, touring around that sandy, rocky road within the village- and glass man was convinced he knew a new trick that would make him seem cool on a bike. On a corner full of rocks, he set to do a skid turn with his father's motorbike with the doctor sitting behind. 'Hey, hey, look. I can do this'- he said. Next thing you knew, both of them went screeching down, tumbling and laying flat on the ground. A great stunt was just performed. Classic. And yet would stand up, arm drenched in red liquid which so often likes to emanate from his body; and say- don't tell anybody. We didn't tell anybody of course, but the red liquid called blood on the entire arm and on the elbow told the story. Enough was said.

Glass Man didn't change much. He lives up to his reputation every now and then. After not meeting for full two years, we met again at the village house, and he added another mishap memory that will be hard to diminish. 'Still getting yourself into trouble often?' I asked; and he took his ball and start juggling the ball to show off his skills to me. 'No, not that much'- he said. 'Play farther a bit, be careful, you might break the window'- his mom shouted. He nodded in approval, extremely confident that there's no room to mishap. Five seconds later, an attempted volley went wrong later, the ball smashed two windows into pieces. It was less than a minute after his mom has heeded out the morning. 'Didn't I just tell you??' she shouted. And I didn't stop giggling in laughter for sometime. I laughed so hard I cried.

And few weeks ago when we had our latest meeting- and saw him with an arm's length in dried blood, resulting from motorbike fall-down incident (again) two weeks prior to that. That's why he is the glass man.

Brawls

Well, what is teenagehood without brawls and fights. Between us, the distance that occured came somewhat naturally, Mr. Macho has always been a tad distant from the rest of us- the three of us were pretty tightly knit together so to speak. First came somewhere in early 2002, when Glass Man decided to switch loyalties from being a Manchester United to being a Liverpool fan. And it was me who took offense of that situation, blasting and reeling him off continously for consecutive days because of that. We hardly spoke. Until he did the Houdini act with the fan.

The next was lame to say the best. It was me and Doctor this time. It was at my old house in Manjung, which was located so strategically behind the Manjung Bus Station. Strategic not actually because of that, but rather because we had an entire green field for ourselves. It wasn't a playground, it was indeed a field with short grass, perfectly ideal to play football without even being bothered by anyone else. Those were the great footballing days. We'd look forward almost everyday for the time to tick so that we could stroll out of the house and just play football, play our hearts out. And one fateful day, he bodychecked me on the way to scoring a goal- and I perceived it to be grossly unfair. The consequences of that little argument we had in that field is something no-one could have ever imagined. He packed his bags and left the following day itself, and the distance we created between us lasted a good two years. Today we look back and we could only find one word in the vocab to describe that fight and the consequences of it- stupid.

Ahoy!

We wrestled in that old wooden house, jumping on beds and automatically switching off and pretending to be just sleeping when the elders came in checking out what has been making all the noises- we were like corrupted politicians, everyone knew what were we doing, yet couldn't catch us because of a lack of evidence. We tried to camp outside the house, pretending to be soldiers.

We often set up challenges on whether we could stay up all night, smacking in glasses of coffees in a bid to stay awake till the morning, only to collapse on the bed once the sun showed up in the morning. We made almost any available space as a footballing field, the front of my previous houses, and even study tables. Anything was good enough to be a football, even a pin pong ball and tennis ball were all used. No wonder we are nuts about the sport. Anything was on for us, such was our enthusiasm. Anything was a challenge- who could run faster, who could win in a game of chess, who could win in scrabble, everything mattered. We would collapse a small stool and leave it hanging on the gate, so that we could play basketball, by using a football that is.

If we were in a car travelling, we would count the amount of cars that overtook us and the amount of cars we overtook (of course the driver was one of the uncles as always), sometimes these counting becomes so insanely important that on some trips, the person on the wheel really took our spurring on seriously and was intent to get good overtaking numbers. Passion was everywhere, young minds which were constantly searching for anything that could spur passion in mundane daily routines. And today looking back and all that childhood adventures- I realize the greatest gifts in life is indeed that zeal, that undying passion, that undying willingness to run a risk, even though later on we do get hurt by comitting them, they never really hurt, when the price we pay for all of that are these precious memories.

And they are not a distant away either.

The same cozy night, all three of us went together to watch football. Glass Man's favorite team played. Then my favorite team played. And right after, Doctor's favorite team played. And we just enjoyed the fact that we had a marathon which fulfilled the zeal for each of us.

And when we were all pretty adamant and eager to get together for a game of football a week later, I knew very few had changed. We have it inside us to re-kindle the child, the passion, the endless notoriety and risk-taker for each other. If I find it hard to re-kindle them ever, I know that they would be able to bring me back that lost edge of childish passion.

Whether it's in eating an ice cream and just talking a walk or getting lost in middle of KL and walking aimlessly; or even buying a PC from Low Yat Plaza and carrying it all the way home to Shah Alam in a motorbike- the best things that makes you say 'this is life' without a negative undertone, without a tone of resignation, but rather with a positive outlook, with a serene satisfaction- these best things don't come in grand packages.

Life's greatest pleasure does indeed lie in its smallest details. And that, I will never forget.

Ram Anand.

Blue Music Review- AR RAHMAN IS BACK!

2009-09-12T08:53:00.005+08:00

Whether expectations from the media are high or not, it doesn't bother me, what I do know is that I'm just glad that finally there is an AR Rahman album to cherish after nine months in 2009, a year where really good music was so hard to come by. 'Delhi 6' was brilliant, and I mentioned in that review that ARR is going great giving albums at regular intervals to keep me hooked to one song after another, but all of a sudden arrived this void since he walked up the red carpet and lapped up two more than deserved Oscars in Hollywood.

I'm not a fan of Akshay Kumar, nor the type of regular movies he makes, the over-hype it gets and often lack of quality in the end product- and teaming up with Sanjay Dutt, Zayed Khan, Katrina Kaif, and Lara Dutta is hardly a sign of total difference. Despite being India's first mega budget underwater film- at around 100 crores (RM 100 Million) of budget- my expectations for the film itself are almost non-existent, so anything decent from that stable would be enough to get in my good books. Given the Akshay factor as well, I don't expect ARR to give his best album, and somewhat ironically, I also do hope ARR is not too brilliant in this album- because if Blue fails, the good music he gives for it will go seemingly unnoticed as well (look at what happened to Yuvvraaj, one of ARR's best albums ever- what ever happened to Dil Ka Rishta, it was the sort of song that should be described as legendary!). So, I lowered the target for ARR. And yes, he didn't try to make Blue his best album either, but I have to say, Blue is a ridiculously good album that runs on one USP- unpredictablity! One number to the next, ARR changes modes so affluently, and even in a commercial film like this where the only way to be going about it seems to be by giving fast-paced commercial numbers (a la Pritam), ARR leaves his stamp all over it. Welcome to brand AR Rahman! Its time for Akshay and the his team to do justice to this music. So on we goooo....

Hang on...the album is special for me personally because the female voice I fancy the most- Shreya Ghosal sings three (yes, three!) songs in this album- and not all the regular romantic number she is known for. And well, yeah, Kylie Minogue (yes, the Kylie Minogue) has also sung in this album...Enough generalizing and off to the songs, peel it one by one...

Peel 1

Chiggy Wiggy
Singers: Kylie Minogue, Sonu Nigam.

I wanna Chiggy Wiggy! This song created especially for a promotional music video purpose, has Kylie (who will appear in the music video with Akshay) crooning her Chiggy Wiggy way that somewhat reminds you of Zara Zara from Race. But, hey, this is ARR na. Listen to halfway of the song and enter Sonu Nigam with an out-of-the-blue bhangra rhythm, now this is fusion of a high-order. Inovative-ness hardly comes in a better package. The western sections suit Kylie fine, and the bhangra section suits Akshay's image fine. You can already imagine how the music video is gonna be now. Good!! But, well, here it is...Enjoy!

Peel 2

Aaj Dil Gustakh
Singers: Sukhwinder Singh, Shreya Ghosal

Put the guitar strings on, and just Chal Chal Charara re! A blues string simply doesn't get better than this. Sukhwinder and Shreya never are off-form, and putting such two able singers with a nicely arranged song, the results are bound to be infectious. Very the good!! I can't remember the last time I heard such a song in Hindi, or even Indian music arena. Well, who else but ARR to compose the first, aite? Its a priviledge for the song itself. :P

Peel 3

Fiqrana
Singers: Vijay Prakash, Shreya Ghosal

How do I put up a thumbs up icon here? Because this is the best of the lot! Fiqraana is phenomenal! Your body might tap to it without you even knowing. It is that good, and its flawless as well. The song doesn't have one dull moment, its completely consistent in its tunes and once again, guitar strings are too good- they are so Robaroo-ish. Brand ARR!! Brilliant! Vijay Prakash sound so different in this song, its abvious that ARR hymns with him at parts, but even alone, Vijay sounds like ARR himself with the way he has sung this song. Shreya, well, need I say? Of course the male singers take the limelight, Shreya is just a beautiful compliment to it.

Peel 4

Bhoola Tujhe
Singers: Rashid Ali

Kahin To Hogi Wo. Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na. Take the singing from there. Dil Gira Gaaftan. Delhi 6. Take the music and tempo from there. Resonate both of that, and you have Bhoola Tujhe. Rashid Ali has one-of-a-kind voice, and you can use this anyday to create to an emotional romantic number, and ARR leaves his stamp and slow orcehstration all over the place for this song. This is genuine ARR melody, because it grows on you further as you listen to it further. The usage of saxophones as much as keyboard beats adds a new dimension to it. Very the good!! But if you were to love this song, it takes a real romantic ear to capture the essence. If you have that, you'll simply fall in love with this.

Peel 5

Blue theme
Singers: Blaaze, Raqeeb Aalam, Sonu Kakkar, Jaspeert Singh

Blue! Bulue! Always count on ARR on at least one thing- he knows how to give a superb theme music, no matter what film. Blue theme isn't exactly ARR-ish masterpiece, but the adrenalin rush of it imemdiately appeals the listening experience. Again, ARR mixes a bhagra element into the heavy beats and its so inviting to hum along to this. This is better be used properly in the film. Because if it is used well, the results on screen would be great.

Peel 6

Rehnuma
Singers: Shreya Ghosal, Sonu Nigam

Reminds one of Hello Mr.Ethirkachi number from Iruvar some good 12 years ago. Starts of with a jazz-like arrangement, but ARR's inovativeness springs in again and beats change and keep you hooked. There is even orchestration for the song, and the music is simply so good. But whats unique is that Shreya and Sonu Nigam do not change modes, they sing in the same jazz-like rhythm while ARR changes the beats for the songs. Watch out for the Rehnuma...Neela Samandar bit that starts at the middle of the song. Which is brilliant. And you might find Shreya sounding different in this song. She does a brilliant job in this number and easily overshadows Sonu Nigam when given the chance. Good!!

Peel 7

Yaar Mila Tha
Singers: Udit Narayanan, Madushree

Yuvvraaj was a brilliant album, yet at the end we had Shano Shano, a club number which is very good but not up to the high standards of AR Rahman. This is along the same lines, Yaar Mila Tha is extremely enjoyable, but its not ARR-ish as much. But its slightly better than Shano Shano, and has some innovation done by ARR in the song. Again, good!!

All in all, as I have mentioned, Blue is a ridiculously good album. Now with a sterling budget of 100 crores, the makers of Blue better do justice to the good numbers ARR has put forth for them. Definitely exceeded my expectations.

Thumbs up...Thumbs up...Clap Clap for AR Rahman..

He is back!

Rating: 8.9/10

The Winner Stands Alone

2009-09-09T12:28:00.002+08:00

Paulo Coelho has definitely left his distinct feel good factor that has always been part of his books with his latest offering- The Winner Stands Alone. And the book is definitely apt with the title, standing lonesome, it is a disturbing offering that is best put in Coelho's own words at the beggining of the book- it is a 'crude' portrait of where we stand today. Yes, very crude indeed.

TWSA is set at the Cannes Film Festival in Southern France, an annual event where the luminaries related to the film industry come and participate in a high order of the social spectrum. The entire story is set within a 24-hour time frame of the festival, focusing on different characters whose stories intertwine with each other. The main characters are:
Igor- A Russian telecommunications mogul, the main character in the story. He comes to Cannes in order to 'destroy worlds' so that he could win back his ex-wife Ewa- to show her that he could kill for her sake. Over the course of the story, he kills six people in the festival, but goes through a personal revelation of his motives as well.

Ewa- Igor's ex wife, who is now married to an Arabian couturier, and a successful one at that. Left Igor after knowing that Igor is dangerous and is more than capable to kill if provoked, but now has to confront her fears again as Igor comes to the festival.
Hamid Hussein- Ewa's current husband, an Arabian couturier who has a rags to riches story behind him, an extremely successful person who is at Cannes to take a look at a new uprising model, and also in order to finalize details about his maiden production venture in films. Loves Ewa deeply.
Jasmine- A black Belgian model, who is the next discovery for Hamid Hussein. Comes from a poor background in Belgium but is discovered by a photographer, and comes to Cannes to perform in her maiden fashion show. Hamid offers her a large contract to join his label.

Gabriela- A small time American actress, who is at Cannes in order to audition for roles, and on that day, grabs the role as the leading lady in Hamid Hussein's maiden production venture.

Savoy- An inspector in the small town of Cannes, who is excited by the prospect of a serial killer on the loose in the otherwise silent, crime free town, a prospect that could see him finally prove his worth as a detective.

The story is brilliant. Coelho's ability to wave a 24-hour time frame narrative in a full novel is a matter to be praised. And being a long-time reader of Coelho, it'd be also fair to say that Coelho's writing has significantly improved over time. His writing in itself is more engaging compared to his other works, and he is arriving on par into becoming a total page turner of a writer. And in this book, Coelho also seems to have developed an ample ability to be a thriller writer, he manages to throw good surprises and manages to keep the suspense going on an even manner.

However, that being said, this simply isn't what a Coelho fan would normally expect from him. In an effort to become a page turner, Coelho seems to have lost somwhere the essence the writer that had been adored by millions all over the world. The spiritual essence of the book is somewhat missing, or to be more fair, it has got lost somewhere in middle of Coelho's attempt to becoming a thrilling writer. At that same time, in an attempt to fit a 24-hour time frame story into a 300-page book, Coelho's writing meets tedium at many parts. There seems to be extensive criticism and commentary of the film world and also the world of the rich, but knowing myself that Coelho has always had a negative impression of the film world, I can't help but to think he has taken it a bit too far and a bit too personal in the commentaries. Added to that, the commentary is the whole book is very much the same- oft repeated. The same criticism is repeated constantly in the book and it becomes predictable and stereotypic after a certain point. Above all that, characters. Apart from Igor, and then Savoy, Jasmine, and Gabriela at certain intervals- the rest of the characters in the book appear uninteresting and some makes you wish you could just skip the pages. Hamid and Ewa's characters are especially pedestrian and do not evoke as much interest, nor does Coelho's writing add any extra dimension. Apart from their relationship with Igor, and how they relate to his mission, they could be easily removes from the narrative structure of the story. At times, with such characters, the story reaches a halt, the flow breaks uninvitingly.

The story's conclusion is also left somewhat hanging, raising more questions than it answers, and failing to answer most that is raised over the course of the book. But probably that exactly has been Coelho's intentions, to write a book that just raises questions and not provide answers. And has he had accurately pu it- the book is a crude portrait of where we stand today. And on that aspect, you have to agree with him. A fierce critic of the materialistic culture myself, I could relate to the central idea of Coelho's theme in this book.

All in all, The Winner Stands Alone is a work apart from other Coelho works. It might be a classic for some, it might be very dissapointing for others. But trying to be objective, I'd say the book is neither perfect nor flawless, it has both perfection and flaw, but most importantly, it stands out from previous Coelho works- its simply different so to speak- without using any other adjectives.

Passable.

Rating: 7/10

Can Manchester City win the Premiership title?

2009-08-26T18:26:00.002+08:00

Can Manchester City really challenge the top four, or even, win the title? Okay, well, we tried to entertain this question at the beginning of last season and turned out to be quite a downer for all the hype. This summer, Manchester City have gone on a spending spree (again!) and many people are refusing to be drawn to entertaining that question again- but times do change, and its about time they are given a serious consideration (if not deliberation) about their capacities to reach the higher echeleons of the Premier League this season. Of course, we could only analyze all this by viewing the squad that they have right now.

Goalkeeping

Let's not kid ourselves. Goalkeeping is an important function and area for any team, this is where the essential leadership of the team comes in, the final backbone that the entire team knows they could rely on. City headed into last season with Joe Hart, an untried, untested England hopeful as their first choice but things have definitely changed now. Not that he did any badly, but City needed experience and an established figure to stick between the posts and in came Shay Given. He's 32, and for plenty of years, he has been THE goalkeeper in the Premier League who time and again had bailed Newcastle United out of misery. Many rate him as one the Premier League's best, and if the 'big four' never gave him chance to have a crack at the spotlight many people thinks he deserves, then City might well be the place for him.He has made a sterling start to the season and you'd naturally expect him to continue on that. And for all those who'd think it might dent Hart's promising development, he was immediately loaned out to newly promoted Birmingham City, so that he would get the regular playing time that he desires. And to back Given up, the team brought in Stuart Taylor, another experienced face, a second choice keeper at Aston Villa previously. So no harm done eh? Smart move. Full marks for the goalkeeping department. (Come on, they can't get Buffon or Casillas YET can't they? Given is good to start with).

Defence

Hmm...Well. If I had written this few weeks ago, I'd say on the basis on the defence that there's no chance City could be champions or frontrunners in any possible way this season. But hey, again, times change. Look at the depth in defence now, and its delightfully good. Instead of going for highly rated defenders from overseas, Mark Hughes has concentrated in bringing in experience Premier League campaigners with proven standards to shuffle up his defence. The final 'Invincible' from the Arsenal team that won the league title in 2004, Kolo Toure has arrived to shore up at centre back- and he will be partnered by another new arrival, England centre back Joleon Lescott- who has arrived after a much-maligned transfer saga from Everton. Current captain Richard Dunne might depart the club though after his error-prone performances last season, and knowing that he will no more be a first choice defender for the club. Nedum Onouha is a reliable centre-back who could come in to cover for Lescott or Toure during troubled times. England prodigy Micah Richards meanwhile will take up the mantle at right back, but he is also able to shift to the centre should his services be required there. Defensive midfielder Vincent Kompany is also able to play in that position. And the competition for Micah's right back slot is another skilled, honed player- Argentinian right back Pablo Zabaleta.At left back meanwhile- if Wayne Bridge, who arrived from Chelsea during the winter, feels that he owns the role for sure, the arrival on free transfer of established Brazillian left back Sylvinho (who won two Champions League titles with Barcelona) would definitely keep Bridge on his toes. See, there's competition everywhere. And well yeah, lets not forget- there are Tal Ben Haim and Javier Garrido as well, not that they are going to see much first team action though.

Midfield

Ah, here we come. They say football is won with midfield battles. City basically play a 4-2-2-2 formation, with two central/holding midfielders and two wingers on either side covering up the midfield. Here, they have wealth. Gareth Barry, the established England midfielder purchased from Aston Villa, will be a regular feature in that central role, with his first choice partner being Stephen Ireland, City's best player last season. And then, the wealth of back up. Michael Johnson, a true England hopeful; and Nigel De Jong and Vincent Kompany, both considerably talented defensive midfielders are both available for services. Then, off to the wings. Shaun Wright Phillips will be a fix in the right wing, and Brazillian samba wizard Robinho will be a fixture on the left wing, drifting in as the game goes on. So what if they need a winger to cover up? Ireland could move into one of these roles, given that City have many other options in the centre, and of course, seasoned Bulgarian winger Martin Petrov, who is back after an injury ravaged season and is raring to get going.

Attack

City are simply spoilt for choices here. Emmanuel Adebayor has arrived from Arsenal, and the towering Togo-ese will definitely be the central target man for City this season. Partnering him in attack would be Carlos Tevez, who has established himself firmly after two successful seasons with City's fierce derby rivals, reigning champions United. And Roque Santa Cruz, the Paraguayan who has arrived from Blackburn, will play as a back up to Adebayor's role. Craig Bellamy will play as Carlitos' cover up, while Benjani will, almost certainly- rot in the reserves, unless he leaves sooner rather than later.

So do City have the neccessary quality? A big YES.

What will it depend on? Of course the manager, the onus is on him now to make this team of stars deliver, and also to a lesser extent, whom he chooses to be his captain, now that Dunne certainly would not feature. Shay Given looks like a very likely choice, but Kolo Toure, who had captained Arsenal before, is an experienced lad as well and could be given the mantle.

Fasting, Feasting- Book Review

2009-08-24T00:41:00.005+08:00

The subject of cultural clashes and a stern Indian cultural examination has been discussed time aplenty through many books and unspectacular, simple movies over the years, yet few have come to the heights of Anita Desai's Fasting, Feasting. Without letting the deep-layered weight of her own story to sink the book into the opaque, removing the reader from relativity and going too far in metaphorism (as some authors have tendency to do), Anita's book is kept simple, neat, written with a clear outline that doesn't stretch much pages beyond necessity.

One can interpret many meanings from Fasting, Feasting, which tells the story about an average middle-class Indian family who live near the vicinities of the Ganges river. Mama and Papa are the parents; bestowed with three children, the eldest is Uma, who is not as pretty nor as educationally smart as her younger sister Aruna. Uma is almost in her late teens when the youngest of the lot, Arun is born. The 'fasting' section of the story focuses on Uma's travails- how her parents stopped her from continuing her convent education so that she would take care of the newborn Arun, and how she had two marriages attempts (one where the family were cheated their dowry money, and another that didn't last more than a day as the family found out that the groom has another wife) failing miserably, stamping her unlucky for marriage. This part of the book is a stunning exploration of the Indian mentality about women within the marriage system that sets alight in the culture; and being a fierce critic of business-like, systematic treatment of marriage within a considerable part of traditional Indian culture myself, I found the this part fierecely accurate and wonderful in bringing out the layers of emotions that woman ought to feel- and how the character of Uma, who is treated throughout like a virtual slave in her own house, an outcast in the society due to her marital status, copes through her mistreatment quietly and with resignation. The ending of the fasting part of the book is brilliant nevertheless, a great story worthy enough of a screen adapatation in the future. Parts of this section of the book is a bit stretched and long, but the overall impact is much more attaining than the shorter Feasting.

Feasting shifts focus upon Arun, who is sent to USA to further his education (not by his own choice). Through Arun, Anita represents another major problem with the Indian conservatives mentality- the sometimes obsessive pursuit of education glory and overseas education perceived with prestige by such families- Arun is virtually spoon fed on what he has to study, where he has to study, and what he should become, all within a set system. This results in Arun becoming a disconnected human being all in all, which is later explored in Feasting, which documents basically the summer he spends in a typical American family- the Pattons' household. Arun is fed to believe that US is a better place than India, but later he ends up questioning himself as he witnesses the family's unconnected way of mingling around each other, something which he is not used to. Arun settles into loneliness but it was a summer that he is forced to reflect on his own views, as he sees similar pictures to that he saw at home- only in a different way (the Pattons' daughter Melanie representing an westernized painting of Uma).

While the Indian setting shows the women 'fasting' and finding solace in matters such as religion, family responsibilities, the American women are depicted 'feasting' in a frantic search of one matter that will finally satisfy their purposes- such as Melanie's candy bar eating habits in search for a slim figure which ultimately results in a disaster of health, and Uma's sudden solace in the extrememity of religion and small souvernirs in amidst her desolated loneliness.

All in all, Anita Desai does a fantastic job in protraying a void that women in both cultures seem to be having, and this is definitely a fantastic book to read for any literature lovers out there.

Fasting, Feasting- Feast on this fasting.

Wake Up Sid- Music Review- News: Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy are back in form!

2009-08-22T11:59:00.003+08:00

Yes, they are back in form. After a couple of mediocre albums by their standards in recent times, Shankar Mahadevan, Ehsaan Noorani, and Loy Mendosa are back in the usual form for Dharma Porductions' Wake Up Sid, which features Ranbir Kapoor and Konkona Sen Sharma in the lead roles. The music will definitely create a positive buzz around the film for one, as the expectations and the promos starts to kick in. When you put the SeL combo together with legendary lyricist Gulzar, you definitely have a formula for success and in this case, both the lyrics and the music complement each other so brilliantly in this case.

Wake Up Sid (Shankar Mahadevan)

You will wake up with energy if you listen to this. A great flagship opening number, totally resonating the theme of the film. 'Wake Up Sid, Saare Pal Kaahe' (Wake Up Sid, every moment tells you)- the lyrics by Gulzar ebbs a sober-ness into the half-meandering mind and I did listen to this album very early in the morning and it did a world of good by completely waking me up and getting me going. Shankar Mahadevan's singing needs no commentary, he is a proven veteran and does a fantastic job in low and high pitch modulations throughout the song. Lets Wake Up to the album!

Kya Karoon (Clinton Cerejo)

Remember Lakshya's Main Aisa Kyu Hoon? This song pretty much reminds me of that number. Obviously a number that will look great on the screen provided the right picturization, the song describes the helplesness of a young guy. But SeL make sure they do leave a signtaure that sets the song apart from many other similar songs- the singer. Clinton Cerejo, you simply will find it hard done to go for a more unconventional choice to sing a song like this, Clinton hasn't sung any such solo numbers so far, so this is a new try, and he does a fabulous job with how he renders this song, that itself sets the song apart. A fgood follow up to the flagship number.

Aaj Kaal Zindagi (Shankar Mahadevan)

Stand up and applause. Or just close you eyes, listen, and be tranced. Can't find enough bombastic words to describe this. Just effing brilliant! SeL's best composition in a while. If you are one of those persons who is just lazy to get up in the morning, then listen to this. You'd be pushed into your senses. Again, Gulzar's lyrics are phenomenal. 'Tere Liye Naya Zameen Naya Aasman, Likhde Hawa Ho me Koi Naye Daastan' (A new earth, a new sky is waiting for you, write a new story in your heart). Shankar simply carries the song to another level with his singing, just too good to be true on a Saturday morning. All I can say is thank you SeL for the brilliant number. Best of the album!!

Iktara (Kavita Seth, Amitabh Bhattacharya)

I thought I've listened the best of the album, but 'Iktara' makes it difficult to choose. I still chose Aaj Kaal Zindagi because of the song's lyrics and meaning which is much more deep, nevertheless Iktara is simply a classy blues composition, a romantic number with the best ingredients. You have to listen to know this brilliance. Kavita Seth is a great voice, and Amitabh (of course not Bhachan) gives the song an unique contrast with his soft, melloe voice mingled with the Iktara chorus. Hats off!

Life is Crazy (Uday Benegal, Shankar Mahadevan)

Rock on mode maybe? This were the kind of songs that SeL famously composed Farhan Akhtar's Rock On! last year, a band-like song with a rock-like energy. Yes, Life is Crazy. Its a good ode to end the album, a soothing album with (again) nice lyrics by Gulzar and percussions kept simple, with singing taking centerstage. Uday Benegal is very good in his croooning, well, SeL simply don't get it wrong at all in terms of their singers in this album.

Overall

The only downside is that you wish some of the numbers are longer. Both Aaj Kaal Zindagi and Iktara are just around 4 minutes long :(. With such brilliant numbers hard to come by, I wish they'd be longer (5, 6 minutes anyone?). Wake up Sid is a very good flagship number, while Kya Karoon and Life is Crazy falls into the impressive, good category. So theres actually nothing bad about this album. Simple and delightful morning songs.

And you'd hope this is start for SeL's return to form, this is their first good album of this year, and with many big projects in the lining (especially My Name is Khan), you could expect some great stuff from the trio are turning slowly into Bollywood's most prolific composers.

Rating: 8/10

Pick of the bunch: Aaj Kaal Zindagi, Iktara

Kaminey- a Review

2009-08-20T23:37:00.003+08:00

Go Charlie Go!!!

As I sit here typing the first words of my review for Kaminey, the Dhan Te Nan theme music still rings strongly in my ears. And I had a term that I could finally coin this movie with- Royal Masala. Yes, its my own term. If I had used the term masala as it is, it would just remind of all the loads of Bollywood commercial cinema regularity, Kaminey doesn't belong in that association, it defines 'masala' in a brand new way- the Kaminey way. And its royal.

Charlie and Guddu (both played by Shahid Kapoor) are identical twins who have grown up in the slums of Mumbai. Charlie is a small time gangster who works for three Bengali brothers who fix horse races, while Guddu is a small time NGO activist about AIDS awareness. His girlfriend Sweety (Priyanka Chopra) gets pregnant with their child- and she soon pesters him into marrying her, only then does the truth show itself- Sweety is the younger sister of Bhope Bhau, a local wannabe rag-cum-politician, who after discovering about Sweety and Guddu's relationship, is after Guddu's head as the brothers are migrants from the neighboring Uttar Pradesh state, as Bhope runs an agenda for his own state of Maharashtra.Charlie meanwhile accidentally disrupts a 10-crore worth drug transaction, and after discovering what he had accidentally stolen, takes the drug in his own stride to pull of a deal and make his dreams come true, leaving the drug lords are fervently after his head for this. Charlie and Guddu's story soon collide with each other, with the drugs taking the centerstage to everybody's pursuit- resulting is often comical, tragic, yet thrilling consequences.

Shahid Kapoor simply steals the show in his dual role. There is an obvious distinction between the ragged Charlie who spells every S word as an F, and the more silent, quiet Guddu who stammers heavily in his speech. This is by far the best performance of the year so far and Shahid has definitely taken his career to the next level with this film. He seemed to have grabbed with both hands the golden opportunity of working with an acclaimed film-maker like Vishal Baharadwaj and has given his soul to enacting the twin roles. Priyanka Chopra, after a streak of flops that has seen her market value plummet including her high profile break up, makes this her comeback card with a strong, commanding performance in a role where she seems to have not applied any make up to give a natural look. She is loud throughout, yet eventually lovable for her affection towards Guddu. Amol Gupte (who was the writer of the 2007 blockbuster Taare Zameen Par, which marked the directorial debut of Aamir Khan), shows that he is as good an actor as he is a writer with a great performance as Bhope. The rest of the cast just ebbs on with their roles, each fitting in perfectly.

Tassaduq Hussain gives the film an edgy look with his cinemtography, with plenty of close up shots being scattered all over, and also a few handheld shots to give more thrill to scenes, and definitely suceeds in doing so, giving the film a distinct tone that is mantained throughout. His camerawork for the Dhan Te Nan song is also fantastic, with excellent balance of colors.

Where the film wins however, in in the music department and the writing department. Now, in that two areas, are the champions. Vishal Bharadwaj is an impeccable talent. I'm resisting myself from starting all over again about how brilliant his previous works were (Omkara, an Indian adaptation of Othello, and Maqbool, and Indian adaptation of Macbeth), and not only that, also how brilliant his music was in both of the films. But however thought he would only fit the artsie side of movie-making and music-making are on the wrong, because here this film is a money-raker, and the musics are definite chart-topper. Dhan Te Nan deserves all the applause and hype it gets, the number is sensational and the choreography is even more sensational. Fatak and Raat Ki Dhai Baaje are both highly enjoyable but Vishal's background score is simply a masterclass act, off the top shelf. Check out for Pehli Baar Mohabbat, my favorite number from the album, the only slow meoldious romantic number which appears at the end credits.

The screenplay by Vishal and three other writers is brilliant. There are simply no stop gaps. Every story keeps colliding with the other, there isn't a moment in the film you'd feel is going too fast or too slow, the pace if simply an act of perfection itself, you are hooked to the screen for start to the end. There is enough action (realistic ones, no flying stuff), and above all there is enough comedy and also enough emotions to completely charge the film as the film-watching experience you'd cherish for a long time.

And of course, Vishal's direction. He is a genuine talent and it is evident for everyone to see with this film, and finally, I'm glad that he will get the commercial success that he deserves after his two Shakespearenan adaptations, despite being purred on by critics, were both overlooked at the box office counters. This one, however, won't be. Because it's simply Royal Masala.

Dhan Te Nan!!!

Rating: 10/10

Konchem Ishtamga Konchem Kashtamga- Movie Review

2009-08-20T00:38:00.004+08:00

Konchem Ishtamga Konchem Kashtamga (a little fondness, a little hardship).

Siddharth has definitely set a certain formula pattern that could be identified within his movies in Tollywood. A formula which includes making a clean, feel good family entertainer, laden with simplicity and family values, and also including a subtle yet important message. Directors still obsessed with the regular fight-romance-villain-hero-dance formula fanfare might make a world of good by taking this formula to make commercial entertainers instead.

KIKK stays true and simple to this new fresh formula- clean and simple. Siddhardh Varma (Siddharth) is a carefree Hyderabadi youth who flirts with girls at his own accord. His father Prakash Verma (Prakash Raj) is a successful industrialist who has his own group of companies, but has separated from Siddhu's mother (Ramya Krishnan) for the past 18 years. Geetha (Tamanna) meanwhile is a pampered, modest village girl who arrives in Hyderabad for her higher studies and soon befriends Siddhu. Despite taking off on the wrong foot due to Siddhu's Casanova acts, both of them become close friends and eventually fall in love, with Siddhu changing his ways for her. However, Geetha's father Subramaniam (Nassar) rejects Siddhu's proposal to marry his daughter- citing Siddhu's parents' separation and Siddhu's own nonchalant attitude towards his parents' involvement in his love life as the reasons. Siddhu soon tasks it upon himself to unite his separated parents in order to win Geetha from her father.

The story is fresh and the approach is also fresh, though the screenplay could have been better written. The film effectively portrays what a child might go through in the event of parents' separation but also touches on the larger picture- the lives of any bidding couples, and how regular hardships often ruin relationships when people forget to hold to their love.

The film lacks pace and total coherence at certain points, but the cast more than made up for it. Siddharth is in his element again as the charming playboy, who, at the same time, is a young man feeling loneliness, while Tamanna is lovable as Geetha. Siddharth and Tamanna's screen chemistry oozes to great heights, with their cute acts turning the most trivial and ordinary of scenes into highly interesting ones. Prakash Raj and Ramya Krishnan proved themselves for the seasoned veterans that they are with effective performances, while Nassar was passable. Even though appearing in lesser scenes, Venu Madhav slightly overshadows the veteran Brahmanandam in the comedy department, playing Siddhu's good for nothing friend.

Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy make a stunning Tollywood debut with this film, as the film's music and background score is another fierce highlight of the film, with all the songs falling soothingly on the ears and fitting the situations perfectly.

Debutant director Kishore Kumar has done a above average, if not spectacular, job in his first film. Better polishing in the screenplay department could result in better films in the future.

Rating: 7.5/10

Achamundu Achamundu- Movie Review

2009-08-06T11:10:00.005+08:00

Changing the trend of thrillers

It seems the trend of thrillers in Tamil cinema is slowly finding an upheaval. Gone are the days of sub standard thrillers trying to ape Hollywood but falling way short of the marks, now have arrived the times where our thrillers are bring more original and self-written rather than having 'borrowed' material from Hollywood capers as the foundation.

Earlier this year, it was Madhavan's Yaavarum Naalam that set the trend, and impressed so much that even a Hollywood production company came forward to buy the film rights (look at the roles reversing!), and now Arun Vaidyanathan's Achamundu Achamundu follows suit- well made, not cheap, an interesting concept subtly directed.

Provided; the film isn't exactly flawless or top notch, but we could take consolation in the fact that it is a step in the right direction and definitely a movie worth a watch. Several loose ends; such as what exactly happened to other children that Robertson had abducted and later molested is never shown in the end, are one of the loose ends that are never properly tied up. And Arun's decision to give away Robertson's true intentions in the very moment of introducing him makes a film a tad predictable to boot with. Probably the art of perfecting an interesting premise is what Arun should work on in the future; because just having an interesting premise doesn't promise a top notch movie, it has to be perfected to its best potential, and this movie could have really been much better had Arun developed the depth of his script further and furnished several important elements.

But he undeniably has got his casting spot on in this film, with everyone excelling in their parts. Sneha simply appeals herslelf brilliantly as the home maker who tries to hold on to her traditional values in a foreign land, while Prasanna's portrayal and the work-oriented husband makes them look exactly like the regular, typical NRI family in America. For once, the casting of a Hollywood talent in a Tamil film is completely justified, with John Shea (who played Lex Luthor in the 1990s TV series of Superman and had also acted in Mutant X) fitting to the T in his role as the child molester under the malice of a painter. He is probably the most high profile Hollywood casting ever done in Tamil films and his wealth of acting experience certainly sees him fit into the film seamlessly instead of looking awkward or out of place.

The dialogues are definitely catchy, especially the interactions within the small family of Prasanna, Sneha, and their daughter, and also the ones in the office show a good commentary of NRI Indians and paints quite an accurate picture of their lifestyles away from home. Prasanna seems to have taken the unconventional path with his films, experimenting in different roles, and this coming at the back of a venomous portrayal as a villain in Mysskin's Anjathey and also as a yearning lover who can never be with his lover due to society's contradictions in Kannum Kannum.

Sneha once again proves that given the right role, she will make the role totally hers no matter what, especially when its a role resembling the homely Indian lady; there simply isn't a better choice that Sneha to do such roles. The NRI talents fit into the film well. Karthick Raja's music is a little detrimental for the film, with the songs being a stumbling block except for the 'Kannil Enna' number which is pleasant to hear, but still sounds very out of place in a movie portraying the lives suburban Indians in America. The songs could have been done without for the film, relying only on BGM.

The film is also the first Red One feature film in India, and though it didn't completely exploit a new technology, few shots here and there certainly shows the precision of this new technology.

Rating: 7/10

A tribute to Yasmin Ahmad

2009-07-26T09:10:00.002+08:00

Malaysia had only one excellent film-maker. Only one. No diplomacy from me this time, I am going to be blatantly honest. That is as much as I could give to Yasmin Ahmad as she passed away yesterday night. Of course, the country does have few more credible film-makers, but if any of our film-makers were going to travel abroad to larger and more demanding film industries and make their cut there, the only person who will make that cut is Yasmin. Hollywood calling? She could even manage that pressure. Thats how good she was.

Yasmin epitomized and easily revolutionized the Malaysian cinema scene in a way no other film maker has done before locally. She epitomized the spirit of essential Malaysian cinema and threw out of the window the idea of a secular Malay, Tamil or Chinese film, which had been the trend up to then. She was someone to look up to. Yasmin was something special not just for her films but she was indeed an inspiration for bidding Malaysian movie makers like me; because she proved that all is not lost in Malaysian cinema, that the industry is not as crappy as people make it out to be, that despite the limited resources, you could still make a world-class film (e.g. Sepet, Gubra, Muallaf).

Any person who has studied films and worth their salt in this industry and knows quality when he/she sees one would readily admit that Yasmin possesed qualities that would impress not only in Malaysia, but qualities but would take Malaysian cinema to larger global canvas, something that other film-makers in this country have dired to achieve. One breeze through the amount of international awards her films have won are a great proof about her abilities.

Malaysia has lost its finest film-maker. How will the industry cope with this?

Yasmin wasn’t only a fine film-maker, her life had its own story to tell. Many have judged her for changing her gender by choice, but she took all that criticism on her stride and kept going. Today, she is fondly remembered for the fine female film-maker that she was, and she has indeed travelled a long way in order to achieve that. A true inspiration for fighting against the odds and setting the trend.

But nevertheless, I am still saddened with the fact that many Malaysians are still ignorant about who Yasmin Ahmad was. Any Malaysian who do watch movies regularly, of any industry at all, should mourn the loss of this piece of jewel which was atop the Malaysian film industry frame. You deserved more appreciation that you received, Yasmin.

This is a funeral commercial directed by Yasmin, what I perceive to be her best commercial work, and nothing fits more than this video to pay tribute to her departure.

Thanks for everything.

Yasmin Ahmad (1958-2009)

Punch, Drunk...Love!

2009-07-22T20:06:00.000+08:00

Ahhh. Here we are. Love. Delightful and painful in equal measures, old and new in equal measures, same old same old. For us Indians, love is a major problem, yes, a very major one at that. Just take a survey if you want on how many people lose directions in live once their love affairs do not turn out to be have a happy endings. Forget the stacked amount of suicides, even I had a dear friend to assumed right over his own life partly because of the turbulunce of his love life. It’s been almost two years now since he departed.

Think about many others who give up, who make up a sad story. For another friend, her love was one-sided, unrequited in return.

What don’t I have?

What do I have to change?

Am I not good enough?

These were her questions. To herself.

For some reason, most of us find it embarassing to be involved in an one-sided love affair. We can’t bear the thought of us falling head over heels and repeatedly thinking about one individual whom we do not know thinks even a pint about us in return. In equal measures are break-ups, a party ends up feeling cheated, and sink themselves deeply into the sea of misery for a long, long time. For them, its perfectly fine to be miserable. Why are you miserable? I just broke up! Why are you miserable? He/She doesn’t love me. Its only me!

They say love is a beautiful thing, why then does it become the very excuse for so many people to bathe in pain? An excuse for us to take our lives away. An excuse to feel pity for ourselves. I can only say one thing- stop feeling sorry for yourselves. Because you do not know love enough if you think its fine to be sunk in misery when something fails.

Many years ago, I was in love as well, and yes, it was a failure too. But for some reason, I did not cry. Many thought I’m hiding my pain. Look at that poor thing, so much pain inside pretending to be strong- they’d say. The first thing I came to terms is- theres nothing to be embarassed about. Thinking about someone who doesn’t think about you in return? Whats wrong with that. I was very young when it happened, I was finding for a calling card that would point me which direction to go in life. East, West, North, South, where’d I go? Then love came, it broke barriers, for the first time, you feel different from the world around you. You experience sensations that only you would know, its your own world. Love is a beautiful dream to live. Anaticipation, yearnings, everything about it transforms your world drastically. Then the glass broke. But I continued, I continued loving whom I loved, for two full years, until the feeling waned away.

And I realized something then that most people fail to realize nowadays. Love is an energy. An emotion of superficial power. Happiness, Sadness, Madness, Anger, Insanity, Delight, Ecstasy, all these feelings and emotions are embroiled together under the coat of Love. Its a gift if you have this energy inside you. Use it the right way, and the results would be wonderful, maybe not for your love life, but the quality of your life overall could improve the moment you realize that you can actually channel all the love you have inside you to different directions. Once I learned to channel my love, I found my enthusiasm, I loved life completely, nothing was ever mundane or peripheral again, I understood my purpose, discovered the writer inside me, discovered the storyteller inside me. Rest is history.

My dream started with love. The kind of love that the society would brand as a failure. But they can’t say so now, because I determined for myself whether it is a happy tale or a sad tale. Unless you start taking charge of your emotions and know how to use each of them to good effect, you will allow the emotions to determine the direction of your life- and they will only point in different directions- North, South, West, East, all convoluted at different times. And before you know it, you will be falling of a high cliff.

You know you need to snap put of it, you know that every negative event can be turned into a positive cornerstone, but many of us lack that essential drive to wake up. As they say, its always easier to talk than to put into motion. When it comes into transforming our words into action, many of us fail. That what differentiates the man who has conquered the tall mountain and has etched his flag at the peak and become a legend, and the man who sits at the foot of the mountain, cursing his luck and saying ‘life is so cruel to be’. If you let life’s smallest details to take charge, then yes, life will hit you hard, it will seem like everything is falling from somewhere in the sky, hard on you.

Afterall, love’s biggest details are life’s smallest details.

Yet love is the biggest detail of your life.

That’s the irony that life presents you.

“Life is not about how hard you can hit or punch, it is about how many hits and how hard a hit you can take and still manage to wake up and continue.”- Abhishek Bachchan.

What is novelty?

2009-07-15T16:47:00.002+08:00

I had always believed in the idea of doing something significant and highly original is the exemplary way to go in life; not only to serve for one's own pride or motives or fame, but also to be able to attain the fulfillment of contributing to the society.

And thus I recall the life is of Robert Kearns, the man who invented the intermittent windshield wiper which has been used in the automobile business since 1969 up till date, the man who invented the wiper system which had enables all of us to have variable speeds on the wipers that we are using in our cars today. He may not be a famous name to all of us, not as much as Alexander Graham Bell who invented the telephone or Einstein's discoveries, but nevertheless he is an inventor who fought for the right of his invention.

Kearns won a highly publicized lawsuit against the Ford Motor Company back in the 70s for infringement of the wiper patterns that he had created back in 1964. Throughout the trial, the motor company had vehemently denied that Kearns is qualified to call himself an inventor, as he has, according to them, simply 're-arranged' the pattern in a new way and that it isn't actually ground breaking or inventive or original.

However, there was a wonderful response by Kearns in regards to these claims. During the trial, Kearns (who is representing himself) asked his son to bring Charles Dickens' novel A Tale of Two Cities to the court, and asked the witness in the stands (a Ford employee who made that statement of Kearns not being an inventor) whether he had read this book. After confirming that he had, like most people in the court have, Kearns recited the first sentence of the book, and then took up a dictionary and checked up each word in that one sentence. He asked the man in the stands that since all the words in that first sentence are words that come from the dictionary, would Charles Dickens' novel be considered a copy or a non-original work? Would it not make Charles Dickens an inventor? All the Charles Dickens did was, afterall, to arrange the words that were available to him in a new pattern to create this novel, and the work was definitely original. Why then, is Kearns' invention being rendered as not original enough?

Kearns added that an inventor is whichever person who manages to use what tools are available to him/her, and create something new using the tools. And in Kearns' dictionary, the bars are not too high to become an inventor- just look around you, make best use of the tools that are available, find what is your specialty and gift, and you might one day become a creator as well, and more than that, you might become a person who contributes to the society, and you would earn yourself the license to live a fulfilling life.

Robert W. Kearns won 18.7 million US dollars in that lawsuit against Ford. A 2008 Hollywood movie called Flash of Genius documents his travails in his fight to earn his right as an inventor. He rejected a 30 million US dollars out of court settlement despite his divorce and his flaundering career- just because Ford would refuse to damage their company's reputation by admitting they infringed his patterns.

He died in 2005 of brain cancer. He was 77, and dies was an inventor, a contributor to the society. Look at your windshield wiper, and this is the man who created the pattern that enables you to vary the speed of your wipers according to the intensity of the rain.

Eleven Minutes

2009-06-30T16:48:00.002+08:00

The common myth is that it takes eleven minutes for a man to experience sexual pleasure to the maximum while being with a woman. Though how much we hate to admit it, the fact is that a major part of our lives resolve in these eleven minutes- they make, break, create and destroy lives, relationships, and the walls that we build around our lives up until that eleven minutes.

And the most less-talked about individuals in this world are the women who trade their body for money, and also the men who pay stashes of hard-earned money to experience these eleven minutes of pleasure with women they have never met before, with women whom they do not know whether the enthusiasm was genuine, with women they ever talked to before. The mention of this people induces filth in at least two-thirds of major societies in the world, not to forget the fact that prostitution is, afterall, the world's oldest profession.

And yet Paulo Coelho is one courageous man, as he boldly explores all these dynamisms in his resounding novel Eleven Minutes. A strictly adults-only fairytale, Eleven Minutes is inspired by the true story of a Brazillian woman who is lured to the prostitution world in Geneva, Switzerland with the promise of great money, and narrates her year-long experience being on the job and eventually finding what she thought she'd be unable to find in the annals of this profession- true love.

Just like Coelho's 1997 work Veronika Decides to Die, which talked about insanity, this book raises various questions about life and sex, and fervently undelrines the significance of an effective sexual life in order to increase enthusiasm towards life itself, and how much those eleven minutes contribute to spiritual enhancement of a human being.

Reading Eleven Minutes is a challeging experience for any reader, it opens you up to a frenetic world where all the morals of the society we live in are simoly placed into a backburner, and a prostitute is given a voice to narrate her desires, her dreams, her strivings, her relationships, and her motivations and uncertainties and a blatantly honest manner.

And that, once again, highlights Coelho's brilliance as an author. Another inspiring and blatantly good Coelho work.

Oy!- Music Review

2009-06-29T10:16:00.002+08:00

Coming on the back of the success of Konchem Ishtamga Konchem Kashtamga, or fondly known as KIKK, Sidhharth is quickly establishing himself as a household name in the Telugu industry when it comes to romantic entertainers. Bommarillu, NVNV, and now KIKK have all been huge hits and he is looking to add Oy! into that list. Oy! marks the debut of 'Baby' Shamili, the younger sister of prominent Tamil actress Shalini, who had gone into self-inflicted retirement since tying the knot with actor Ajith in 2001. Shamili is probably more well-known to be referred as Anjali, after playing the role of an autistic child named Anjali in the 1991 Mani Ratnam classic of the same name.

And having lured the Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy trio to the Telugu industry for the first time by having them compose for KIKK, Sid has now lured in Yuvan Shankar Raja to compose for Oy!. This is only Yuvan's second direct Telugu album after Adavari Mataluku Arthale Verule, the film which marked the directorial debut of Selva Raghavan in Telugu, which was later remade in Tamil as Yaradi Nee Mohini. After attaining great success through AMAV, Yuvan follows it up brilliantly through Oy!, making it one of his best all-round albums in the past couple of years.

Anokoledenadu

Not great, but this is nevertheless pretty good soothing number. The regular heroine introduction song, but Yuvan gives a masterstroke by having the sweet Shreya Ghosal croon for this song, and she takes the song to another altogether. Instrument use is consistent even though not spectacular, but the song is in the right mood, and light in general, so you could keep expectations a bit low, and just enjoy it as it plays. Interludes are also soothing.

This is good.

Seheri

Yuvan goes offbeat in his regular style in this hip romantic duet, and attains some excellent results on the way- Seheri is a winner. Toshi steals the show with his singing, and Priya's light crooning gives the song a great slow tone in the middle. Throw into the mix some western rapping in the middle, the changing intermittents are brilliantly handled by Yuvan, and this is certainly one of Yuvan's best compositions in recent times.

Very good.

Saradaga

Delightful. Nothing spectacular again, but its a delight once again. Yuvan keeps it simple in this romantic number, but gets his choice of singers spot on once again with Karthick and Sunidhi Chauhan getting behind the mike and you do not need to push singers of their calibre much to get a good number. This is yet another soothing number that bodes well with the romantic theme of the movie. Light, simple, and delightful.

Very good again.

Povodhae Prema

The pick of the album! The sad pangs in Yuvan's voice reminds you fondly of the masterful 'Oru Naalil' number from Pudhupettai- this meanwhile is a song about the separation of love. Yuvan uses a western theme for this song- which heavy usage of rock band styles of electric guitars, yet the the song retains the appropriate mood, and Yuvan's minimal usage of instruments allows him to expose his low-toned voice excellently. Largely effective in bringing the sad mood.

Excellent.

Oy Oy

The title number of the album, and it is Siddharth crooning the song by himself. Yuvan goes innovative once again, and brings out a hip, peppy number, but the lyrics could have been much better, and could have done without the repeated 'love at first sight' lyrics, which were simply un-poetic at the first place. There is a heavy usage of English words in the song as well, but Siddharth modulates well in singing this with panache.

This is good, enjoyable.

Waiting for You

Give an emotional love song to Kay Kay and he knows what to with it. The second best number of the album, Yuvan and KK almost reach the heights of 'Kathal Valarthen' with this number, though the English lyrics of 'I'm waiting for you baby' seems a little out of place in a largely well constructed poetic Telugu song. KK is simply brilliant and Yuvan knows how to use instruments to effectively compose an emotional song and he does it with total panache.

Excellent.

Overall album rating: 8/10

This is one of Yuvan's best albums in recent times, given the fact that it has been sometime since he last gave a good all round album, all the songs in Oy are worth repititive listening and grows well on any listener. Nothing spectacular, but its a very effective album that will definitely raise the anticipation for the romantic Oy! when it does come out.

Siddharth does seem to be a defining factor in extracting good music from composers who compose for his films. After bringing out a great album from SEL in KIKK, he seems to have been able to make Yuvan hit near top form in Oy!.

The Observer- Episode 6

2009-06-28T23:17:00.004+08:00

Pride and Vanity

It was yet another day in which we had finished our squashingly fun Mrs. Nagappan tuition at Methodist High School (MHS). We threw insults at each other in our regular process, went through the majority of the class Not paying attention to the teacher's lessons- Umesh had his fair bit of 'treatment' from us as usual that day- it was all in all a regular brat day we had in tuition, and it was time to go back.

My cousin brother was at Sitiawan as he studied in MHS to repeat his Form 5. so he too was attending Mrs. Nagappan's tuition classes, so that allowed me to coax my parents into giving us the bike so that we could go to tuition (I didn't have a license, so I technically couldn't and shouldn't be riding). And that was a glorifying day for all our bike riding panaches.

As my cousin brother is riding the bike, a fellow tuition-mate passed us by on her bike. HER. So it was a girl. And our pride got hurt in it, not ours, but technically, it was my pride which got hurt- 'why do you even let a girl pass you like that?' I asked him. As silent and non-responsive he was to my question- the next thing I knew he was sprinting the tyres off in overtake the girl in return, and I must mention here the girl in question wasn't an easy spring either, she was literally sprinting her way back home. Once we passed two traffic lights and still found her some good ground ahead of us, I decided to call it quits- but I wasn't the one riding the bike.

My cousin was too far immersed in it that he did not want to call it quits when it looked like an obvious 'defeat'. As if magic struck, she slowed down just before the corner to our housing area arrived. But she wouldn't slow down for no reason wouldn't she? There was a Transnasional bus which is making its way back to the road after being parked at the roadside for sometime, and she had slowed down to allow the bus to take its place. My cousin brother however kept going. I figured he must know what he was doing- he had a license afterall. But that was when I understood licences are nothing- it was too late by the time urged him to step on the brakes. He rammed his enthusiasm straight to the back of the girl's motor, but largely thanks to his pysichally tall figure, he got our bike under control, but she definitely did not share our luck. I looked back at her as she tumbled and screeched onto the road, but my cousin was too panicked to bother, he simply overtook the bus and landed me straight at our house withoutthe slightest of stops.

That is the first time I genuinely felt like a criminal. Have we killed her? That was the question which was raised in my mind. The next day, I received a phone call from Dayalan and he told me the girl has identified who had hit her, because I turned around and looked at her while she fell from grace to the tar floor. She was his friend, and she knew that he is my friend. My cousin brother was too nervous to do anything that he just blatantly handed over RM100 to me and asked me to settle with the girl. And I met her the following day, and she demanded RM50, and I was the most relieved person in the world to see that she has sustained minor bruises here and there and thats about it. However, called her a 'vanity brat' and that ringed up the compensation charges straight up to RM100. Two words later, and the compensation charge was a good RM50 more expensive. Enough said.

But what I saw the following week was a blossoming romance between my cousin (the hitter) and the girl (the hitten). And as always, I have become the negotiator for it, though this time in different dynamics. The romance did not last long though, soon enough we all went in our own ways. And we still have a laugh about what happened back then.

From then on- I dropped my own pride, and disclaimed women with an ounce too much of vanity. However cheapfully fun they may sound, both could make you hit and could make you fall (literally).

And there ended my sexist pride, when I was only 16. Now all my pride resides in who I am as a human and what I am doing to better myself. My gender is just an existing fact, I do not use it as a measurement tool of better or worse.

Love Aaj Kaal- music review

2009-06-28T12:29:00.002+08:00

Imtiaz Ali and Pritam are at it again. Bollywood has hit a dry spell of late due to the strike which was caused by the misunderstanding between multiplex owners and film producers. The much-criticised strike has finally ended, and one of the biggest releases lining up for the theaters now is 'Love Aaj Kaal', featuring Saif Ali Khan and Deepika Padukone. The film is written and directed by Imtiaz Ali, who wrote and directed the delightful 'Jab We Met' back in 2007 with Shahid Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor. And combining with him again is Pritam Chakraborthy- who gave what I personally rate as his best album to date in Jab We Met; so the expectations are pretty high for this film.

Twist

Who can forget Mauja Hi Mauja from JWM? Many think that is one of the best fast-beat feet-tapping numbers to have come out in Bollywood in past few years, and if there is any combination could better Mauja, it has to be the same people responsible for making Mauja. And Twist IS better than Mauja. Unlike Mauja, which was more straight-to-the-beat fast number; Pritam this time around gets much more innovative, using different interludes and great catchy music to compose this. As usual, Neeraj Sridhar who sings almost all of such feet tapping numbers composed by Pritam (including Mauja) does a great job in modulating to ooze superb energy to thos song. Classic Bollywood club number!

Ye Dooriyan

Well, this falls on the same lines as 'Tum Se Hi' from JWM, which was my favorite number from the JWM album, and is also one of my most favorite tracks of all time. And it has the same singer, Mohit Chauhan, who is now a oh-so-popular name is the industry after crooning 'Masakali' for AR Rahman's 'Delhi 6' album earlier this year, which turned to be immensely popular. This song, however, doesn't quite get to the heights of Tum Se Hi, but still it is a delightful song that is wirth listening to. Only that Pritam and Imtiaz have set such a high bars with numbers such as 'Aao Milo Chalo' and 'Tum Se Hi' previously, and Yen Dooriyan doesn't reach to that level, but it is good nevertheless. A lack of innovation in the intermittent portions of the song are probably the downside.

Chor Bazari

I can't remember the last time I heard a love duet as funky as this. An absolute winner all the way, Pritam's innovation once again oozes through with great results making this such a delight to hear. To opening tunes are great all the way, and once again, its Neeraj Sridhar crooning with oomph and accompanied by the energetic Sunidhi Chauhan, this number is so feet tapping it makes you feel really eager to see the picturization. Wonderful!
Main Kya Hoon

Kay Kay croons for this lightweight romantic number without attaining any much great results, its fair to say that the song is good enough just because of Kay Kay's voice and the way he sings it with typical panache. Passable.

Aahun Aahun

Wow. Thats how I reacted after listening to this song. There is Neeraj Sridhar once again, and this is simply masterful. Great usage of guitar strings mixed with a blues concept, and add to that typical Bollywood beats, and you get nothing short of a full flow flooring song. Pritam definitely is one of the best out there in creating feet tapping numbers, and in this album alone, he creates three great ones, Twist, Chor Bazari, and now Aahun Aahun. Watch out for Neeraj Sridhar's chaging modulations in this song. Perfect.

Thoda Thoda Pyar

Sunidhi Chauhan sings this number, which, in many ways, is all to similar to Yeh Ishq Hai from JWM. However, just like how Ye Dooriyan fared in comparison to Tum Se Hi, this sing failed to replicate such heights of Yeh Ishq Hai, and we end up getting a good and decent but ultimately unpectacular number.

Verdict: Watch out for 31st July, 'cause this film has the potential to rock. JWM will still remain Pritam's best work to date in my eyes, and had the melody department been improvised better, this album could have outdone JWM. However, this album is phenomenal taking into count only its fast numbers, with all three of them proving to be great winners.

With Love, for MJ.

2009-06-28T11:57:00.003+08:00

The most famous ephiphet I have heard since the demise of Michale Jackson three days ago was the term- his will live through his music. But the deeper I gave this term a long and hard thought, I realized we can only be hypocrites for using the term again and again.

We humans never let him live his life as a human at the first place. Just like how succinctly Vishal Dadlani put shortly after MJ's death- MJ was a God, then Angel, and then downright branded as a Devil. Where is the human being? MJ is one of us, flawed, a man with weaknesses as much as his strengths. Yes, he was talented and had a gift that was totally out of this world when it comes to entertaining others. He was definitely the very first truly global superstar, his flag waved all the way from LA to down here in Asia, his impact was incomparable. We robbed him of his privacy, we robbed him of his dignity, we robbed his right to live like a regular human being, and now, we have covered up well with a good term for extracting from him his true gift- music. Yes, we have drained this man by taking everything away from him- we profited from his mind-blowing music, we danced to his tunes, and we had a great time. But he was always a separate entity from us- nobody put their arms around shoulders when he was hurt and in pain, when he was dragged down the mud as a pervert. Pain or delight, he had to handle it all by himself. He was alone. And he did so well in handling that.

The first thing that fondly comes to my mind when thinking back about MJ's life is the song 'Will You be There'- where there is a line which goes like 'they say a man should be strong, and walk when not able, when im only human'. He asked whether we will be there for him, and were we? Were we there for him when he needed us? I wrote in my previous entry about Man in the Mirror, that MJ gave back to the world so much from what he took from it. But what about us humans? We took his music, rejoiced in it, got inspired in it, danced to it, and what we gave the man back in return?

Michael Jackson did not depart from us, God simply took him away from us because We do not deserve to rejoice in watching him give us one last hurrah on stage in London. No, it has nothing to do with what he deserves. WE do not deserve it. We did not appreciate enough the gift that was bestowed upon us- a gift called Michael Joseph Jackson. The world and the media battered him and bruised him with their treatment of him, all because he was too good to be true. A kind child dressed in the shoes of a 50-year-old man, a sensitive, soft man, who talks and acts like nothing more than a big kid, with the purest of intentions. He wants to entertain, make other people happy, make other kids happy, help other people, give money to those in need- and his most Childish act is that he wanted to change the world and make it a better place. And all the term we could give him for all that he was in his life was- FREAK.

Those who were in need took his money, the children who needed help and company enjoyed his presence in their life and all the generous things he dedicated and provided to them, his children enjoyed the overwhelming love he gave them, we all took his music and enjoyed, but what he got from all of us? Fame? Money? Fame is something that wasn't exactly a good thing in MJ's life, and the money he earned was earnestly given back to those who needed them. He was a man who thought more about others than for himself, and the screwed up world we live in had taken full advantage of him.

MJ- you are God's favorite child for sure, and we do not deserve you in this earth anymore because we are just bunch of hypocrites who failed to appreciate your presence.

And I will not remember you for your music- not your music alone. I will remember you for the Love and concern and care you had for this world, and I will remember you for the great man and human you were.

Love you always. You will live in the drips of my soul.

Delhi 6- beyond the hype.

2009-05-12T09:21:00.003+08:00

Thankfully I wasn't sucked into all the hype of this film and just watched it months after its release, after the dust had settled down with the immense flak it was receiving. But to put it succinctly, the only thing wrong about Delhi 6 is that Rakesh Mehra made it after RDB. Period. Nothing more, nothing less.

Had Rakesh opted to depart from the norm and do a completely different genre of a film- yes, then maybe, he would have pulled it off well, but a film like Delhi 6, which had the shades of RDB in it, certainly is not the wisest of choices for a follow up. Delhi 6 is like a toned-down RDB, less impacting, much more mellow, and just like anything- its expectations that would hinder one from enjoying it. From the way it had been criticized, I was expecting a heavily metaphorical film with abstract narration all over- I wasn't expecting much, and thats exactly why I give it a 9, because it exceeded my low expectations.

I couldn't help but to think that the film is receiving this flak because of the strong anti-Abhishek sentiment, with many feeling that Abhi hadn't been aggressive enough in the film. But, thats the whole point of the film. That precisely is the USP of the film. Roshan is not a participant, the entire film is a journey through Roshan's eyes as to how he transformed from a mere observer of the society and later on became an active participant. He may not be your regular society-changing hero, but that is exactly Rakesh's intentions in this film. To just show to the audiences what he himself had seen through his eyes.

The film's theme is also very self-reflective. The only major metaphor of the film is about self-reflection. It is a direct satire commentary- sending a clear message that we fail to look in the mirrors to see the evil and good inside us, and instead we believe that God will do the good, and that your neighbor or the person across the street is the evil element. It may had made some feel uncomfortable watching this film as well, as it prompts you to take a look in the mirror. One need not take a long, hard look to understand the so-called 'too metaphorical' way in which this film has been done. Yes, there is a metaphor, but its a well done metaphor, not one that is difficult to comprehend or one which is too abstract.

Admittedly, the film does have its flaws, editing could have been slicker to say the least, there are parts which simply drag the length beyond much necessity- but here I have to credit Binod Pradhan for capturing the essence of Delhi. The last time I was transported to a location in which a film is based on was in the 2006 Tamil film Paruthi Veeran, which took me to the dry, dusty, vast open village in Madurai, and Delhi 6 follows suit. I was at Chandi Chowk, or to put it simply, I felt like I was transported to Delhi 6 myself with Binod's camera-work capturing everything about the city.

Music is certainly great as usual by AR Rahman, but again, Delhi 6 required more silence than noise, thus the entire film was made in a similar way, passive characters- passive, slow music, there's something about the city that is always larger than the people, thats what Rakesh had showed in this film. 'Dil Gira Gaaftan' however, came somewhat needlessly, while 'Kaala Bandar' and 'Gehnda Pool' were shot without much fuss and just relied on Abhi's body language to be pictured, which he certainly did well. Being a Hindu, 'Arziyan' was such a serene listening experience that it became one of my favorite all-time songs, and I was glad the song came repeatedly in the whole film and was an essential backbone to the picture.

Some characters could have been developed in more depth, but the assortment of characters, especially those of Boman Irani, Atul Kulkarni, and Om Puri were all interesting to watch and definitely went well with me. Unlike many other viewers, I wasn't expecting typical Bolly romance build up between Abhi and Sonam thus I wasn't disappointed there as well. Sonam is just another assortment along with many other characters, and Roshan happens to fall in love with her- period.And i think she did well enough for the screen time she was given. And the film essentially lacked in showing the 'good people' inside the characters essentially. When Abhi says 'Indian works, the people make it work'- the second part of that phrase is eluded and underdeveloped throughout this film, and this is why I'm taking a star off my rating.
8.68/10

I would readily buy a Delhi 6 DVD when it comes out and keep it in my collection. It might be one of the very few films that is heavily criticized by the so-called pros but loved by me. But, heck, I enjoyed it, and I don't mind watching it again and again and again.

Yeh Delhi He Mere Yaar, Bas Ishq Mohabbat Pyaar

Luck by Chance- a Review

2009-05-11T13:33:00.002+08:00

When I first heard about Luck by Chance in the making, I already had a positive expectation of the film due to the names associated with them. Farhan Akhtar seems to be knowing very well what he is doing nowadays, and it would be interesting to see how Zoya, his younger sister fares as a director.

To begin with, I did not find the storyline much novel from the many films about the movie industry and stardom which I have seen before. Instead, it was a totally predictable film- almost nothing caught be by much surprise, except the final reels of the film, which culminated to a highly sensible ending. I was expecting a run-of-the-mill happy ending but the way Zoya wrote the climax has to be applauded immensely as it made the whole experience of watching this film something to cherish.

The first and final scene of this film reveals that this film is all about the development of one character- Konkona Sen Sharma's Sona Mishra. The film starts with her journey to filmdom, the wandering wannabe actor who entered her life, charmed her, and thanks to her hand, managed to make his success, and later strayed away with the usual addictions stardom provides. But amidst all this, there is Sona, finding a reason for optimism all the time, and how she finally finds happiness by just doing what she loves to do everyday and not concerning herself with the desperate chase for stardom.

Farhan and Konkona were both splendid to say the least, and Farhan should be applauded for taking up a grey role and not a typical hunk role and playing it to perfection. His is a flawed, human character in every way possible. Konkona meanwhile is someone that had always proved her acting credentials right, and she could proudly tally in Luck by Chance into her list of wonderful performances.Among others, Rishi Kapoor and Dimple Kapadia simply own their roles, while Isha Sharvani does an adequate job. However, the only flaw in terms of characterization seems to be Juhi Chawla's Minty- a character which does not have any kind of substance. Or it could be that her character is a metaphorical parody, but that parody definitely missed me by.

Javed Akhtar's dialogues are a great backbone to the film, but certainly Zoya pulls off a more than convincing directorial debut with LBC. Though she could obviously improve few more aspects of her film-making, she did a commendable job for a newcomer, and just like her brother, had the conviction to leave stereotypes and do a different film as her very first (Farhan did Dil Chahta Hai).

All in all, LBC is a mellow, meaningful drama about stardom, success, failures, and doing what you love to do. A good film laced with an important message which is not preached but instead slowly treated to the audience- definitely worth one (or two) views at least.

Rating: 8/10

Veronika Decides to Die

2009-04-21T11:34:00.005+08:00

Are you ready to be uncomfortable?

Because that is exactly what Paulo Coelho's Veronika Decides to Die does to any reader. Challenge heavily their pre-set notions about life, death and insanity and explore the psyche of human beings in a deep and disturbing manner. If you think you have had insanity figured out well, then this book will do well to make you question yourself- because unlike Paulo's previous works, VDTD doesn't coat itself in a fairytale nor fable sequence that makes it an escape metaphor for a reader- instead, this book is straight out of life- by a matter of fact, it is indeed inspired by the real life story of a Slovenian woman.

VDTD deeply reveals and explores the system of working in human's minds, our systems that we set for ourselves, and also our notions- and the film equally travels in depth within the minds of psychiatric patients as well as the doctors and nurses who work in a psychaitric hospital.

Veronika is a young woman who works in a library in Slovenia and believes that her life is of no significance at all. The novel starts in a pulsating manner- straight up with a suicide attempt. Veronika attempts to kill herself, only to be admitted in the city's most notorious pyschiatric hospitals after surviving, and discovering that she actually has less than a week left to live because her heart has been severely damaged by the poison that she had consumed.

The novel deeply explores the psyche of many other patients in the hospital, including 'The Fraternity', a group of patients who are medically healed but choose to stay on in the hospital as they have gotten used to the inside environment.

This book will leave you disturbed for one, and will open you up to avenues of questioning life and the regular notions of the 'normal' society to add up.

A provocative, powerful novel this is. Brilliant work from Paulo!

What is beyond us?

2009-04-21T11:19:00.000+08:00

A couple of days ago, I received a shuddering phone call from a dear female friend and colleague of mine who had had her house burglared by two amateur robbers, who, instead of literally burglaring the house and snatching all the money they could take from the house, were more intent in getting to her, while she managed to lock herself inside her kitchen door. The story certainly suggests a much more perverted intent in the mind of these robbers instead of doing what they came to do. And there’s little surprise in guessing that these robbers are Indians. I wished I was going to be wrong when I asked her whether ‘they are Indians?’ but unfortunately my instinct is right.

For me, it begged a huge disappointment knowing yet another event has occurred that will not help the already huge stereotypes I face as an Indian, even though that incident will only as much as add as little pint of darker paint in the already large canvas of a very, very bad drawing of all the Indians of Malaysia. Talk about robbers, gangsters, drugs, and any-kind of rowdy attitudes, Indians almost automatically almost immediately come first to the picture of many other Malaysians, and not to exclude the higher-class well-educated Malaysian Indians, from which a certain portion of them try to alter their identity as much as possible so that they do not be identified as Indians. Another female friend of mine- who is a lifelong critique of Indians’ general attitude in this country; is also a person who feels uncomfortable being spotted in public wearing a saree or a Punjabi suit for that matter. Even though it disappoints me that she doesn’t find her own heritage appealing enough, it is logical enough to understand why she decides to be as distanced as possible from being Indian. Not to forget how I felt when a high-class Chinese girl scouting the house I’m renting to rent a room for herself (at a time when I wasn’t in the house), scoffed after learning that an Indian lives downstairs in the house, and rejected the house ‘just because’ she has to live with an Indian boy, whereas she was more than comfortable living with two other Chinese guys. I could brand this as a racist attitude, but let’s not forget that part of racism stems from how we carry ourselves in the social spectrum. The death of A.Kugan that stormed the layman Malaysian Indian community in the country recently is another proof that there is little use of Indians complaining and getting disgruntled. We are being stereotyped as criminals? Yes, it is sad, but it also the truth that many of us are indeed resorting to crime when life doesn’t offer a road of escapism, and we find it convenient to place the blame on the government, on the alleged marginalization, and the racism that surrounds us.

As Malaysian Human Resources Minister S. Subramaniam has quoted, unemployment is easily pushing Malaysian Indians to the furor of crime. But we seek help from all the external factors around us- it is of essential need for us to help ourselves before expecting a hand from others. As the famous saying goes- ‘God only helps them who help themselves’. No matter how far we go in arguing the core to our problems, it is beyond denial and the best solution will always have to be attained ‘within’ us rather than around us. We can’t expect the society to paint a much better picture of us unless we demonstrate our will to be the change rather than just expecting change around us. Gandhi didn’t say ‘be the change’ for no valid reason.

Our wrath and dissatisfaction has been more often than not been focused on the government and also on the bumiputra quotas that are existent in this country. But little do we acknowledge the fact that we are not the only non-Bumis who reside in the country, there are many others- especially the Chinese community. Why, then, do we come across as the community with the most problems, most issues, and also as the community which occupy the bad pages in the annals of the Malaysian community?

I used to bounce a shadowing, indirect question to my regular Indian former schoolmates during short conversations- why Chinese people always seem to be better off? And in most of the times, I would get the same reply- because they are Chinese. Are Chinese men born with special wings that stamps them as gifted businessmen from the word go? When the Chinese community are always able to better and improve themselves and survive in this society- why, then, can’t we do the same? There is nothing here which is racially born. No traits were born specifically for one skin color- we merely create those traits and confine ourselves to those traits- we set a certain limit, and we think that is as far as we can go. Probably the time has arrived for us to take a step further and see for ourselves what our real potential is. All we need to do is to stop blaming external forces for our failures or turbulences- we are the reason for everything happens around us. And if we change our attitude, that is all it takes to see a different society all together. We throng within the thousands of crowds to offer a prayer to God every now and then, and spend loads of money that could, so easily, instead be spent in contributing those in our own community who are in need of it. We contradict ourselves as we find convenient time to gamble, get into financial trouble, get drunk and creating havoc and painting a bad picture of you and everyone of your kind. If we quit whining and get our acts straight, then our potentials are limitless.

Another worrying aspect is the level of unity among our community. The so-called ‘class gap’ is pretty apparent in our society- from an English-speaking Indian couple scoffing and ridiculing a bunch of fellow Indian workers who do not know how to speak proper English, and in return, incurring the dissatisfaction of the working-class individuals who perceive arrogance from such a couple. Before you scoff at your own kind, you might as well consider the cirmcumstances that the person you are talking with might have gone through in his/her childhood. And in return, the individual across the spectrum might as well take will to improve him/herself so not to get ridiculed again instead of holding a grudge against people who think they are better than him/her.

And what happened at my friend’s house is just yet another addition to the long list of self-destructive acts we have done so successfully in curbing our own potentials, and in clamping down a potential hand that will aid us so that we will grow together. Why do we give up so easily? That is the question we need to start asking ourselves. And if you have not given up, show the people of your kind that you have not given up on them instead- a little lamp in a room full of darkness indeed lights up the whole room.

Lets all together knock on life’s door so that it will open up for us- and later we shall earn the respect and dignity we all think we deserve. Let’s not expect a hand to carry us out from mud, let’s all offer each other the hands to get ourselves off the mud. Let’s all realize our potential.

Ram Anand,

30 March 2009

Finally gotcha!

2009-04-20T21:01:00.003+08:00

I had been seriously lamenting the fact that HBO, Cinemax, and Star Movies seem to have gone on a little stale procedure during the week in which I was back at my hometown- and there was no denying, watching these three channels are among the main things I look forward to everytime I return. It was more of a case of I asked a table, and I was given a chair. Repeated showings of Stuart Little as if it was a film released just last year, Norbit (gross comedy), and also Failure to Launch certainly didn't serve my purpose of going back. Add to that Cinemax's sudden obsession with showing Steven Seagal flicks repeatedly around primetime, and also a prolonged showing of M. Night Shyamalan's second worst work to date- Lady in the Water.

I waited and waited and almost gave up everytime I see the info for primetime- it has always managed to dissapoint me- up until Saturday, when I got what I bargained for, even though not completely.

First up, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.

This 1988 comedy stars two of the most enigmatic screen actors I have become fond of seeing in Hollywood- Steve Martin and Michael Caine. The very fact that those two were featuring was a good enough reason for me to finally sit through an entire movie (something which I did not do the previous week), and I have to say I enjoyed it to the tilt. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is simply your regular popcorn movie with enough twists and turns to make it and engrossing watch, and two power packed performances by Caine and Martin carries the film to the highest echeleon of entertainment. This film could have so easily have become another one if the many slapstick comedies in offering, but the duo both give a restricted yet utlimately and intelligently funny performance as two con men who try to outdo each other in conning a 'soap queen'. The film's setting in a small French town also helps the film a great deal, and even though at one point the film seemed to drift into a humanity prospect with Caine's pity for the woman he is cheating- the track soon reveals itself to reach a perfect crsecendo to a good entertainer.

And then, came In Bruges.

If a small French town and two con men was the anthem of DRS, the small, historic Belgian town of Bruges and two hit men is the anthem of 'In Bruges', a 2008 dark crime comedy which marks the film debut of Irish playwrighter Martin McDonagh. Colin Farrell has done well to put his notorious image behind him finally, with a performance that really revels the actor in him in this silent, slow film about a hit men's desperate questions about redemption, life, sins and goodness after killing a child accidentally in London while completing his first assignment. I've been waiting to see it for quite some time now given the fact that the film is in the IMDb's top 250 list, and thus to be seeing it on the eve of my departure back to KL is like a goodbye blessing. And I wasn't dissapointed a bit. At times I thought the film is the kind of film I have seen before, but the film's distinctive setting and mood always offer something different, and needless to say, it is really funny at most parts, and tragic (almost heartbreaking) at the others.

And within the one and half hour span, the film excellently explores three characters that of Brendan Gleeson, Ralph Fiennes, and also Colin Farrell and also portrays the relationship they have with each other magnificently.

In Bruges certainly comes close to one of my all-time favorites- Punch Drunk Love- in terms of unique presentation that sees the film create a mood of its own not stuck into any particular genre.

And then the mini movie fest. Another tick in my list of having watched a top-ranked Hollywood flick. End of.

Everybody's fine, finally

2009-04-13T09:34:00.002+08:00

Its been a really long time since I last blogged, because it indeed has been an awful long time since I had a clear conscience regarding my ideas- few convoluted feelings here and there- for which the answers I'm still searching for- certainly didn't help much.

Thankfully, Madhavan did the trick to have me writing as my usual self again, after watching 'Yavarum Naalam', his horror thriller directed by Vikram Kumar. After watching a dud named 'Ayan' last week, I was left starving with the prospect of watching a good film and hence finnaly came in 'YN', and brilliantly so. Of course, Yaravum.. is no Sixth Sense, but it is by far the best horror film I have seen in Indian cinema in the past 10 years in which I have been watching this cinema industry.

Thanks to some fancy cameraworks by PC Sriram and some slick editing by Sreekar Prasad, the veterans certainly did their job well in adding oomph to this thriller- given the fact that the film doesn't have many aspects about it which are too novel in comparison with other horror films. This is not the film that will scare you nevertheless, so we could take out the horror equation a little, however, the film does have a fair share of twists and turns that keeps you glued to your seat till the final reels.

I had hoped to catch the Hindi version though, as much of the film has the characters speaking more Hindi than Tamil, thus the Hindi version might have looked more original in every sense, rather than the Tamil one which looked like a modified dubbing. Madhavan is terrific in his lead role, and he carried the entire film convincingly on his shoulders. I had just said this to my friend recently- and I would repeat it again- Madhavan is a very successful actor in his own ways- somebody who knows how not to get stuck in a certain image mould. He may not rake in as much moolah or star power as the Vijays or Vikrams or Ajiths do, but he certainly knows what he is doing, and YN is a good testament to this. Vikram Kumar's directorial abilities is surprising given the fact that he was the same person who unspectacularly directed the 2005 Simbhu- Trisha flop 'Alai' (Yes, I know its shocking). From somebody who made 'Alai' to somebody who made 'YN', definitely he has grown immensely in stature over the years. Hope to see more good work for him. But certainly for someone who directed such a dud as his first, he is fortunate enough to have a bandwagon of veteran technicians coming into vital roles in this film, and taking it a notch higher in terms of picture quality.

Shankar Ehsaan Loy's music is adequate, though the film could have done without songs.

Everybody's fine, Dr. Balu.

Rating: 8.5/10

Law executives without brains?

2009-03-31T19:17:00.004+08:00

I've (We) seen many events across the world that sometimes makes you to wonder if some people on top of order in certain organizations or even country hierarchy for that matter actually, do use brains and are qualified enough to be who they proclaim to be- leaders. And this is much more prominent in the alleged 'Third World' countries, a term that simply doesn't please me to any kind of extent.

Well, I shall drop my political views of global economical stability and balance here- this is not the place to make those arguments. But, just to think, that there are really incompetent leaders in some underdeveloped countries holding important positions is scary. I'm not talking about dictatorship or mass murders- those are acts of those in power greed, but instead the acts of some law executives that borders of plain stupidity at times.

A couple of days ago, at Abidijan, Cote d'Iviore (known popularly as Ivory Coast), a panicked crowd in a packed 50,000-strong capacity stadium caused the stadium wall in one side to collapse, resulting in the tragic death of 22 people (numbers still counting, official counts are not yet revealed). And I would also have to mention here all the big newscasting channels certainly did not carry this news with any primary importance because its just another event of despair in a region which is, by large, perceived with great disregard or lack of respect in a global scale. And luckily, those who died are people who came to watch a football game- and that is exactly the reason why I've managed to get hold of the news with a big headline in soccer websites.

First of all, could you imagine the blatant lack of organization that the country leaders have placed in a country which is the home for six Barclays Premier League footballers and is highly regarded as the rising football power of Africa? Not even having a proper ticketing system installed so that the fans could get into the stadium and take proper seats inside the very same stadium which the government had just recently built and upgraded to its current size is an insult to the way in which the hierarchy works, or even for that matter, thinks.

Fine, I shall excuse them for such shallow thinking. But the police? Imagine a situation when such a strong crowd begin panicking in a stadium that doesn't have a proper ticketing system and people have to literally qeue long hours to attain their seats from outside the stadium; what should the well-placed police force (just as they are placed as security measurements in all the stadiums across the world) do? It doesn't ever enter a little drip of my logic or even a hypothethical beyond-logic thinking that how, in such a situation, the police deemed it fit to fire TEAR GAS into a panicking crowd? Just how did they come up with such a brilliant idea?

1. Do they know what a tear gas is?
2. Do they know what it does to people?
3. Tear gas is used to clear a crowd, then how will you clear a crowd if you stand at the very exit of the stadium and fire tear gas on the crowd?
4. Where are the fans supposed to run? On the pitch?
5. Are they even trained policemen?
6. Did somebody tell them they can use tear gas at anytime they feel fit?
7. Ultimate question- do they have brains?

I have no clue how the policemen of this state even became one if they think they can take such a drastic, inexcusable action. Blame has to squarely land on their feet, of course, because it is their tear gas that caused an already panicking crowd to go hysterical with people literally stamping each other, and if a stampede causes some casualties already- it was exarcebated as the fans, desperately trying to escape their gas, ran to the wall of the stadium, causing it to ingraciously collapse and kill 22 on the spot and severely injure many more others.

Where are the brains, any enlightening?

I'm looking at the man in the mirror

2009-03-28T23:05:00.002+08:00

People have said thousands of things about him. They have hailed him a legend and dragged him down the mud as a pervert. But I am completely aware of the very fact that we live in a society when a man seems to perfect to be true, there is always a couple of heads roaming around wanting to prove that he is human after all. They may be right. They may be wrong. But what they will not take away from me is my Michael Jackson. A man, who is, for me, well and truly a legend, not only for his music, but for everything that he had done in his life. For MJ, music wasn't a profession, it was well and truly him, his own self. It was a gift planted and seeded in the body of this humble man,and here was a man who knew how responsible he had to be in order to share that gift with the whole world, share the gift with those who need it, and a man who has given back to the world so much of what he took from it. Today, I realize it has been 21 years since MJ and written 'Man in the Mirror', a song which embodies everything that MJ was all about- an inspirational figure, and if you still had doubts in your mind as to why he is the king of pop, this video might answer it:

This was much more than a song for me personally, its not that regular feet-tapping number you have, but instead a number that will move you to the extent of giving you goosebumps every time you watch how the audiences respond to his songs. But I am not writing this down to prove why MJ is a king or legend or why this is such a good song. Instead, a song that well and truly stays in the heart of many music listeners 21 years after its release- a song that has gathered nearly an accumulated 10 million hits in YouTube, is certainly no small song. It speaks for itself.

"Man In The Mirror"

I'm Gonna Make A Change,
For Once In My Life
It's Gonna Feel Real Good,
Gonna Make A Difference
Gonna Make It Right . . .

As I, Turn Up The Collar On My
Favourite Winter Coat
This Wind Is Blowin' My Mind
I See The Kids In The Street,
With Not Enough To Eat
Who Am I, To Be Blind?
Pretending Not To See
Their Needs
A Summer's Disregard,
A Broken Bottle Top
And A One Man's Soul
They Follow Each Other On
The Wind Ya' Know
'Cause They Got Nowhere
To Go
That's Why I Want You To
Know

I'm Starting With The Man In
The Mirror
I'm Asking Him To Change
His Ways
And No Message Could Have
Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World
A Better Place
Take A Look At Yourself, And
Then Make A Change

I've Been A Victim Of A Selfish
Kind Of Love
It's Time That I Realize
That There Are Some With No
Home, Not A Nickel To Loan
Could It Be Really Me,
Pretending That They're Not
Alone?

A Willow Deeply Scarred,
Somebody's Broken Heart
And A Washed-Out Dream
They Follow The Pattern Of
The Wind, Ya' See
Cause They Got No Place
To Be
That's Why I'm Starting With
Me

(You Gotta Get It Right, While
You Got The Time)
('Cause When You Close Your
Heart)
You Can't Close Your . . .Your
Mind!
(Then You Close Your . . .
Mind!)
That Man, That Man, That
Man, That Man
With That Man In The Mirror
(Man In The Mirror, Oh Yeah!)
That Man, That Man, That Man
I'm Asking Him To Change
His Ways
(Better Change!)
You Know . . .That Man
No Message Could Have
Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World
A Better Place
(If You Wanna Make The
World A Better Place)
Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make A Change
(Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make A Change)
Gonna Feel Real Good Now!

Oh No, No No . . .
I'm Gonna Make A Change
It's Gonna Feel Real Good!
Come On!
(Change . . .)
Just Lift Yourself
You Know
You've Got To Stop It.
Yourself!
(Yeah!-Make That Change!)
I've Got To Make That Change,
Today!
Hoo!
(Man In The Mirror)
You Got To
You Got To Not Let Yourself . . .
Brother . . .
Hoo!
(Yeah!-Make That Change!)
You Know-I've Got To Get
That Man, That Man . . .
(Man In The Mirror)
You've Got To
You've Got To Move! Come
On! Come On!
You Got To . . .
Stand Up! Stand Up!
Stand Up!
(Yeah-Make That Change)
Stand Up And Lift
Yourself, Now!
(Man In The Mirror)
Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!
Aaow!
(Yeah-Make That Change)
Gonna Make That Change . . .
Come On!
(Man In The Mirror)
You Know It!
You Know It!
You Know It!
You Know . . .
(Change . . .)
Make That Change!

Critiques of this man are aloft. But I do not need many arguments to simplify how strong I feel about this man. When this man has sung the song that I hold so dear to my heart when I was still in my mother's womb (literally), could he be anything else than a legend for me? When that particular song has been one of the few other songs that I hear everytime I'm in dire need of inspiration and meaning in life, and when the song gives me that inspiration and allows me to pick myself up and continue in my quest to reach my dream, could this man be anything other than a legend to me? And could any body deny that when an artist manages to inspire a boy he had never even seen, heard or even been aware of, with a song he wrote even before the boy was born- until the stage where the boy is on the brink of touching his own dream- that the artist in question is a legend? Because I believe that is what the best artists and true legends could do- give you inspiration beyond borders, beyond time and fractions. And no matter what others may see unfit about this man- I'd say that if I am successful tomorrow, that this man has played a big part in helping me to it- just through what he does best. And when any man in the world has had the ability to inspire another person as much in their lives- then it makes them legends in their own rights. And I know I'm not the only one inspired by MJ. For that, he is a true legend and icon.

21 years later, I still look in the mirror everyday and ask that man to change for the better, to improve everyday, for I want to make this world a better place, and I shall be the change.

Poi Solla Porom- A deception to Tamil cinema trends

2009-03-25T00:44:00.002+08:00

'Poi Solla Porom' is essentially the Tamil remake of the 2006 Bollywood small-budget sleeper hit Khosla ka Ghosla which featured Anupam Kher and also Boman Irani in the lead roles. I expected some typical mish-mashing of a good product when it is transformed into Tamil, but I ended up being surprised to the tilt and PSP offers plenty of joy, laughter and above all refreshments. There are many aspects in PSP worth noticing:

1. Its the first Tamil movie I've seen that credits the original which it was inspired from.
2. The film in the name of comedy doesn't provide crude, dumbed-down, slapstick jokes.
3. The film's director, Vijay, despite having given a big hit with a big star before this takes the unconventional route of making a film with low budget such as this.
4. The film doesn't cast any major stars despite being a remake.
5. It genuinely tickles your funny bones with some wonderful comedic sequences.
6. The film has a music video (which is not part of the film) used for promotional purposes.

PSP is basically the story about a middle class man Sathyanathan (Nedumudi Venu) whose only dream is to build a house on a newly acquired plot in Chennai and provide good home for his three children, including his USA-bound computer engineering son Uppilinathan (Karthick Kumar). He gets deceived by land broker Vijayakumar (Cochin Hanifa), who plots up with erronous villain and land magnet Baby (Nassar), who hold Sathyanathan's land to hostage for further extra payment. The family try all legal means to attain the rightful property but are unable to get it. That is when Uppili seeks help from his visa agent (Baski Bhaskar), who reveals that he is a former ally of Baby and knows how to knock Baby off his own porch. Uppili seeks help from his girlfriend Amrutha (Piaa Bajpai), who is part of a drama troup run by her 136 theatre awards winning father (Mouli), who is famously referred by everyone as 'Daddy'. Daddy poses as a NRI from Dubai and attempts to sell off a long-abandoned land reserved for the Fisheries Department as a genuine land to Baby in order to use Baby's own money to pay off the remains they need to get back theur plot, resulting in hillarious consequences.

One of the greatest strength of PSP is that the film simply doesn't use any stars, and there is a huge continental Malayali and small-screen flavor to the cast, which makes it absolutely refreshing to watch. Everybody performs with panache. Nedumudi Venu is adequate in taking over Anupam Kher's role from the original, but the real scene stealers are actors who haven't got that much of attention in the mainstream Tamil film industry. Mouli is brilliant in his role, and it makes you wonder why you do not see him in many other Tamil films, and same goes to TV host Baski Bhaskar, who plays his role with absolute panache, and its insulting to such a talent to recall that the last time I saw him on screen was in 'Youth' back in 2002. He really ought to be in more films as well. Cochin Haneefa and Nassar are simply priceless. Cochin Haneefa is his usual self, providing sarcasm and hands-on deception, playing the perfect humor-bound bad man, but Nassar is simply class and steals the show all the way, and its again dissapointing to notice that an actor of his quality are wasted in pedestrian roles the tons of regular Tamil flicks that come out every now and then. I doubted for a while that Nassar may have lost the ability to play a good role when it comes his way- but PSP proves the point. From simple gestures such as constantly trying to pull up his pants to fit his waistline up until lusting over a grass-cutting woman in his own style dissimilar to many other villans who are shown lusting after every young woman, its 'Brand Nassar' all the way. Karthick Kumar fits the role to the T as well. Piaa Bajpai as a newcomer certainly has some delightful charm that makes her get noticed, but she certainly has to work more on that lip-synching (terrible again, sigh), but she certainly can act.

Vijay handles the film with a distinct flavor, he justifies its original but also makes good alterations to fit the southern flavor, even though he could have done without the songs. Its wonderful to see UTV Motion Pictures debuting in Tamil, and they have stayed true to the production philosophy that has brought them so much success over the past couple of years in Bollywood, by producing low budget films that give more scope to creativity and substance, and giving talented directors the complete space to express their artistic visions (e.g. Dev D, Rang de Basanti, A Wednesday, and Aamir to name a few).

PSP is also a standing proof that Tamil cinema is not deprived because if the lack of talent, as the film stands as a glaring testament that the best of talents are never utilized enough. More of this brand of humor in Tamil please, and more from UTV for Tamil cinema please.

Rating: 8.5/10

Love or a well-discussed arrangement?

2009-03-18T13:28:00.006+08:00

I was at my cousin's place for the weekend and I happened to fall in an argument with her (or call it a debate) as to whether love exists or not. It all started from my declaration of my favorite all-time film, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Wondering why that film was my favorite film- she asked what makes that film so special, to which I answered with a recurring statement- 'the film describes love in the best way possible'.

Then it begun. All kind of questions were thrown into the debate basket- does love exist? or is it just a negotiation between two people? what is idealism? what is realism? does the current system of this world work? do we need currency in our lives? Even though I'm not a natural debater to express everything to her outright at the midst of my other cousin (her brother) slamming his book and packing his stationaries unable to bear with our argument at the dinner table, now I'm taking time to analyse each of these arguments, and in many senses, try to re-affirm my beliefs to what she thinks is only a form of 'idealism' as opposed to her 'realism'.

1. Love, yes or no?

Well, any arguments or debates in this world wouldn't get better than this. Does love exist? Probably one of the most famous questions in the world over. Her argument is that love doesn't exist and happy marriages are made on the basis of a well-negotiated agreement, or to put it more succinctly, it is an arranged compromise. She asked me to deliver solid proof that love exists, but for sure, for a person who dismissed the notion of love itself, every instances of love would instead look like a mere 'negotiated arrangement'. Once you are able to put yourself into the shoes of a conspiracy theorist, then it would be very hard to break the mold of looking at every pretext in the way they would want to look at it. Lust exists, attraction exists, infatuation exists, but love doesn't exist. The simple truth is when lust, attraction, and infatuation are all molded into one at a particular time conspiring with your age, your personal satisfaction, and your spiritual faith- that is when love knocks on your door. That is when her other argument comes into motion- that love, unlike sadness or anger or happiness, is not an emotion that could be shown for the obvious to witness. As I have always described, love is 'infinite'- you can't cap an obvious emotion to it- it literally makes you do everything- from every hook to crook, from banging your head on a wall to becoming oblivious to what the person next to you is saying. And for someone who chooses to not believe and blind themselves off, then every move of love will have some other name. Love for parents shall become respect, love for someone shall become attraction, love in a relationship shall become infatuation, love during marriage will become a negotiated compromise, and everything around it. As simply as I had put it to her, she has not experienced love before, so it would hard to describe about it someone who do not know the depth of such a feeling. Love is the wheel of our lives- and it is from this immense feeling stems respect, infatuation, attraction, and even the perceived agreements. Love is the whole idea which branches to all of our emotions and feelings, and I would always put it generally, Love is God for our emotions. And if she does not she the master emotion of all our emotions, it would be hard to provide solid, eye-meeting proof to her that love exists. The best I could ever do to prove to her is by showing her that love exists in my life and I have used it as the wheel to make a better person.

And thus, we have a bet on our shores now, ten years down the road, the only way I would prove to her that love exists is by publicly declaring my love for my future gf/wife to demonstrate the existence of complete love in my life.

2. The frame of idealism and realism (absolute)

Everybody's reality differs from each other. My cousin thinks that her mind frame exists within the sphere of realism while my believe in love and the the superficial elements of life basically renders (in her view) me in a sphere of only idealism. My argument is a simple, yet subjective statement- that nothing is absolute. Thus, I firmly dismissed the notion that she lives in a reality while I live in a certain idealism that doesn't exist (yet, which I have to prove to her- see the bet above). As much as she refuses to believe to believe that my view of the world forms a concrete reality- I too refuse to believe her love-absent reality is concrete reality. Thus, her realism shall remain an idealism and my idealism shall remain my idealism, till I show her that my idealism blends well with reality. But as I have told her- the point of living life in its very essence is about making those journeys, reaching those goals, building great relationships, and to ultimately fulfill your potential and contribute back to the world as much as you can- financially or spiritually. And I firmly believe that my idealism would be able to help me make the complete journey of fulfilling my journey and finding the ultimate purpose of my life. That said, an idealism that brings you places and makes you somebody important can't possibly be dismissed from the notion of reality?

Once again, its up to me to prove it, as much as it is up to her to prove her idealism at the moment really is a part of concrete reality.

3. System works?

My most radical question, my most radical thought, on which 70 out of 100 people, or even more, would disagree with me- our system is flawed. Our living system. The way in which we have created our society which at the end of the day creates a certain routine in which people have the tendency to follow. When you are children- worry about your manners, and later your studies. When you are a teenager- worry about your academic achievements, and when you are an adult- toil hard in order to gain recognition and be a successful and rich person. And this does not end there- there are loads of questions that you have to ask about our systems- there's homosexuality, there's prostitution, there's poverty, there's porn, there's terrorism, there's robbery, there's infidelity, there's incest, there's rape- all elements that break the convictions of morale that our systems had told us to live within. You create a system, you create a law, and then you break and corrupt that very law- bribery, corruption, politics, and all kind of retention comes into play here- countless. It is one thing to break the law entirely, but we have found it convenient enough to accomodate ourselves into a grey area that ends up ruining both ends of the blade. We refuse to ask questions, we turn into hypocrites and cynical people who round off with the mentality of 'If he's doing it, why shoudn't I?' and we forget to ask questions as to why such a design is happening at the first place. And we find it convenient to blame God. She argued that those suffering from poverty just have to work harder to reach the pinnacle of life, but I do not extensively believe what our systems render to us in this regular world represents the real purpose of life. Life is not about being rich, and successful. Life is not only about looking good with your property and well-being and have other people look highly upon you. From Marxist theories to Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev's description of poverty, it is probably high time we all know we have a flawed system. Admittedly neither me or her have travelled the world and have seen enough to talk about the global systems, as I have a mindset that man's reasoning of creating currency is flawed, while she believes men can't live in the barter system forever and the current system works just fine.

But I would nail it down to say our system is flawed, its everywhere to see, cynicism and hypocrisy seem to be hiding under every blanket every put up for reasoning in this world today. Whether the system is entirely flawed or not is up to debate, though one reality here is that we have allowed the system to overwhelm us so much that we become slaves to it, that now it seems larger-than-life for us. And we have become dependent on it.

4. Luck

One thing that we did agree about though was luck. That luck doesn't exist. Its understandable on her side due to her devoid of any belief in the superficial while for someone who believes in essential spiritualism like me, it may come across as a surprise. I have made it a point not to to say 'good luck' while wishin anyone well, instead I would say 'all the best'. My theory regarding luck is complex yet simple, which brings us back to the frame of relaity and idealism. Luck, on the other hand, is a much more universally approved virtue compared to love, thus it becomes much more part of the general concerete reality. But, the simple truth is- luck makes you feel undeserving your success, makes you feel berated down by a power above you when you stare at defeat, and also makes you feel you are just a better design of the God in comparison to others, because you are born with luck. Again, whether luck actually exists or not, I would again distance myself from being absolute about anything- but life in transformed on the basis of faith, and I would simply say- choose to believe not in luck but rather in yourself. Believe that if you have won, you have deserved it, believe that if you have lost, you have not done good enough, and believe that if you are born with a silver spoon, there is a reason for it and you need to contribute back to the people around you, and to the world. That is how you transform the world.

By not believing in luck.

5. Hope is a blindfold to reality

Her one statement that I missed arguing on while I should have. Hope is a blindfold to reality. What I have so often be perplexed about is- why is reality always has to be a form of pessimism? Reality don't raise your spirits, and maybe its true enough that hope is nothing more than a blindfold- but that blindfold transforms the world, a blindfold that gives you a new sense of purpose. I would reverse myself to the basic argument again that reality is not absolute. If you prefer to see reality as the harsh side that it has, that is more often that not regarded as 'the reality' in today's world. There is always an option, to look at the bright side, because reality, if you look far and deep enough, will always have a spot for optimism. This is in no way blinding ourselves to reality. Hope is not a blindfold to reality. It is instead a point passes reality and chooses to believe in a certain end of reality that refreshes the soul, the heart and the mind. Hope is something that is attained after the so-called reality (or I call it simply pessimism) is viewed but was chosen not to be believed in. You can always choose to believe in what you want.

And again, if what you choose to believe has taken you to the right place, it can't possibly be a choice that is derived from a blindfold.

6. Life's compass

Heart or brain? Which is life's compass. While she believes that life's compass is ultimately the brain, I believe it is ultimately the heart, but if someone would come in and say both heart and brain play equal roles in it, then I would have little trouble in agreeing with him/her as I did not rule out the role of the mind, but since she did rule out the role of the heart, she will have to take a big step to believe.

It is easy not to believe in the superficial, but life is never as complicated when you have your faith.

Ram Anand.

March 2009.

What do you think about vanity?

2009-03-09T20:30:00.002+08:00

Should I not have vanity or should I? Vanity is a representative of a person's pride and I do not think we could do without vanity in today's world. Isn't it our vanity that makes us feel out of place in we are in certain places? That make us think we are better than few people out there? I think all of us need a sense of pride for our own selves here, and as Paulo has exclusively asked for us to jolt down experiences with the good side of vanity- the best example would be me.

I used to feel like I am the lowest caste of all people in earth because I did not sense anything about myself that makes me stand out from the rest. Without vanity, my confidence would have remained at an all-time low. Once I found what my talent was, I did, and still have, a certain degree of vanity that actually allowed me not to feel intimidated like I always did before while being with an exclusive group of people. The vanity allows me to look at a person with a greater position than me in a social classification with no envy or dissatisfaction, what-so-ever, the vanity is pure and simple- that even though that person may have more money, more luxury, or whatever it may be- he did not have the talent that I have. However potentially egoistic and far-fetched it may sound, it actually helps in closing the intellectual and social gap that sometimes our society leaves a gaping hole in. But I am also aware that just like how I felt I was overlooked as being insignificant before, I too- at the moment in action of trying to put my vanity in a place similar to the 'greater man'- I am overlooking the 'lesser man' around me.

Nobody has come across and called me arrogant before, and in that sense, I am happy that I have kept my limits at good pace. But, I can't help but to wonder, have I destroyed the 'lesser man''s confidence in himself by overlooking him? How would he overcome that?

As Paulo has stated above, nothing is absolute- so I think the jury's still out as to whether vanity is good or bad. Just like anything else in life, I believe, vanity is both essential and also uncalled for in several places. My question in return is- could we keep our vanity in check so that we do not get so full of ourselves when we shouldn't? When, or how, do we put the brakes to this inner emotion? How do we channel it out the right way? How to we put the proper direction for this feeling? Because as much as I do not want to be underestimated through how I present myself and my self-assurance, I also would want to inspire others who need that inspiration to take pride in themselves.

Just my two cents.

Regards, Ram Anand

(I dropped this comment on Paulo's blog in response to this question)

What do you think about vanity?