scribbles of a lazy geek

2004-03-25T02:21:00.000-08:00

As Mani Ratnam ingeminates the life and times of a creator, I continue to be amazed by his philosophy of cinema.

Continue reading part 2 of Mani Ratnam's One-on-One with Vikatan. Don't expect any info about Aayitha Ezhuthu. It is all about Mani Ratnam and his World of Cinema.

2004-03-24T05:18:00.000-08:00

Ezhaikkum Vazhvukkum
Irukindra Idaivelli
Kuraithu - Nillai Niruthu
Ada Kottaththin Thittaththai
Sattaththin Vattaththai Udaithu

Kattukkul Nuzhaikindra Kaatru Endrum
Kaalani Ethuvum Anivathillai
Aayiram Elaignargal Thunindhu Vittaal
Aayutham Ethuvum Thevaillai

Jana Gana Mana...

2004-03-17T02:56:00.000-08:00

Aayitha Ezhuthu Music - Chut Chut Chut Chut Chut Buut Sell

A R Rahman's amazing vocals gets limelight in Mani Ratnam's Aayitha Ezhuthu. With his busy orchestral schedules, ARR manages to create his musical magic again for his mentor Mani Saar. Vairamuthu's comeback with AR Rahman has proved worthy. Vairamuthu's lyrics to the ideological songs and also for romantic numbers talk about his mastery over lyric writing.

Yaakai Thiri also known as Fanah, being the star number of the album, A R Rahman pays attention to the techno type beats and his husky vocals. The song starts with a note that is very familiar for us. I am unable to guess the number but it one of the Venga Boys - Back street Boys type music that is fast and monotonous like computer generated music. Then the music rolls into a magical world of Fanah. Vairamuthu uses the most unusual words like Yaakai, Dwaitham and Adwaitham in such a slick song and makes us to listen to lyrics despite the music being on a high note. Yaakai Thiri is a sure shot hit.

Jana Gana Mana is a very ideological number with fabulous lyrics and sensible music to support the meaningful lyrics. Especially the first interlude that starts with a huge acoustic note is commendable and Rahman renders his voice along with Karthik to make this a great number. Karthik's voice is slightly altered to settle with Rahman's voice. But the highlight of this song is lyrics and the oscillating tune from fast to slow pace. Given Mani Ratnam's picturisation skills, this song is set to be the soul of Aayitha Ezhuthu.

Adnan Saami's Song reminded me of Boom Boom song in Boys. Though the tune or the lyrics have nothing to do with Boom Boom, he gets a similar soft romance number. Would have appreciated if Rahman would have risked him singing Fanah. But his song Orr Unmai Sonnal is a good one and is a nostalgic memoir of Illayaraja's yester year music .

Hey Good Bye Nanba by Sankar Mahadevan and Madhushree is also a good number which would get better with picturisation. This is the one that had Sidharth and Trisha romancing on the beach with avid editing cuts. Also it has some awesome programming. This song is synonymous to Uyirin Uyirey in terms of techno beats. But I am sure it will beat it by all means.

Sandai Kozhi has one of the best charanams and has ARR humming in the background like the Chinna Chinna Aasai humming.

Dol Dol rap by Blazee is also a good one. Fanah and Jana Gana Mana were obviously the numbers that I liked on the first time. Unconsciously, the whole of today I am humming Yaakai Thiri... Kaathal Sudar..Anbe.

2004-03-16T06:51:00.000-08:00

Aayitha Ezhuthu, Sony and CD Piracy - The Three Dots

Just bought Aayitha Ezhuthu CD and it is copy protected as said in the CD jewel box. So my PC which is an IBM system with Pentium 4 and 256MB Ram can't even recognise the audio CD. If this works the same with all PCs, the inflow of cheap priced MP3 CDs will reduce paving way to more original audio sales.

Price at 125 bucks, Sony Music is trying to make big bucks with Aayitha Ezhuthu. Kamal's Virumandi was well priced at 99 bucks which gave a sense of a value buy. But with stars like Mani Ratnam, A.R Rahman, Surya and Madhavan feature in Aayitha Ezhuthu, the music is set to sell hot cakes making it one of biggies for this year.

Jana Gana Mana song, rendered by Rahman features in Aayitha Ezhuthu. Last week in MTV, I enjoyed Vande Matharam fame Bharat Bala's Jana Gana Mana version. The picturisation looks alike the Vande Matharam song and it is sheer coincedence to have a same song featuring in AKK.

Mani Ratnam's interview in Vikatan about the philosophy behind the three dots of Aayitha Ezhuthu is intriguing. It creates a hype to find out how these three youngsters merge on a common issue. It is this perfect marketing mantra that differentiates him from his other contemporaries. When my friends become critical about the hype he creates, I am perfectly for it. Any hype sustains for just few weeks after the release of the movie. Then, it is only the quality of the movie that decides the fate. Not only this hype makes people come to the theatres in the release week, it also gives a good opening for a movie.

And I am sure that Mani Ratnam's movie wouldn't be a let down as we saw this same hype being created for each of his movie from Nayakan to Kannathil Muthamittal.

2004-03-15T00:28:00.000-08:00

Some say it is City of Gods, some say it is Varumayin Niram Sivappu - accomadated to the current urban trend and the rest call it as a political thriller. But I believe, strongly, that Mani Ratnam has always something more than what's deciphered before the release of his movie.

Two days back, while speeding through the channels, I caught hold of the slick kolkatta and its colorful dimensions in Yuva trailer. The promos staged once in every ten minutes in MTV show Vivek Oberoi and Kareena romancing in the small boat for a song called Anjaana. The song looks amazing with avid editing cuts and fabulous vocals.

Aayitha Ezhuthu audio is expected to be released today. So obviously you will get a copy of the CD by tomorrow morning in stores. So from then on until the release of Aayitha Ezhuthu, it is Neeya Naana everywhere.

Check out Aayitha Ezhuthu(AKK) website and also Yuva website for more.

2004-03-09T22:52:00.000-08:00

He who comes back just after his marriage is not afraid of hot babes :

Apologize me to copy the tag-line of Shankar's Anniyan. The original tagline goes like this- He who comes from hell is not afraid of hot ashes. The red tint in the promos and the teaser gives an eerie look to the movie. But the black devilish coat of Vikram and the long axe in his hand are similar to the killer costume of the film I know what you did last summer and is misleading many to think that Anniyan is a remake of this English thriller.

As the news reports say Anniyan is renamed title of Robot. It was originally proposed to star Kamalhassan and was supposed to be shot for 2 years. Since Kamal later dropped off from the project because of the long shoot time. Two years would be costly time for any star to work in one project. It is said that Shankar changed the name and a little bit of story to shorten the production schedule.

But for Vikram this is the longest running call sheet ever. In his interview he remarked that he has allocated more than 100 days continuously for Anniyan. With Shankar roping Harris Jayaraj in place of A R Rahman, the music industry and the fans are out to see how Harris Jayaraj fills the Rahman vacuum in a Shankar film.

Ever since I saw Atharmam (the film by film institute students starring Murali and Nasser on the life of Veerappan), I was sure that Manikandan's camera eye would be rewarded. Here is his biggest break to work with Shankar on a movie with a different feel. I am sure Manikandan would be among the top cinematographers list after Shankar's Anniyan.

Writer Sujatha is back with his dialogues after his street smart, controversial dialogues in Boys. But 'Jeyam' Sada as the heroine makes me a little curious about her role. Probably she has a good role to play.

As Sujatha remarks in Katrathum Petrathum, Shankar's Anniyan should be out for the coming Diwali. We all have a curious diwali ahead to celebrate with Anniyan.

2004-03-09T22:32:00.000-08:00

I'm Back in Arnold's Terminator tone :

I'm Back from my mariage hungama and ready to dive into deepest corners of the internet. After a week long detachment from the internet, my emails are over-flowing with spam and lazygeek site looks very new to me. This is my longest break from the internet, ever.

Thanks to Kiruba and Ravages who made themselves available for my marriage reception. It took a while for me to recognize Kiruba and his wife. Only when I saw them with Ravages, I understood it was Kiruba. As Kiruba said, it was too tough to stand with that smile on your face for two long hours.

Thanks for all of you guys who wished me through all communication mediums including telepathy. I was enthralled to see so many well-known, known, unknown people wish me on my marriage page. Thanks again.

2004-02-29T19:28:00.000-08:00

All fellow bloggers, patrons, light readers and critically acclaimed critics of this blog are invited for my marriage reception on March 4th 2004 at Mylapore, Chennai. Here's more.

And now you know why I was lazy to scribble for the last couple of weeks. Don't you ?

On an another note, scribbles of a lazy geek ;-) just completed 2 years last week. Following The Hindu way, here is This Day That Age, my first blog post.

Monday, February 25, 2002

Andipatti Elections - as expected:

Jayalalitha as expected comes back. but have the virtues changed . these people of tamil nadu deserve the best from her or from anyone who is in the throne. all those whacky emails about mummy returns back have come true but will she be the godmother of the contemporaries .. Lets wait for a while !!!

scribbled by lazy geek | 2:14 PM Your Comment Here [0]

2004-02-24T19:33:00.000-08:00

Pudhukottaiyilirindhu Saravanan wasn't upto mark. The story by itself has a lot of avenues to be interesting. But Stanley, the director has tried to win his way through Dhanush's popularity. If only Shankar would have handled this story, it would had been much interesting and classy. Especially the first scene when Dhanush tries to fool his parents about his brother's marriage was crude and unnatural.

Dhanush harps on the same strings of dance, stunt and high decibles. Aparna looks like elderly Keerthana of Kannathil Muthamittal and fits the role of a singapore tamilian. Nattu Sarakku really rocks in the audio. Picturisation of this song isn't admirable.

Not a film for a fun-filled weekend. If you are probably inquisitive about the hype created around dhanush, you can watch it and take a deep breath.

2004-02-18T04:39:00.000-08:00

Indha Dhagam Perisu

Mani Ratnam's flick Ayitha Ezhuthu(the hindu calls it like this) may be rescheduled to May but there is something else that keeps the wait very interesting. Madhavan and Surya are the brand ambassadors for Pepsi, this summer.

Incidentally, Madhavan and Surya star in Mani's Ayudha Ezhuthu which is also expected this summer. Madhavan has been in Pepsi for sometime but Surya, the new entrant is just peeped into the Adv world. Being the latest posterboy with two massive hits last year, Surya is all set to rock this year too. Alongwith with Ayudha Ezhuthu, AVM's Perazhagan will also be expected by his fans. He and Jyothika play dual roles in this movie and it is malayalam remake of Kunju Kunan which got fame for Dileep and Navya Nair.

Pepsi India has also a new hindi tagline called Yeh Pyas Hai Badi which gets translated in Tamil as Indha Dhagam Perisu. This summer, when the water-scarce-Chennai and Chennaites get thirsty, Madhavan and Surya would advice to drink more Pepsi !!

2004-02-17T01:35:00.000-08:00

Ajith and the Flying Taurus

Ajith is desperately in need of a godfather. He needs someone who can teach him the do's and don'ts of the Tamil film industry. I mean in no way to offend Ajithkumar or his acting skills. His recent press meet didn't hit the bulls eye. He organized the press meet to convey his priorities and to bridge the gap between him and the media that was formed as a result of his addiction towards car racing.

Off late, the media has been talking about Ajith shying away slowly from movies and getting into his passion of car racing. Also his recent diwali flick Anjaneya, was a flop because it was very evident that the movie was made quickly without good planning. At this juncture, Ajith's freethinking interviews that he was racing for the Super Star throne, created chaos among the industry. When Anjaneya fell, it was dubbed as Ajith's interview was to fool his fans that he was still interested in filmdom.

Being at crossroads, Ajith's recent press meet-cum-image building show was successful to a certain extent. As Ajith is also known for very outspoken interviews, this press meet displayed an organized Ajith who understood that his image has been shaken and wanted to bounce back again. There were promo-type-videos that were played that showed Ajith's car racing achievements.

During his speech Ajith outlined his set priorities and how he manages his time between the filmdom and his car racing tournaments. But while briefing about his films and their schedules, he got emotional which made him talk presumptuously daring. It is when he was talking about his contemporaries and competitors his got a little gushy and made a statement to his fellow heroes that if they would step in his route, he wouldn't mind to run on them. While the rest of the press meet displayed a gentlemanly Ajith, I couldn't help thinking that he could have been a little subtler but firm in his ideas.

Ajith needs a godfather in the film industry to apprise him about the way to handle his fellow heroes and how his image would be spoiled if he makes such open comments about them. Everyone in that press meet knew whom he was referring to. Even you and I know who it is. But it takes a lot for a hero like him to be frank and outspoken. One quality which many of our celebrities lack badly.

He also introduced his website called flyingtaurus.com, named after his passion for flying and his zodiac Taurus, flying taurus shows how Tamil film heroes are become aware of their presence on the net. From Madhavan to Vikram and Surya have their internet presence already. Even Kamalhassan recently announced that his official home on the net would be kamalhassan.net.

2004-02-13T10:59:00.000-08:00

Head Over Heels ? What happens in your head, then ?

Just like the entire gamut of Print media, Online media, TV, FM, Greeting Card sites, Greeting Card shops, Icecream Parlours and every molecule in Besant Nagar Beach, I join the stream to praise about love on the love day(!!). Personally, I don't believe in the capitalistic way of celebrating emotions on a fixed day. But for Sujatha's essay in Vikatan, this post wouldn't have been here.

His essay on Aathalinaal Kathal Seithen in Ananda Vikatan talks about the physics, chemistry and biology of love. He writes about the latest findings of The Chemistry of Desire as published by Time. The interesting feature is the Functional Magnetic Resunance Imaging (FMRI). Certainly a different article to read.

Nothing About Valentine's Day, below here :

a) Kamal's next film is to be directed by Singeetham Srinivasa Rao. Named as Krishna Leela, it is expected to be like Kadhala Kadhala types. Singeetham and Kamal have a long standing history of comical hits like MMKR (Michael Madhana Kamaraajan) and also some really good movies like Raaja Paarvai. Lets enjoy some Kamal's Leela.

b) Saw Hyderabad Blues on Star Movies. Couldn't appreciate the acting as much as I did 5 years back. Though, a clear forerunner for Crossover Desi films, it comprises of some bad performances and very bad dialogue deliveries. You could argue that it was shot naturally. Thats also my point. It was looking very natural then, it ceases to exist anymore. But it was a brave effort by Nagesh Kukunoor with his shoestring budget.

c) HBO sucks big time. Especially because of its bad broadcast. It looks like I am watching a pirated version of movie released two days back. As you saw in Boys trailor, the movie gets stuck, like a scratched VCD. It happens every ten seconds and by the few seconds it takes to get proper, Sharon Stone killed someone in bed.

d) Four out of five TV mega serials today(friday) had inauspicious death happening in their stories. Women's associations can conduct a one day strike against the TV producers not to have death scenes on friday. They can postpone the kilings to mondays ;-)

2004-02-10T05:11:00.000-08:00

Hints for a political commentary

Someone in my shoutbox asked if would write political commentaries. I would love to write politics but during the last few years, too many politicians whom I personally believed to be 'nice guys' ditched us too badly. When politics by itself is a very dishonest science(!), I think writing a political commentary is also a very dishonest art. You can never be right / honest / unbiased.

If I were to write a bashing political commentary, here are a few hints. We will build the Ram Temple in Ayodhya reads a recent headline - The elections are fast approaching - India shining is a myth.

What do you say?

2004-02-05T05:46:00.000-08:00

The End of Live Broadcasts - The Nipplegate

First things first. You and me cannot sensationalise the event anymore. Already it is the most argued and commented incident in the media.

It is estimated that eight nine million people saw, the super bowl and before many could have a clue of what they witnessed, the incident ended. It is the biggest search in the internet replacing the 9/11 incident. The worse thing that it has created is that the introduction of five second delay in the broadcast of the grammy awards this sunday in CBS.

Justin Timberlake accidentaly ripped Janet Jackson's top resulting in a controversial incident. You know what. As a result, CBS network has introduced a 5 second delay in the live broadcast of the grammy awards. In no time llive shows might be long gone history. This 5 second delay might be legitimised in the coming days and the 5 seconds would give enough time for the TV producers to censor if anything unexpected happens, like this.

I am not sure what would be the case of Cricket telecasts. If the 5 second delay is implemented then only when Sachin returns back to the pavilion, we would see Sachin facing the outside off-stump ball from Brett Lee. Poor us.

2004-01-31T21:38:00.000-08:00

How India became the capital of the computing revolution :

This is a story about the global economy. It's about two countries and one profession - and how weirdly upside down the future has begun to look from opposite sides of the globe. It's about code and the people who write it. But it's also about free markets, new politics, and ancient wisdom - which means it's ultimately about faith.

Daniel H. Pink writes in this wired article, The New face of Silicon Age, about the changing phenomenon of outsourcing. Wait. You don't have to think that this is yet another outsourcing information overload. The issue of outsourcing has been handled in a very unbiased way. Some might feel the bias being dealt with subtelty. But at this juncture of sheer biased articles from the international media, this is a very rational summary about both sides of the coin.

Though it is very descriptive in content and not totally analytical like economist types, this article is sure to open up a whole new world of truths. Atleast it attempts to do it.

A must read if you are in anyway involved with this outsourcing issue or not. Also read The Indian Machine by Chris Anderson, Editor in Chief of Wired.

Link Via : Living in India.

2004-01-30T08:55:00.000-08:00

Strings, Euphoria and lil bit of Patriotism
(Title inspired by Chennai Blogger Meet 2004) :

On the republic day, the Open Air Theatre of IIT Madras took a hop for 3 hours. Strings, a guitar specialist band from Pakistan performed as a part of the Saarang 2004. Like Saiyoni fame Junoon ( not the DD megaserial), Strings have a distinct aura around them. Dhoor, their hit number was amazing. It takes a lot of attitude to perform in India on the republic day and these guys are definitely not short of that.

Then came running with the indian flag around him was 'Euphoria' Palash. Popularly known as Polly, this doctor-turned-pop artist, was with a white sleeveless banian and an unbuttoned shirt which seemed to fall off any time. From then for the next 2 hours he and his euphoric band kept the 8,000+ audience at their feet. So as he came running with the flag and started Jana Gana as the first song of the day, IIT rose up and stood unmoved. Polly continued to sing A.R Rahman's Vande Matharam. So did the crowd. We'll keep the argument surrounding A.R.R's Vande Matharam and patriotism to the next post. As you can imagine the decibel levels of thousands of collegers shouting at their alto voices, Vande Matharam. A spirit of patriotism swirled across us and it was a definite goose bumper.

While other bands keep singing their own compositions, Euphoria just bothers about keeping the audience happy. Their mantra is just hit numbers. Some interesting numbers they played includes Scorpion's With or Without You, Queen's We will Rock you, Bon Jovi's It's my life, Shankar Elson Loy's Dil Chahta Hai and ofcourse ARR's Dil Se Re.

With just a handful of albums and numerous hit within those albums, the future awaits Euphoria to create wonders. And they can really do it.

Observing Saarang :

a) Guys seemed totally geeky and girls, very freaky.

b) The Alpha and the Omega was found roaming around and I bumped over him on the second day.

c) I missed JAM finals in which I think Suds was also a jammer.

d) The Crossword show called Crossie seemed pretty much easier than I expected. Not that I crack crosswords with my left hand but I aint' bad also.

e) Hutch introduced the public mobile phone booth. So the hutch guy outside would be sitting with a mobile phone in his hand. If you want to make a call to your honey or to your nanny, you got to pick up the mobile and get into that mobilephone sized booth, talk and give it back to that hutch guy. Good Idea, wrong execution.

f) Radio Mirchi was trying to do something very different with a couple of RJs(Radio Jockey). It was fun to see the expression of RJs from a transparent booth where he/she was talking with that same FM supersonic speed.

g) A chap who was standing beside me during the Euphoria show was replying to SMSes with full swing. While Phalash started to sing It's my life, he was jumping heaven high and still typing sms in his mobile. I had no clue what was he trying to do. But thats the spirit of Saarang.

h) Finally, the sillier one. They sold pure mineral water with some added color and code named it as Pepsi for 15 bucks.

2004-01-29T10:10:00.000-08:00

Kovil Movie Review

Kovil is that kind of movie which you would like to see in doordarshan as a sunday movie. Chandamama type villages called Pulliyangkulam and Vepangkulam have religious boundaries and two youngsters of different religions fall in love which eventually brings war and peace to these villages. Like Kathal Virus, this movie has been misplaced in the history. It is kind of a commercial story that could have been a silver jubliee hit, two decades back. But at this era of crossover films, the way in which the movie is presented blows the old trumpet again.

Saami director Hari's ability to race the script has risen the expectation for this Simbu starrer. But it is right on the director's part to try various styles before settling down. Kovil is scripted in a very patient manner which disturbs one's patience. But Hari manages to bring in some relaistic touch with such a pace to the movie. Also I am not sure if it is fair to show a character of a particular religion to be very fair and the other one belonging to a different religion as a fanatic.

Simbu has managed to do a clean job without yapping too much. He has clearly downplayed his Little SuperStar image which gives some confidence for his future producers. If he can etch such good roles, he could mould himself into the next new line of heroes. Though at some emotional scenes, his body language is similar to his dad, this kid has a long way to go.

Harris Jayaraj needs to be blamed for duplicating his effort. The situations and the songs are similar in Saami. You can even blame the director for that. But having composed Collegeukku Povom song very similar to Kamban Engu Ponaan song is unacceptable. Even if you listen to it for the first, you can just humm the original song.

2004-01-26T03:09:00.000-08:00

IIT Saarang, very happening

Last week was very fast with the crowded IIT Saarang and today is the last day which will be celebrated with a Unity Concert by the Indian Euphoria and Pakistani Strings. Y'day it was the Choreo Nite and due to bubbling rush, it had some latti charges also. Though the Choreo Show proved very sub-standard for an inter-college competition, the crowd was rocking. The rock music competition was however fabulous. Also the Udit Narayan show wasn't upto the mark. Blame it on the pathetic sound systems. Udit must have reminded someone of that during the break and during the second half, both the music and sound was amazing. When Udit sang his all-time hit Papa Kehthe Hain, I was transported to the nostalgic 80s. Great voice.

Hutch's stall in Saarang is the most talked about. With a dozen beautiful chicks and few Madhavan type guys as Hutch ambassadors, Hutch is pulling the collegers under it's umbrella. With the fantastical dance machine, as it would call it, the remixes go a long way in encouraging guys to dance in hundreds. So if you a blinker at Saarang and you see a huge group dancing in perfect rythym, it is the hutch stall.

Also Madonna and Britney would run ashamed looking at the very-very-very-very low hipped jeans by the Saarang chicks. I prefer to call chicks because it gives you that right picture. As Saarang gets more and more sponsors like E-Serve, Hutch and Radio Mirchi, the pro-shows could be made much better in the coming years. Thanks to security and real hard volunteers, they kept the mischevious at bay.

2004-01-17T05:34:00.000-08:00

Virumandi Movie Review - Beyond The Horizons of Screenplay

The moment anything is reported or written, truth suffers. This is one of the most fundamental points in reporting news. The eye witness's narrative is the most sought out at such times. At all possibility, the eye witness brings his perspective of the news. The moment a perspective is brought in, subjectivity creeps in. He selects which part of the news has to be told, which part of the news he remembers, which part he forgets and which part he compels himself to hide. Thus selection of the scene from eye witness becomes inevitable. Finally, the truth suffers. So what happens when truth suffers?

Excuse me for the cliché, no innocent be punished despite many criminals escape. The previous paragraph and the previous statement form the basis of Virumandi, Kamalhassan's directorial venture. Virumandi also touches upon the fact that capital punishment needs to be abolished but it doesn't dwell in this ideology like the Hollywood flick Dead Man Walking. Neither is Virumandi, an analysis of a death sentenced criminal's mind. Virumandi is a just an observation of modern day, cell phone cultured rural folks of Tamil Nadu. There is however a message implied in this observation which is made without passing judgments on their life style, their sentiments and their everyday outcries. This message implied displays the genius in Kamal. Only experienced directors and writers are capable of such subtle messages.

Virumandi by itself is like a festival of sorts. It is sensational at all times like a roller coaster with a huge cast and happening moments. Never dull and never a story-thirsty movie. It deals with slice-of-life of a 20ish naive-yet-brave Virumandi from a distant village in Theni district who is caught in a web of unscrupulous and covetous people. He check-mates their desirous behavior with a humanitarian cause and erupts at the loss of his beloved wife. As situations and the fickle minded people turn against him, he gets dubbed as a criminal who is responsible for the killings of 24 people and is awarded a death penalty. What would Virumandi do at this juncture of being presented a death sentence for no mistake of his? Being brought up with principles and no fear, Virumandi emerges as a demi-god in the prison, when situations force him and comes out of his gloominess. He gets a chance to fight for his right.

Kamalhassan's avatar as a director has overtaken the actor Kamalhassan. The director emerges as the clear winner amongst his dual role. The screenplay also becomes the indisputable part of Virumandi's victory. He believes in the fact that no star bigger than a movie, no actor bigger than a script. Being presented with two narratives of the same story, Kamalhassan unfolds a new story telling method which appears to be a badly planned movie at first. But as the movie races into the second hour you would gasp as to why it looked like badly planned at the beginning. The screenplay which Kamal has etched out is presented with the help of two narratives. One by the witness and one by the criminal himself. As the villainy Kothala Thevar (Pasupathy) who is the approver of the crime describes the scene of crime, you and I would believe that Virumandi is a real Sandiyar. But when the Virumandi, the criminal himself opens up, we know why Virumandi is a great humanist rather than a Sandiyan or Sandiyar. Virumandi, the dubbed criminal clearly details up the reasons and situations leading him to this unforeseen situation. A brave approach in film-making in spite of knowing that the story could be confusing at the start. However, we feel like being dropped in midst of a village clash and also the reason for the clash hasn't been described clearly in the start. The Madurai dialect and their idioms can be against the understanding of the city cultured audience. But that is the sacrifice Kamal is ready to make for sake of realism. Don't bother. He has also compromised a little because his major audiences are philistines and they only crave for Dhool movie types.

As Kamalhassan says, the entire cast consists of actors who have executed their job religiously. Sometimes they even overtake Kamalhassan in terms of performance. As the story requires more of other actors, Kamal has downplayed his title role to suit the story. The panchayat and the romance sequences brings back the versatile actor in Kamalhassan, however, you can't wipe away the craving for more actor Kamal. Kamal has adopted a heroic introduction in the jallikattu for him unlike his other movies. But it gives his fans some cheerful time.

Abirami as Annalakshmi is the immaculate suit for the role of a rascally village girl. With just her expressive eyes, she sits upright in our hearts and also in Virumandi's. Also her romance with Virumandi, though short-lived, is consummate. She slowly converts the village burnout, Virumandi, into a vitalized soul with her vivacious character. Truly, she isn't for the commercial stuff, a cut-above in the existing lot of actresses.

The 'Dhool' Villain Pasupathy as Kothala Thevar is one of the most interesting villains in the present Tamil films. With his fantastical body language and accent, he creates a modern day M.R Radha. A great talent to look out for. The mythological story of Virumandi calls Peykkaaman as the true villain of Virumandi. So here he is in the form of police officer Peykkaaman(Shanmugam). Shanmugam has done his job well. A good find for this movie.

Though advertised as main characters Nasser and Napoleon appear as cameo. Rohini as Angela Kattamuthu also appears in an important cameo role as a documentary maker and also as an activist against capital punishment.

Illayaraja crosses his set boundaries in background score. As said often, he introduces silence as the only music at times which really carries the movie to a different dimension. His music has overtaken his off late hit Pithamahan. The film flirts a romantic interlude between Kamal and Abirami. Coupled with Kamal's ability and Illayaraja's melodious touch, it is one of the most poetic sequences in the movie. Unnai Vida song is picturised with great passion and just mesmerizes the viewer. Shreya Goshal and Kamalhassan render this great number. Other songs are very movie oriented and they shine when watched with the context. Karbakiraham Vittu Saami song is placed in the climax and is a real goose bumper.

Kesav Prakash, the cinematographer and Prabhakar, the art director have created a true village in Campa Cola grounds. Very Appreciable effort. The editor's job is also commendable. Avid Editing, a new technique in editing which occupied most part of Kakkha Kakkha is certainly missing. It would have helped to speed up the movie when required.

The sub-plot in the prison makes for a good climax but gives a detached feeling from the main story. The ending is very heroic but the story is minisculed by then. It's a perfect judgemental move by the director to place a cinematic ending for the front benchers. The mix of good cinema and commercial cinema would pull more people thereby taking care of financial success, something thats essential for Kamalhassan. The movie however sports gore violence and the hero himself breaks couple of ribs and mutilates pairs of hands before getting behind the bars. Going by the theory, anything which is approximates is unreal, Kamal portrays a village so true that even the smallest of violence is captured with an eye for detail. But this itself takes the movie to one of the most violent Tamil movies list of all-time. The Jallikattu, Panchayat, Thiruvizha are all picturised with a true to life manner which makes it an offbeat movie.

Death Penalty Issue is still a virgin pasture for Tamil cinema though a recent movie of Lenin called Orukku Nooru Perr dealt with a similar issue. Kamal hasn't dug deep into this but he has superfluously dusted upon the subject. It is an issue which could have been detailed. Given his recent experiences in dealing with intellectual issues in Hey Ram and Anbe Sivam, he has just kept this issue like a pickle for the climax. The movie however captures the feelings of a victim-of-situations in detail. Some nuances like the videotaping and prisoner insurrection are amazingly sketched.

Kamalhassan has won in proving a point to the people who thought Sandiyar would spark off caste related issues. With Virumandi, new screenplay techniques are taken beyond horizon to prove that this Kollywood industry has a very important role to play in the International Film history. Virumandi makes up the gap for good meaningful cinema. Good Cinema would be appreciated by good audience. Are you one?

2004-01-17T04:41:00.000-08:00

Sulekha Saarang Blog Fest 2004

Sulekha, one of the best online resources for NRI literature and Indian news is joining hands with Saarang team of IIT, Chennai for a Blogathan contest.

The idea being as simple as blogging on daily given topics for more than 400 words. One main condition is that you must be a collegiate of any institution or an alumnae member of any of the IITs. A good reason for you guys to open blogger and start typing is that you might end up as the best blogger at the end of Saarang festival.

Check out Sulekha Saarang Blog Fest 2004 site for more.

2004-01-17T02:35:00.000-08:00

Gumbal, Sundal and a lil bit of Bloggal during Pongal !!

The Madras Blogger's meet code named Gumbal, Sundal and a lil bit of Bloggal is happening again this year. Organised by Suds and his team it is set to happen tomorrow(18th Jan 2004) starting 5 pm at Planet Yumm in Besant Nagar Youth Beach.

Last two years it was called Chennai Blogger's Meet organised by Kiruba.

There is already a long list of bloggers who have confirmed their presence. Unlike last couple of years, I am at chennai this time and will be dropping in to have fun.

2004-01-15T02:54:00.000-08:00

Just caught him in action.

Hey Ram, Anbe Sivam and now Virumandi...

2004-01-12T13:22:00.000-08:00

27th Chennai Book Fair - 2004

Chennai is flooding with bookworms or at least there are so much of onlookers for this book fair. I've been a regular to this book fair for more than a decade. I've never seen so many of stalls or even so much of crowd for this book fair. The publishing industry is growing by leaps and bound every year. This year there are around 500 stalls sporting their books.

I peeked in by 11 am and by the time I was out, it was already evening and KaviKo Abdul Rahman was hosting a Kaviarangam. The specialty is this. Every evening a famous author or a poet host special shows. Also you can bump over your fave author during these special shows. You can have a personal chat with them and find out that they are also as normal as us.

Every year you could find a book or two doing well in all the stalls. This year it was tamil transalation of The Life and Times of Che Guevara and also Akira Kurosawa's tamil transalation of his autobiography called Something Like An Autobiography. Also doing well is the Sahitya Academy winner Vairamuthu's Kallikaattu Ithigasam. It has offlate recieved fave reviews and is selling hot cakes even when being prized at a huge 200 bucks. If you would have read it already on Ananda Vikatan, you know why it received the award. The treatment and honest handling of the subject earned vairamuthu this award, which is one of the biggest awards in Indian literature. Ofcourse there are many debates about Sahitya Academy's selection of this book. It goes on forever.

I picked up a bagful of books and am planning to go back to buy the bound edition of Kalki's Ponniyin Selvan. When I was in Kavvya Book stall, I found Sujatha's Vivathangal Vimarsanangal. The book looked dirty and soiled. It was a 1985 edition and wasn't re-printed after that. The cover page has Sujatha's pic in his mid-forties sporting a moustache and a few gray hairs peeking on his head. Kavvya is planning to bring a re-print of this book this year. But I picked it up because it was the last copy and one of the rare books of sujatha books. This old book is what I am currently reading and just can't keep it down.

Uyirmmai Publishers have released some more books of Sujatha which include Sujatha's Thernthedutha Sirukathaigal (best short stories by Sujatha), Aazhvaargal oru Eliya Arimugam and Srirangathu Kathaigal. Another interesting release is Aathavan's Enn Peyar Ramasheshan. This is one of the books that I was amazed to read. Uyirmmai publisher's effort is commendable and their selection of books comes out of their passion for books.

Some of the books that I bought include Jayakanthan's Jaya Jaya Shankara, Indira Parthsarathy's Kuruthi Punal, Sa. Kandasamy's Tholaindhu Ponavargal (remember this was one of the most successful serials in DD), Indha Nutrandin Sirukathaigal - Vol 1(Best Short stories of this century - Vol 1) and some red books. Gnani's Theemtarikitta is back in print from last year and subscriptions are accepted in the stall. Kaalachuvadu publishers are selling fabulous paintings of Bharathiyar as a calendar. As usual, books like 30 days to Kundalini, Samaipathu eppadi, Saapiduvathu Eppadi are also found all over the fair and still selling hotcakes. lol.

Many drop in to book fair just to see what's in store. But the fact that is irritating is that they manage to munch a popcorn bag or cotton candy when they browse thru the books and by which they make the book dirty. Books are one's friends but they can't take such abuses.

Some pics on Photo Blog

2004-01-10T12:49:00.000-08:00

The Chennai Bookfair 2004 is open now and will go on till 19th of this month. Organised by the Booksellers’ and publishers’ Association of South India (BAPASI), it's happening in Quaid E Millet College. If you are expecing some dazzling girls there, don't bother too much. They are all concentrated in Nungambakkam stadium where the Carlos Moya and Srichappan are fighting for the TATA Open Tennis title. The last couple of years have been successful for the organisers and the participants of this book fair. The crowd was enoromous and sales reached it's peak. As Sujatha says, it's a cycle. Book reading habit will come back and people will pull out the heads that are stuck to their televisions. It's happening. I'm planning a peek tomorrow.

Saarang, the mother of all student organized cultural festivals is set to happen from the 21st of January to the 26th at IIT Chennai. The pro-shows which are the source of prime attraction include Udit Narayan's Light music, Classical music show by TM Krishna, the rock show by MOTHERJANE accompanied by Pin Drop Voilence and a special unity concert by Euphoria and a 2 man band from Pakistan band called Strings. As usual lots of musical fever and fun guranteed. Make sure you take a spin for a show or two.

Saw Matrix Revolutions again today in theatre just to get over the Matrix phobia. Couldn't like it as much as I did it the first time. Simbhu's Kovil has released today, taking an initial lead in the pongal releases. Virumandi is ready to hit the screens before which Kamal is doing his pre-release marketing through Vijay TV. From 12 to 16th of this month Virumandi Special show will be up in the air from 10:30 pm - 11:00 pm. And we know why Kamal is happy excited about the movie release. Being his own production, it has been sold out in all the areas for a huge sum. Guess who's the prime sponsor for Virumandi's ads. Reliance. Huge hoardings of Virumandi and Reliance are placed all over Chennai. Especially the one near Guindy reminds me of the grand Aalavandan release.

2004-01-08T05:16:00.000-08:00

CASed Away

I was one among the millions of cricket frency Tom Hanks of Chennai who were castaways by the CAS(Conditional Access System for Cable TV) introduction. No Kumbleys. No Googlies, No Mandira Bedi, No Cover drives, No Late cuts, No Dravids, No Tensed Gangulies, No Cool Steve Waughs, No Hoodibaba and ofcourse No Sachin. Heck! I decided to try out CAS.

Now I am poor victim of CAS who is facing a risk and discouragement from envied friends and neighbours who resist CAS but unable to resist their temptation for cricket. I bought the Set top box along with a big risk that the government is considering removing the CAS system. The first program I watched after buying the Set Top Box was ESPN Cricket Show, hosted by Harsha Bhogle. The guests included Sachin, Saurav and Ravi Shastri. Just after the day of the last test, Sachin and Saurav looked sleepy with a poor over-makeup. It was an one hour program analyzing the entire test series between India and Australia. When Sachin's batting in the last test was discussed, he confirmed that he was nervous for the first 20 minutes of the play and once he started playing the onside deliveries in an unusual manner, he communicated to the aussies that he isn't going for his usual cover drives and misjudged shots. It was good to see Sachin and Saurav complimenting each other not just for the show but in a natural unassuming way. Way to Go !!

This morning it was Forrest Gump in Star Movies. One of my all-time favs. With just these two programmes, I have got back the worth of STBs. No more discouraging me, guys !!. No more !!.