The Midnight Express

Luck – My Review and some notes about bollywood movies

2009-07-29T21:42:00.004+05:30

It’s in Bollywood’s blood to make 1 good movie out of 15. And this definitely is not the one.

The film Luck is all about luck, obviously. The story is based on gambling on Humans and their luck. Karim Moosa (Sanjay Dutt, I wonder how they found this character name for him!) plays a perfect Ajith of Billa by making terrible walk in every scene he would appear. He finds people who always are lucky in life and puts them on the game to fight for their lives. We see a gambling arena (that resembles a stock market) with men betting on every person. The single lucky person who stays alive at the end earns Rs 20 crores.

The star cast could be the triggering point for a tired man in office to get out and watch this movie, but I am sure he would return unhappy and more tired than he already was. Imran khan, shruti haasan, ravi kishan, mithun and chitrashee rawat are all part of the stupid game, trying to make money. Despite the fact that there was absolutely no scope for acting in any of these roles, Chitrashee and ravi kishan did a brilliant job. On the other hand, the seriously beautiful daughter of an impeccable actor, was hopeless in the movie. Someone really needs to teach Shruti Haasan what acting is all about and I am surprised Kamal didn’t have time for that.

Here’s how the audience’s luck turned out when I saw this movie in Woodland’s Main theatre.

1. Guys was extremely lucky to see Shuti Haasan in Bikini.. :D

2. Since the theatre hardly had audience, some couples got very lucky!

3. And some men found themselves in a very lucky position coz of the theatre they had chosen to watch this film. They moved to the next screen as soon as the saw Sanjay Dutt walking for the 17^th time. Woodland’s symphony was playing Velu Prabhakarnin Kadhal kadhai!!!

The point that I really want to make is that bollywood movies are going nowhere. Kambakth Ishq was a terrible remake with akshay kumar scaring everybody out of the theatre. I can’t stand him even in the thumbs up ad. And because Pammal K Sambatham had no room for skin show with Simran playing a decent doctor, the bollywood remake had to make changes so that kareena could appear in bikini. She plays Doctor cum Model!!! How so stupid!! Shortkut, remake of Vellithirai, was another such disaster.

Bollywood directors, let me tell you, I can clearly understand that you all have taken classes from vijay on “how to remake movies”, and I hope you now realize that you lost money on the movies as well as on those classes. So please stop giving us your package of a terrible script, bad acting and irritating music. And skin shows... dudes, too much is too ugly and it cannot stand as a lone warrior in saving your movie.

Back to luck, if you are a fan of imran khan, go ahead and watch it for him but don’t expect to feel good at the end. If you love sanjay dutt, please avoid. This is one of his performances turned down.

*/5 – Poor....... but doesn’t deserve a zero.

Verdict: Sorry about your bad luck if you had seen this crap.

All about Dumeel Doppu Engineering College

2009-06-20T01:31:00.002+05:30

The 10 most irritating and funniest instances of Dumeel Doppu Engineering college

1. Director : “Last week Andhra CM called me and we had serious meeting for 3 hours”.

2. Director : “Please give me 50 invitations of your symposium. I have to give it to my close friends like N.Ram and Narayanamurthy”.

3. Senior giving a letter to the “gate” man after student returned his vehicle to him (which he used by mistake)
Senior: “sir, Here is the letter stating that ABC has given the bike to me safely and I have no issues. I have signed below”
“gate” man: “ok get signature from principal in that letter”

4. Director to lecturer in class: “you are not strict, ma’am. You are very loose”

5. When students were discussing about symposium in a classroom
Man from Attendance cell: “Thambi, ippadi sattam pota, thambi, apparam ellarum keppaanga thambi, apparam thambi, director thituvaaru thambi, apparam thambi, symposium cancel thambi.

6. Once upon a time, there was an ID collector in the college.
ID collector to student: “why didn’t you attend the special class after college yesterday?”
Student: “sir, I was absent yesterday”
ID Collector: “So what. Y didn’t you attend the special class?”

7. Students: “Director sir, we have been rejected by TCS but we did our interview very well. Can you please ask the HR for what reason they have rejected us?”
Director: “See ma, I cannot talk to small HR. I am a man who should talk to Ratan Tata”

8. Director talking about diwali
“I don’t like diwali at all. You make money out of paper and you all save it. You make tapas out of same paper and you destroy it.”

9. Lunch time is between 1 pm to 2 pm
At 1:35, student goes to canteen counter
Student: “One veg puff”
Lady at the counter: “no pa, token will not be issued after 1:30 pm”
Student: “But lunch time is from 1 to 2 pm”
Lady: “Director’s rule. Because you people are not going to class at 2 pm”

10. The inside information that a student got from one of the lecturers when in first year.
Director at meeting
“Even small college like SASTRA has got 5 star rating. Our BIG college has not got it yet. It is all policits”

Top 5 outrageously unacceptable attributes of Dumeel Doppu

5. When students met director after a part of the ceiling fell on one of the students
Director: “ why are you creating so much matter for this silly matter”

4. Director addressing the students – “The study material prepared by the college has very high quality and standard”

3. Board outside the lab – “Lab with 0% defect”

2. There is a board on wall near the accounts dept which says “Winners don’t do different things, they do things differently – Chairman of Dumeel Doppu Engg College”

1. Dumeel Doppu Engineering College has become Dumeel Doppu University

Thoranai - My Review

2009-06-01T15:26:00.003+05:30

First of all, I would like to thank God for giving me a free ticket to this movie. I would have killed myself if I had paid Rs 100 for this nonsense. And God, I would be a very happy man if you could reimburse the money I spent on popcorn and coke as well. Having said that, you must have got an idea about how interesting the movie is and here is what it is all about.

The film is all about Murugan (vishal) who comes to Chennai in search of his long lost brother and gets entangled in problems with two famous thugs Guru and Tamilarasan (Prakash Raj) and in the process has romance with Indhu (shriya). I really don’t want to get into the details of the story as it makes no difference to the review, but one thing I should mention is the director has carefully preserved all the attributes of a “rowdy-good guy-related-action-film”. Let me give u a list of such attributes.

1. A pathetic high end introduction for hero. (but it doesn’t beat vijay’s kuruvi. Hero flying out of drainage)

2. Serious dialogues that can only make you laugh (or sometimes cry)

3. Absolutely no logic

4. Hero has friends who are comedians and heroine has friends who look sick.

5. Guy from village “corrects” software company girl.

6. Gorgeous heroine having absolutely no role in the story.

7. Average and unimpressive action sequences.

8. Hero going to minister’s house, rowdy’s house and probably even to white house, threatens to kill and comes out safe.

9. Stupid music

10. And hopeless lyrics

Thoranai has few more elements that makes the movie more nonsensical. Vishal’s overacting and dialogue deliver; hero’s brother saying to hero “hey if they know that you are my brother, they will kill you” after the hero trumpets the news to every enemy he has found; shriya kissing vishal without anybody seeing them outside her “software company” where people are walking in; and just because the movie’s name is thoranai, vishal shouting “thoranai thoranai thoranai” till everyone walks out of the theater while Prakash Raj does the job when vishal takes break.

The only aspect of the movie that is worth the ticket money (though I did not pay for the movie!) is Santhanam and his amazing comical dialogues. He was simply stunning in the movie.

½* / 5 – The half star is for Santhanam. If somebody could compile all his scenes from the movie and release a short film, I’ll watch it thrice!

Verdict: vomit

P.S: Shriya Saran, please marry me…

A Tribute

2008-02-27T20:20:00.004+05:30

He was sauntering through the graveyard; his old legs slowly treading over the grass surrounding the dead. Every step forward carried him back to those days. A white film emerged in front of his eyes through which he saw and felt his entire life all over again.

He opened his eyes in his mother’s arms enlightened with the feeling of touch and love as she held him close to her heart.

Being the eldest of four, he basked in taking responsibility. His brothers saw him as a singular bastion as kids. He would do anything to protect them, embrace them, encourage them and support them. His sister, whom he loved more than anyone else, would often ask him to buy her things which he would never deny. He loved them all, and he knew he was going to be a big man.

Life seemed to take turns in his teenage. With no time to respite, he worked hard to bring up his siblings’ status. His world didn’t stop with that alone. He was getting prepared for a silent battle.

He started the battle in his prime of age. He strived to ameliorate souls living in abject poverty. He strived to change things that seemed to be in awry, things that were amiss. He worked on bringing scruples into unjustly hearts and carried on being a successful benefactor. He provided the destitute souls of what he could and he smuggled the victuals from where it did not belong. In his endeavor, an ocean of obstacles seemed to be a no greater than a drop.

He set up life for his brothers and fought for the country and thus was revered for his love that he showered on people. His world seemed to bigger than her, the earth.

One day, he was lying down with his eyes open. He had become old and feeble having fought a long battle for people. He was ill and in front of his eyes, the letters of death were flying. His sight dimmed, his sense of his legs and hands started dying, he felt his heart weakening, he was faintly breathing, he was submitting himself to a new world, consciously and subconsciously – he knew he was dying.

He stopped breathing.

Today, he walked as a ghost through the soundless graveyard, alone with memories of life he lived and souls he loved.

He watched his loving brother cremating his body with tears. He smiled.

From the heaven shone a white light that invited him to new world, a world sequestrated from the human world with inhuman attributes, by volition of God. He was sey to step into this world of honour, a world for the greatly lived. Tardily, he ascended through the itinerary of the celestial light and as he moved high, he gazed at the land of reality, waved it good bye and reached the sky to settle as a bright scintillating star.

I woke up, completely awestruck by a resplendent dream. It was still dark and I realized that I had felt the dream in a calm night. I rushed to my window to see the sky.... and there it was. In the many stars that remained placid, one glistered and sparkled brilliantly. Entranced, I walked back to my bed, and lay there with my eyes open, unable to sleep, in the ecstasy of having seen him again in my dream - my Grandfather.

Me, Myself and Inspiring Stories

2009-02-28T01:10:00.004+05:30

Every student gets to hear inspiring stories of successful people. There aren’t one or two but so many successful people in this world and they all have their own stories. If you observe them closely, you’ll find a pattern they follow. Usually, the stories start from the successful man as a poor infant with only one of his parents alive. The story then moves to the child’s education where one of the two possible situations would come up. The child either pursues excellent education in dire economic conditions of his/her family (like studying under street lights!!), or the child is not interested in mechanical study and eventually becomes a school dropout. From there the story continues on the lines of how the student managed money for education; what he did for living; how he made right decisions; how he made use of opportunities and how, in the end, he became a successful person.

Ever since I was a kid, I used to listen to such stories and feel motivated. A story a day will make sure that I don’t keep my books away! I still go agape when I imagine the struggle in dreadful circumstances that these great men have gone through in their lives, to come out as a highly respected successful individual.

Let’s look at some examples. Ramanujan lacked the basics for living, Bill gates was a school dropout, Steve Jobs was a college dropout, Narayana Murthy was once struck by poverty, Dhirubai Ambani started reliance with Rs.15000, Lakshmi mittal was poor and a part of unmanageable huge family, Rajini kanth was a bus conductor, and our own ARR... needs no introduction.

All these stories were inspiring alright; but every person who becomes successful has this kind of story behind his/her achievement. And normally, we all are awestruck by it!!

This is where some serious questions run into my head. Do they all lead to a stereotype “successful people had to win some very hard battles in their lives”? All stories have the same base which is one or more than one of the list - poverty, lack of good education or education in bad monetary conditions,” striving to live” years, and other equally grave conditions. At a level, this really irks me. Such stories have literally stopped motivating me for the simple fact that I too am going through an important phase that’s going to decide my life and want to be successful! And if only hardships at younger age can bring light to the great future, then I don’t see any bright light glittering at even the farthest point I can see from here.

I never had formidable monetary problems. Education was bad but I am not a school dropout. I am not struggling for food or shelter and I have my own room with lot of space. I have taken numerous bad decisions in my life. I have carelessly overlooked many opportunities. And now I am sitting and writing this post wondering what the theory is behind big achievements because we have never heard (or at least I have never heard) of a successful man who was far from poverty with almost comfortable school life. Such people have always been a tiny dot and financially, either well-situated or troubled; more often the latter. How so ironical!

I do understand that success (in whatever form) cannot be achieved if we do not fight for it, and that you can never get to the top overnight on a smooth ride. But now I am saturated with identical “success stories” that I cannot endure another one of them starting from tortured childhood to terrific adulthood.

Miles to go!!

God Bless

Back to blog because of Rehman!!

2009-02-23T18:10:00.006+05:30

I should say that I was too busy to blog all these days and even decided that I will not until something good happens to me. But now, even though no good has happened to me yet, I am feeling extremely happy that A.R.Rehman has created history…. and that has made me post in this almost deserted blog.

Slumdog Millionaire bagged 8 oscars for which makes me feel very good and the fact that ARR has bagged “2” makes me feel even better!! Apparently, a major population of India is happy and some, say like Amitabh Bachan, would keep it down at a level and say “yeah ok.. u got Oscar.. very good.. congratulations.. bye”.

Following the release of this film, we heard various comments about why one should not watch this movie. This is how I would like to respond to all those comments which started from Amitabh Bachan.

“The movie shows India in Bad Light. Movies that show India in bright lights deserve more recognition.”

Very correct. The movie definitely shows the dark sides of Mumbai. But what do you mean by movies that show India in bright light? Bollywood movies are competing with each other in “skin showing department”. All the directors and producers are busy finding girls would expose to the maximum for money. Tamil movie directors are interested only in commercial success (except for Mani Ratnam). Malyalam movies have no luck. Kannada movies have bad actors. Telugu movies… oh please. So people who make that comment, first tell me which film shows India in bright light and then speak about slumdog millionaire. I think that’s a comment that has no base.

“Why should we let a westerner make a movie in India that only shows India in bad light”

I read this comment in some news channel’s website; I don’t remember which one, though. But think about it, it’s not difficult to create a slum in London and finish the movie there (it would have only cost them a little more money). But beyond all that, there have been so many movies that has displayed India’s poverty, slums etc etc… but nobody questions those. We all sit and watch the film and say..”wah, it is an inspiring movie”.

It’s true that this film has won all its recognition only because a westerner has directed it. So what? If an Indian had directed this film, it would have been completely in Hindi and by releasing it abroad, he would have targeted only the Indians living over there. So obviously, it would not have got recognition. And if this movie had to go as an official entry for “foreign film” category in Oscars, our politicians would have made a mess out of it.

I am happy that now, because of danny boyle, an Indian film has won accolades and ARR’s talents have been recognized completely.

“By displaying the Indian slums (or western stereotypes about India) deliberately, Danny Boyle has attempted to make it appeal to the western audience and thus win awards”

So do you mean that we should not show on the screens, the western stereotypes about India? I don’t care whether Danny had a big plan or not. You like to watch all bollywood top stars and their hot air on screen rite? So the director gives you that. Probably that’s what even Danny did. If people in the west think India is all about poverty, then you make an impressive movie to disprove it. The movie shows only “whatever is there” in India. So if that bothers you so much, then stop carping and do something about the stereotype. Change the way India is. Make a difference (like what I am trying to!!).

There have been so many other comments as well and I think the negative reaction to this movie started only because Amitabh started it. He started it, his fans propagated it. Sometimes I am forced to think that the whole bollywood is “J” and that’s probably why there have been a lot of negative reactions.

Bollywood film makers, please stop begging girls to expose on screen and make sensible movies.

People, who don’t want to watch the film coz of the bloody blah blah, please get back to your senses and watch it like a movie.

ARR, you rock man!! You are THE GENIUS.

Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi - Sandeep's Review

2008-12-13T22:01:00.005+05:30

Suraj Prabhakaran is Busy.... That can be another meaning to the title of this post. In any case, here is yet another movie review from our pappular... err. sorry.. popular Sandeep Kumar, The man with lot of girls following (or should i say following lot of girls!! :-D)... Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi.. from S@ndy..

There was a time when audience were as innocent as cinema technique was primitive. Filmmakers relied on the audience's total suspension of disbelief as they drew them into an emotional web and kept them hooked till the end. When they came out they were all teary-eyed or goofy-grinned—slightly embarrassed at being so easily manipulated.

Get ready to experience another magic experience after 8 years from Aditya Chopra, Aditya who enthralled the masses with his captivating direction in the film Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge is back with Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi after 8 years. This film is a beautiful romantic movie with Shahrukh Khan in the lead. Anushka Sharma is debuting in this film and is pairing with Shahrukh. This film is all set to mesmerize the audiences.

As the geeky, introverted minor bureaucrat Surinder Sahni, Khan gives an amazingly astute and well-observed performance (the right accent, even the right nerdy shoes), plus a lack of vanity, so that looking at him, nobody could tell that he is a major star.

All the songs have been picturised very well.Surendar Sahni character has been really well performed by shahrukh.

Tragic circumstance end up in his marriage to young Taani (Ansukha Sharma), who says right at the start that she will try to be a good wife, but won't be able to love him. The already besotted Surinder humbly accepts crumbs, because he feels he doesn't deserve any better. A dabba packed by her for his lunch is enough to send him into paroxysms of joy.

Taani wants to participate in a dance competition, and with the help of a flamboyant friend Bobby (Vinay Pathak), Surinder gets a makeover and turns himself into the crude, flirty Raj Kapoor, Taani's dance partner. Now comes the suspension of disbelief— with those eyes, that nose, those lips and that Adam's apple, she does not see that Surinder and Raj are the same man.
Surinder gets into the 'Golmaal'-like schizopherenic situation—boring Surinder by day and funky Raj by night.

Even with her resistance Taani falls in love with Raj—there is a cute dream sequence that pays tribute to the old stars and their songs.

Without really underlining it, Aditya Chopra (in the tradition of films like Love in Simla and Chhotisi Baat), makes a comment on the superficiality of judging people by their looks. But the film—with some excellent lines— keeps it simple, the story is just about these two very ordinary people and it takes some doing to convince an audience that Shah Rukh Khan is ordinary. The casting of a non-glamorous, pudgy-faced Anushka Sharma as Taani helps emphasize Chopra's point that even homely and plain people are deserving of great love—if God wills it.

scenes to watch out:-

" oye puutar jaakar poori movie dekh....sab scenes achhe hain.... :-) :-)"

"SANDEEP's VERDICT:-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) 5/5 *****"

"Genius film making from Aditya Chopra! Not everyone can handle this sort of theme - a story that seems to be walking on the edge throughout and comes out a winner.Understated acting from Shahrukh without giving in to histrionics matched scene to scene by the newcomer Anushka Sharma is the second hallmark of this film. History in the making - Anushka Sharma - another star is born!Class"

Thanx to suraj for letting me write here again in his blog....

next review will be about the much hyped aamir khan's "Ghajini" which is coming out to screens on Dec 25th....

Until then...bye bye...
Merry Holidays.....

$@ndeep-the one and only....."

Vaaranam Aayiram – My Review

2008-11-19T20:12:00.004+05:30

Dasavatharam was probably the most hyped movie of the year which turned out to be completely disappointing to me. Vaaranam Aayiram, being one more the highly hyped film, is a bigger disappointment. By law of averages, a person having success more than once continuously, must fail once to live in this world. That’s life. We thought Pachai Kili Muthu Charam was the downfall, but this film is more of it.

The movie is about the life of Surya, from his birth till his father’s death. His father, Krishnan (which happens to be the Surya’s another role), is supposedly a cool, understanding and supportive dad. The film presents Krishnan’s life in short, Surya’s teenage to college days to successful career, which includes his love life, days of drug addiction and adventure. In all these phases, he is guided by his father who is Surya’s inspiration.

After Mani Ratnam, I believe that Gautam Menon is the only director who can make realistic movies but he has over done it in this film. No movie shows realistic sequences of play and the unrealistic actions (I don’t mean fight sequences) is always blown up and hence you can watch it for fun. But in this film, such ideal characteristics and impossible sequences are displayed so casually which, I think, is the biggest mistake.

The point is, you will never find a dad like Mr.Krishnan of this movie. I should say that Surya did a marvelous acting as this father personality. The make up suited him well, his dialogue delivery was brilliant and in short, his ways gave such feel good factor to the movie. But, what made it hit the reverse track is that kind of a person is nowhere to be found because of the exaggeration given here.

Here are some or actually, many of the unconvincing methods of the movie

1. Surya is inspired by his dad. Good. But in the movie which claims “dad shapes son up”, there is actually only 3 scenes where the father advices his son. The son decides everything by himself, learns everything by himself and does things that he likes to do. So I don’t see a great influence of the dad on him, which the movie claims to do.

2. Love at first sight is only faintly accepted in the world. Not many believe in it. Surya falls in love with Meghna (Sameera reddy) as soon as he sees her in the train. Alrite, it’s a movie so let’s accept it. But……….. Proposing at first sight?????????

3. The son is bad engineering student and after he finishes college (with arrears still uncleared), he starts a company with his friends, makes it really big and even builds a huge house in less than a year. Please…. On screen this was stupid.

4. The son, goes on a hunt for finding his acquaintance’s son who has been kidnapped. He finds the boy and saves it from them as a single man army. I would have accepted this if it had been Vijayakanth or Vijay’s film, but definitely is not a formula to be used by someone like Gautam Menon.

These are only parts of the movie that are unacceptable. If you watch it, you’ll find more!! Screenplay, choreography and others don’t really cover up for this mess.

Maybe Gautam Menon has gone to cloud-9 after the real successful ventures and thought that everything that’s his would be accepted. Unfortunately, the movie lacks reality to a level that cannot be endured.

*/5 – one star for the father surya’s acting and music.

Verdict: Aiyayooo 100 rupees pochaeyyy…

P.S : Sameera Reddy is the most beautiful girl I have ever seen this year!!

Dostana - My Friend's Review

2008-11-15T22:01:00.004+05:30

All right... The great suraj (yeah, thats me!) was on rest for a few days now... I took a break from blogging, listening to music, reading etc (but of course, not from watching movies!!) because i got busy with a few other things and now i am back! More posts are going to be coming, and to start with, here is a review of Dostana...
This review has been sponsored to this blog by my friend, Sandeep Kumar known as S@ndy in his messages! Sandeep is a very good friend and the most popular among the opposite sex (btw, he is male. I learnt that when he answered "male" across the row "sex" in a form that he filled in front of me in Chennai Trade Center. He initially thought of something else given the fact that the form was given by a girl, but i explained to him before he leaped!!). This is his first hand at reviewing a movie and I am sure u all will enjoy it. More reviews will be coming to this blog from him and here we go with the first one.... Dostana

"
This one is a comic caper to the core and not even one part of the movie is such that you write it off. Abhishek is excellent especialy the Venice Love Story that part is the best part of the movie where actually my jaw was paining and i could'nt laugh anymore.
Priyanka has acted brilliantly she perfectly suits the role of a NRI Sindhi girl and not to mention she looks Sizzling.
John is cool and guys dont neglect his body ..... I am sure he's gonna be the next MACHO ICON ....
Boman Irani is wasted in just a cameo he could have played a more potential role in the movie Kitty Gaajar (I dont remember her name) is too good with her Sindhi accent and does good justice to the role SPOILER
Bobby Deol plays a perfect suave business man but i think Shahrukh Khan or Akshay kumar could have handled the job better .... Karan johar are you listening !!!
Scenes to watch out for
1.) Hot Dog Counter Scene Between Abhishek & John
2.) Venice Love Story Scene (Best Scene)
3.) Boman Irani Vists Priyanka's House and Bidi Jalai Le Dance
4.) Kiron Kher Does grah pravesh pooja for John
5.) John & Abhishek teach Bobby Deol to impress Priyanka
6.) CLIMAX ..... no clues here GO AND WATCH THE MOVIE

A comprehensive verbal view of the movie's story would only spoil the show and i think you should watch it instead to know the fun involved!
On the whole the movie is a great sign of relif for Karan Johar after disastrous Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna (Though it worked wonders in international circuit)
Songs are a awesome. especially "desi girl" , "jaane kyun" , "maa da laadla" , "shut up and bounce".

Its Simply superb movie...I loved it.......n coudn't contrl my laughter thruout.....evry1 acted well...Abhishek,john n priyanka...all were superb......bobby was also good.....

Go Ahead and watch "DOSTANA".--"it's a best movie to watch with your gang of friends....not with family plzzz.....(its okay if watched with cousins though).... :-) I am sure you wont be disappointed

Thanx to suraj for letting me write here in his blog....

next review will be about shahrukh khan's "rab ne bana di jodi" which is coming out to screens on Dec 12th....

Until then...bye bye...
$@ndeep

"

To know more about Sandeep, you could visit his orkut profile
Here

Mobile number - 9841245566 ( Guys are requested to call him and girls are ordered to call me.)

More coming into this blog...

Dhaam Dhoom - My Review

2008-09-15T00:58:00.003+05:30

I am actually in a movie watching spree and watched this “high class blunder” today. Ladies and Gentlemen, after Bheema, this super duper hopeless flick is the worst movie of the year 2008. (Big round of applause)

The story centers on Gautam (Jayam Ravi), a doctor who is selected and sponsored by the Govt of India to attend an International Medical Conference in Russia. Poor fellow, with only 2 weeks left for his marriage with Senba (Kangana), reluctantly accepts the offer and flies to Russia. Here, our hero, gets muddled with a murder case and from there the movie is all about his struggle to prove his innocence with flashbacks of how he met and fell in love with Senba, a village girl whose antics reminds me of Mudhalvan’s Manisha Koirala.

Though the movie has horrible screenplay, impossible direction, boring song sequences, no scope of great acting, very little comedy, unconvincing and irritating action and bad bad dance… the movie teaches the audience, a lot of things that needs attention.

1. Don’t go outstation after your marriage gets fixed. Very important lesson.

2. Please do not reveal your love relationship to your family like the way Ravi and Kangana do it. You are sure to be shot dead by your parents, not for the relationship, but for using a (beep) idea to reveal the matter to them.

3. Jayam Ravi is shot, blood is dripping from his chest, and in such a situation, he steals a bike and as he rides it, he closes his eyes and thinks about his girl friend….. ends up hittinga truck. Two lessons to be learnt here..

When you are so hurt like that, simply get a lift instead of mugging a guy and stealing his bike.
While on the roads riding your bike (or a stolen bike), DO NOT think about your girlfriend. Keep your eyes wide open and concentrate only on sightseeing.

4. If you go to a bar in foreign country, that too a country where English is spoken only by 1 in 50, please do not go over the stage and hold the pole to sing a Tamil song with Kokku dance. You will disgrace our country.

5. Last but not the least, please take care of your health when you are directing a movie. This is really not a joke.

I strongly believe that the movie has turned out to be such a hopeless one because of the taking over of the film by another director after the sad demise of Jeeva. This doesn’t mean that his assistant is devoid of any talent but it’s a concept belonging to Jeeva and half way through it, if somebody else has to finish his idea, it sure is to become a mess. That’s what happened with Dhaam Dhoom. Had Jeeva worked out this entirely, the film would have been a great one.

*/5 – Only one for the music and Jeeva’s efforts.

Verdict: Avoid even a free ticket!

Saroja - My Review

2008-09-13T00:59:00.005+05:30

Now this is exactly what we want, don’t we?

It’s been a long time since I wrote here, was busy with quite a lot of things and never found time to scribble but after watching this movie today, if I don’t commend it for my personal satisfaction, I will not be doing justice to the Rs.50 ticket and Rs.10 popcorn that my friend disbursed for me in the sultry “Sundar AC” theater.

I was told by many that this movie rocks and went in with a preconvention that this is going to be a super class entertainer and my expectations were satiated comfortably. More than faith on friends who extolled the work, it’s the faith on the Chennai-28 crew that gave me this rule. Even though I missed the first 15 minutes of the movie, and more importantly, even though I missed the sequences where Kajal Agarwal appears, I found this movie brilliant and awesome.

The movie is about 4 friends, who set on a journey to Hydrabad to watch a cricket match, in a medium sized caravan-like maruthi van ( now its quite difficult to describe that vehicle ) and are caught up in a stagnant traffic obstructed by a huge tanker turned upside down in an accident. Ajay (RJ Shiva) promises to drive through a short cut to reach their destiny in time but they all end up getting muddled in an abandoned factory, which is inhabited by a group of people who, apparently, had kidnapped Prakash Raj’s daughter. From then on, it’s an amazing play with perfect comical blend.

Chennai 28 is probably an epitome of the kind of movie that will enthrall the youth and adults community of this state. Saroja, begot by the same crew, is at least 90% closer to their earlier blaster. The comic lines were absolutely hilarious and their timing and dialogue delivery were flawless.

Here are a few genuine reasons why you must watch this movie

1. Absolutely stunning dialogue delivery and comedy RJ Shiva

2. Impeccable performance and comedy by Premji Amaran

3. A superb screenplay and direction

4. A flawless delineation of practical jokes

5. To learn how to turn a simple concept into a powerful entertainer rather than making a mess of it…( a movie that was terribly made on similar simple story line was Mumbai Express.. Saroija is a million times better than that.)

Here is one reason why you must not watch this movie

1. You are an outright fool

Though it had the concoction of all the elements right, there were a few flaws.

1. A family follows the guys’ car after they decide to take the short cut. But nothing is later mentioned about what happens to them while their predecessors get mixed up in a kidnap case.

2. The digital time clock that is displayed in the screen sporadically shows 12:35:00 Pm instead of 12:35:00 Am.

There were a few more minor mistakes that I don’t remember now, actually. However, they don’t have any effect on the movie’s running.

Anyways, this movie was a great fun to watch. Ultimate time pass.

****/5 – One star removed for these minor flaws

Verdict: Must watch, fantastic entertainer. Expecting more such movies from this crew. Saroja.. Samaan nikalo….

Dasavatharam – Disappointing

2008-06-16T20:45:00.003+05:30

Before I start anything, let me remind you all that this is a personal review and hence goes by my opinion.

Now Dasavatharam was this year’s most anticipated Kamal Haasan movie and, to me, it was very disappointing. We all know the facts, 10 different roles for Kamal, the ever victorious Kamal-Ravikumar combo, a different kind of music by Himesh Reshamiya, blah blah blah… but all this never really lived up to my expectation of a Kamal Haasan Movie.

The story revolves around Govindarajan (one Kamal Haasan) who tries to save India from a noxious biological substance (I don’t remember what it is) which if exposed to air would cause million deaths by spreading violently across the country and the only way out is to pour NaCl (sodium chloride) over it as immediately as possible to stop suffusing. In the process of this, he encounters respite less hurdles for six days and finally its tsunami that saves the country.

Sivaji had acted in a movie called Navaratiri with nine different roles that had excellent interlinks between the roles and was a brilliant make. But Dasavatharam miserably fails in this interlink between 10 roles. Furthermore, there was absolutely no necessity of having 10 kamal roles at all in this moviel. This movie, visibly, was just made for the title and to have 10 roles, nothing more. Here is what I think about the Kamal’s presence in these roles.

1. Scientist – Definitely necessary, coz he is the hero

2. CBI officer – Not necessary but it was great watching him play this role. Awesome acting.

3. A Black local man – Not necessary but again awesome acting in this role. Different way of walking, talking etc.

4. Assassin or Villain – Necessary coz nobody else could have done this better than Kamal.

5. An old woman – Totally unnecessary, yeah good acting, but no way related to story line, useless.

6. A tall muslim – Absolutely unnecessary, only about 3 or 4 scenes and hopeless.

7. George Bush – Waste! Only 3 scenes in the whole movie. No scope for acting also. Just imitated George bush.

8. Rangaraja Nambi (12^th Century) – I am sorry to say but very bad over acting. Needless in the movie.

9. A Punjabi Singer – Not a big deal, anybody could have done this. No acting scope. But the song looked good. They could have brought in Daller Mahinidi to act.

10. A Chinese guy – Good make up and again no big deal coz appears only for 3 scenes. I would have liked Jackie Chan in this role.

One of the very disappointing facts is that the story has absolutely no relevance with the 12^th Century events. Looks like it was introduced to only portray another Kamal Haasan and he screwed it up by over acting. Also the comical dialogues written by kamal were 90 percent “mokkai”… He has again tried situation based comedy like Mumbai Express and to support its liking, it fails to impress here too.

Some commendable parts of the movie are the picturization of “kallai mattum” and “oh oh sanam” songs, awesome make up and Asin’s extraordinary acting. She has done something similar to Gajini but you will never get bored of her how many ever times she repeats it.

About Graphics, it was good but there are too many shots graphically made that will make you get really bored of it. And the way tsunami was created was terrible.

All in all, I don’t have to remind you how anybody will feel after watching movies like Anbe Sivam, Panchathanthiram etc. But after watching this film, I never had the feeling of having watched a Kamal Haasan movie and I felt that the film was adorned with too many elements that eventually became unwanted and completely ruined it. This movie is yet another commercial flick and no way different from other normal movies.

***/5 – one for the meticulous make up and some good graphics, one for Asin’s super performance and picturization of songs, and the last one for Kamal’s great acting in the 4 roles out of the 10.

Verdict: Turned all expectations down. Could have been filmed a ton times better.

An Opportunity That Once Knocked Had Jeffrey Archer At The Door..

2008-05-28T23:52:00.007+05:30

I was sitting helpless and irritated in the “placement training” class in my college. It was last session and the English trainer wanted me to go over the dais and talk about the unforgettable day of my life. Ironically, that was the day that became the most memorable and unforgettable day of my life.

On 24^th of May, I realized one of my dreams coming true. That evening I sped with my bike to Nungambakkam Landmark. Cars were parked all around and I had to park my bike at a corner and in the unrestrained joy, I slipped noticing that I was actually heading towards a place that’s between two iron rods, placed at about 5’ from the ground, used as scaffoldings. I did slide my bike amidst the two that were separated by a certain distance in air, but when I moved a little forward hoping to park my pulsar neatly..BANG… my head hit the iron rod and I felt butterflies flying around my head..but no time, I had to hurry, I moved back..BANG..the other one hit my head. Same happy butterflies flew over my head again! Ok Come on now..very meticulously, I parked it there and ran towards the basement. (At this juncture I would like to thank my helmet, the savior of my head and life, without which I would have either had serious head injuries or even the worse… thanks a lot brother!)

Landmark was already full; a small dais was set up with a chair, table and podium with mike, and lot of plastic chairs surrounding it. I ran into the place, banged on some guys and girls during the race-like-run…but wait a minute, not like the way your dirty mind drives u to think..those were only decent “unintentional” bangs..and as I neared the set where the chairs were arranged, I stood behind all of them and found the last one chair to be unoccupied. And then, there she was, a really cute and beautiful girl who walked charmingly to occupy that seat..but if you thought that I would have simply watched her take that seat with my lower jaw hitting the ground, I am sorry you’re wrong, I leaped forward to pull the blue chair away from her, placed it behind me, and happily sat awaiting the big show. She gave me a disgusting look but all I could do was give her back one such better disgusting looks of mine telling her “Sweetheart, I just cannot be the fool today because I want to be comfortable watching him speak on the dais”.

It was sharp 7 PM when the glass door was opened for him to enter the shop and all raised to applause the man, the legendary author and the master story teller – Jeffrey Archer…..

We all applauded joining our hands together for few minutes as he walked towards the dais waving his hand to the crowd.

I just couldn’t believe my eyes. Jeffrey Archer is, according to me, the world’s best author. I haven’t found any other author describing the emotions in such class. You might say Dan Brown, but na, too verbose for descriptions of emotions to reach people instantly and intensively. You might say Sydney Sheldon, except for daunt, I don’t reckon great description of emotions from him. But Jeff is a master; he can slash the others with his language and dons the way of describing actions, emotions and what not…everything. Although I can’t write stories like him, he inspires me to write short articles in the most expressive way and to me, he is the God of Writing.

At Landmark, Jeff started off talking about his life, how he started writing and what brought him fame and money. He told stories of how he strived to make his book Kane and Abel popular but miserably failed at every attempt and how one of the television hosts spoke just a line about the book that raised the rank of Kane and Abel into the Top 10 releases and eventually to the No.1 in the list. Jeff spoke for half an hour and was exhilarating us with hilarious and interesting stories of his life and the books. The last half an hour was questionnaire session and many barraged him with questions of all kind.. personal, writing related, inspiration, books related and just everything… for which this man had all the patience to answer even if the questions were silly. Some of the interesting points he made about India… Jeff seems to loathe the Indian Traffic so much that he often said he would want to be the Transport Minister for India…!! Commenting on T20 IPL, he said it’s not cricket at all!! He said.. “Cricket is the way Rahul Dravid and Laxman play in the heat under the sun for the whole day..”!

In the event Jeff spoke a lot on the way he writes…he said that he would take 55 days to complete his…no no not the book… but the First Draft!! And as he claims, Kane and Abel took him 18 drafts… seriously that’s a lot of patience and from that everybody could understand the passion he holds to produce great books..!!

After about an hour and fifteen minutes, he closed down the speech and the questionnaire session and sat on with the chair with the table forth him to start signing everyone’s books.. and he was very particular that he will sign every book regardless of time and effort it would take…

My brother had purchased his latest novel “A Prisoner of Birth” and was already standing in the queue before I could even turn and say something to him…!! Now that was unfair…I wanted to go and get it signed and my bro was in no mind to hand it to me…so I rushed to the counter and used my card to get another book, ran back to the queue and interrupted the line to stand behind my brother… Now where was this girl who wanted the chair sometime back??? I rolled my eyes all over the place so that I could look at her and point to the chair to say.. “hey you can use that now”..... but nope, she escaped the insult!!

And finally I was there on the dais with the man, the best author in the world signing my book…and as he signed I started to say

“Thank you for visiting India…”

“Oh..Thank you very much…It’s a pleasure” replied the Genius.

“And I am very very happy that I met you”

“OH…Thank you very very much!!”

And I was forced to get down because there was a queue replete with impatient fans to get their books signed. What surprised me was my brother who is renowned for screwing things up in the last minute..(except for the projects in wipro)… actually obeyed me and clicked a pic as I stood beside the great man…. Alas, one good deed for Gods to consider heaven for him….Later I took a close up shot of the star… The following are the pics…

Not many get to meet their inspiration easily and meeting Jeffrey Archer in India is unquestionably something I never expected in my life…. When everything seemed to be obtuse and arid in this phase of my life, this incident squeezed in all the energy and ecstasy… Jeff…You’ll live longer than you would want to, to enthrall us with amazing stories….. Thank you very much...

24^th May 2008 will stay the second best day in my life so far… after 8^th November 2004..

The Shadow Man

2007-12-26T00:13:00.001+05:30

As I lay in the dark under the comfort of the blackness that surrounds me; the eyes alive to witness an impeccable event; through the window shines the light of the moon straight onto me and is born behind me, my shadow.

I witness, as my shadow disunites from me, the heavenly winds en wrapping an unrivaled path of transition; my shadow ascending to the height of the sky through the passage that nature created; and as it rises in the invincible segue, the gods of the goodness blessing it with the power, the identity, the character, the courage, the energy, the weapons, the support, the intelligence, and all that is needed to win battles for the earth against the elements of evil.

I see my dark shadow in the virtual world up there, prepared to fight battles; with strength to fight, mind to win, heart to kill and will to succeed.

I watch, with bated breath and delighted heart, my shadow slashing the heads of the immoral with the sword of the earth’s all the honesty; cremating the corrupt with the fire of all the divested souls, stabbing the hearts of the inhuman bodies that was selfish enough to make the deserving humans unjustly poor; shooting the brains, mercilessly, of the slothful empty souls who disrespect the laws of the nature and hurt the sinless creatures; beating to death and destroying the families of all the avaricious humans who mask their hearts with good; strangling to death the souls with minds that is not patriotic, sucking the blood from the hearts of souls that desire power to misuse and skinning the rich that refuse to help the poor.

After all evil die, I see my shadow standing with blood stained all over its black complex body; breathing heavily in rage and anger; feeling ecstatic that evil were all eliminated and as the good humans of the virtual world surrounded my shadow, applauding, thanking and blessing him for creating such a harmless world, I see my shadow smile…

I see him, departing from the virtual world waving goodbye to the thankful souls, and descending through the magical path that gave it all the nonpareil powers. Down he comes to the real earth and stands in front of me, meeting me eye to eye. With no words to speak and no tears to cry; with no prayers to pray and no feelings to hide; as the virtual world watch us from above; we break out into the loudest laughter a human could ever hear, a laughter so loud that echoes to those suffering evil in hell, a laughter so loud that flies all over the world up there to wipe the tears of the poor, a laughter so loud that lashes the fear from all the good souls, a laughter so loud that brings back life to all that are dead but deserve to live and as the thunder roars and a lightning flashes whiteness to the darkest night , we cry out aloud-“For all you evil still out there or yet to be born, be prepared to die in the hardest way in our hands”… and thus pours the heartwarming rain.

After the celebration; as the silence restores; as we realize that time is just apt for my shadow to reunite with me; I felicitate him with smile expressing my happiness and exhilaration for which he returns a smile to me expressing his hope that I do his deeds for the salvation of the good in the real world; and as he unites with me; I stand near my window, enjoying fragrance of the wet soil, praying to god that I fulfill my shadow’s dreams.

The Satire Of Life

2008-05-15T02:41:00.003+05:30

He was running in a strange world; with the sky admonishingly black, the water of the sea poignant grey, the sand hostilely red, giant rocks that blocked the real world, caves that gleamed yellow in the dark and in this alien world humans seemed introuvable.

He could not reason his presence in such a world, with elements dissimilar to the real one. He knew nothing of what brought him there, why he was there, where he had to go and what he had to do.

From the emptiness, rose a melodious tune that impelled his weak eyes surrender to blackness that limned love and beauty. For a long time he exulted in the euphony and as the music waned, his eyes reverted to see the mystic world, but forth him stood a girl; her colours of suffusing and gracing amends to the obscurity of the cryptic world, and to his lecherous eyes, she was his angel. He was attracted to her; he wanted to touch her, feel her, but as he moved close to embrace her, the sand around his feet swirled and bristled up segueing to the priceless thin supple papers of money, encircling him in the invisible air. His mind flushed, the angel disappeared and the desire now aberrated to money flying around him in plenitude.

He picked them one by one, ebulliently, and as he amassed them in his hands, the wind gushed around him, eddied and swirled to form an enigmatic sphere. Gradually, the wind whirled to form many such spheres and they all inscrutably gyrated around him.
In a sudden moment, huge and venomous beasts pierced the windy spheres and emerged out at lightning speeds. They seemed edaciously hungry as they looked at him, howled and leaped on him. In the nick of time, he eluded a beast’s hand and ran faster than he could to evade the giant creatures that were raring to kill him.

With no other place to head, he ran into the dark cave hoping to find shelter away from the beasts but agony accreted with time as in the darkness he found more of them impatient to kill him. Beasts large and huge, devils black and bloody; he ran away from them all, deep into the cave, hoping an exit into a safe and serene world. But the cave seemed endless with the orange gleams weakening synchronically with every step he placed deep into it and soon only the infinite ebony hollow persisted. In no time, the cave showed its dead end and now, to him, death seemed to be certain and painful in the hands of the devils. He turned praying that he be closed in a limpid air but he only saw uncountable agitated beasts moving towards him. Every step he took backwards only told him that it will all be over shortly. He stood there now with no more steps lift; he surrendered and felt his painful end as the beasts held him against the cave’s dead wall, where one lacerated his skin with the virulent nails and other sprang on him to bite him on his neck……he woke up, his body palpitating in shock and fear, in the middle of the night to find himself alive and safe.

He was awake for a long time, mentally tormented, and unable to explain himself why he saw such an evilest nightmare. He thought his past, the times he was audaciously winning by being vice and inhuman. Yet the nightmare showed him all he wanted with fear winning his desire. His mind showed him the tangency of his desirous life and the ironic nightmare. The dream had displayed to him, the sarcasm of his quality, character and his end in the world. As his thoughts died restoring his sleep, he heard a pleasant voice whispering in his ears…….”Before you start living tomorrow, decide the way you want to die….”

TMEN – The Midnight Express News

2008-05-10T02:24:00.013+05:30

Here it is… Something that I had always wanted to start was a news network and now I am officially launching “The Midnight Express News” (TMEN), the Network that promises Hilarious News.

This is a venture first of its kind for me, and it is unlikely for the laughing quotient to be on a large scale here in the first post. There will be improvements in the forthcoming reports and will make sure this entertains every visitor. So here we go…

1. Vijay’s Kuruvi takes off….

Chennai police gathered at the Cinema theaters for crowd control have stated that controlling the fans of Vijay, on the day of release of his new film Kuruvi, was arduous.

One of them said, “We managed the crowd that were going into the cinema theater by lining them up but soon after the movie began, the crowd stormed out of the theaters and we had to call back up team to avoid stampedes.”

Though very few stayed till the end of the movie, the theater owners have expressed that they toiled to empty the theater after the show.

One of the owners, speaking to TMEN, stated that, “About 10% of the seats were filled as the movie neared its end and after its finish I had to send a team to force the remaining men out of the building. People who stayed were either in a deep slumber or were happy inseparable couples. “

Looks like Kuruvi is just doing its exact job!!

Also, it is evident now, that Vijay has given up his dreams of becoming the next super star… He is now battling with NOBODY to settle as the next T.R… His song in Kuruvi “yeh danna darrana” has been reverently ripped from T.R’s “yeh dandankka, yeh danukudakka…”

Simbhu kuda next T.R aaganum nu nenakkali!!

2. Vijay reveals at Dasavatharam launch

Dasavatharam music launch was one of the most magisterial and grandest shows and what have we got here… Vijay reveals… Wait a minute... I know Mallika Sherawat was more revealing than vijay or asin but… what I mean by vijay reveals is his blatant acceptance of a fact that has shocked his fans all over the world…

Vijay was seen uttering repeatedly to kamal… “na unga kittendhu nariya kathukanum….”(I have to learn a lot from you)….. The obvious meaning threw the hands of his fans in horror….

Vijay doesn’t know to do the “lip kiss”!!!!!

However, questions have bobbed up about the absence of Ajith and presence of Vijay in the Dasavatharam music launch…. What could this possibly mean??... Very well.. with directors like Perarasu filming record-making…err….record-breaking movies and Simbhu creating stories in which he be the only male actor “ensoying” all female leads, it is a pipe dream for these heros do find a decent script… so what do you do?? REMAKE an old film….

There are the possible titles for Vijay’s movies if remade from Kamal hits…

Nayagan – Nayakari (Derivative of Pokkiri)

Micheal Madana Kama Rajan – Kakka Kuruvi Palli Karapampuchi

Aboorva Sagotharargal – Sarama vedikum Bijili (Inspired from Sivakasi)

Aalavandhaan – Olaravandhaan

Raaja Paarvai – Kabothi (inspired from Aathi)

Enna Koduma Sir idhu.....

3. Vijay Mallya’s life - Bob Woolmer calling

Speaking to the reporters, Vijaya Mallya said “I have spent $110 million on the team and now I am seeing Bob Woolmer in my dreams.” The sad man has sacked Charu Sharma, the manager of the Royal Challengers Banglore, stating that he is solely responsible for team’s miserable performance.

Charu Sharma is a popular television guy renowned for compeering Extra Innings. The RC owner believed in his strategies for the game but poor Mallya didn’t quite know that his strategy is only bringing hot women into the television screens along with him in Extra innings so as to make his shows “watchable”.

But wait a minute….his strategies did work for RCs….how?….The RC cheerleaders are, most definitely, the hottest of the those in the IPL…

Talking about cheerleaders, Vijay Mallya is said to have wrangled with them too. They have been accused by him for “unsatisfactory limited dancing” and also announced that their pay will be lowered considerably. When asked to react to this, the enraged cheerleaders told the media that they will dance only for fours and sixes!!!

“Engey sellum indha paadhai….Yaaro yaaro arivaaro..”

4. Lalit Modi wants more from Yuvaraj’s team

The Chairman of the IPL, Mr.Lalit Modi, has expressed his liking towards Yuvaraj Singh and his team’s cricketing performance. Talking about IPL, he stated that Yuvaraj’s Captaincy is stealing the IPL show and his team has all prospects of winning it. He also stated that he himself is a great fan of Yuvi and wants to see him blasting more sixes in the tournament. However all forms of analysis over these statements returns only one meaning …. “I want to be with Priety Zinta during the game and hug her and enjoy for all the sixes!!”

Nalla podringada kadalaiya……

That’s it for today….. Will be back with lots more….

Reminiscence - My School LIfe

2008-05-01T00:01:00.006+05:30

It was 3 AM and I was not able to sleep. It always happens that in my study holidays, the nights become days and vice versa. It happened that night.

So i ladened my mind with my past. The versatility of experiences in my life always makes sure that there is always something in past to think of. Of course, for no person past will be empty but for every person his/her past is something to either remember or forget.

For me, my past is something I always want to forget but yet want to remember.

I still live with the pride of having studied in a school that always takes its comfortable position within top 5 chennai schools every year (thrice 1^st). But I was always one of those students who never lived up to the school’s expectations. I was, as they called it, one of the threats to the brand “P.S”. But I enjoyed the school. I loved living there…..and would love to re-live there….

I don’t have a retentive mind, but that night my mind retrograded back to those olden days in school where everything that happened in my 11^th and 12^th was one of the worst concoction of happiness and bitterness. When I look back at it now, I miss even the sorrow times I have had in my school.

Something that happened in 11^th was the epoch-making turning point in my life. I still feel like thanking the party concerned who made possible the things that happened, after he complained about me to my class teacher. My chemistry madams’ aversion towards me started there….right there. That’s when my reputation in school started to blow off.

And from her, it went through my physics ma’am and to my English ma’am. Awesome. Now every teacher in my high school who handled my class abominated me.

I can never forget the times I spent in my chemistry class feeling like a bug and desperately unwanted by Sundari ma’am. The words she used to describe me are still reverberating in my ears. I remember my maths sir and his classes. Somehow his way of teaching maths never suited me. I even told him that. His ego hurt when I told him that I like and prefer the other maths teacher, Usha Ma’am (popular as U.V) and way of teaching. He took it too personal and from then on, our personal foes were never ended. I remember those times in 12^th when the intensity of the unpleasantness hovered as weeks crossed.

But I never cared, because bigger things were happening and I was making sure that my heart could scaffold the building of something beautiful.

Funny incidents, then serious, still stand in front of my eyes.

I know this is a post poorly vivid and badly organized but I wanted to put down the flow that sequenced it.

That night, I reminisced the school days; I re-lived the best and worst times, I re-experienced every feeling I felt in unforgettable past. I mixed some grape juice for myself after the memories met their completion at 5 am, and I slept a dreamy dawn….

Let me present to you - my school life……… sometime….

The Indian Premier League – Spellbinding

2008-04-20T01:25:00.004+05:30

Finally the most awaited Indian Premier League has commenced and this novel concept is probably the not the best but the better that can happen to cricket – the gentlemen’s game.

I watched the opening ceremony on 18th evening and was mesmerized with the way it was done. I couldn’t look anywhere apart from the TV for the first half an hour of the Ceremony. One of the best opening ceremonies I have ever seen. Its rocking to see the film stars owning and supporting their respective teams and see them screaming their head off for every six their team players produce.

It happened in the first match. The Kolkatta Knight Riders vs. Banglore Royal Challengers was an awesome highscoring game. Funnily, Vijaymalya spoke with Jadeja before the match began and was too proud of his team. I heard him say that his team is full of experience and probably the best in the eight. Sadly the team lost with a score that hardly reached 100 and Vijaymalya’s high paid cheer leaders had no dancing to do. Sharukh on the other hand was seen standing over the railings and dancing while his team almost broke the ball with hard-hit sixes.

This game, emphatically, is a million dollar fun, but I wouldn’t agree with the group that says this is best thing that can happen to the game of cricket. I don’t know if I am correct thinking this way but in my opinion, I would like to compare the situation with that of Football. There are leagues confined to the country clubs (men play for other country’s clubs too) and that way we see a lot of players endowed with ball-wielding skills on the field. And thus for them the World Cup becomes such an ambitious play. The feel the players and the viewers get for the FIFA World Cup is definitely unrivaled. However the in the game of cricket, the domestic play has been of interest only to the BCCI and very few of the public take involvement in watching and commenting on those games. In fact, I found one of my friends oblivious of the fact that India won the Under 19 ICC Cricket World Cup.

This is a situation like the cricket’s own situation in the type of play. Test cricket and One day Internationals were dominating and after T20’s entrance, many lost the patience to sit and watch Test Cricket. Now the favourites have become the ODIs and T20s. Probably cricket has crossed the stage where domestic play would ever demand attraction by any means. International Cricket is always the cynosure.

But this is no censure to the league. As I have stated in the title, this form of cricket is spellbinding. IPL is a stupendous entertainment any cricket fan can experience. Not the just the viewers, but also the cricketers, especially the younger ones, will have glutted excitement playing with other experienced International players. My already existing joy about IPL was stirred when I saw Ricky Ponting hugging Ishant Sharma for taking a wicket in the first game. We would get to see lot more of “International Hugging” for sure…

IPL is superb, fantastic and entertaining. But for the game of cricket, the International matches are always the best and the entertainment and excitement one would get while watching an action packed India vs. Pakistan game on the field has no equal emotion!!

The Journey of Hope

2007-09-12T20:20:00.001+05:30

A dream, not what the eyes visions in the long slumber, but what we foresee for ourselves in the future, could incarnate in us all that it would take for the dream to be portrayed real. I believe in such a notion and I lay here feeling the motivation, dedication, concentration and all that is needed, substantiated into actions to feel the existence of what I see in mind.

As the goal lies miles away from where I stand, I only see the treasure and feel the urge to make it belong to me. I need to get there, before anyone does and I have found the right path to have it owned. But that path I have chosen is not uncluttered.

There are crossroads as I travel to conquer my future and I need to take the right way from there. Nonetheless, there is malice all through my path and I have to win combats, all alone, over the so many malicious forces that assail from all the sides possible.

I have come to crossroads and I have experienced taking the right path and making the wrong move but none of this stopped me from aiming what I want and what I think I deserve. I have fought uncountable battles, I won some and lost many but it has never broken my confidence down.

I still see my goal far away in what I imagine to be the mightiest ocean where dwells the malevolence, challenge, hardship, desire, agony, pain, solitude, deceit, vengeance and trauma and where resides the hope, motivation, power, ecstasy, emotions, trust, morals, principles, relationship and love.

Life is fusion of good and bad and that’s what our path contains as we march through the passage that takes us to our desired destiny. How much ever the cruelness of the venom is, regardless of the number of battles I need to terminate, whatever builds against this expedition of mine and however large it may rise to, I will never let go what I got to grab my future. They can never break me down before I get there, and never even get close to me after that!

Yaradi Nee Mohini - My Review

2008-04-18T03:19:00.003+05:30

I had wanted to watch this movie since its release, but after watching it I ended up feeling dumb for having “wanted” to watch it.

Yaradi Nee Mohini is a film with a story line totally irrelevant to its title. The movie begins with dhanush again playing a role of a “vetti”, hopeless man trying to find himself a job in a ‘Software Company’. And when he finds one, he meets Nayantara (my sweetheart and a project manager in the company) and, like in any other usual tamil cinema, falls in love with her. While she claims she is not interested, hero’s depression accrues as his father passes away. His friend Karthik plans to take dhanush along with him for his marriage in a village affirming that the downhearted hero will find solace with a lot of people around him. And from there, the typical Tamil film antics concerning hero’s impression in the family is exhibited.

Everybody knows this is a Telugu remake and since I haven’t seen the Telugu version I am not able to compare the two but from what’s in the Tamil edition, this film is definitely not worth watching unless you are a fiery fan of Nayantara.

The movie paces slowly and sometimes I felt a little bored. Give Nayantara less clothes (like in Billa) and she will never act (only walking like what Ajith did) but give her too many clothes like Yaradi Nee Mohini and she’ll repay you with over action. It got into my nerves every time she tried to act like a software company’s project manager. Sort of gives a feeling that Tamil film heroines are worth only for love subjects in movies and can’t act when given a meaningful role.

I saw in some of the papers that the on screen chemistry between Nayantara and Danush is too good and I would suggest to those who call that true to be a little away from me. Because I might not stop to think what I was told my mom when I was 5…..avoid violence.

Apparently, looks like Karthik(better known as suchi’s husband) has got a ironlike position in the Tamil Cinema for the role of a impeccant and innocent young man, whose lover will always be loved by the hero, and will let the girl ditch him to marry her ex-boy friend, sit and cry for some time, soothe himself by calling it a sacrifice. Basically, if any of you directors want a guy friend for your hero to unwittingly hurt him by “ensoying” with his girl friend, you have Karthik.

Shockingly, in this “Tamil Cinema”, the climax will deceive anybody who predicts it, and by all odds, it sucks.

Here are some things that really infuriated me.

1. Nayantara wears too many clothes, not good.
2. A plump good looking girl and a monkey like creature were “trying” to romance in the film, Koduma.
3. “Palli” Dhanush fights with 10 rugged guys and even lifts an elephant sized man, totally unacceptable.
4. While several engineering students are striving hard to learn English for Group Discussion in placements, our dhanush passes it by talking in “sutha” Tamil, I watched it with mouth agape.
5. Later in the movie he does speak some English. I was traumatized.
6. Finally, the film just doesn’t tell you who the (Beep) Mohini is.

To tell you the truth, Yaradi Nee Mohini is not worth a review.

**/5 – After so much revilement, I am giving it 2 starts only for the Nayantara and for some comical dialogues that merits appreciation.

Verdict : Waste of time.

Santhosh Subramaniyam – My Review

2008-04-12T23:02:00.011+05:30

Looks like this month's recipe is only Movies Reviews for my blog since i have earmarked two cerebration posts for May first week as i wouldn't be writing anything in the exam time...as for now...here is whats in my mind...

I am really happy that I did the right thing by going to abirami mall this evening because after a long time I actually got to watch a good Tamil movie.

Santhosh Subramanium is a comical commercial film which is actually a remake of the Telugu super hit Bommarilu. I was oblivious of that until my brother told me minutes before I was leaving for the theatre. I had seen the parts of the original telugu version and though I could understand the scenes, I couldn’t enjoy the comedy for the obvious reason that I don’t know the language too well.

But the understandable Tamil version is nourished with healthy and splendid comedy that goes along with the story line perfectly. The story is well known, it is all about a man who has an over protective and over concerned father who always wants to give the best to him, not cognized of whether he likes it or what he likes. The son (jeyam ravi) moves on with his discontented life but experiences a turn when he meets Genelia who is apparently the heroine of the film but yes…..in the movie she plays a kiddish girl who just does what she wants. And the film proceeds on with their relationship, his father’s threat to the love, and to the bigger problem, the too much interest the father (Prakash Raj) takes in his son’s life.

Though this story, direction and screenplay was copied from another source, the movie still found a positive place in my heart for the excellent comedy (hail Santhanam), Genelia’s awesome acting (she was a damn cute innocent sweetheart), Jeyam Ravi and Prakash Raj’s really good performance etc.

Ha..ha…Wait a minute.. Sadagopan Ramesh is actually acting in this movie as Ravi’s brother. That is probably the funniest thing you’ll ever notice in the film despite Santhanam’s fantastic comedy!! But yes, I didn’t find him too naïve in acting part.

Music wasn’t impressive, but screenplay and cinematography was fine. Jeyam Ravi’s acting was ok but a lot like Bommarilu Siddharth. Santhanam has a promising future and Geni darling….I love you!! To be laconic, this film is a perfect entertainer.

****/5 – I am taking away one star only for the non impressive music and the statement that lives every word “A Jeyam ravi’s film will find success only if it is a Telugu remake” !

Verdict : A must watch rib-tickling entertainer.

Vellithirai - My Review

2008-04-07T17:35:00.004+05:30

This is the third movie review I am posting here and this blog seems to have become a movie reviews portal. Since I cannot live without movies, and since I am absolutely jobless in this one month study holidays I have, I am entrancing myself by watching more movies than I usually do. So here is what I think about Vellithirai.

I was much excited about this film’s release and expected it to be even better than this duo’s previous film “mozhi”, but to tell you the truth, I am sort of disappointed with it.

The film revolves around Prakash Raj and Prithviraj, two so called friends trying to achieve success in cinema. While Prakash is striving to become a successful actor in the mainstream, Prithvi is on his endeavour to be well established director. While prithvi is on no interest to cast Prakash in his movie, prakash steals the script, registers the script and even completes the film with self as hero and ultimately sees success in his career. Prithvi stands helpless and he goes on writing other stories. But later in his life, he is forced to make a movie with Prakash Raj as the hero and the climax is something one wouldn’t expect.

Despite its strong subject and the fact that the performance of even a single actor in the movie cannot be faulted, the film fails to elicit the viewer’s interest because of its slow pace, untimely songs and unnecessary sequences and dialogues. I would have really walked out of the theatre but I was pulled back only because the duo were doing a good job.

Gopika did a fine job and does look beautiful. Songs and the way they have been depicted seemed inappropriate and loose. Unlike mozhi, the cinematography stands too low. To sum it up, the film might just cross the line of a decent entertainer.

***/5 – One for the good performances, one for the strong subject and one exclusively for the duo’s chemistry as friends and enemies in the movie.

Verdict : Far too below the duo’s much deserving successful previous entertainer, Mozhi.

Kannum Kannum - My Review

2008-04-06T01:16:00.004+05:30

I sat to watch this movie only for a reason that Prasanna is acting. I was much impressed with his performances in movies like 5 star, kanda naal mudhal, anjaathey, etc. All his movies did quite well in the theaters but I really doubt if this one will pull through.

Technology has advanced even beyond what our previous generation thought was incredible, and we use e-mails, sms etc. to communicate, and it is very fatuous that the director used the same old kadhal kottai ways of beginning love by sending inland letters to each other. I can only find my telephone bills, bank offers and advertisements, my college mark sheets and debit fees details. But ironically in the movie that is titled “Kannum Kannum”, the guy and the girl fall in love without even meeting each other!!

Prasanna decides to go to kutralam to meet her and stays in his friend’s house. From there the film is cloyed with emotions and dramas that are quite close to a seemly natural way and hence doesn’t really bore the viewers. Vadivelu has a comedy track disserved from the usual story and his dreadful jokes delineates vividly that producer has paid him the slightest amount.

But in the second half, for a little amount of time, Santhanam plays his part with his style of humour and that can really bring a smile for a movie that paces too seriously, if not for a laughter. Prasanna has acted well; actually speaking there is no big acting skill that is needed to play this role, so I am happy that he didn’t screw up.

The music was bad, simple and unsophisticated cinematography and the film is devoid of the regular Tamil film formulas like good dance, a good looking heroine, some action scenes and item numbers. They wouldn’t be making much difference to the movie anyways. All in all, a typical light Tamil film of low budget.

*/5 – The only star is for Prasanna and Santhanam’s parts and to the director who made sure that the movie doesn’t progress in a boring way.

Verdict: There is just nothing in the film!

RACE - My Review

2008-04-03T20:55:00.003+05:30

Very well, after a long time I got to watch this hindi film starring Akshaye Khanna, Saif Ali khan, Bipasha Basu and Katrina Kaif and I must say that I was quite happy that I didn’t waste time that evening.

Firstly, of all the actresses the directors, Abbas and Mastan, chose Katrina Kaif for playing Saif Ali Khan’s P.A. I know it’s always difficult to find a good apple from a basket of rotten ones but these Einstein Brothers actually managed to do the reverse, and that too not from a basket of good apples but from the tree itself! I would have loved it had Prinyanka Chopra played the role.

Secondly, I have substantial reason to believe that two directors are great fan of K.Balanchandar. The film is replete with twists and turns, both predictable and unpredictable but I was rather sated with the style that these convolve as the end draws close.

The story is all about Saif and Akshaye, two brothers of whom Saif is older and owns a stud farm training incredible horses for the race. Akshaye is unhappy that his brother owns everything and decides to kill him. To his help comes Bipasha Basu, a former girl friend of Saif, and apparently succeeds. And if I unveil any more of the story, I would just become a spoiler (because this is the point from where the K.Balanchandar’s aura of story directing tactics has clearly taken its fix).

Anil Kapoor makes his entry to investigate the case as Inspector R.D and since the directors gave a woman for each of the two main characters of the film, Anil must have demanded one for himself too. They gave him my favourite and the really hot Sameera Reddy. Again, she is now Anil’s Assistant and plays a cute and hot girl with unendurable innocence. Of course, whatever be the role a girl plays in a bollywood movie, she has to sign the contract to do an item number with the least amount of clothes over her body, right? So, with bipasha basu and Sameera Reddy on the charge, can you not imagine what all you can expect?

On the other sides, I didn’t really like the music, the cinematography wasn’t very impressive and some parts of the movie brought back the ancient way of handling the twists and turns. However, I did have fun watching this film and I recommend this film for all bipasha and sameera fans.

*** / 5 - One for the ladies, one for the direction, one for its complexity.

Verdict : A worthy time pass, be it the movie or the ladies.

The NewFolder.exe Virus

2008-03-13T21:28:00.004+05:30

I was too careful about pen drive and always made sure that i don't insert it in any of my college computers but today i had no other choice and all that happened after that was what i just expected.

A virus called New Folder.exe settled in my pen drive and even after repeated formatting of the drive, it recreated itself. It had an icon of that of a folder but of course its not a folder. U can confirm it in DOS or if u have left the "hide extensions" option unchecked in the "Folder Options".

When i double-clicked it, a process called regsvr.exe started running and though it appeared to take only little memory from my RAM as seen in the Task Manager, my system got terribly slow.

So spent a long time browsing and finding about this virus and its solutions but it was all futile. You can get more information about this virus here.

Now, the solution.
All that i did was just one small thing.
I reformatted my pen drive again but now in the NTFS now.
Whoooaaah (Al Pacino style!!)
It worked.
I could reuse the pen drive again without any probs after that.

Now, i still don't understand the logic behind this. I have still not figured out why this caused restitution of my drive but I am going to find out soon.

So for all those who are having this prob, just try it out. No harm in trying!!

If anybody knows the reason behind the success of this method, i would love your comment here. Or if anyone has a solution to it which is far more better than this one, i would like you to speak about it here.

Thats all folks. Have a great day!