Movies...

Life has been good to me these past few days. No work still. Chennai cooling down. Tonnes of movies to watch. A few that surprised me..I mean you dont expect kollywood to surprise you. Mozhi being the first one. A very sensitive movie, a sensible movie and a wonderful background score.
And then there is paruththiveeran. Well at the outset it may seem to like one of those crass B grade movies that kodambakkam churns out, but once the initial 10 minutes pass, the movie grips you in a vicious kind of way. Have to warn you, the language is very difficult to latch on to, atleast initially- a very heavily loaded madhurai accent. The landscape and the colour tones are rugged and stunning. The music from yuvan, as fas as i am concerned, his best work ever. The "Ayyayyo" song rocketing to one of my all time favourites. Heard people comment that the dialogues are way too in your face, obscene or to put it in tamil "Pachcha pachhaya irukku". Well, for the uninformed, the people who are being characterised on screen, tend to speak that way in real life. And the ending seems to have put of a lot as well. Well, not going to spoil it for you, just in case, u have not heard of it and are planning to go watch it. The ending was the highlight for me. There was no more convincing way it could have ended. Any other way and it would have been just another movie. On the whole an in your face roller coaster, tinged with some original native humour. Not to be missed.

And now to the other wood that is famous - Bollywood. two movies which were made outside the standard circuit. Kabul express and Black friday. Well , yes i am still playing catch up as far as the releases go. Kabul express is a commendable effort. atleast for the way the team has tried to approach the subject. Black Friday -mmm, almost silent background for the entire movie. A chapter wise narrative and KK Menon repeating a "Hazaaron kwahishen aisi". Planned to watch it in two sittings as we started off around 1 in the night. Couldnt bring myself to touch the remote for the next 2 hours. Riveting. Period.

And of course have been gorging on hollywood fare. And the one that caught my eye was Little miss sunshine. Tired of watching movies that picture families as ideal islands of joy, here was a dysfunctional family that was trying desperately to make it onto the band wagon. The highlight being a beauty contest for 10 year olds. A road trip across the US of A and the pretences begin to fall apart. And how it all comes togethor in the end. Lampooning a lot of the things that is not correct in the US way of life. A few that i fear are making their way to the indian society as well. Full of poignant moments and humor that is different from the staple hollywood fare. Again, should have won an oscar instead of departed. But, best screenplay, well ok can make do.

Well, have to catch up on a lot more and as the prospects of me getting work anytime soon are lesser, you can expect a lot more reviews. Right now, leaving for the day. Whew! it has been a long hard day at work i should say.

A small tribute to an unbeatable legend

Brian Charles Lara - A Legend signs off

A lot of people say a lot of things about Lara...but for me he is what cricket is all about..passion..come what may..and there are comparisons with lesser people back home but the statistics (by Wisden Almanac) below say it all...


Top 10 test innings
---------------------

1 DG Bradman 270 Australia England Melbourne 1936-37 262.4
2 BC Lara 153* West Indies Australia Bridgetown 1998-99 255.2
3 GA Gooch 154* England West Indies Headingley 1991 252.0
4 IT Botham 149* England Australia Headingley 1981 240.8
5 DG Bradman 299* Australia South Africa Adelaide 1931-32 236.8
6 VVS Laxman 281 India Australia Calcutta 2000-01 234.8
7 C Hill 188 Australia England Melbourne 1897-98 234.2
8 Azhar Mahmood 132 Pakistan South Africa Durban 1997-98 232.6
9 KJ Hughes 100* Australia West Indies Melbourne 1981-82 229.7
10 BC Lara 375 West Indies England St John's 1993-94 228.1

Top 10 One day innings
--------------------------

1 Richards I.V.A 189* (170) 1984 WI won by 104 runs Old Trafford
2 Richards I.V.A 138* (157) 1979 WI won by 92 runs Lord's
3 Jayasuriya S.T 189 (161) 2000 Sri Lanka won by 245 runs Sharjah
4 Kapil Dev N 175 (150) 1983 India won by 31 runs Nevill Ground,Turnbridge Wells
5 Saeed Anwar 194 (146) 1997 Pakistan won by 35 runs M.A Chidambaram
6 Gower D I 158 (118) 1983 England won by 54 runs Woolloongabba
7 Lara B.C 169 (129) 1995 WI won by 4 runs 120*
8 De Silva P.A 107* (124) 1996 Lanka won by 17 runs Gaddafi Stadium
9 Lloyd C.H 102 (85) 1975 WI won by 17 runs Lord's
10 Lara B.C 153 (143) 1993 WI won by 6 wickets Sharjah

P.S - I know this is a bit too late...but was offline for a while...so pleej adjust

Babel VS Crash

Just saw BABEL today...first impression is a gud movie...second thoughts...yes....definitely not worth a rewatch..Hollywood has this tendency, if a movie makes it big at the oscars, they will shamelessly "be inspired" from the movie and make thousands in the genre. Not unlike the numerous "woods" that we have in India. The inevitable comparisons with Crash kept popping up through out the length of the movie.
Both movies deal with the concept of intertwined lives in a global village. What Crash tries to depict within LA, Babel tries and takes it global. Set in a dry and harsh yet beautiful Morroco for the most part, the landscape sets the tone for the movie...sombre unlike crash which is a pot pourri of emotions.
True, there are scenes of excellence, scenes that will move you. The actors fit their roles to a T. especially one Mr.Brad Pitt. Ladies who go to his movies to ogle might well be advised to stay away. As a forlorn, middle aged American tourist, Brad lends dignity to the role. The unknown morrocan lady, who dopes his wife to relieve her of her pain... the 2 arab boys standing atop a mountain trying to take off against the wind...piece de excellence
But then as there are scenes like those above, so are there ones that will create a sense of deja vu with crash. As it is a movie worth a watch, i am not revealing the story line here as has been done in previous reviews.
To sum it up, you can definitely go and give it a shot, a lot of good things going for the movie, technically. Also an American movie that does not show Muslims in bad light again a first.
As for me i made the mistake of reading a review that set the expectations way tooo high. I went there looking for a movie "that in its profoundess communicates the innate randomness of life and so on and so forth ad nauseum". If you are gonna watch it after reading this review, something tells me u will like it

I SPLURGED...

PeNtAx K100D
I splurged on myself...and went out and got the thing in the pic ...a long dream come true... feeling a lot richer inside...poorer in my pocket..a lil guilty sometimes...Had to show it off...
Male ego.. please adjust

The Mallu and the Oil bath

This is a very personal experience that every marunaadan mallu will identify with i guess...and even others who have mallus as friends will identify
It was another one of those sick sundays when you were supposed to work as the client had dozed off the whole week and was reminded of deadlines on friday...After my usual sunday routine of the elaborate 45 minute bath, i manage to get to office only to be stared upon, scorned upon and a lot of hushed opinions flying behind my back...And thankfully a "friend" broke the suspense to me...how the hell do u walk around with oil on u..Yuck
Mallus everywhere are stereotyped with lotso oil , not that i am complaining...but then we take pride in our oil baths, an amost well laid out ritual...something that i had neglected during my hectic college years:-)... If you are reading this and are surprised that me of all people is writing this, then u definitely must be one of my unfortunate classmates, aware of my tendency to abhor contact with water during the 4 years in college..FYI... I have changed, as i have realised the magic that is the oil bath...The next paragraph is my tribute to this..
A normal sunday...sleep late...coffee and the hindu magazine...breakfast...and then trimming of the stubble and the nails and then..nice kaachciya velichenna ( heated cocunut oil for the uninitiated)....apply until it starts dripping on to ur forhead...a very liberal amount on the face..and then imagining a nice thai massage with some cute ladies applying oil on ur back...as u struggle to reach all the unreachable places, especially on the back...arms and then legs...walk around with arms spread (more like a weight lifter with a very prominent wing) as oiled skin on oiled skin is too "squishy"...hang around TV until someone shouts at u to stop making the floor slippery... Water ..lots of it...preferably a bit warm... then go into a long and laborious, process to remove all the oil that was painstakingly applied in the first place...an almost equally long period to dry up and the LUNCH....properly cooked in cocunut oil and then....hit the bed watching a sunday rerun and doze off...BLISS i tell u....
Any converts people???? :-)

Super Super Sunday - Mighty gunners will prevail

Start spreading the news, we're playing today
We'll always be a part of it - Arsenal, Arsenal
These red and white shoes, are longing to stray
Right through the very heart of it - through Arsenal
We always wake up in an Arsenal wonderland
And find we're king of the hill, top of the heap, A number one!

These second-rate teams, are melting away
They just ain't got the heart for it, at Arsenal
If we can win it there, we'll win it anywhere

Chickflicks have cometh to Kollywood..SIGH

A perfectly good start to a weekend..lazing around in the bed till 9 and then getting up to a steaming cuppa...lounging around till noon and then head off to catch the matinee at sathyam...ahh the good life..
The movie as with all movies these days was HYPED up a good 2 months before its release and with ARR lending credentials, things did look promising.If you are one of the few poor souls reading my blog, then you will do well to read through this one...This is my firt attempt at a Movie review and it is sad that i have to RIP it apart. ..Jillunu oru kaadhal (or is it Sillunu oru....nah!!! who cares)
The movie starts with ample promise with the beauty of amba samudram captured with almost as much finesse as in Roja and sadly , that was the last we saw of the promise..a point to be noted was that you liking/disliking, rather loving/hating this movie is largely based on your gender. A song and dance routine, a wedding and the story(LMAO) fasttracks to mumbai 6 years hence..a happy family Surya, Jyothika and the lil girl you see in all those ads...i remember her from that asian paints ..cutting, shutting ad with 2 kids. Life in the movie goes on amid all the oohs and aahs from the females sitting in front...with the typical "oh, Surya looks so cute noo?"...ada ththu..and our hero gets a chance to fly to newyork..the camera in the meanwhile seems to be afflicted with a mix of parkison's and dyslexia..totally inappropriate wide angle shots and shaky, blurred images of Surya more reminiscent of him in Gajini.
Jyothika peeps into his old diary and finds out that there is a dark secret behind him...INTERVAL..and thank god for that...and that will be the last you see of a hoarse and loud vadivelu in the movie...thank god for that too
Flashbaaaak....and now the movie gets into Chick flick mode big time....hero is a big shot in college...bashes up bhoomika "simply so cute" :-) chawla's boy friend .she enters the scene and keeps looking longigly at surya as she drags the good for nothing BF away.
Surya looks at her..she looks at him...sigh...the girls next to me were at the edge of their seats..wow soo romantic (LMAO..).the looking phase goes on for a while as they manage to advertise TVS star City, TVS apache and a green coloured beer ..
the guy rips the girls clothes as he tries to save her from a speeding truck and she runs away crying...more ads for the beer and star city...and finally the hero manages to confront her..and yes it is raining in the background.amid shivering and some superb dialogue delivery hero manages to explain and finally ask her if she is angry...and hang on ..if ever there was an award for the corniest dialogue this had to be it.."Yes, i am angry at you 'cause the body that only u were supposed to see, you showed to the world.."..WHOA...that was a whack right between the legs..the guys behind me took this as sign of things to come and started off on their wisecracks...absolutely hilarious..couldnt thank them as they left before the movie finished...your work is appreciated guys.
Hero romances girl, more ads, a song and they decided to get married...the heroine's father, the MP (he had to be a big shot guys)...is not able to stop the marriage but separates them and packs off the heroine to god knows where and hero to the hospital....Hero recovers..hero's uncle becomes crippled and on his deathbed asks him to marry jyothika..What ye story ma....cut to present day
hero comes back..hero puzzled?? jyothika totally avoids him...and after some more ads for maruthi swift..the little girl asks daddy..for effect read as a 5 year old would "Daddy, daddy..do u luv us...mummy wants to know.."..puzzled look on heros face.."mummykku neenga luv pannarengala nu doubt ..yenakku neenga yevalo luv panareenga nu doubt" and i felt like hero was going to whip out a packet of horlicks..and say.."naan ongale romba luv pannaren ..athunaaala than naan horlicks vaangi tharen.."..thank fully he doesnt. he whips out his diary, one he has started writing again in new york after 6 years...penned a poem .."newyork nagaram..."..lovely song...beautiful europe (i thoought it was supposed to be in new york..oh shoot)..and more of parkinsons on screen.
jo goes in search of ishu (yes i just remembered that name) and jo is kundavi folks..what a timing ishu is coming back from australia to see her almost dead mom the next day...WHOA..ishu is now not meek and demure...she is hot and aggressive...kundavi meets ishu and introduces as gautham's wife...and ishu retorts back with then who am I..aboslutely nail biting stuff...SIC
jo arranges for ishu to spend one day with gautham (oh yeah i forgot to tell u y...it was 'cause hero had written in his diary that one day with ishu would be like one yugam for him...WTF)..ishu in mumbai...hero's apartment...hero stunned ...i think at the sexy chick standing outside his door and then blabbers for a few minutes and has an intense emotional dialogue with jill(ah yes that was how the hero calls kundhavi)..and jill says..i didnt marry you..i married u, ur hopes, ur desires...again WTF...a collective groan in the theatre..and jill leaves the place ..leaving it all open for the ex-lovers...twinkling in my eye now as i expect some action...and sadly nothing...jill dreams about the possibilities , but before they get interesting...she rushes back home..only to see hubby staring out of the balcony...jill reads letter from ishu...saying how much gautham spoke of kundavi..etc etc...and finally signs off with she wanting to be kundavi in next genmam...yes end of story.. what no???...jill wants to meet ishu...asks hero for the same..and hero points at the flight taking off in the night sky...what ye timing ma..now it is end of story..yes..thank u very much..
and the girl next to me is crying...lady please move your ass...i am crying tooo and i want to get away from here...go home and have a bath....i managed to crack one secret though..girls and guys, who had come with their GFs seemed to luv the movie...i am sure these guys are acting up to appease their GFs..people lemme tell u..i am not an MCP..atleast i do not consider myself as one..and i do like the occasional ones...like notting hill..all said and done, the chick flick effect that these graduate directors are bringing in to kolly wood is definitely not my cup of tea.....i am writing this a good one day later and hence the toned down language..and if you are still reading this...i consider this my responsibility as an indian citizen to strongly advice u to approach at your own risk...thank u..jai hind..vande maataram...

Arsenal !!!! - Read if u wanna go ahead and ruin ur day

This is for the die hard football fanatic..an arsenal fan..and definitely not recommended for people who even remotely like barca. This piece is a pure let out for my frustration and agony..agony that began with that stinking victory for barca, a personal tragedy and a system for rewarding merit at work, that resembles a govt job more and more.
The setting was just perfect. Middle of the Week, middle of the month. and going by past record should have been able to get out of office by midnight. Hoping against hope i had gotten a brand new set-top box(which by the way managed to make me a cool 4000 bucks lighter) at home. and I did manage to surprise my mom by coming home at 10.00. all ready set and go..
There can only be one clear favourite..Arsenal. But i had nothing against barcelona..not until that fateful 18th minute. The game had begun in right earnest and things were looking good with a few thumping srikes on the barca post. The catalans were looking shabby and with the gunners blazing, my 4000 rupees seemed to be well spent. Eto'o was no where to be seen and neither was ronaldinho. little did i know what the wily eto'o was scheming for..a pass that bounced off as in a pin ball machine, etoo racing forward ...lehmann... and etoo dives, the ball slotted in by Guily.
A goal..quickly regaining composure what is a goal for arsenal a ball at the feet of henry???..but it was not meant to be ..an imbecile for a referee and the goal is disallowed i rejoice a bit more..but what the ref does next, stunned the daylight out of the contest...as the commentator in his lovable Irish twang spat out "It is ruuubbish..this guuy doesnt know what e is doing".
The spectacle, that a hundred thousand fans at the stadium and millions worlwide had come to expect, was dead. Destiny didn't have even a decent fare well for Pires. and that set the tone for things to come. Barca, u expected us to turn over and play dead, aye???
The contest dragged on and never did arsenal show the lack of a man..after all Henry is like two. A few volleys later, a set piece and the gentlest of a goal from Sol campbell. the stadium was going bonkers, the "under dogs",the "david"..u can call them whatever were winning after all. again the commentator "they are voolnurable". yeah my friend u r right barca is vulnerable.
The first half seemed to be just another day in the park for the gunners, even a man down. The second half and status quid pro quo. The spaniards were looking edgy and the substitutions began. and somewhere down the line they managed to get it right with larssen who managed to induce A semblance of order into the catalan gameplay.
Minute 70. The fatigue began to show on the heroes of the day, but were not going down yet. The gut wrencing feel of the inevitable however was omnipotent though. the gunners fabled defence was now withering ever so slightly. Reminding me of the Old man and the sea. The catalan sharks were attacking in waves and it was not football anymore. But it all broke down one wretched moment, when etoo was on the right side of the ball and the linesman was sleeping. An offside goal which the "champions" celebrated. In the words of the commentator " there is a sense of injustice in the air". Arsenal had hope till then. But that pin prick through the heart brought it all down and the inevitable happened.
But in a way it all was for a little good. Henry stays back at arsenal, I no longer like barca or ronaldinho. and we won more fans than them. Hope!!!!