People who know me always associate me with one thing, universally. My ability to hit the deep slumber zone as soon my head touches the pillow (it might as well be a couch cushion, arm-rest.. whatever). The crux is that sleep and LKS are something like vetti scene and karthik sriram - simply inseparable. So it came to me as a surprise for the past few weeks I have been feeling effects of Insomnia. I have been awake through the whole night on at least 2 occasions and surprisingly that did not/is not affecting my next day too. And the even more intriguing thing is that I don't have any of the usual reasons to worry about - no visa issues, no credit card debts, no education loan rate increases and for once, my car ain't needing any major repairs too(touch wood). People (read - my sister, who nowadays is online almost most of the daytime in India) are alarmed and suspicious as to why I'm keeping awake during daytime in India. This is specially because they know that given a choice, I would not be seen online when any of my family members are online. The last time I experienced something close to this (insomnia) was when I had this stupid subject called Power Electronics in my 5th semester which was, simply put, the most non-understandable subject in the whole of my life as a student. You had thyristors combining in myriad ways to form cycloconverters, choppers, regulators, firing circuits and delay angles which left me in such a tizzy that I was not able to sleep on the 3 days preceding that exam. Added to this was a lecturer in our college who used a book written by a certain gnani called NagoorKani - this Kani guy was really a gnani - he wrote 4 books for EEE - Machines(3rd, 4th Semesters), Machine Design(6th Sem), Control Systems (4th Sem) and Power Electronics (5th Sem) - and except for M/c and M/c design none of the other subjects were remotely related except for the fact that the medium of instruction for all of them was the same :P. And his 'gnani'-ness was further established when we found out he reused diagrams from one book to another :O. But coming back to the issue, it was evident that I was not the only distressed soul as somehow, miraculously, I aced that exam from my department!!
Apart from my Singular Case of Power Electronics, sleep has always remained a top priority till now. Any suggestions to set my disorder right? {This question is especially intended for one blogger named Ms. Blogeswari, who has been consciously avoiding commenting on my blogs}
Thursday, July 03, 2008
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
My Favorite Blogposts so far....
1. Takkunu ezhudhina oru tale
2. Endha Ettil nee irukka therinjukko!
3. Aatha naan ooruku poren!
4. Vivek-Style!
These are my personal favs - and just as a clarification, except for the names (I cannot think of names and so use different parts of my names for character names - Karthik, Sriram, Ram, Sri, Lakshmi are some to work with :P), none of them are in nay way related to me! My life, is more of the blog's title - Extraordinarily ordinary :)
2. Endha Ettil nee irukka therinjukko!
3. Aatha naan ooruku poren!
4. Vivek-Style!
These are my personal favs - and just as a clarification, except for the names (I cannot think of names and so use different parts of my names for character names - Karthik, Sriram, Ram, Sri, Lakshmi are some to work with :P), none of them are in nay way related to me! My life, is more of the blog's title - Extraordinarily ordinary :)
Tamil Cinema Round Up
Have been the moderator of the Orkut Tamil Cinema Community for a while now and not a day passes over with out a Rajni-Kamal fight or Ajit-Vijay fight or worst of all, Simbu-Danush fights. Apart from these you have fights for and against Mani Ratnam, ARR, Ilayaraja, Gautam V. Menon, Surya, Vikram, Yuvan Shankar Raja and Harris Jayraj. Snippets of the sensible stuff that can be taken out from the innumerable senseless posts:
1. Rajni Kanth
Was a great actor. Now firmly entrenched in the hero mode, the script of a rajni movie is this: First half Rajni does comedy and more often than not, right about at interval, Rajni is cheated or suffers ill-luck that takes him to the brink of life. Second half has Rajni coming back hard at rivals and doing his swish swish finger snapping and the panj dialog... While this is mostly true, its sad that Rajni Kanth has forever turned his back on good cinema.
2. Kamal Haasan
Once upon a time Kamal Haasan was someone who believed that good acting and storyline/script can make a movie successful. Nowadays, more often than not, he has resorted to panj dialaaks (VV, Dasa) and has relied heavily on make-up for gimmickery - case in point - Anbe Sivam - where the storyline was good, but Kamal to please his fans did a long and over-strecthed flash-back where we see all hero traits - Kiran falling for the macho, umbrella brandishing Kamal etc. Will we get another Mahanadhi or Nayagan from him?
3. Ajit
From 2002-2007 not even one of his movies could be classified as even a one-time watch. From the handsome and smart young man looks of Amarkalam, Kandukondein (2), Mugavari, Ajit has aged too fast for his own good, in terms of looks. Billa was a throwback to a timeperiod when Ajit films were good and entertaining and hopefully, with a Gautam Menon movie on the anvil, things are seemingly looking up. But please, we don't want to see his Tamil Nadu police style thoppai, anymore!
4. Vijay
Post Ghilli, Vijay and his directors are on a competition - who can rehash Gilli-formula better than others. There are all kinds of sentiments - Father, Mother, Sister, 'lauv'-er, wife, kids, concubine, neighbor's dog and what not? And if the news articles are anything to go by, his next movie after Villu (forget that Villu's stills look exactly like Pokkiri, which itself was a frame-by-frame, socks to socks ctrl-c, ctrl-v of the telugu Pokkiri) is with Perarasu. God Save Him!
5. Danush
Danush is following his father-in-law in terms of predictability of scripts. First Half - Danush is irresponsible, drinks, father scolds, Danush once again drinks, smokes, sees 'anda' madri padam (if Kasthuri Raja is involved in any capacity in the movie, then we are also shown the 'anda' madri padam too) and then sees some good looking girl (Shriya, Nayanthara, Trisha etc) and then decides that she is the girl for him :O. Second half: Danush becomes oppicer/good student and becomes successful, albeit not in one song (he needs to become a bigger star to follow Rajni in that) and the most unbelievable thing happens - the female lead falls for Danush. I know love is blind and all that crap - but Danush? Shriya?? Kali Kaalam muththi pochu!
6. Simbu
Imagines himself to be the next Superstar while the only thing I can see his as is the Next-TR and no, that is not a compliment (seemingly, TR and his son think that the number of views that TR's videos have on youtube is a direct reflection of TR's fan base - Ninaippu daan Pozhaippai kedukiradhu!). With no iota of embarrasment our Little Superstar kicks a bus and it goes back by 10 feet. And then he targets a panj dialaak at Danush, Aishwarya, Kamal, Rajni and even on the audience! Hope he migrates to music videos or Lollu Sabha for good.
7. Mani Ratnam
My favorite director, currently stuck in a 'trisanku' sorgam. He feels Hindi Films are commercially more viable - but indi makkal are used to seeing Rakhi Sawant prancing with a costume which follows the logic, 'Seen is an Ocean, Unseen is a drop'. Hopefully his better sense should prevail in the near future.
8. ARR
A person who brooks no comparison, let alone with Ilayaraja. He is like Federer - he is in a different playing field/zone. This guy has been a chameleon and the variety of his music has not been matched by any other MD in India. While many senior citizens vouch for Ilayaraja's melodies, there is no particular strain of music in which Rahman specializes. He is the complete package. But currently, his success rate has come down with atrocious albums like Azhugiya.. sorry, Azhagiya Tamizh Magan and Varalaaru. Looking forward to his combo with Gautam Menon in Chennaiyil Oru Mazhai Kaalam.
9. Ilayaraja
Past 'sell-by' date.
10. Gautam Menon
Has his one foot planted firmly on the vacant spot left by Mani Ratnam in Tamizh Cinema. Specializes in "cute" 'lauv' scenes, clipped english dialogs, extracting good music from the MDs. Minnale and Kakka Kakka remain favorites. But wasted an opportunity to utilize Kamal Haasan and instead came out with a horribly bloated Kamal in a horrible movie called VV.
11. Surya
Latest kid on the block. Six pack et al has made him the fitness model in Tamizh Cinema. Occasionally gives puke-able films like Vel, Aaru, Pujyam etc. Expecting Vaaranam Aayiram.
12. Vikram
Terribly over-rated. Pithamagan being the only movie where he acted well. Anniyan was crappo-shito! Has the unique ability to either look like a complete beaku or all serious in romance scenes and duets. Kandasaamy, seemingly, is looking like those unintentional comedy movies which TR and Captain regularly come up with.
13. Yuvan Shankar Raja
Mukkal and munagal characterise his singing. Decent Music Director and has a good sense of BGMs amongst the current crop of MDs.
14. Harris Jayaraj
Anda copy aagasa copy - but somehow is the most saleable MD in market. Makes a good combo with Gautam Menon. Currently, post PKMC and Unnale Unnale, all his songs sound alike.
(to be continued with others)
1. Rajni Kanth
Was a great actor. Now firmly entrenched in the hero mode, the script of a rajni movie is this: First half Rajni does comedy and more often than not, right about at interval, Rajni is cheated or suffers ill-luck that takes him to the brink of life. Second half has Rajni coming back hard at rivals and doing his swish swish finger snapping and the panj dialog... While this is mostly true, its sad that Rajni Kanth has forever turned his back on good cinema.
2. Kamal Haasan
Once upon a time Kamal Haasan was someone who believed that good acting and storyline/script can make a movie successful. Nowadays, more often than not, he has resorted to panj dialaaks (VV, Dasa) and has relied heavily on make-up for gimmickery - case in point - Anbe Sivam - where the storyline was good, but Kamal to please his fans did a long and over-strecthed flash-back where we see all hero traits - Kiran falling for the macho, umbrella brandishing Kamal etc. Will we get another Mahanadhi or Nayagan from him?
3. Ajit
From 2002-2007 not even one of his movies could be classified as even a one-time watch. From the handsome and smart young man looks of Amarkalam, Kandukondein (2), Mugavari, Ajit has aged too fast for his own good, in terms of looks. Billa was a throwback to a timeperiod when Ajit films were good and entertaining and hopefully, with a Gautam Menon movie on the anvil, things are seemingly looking up. But please, we don't want to see his Tamil Nadu police style thoppai, anymore!
4. Vijay
Post Ghilli, Vijay and his directors are on a competition - who can rehash Gilli-formula better than others. There are all kinds of sentiments - Father, Mother, Sister, 'lauv'-er, wife, kids, concubine, neighbor's dog and what not? And if the news articles are anything to go by, his next movie after Villu (forget that Villu's stills look exactly like Pokkiri, which itself was a frame-by-frame, socks to socks ctrl-c, ctrl-v of the telugu Pokkiri) is with Perarasu. God Save Him!
5. Danush
Danush is following his father-in-law in terms of predictability of scripts. First Half - Danush is irresponsible, drinks, father scolds, Danush once again drinks, smokes, sees 'anda' madri padam (if Kasthuri Raja is involved in any capacity in the movie, then we are also shown the 'anda' madri padam too) and then sees some good looking girl (Shriya, Nayanthara, Trisha etc) and then decides that she is the girl for him :O. Second half: Danush becomes oppicer/good student and becomes successful, albeit not in one song (he needs to become a bigger star to follow Rajni in that) and the most unbelievable thing happens - the female lead falls for Danush. I know love is blind and all that crap - but Danush? Shriya?? Kali Kaalam muththi pochu!
6. Simbu
Imagines himself to be the next Superstar while the only thing I can see his as is the Next-TR and no, that is not a compliment (seemingly, TR and his son think that the number of views that TR's videos have on youtube is a direct reflection of TR's fan base - Ninaippu daan Pozhaippai kedukiradhu!). With no iota of embarrasment our Little Superstar kicks a bus and it goes back by 10 feet. And then he targets a panj dialaak at Danush, Aishwarya, Kamal, Rajni and even on the audience! Hope he migrates to music videos or Lollu Sabha for good.
7. Mani Ratnam
My favorite director, currently stuck in a 'trisanku' sorgam. He feels Hindi Films are commercially more viable - but indi makkal are used to seeing Rakhi Sawant prancing with a costume which follows the logic, 'Seen is an Ocean, Unseen is a drop'. Hopefully his better sense should prevail in the near future.
8. ARR
A person who brooks no comparison, let alone with Ilayaraja. He is like Federer - he is in a different playing field/zone. This guy has been a chameleon and the variety of his music has not been matched by any other MD in India. While many senior citizens vouch for Ilayaraja's melodies, there is no particular strain of music in which Rahman specializes. He is the complete package. But currently, his success rate has come down with atrocious albums like Azhugiya.. sorry, Azhagiya Tamizh Magan and Varalaaru. Looking forward to his combo with Gautam Menon in Chennaiyil Oru Mazhai Kaalam.
9. Ilayaraja
Past 'sell-by' date.
10. Gautam Menon
Has his one foot planted firmly on the vacant spot left by Mani Ratnam in Tamizh Cinema. Specializes in "cute" 'lauv' scenes, clipped english dialogs, extracting good music from the MDs. Minnale and Kakka Kakka remain favorites. But wasted an opportunity to utilize Kamal Haasan and instead came out with a horribly bloated Kamal in a horrible movie called VV.
11. Surya
Latest kid on the block. Six pack et al has made him the fitness model in Tamizh Cinema. Occasionally gives puke-able films like Vel, Aaru, Pujyam etc. Expecting Vaaranam Aayiram.
12. Vikram
Terribly over-rated. Pithamagan being the only movie where he acted well. Anniyan was crappo-shito! Has the unique ability to either look like a complete beaku or all serious in romance scenes and duets. Kandasaamy, seemingly, is looking like those unintentional comedy movies which TR and Captain regularly come up with.
13. Yuvan Shankar Raja
Mukkal and munagal characterise his singing. Decent Music Director and has a good sense of BGMs amongst the current crop of MDs.
14. Harris Jayaraj
Anda copy aagasa copy - but somehow is the most saleable MD in market. Makes a good combo with Gautam Menon. Currently, post PKMC and Unnale Unnale, all his songs sound alike.
(to be continued with others)
Monday, June 30, 2008
Inspired Post
Have been seeing Lazygeek and Rosemilkinabottle with their cool song, crappy video series.
I found in TC, there have been 3 songs involving a Jeep with the lead characters - The progression is cool - the first one is where the female lead is the back seat, the next one is with the female lead in the front seat and the last one, they show them with much more chemistry than the previous two. Here goes:
1. Mullum Malarum
For those who say Rajni Kanth is a poor/substandard actor - just see this movie and you'll be forced to eat your own words. No swish swish fingers, no punch lines - but powerful dialogs all the same. This movie had another superb actor - Shobha, playing Rajni's sister who managed to hold her own against the Rajni factor. The climax scene is always a favorite of mine. Wonder if Rajni will ever get back to this mode of films...
2. Vetri Vizha
Kamal Haasan's inspired movie from the Bourne series from Ludlum. The movie is okay, but definitely crappy by Kamal Haasan's Nayagan, Raaja Paarvai standards. But this movie had a killer soundtrack from Ilayaraaja and I remember all of them used to be constant fixtures in OLiyum Oliyum on DD. [Yes, I'm that OLD! 23.95 years old, to be precise :)]
3. Kaakha Kaakha
One of my favorite song picturizations ever. When I do save enough, I will be sure to get a Jeep and remodel it - but don't ask me about the Jothika part - I will be driving solo. :) The movie was an absolute rocker and to think that this came from Gautam (Vasudev) Menon who made another of my favorite movie, Minnale, made him enter my lsit of liked directors which also includes names like Mani Ratnam, Mahendran and Kamal Haasan.
I know I'd get some response on my email about one more video post - but I couldn't help noticing the similarity.
I found in TC, there have been 3 songs involving a Jeep with the lead characters - The progression is cool - the first one is where the female lead is the back seat, the next one is with the female lead in the front seat and the last one, they show them with much more chemistry than the previous two. Here goes:
1. Mullum Malarum
For those who say Rajni Kanth is a poor/substandard actor - just see this movie and you'll be forced to eat your own words. No swish swish fingers, no punch lines - but powerful dialogs all the same. This movie had another superb actor - Shobha, playing Rajni's sister who managed to hold her own against the Rajni factor. The climax scene is always a favorite of mine. Wonder if Rajni will ever get back to this mode of films...
2. Vetri Vizha
Kamal Haasan's inspired movie from the Bourne series from Ludlum. The movie is okay, but definitely crappy by Kamal Haasan's Nayagan, Raaja Paarvai standards. But this movie had a killer soundtrack from Ilayaraaja and I remember all of them used to be constant fixtures in OLiyum Oliyum on DD. [Yes, I'm that OLD! 23.95 years old, to be precise :)]
3. Kaakha Kaakha
One of my favorite song picturizations ever. When I do save enough, I will be sure to get a Jeep and remodel it - but don't ask me about the Jothika part - I will be driving solo. :) The movie was an absolute rocker and to think that this came from Gautam (Vasudev) Menon who made another of my favorite movie, Minnale, made him enter my lsit of liked directors which also includes names like Mani Ratnam, Mahendran and Kamal Haasan.
I know I'd get some response on my email about one more video post - but I couldn't help noticing the similarity.
Dasavatharam - Views
Its sad to see Kamal Haasan being reduced to this by the audience of Tamizh Cinema. The 10 roles are a gimmick and nothing more. In the roles of Shingen, Fletcher and the old woman, the make up is so heavy that any acting, whatsoever, is ruled out. And Flectcher, aptly (as he cannot 'act') wears shades and keeps running as if there is no tomorrow. Asin repeating "Perumalae" is a definite contender for the most irritating character in tamizh cinema award. The last 10 minutes - the Ulaganaayagane song, where they show Kamal 'undergoing' extensive make-up sessions seems to be an anti-thesis to what Kamal keeps saying on tv - that doing movies is not his work, but holiday. The screenplay is good till the interval and after that it is much like KrishnaVeni - senile and pointless. Music - is puke-able. And recently I heard that the only decent song, Kallai Mattum Kandaal song is also a rip-off!!! Its pathetic that Rajni and Kamal, the two pillars which has made Tamizh cinema survive in terms of money and quality, have given us cardboardish movies in Sivaji and Dasavadharam. I hope both of them decide to hang up their boots. Kamal Haasan's looks (as Govind) easily matches his worst so far - Vasool Raja and Vettaiaadu Vilayadu! After seeing people like Surya having six pack abs, its no longer to pleasure to see Kamal and Ajit having a paunch and Vijay looking like an AIDS stricken patient.
Cast:
Its Kamal Haasan in all the important roles. Out of these, the pick is Balaram Naidu whose wit and one liners keep you interested in the movie. The character of Rangarajan Nambi is good as well. Asin is downright irritating. If I were Govind in the movie, I'd be trying to be as far away from Asin, as possible - but as they say Vidhi Valiyadhu and Govind ends up being in love with Asin.
Tech Crew:
KSR - 25/100
Cameraman (Ravi Varman, I guess) - 80/100
Music - 0/100
BGM - 30/100
Make up - Biggest letdown - no marks!
History/facts Distorted:
Kamal Haasan (or the director KSR) is confused between Shavities and Smaarthas. People who are called Iyers of today (except the Ashtasastram sub-sect) are Smaarthas and have neither ill-will towards Maha Vishnu nor particular attachment to Parameswaran. In fact, in the Sandyavandhana ritual, we do say, Asavadityo Brahma / Brahmaivaasmi// meaning, Light/Sun is the only God and I myself am a manifestion of Sun. I make an educated guess that Vadakalai Iyengars, who I think have their scriptures in Sanskrit, follow Yajur Upakarma which means they might have the same Aikyanusandhaanam. I have been to Chidambaram, but failed to notice if the Perumaal there is vadakalai or then-kalai. But going by logic, with the Nataraja being non-lingam form, which is a classical Chozha/Aadheenam/pre- 'rise of thenkalai' trait, I'm tempted to believe that the perumal has to be vadakalai too - which makes the whole 12th century epsiode shaky and iffy as Kamal Haasan says, "Adiyen Ramanuja Daasan" - meaning he is a then-kalai Iyengar. I'm not a pro on the history of Smaarthas and Iyengars, but someone who is more knowledgable, please enlighten me on this. And in fact, when I say Smaarthas are not anti-Vishnu, there can be no greater proof than Maha Periyava Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswathi of Kanchi Sankara Math (I'm not calling on jayendra Saraswathi because of various reasons - the prime being, I myself am not convinced that the Math is as sacred it was when Maha Periyava was the Mata-athipathi) who signs (they cannot ink their name as they have renounced the world ) as "Naarayana-Smriti" (meaning, a Tool of Sri Naarayana). Well, people can ask me why the heck I dissect a masala movie thus far - its just to show how the concept of Brahmism has been raped and interpreted in totally erroneous ways, thanks to the Dravida Movement.
P.S: I'm trying to come up with a post as to the origin of the Vedas, which I came to know by attending some arbit discourse in April 2007 in Chennai (when I had actually gone there for Arusuvai Arasu's Canteen's Badam Alwa and some vadais. :D). Any help with regard to that is welcome!
Cast:
Its Kamal Haasan in all the important roles. Out of these, the pick is Balaram Naidu whose wit and one liners keep you interested in the movie. The character of Rangarajan Nambi is good as well. Asin is downright irritating. If I were Govind in the movie, I'd be trying to be as far away from Asin, as possible - but as they say Vidhi Valiyadhu and Govind ends up being in love with Asin.
Tech Crew:
KSR - 25/100
Cameraman (Ravi Varman, I guess) - 80/100
Music - 0/100
BGM - 30/100
Make up - Biggest letdown - no marks!
History/facts Distorted:
Kamal Haasan (or the director KSR) is confused between Shavities and Smaarthas. People who are called Iyers of today (except the Ashtasastram sub-sect) are Smaarthas and have neither ill-will towards Maha Vishnu nor particular attachment to Parameswaran. In fact, in the Sandyavandhana ritual, we do say, Asavadityo Brahma / Brahmaivaasmi// meaning, Light/Sun is the only God and I myself am a manifestion of Sun. I make an educated guess that Vadakalai Iyengars, who I think have their scriptures in Sanskrit, follow Yajur Upakarma which means they might have the same Aikyanusandhaanam. I have been to Chidambaram, but failed to notice if the Perumaal there is vadakalai or then-kalai. But going by logic, with the Nataraja being non-lingam form, which is a classical Chozha/Aadheenam/pre- 'rise of thenkalai' trait, I'm tempted to believe that the perumal has to be vadakalai too - which makes the whole 12th century epsiode shaky and iffy as Kamal Haasan says, "Adiyen Ramanuja Daasan" - meaning he is a then-kalai Iyengar. I'm not a pro on the history of Smaarthas and Iyengars, but someone who is more knowledgable, please enlighten me on this. And in fact, when I say Smaarthas are not anti-Vishnu, there can be no greater proof than Maha Periyava Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswathi of Kanchi Sankara Math (I'm not calling on jayendra Saraswathi because of various reasons - the prime being, I myself am not convinced that the Math is as sacred it was when Maha Periyava was the Mata-athipathi) who signs (they cannot ink their name as they have renounced the world ) as "Naarayana-Smriti" (meaning, a Tool of Sri Naarayana). Well, people can ask me why the heck I dissect a masala movie thus far - its just to show how the concept of Brahmism has been raped and interpreted in totally erroneous ways, thanks to the Dravida Movement.
P.S: I'm trying to come up with a post as to the origin of the Vedas, which I came to know by attending some arbit discourse in April 2007 in Chennai (when I had actually gone there for Arusuvai Arasu's Canteen's Badam Alwa and some vadais. :D). Any help with regard to that is welcome!
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