First Brick in the Wall !

What is this obsession about doing/watching something the first time? The first time you walked, the first time you rode a bicycle, the first time you went out with your girl friend...etc. As we are going into unsafe 'grounds' I will restrict myself to watching someone for the first time. That experience might be as sweet as the aroma of your mom's cooking(watching Steffi Graf) or as powerful as being hit on the head with a baseball bat(Bruce Lee). Mike Tyson, Diego Maradona, Boris Becker, Pete Sampras, Roger Federer, Sachin Tendulkar, Michael Schumacher, Martina Hingis, Curtly Ambrose, Brian Lara, Carl Lewis, Michael Jordan, Saurav Ganguly, Monica Seles, Zinidane Zidane....,the list is long and I can remember with crystal clarity the first time I saw these legends in action. But this post isn't about the first time I saw them. This is about someone who also has every right to stand alongside these greats in terms of achievements and in the way he has conducted himself in being a true sportsperson.

It was the Titan Cup 1997, and I had missed most of the earlier matches, partly due to some abysmal performances by India, and partly due to personal commitments. So, it was with a sense of trepidation I sat down to watch the match between India and Australia in a virtual semi-final as the winner would face South Africa in the final. India is put into bat, Tendulkar goes into his then familiar rampage of the bowling early on, all is well in the world, Sidhu gets out early, and for some inexplicable reason Srinath comes in as a "pinch hitter" and gets out without any fuss. Azhar comes to steady the ship, but with Mark Waugh bowling, somehow memories of Mumbai 96 come creeping in, and he does get Tendulkar out, 95/3.

At that time 95/3 with Tendulkar gone is like 100/7 with just the tail to follow. Jadeja was our talisman in the end overs, so knowing he would'nt come I was eagerly awaiting to see Robin Singh, the first Tamil Nadu player to be playing after Srikkanth after 8 or 9 years of his debut, with my father sitting besides me praising his virtues as a 'hard hitter', only to find a guy neatly dressed, bat in hand, walking very assured, looking at ease, with his collar up a la West Indian style, coming in marking his guard, looking around, and settle down in one of the most classical and compact stances I have ever seen to face his first ball. Those were the days of  watching the Indian innings with the TV on mute, so it wasn't until the screen flashed his name, that I came to know I was watching Rahul Dravid. My first reaction was 'Oh my God, this match is down the drain, Azhar is looking good, Jadeja is the only other batsman to come, and for all my father's approval of Robin Singh, I still haven't seen him bat..Oh ****, Oh ****..' and as I was thinking this Dravid  flicked the first ball to square leg to take a single in that manner we have become so accustomed over the years, waiting in backfoot for the ball to turn towards him and gently glance it away towards the leg umpire. Only one word was in my mind after that about him, "SOLID".

And he was on that day, playing second fiddle to Azharuddin in a partnership of a hundred odd, and scoring a fifty(flicking the ball through mid wicket for a boundary, another shot we would become accustomed to) in a match India would win by 5 runs. After all these years, I still remember that flick to square leg and how it gave me another legend to root for. Thanks for the memories Rahul!!!!

Raavanan-Ramayan or Odyssey?

We have this habit(good or bad?) of trying to watch Mani Ratnam's movies on the first day it gets released. We did better, and watched Raavanan's preview show itself. After lots of hype and hoopla, surrounding it about being the modern day Ramayan, directed probably the only director today who gets applause from the audience when his name appears on the screen, you would expect a spectacle. And he does not disappoint.

Be it the spectacular locations, or the performances of the lead actors-Vikram after a long time looking good in a role which has scope for acting( though his danda naka danda naka dialogue evoked painful memories of the kandasaamy rap!!!) Aish looking bold and beautiful, (yes...'bold' ), Prithviraj filling the shoes of Lord Ram superbly, Priya Mani, Prabhu, Karthik as usual...(though Karthik's monkey jumping scene could have been avoided!). A special mention to the photography, which is top notch. Rahman's background music is somewhat restrained, which blends well to the feel of the movie...


Bad guy kidnaps the good guy's wife, the good guy searches for his wife in the woods with a band of men, finds his wife kills the bad guy. So cliche- but again, who is the bad guy and who is the good guy? The story moves around in a very tantalising manner, with a small under current of romance blossoming between Vikram and Aish..(for those saying "ewwww" search for Stockholm syndrome in google). because thats precisely what it is, an emotion of gratitude towards the abductor.

Where the film falls is the reason behind the kidnapping- how would a wife of an SP who has no hand in the calamity that befalls his sister be held responsible? And that too, after killing the policemen responsible, he kidnaps her to kill her!(If you want to kill someone why should you abduct them in the first place?) Flimsy logic which hurts the very core of the movie- a first in Mani Ratnam's movie, but then nobody is perfect.

After firmly establishing the identities of the characters (vikram-bad and prithvi-good) the director does a complete U turn and starts projecting Vikram as the saint and Prithvi as the bad guy... which is interesting because from your own point of view, you are always a good guy- and so even after all the crimes committed by him, 20 minutes into the second half you start feeling for Vikram and his men( Aish too...) and start wondering why is Prithvi so cruel?(completely forgetting the fact that his wife has been kidnapped!!!).

There have been different versions of Ramayan, in India and in the Far East, each one different, but probably this is the first one which has dealt into Sita's emotions when Rama questions her fidelity. But again, after this point it wasnt Ramayan any more, and all that was going through my mind was Homer's Odyssey- the love, the deceit, the trap and the ending.....

Overall, not upto the usual Mani Ratnam standards, but still good, although I doubt whether it would run successfully in Hindi...

Shark!!!!

7 of us went "Beautiful Tamil son", and wept from the beginning to end, (the worst comment of the night was from one of my friends who is from Hyderabad saying telugu movies are better than this!!!!), so we took the safe route and watched "Scoundrel" through pirated DVD, (for all those Ambi vikrams, if the movie can be pirated why not the DVD???!!??) , I wanted to show off to my friend that I could book tickets through my office, and off we went to " Sparrow", which pecked us to death, and that fiasco was enough for us to skip "Bow" all together, when, the would be bridegroom who is gonna marry your cousin is calling you to watch "Hunter" with him, can you refuse? If you arent going to attend their marriage then you have to appease him in whichever way you can. So left with no option, I accompanied him to 'Hunter' and ignored everything in the movie but Anoushka(Oh...My....God!) but even after all these misses and near misses, one has to say we have this masochistic tendency to pain that we readily go on to watch movies released by Illaya Thalapathi...

And thank god the movie was named Shark! Had it been Tiger, save the tiger project would have been doomed!

Whenever people start reading a film review they are expected to read about the the story gist, the actors, the characters, the plot, the screenplay,comedy, music etc. If you are looking for all these in this blog, i suggest you stop reading now...As the old adage goes, whats in the bowl comes in the spoon! Still I try to find one good thing about the movie..and it was the Iron man-2 trailer which was shown during the interval!!!

 All the dialogues show a preview that Vijay might soon join politics, which is a very good thing, as we need politicians who can't act and he certainly fits the bill!

PS: to my friend who made me watch this movie....I would definitely get my revenge!!!








   

Argentina!!!!

My country has a decent football team but not of world cup standard, which leaves us no other options but to support other countries during World cup. But, even before I began to understand my country's frailities in football, even before I  began to understand football fully I had begun to support Argentina.

My first WC experience was the Italia 90 where Argentina were the reigning champions having won in 86'. I still remember the first match of Argentina vividly as my dad woke me up in the middle of night and showed a little man on screen and said "Thats Maradona!!!". My initial reaction was "so what?"- but suddenly this guy got the ball and atleast 4 Cameroon players surrounded him and I still cant explain what he did, but somehow he was clear of those players and had passed it to a team mate. Though Argentina lost the match(the only other match they would lose besides the final!!!), they had already occupied a little space in my brain and heart.

But, the match of the tournament was in round 32 when they had to face Brazil. I still remember my physical education teacher telling us to go home immediately after school so that we can catch the match from the start. I didnt even know where Brazil or Argentina was, didnt know they were the India-Pakistan of football, didnt know the Pele-Maradona rivalry, didnt know anything about the football team of Brazil. All I knew was that Brazil didnt have a Maradona in their ranks and so they would lose. That match was my induction into full fledged football.

After 15 minutes into the game, I began to realise that Argentina had Maradona(a legend) and ten very good players, but Brazil had 11 extrordinary players. Watching Brazilian team passing the ball was like Antakshari. Each player had a different song for the ball once it touched his feet. It was as if they were thinking of ways to kill the opposition, and Argentina was hanging by the thread. Twice Brazil came close to scoring only to be denied by the goal post.

But Maradona showed why he was considered one of the greatest players in the history of football, when he provided the pass to Caniggia for the lone winning goal after going past virtually the entire Brazilian midfield and defenders.

A Brazilian football team in full flow is a like an avalanche coming down the slopes. It is beautiful, if you are watching it and terrifying if you are standing in its way. You do not know what is going to happen next but to be fair, the players themselves do not know that either. There will be 3 players waiting for the pass unmarked only instead of passing, the ball would be thundered into the net from 40 yards!!!! And no one would have any ill will about it, because thats how they play....There is no better example to this than the winning goal Ronaldinho scored against England in 2002!!!

But thats exactly why I support its most bitter rival. Watching Argentina is like a river which has been arrested by a dam. It can be as free flowing as Brazil, or as dormant as Italy. It can be a German team, with its rugged defending and those brilliant set pieces or play total football like the Dutch. But not one moment will the team look totally out of place when playing a different style. For all its flamboyance, I have never seen a Brazilian corner as dangerous as a German, or an Italian corner, and except for Baggio magic in '90 I have never seen any Italian or German team producing a magic field goal.



I have watched all the matches of Argentina from then on in World Cups, even though Maradona played in only one match in '94 , was delirious with joy when it beat England in penalties in '98, left heart broken by that wonderful 88th minute Bergkamp goal which put Holland in semis, was ribbed for almost a year when they went out in the first round in 2002, and was furious for a week when they lost in 2006 due to bad tactics.

They have managed to scrape through the qualifying for 2010. Whats in store for me in South Africa?

I am blinded after watching Aadhavan

Warning: The following blog will be in a mixture of Tamil and English... If you dont know Tamil, thats not my fault, and if you dont understand my English thats not my fault either!!!!

Once upon a time, I was the subject of ridicule among my friends. It dosent matter whether they were my street mates, class mates or college mates. The teasing didnt stop. So i decided to take revenge on them...I did a bulk booking of Aadavan and invited all of them without knowing the consequences and gained some sort of revenge. One important member escaped!!!! ( i will bide my time.....) Anyways I feared for my life during interval, thanks to this movie.

Dei, ennangada prichanai ungalukku? Nalla thaane irundheenga? Vijay veetukku poi kadhai edhavadhu thiruduneengala?

Logic plays an important role in Aadavan, including the name change for the hero. Hero peru maadhavan, aana calcuttala avana aadavannu thaan koopiduvaanga....yennu ketaa nee enakku aadavannu oru thathuvamana badilla tamil thappu thappa pesara villain sollararaar.

Logic illama saavadicha kooda paravaa illai....Logic nu solli saavadikaraangale.....avangala Balakrishna padam paaka vekkanum!!!

Nayan Thara used to be a typical tamil heroine......summa arisi mootai maadiri vandhutu oru ezhavum pannama poiduvaa...

But now, she has reviewed her position like an MBA, and taken stock of her inadequacies, worked hard on her 'body' (on /with whts the difference) and now she is a typical Hindi heroine, summa gummunu irukkaa...aanalum oru ezhavum panna maatengara!!!!

The film starts hollywood style...suriya thanni kulla irundhu james bond kanakka oru gilma saamiyaara potu thallaraaru  , Paatellam paaditu thaan saviadikkaraaru( tamil padam ba) but ada mannichudalam....

adukkaprum summa laptop vechukittu king fisher airlines la blue tooth technology pathi ellam pesaraaru...and the only believable thing , the rifle which he uses to shoot the judge, a Barrett 82,
ada paathu thaan naan emaandhen..padathula ivlo nunukkama chinna chinna visayatha correcta senju irukkangalennu, including the bullets used...

adutha scenela nayan thaaravum, saroja deviyum kabaddi aadinnanga...aa ko, ke ko nnu edho ketta vaarthailla thittikine paatu paadikkitu.... satyam theatrela paathikitu irukken..ezhundhu aiyonnu kathalama appadiyavadu enna veliya kondu poi vituduvaangalennu yosichen!!!!


So, judge visaraanai commission vekkaraaram, adulla villain maatikuvaanam... adanaala surya saavadikka( nammala illa judge a) veetukku velaikkaraana poraaru!!! Anga athai ponnu nayan thara..... ( judge thaan appanu surya aim pannum podhe audienceku therinju pochu) ivlo original kadhaiya idu varaikkum tamil cinema paathathe illa...

Judgekku bomb vechu adu vedichukkum bodhu judge escape aaga...ada surya thaan vechaarunnu nayan thara nancy drew kanakka kandu pidikka...udanne surya judge thaan enga appa naan thaan un maaman paiyannu oru twist vechu alekka maadila irundu keezha kudikkaraaru...

simla special kamal maadiri sollanumna balcony seatla irundhu paathu irundhen, definitely temptation thaangama naanum kudichu iruppen!!!!!

idukkaprum oru 45 nimisham enna panradhunnu theriyama oru 3 paatu nadulla konjam scenes( edukkunnu yaaravadhu ketenga..aadavan dvd veetukku mailla anupuven...be careful!!!!!) ellam fit panni straighta climax kootikittu director varaar.....

climax la summa villain summa rocket launcher vechu mela cranela thongitu irukkara car (which has judge and 9 thara) mela oru rocket vidaraar. Whereas i marvelled at the replica of Barrett, idu telegu pada comedy...adu neraa kuthikkitu time bomb maadiri count down aagudhu!!!!..... sunny deol would have surely asked for the remake rights for this movie after watching this scene alone!!!!!!

ada surya summa kaila pudungitu helicopterla poi kuthi vidaraaram....to quote a fav dialogue i encountered in blogs..shabba shekaru shethutaan....

Somebody once said, whatever happens happens for the good...so whatever good can come out of this movie besides me taking revenge?

This movie can be written off as a total loss during the next financial year!!!! and ivlo selavu senju eduthu irukkanga...summa oru 100 kodi write off pannidalam!!!! I think this will be better explained by our own George Soros Mr. hesh.... ennaba...idha coreeta explain pannidu annatha...koindhainga konjam ariva valthukkatum...okva?

Ippo oru SMS kelvi..correcta badil solrvangulukku onnum kediyaadhu...aana thappa badil solravangala kulukkal muraiyil select panni katti pottu, Ashoka padam( shahrukh padam illa prem padam) forcilbleaa paaka veppom.....

Aadhavan padathula ethanai thadavai, 9 thara decentaa dress potukittu vandhaanga?

a. .25
b. -3.56
c. Dress potu kittu vandhaangala?? sollave illa!!!!
d. sorry sir, naan paadhi padathulaye thoongiten.

Judges decision will be final....

P.S: Padathula graphics panni Surya 10 vayasu paiyana varaare, ada pathi yen eduvume sollalainnu ida padikkum podhu yaaravadhu nenecheenganaa..ada blue tooth technology vechu kandu pidichu veetukku "veerasamy padam poster" anupiduven.....jaakaradhai!!!!!!

Attention Surya!!!

Surya? or is it Suriya? whatever it is, what happened to you? You charmed us with your dancing or the lack of it in "nerukku ner". You had us in splits with your comedy in Poovellam Kettupar and Pithamagan. You proved that you can act with Nandha and made sure that it wasnt a flash in the pan with Kaakha Kaakha and Mounam Pesiyadhe. You did a "kamal" with Perazhagan,Vaaranam Aayiram though it wasnt even near him, we appreciated the honesty in your effort, and once again you proved that you are trying to be different. You looked suave in Ghajini and looked like the next door guy in Sillendru Or Kadhal,Aayutha Ezhuthu and we loved you.

Then came Ayan.

We were shocked!!! But there were one or two saving graces in the film, the story line was unusual for a tamil film, and you were the only saving grace along with one or two songs by Harris.

If Ayan was a minor blip in your career, Aadavan is a major blip.... How could you make such a terrible mistake that too with Jyothika by your side, who is known for selecting good stories?

We do like to watch you on screen, but just when we thought you are gonna follow in the footsteps of Kamal, you start following the footsteps of Vijay!!!

One simple advice. You are good, but you have made it this far because of your hard work. Now if you slack off and expect us to watch these kind of movies, it wouldnt be long before you would be put in the "Vikram" bracket!!!!!

BLUE- 5 in 1

I consider myself a film buff, and watch lots of movies, and generally look more into a film than just a storyline. Granted it took 3 viewings of Matrix to understand the movie, but i was blown away by the trailer itself that i didnt mind going to the movie again and again.

I have always wondered why is that Indian movies especially Bollywood, try to imitate Hollywood and fail miserably in the process. We have our own USPs and within that limit we do possess a fantastic list of directors who really know how to tell a story interestingly and also provide the technical back up which makes a great film.

You might be wondering by now, just what the hell this guy is upto....Well, pardon me for all my thoughts given above because I happened to watch a movie called 'BLUE'.

How to make a bollywood movie like BLUE? You shouldnt accuse the director that he blindly copied from the movie 'Into the Blue'(slick editing-of the title by the way)

1. He takes the main plot of Into the Blue.

2. Creates 3 characters, Sanjay, Akshay and Zayed,

3. For Sanjay's scenes alone copies from "shoot em up"

4. For Zayed's scenes copies from 'fast and the furious' and torque

5. For Akshay's scenes copies from Hitch and Broken Arrow.

Wait a minute, we have Lara Dutta and Katrina Kaif(special appearence) here....whats the difference? Lara comes in a bikini and Katrina doesnt!!!!( i think it should have been given to Lara for special appearence!!!)

A word to the director...Hollywood movies do get released in India... and people go and watch them. Please try to get some obscure movie and copy it rather than hit movies!!!!!!!