Save Thamizh.. Save Thamizh Lives!!!

A belated post dedicated for Tamilar oops Thamizhar Thirunaal that was celebrated on January 16th.

உன்னுக்குல் நானே உறுகும் இறவில் உல்லத்தை நான் சொல்லவா(Pachai Kili Muthu Charam)

வெக்கதை மறைதாய் கைகுலே அடைத்தாய் தன்னீரை உட்ரு குலின்திட(Unnale Unnale)

ஒரு செல்லா நாயை உந்தன் பீனால் வால் ஆட்டூறென்...
அட என்னை தவிற எல்ல பென்னும் ஆனை ஆனலும்(Kaalai)

தீபிர்ர்ரை போள் வரும் நக்க கன்னுக்கல்(Pori)

ரெகசியெ கெனவுகல் ஜல் ஜல் என் இமைஹலை தலுவுது சொல் சொல்(Bheema)

ஒர் ஆய்யிறம் ஆண்டுகல் சேம்மித்த காத்தல் இத்து(Sivaji)

சேவிதழில் நுரை அல்லி செம்பாத்தம் வறை கில்லி(Winner)

வாளுக்க்கை புத்தையலப்பா(Anbe Sivam)

கால கால நீ அடங்காத கால(Kaalai)

உன்னை என்னி என்னியே உல்லம் தான் வாடுதே(Vallavan)

ஜூலை மலர்ஹலே ஜூலை மலர்ஹலே ஊங்கல் எதிரியாய் ஓரு அலஹன் இருக்கிறான்(Bagavathy)

These are just samples of what Thamizh in today's film music is like. May Thiruvalluvar, Kambar, Bharathiyar and all those great Tamil geniuses give dreadful night mares to all those music directors, who, inspite of having an ocean of talents within our own state bring other language singers and make them sing without proper training on diction.

Long Live Thamizh!! :D

Cha... தமிழ் நீடூழி வாழ்க!!! :)

P.S: If you can't read and make out the above lines in Thamizh, consider yourself lucky. Because, I know how unfortunate it is to hear your own being language raped and murdered for the sake of hearing a good voice. :P

Amélie - A movie full of life

I watched a movie of my lifetime yesterday. Its a French movie called Amélie. Having heard about this movie from Vikram long back and having read about it in his blog, I wanted to watch this movie for over an year, and I finally did it yesterday.

It is a very very cute movie, a simple story interestingly told with a beautiful romance plot. To give some flashback, 2002 Oscar awards had a great Indian film in the final list of "Best Foreign Film" category - Lagaan, for which we felt very proud. Of course, it didn't win an Oscar, but another contender among the finalists and which lost to "No Man's Land" was Amélie from France.

The movie is directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and stars Audrey Tautou and Mathieu Kassovitz in lead roles. And there a a lot of supporting characters, each of whom has a short but a prominent role in the movie. The film begins with a flashback on Amélie's childhood which sets the base for rest of the film to move on.

It is the story of a waitress in Montmartre, an extremely shy and lonely girl Amélie, who after an incident decides to make people around her happy by solving their problems. She does it all secretly like an angel and feels happy for them. But at the same time she is fighting her own shyness to express her love for Nino. How she overcomes that and how she unites with Nino is what the story is all about.

The way the screenplay is built upon, the characterization of each and everyone, the suspenses knitted and the way they are revealed, the mild comedy that runs throughout, the clues Amélie gives to Nino for finding her are all interesting. The pleasant background score and the beautiful locations make the film a delight to watch.

If you want to watch a movie with loads of feel good factor, a movie that is heart warming and memorable, then Amélie is the best choice. And thanks Vikram for suggesting this movie :)

Tagged again...

Tagged by Shrinivas personally. Sorry for the late completion, but I managed to do it only today.

1. Pick out a scar you have, and explain how you got it.

Hmm there is one.. Which will be there for a life time. During my 9th standard half-yearly vacation, on bad afternoon when I was going in a cycle, a lorry kissed my feet with its beautiful mudguard. The impact had cut a few nerves going to my little toe and took it away from me after few weeks. Now I have only 4 toes in my right leg.

2. What does your phone look like?

Its Nokia 6233 I got last month. This is how it looks:

3. What is on the walls of your bedroom?

One daily sheet calendar(given by Vasanth and Co where i masked Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi with a vute Manakkula Vinayagar pic :P)

4. What is your current desktop picture?

A wallpaper from Ghilli. My favorite, particularly chosen for its dark background. BTW, it was designed by my friend Ashok :)

5. Do you believe in Gay marriage?

Gays should believe in that... Why should I? :P

6. What do you want more than anything right now?

More music in my collection. The one thing which I am never satisfied of and always feel an incompleteness.

7.What time were you born?

6.40 AM on 14th October 1983 at Public Health Center, West Mambalam, Ch-33.

8. Are your parents still together?

Yeah by hearts. Physically he exists far away from us, up there.

9. Last person who made you cry.

I don't cry so often :D To make it recent, I almost cried watching the climax of the movie Happy(what an irony!!!) That much I was involved in that story :D

10. What is your favourite perfume/cologne?

Brut. The Green One.

11. What kind of hair/eye color do you like in the opposite sex?

Black Hair .. Black eyes :P

12. What are you listening to?

Mudhal Mazhai from Bheema. Minimum 10 times a day :P

13. Do you get scared of the dark?

Within house, no. Outside, yes, only when there are stray dogs or drunkards on the road.

14. Do you like pain killers?

There is nothing to like. I like them only when I have headache :P

15. Are you too shy to ask someone out?

Will tell that when I get a chance to do it.

16. If you could eat anything right now, what would it be?

Halwaa. Anytime anyday, as girls say, I looooooove it :P

17. Who was the last person who made you mad?

I am still sane. But I become temporarily mad after sitting in a traffic jam :D

18. Who was the last person who made you smile?

Ram. He always brings a smile to my face. Very naughty boy :D

Kaalai - Audio Review

Kaalai is the best audio to open 2008's music releases along with Bheema, which got shifted from 2007 to 2008. The film stars Silambarasan, Nila and Vedhika in lead roles. The film's music is by A.R.Rahman's nephew G.V.Prakash Kumar, who already had a great 2007 with musical chart busters.

Prakash impresses once again in Kaalai with a line up of songs that caters to all class of audiences. And as usual, it features a host of popular names in the credits.Kaala Kaala
Singers: Mamtha Mohandass, Benny Dayal

This I would say is the best song in the album, sung beautifully by a beautiful Mamtha. It sounds a little bit similar to "Vallava ennai vellava" in tune and mood. The orchestration is excellent and Benny Dayal's voice is powerful as in power of the hero. There is nothing great in the lyrics though, and its sound slike dialogues tuned into a song. Mamtha starts the song on a melody note and slowly captivates you with her stylish singing. The mandolin bit towards the end is superb.

Rating: 10 - 0.6(for bad lyrics) = 9.4

Gutkha Gutkha
Singers: Lucky Ali, Sunidhi Chauhan

No one would have imagined Lucky Ali's voice in a Tamil kuthu song. Here he along with Sunidhi Chauhan gives us an excellent techno form of kuthu that will leave you dancing in joy, to say the least. The difference in such songs tuned by Yuvan or Imman is that you will still get a keyboard-in-studio effect, where as this song has the feel of a big orchestra. You feel it with very few compositions like Rahman or Harris, and you will feel it here for sure. The singers are both energetic and the drums are rocking.

Rating: 10 - 0.6(for music in few places eating up words) = 9.4

Eppo Nee
Singer: Madhushree

Madhushree is one of the most luckiest singers in Tamil Industry. Inspite of her most horrible tamil diction and a voice which sounds very similar to Sadhana Sargam, she gets to sing a lot of well tuned solo numbers even today. Surely any other singer like Shreya Ghosal would have done more justice to this song, but still it is a very good song. The tune sounds familiar but is well composed. It has a slight folk touch also. The song has some good lyrics in this album, which are unfortunately damaged by Madhushree's diction. Nevertheless, its a lilting melody that demands repeated listeing.

Rating: 10 - 1(for Madhushree) = 9.0

Kutti Pisaase
Singers: Silambarasan, Suchitra

A very fast number sung by Silambarasan and Suchitra with their fullest energy. Silmabarasan sounds really good unlike his previous songs where I always felt touch of TR ;-) It sounds like a combo of Ennasai Maithiliye and Yammaadi Aathadi from Simbu's older movies. The heavy drum beats brings in the mood of the song. There is again nothing great in the lyrics, of course it doesn't matter for such songs. There is a "Dandanakka Danakkunakka" bit which is TR's identity for mimics for a long time. :) The chorus with kids is impressive.

Rating: 10 - 0.8(as there is nothing new, bad lyrics) = 9.2

Veeramulla Eeramulla
Singers: Seergazhi Sivachidambaram, Manikka Vinayagam

A full fledged folk speaking about the spirit of the Tamil soil. The singers have done a good job and the sound of lots of folk instruments like Nadaswaram, Thavil, Urumi, Thappatai(and others whose names I don't remember) create a typical village like feel when you listen to it. There is a somewhere heard feel but the song is very good to hear.

Rating: 10 - 0.8(nothing new, words are masked by music) = 9.2

Vandhutaanda Kaalai
Singers: Rahul Nambiar, Benny Dayal, Silambarasan

The song with the worst possible lyrics, sorry dialogues which are rhyming, as in rhymes of TR. Add to that Silambarasan's full throated shouting that is loud enough to deafen you. Rahul and Benny have not much of a job to do except to sing in harmony a few meaningless lines here and there. The orchestration however is very good and is the only saving grace of the song.

Rating: 10 - 0.7(for lyrics) - 1(Simbu) = 8.3

Overall Rating: 9.1/10
Verdict: Worth a listen. Very Good.

Whats not in a nick name?

I have been called with a lot of nicknames till now in life. Just thought of sharing them here so that people can choose some of these names to call me.. hee hee(Vettiya irukken nu sollama epdilaam bittu podren illa? :D)

Guru: As far as I know, this is the first nickname I had. My mom's sister used to call me by this name. She is a devotee of Lord Guruvayoorappan(of course me too :)) and was calling me by this name for sometime. After that no one had called me so.

Keerai: I don't know why and how I got this name. My uncles and cousins used to call me like this when I was about 2-3 years old :) May be because of my food preferences. ;-)

Kaaki: Supposed to be short form of Karthik.:P My cousins were calling me like that for many years.

Srini/Seeni/Cheeni: Very common for a person named Srinivasan. No reasons needed I guess :)

Kulu: Nicknamed by my youngest cousin when he was a small kid. I also call him by the same nickname. God only knows what that means :D

Professor: In college days. Because I have taken so many seminars and general learning sessions enough to kill people with my mokkais :P

Thala: Named by friends in Bangalore for no known reason. Its a common name for many people in IT industry though

KSR: Thats how I nicknamed myself on Orkut. The full form of KSR is obvious. Today many people know me like that.

Few other names were censored fearing self damage :D Anyways, guess this is enough for now :P

Good Bye 2007 :( Welcome 2008 :))

Before I start, this is my 50th post this year and 150th post in this blog :) :) :)

Thanks to everyone who have tolerated all my junk till date and still alive :D

End of yet another adventurous year and beginning of a new year... Lots of dreams, hopes and wishes...

2007 was a good year for me personally and professionally barring a few instances. Few things I want to highlight are the following. 2 was my lucky number this year it seems, as you can see from most of the ones listed below ;-)

* Got couple of awards at work place. Established a good name with my work and got a big and cheerful team to work with.

* Went to USA on an official trip for couple of months. I would have been the luckiest person to complete a trip successful in aspects, may be God's grace. Had a great weather to live in, very indian atmosphere, visited lots of places and enjoyed a lot. Bonus was a short trip around Singapore in return journey.

* Got myself a laptop from US, a long time dream come true. That increased my system count to 2 and yeah, laptop has a dual core processor :D

* Changed my mobile twice this year. Was happy with my Nokia 6270 and changed over to Nokia 6233 at the right time. I am too happy with this now :)

* My orkut profile was hacked by some idiot, but thankfully he gave me the chance to come back with 2 profiles again, clearly partitioning my interests and activities on orkut into two halves.

* Bought two household gadgets for my mom: A mixer grinder as a replacement for the out of service one and a two-in-one to play old devotional cassetes at home(inspite of having devotional songs on my PC too)

* And last but not the least.. hee hee... Enjoyed two Vijay movies this year. I care a damn about how others like it, but I enjoyed both of them very well. (Of course, there is a list of other movies I saw and enjoyed, and who knows, it might also end up with a count of 2*x :P:D)

Okie.. Enough of PJs I think... :))

Wishing everyone a New Year filled with good health, new hope and new beginnings!
May year 2008 open up for you more opportunities, lead you onto the path of continued success, happiness and prosperity! I wish that the coming year showers on you all that you ever wished for! Good luck and smiles, good cheer and ...

A Very Happy New Year! :)