Saroja - A Tale of Brilliance

Very few films have given me the satisfaction of watching a complete movie. That way, Saroja is a movie that has made me happy and contented after a long time. Never in my life I have seen the crowd staying in the theater till the screen goes blank after end titles for a Tamil film. That says volumes about how brilliant a film Saroja is.
Instead of depending on a hero or a director, Saroja is full of team work and team work never fails. Each and every character in the movie has a good role to play and they play it to satisfaction. In these days, when serious movies become full time comedy, it deserves a huge applause to give a thriller with a light string of comedy throughout and keep the audience engaged throughout.
The performance of the 4 friends, especially Premji and his timely punch lines and RJ Shiva's comedy timing deserves appreciation. Prakashraj as the bereaved father in search of his daughter is very natural while Jayaram is a pleasant surprise. Music by Yuvan fits the bill perfectly and all the songs have been well shot and edited.
Even the minor aspects of the film have been taken care well, and lots of little excitements like the cameos. The camera work and stylish editing are the main highlights of the film. Well created, well shot and well packaged, Saroja is definitely one of the best films of the year and a learning for those film makers who are still ignorant of the fact that best films can be made without big stars.

Happy Birthday Haasini...

This blog post is dedicated to all fans, well-wishers, fanatics, one sided lovers and husbands by self-imagination of the cutest actress of Indian Cinema - Genelia D' Souza.
Genelia began her acting career as this tom boyish high society girl Harini, in the film Boys. She was too good for a new comer and it was the first transition of the girl in a parker pen ad to an amateur actress. And after that there was no looking back. Hit or flop, single or double heroine subjects, tamil, hindi or telugu, she left her unforgettable impressions in each and every film she had acted over these very few years. An impression that cannot be erased by time, impression in the hearts of people.
An MBA graduate, she has managed her career very well in this male dominated film industry, by acting in films where she had a very good footage on par with the hero. What matters more than that is the way she had played her roles, most of them will become void without her presence. It becomes unimaginable to place an X or Y actress in her roles.
It is difficult to imagine anyone in place of the egoistic and short tempered Shalini (Sachein), innocent and obedient Madhumathi (Happy), the bubbly and adorable, the immortal Haasini (Bommarillu).. From Harini to Haasini, her roles speak for herself, including the latest Hindi flick Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Naa. And Haasini was her second transition to a matured actress where she proved her talents and walked away with all accolades.
The industry has seen actresses who became popular through serious roles, dialogue delivery, dance, deglamorized roles, controversial acts etc etc. But Genelia has walked her way through people's hearts as herself. An angel in the disguise of girl next door.
Her cuteness, innocence, the child like smile, those expressive eyes have stolen a number of hearts just like that. She has got the best dressing sense among the actresses of today and whatever she wears never crosses the the boundary of glamour and vulgarity. She is also an excellent dancer, who dances as gracefully as a female can do.
She has loads of talents to be explored, tonnes of best performances to be given to her fans. May God bless her with all successes and good luck, and let she remain the ever smiling Haasini of our hearts!!

♥♥♥♥♥HAPPY ♥♥♥♥♥BIRTHDAY ♥♥♥♥♥GENELIA!♥♥♥♥♥

Of music and movies....

My choice of favorite songs is based on the singers who sing the songs and not by the music director or the actors who act in it. I dont like many of the hit songs just because of the fact I don't like the voices in it or by the way it was sung. I feel that a voice that can hold your senses is what is important in a song and then comes the music and lyrics.

On the other hand, favorite movies have a different criteria. Unless I like the actor and actress in the movie, I never even bother to look at the promos of the movie on TV, however good it is and how many ever people recommend me to watch it. A face that makes you feel happy is more important according to me, and the director, story and plot takes a next preferences.

The above tendency makes me meditate on a few songs and movies again and again till I get bored, or till I get a new favorite. This post is just to mention about few of such songs and movies that I enjoyed recently.

I watched just 4 movies ever since I left India, call it lack of time or interest. First one was Horton hears a who, that I watched on my way in flight. Horton was made familiar to me by Vinodh once during a chat and so i decided to watch it. It was a cool animation film with a cute and affectionate elephant as the central character.

Next was Office Space, recommended by Balaji. Its a movie made almost a decade ago but is very much inline with today's corporate scenario, especially in IT world. Should really appreciate the director's forethought.

Then I watched Billa just for the curiosity of what was there in it, that it was hyped so much by everyone. I totally disliked Rajinikanth's Billa and felt there is nothing worth to remake in it. But I was wrong, because this version of Billa was something more inline with today's genre of movies. It was different to watch Ajith with less dialogues and swear lines(which I feel he is very bad at) and Nayanthara was definitely lots better than a plumpy and bad looking Sripriya. There are lot of negatives about the film but it was a good time pass and the cameraman Nirav Shah and the stylists should be appreciated for packaging the movie very well.

Then finally, I watched Taare Zameen Par, a long time pending movie in my list. It was a very emotional and touching movie especially in the second half after Aamir Khan enters. As everyone who watched the movie said, I could not control my tears towards the end. That kid Darsheel has acted extremely well and realistic and deserves lots of awards for his performance. A unique movie in this age of Hindi movies full of sex, violence and horrible comedy.

Coming to new music that I heard in recent past, one album thats lingering in my mind always is Sakkarakatti. I never had any liking towards Rahman's Hindi albums hat had come in past 4-5 years so its exciting everytime a new album of Rahman is released in Tamil. Sakkarakatti is one album that is worth the excitement.

Taxi Taxi is a very peppy and youthful number that opens up with a bang. Lyrics by Muthukumar about friendship are very catchy. Benny Dayal shines in his western avtar and Blaaze's rap is simply cool. The excellent harmony(Viviane Chaix and Javed Ali) with the Latin(or Spanish?) style beats foils well with the song's flow. Inspite of a westernised number with rap, its very pleasing to the ears unlike the efforts on same lines by other music directors. A song that has already gotten into my list of infinite loop numbers :P

Marudhaani is what Rahman is best at. Melody with western beats. Yet another "Ma" series song Rahman-Vaali combo. The interludes by Rahman himself and the harmony are excellent. I wish Madhushree sings atleast a single song without errors, but everytime she gives Tamil words a hindi face. A Sadhana Sargam or Shreya Ghosal would have definitely a better job, but Madhushree is Rahman's constant choice. Inspite of all, this is an outstanding melody number from this album, that reminds us Rahman of the last decade.

I miss you has a different pattern of music like Thazhuvudhu Nazhuvudhu and Maaja Maaja, but this sounded to me a tonnes better than those two. Chinmayi's voice has a sweet innocence attached to it, which gives the song a special feel. The constant paced and simple beats throughout the song is too good and does not eat up the words.

Chinnamma Chilakamma is the tune of the song with same title from Meenaxi. I thoroughly enjoyed this song because I hated the original version by Sukhwinder singh. Benny Dayal is one of those few singers who pronounces words with prefection and does not eat them up in the name of singing. The clarity in his voice is amazing and his voice is as powerful as Sonu Nigam's in Hindi songs. He is a gifted singer for Tamil Cinema. Chinmayi does her part well, but don't know why she was made to sing like Sayanora Philip or Malgudi Shubha in parts? :) Lyrics by Pa.Vijay are pretty ordinary and shows clearly that they are written for the tune.

Elay is of the same genre Roobaroo from Rang De Basanti and has a similar pattern. It has a very pleasing effect when you hear it. The violin and guitar that plays all through is brilliant. Lyrics by Muthukumar is more of youthful imagination(and surprisingly not childish) and enjoyable. Krish and Naresh iyer do a brilliant job.

Naan Eppodhu is the same tune as Yeh Rishta from Meenaxi, sung by same Reena Bharadwaj. Reena has a beautiful voice but an awful Tamil diction. Same thing as said about choice of voices earlier. I wish she sings atleats a single line in the song without mistakes but not a single line till the end :( The dhol beat thats there throughout the song and lots of string instruments used give the song a divine feel. Pa Vijay's lyrics are simple and meaningful.

Overall, its a great experience for any Rahman fan to listen to this album. Full of youthful vibe... Now all that has to be seen is how well these great songs are shot on screen :)

On the other hand, listening to Sathyam was an ultimate boring experience and it is the worst album from Harris Jayaraj I have ever heard. There is not even a single song that I liked to hear once again. A very forgetful album! Same with the case of Jayam Kondan, Thenavettu and Kuselan. Saroja sounded good only for a couple of songs(Cheeky Cheeky and Dhosth Bada Dhosth).

The photo tag... :)

Ok.. finally got a chance to complete the tag from Shrinivas.. I has been over a month since he tagged :P

Here are the rules.(Copy pasted from Shrinivas :P)

1. Type your answer to each of the questions below into FlickrSearch.
2. Using only the first page, pick an image.
3. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.

And happily tagging Ram, Nirmal, Vikram and Venky with this one :D

1. What is your first name?
Srinivasan

2. What is your favorite food? Right now?
Dosa - Any variety of Dosa tastes good. :)

3. What high school did you go to?
St. Anne's Mat. Hr. Sec School

4. What is your favorite color?
Blue.. Anything blue :)

5. Who is/was your celebrity crush?
Priyanka Chopra :D

6. Favorite drink?
Filter coffee made by by mom

7. Dream vacation?
Lots of places around Europe

8. Favorite dessert?
Black forest gateau

9. What do you want to be when you grow up?
I have grown enough in size so should try to grow down hereafter :D Moving further, may be a good husband :P

10. What do you love most in life?
Music

11. One Word to describe you.
Lazy

12. Your flickr name.
centumsrini (As like many other login ids :P)

Credits for photos:
1. Vineeth Srinivasan, 2. Masala Dosa, 3. St Anne's School, Bristol, 4. water droplets in the shower - o.k. bokeh, 5. Priyanka Chopra ,Film actor, 6. Simple Filter Coffee!, 7. Zuiderkerk - Amsterdam HDR, 8. My wifes todays artwork: Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte (Black Forest gateau), 9. good husband, 10. Who needs DRUGS when there's MUSIC, 11. Ci-Ci & PB, 12. IMG_0532

Veerachaamy - A Warning!!!

I thought of naming this post Veerachamy - A review, but thought more than a review this could be best described as the horrible experiences of a film viewer watching a king kong, which could prevent phyical and mental damages for weak hearted people yet to watch this classic, and also could prevent some casualities among pets at your home accidentally turning towards TV.

Reading reviews from websites and blogs long back when this movie released, I imagined this to be a life story of a social servant (!) called Veerachaamy, interspersed with sister sentiments some love scenes. But after watching the film last Sunday on Sun TV, I came to know that it is the story of two lovers, Veerachamy and Sarasu, and the hurdles they face in life. The story of two love birds except that there is no bird existing to be compared with either of them :P

The film had an intersting "opening" fight when T.R's dothi opened up showing his pattapatti underwear after which we get to see it in many scenes, giving the effect of watching a horror movie.

After lot of mokkaiest scenes with lengthy dialogues (Yawn!) love episode of T.R and Mumtaj starts. Mumtaj considers T.R. her saamy and is devoted so much to him to the extent of resting her cheeks on his shoes (of course after he removes it)

She wipes her face with the towel used by TR to wipe his face, rubs her face with the comb used by TR to comb his dhaadi, uses TR's poster to relieve her body pains whenever her mother (one bitch of a lady) beats her etc etc

T.R is the tharuthala MLA who suthifies with 4 allakais(unfortunately Santhanam is one of them) all the time, and most times seen in vella vetti with pattapatti trouser inside and karupu sattai. He uses all innovative techniques against corruption like shooting with video cam hidden in book, giving paarangal when a guy asks for "weight a kudunga"(lanjam) etc.

He too expresses his love towards Mumtaz but time and situations spoil their love life that was going on with milk tub and ooty garden duets.

TR has practiced a special reaction for love scenes. Mumtaz will be resting on some support and TR will come near her, stretch his hands sidewards, tilt his body 45 degrees parallel to her, open his mouth in 6 cm diameter, giving a killer look towards Mumtaz. He also excels in his standard senti"mental" scenes and aduku mozhi aruvais.

Lots of chichuvesanal songs come in the movie most of which are sung by TR in background. "Ye Ye Ye Veerachaamy" is one lingering number that will spoil ur tastes of music for sumtime. TR's shouting and aerobics in the songs is the best capital punishment that can be given to terrorists.

TR does editing and so all scenes are unrelated to each other. In all scenes unwanted characters will be seen around, just because he has paid them salary and they have come to the shooting spot. For example, in all scenes happening in his house, you can see all people in his house, plus his friends, plus mumtaz.

Mumtaz goes to the extremes of worshipping TR even after marriage, and in her devotion she steals his natham pudicha shirt and dothi. Wearing the shirt and lying on the dothi, she keeps crying, when her husband spots the vasthus which are reason for eli setha naatham in his house. He ultimately burns the vasthus giving them motcham from earth and from TR.

The ultimate part of the film is the climax, when after asking "Naanum manushanthaane", TR realises he is no more a human form, and starts vetting all villan gang with aruvaal. There is a special dance from TR with dothi in one hand and aruvaal in other which no one can afford to miss. At the end of the fight, the dothi sweeps over Mumtaz'a face, indicating that she is gonna die soon.

There is a side track involving one ambala vesham pota pombala(AVPP) and pomabla vesham pota aambala(PVPA). AVPP is in love with TR's sister(the only female who looks like a female in the film) and PVPA tries to kalachify it. But finally she realizes that AVPP is not in love with her and marries him off to TR's sister in the climax.

Hearing this, the bride groom who was engaged for TR's sister comes with his parents and accuses TR of "vaaku thavaritenga". Thanmana singam TR unable to bear this insult, dies in his chair and Mumtaz also in the shock, dies in his feet.

Watching this world crap stressbuster movie will really boost up your confidence (ivanuke love nadakaudhu namaku nadakaadha), build up your courage (ivane hero va nadichitan, naama ennalaam pannalam life la) and give you a feel good effect (nammala vida mosama sila peru work pannranga ulagathula)

So don't miss your next chance in case you haven't watched this Thirai Kaaviyam yet!!!

P.S: This post is intentionally made with non sequential paragraphs to imitate the editing style of T.R :P