Did it happen ?

'The happening' will have similiar responses from the audience as that of the kamal-starrer 'Dasavatharam'. Mixed responses :-)
Manoj Night Shyamalan comes out with a new one after his last disaster - 'The lady in the water'.
When i saw the movie 'The sixth sense', i was flabbergasted. I began to wonder if shyamalan could make another movie which can surpass or atleast equal the 'suspense' that 'The sixth sense' provided. I would definitely conclude after seeing 'The happening' that its the movie which has.
People have begun to write off this movie although it has got a huge opening after 'The sixth sense'. The reason is very simple. Its a reason even 'Night' knows.
The climax is not dramatic enough. He fills his movie with drama till the 75th minute. The last 15 minutes is where he fails to read the pulse of the 'normal' movie-goer.
I can understand Manoj's intentions, but he cant expect the same from people who see not only his movies, but also other English movies !!!! people who will start comparing it with other movies. No way. Thats too much of an expectation.
This is where he fails. But his failure is only commercial, not technical. He is not ready to compromise on his film making technique, unlike k.s.ravikumar. I am going to ask him shortly where he has compromised. He has compromised as a sensible resident of this universe !! Read on -
With 'The happening', the first 75 minutes were filled with some eerie silence, that of the open plains, covered with grass and beautiful trees. Nobody can deny that they were atleast a little scared when they saw dead bodies hanging from the trees.
The plot was spectacular, the idea even better. Its time people realised that they were screwing up the environment that they lived in & what a better way to say that, enforce this point, drill it down their heads than making it into a horror movie. The thoughts so far, from Manoj, were good. But then, i ask him this question - Why did you not make the ending powerful for this movie. If your concerns about the environment were real enough, you should have done that, because people would not have dismissed your movie as a stupid one. They would have praised you sky high and media would have described your efforts as a magnanimous one. They would have instead written saying that your an intelligent film-maker. But you had thoughts of how man was destroying the trees, you imagined how it would be if the trees struck back. But, if your concern had emotions, something what a film-make like kamalhasan has, the climax would have been very different.
Indians have a lot of sentiment. They attach sentiments to what they like doing, whether it be playing cricket or whether it be making movies. You cant expect manoj to be 'indian-minded', its difficult for this americanised guy.

Anywayz, the movie was fantastically simple, something like 'No country for old men' & i absolutely loved it. Right, all said, the efforts for this movie will go in vain, the doubts will remain. Everyone who watches this movie of his will come out with the same first questions - "Did anything happen at all ? Is he nuts ?"

The ten avathars - Dasavatharam.

I have been waiting to write this entry on kamal's magnum opus 'Dasavatharam'.
Everyone knows by this time, the various roles, that he has done in the film. Many roles of his would have already been making waves by now. Some would have come for sharp criticism. The one that has taken everybody by surprise is the role of fletcher's.
People liken this to that of arnold schwarzanegger in 'The Terminator'. So powerful and happening, it has overtaken the 95 year old krishnaveni's character.
Initially, from the music and the chaotic nature of the film, i had a feeling that the movie's hype would die down soon. But it was not to be. kamal's avathars have overtaken them all. But recent email forwards about the movie have been very encouraging. word of mouth information about subtle indications of the ten incarnations of vishnu would help in its promotion, especially during the period when kuselan would start off.
When an actor does 10 roles in a movie, its difficult for him to adapt and give different voices to each of the characters. Something which kamal has done it in style. It would have been really difficult for the kamal fan to digest the two-liner that kamal had said during a recent public function. It went something like this - "Rajni is the king and amitabh is the emperor. But i believe in democracy".
How true !
coming back to dasavatharam, let's sort the best roles in order.
The first one would definitely be fletcher. considering the difficulty in coming out with the body language and language of an american - as well as the jaw dropping stunts. The second would have to be that of Boovaragan, the dalit leader. The tirunelveli accented role was one that kamal had not done much in the past. Then the unimaginable krishnaveni 'patti'. How did he pull this one off ? The style and especially the dialogues just before she(oh yeah, he) is about to place the vial into the idol. The mannerisms when she leaves the verandah etc., are absolutely characteristic of an old iyengar lady. But was she not too fast for her age ? I felt so, but then, it must have been done deliberately as she was a part of the humour feast which k.s.ravikumar was offering us. Then its the comic role of balaram naidu, the intelligence guy. Pucca comedy from kamal. wholesome entertainment. The roles of govindarajan - the scientist, or that of the tall muslim or that of avatar singh was not a tough thing at all. But yes, the screen chemistry between jayaprada and kamal was nostalgic. Loved jayaprada for that dance & yes, kamal too.
The first character of rangarajan nambi was not too bad but follows the rest. The japanese character, that of george bush, had little presence but had importance in the story. But what disappoints is the make-up and music. Hope that kamal's screen presence pulls it all off :-)

Buy Borrow Steal !

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809840275/video/8135122

That's my first movie appearance. The kind of 'cinema paithiyam' that i have been, the number of useless trips that i made to AVM, in a bid to get a break into kollywood, this should be some kind of a consolation. A break that too in hollywood !

But i should also be thoughtful here and mention how lucky ive been to, seeing myself in the trailer itself !
Buy Borrow Steal. The title was apt for me, but not for the makers of the heather graham starrer. They have changed it to Miss Conception. Sounds better, right !
And did you know that rajinikanth started his career with a movie where he just had the chance of opening a gate ?! :-)

Kamba Ramayanam rendition by Sivakumar

I just finished listening to the 50 poem recital of 'kamba ramayanam' by south-indan film-actor sivakumar. It was very nice to listen to his recital to put it simply. His first 50 poems started by describing the day vishwamitra took rama and lakshmana to the forest to guard him from the rakshasi thadakai and ended with bharatha taking rama's sandals to rule the kingdom which rama was supposed to rule.
Childhood sundays and i am reminded of mahabharatha and chandrakantha. The afternoons with shakthimaan. I had in fact forgotten the scenes of ramayana. But after listening to sivakumar's recital today, again a sunday morning, the memories of arun goyal's drama series comes back into my mind. I have known sivakumar to be a strict disciplinarian, a nice man. I have admired him for his role in the movie 'sindhu bhairavi' where he played the role of a carnatic musician who succumbs to liquor addiction and recovers very late in his life. I still remember the song ( thom.. thom.. ) from sindhu bhairavi where he sits on a rock near the sea, sung by the 'ever-gentle' k.j.yesudass. Its supposedly a vibrant piece and i am of the belief that without sivakumar, k.j's song would have had a slight miss in vibrancy. You would come to believe that it was sung by sivakumar and not by K.J if you listened to it in your teens :-)
& today, i listened to his rendition just because it was from sivakumar. & honestly, i felt more happier.
Wish sivakumar acts in a movie or two that brings out his best again !

& yes, you can listen to it here -
http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/tamil/article/39171.html

Divine settlement !

I can understand why hindu people have 'venduthals'. A 'venduthal' in tamil, means, that a person offers something to god in return for a 'small favour'. Its often more than that. It could be a very sensitive thing. Nothing to jest about. People pray to god to save their kin, in return for a garland of gold coins, in return for a gold chain ( particularly to amman deities ). I can understand women who do that. When my mother prayed to god and made a 'venduthal' that she would offer a golden 'vel' ( a vel is the goddesses' weapon ), in return for my father's life; when he slipped into 'coma' after an accident, i was but a small kid. I heard this from my mother, probably after 15 years !!
I can understand all this. From a woman's point of view. But when people decide to offer 500 £ for 1 golden coin in a kasumala ( garland of coins) to a hanuman deity in birmingham, i get a bit upset. In return, the temple would print their family name on the gold coin. This, they believe would bring prosperity to their family. Agreed. Ok.
But when hear someone come out of the temple saying that his muscle pull in his thigh has cured miraculously after he signed that document for 501 £ in the temple, thats what gets on me. That's what angers me. Really. Nothing else !
If you have second thoughts about your 'venduthals' and want to convince yourself that you've done the right thing - please dont try to use your friends for that. I would thank god for that !

Bad Karma, umm.....

I have always felt that gambling is a very bad thing. I knew from start that it was very addictive. But i've never dreamt that i'll, one-day, be into it.
But atleast, i know that i am going to be somewhat sensible. I hope i'll be responsible enough.

Ok, having said that, my first gamble was on the IPL finals between Rajasthan Royals and the Chennai Super Kings. So how did i see that. Raj. had been very successful. Chennai, three times less successful than the raj. roy's
My initial inclination was towards Rajasthan. But i had my apprehensions about Dhoni.
I wanted to call a friend of mine, who is an expert in cricket analysis. I decided to go by his word and place my bet on it. But he was'nt to be reached ! & he was to prove wrong later thanks to my luck.
I decided to go with my instincts and chose the royals.
This turned out to be the most interesting match that i'd ever witnessed.
A win for the royals from the last ball. I got a good deal in return. 9 over 13.5 !!
I could have easily lost my money even if the royals had proved a tad unlucky. But that was not going to be the case. With yusuf pathan having 3 lives and an equal number of sixers, he turned out to be the match saver. Along with shane watson, they had a good partnership.
In the end, sohail tanvir alongwith shanewarne got me the profit which my 'luck & instinct' deserved.
I realised that with money into this match, i felt miserable at various points of time during the course of the game. But even after netting this 'small' profit, i have'nt stopped gambling.
I decided to use my 'earnings'.
I read through some articles and watched some videos about the French Open 2008. I have now placed a wager on the match between Ivanovic and Jankovic. Its the semifinals. I realised that with the injury that jankovic is going through & the fact that ivanovic is a better player this season on clay - it should be pretty easy for ivanovic to breeze past jankovic. That jankovic is a better player in pressure was'nt reason enough for me to change my decision.
I have gone ahead with Ivanovic and the results will be out by tomorrow which will tell me how good a judge i've been. Till then its fingers crossed.