How Michael Jackson introduced me to Western Music

Michael Jackson is no more. It’s sad. True. But, the way he died is more hurting. He shouldn’t have left the world with so many questions unanswered. HIStory remains.

MJ showed us two ways. The things that are to be followed are the first way given Michael Jackson. The things that should not be followed are the second way shown by him.

His dedication to Music is simply admirable. His music talent is not a mere talent, but a genius. MJ was = Music.

The person like me, who come from low-middle class family of India, getting introduced to Pop Music or Western Music is a very difficult one. 1990’s was the time when I joined college in Bangalore. At that time, all that I could hear western songs was in Music stores. There were no songs other than that of Michael Jackson’s playing in those stores.

So for me Western Music was nothing but Michael Jackson. I thought every English song would be in the way MJ sings. Then, Ricky Martin came to scene with his refreshing Latino numbers like “Un dos tres”. By now, I was aware of the world other than MJ’s.

We did get TV in our house. Cable connection came in. I started to watch channel V for the sake of seeing Ricky Martin and Michael Jackson’s songs. At that time channel V was playing western music abundantly. Then I got introduced to Lou Bega, the funky musician. Then came in Enrique Iglesius songs.

Eventually, I got introduced to the ocean of Western Music with so much diversity. All this happened because of Michael Jackson. He is the true ambassador of Western Music. Kudos…!

Will the French crown make Federer the greatest ever?

Roger Federer finally conquered French Open. Robin Soderling could do little to stop the Swiss great from making history. The French Wall that denied the entry of Federer’s name entering as an all time great was crushed.

The Wimbledon is considered as the “grandest slam” among the four tennis grand slams. But for Roger Federer, the French Open was everything. He had a lot of stakes in it. It was, and along with it, the Rafael Nadal, remained as the thorns in the flesh of Federer. Now, nevertheless, Nadal remains now as the only thorn for him, though.

Nadal was as brutal, as powerful, as dominant as he was earlier until the match against Robin Soderling. Nadal crumbled and collapsed against Sweden’s player and the loss looked very unnatural. The Spain’s world number one was playing amateurishly and it seemed like Nadal was himself withdrawing from the competition. I felt like Nadal was surrendering himself to make way for Federer. Maybe, I hope it’s just a feeling.

Why not Nadal?
Rafael Nadal’s game has everything that makes him a real champion. He can beat Federer in any place. If Federer can be the all-time great, then, why not Nadal be the greatest? But, still I feel for Roger Federer. I expect miraculous shots from him whenever he faces Nadal. Every simple shots from Federer look like a miraculous one. Why?

In my childhood days, it was Ivan lendl who captured my mind. Though my little mind couldn’t analyze tennis game I was feeling like the Czechoslovakia star was far better than Germany’s Boris Becker. I hate Ivan lendl losing to Becker. Finally, Becker overcame lendl to become number one at that time. But, Becker never became my favourite.

Then, later it was Pete Sampras. He became my favourite player. I couldn’t digest a player beating Sampras.

Now, Roger Federer is my favourite. Nadal is his nemesis. I love to see Nadal losing in his every match.

Ah, one interesting fact is there. Roger Federer has one nemesis that is Nadal. But Nadal has two nemeses in Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray. Del Potro is arriving to the core. Tsonga is on a song. And that doesn’t sound music to the ears of Nadal.

Yeah… Hate campaign.

Is this a Brick in the Wall?

Mangalore has made it into the New History that begins with Gujarath, followed by Kandhahar and Malegaon. Yes, the new history is the progress of Hindu Extremism, albeit we are reluctant to accept its reality. Members of Sri Ram Sene ransacked a pub in Mangalore and beat up people including women in the name of protecting Indian culture. Ironically, these moral monitors proclaim that they revere and respect women.

One would find very difficult to deny the striking similarities between Taliban and Hindu extremists, or well, any other extremists of any religion. Taliban, though facing a rough weather from America and Co., still has sympathy and support from the common people. Similarly, Hindu Extremists, in all likelihood, could gather a strong base in people’s mind.

One should also note that RSS is not behind the Hindu Extremism. But, the men who are influenced by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in one ore other stage of their life, are the perpetrators of this latest vandalism.

Hindu Extremism has its root cause pointing towards Islamic Terrorists. Yes, the common people in India were fed up by the brutalities of Islamic Fundamentalists. Assault on Kashmiri Pundits, countless bomb attacks and other misdeeds from Islamic Terrorists made the strong Hindu population of India to think out of normal way.

Decade back, one could hear from the disgruntled common people saying that Hindus are spineless animals who don’t have will to combat terrorists. They were asking for Militant outfit of Hindus to counter Islamic goondas.

Now, these voices have become stronger after the recent Mumbai terrorist attacks. Bajrang Dal, Hindu Jagran Vedike, Sri Ram Sene and Hindu Yuva Sene came in to fill the void in Hindu resistance. Yes, definitely, the Hindu extremist outfits are the resistance power of Hindus. They are the results of long term desperation which began right from the partition of India.

In Malegaon, as the earlier investigations points out, the Hindu extremists blasted the bombs in the areas where Muslims are more concentrated, with the clear intentions of taking revenge against Islamic terrorism. The Malegaon case is a clear indicator of the path that Hindu extremism travels in future.

Another comparison… There is a BJP Government in Karnataka where Mangalore incident happened. We all know it clearly that BJP openly supports Hinduism. So… Sri Ram Sene doesn’t get any harm from the government. Morally, this BJP government cannot act against any Hindu organization.

Keeping the dilemma of BJP in mind, think of the situation that Pakistan government would be in vis-à-vis the Islamic terrorists of their country. Now, the clear thing is that we cannot expect Pakistan to take action against terrorists.

Islamic terrorists are using the word Jehad, the Dharma Yuddha. They are pretending to protect Islam and the unfortunate fact is that they really believe that they are the saviours of Islam. And the more unfortunate thing is that people believe in them.
Now, the Hindu extremists use the word Dharma Yuddha. They want to protect India from Islamists.

As a Hindu, I publicly condemn Hindu extremism. But, inwards, I tent to sympathise with Hindu rationalists. A typical middleclass mentality.

Is Rahul a man for the future?

Congress party seems to be brewing with confidence. It is making allout, but yet careful efforts to retain power in next elections. Its unchallenged leader Sonia Gandhi is not making any non-sense statements rather than making no non-sense statements. P.Chidambaram brought back smile on the faces of lakhs of people through his loan waiver package. Though this offer showcases a failure in the policy of Government to stabilize the Agri sector. But, considering the nearby elections, this package is one of the master strokes that made even the most critical opposition parties to think twice before making any criticism on the budget.

But, there is another shot in the arm for the congress. It is Rahul Gandhi. He is in the mould of his father Late Rajiv Gandhi. I read the reports of Rahul's visit to tribal lands of Mysore. The statements made by Rahul Gandhi give way to a slender hope for future. Read his opinions below...

"...At 37, I am an old person in India. Majority of India is younger than me... 70 per cent of India's population is young... while old (people) are to be respected for their experience, there is value and strength in youth as well. In a sense, youth is the future... Political parties are lacking in internal democracy.. Youth to raise their voice to highlight the issue... Youth should ask the question: when there is democracy in poll booth, why does it not exist in political parties... fundamental question... Why is it that in a democratic country where everbody has vote, the same spirit is missing in political parties?.... youth should enter politics and make it different and bring refreshing change by 'resisting the same game that every politician plays'..."

Yes.... these words coming out from the mouth of Rahul Gandhi give a glimpse of future prospects. Lets hope that these words are emanated from the heart of Rahul and are backed up by the determination. Lets hope these words are not a cliched political game invented by Congress itself and spread to all present political parties. Lets hope these words are not shortlivened as it was in the case of his father Rajiv Gandhi.

If our hopes come true, then we have a visionary for the future.

Localization a bane for a Language

This is an image of one of the many Google pages in Hindi. You can see english text left untranslated (see the rectangular red mark.) If you read the hindi content, you are going to forget that language. Is it a carelessness or an unawareness attitude from the company?

We have entered into a stage where efforts are going on to put information in local languages. Big Mulitnational companies who have offices worldwide or who need their information to go worldwide, are into the process of localization.

What is this localization? Converting a content from a source language to a target language in a suitable format is called Localization. lets not, for righnow, delve into the theory of localization.

In India lot of companies are putting their information, or providing their services in various Indian languages. These companies include big players like Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, and IOL as well as innumerous smaller companies. People, in general, trust the brand name of Big companies. They faithfully follow the product coming from those companies. It applies to their localization product too. But, do these companies are reciprocating the trust shown by the people for them?

The MNCs are very much reckless in their approach towards localization. They seem to do it for the namesake or for record purpose. The above picture of a Google page is just one of the countless examples that can be shown at anytime.

Localization industry is suffering from basic problems. It is bereft of appropriate translators for various subjects. If you want to be a suitable translator, you need to be good in three things. One, you should have good working knowledge of Source Language; Two, you should be expert in Target Language; and Three, you should have good knowledge of the product that you are localizing. All these three things are a must to be a quality translator.

Companies that need localization, should know what quality they want. The persons or Companies that do localization service should know what quality the best they can give. The users who use these products should be specific on what quality they expect of those products. And finally, the translators should remember that they are working for their language. A language can be rejuvenated or can be killed depending on the persons who work on it. As the product of Google, Microsoft, Wikipedia etc have mass appeal, the translators for these companies have great responsibility as a representative of their languages.

Localization Industry ought to be more matured. People should have more awareness about the job opportunities in this field. This is a very resposible job, as a lapse in the quality may cost the pride of the language itself.

We want Government to act darely on Smoking

Health Ministry has yet again came out with so called heavy measures against Smoking as it expressed concerns over the harmful effects Tobacco has on the society. My basic question is, is it Government really concerned about this issue?

Government wants to increase the penalty from Rs. 200 to 1000 Rupees against an individual smoking in public places. It also plans to put a fine against institutions that allows smoking. The individuals smoking in their offices will now invite penalty for their institutions, say Newspaper reports.

All these things are fine. Smoking is hazardous for individual; hazardous for family; hazardous for country(!?). But a certain doubt stands out staggeringly:

CIGARETTE AVAILABILITY IN PUBLIC IS LEGAL, BUT CIGARETTE SMOKING IS ILLEGAL.

Quiet a few drugs are banned on the basis of the fact that they are harmful. So, why not put a ban on smoking instead of putting a penalty? The open secret is, Government earns a large chunk of income generated by the business of Tobacco. Government wants profit at the cost of public health. But, it says that it is concerned on health of the public.

I am a smoker. I started smoking because it was available easily in the public. If Cigarettes were not available, I Couldn't have started smoking.

I haven't yet tried prostitutes, because the flesh business is not running openly. If the prostitution is legal and open, then I would easily fall for it. Here 'I' represent a major part of this society. There are minorities who have tendency to do misadventures. They go on hunting for the things which are not easily available, say for example, the prostitutes. Now, I think my logic is clear.

Lets hope Government goes for a complete ban on Cigarette. Let it not worry about the families who are dependent on the business of Tobacco. We can create other employment opportunities for those families. Let the Government put some extra taxes to the public in compensation for the probable losses that incur when Tobacco is banned.

Will the Government act?

Raghuvaran a legend with a life

Raghuvaran is no more. Its painful to imagine he is no more. No more we can see the life he puts into the characters that he plays. We have no more options but to recollect his past deeds.

Raghuvaran is best remembered for his perfomance in the film Shiva, the film which made Nagarjuna a star in Tollywood. Raghuvaran, in that movie, made a powerful impact which is as good as Nagarjuna's, if not more.

Raghuvaran was an instinct actor, in the sense that he was doing a character only when he felt for it. Because of this, we could see lot of gaps between his films. Statistics, which shows only 84 films in his name, prove this fact. Considering that Raghuvaran was doing Villain, Father, Uncle etc characters that has a leverage of getting more number of roles, the number 84 tells a different story.

Few days back he said in an interview, "...I accept a role when I feel that I can give justice for it. If not, I will not accept that role, irrespective of who offered that role.... When I am doing a character I goes into that character. It takes few days for doing so. After doing a character, it takes few days to come out of that character...

...Now, I am sitting before you only after canceling my shooting today. Because, I cannot talk with you when I my mind is pre-occupied with a character that I supposed to perform in a movie. So, while doing a character for a film, I don't accept any offer for other films... If I feel that I cannot involve 100 percent for a role, I decline from acting..."

Yes.... these speak a lot about a legend called Raghuvaran.

Unbecoming of a success

What I feared is happening. India lost once again to Britain in the Olympic qualifier decider match, which means that India is not qualified for the Olympics hockey. Following this, an able coach joachim Carvlho has resigned from his position. All the great works that are done for rebuilding a pathetic team into a powerful one, went into shambles.

India played really well in all earlier matches, but faltered in the finals. The young hockey players should be moulded further to be better prepared for crunch situations. The conducive environment should be in place to establish an effective system of training.

But, all is not lost. Let us put Olympics into the back of our mind. There are other important tourneys to propel our hockey team to the top. For that, we need to be patient at this moment of disappointment.

If Indian hockey management has a real urge for encouraging the team, it has to retain Carvalho as its team coach. He should be given free hand despite any possible negative results in future. If it is to take measures for our failure to make into olympics is inevitable, then the measures should be in changing the attitude of our management towards supporting this sport.

Let us not allow Government or IHF killing our rejuvenated Hockey team in the name of revamping the Team. Let us pray that our pastmaster coach Carvalho stays with the team.

Painful defeat of India

India won the one day tri-series cricket against toughest teams Australia and Srilanka. Its a great surprise just because Australia were the overwhelming favourites before the start of that series in its home country. But, on the contrary, yesterday India was painfully surprised when its rejuvenated hockey team suffering a shocking defeat at the hands of Britain. Ofcourse, this defeat may not dim the chances of India getting qualified for Olympics. But still, considering that this tourney is a must win for India to get into Olympics, the defeat against Britain is not a good sign. India can enter final by overcoming minniscule Chile team. And, in the final India might once again play Britain to get Olymic qualifying honour.

The way Indian hockey team playing from recent past, its well established prediction that this team is going to become numero uno in hockey world. Virtually, we never expected India to suffer defeat against any team, that too against Britain. Carvalho developed Indian team in such a way that the team was perfectly singing to his tunes. So Indian hockey team's defeat against Britain is as shocking as the Indian cricket team's shocking victory against Australia.

As an after-math effect with this defeat there are possibilities of two shocks to be followed. One is that India may not qualify for Olympics. And another one, the more shocking indeed, is that Indian hockey administration may sack our hockey coach Joachim Carvalho. India can manage to redeem its pride even when they are not qualified for Olympics. But the team would not be in a position to recover when it loses Carvalho's services for it.

First lets hope that India qualifies for Olympics. If not so, lets hope Carvalho remains unperturbed in this team.

Rose the transgender in Vijay TV

Star Vijay TV is one Tamil Channel which is known as the trendsetter for the innovative programs. Arguably, Lot of programs emerging from various Tamil Channels today have their idea origin in Vijay TV. The latest potential trend set by this TV is a program called "ippadikku Rose". The speciality of this program is that it is anchored by Rose, a transgender lady (err... a guy!!?).

As I was started reading a Tamil book "naan vidya" written by a transgender known as 'Living Smile' Vidya, the program was a pleasant surprise for me. The program hosted by Rose is supposed to take bold steps in discussing certain issues that are considered taboo by the society. But, moreover, this program is actually a bold step for changing the mindset of society toward transgenders. It works!!

For example, look at me. I see transgenders (or more familiarly called Hijadas) as if they are non-human beings. It is all because of the abnormal behaviours shown by transgenders. They stalk you in road-side, trains and other places for money. They don't mingle with the normal people. All these things would create negative opinions against them. In this backdrop, Rose' show helps in changing the way people look at her gender.

Rose has a beautiful face which can make original beau girls feel shame. Her handling of show is very much cool considering the hot topics she covers in it. Sooner or later people would realize that the transgenders are also normal human beings with a different sex orientation.

Khallas if you watch Bindhaas

Another big let down in Sandalwood aka Kannada Film Industry. More bothering fact is that this time the let down is from Puneeth Rajkumar’s latest film “Bindhaas”. Whatever little signs of recovery shown from now and then, are evaporating away. Sandalwood is in such a poor state that it requires a series of Mungaaru maLes to make a recovery.

The so called Power star Puneeth Rajkumar is one of the few reliable entertainers in the poor Sandalwood. In fact Puneeth is a very professional and is very choosy in selecting his films. Keeping this fact in mind, the way the “Bindhaas” has got turned out is very surprising. The film kills you and your mind.

The storyline of the “Bindhaas” can be told very simply that it is a remix of “Pokiri” of Telugu. The original Pokiri itself was a waste movie. Then, this Bindhaas is far worser than that pokiri.

Shivu (Puneeth) is an easy going person doing petty crimes like pickpocketing or black tickets selling. This bindhaas guy falls in love for a beauty named Preethi (Hamsika). After several novel attempts Shivu succeeds in making Preethi to accept his love. Meanwhile he happens to meet new ACP Ajay Rathod (done by nasser), who was given new responsibility of tackling terrorism in Bangalore. Incidently, Preethi is a daughter of Ajay Rathod, and this fact is not known for both Shivu and Preethi. ACP comes to know about love affair between his daughter and Shivu. He asks Shivu to join Don Saleem’s gang and work as a police informer. Shivu does that work successfully. But, one day Preethi sees Shivu fighting in a gang war. She hates Shivu. Shivu tries in vain to convince Preethi. Now he has only one way out through ACP. As per his assignment Shivu produces Saleem to ACP and asks him to tell the truth to Preethi. But ACP turns around and tells that Preethi is his daughter and he is not at all interested to give his daughter to a low class criminal. He tries to shoot Shivu. But Shivu escapes and destroys the whole Saleem gang before winning the heart of Preethi.

The story of the film is supposed to be a pakka masala entertainer. In fact, Puneeth Rajkumar has given a power packed performance. But the director D.Rajendra Babu is the real villain for this film. He makes the film to drag and drag and drag and collapse at several points. You have to be very patient to watch this movie. Heroine Hamsika is pleasant to watch, but irritating to hear. Sandalwood manages to import beautiful Heroines, but falters in finding right voices for them. I mean, there is a dearth of Dubbing Artistes in Kannada.

I have heard that Peter Haynes has directed stunts for Bindhaas. Peter Haynes is a great stunt master who had done great movies in Tamil, Telugu including that of Rajnikanth’s ‘Shivaji’. It’s surprising that Peter Haynes of his stature, has composed some bad fight compositions in this Kannada movie.

It’s painful to watch Bindhaas…

No face reading please

Are you a person who is able to capture one’s capacity by seeing the charm in his face? If yes, do you think you are fair in the way you opined about another person? Don’t think twice, but think ten times before face reading.

You could have heard one Tamil song “manmada raasa”from the film “Thiruda Thirudi.” This song created ripples among dance fans. The voice from the leading singers, particularly the female singer, mesmerized the youth by compelling them to shake their legs irrespective of whether they know dance or not.

You know who is the female singer of this song? It’s Malathi. Have you seen Malathi? She is very shy and her face, most of the time, wear dull look. You will wonder whether this is the same lady who sung energetic kutthu songs. Lot of film directors, who are known for creativity, belongs to the same case of Malathi.

Inner self is very much different from outer forms. The creative persons, including Artistes and writers, are a complete different face when you catch them in person. You cannot stay for longer period in their companionship. Yet, their work is the ones that make you engage with them. This is the reason why most of the writers do not mingle with public.

Another Modi

As usual I was watching TV news channels. No doubt in Cricket, Crime and Cinema making limelight in the media. The three C’manias has become integral part of our Media as well as public. That’s too big to write about here.

The fact that Media is not in its own control while handling these three Cs is very much explicit. Today’s hot topic in Media was the auction of Cricket players for Indian Premier League cricket. I am not writing about the subject of whether auction of players do mean anything awkward. Instead, I am saying about the way the media treating the issues, and the way they getting treated by the issues.

Yes, today Lalit Modi, the chairman of IPL cricket, was addressing the press about the auction of cricket players. It was a series of press conferences. Modi was about to start to speak, but was found irritated by the voices hearing from the gathering. He growled over the media men to keep quite. The tone of his voice was so aggressive that the journalists had to give up their inherent indiscipline attitude to keep silence. Whenever small noises were heard in between, Lalit Modi’s job was as simple as that of staring at media men, which results in total silence from that side. It was like teacher, student characters in a school.

What surprises me most is why media is so pale? I mean that why media is giving unnecessary priority to the minor issues and sacrificing its own self on en-route. The cash rich BCCI has gone to extent of neglecting media, because as Cricket is a great passion with Indians the media has to follow cricket inevitably. Today that was clearly evident. This is the same case with other Cs. Time has to tell, when the media is going to revamp its attitude.

Nice depiction of Ravana in Ilankeswaran

There was a show of Tamil drama “Ilangeswaran” on Feb.14th at Narada Gana Sabha in Mylapore, Chennai. “Ilangeswaran” is a great drama which produced a great actor called R.S.Manohar. Manohar became a well known figure playing the lead role of Ravana in this epic drama. Though he expired in December 2006, the drama still sustains the viewers’ interest. Now the lead role is done by Shanmugan.

I haven’t seen Manohar. In fact, this “Ilangeswaran” is the second Tamil drama that I have ever seen till now. I had heard of the popularity of Manohar in Tamilnadu. People use to say that Manohar’s well built body, his body language and his shrilling voice were tailor-made for the role of Ravana.

I have seen some systems, which were well established by a person, falling apart or losing the shine when that person goes out of that system. For example, we can see “Lankesh Patrike”, a magazine in Kannada. This weekly tabloid was started by Lankesh. Then the paper became famous because of Lankesh, or some even say, that Lankesh became well known because of “Lankesh Patrike”. After the death of Lankesh, the tabloid paper lost its originality and eventually split into two by his son and daughter.

In this backdrop, I hesitated to go to the show of Ilangeswaran sans Manohar. But, luckily, as I hadn’t seen Manohar’ acting in Ilangeswaran, I was able to do watch the show without any prejudices. The drama captured my mind, first by its theme story and then by its technical aspect.

The proficiency of setting the stage and lights was just amazing. The usage of shadow technique on the stage screen is very innovative. The settings for the scenes of Ravana travelling under the sea, Ravana kidnapping Sita to Lanka and Hanumantha flying over sea towards Lanka were not only technically very good, but also were well received by Audience. Particularly, the scene of Hanumantha crossing the sea is just amazing. There is a separate track for the comedy relief for this otherwise serious drama. The lady, who has done the character of Sita, doesn’t have the appeal required for that character. This is one of few negative aspects in this drama.

The important aspect of “Ilangeswaran” is its story. This is the story based on Ananda Ramayana, an epic script probably written on 17th Century AD during the rule of Mysore Kings. The version of Ananda Ramayana is very much different from the original Valmiki Ramayana. In this version, Ravana is projected in good light. Sita is born to Ravana and Mandodari. But, as some astrologer predicted that new born baby Sita would bring misfortune to Lanka, she was taken to Mithila and left there only. This fact was known only to Ravana and his brothers, Vibhishana and Kumbhakarna, and his sister Shuparnaka. Mandori was unaware of this.

Meanwhile, Ravana was keeping track of Sita all through her life with the help of Mayavi. When Sita happens to come to forest with Rama and Lakshmana, Ravana was feeling with pain. Shurparnaka goes to forest just to test the integrity of Rama. Sita’s kidnapping was also done for the same reason. But, the fate wants something else, which eventually makes Rama conquering Ravana.

The story of this drama is written in Tamil by Thuraiyur Murthy. Nice depiction of Ravana makes this story very much interesting. Except that of Shurpanaka and Sita, all other actors have given commendable performance. The emotions of Bharatha and Lakshmana are well rendered by the actors. Rama looks ordinary in terms of acting. The lead character Ravana does well in acting, but lacks physically in terms of height. The actor who donned the character of Mayavi is very energetic.

Unfortunately, here I am not able to find out the names of actors in this drama, as I am new to Tamil theater field. By the by, the first Tamil drama that I had seen, is S.Ve.Sekar’s “Yaamirukka bayam en”. AIADMK’s sitting MLA Sekar gave a non-stop hilarious comedy through this drama. I would write about this experience in later posts.

The thrill missing in the Sound of the Boot

Nowadays Malayalam cinemas are also entering into the clichéd styles. Variety of stories and innovations in stories are missing. The recent released movie “The Sound of the Boot” is one of the examples.

Though Shaji Kailash, the director of the movie, is successful in maintaining the suspense, he is not able to provide the thrill that usually comes with a detective movie. Yes “The sound of the boot” has a murder mystery and revenge story.

Being a mystery movie with too many twists, it’s difficult to tell the whole scenes. Briefly to say the story… is…. The three cops and a daughter of one cop get murdered under the mysterious circumstances. An old man, a young man and two ladies are involved in these murders, which these facts are maintained as suspense. These murders are, in fact, done as a revenge for a murder of one lady by these cops during the emergency period on three decades ago. Meanwhile, Sidharth Mahadevan (Donned by Suresh Gopi) comes to investigate when first murder occurred. Even though he tries hard to solve the mystery, he couldn’t prevent other two murders to happen.

Suresh Gopi in the lead has executed his task perfectly. Being one of the three superstars in Malayalam Cinema he looks secured (comfortable) in his acting. Murali, as a young man on a mission of revenge, looks superb. Other than these there are not many worthy things to tell about the ‘…Boot’. The maintenance of the suspense is not natural. Few unnecessary insertions are done for the sake of suspense. Probably due to this fact the thrilling is missing in the movie.

Another major negative aspect of this Boot is the camera work. The camera moving make you sit uncomfortably instead of watching the suspense anxiously. Poor Camera work. Nonetheless, you have to watch the ‘boot’ for it’s simple appearance, where Suresh Gopi has shown controlled acting.

Taare Zameen Par hum bole Chak De

Finally, I saw “Taare Zameen Par” after a long wait. I am off colour of words to explain the feelings that are lurking in me as a result of watching TZP. I can just say that the film is much needed for the development of Indian Cinema. It’s again Chak de India, thanks to Ramkumar Nikumbh aka Amir Khan. Yes, “Taare Zameen Par” is the best movie happened after “Chak de”, which was done by another badhshah Shahrukh Khan. Thanks for these two Khan ‘Dons’.

The story of the film is simple. It’s about an eight year old boy Ishanth Awasthi facing problem of dyslexia. The boy though rich in talent remains poor in studies, and hence gets tormented by almost everybody. The father of the boy is fed up with the complaints he received against his son by neighbours, school teachers etc. As a result, Father decides to send the boy to a boarding school. There, whatever the little hope the boy had dwindles down to a danger level. An arts teacher observes this and makes a timely intervention. He finds the problem and provides the solution making the boy a pride for everybody.

The film is a morale boosting for the children having the disability of slow learning. The film is a moral lesson for the parents who tortures and pressurises their children to score marks in exams. It is a lesson also to the teachers who are insensitive towards the needs of their students. The film is an example for movie creators who are immersed with the old formulas for their films. The film is an example for the movie buffs like us to select a good taste film from the lot.

“Taare Zameen Par” has many surprises. The lead actor Darsheel Safary is the biggest surprising element in the movie as he makes the character of eight year old boy look too natural. The selection of story is another surprise. Amol Gupte’s story was taken at a risk, considering that it was not sure to be commercially viable one. The script work is amazing. Every scene is done with utmost care. Everything that comes into the sight of camera is made to gel with the story of the movie. The credit should go to Amir Khan, the so called perfectionist. We cannot believe that TZP is his first movie as a director. Beware…the film is about children. Making children to act naturally is as tough as breaking the pea nuts with bare hands.

As I told in the beginning, Taare Zameen Par is the best movie after Shahrukh Khan’s Chakde. Comparison can be made between the two films, but choosing a best movie among them is very difficult. The two movies are best on their own category. In Chak de, women hockey players came from nowhere to achieve the pinnacle of sports. In TZK, the disabled and dejected boy outshines everyone, even his encouraging teacher, to earn a place of pride in everybody. While watching Chak De, viewers clapped their hands and screamed from their heart along with success of the girls in the movie. In Taare Zameen Par, viewers cried with emotions of Ishanth awasthi as if they are watching from inside of that character. Both are truly magic.

Aila… kya films hai yaar… Truly fascinating… hum khush hua.

Sadhu Miranda and Kalloori

As I am relocating to Bangalore on the last week of this month, few days are left for me in Chennai to see as many Tamil movies as possible. I am hurryingly seeing selected movies. Yesterday and day before yesterday I saw two Tamil movies – Kalloori and Sadhu Miranda – and one English movie National Treasure. Kalloori was in my mind from long time back. Surprisingly, I have not seen any Hindi movies after ‘Chak de’ and ‘Bhool bhulaiyya’. I am very nervous that I am not able to see even “Taare Zameen Par”, as the film is mesmerizing people day after day. Adding to this, tickets are not available for current booking, because, the film is running in very few theaters in Chennai. It’s very difficult to get tickets in posh theaters like Satyam Cinemas or Inox Multiplex. Unfortunately, both these theaters are near to my residence.

The other films in my mind are “Pidichirukku”, “Asoka” (Both are Tamil movies), “Boot” (Malayalam) and “Sunday” (Hindi) apart from Taare Zameen Par.

SADHU MIRANDA

I went to “Sadhu Miranda” only after seeing its review in media. The movie is a thriller with a good dose of comedy. Though the film is a worthy one to watch for, somewhere it lacks in quality. The Malayalee origin director Siddique is known for his penchant for comedies. His adaptation of comedy into this thrilling movie looks very natural. This is the main saving grace for the movie and its director.

The story begins with a bank robbery by a gang, which we later come to know that Ram Mohan (donned by Abbas), his brother Shiva, and a minister (done by Telugu actor Kota Srinivasarao) belong to it. While escaping from the police the gang kills a young lady. Then later on, Sundara Murthy, the brother of that lady, goes on the mission of avenging for the death of his sister. Murthy first gets hold of Shiva through drugs. Then he traps Minister by acting as Shiva. Ram Mohan’s girl friend is Priya. She is also the daughter of a bank manager who was killed during the robbery. Sundara Murthy uses Priya, Shiva, and Minister to make Ram Mohan to come back to India from America. Then Sundara Murthy tries to trap Ram Mohan, who by now senses the danger and gets escaped. The game of escapes continues till the truth won over false seekers.

Prasanna as Sundara Murthy has done well. His innocent expressions gel well with the going of the movie. Abbas, as usual, justifies his role. Kavya Madhavan as a lead female looks awesome. But the main highlight of the movie is comedy track. Bhaskar, Karuna and the comedy gang make us roaring with laughter. The comedy is simply superb. This Malayalam style of comedy makes a good change from Vadivelu and Vivek brand of comedies. Moreover, the comedy track runs along with the story. And the plus stops here as there is nothing exciting in the scenes other than comedy track. Siddique could have worked more on the screen play. Nevertheless, “Sadhu Miranda” can be watched once without second thought.

KALLOORI

Good product from Balaji Shaktivel. ‘Kalloori’ is the third movie as a director for Balaji. He had earlier given ‘Samurai’ and ‘Kadhal’. Though Vikram starrer ‘Samurai’ failed, the second movie ‘Kadhal’ became a stupendous success. In ‘Kalloori’, Balaji has livened up to the expectations that rose after the success of ‘Kadhal’.

Kalloori is a story of friendship. A group of friends who came from the same school joins Government Arts College for BA. Muthu, Ramesh, Kaya, Nagarani, Kamakshi, Saleema and other friends are from hard background. One is a son of stone worker; one is the leading care-taker of her family; one is the son of a drunkard police etc., etc. Shobhana, the girl from a convent school in Bangalore, comes and joins this college. After initial hiccups, she became a friend of Muthu and co. Shobhana and Muthu develop intimate feeling for each other even when they tried hard to avoid it. This group of friends was committed to maintain pure friendship without any contamination of love or other feelings. In this backdrop, Muthu and Shobhana were in dilemma of expressing their true feelings outside. But the fate shows its harshness when Shobhana and other two girls were charred to death after a mob of rioters put fire to the bus near Chittoor.

The story is simple. But Balaji shaktivel has given life to each and every character. The character of Ramesh, who is a great chatter, looks very real. Bharani has acted very natural as Ramesh. Akhil has done the character of Muthu. He looks tailor-made for that role. Not only Akhil, all the persons acted in this movie look tailor-made for their role. The credit definitely should go to the director.

There are good dialogues in this movie. Shobhana says in the movie, “…my father and forefathers are all experts in education. There is not much greatness in me studying well. But, you people are coming to college with so many difficulties. You are all great…” Really great!

There is another scene that captures well when Shobhana encourages Muthu asking him to concentrate on the National Athletic Meet at any cost. Chak de Kalloori.

Must Watch Pirivom Sandhippom

After “Thavamai thavamirundhu” and “Emttan magan”, here comes another good family drama through “Pirivom Sandhippom” which leaves you a good space for thinking. “Pirivom Sandhippom” is very much relevant in the changing social scenario. It gives insight to a psychology that deals with the issues of sacrificing personal wishes for the sake of dear ones.

Nowadays Koodu kutumbam (Joint Family system) is leading towards a situation where it would be almost non-existent in near future. But, in Pirivom Sandhippom, Director Karu pazhaniappan aptly showcases the Joint Family system that many of the present generation probably would feel in awe about it.

“Natesan (Played by another director Cheran) is a member of a big joint family. He gets married to Vishala (acted by Sneha), who in turn had almost fallen in love for the whole joint family. She enjoys every moment in that family. She gets attached to each and every persons of that big family. But, the fate turns elsewhere when Natesan gets transferred to a beautiful hill station Attakatti with a promotion as an executive engineer. Natesan, as a newly married husband, needed much need space to enjoy with his wife. He was already fed up living in a big family. He is very happy to be in Attikatti, whereas Vishala is depressed to leave big family for the sake of a nuclear family in a distant place. There in Attakatti, Vishala couldn’t come to terms of leading life in a nuclear family, as she had her likening for wonderful joint family of Natesan. Day by day, Vishala gets into agonizing turmoil within her where she couldn’t express her feelings to her husband. Local Doctor (played by Mallu actor Jayaram) timely intervenes to explain Natesan about the complexity of Vishala’s psychology. He gives warning to Natesan that if Vishala’s feelings were not met she might get to the stage of Madness. And Natesan realizes the reality.”

The first half the film is simply superb. It looks like it is happening in our family or in our neighbourhood family. But the second half lacks the pace required to sustain viewers’ interest. Maybe it is because that the director K. Pazhaniappan might have gone into depth of the feelings of the situations and forgot to speed up the narrative. This is one of the major weaknesses in the otherwise neat movie.

The surprising fact is Cheran. This brilliant director doesn’t have the acting skills to give a life to a character. It would be suicidal for both Cheran and as well as the viewers if this Autograph director continues to make an acting career. In sandalwood we have an example in Upendra. Upendra was known as a bright prospect in direction. After reaching the success in few films he gave up direction and started acting full-time. Though Upendra proved his acting talent in “Anatharu” and “Aishwarya”, still he could have and can serve Kannada film Industry better as a director.

Cheran is not a good actor. This is a known fact. He should continue with his strength field that is direction. The fact that in Pirivom Sandhippom, Cheran’s acting being one of the minus points made me to comment like this.

The music by Vidyasagar is good in parts. But in the situations where the character Vishala shows disturbing emotions, the background music frightens us as if Vishala is transforming as a ‘Chandramukhi’ (Rajani movie). Otherwise, the movie runs smoothly all through.

Ganja Karuppu makes a laugh riot with his innocent expressions with his language accent as well as with his body language. Malayalam actor Jayaram adds punch to the film. Cute actress Sneha looks like a rightly made for the complex character that she dons. Hats off to Sneha.

“Pirivom Sandhippom” is a must watch movie in the present social environment.

Krishnarjuna gives a lasting impact

“Krishnarjuna” is a film giving a refreshing change from monotonous Telugu masala movies in the recent past. Though the film has quite a few drawbacks, still it successfully gives the feeling of enjoyment lingering you for long time.

Most of the movies produced in Tollywood are high voltage, violent, mad heroism and sophisticated technical movies. Rich technology, good choreography, nice picturisation of scenes and punching dialogues are the only strong points of Tollywood movies. There is no innovativeness in the story, no innovativeness in the music and no innovativeness in the direction. Being a second biggest film industry in India, Tollywood has become stagnant wasting its highly valuable resources. Very sad indeed!!

Now coming back to “Krishnarjuna”, it’s time to recuperate. As a director P.Vasu has done a somewhat successful operation through this film. He injects fresh air by resorting into traditional way of direction. Let me tell the brief story of ‘Krishnarjuna’….

“A mentally unstable woman accidently gives birth to a baby and dies in the sanctum of a Lord Krishna temple. This was considered as ominous for the temple and thus it gets closed by the advice of a great astrologer. Everybody considers the baby as unlucky except one baba (done by great hero of yesteryear Mohanbabu). The baby gets into the fold of his grandmother Manorama. Then the baby grows into an innocent youth Arjun (Done by Vishnuvardhan, son of Mohanbabu).

Manorama and Arjun both work as helpers in the house of Nazir. Mamatha, the daughter of Nazir, was supposed to get engaged to a rich person. But the jathaka of Mamatha had a kuja dosham and is believed that the first person who gets married to her will die. This belief makes Nazir to arrange marriage of her daughter to Arjun, who was considered good for nothing. Meanwhile Arjun gets in touch with Lord Krishna through Nagarjuna. Arjun gains power which is enough to destroy all the obstacles in his life and transforming him into manly human being.”

The screen play of the movie is little too slow in the first half which makes strainful to watch. But director Vasu makes amends in second half to give a fresh kick start of speed. Nagarjuna as a Lord Krishna in human disguise infuses great energy to the movie, which otherwise would have been too hot to handle for Vishnuvardhan. As a hero with plenty of scope to give expressions, Vishnuvardhan excels in patches. M.M. Keeravani gives both sensible as well as insensible music. The comedy team of Brahmanand, Venumadhav and Sunil gives below average entertainment. The heroine Mamatha das looks very sexy and has done justice to her role.

But, as a whole the film imparts lasting effect on you after all the rubbish entertainers ruling the Tollywood.

Bheema I think I love you

Now I am thinking…. Why I waited so long (nearly a month) to see Vikram starrer Tamil Movie ‘Bheema’!! Incidentally Bheema is the only movie that I saw till date among Pongal releases this year. Except “Pirivom sandippom” and “Pidicchirukku” all other movies got a bad review from both media and public (in the sense… friends). This delayed me to watch Bheema.

Yes, this movie was a well hyped one. It took nearly one and half years to complete. The producer is a Big one Mr. A.M.Rathnam. The Director is a big one, Mr. Linguswami. The Hero is a big one, Mr. Vikram. The heroine is a big one Ms. Trisha. The Villain is also a big one Mr. Raghuvaran. And the Hero’s Hero is Mr. Prakashraj. And the Music director is Harris Jayaraj.

What else do we want for a movie? Most of our expectations are well served here. Linguswami is well known for his pace narrative screen play with plenty of actions. But here in Bheema the screen play becomes little slower, and due to this the action scenes seem to dominate the whole proceedings. But Director Linguswami has taken plenty of care for each and every scene. Every actors and technicians have ably supported director.

The brief story of ‘Bheema’ is … The Hero Vikram joins Prakashraj gang by impressing with his daredevil acts. As a flashback we get to see Vikram’s raise to power and strength. Since childhood Vikram had a role model in Prakashraj who was a fearless person with good intentions. Now as powerful and as fearless as earlier Prakashraj, the hero Vikram’s entry into the former’s gang makes the dreaded gangster Raghuvaran to eat humble pies. Meanwhile, Ashish vidyarthi and his police team are on a mission to wipe out criminals in the city through “Operation Bheema”. And that gives another angle to action scenarios. By this time, Vikram had fallen love to Trisha and has decided to lead a normal life. But circumstances demand other things to end with a tragedy.

This was a story at a glance. Prakashraj as a gangstar and a role model for the Hero has given wonderful performance. This is probably Prakashraj’s most matured acting till this day. He is simply superb. I am wondering, how come a villain can draw so many fans. The audiences in Chennai theaters give more applause (whistles) to Prakashraj than to the big heroes. This was evident when I saw ‘Pokiri’ in Devi Theatre. The Hero of that movie Vijay is placed as a successor to the Superstar Legacy of Rajanikanth. I could hear whistles for every action did by Prakashraj in that movie, but whereas the hero Vijay got less comparatively.

Coming back to ‘Bheema’, we have plenty to see other than Prakashraj. Vikram, the hero of the movie, steals the show with his magnificent body language and actions. He seems to be tailored-made for every kind of role, making him the most versatile actor at present in the Tamil Industry.

Harris Jayaraj, the music director, is a rare gene of a musician. He is among the top three musicians of Tamil Industry. The other two are A.R.Rehman and Yuvan shenkar raja. All the three music directors are very versatile in composing songs. All of them have the capability to blend melody with hot beats. Wonderful!

The main Villain Raghuvaran as usual looks cold blooded. He doesn’t have that much scope in this movie. The other person who terrorizes us other than Villain is Mr. Ashish Vidyarthi. Yes… Ashish Vidyarthi as a new police commissioner vowed to finish criminals in the city, looks very awesome. Yes this is the solid performance from yet another versatile actor. And the main hero of the movie is the action. Let’s give Hats off to Kunal kannan, the action director of the movie.

I watched the movie in Devi theatre in Mount Road of Chennai City. It’s an ordinary theatre to where we go when we are in financial crunch. There were foreigners sitting in the row behind to mine’s. It was little surprising seeing a foreigner watching a Tamil movie (the other time I saw this type of incident is in Rajanikanth starrer ‘Shivaji’.) I heard one person saying ‘…funny…’ to one song sequence. And with first half nearing end, I heard one female voice saying “I think I love this movie….”

I thought of interacting with those foreigners after the interval. The interval came. They went out and I followed. But finally they went straight out of the theatre before I could call them. Oh my goodness… I missed some rare reviews… I rued.

Vadivelu excels an Yaman in Indralokathil

“Haaahhaa… haaahahhaaa…..Akkazha… Akkazha… Akkazha….” - Yaman in Heaven…err… in Hell fiercely hells while thumping his thighs when he gets excited. The body language makes you even more excited than him. Yes, the comedy king of Tamil Cinema Vadivelu acting as a Mythological Yama in the Tamil Film “Indralokathil naa azhagappan” proved that he is a versatile actor.

There is no doubt on the comedy credentials of Vadivelu. But, in his first movie as a Hero “Imsai Arasan 23rd Pulikesi” I was very much disappointed on the dismal performance of Vadivelu. He couldn’t handle the dual roles perfectly. In that film, the Imsai Arasan character is a buffoon king. Vadivelu does that role almost well. But, in another character which is of a brave and responsible person and a brother of Imsai Arasan, Vadivelu faltered to give justice. The body language of Vadivelu makes that character also look like a buffoon. After seeing that movie, I had started doubting Vadivelu’s versatility as an actor in general.

Now, with “Indralokathil naa azhagappan”, I became sure of Vadivelu’s acting skills. This is the second movie of him as a hero. Here he does multiple roles. Indran, Yaman, an Ordinary person and an Old man. As a character of Indran, Vadivelu once again disappoints with ordinary performance. But once the Yaman character gets introduced Vadivelu plays it with aplomb. There will be no dull moments when Yaman character is in the screen.

I loved the performance of Vadivelu as a Yama. And as a 90 year old man, Vadivelu acts like anything. He looks more effective than the great actor Satyaraj who did old man character in “ombadu rupay notu”.

Apart from Vadivelu’s performance as Yama and Old man, there is nothing exciting in “Indralokathil naa azhagappan”. It looks like Director Thambe Ramaiah didn’t give importance to the screen play. That makes the movie an absurd one. If you want to go to that movie it should be for watching Vadivelu’s role as Yama, nothing else.

Mohan Lal fails to Rock N Roll

Films containing over action Heroism Malalas from Telugu and Strong over dosages from Tamil make me sick after watching them for a certain period of time. For a temporary relief, I usually like to go for a Malayalam movie. Watching a Malayalam movie makes me feel relaxed. Normally I never see details of the Malayalam films like actor, director and other technicians’ names before entering theater to see that movie. This means that Malayalam Movies are a standard guarantee for me. This time I saw “Rock N Roll” starring Mohan lal and directed by Renjith.

The mere names of Mohan Lal and Renjith themselves are a guarantee for a movie. With Vidyasagar’s music rocking, there’s no way other than going to Rock N Roll. Though the film has a typical Mallu Screen play, it falters and falls with Mohan Lal, who seems to be worn out in several scenes.

Mohan Lal plays a character called Chandra Mauli, an internationally busy Rockster playing drum for different International Music troupes. By a chance, he comes back to his old core friends in Chennai. There, his life gets a turn after falling love to a gorgeous singer Daya Shrinivasan (played by a beauty called Lakshmi Rai). Being a Tomboy in all his life, he is perplexed by the love that struck him unexpectedly. As usual in all movies, here also the love gets into twists only to end in a clichéd affair.

There is no doubt that Mohan Lal is a versatile actor. But here in this film, playing Chandramouli character, he fails to give a fair deal. He is in his best when he plays emotional parts with his core friends. But as a energetic Tomboy or playboy, he looks comical. He shows that is jading out day by day with an indication against his versatility.

Music Director of the film Vidyasagar shines with the disappointment from Mohanlal. Vidyasagar gives a scintillating music. Heroine Lakshmi Rai appeals little. Shwetha playing a small role of Choreographer in the film gives a rocking effect. Apart from these, there are clichéd scenes which could have otherwise avoided.

And as a whole, Director Renjith produces an ordinary Malayalam Movie, which is a rare thing in his directorial career, I think.

Mohan Lal fails to Rock N Roll

Films containing over action Heroism Malalas from Telugu and Strong over dosages from Tamil make me sick after watching them for a certain period of time. For a temporary relief, I usually like to go for a Malayalam movie. Watching a Malayalam movie makes me feel relaxed. Normally I never see details of the Malayalam films like actor, director and other technicians’ names before entering theater to see that movie. This means that Malayalam Movies are a standard guarantee for me. This time I saw “Rock N Roll” starring Mohan lal and directed by Renjith.

The mere names of Mohan Lal and Renjith themselves are a guarantee for a movie. With Vidyasagar’s music rocking, there’s no way other than going to Rock N Roll. Though the film has a typical Mallu Screen play, it falters and falls with Mohan Lal, who seems to be worn out in several scenes.

Mohan Lal plays a character called Chandra Mauli, an internationally busy Rockster playing drum for different International Music troupes. By a chance, he comes back to his old core friends in Chennai. There, his life gets a turn after falling love to a gorgeous singer Daya Shrinivasan (played by a beauty called Lakshmi Rai). Being a Tomboy in all his life, he is perplexed by the love that struck him unexpectedly. As usual in all movies, here also the love gets into twists only to end in a clichéd affair.

There is no doubt that Mohan Lal is a versatile actor. But here in this film, playing Chandramouli character, he fails to give a fair deal. He is in his best when he plays emotional parts with his core friends. But as a energetic Tomboy or playboy, he looks comical. He shows that is jading out day by day with an indication against his versatility.

Music Director of the film Vidyasagar shines with the disappointment from Mohanlal. Vidyasagar gives a scintillating music. Heroine Lakshmi Rai appeals little. Shwetha playing a small role of Choreographer in the film gives a rocking effect. Apart from these, there are clichéd scenes which could have otherwise avoided.

And as a whole, Director Renjith produces an ordinary Malayalam Movie, which is a rare thing in his directorial career, I think.

Smoking out through Resolution

Yet another new year has come. For some people the New Year arrived quickly, for some others it came crawling. Every each passing year makes you more matured, or more worn out, or more strengthened depending upon your status and nature. For time-being, for me this is non-issue. I just want to mention about my resolution taken this New Year. I didn't want to prolong the 'Shortcut of Death', the Smoking. So by quitting smoking I have taken giant step towards enjoying 'Full' life.

Smoking was giving me hard times for my financial and health conditions. The intake of 10 cigarettes every day was not only burning my intestine but also evaporating my already thin money in the pocket. Every cigarette would accompany with tea causing more financial harm. When we go with smoking group of friends, then that’s it. So on an average 70 Rupees per day for smoke and tea, that comes something around 2000 Rupees per month. For any person drawing below 15 K per month, this amount is a big threat to his finance savings.

Now I have decided to call it a day for smoking. Thanks to Gym, for making possible for me to shy away from what seemed to be inevitable evil. Yes, Gym helped me in this matter. Heavy and hard work-outs in the Gym made smoking too hard to do for me. So I got triple benefit, say, gaining health, distancing from Cigarette, and saving money.

Isn’t this a new beginning for a new year for me?

Lawrence Sheikhs in Mastana

It was a good entertaining mood. It was a splendid moment of climax of a dance competition on stage for a TV program. The judge for the day came to the stage to express thanks (That judge is a top film choreographer in South India, and he is also a hero in few films). He says…

“…I have seen days when I used to go by walk, then by bicycle, then by bike and now by car. But all through these days one common sight that used to haunt me are the beggars using children for begging. Those children are in no way related to the beggars who use them. The money you give to beggars would not reach to children. I hate these inhuman beggars…”

This choreographer was none other than the Lawrence. The program was Sun TV’s ‘Mastaana Mastaana’. Lawrence didn’t stop there… He introduced us one fine example of self respect. Sheikh Abdulla from Dindigul District of Tamilnadu was brought to the stage with a very emotional moment created by Lawrence. The Sheikh Abdulla’s both legs were non-functioning. Lawrence told the background of this disabled person’s life and struggle…. It’s really captivating….

Lawrence had first spotted Sheikh Abdulla during the shooting of a movie in Dindigul. He instantly got curiosity over this unassuming person. He collected information about that person…. Yes… Sheikh Abdulla was a born disabled person. His disability was just physical. Abdulla is mentally a strong character. Anyone in the place of Abdulla, would have easily been into begging in roadsides. But Sheikh Abdulla didn’t get shake a bit. He paid and earned self respect. He sold different items to make his living for his family. A wife and two children made for his family. The two children – one boy and one girl - are the core purpose of his long struggle. His wife, playing a great partner for Abdulla’s innings, is no less warrior. She, being a lady without any physical disability, gave life and inspiration for Abdulla. She says that Abdulla is her first child. What a moment!

Abdulla and his wife want their children to come up in life with dignity. And so also the children expressed their desire to come up. Lawrence brought all of them in the stage. For few seconds I was stumbled and my hands automatically clapped themselves. Though Lawrence used a dramatic way to bring emotion into the moment it was really encapsulating. Hat’s off to Lawrence. Hat’s off to Sheikh Abdulla, his wife, and his two children for showing a great way of self respecting to lakhs of disabled persons in this country.

Dressing up Shriya

People don’t want to keep out Shriya’s dress from their eyesight. I appreciate the intensity of dress sense from the TN Legislators. These legislators roared in Tamilnadu Assembly hall yesterday to hog the limelight with Actors Shriya and Namitha. Shriya Saran’s dress in ‘Shivaji’ film silver jubilee celebration program was found as very skimpy nature. Through ‘Maanaadu mayinadu’ program, Namitha became too sexy to be in control for these legislators. Is it Shriya and Namitha are too irresistible for Chennaiites?

I had attended the ‘Sivaji’ film’s silver jubilee function, where Shriya’s dress controversy emerged. I couldn’t sense any unnatural dress sense from any persons in that function. But few other things around Shriya raised curiosity. Shriya was sitting in the front row in the stage. Comedy king Vivek and Good old Dialogue writer Sujatha was sitting right and left side of Shriya. It was very funny and to see Vivek looking completely lost. He was very uncomfortable sitting with Shriya. But he regained his form at the later stages to come back to his normal posture. Sujatha was very extreme and looked pretty pity bending his whole body position against glamorous actress. All the while, Shriya enjoyed in the middle without any hiccups. She gave great poses frequently to the haunting photographers who were lost completely to her. This is not only the case involving Vivek, Shriya, and Sujatha. The other gentlemen sitting next to a lady were in the same position of that of Vivek and Sujatha.

Apart from the matter mentioned above, I didn’t find any specials that could potentially lead to a controversy. But, one section in the audience screamed funnily when Shriya changed her legs position to normal. I guess that incident might have attracted dress ethic addicts to raise the voice.

I was very surprised for the almost no-response from the audience when Shriya came to make a speech. Shriya is a non Tamilian. Besides, her speech in English looked very funny for the people gathered. The person sitting next to me screamed, “aatha po aatha, onnume puriyilla…” (Roughly, the meaning means that I am not able to understand anything) in typical Chennai accent.

Another thing that surprised me is the great response for Superstar Rajnikanth. It was a typical Rajani Show all the way. The Chief Minister Karunanidhi was lost in the woods where Superstar is an unassailable don. The crowd was cheering madly whenever it heard the names ‘Rajani’, ‘Superstar’ or ‘Shivaji’. Rajanikanth really surprises me!!

The Crisis around Deve Gowda

(Posted on November 2007)

Deve Gowda joined the list of most talked upon politicians, which includes Sonia Gandhi, Laloo Prasad Yadav and Narendra Modi. The present political turmoil in Karnataka catapulted Deve Gowda as a most sought after subject to talk. In the Media as well as in the Public, Deve Gowda has become a subject of hatred that is more severe than the hatred against Sonia, Laloo and Modi.

What the blunder Deve Gowda did? He just broke up a coalition government in Karnataka. That’s all if you look at it as a whole. But, dramatic ways the things developed made Deve Gowda a cheap and mindless politician in the history of Indian Politics. Remember, there are instances of other parties and personalities pulling a coalition government in this country, in the pretexts of broader reasons.

If we look back at the time of Deve Gowda becoming Prime minister and analyse the things happened at that time, we can get some ideas on how things falling apart now against former Prime minister.

When Deve Gowda became Prime Minister he was the least known among the persons of that category. Everyone of the country, except Karnataka, wondered about the man from nowhere occupying the country’s premier position. But in Karnataka it had a different turn.

The hard rivalry between Deve Gowda and late Ramakrishna Hegde was a well known fact in this state. Ramakrishna Hegde belonged to the breed of politicians like Late P.V. Narasimha Rao. Deve Gowda is more similar to Laloo Prasad Yadav, except that the former plays more petty politics and less hard politics than the latter one.

The rivalry between Gowda and Hegde took a bitter form when Hegde bypassed Gowda to give Chief Ministership to S.R. Bommai when he resigned from that position. Gowda in Desperation formed Samajawadi Party in 1989. Few years later he again joined hands with Hegde to form United Janatha Dal. Hegde announced Deve Gowda’s name as a Chief Minister Candidate in the pre election campaign in 1994. When the party got the majority Hegde tried again to bypass Gowda and give the coveted Chief Minister post to J.H. Patel. Gowda, not known for sophisticated handling, got infuriated and took the post rather forcefully. Then took an ugly turn when Hegde literally got a slap on his face by the slipper from one of the supporters of Gowda. That incident completely polarized the caste factors. Ironically, Ramakrishna Hegde, who was till then a corrupt politician, suddenly became a Hero for the people of his Caste.

When Deve Gowda became Prime Minister by accidently, Hegde couldn’t digest it because he had kept an eye on that. He publicly did outburst against Gowda. After becoming PM, Deve Gowda wielded his power to dismiss Hegde from Janata Dal. All these things lead to a complete hatred against Gowda. When I was travelling on a bus in Bangalore, I could hear one person saying loudly, “the useless Gowda is going crazy. But Hegde definitely would rise like a phoenix to finish off this devil.” The tone of that person was so harsh that one could feel the intensity of the feelings he had with those developments that had taken caste turn.

The point I intent to make here is that Gowda is now getting analyzed in the pre-set feelings. When Gowda was PM, people simply hated him because he was lethargic on the stage; he was not fluent in talking in English in particular; he was simple without any dynamic qualities and any great background.

Coming back to the latest developments one thing I like to say. Deve Gowda is a straight forward politician without any broad ambitions. He wants his family to come up the ladder. He could go to any extent to achieve this. Although, so many able senior personalities being in his party, still he was able to make his son Kumaraswami a Chief Minister. If we imagine any other shrewd politician in the place of Gowda with the same intentions, he could have achieve the things in such a way that the public would appreciate that the move is a sensible one. Deve Gowda doesn’t have the basic shrewdness in projecting his moves in Media or Public. His mannerism is limited to panchayath culture. That’s how he was rightly called “Humble Farmer”.

Want to become a Leader?

“Try to be a Slave first if you want to become a Leader” – Swami Vivekananda had taught us this golden truth. But now, our corporate mantra for leadership is, “Make others slave to become a leader”.

A leader is the one who,

1)inspires his team

2)maintains transparency

3)gives value to others feelings

Now, the perception and the definition of a leader have changed. A leader is the one who, discourages his team; maintains secrecy; and disregards others feelings.

If you are the person who cares for the others, then you are not the right person to become a leader, but a devalued team man. A successful leader will be ruthless when dealing with his potential leaders as well as rivals. He shows no mercy while overtaking them on the road to leadership. He shows emotions only to use them as a tool to play with emotions of others in his favor. He will alienate himself from others just to show off his independency.

Yes, the above said things are not exaggerated ones. Those who are working in the corporate companies know these things. To go up in a company’s ladder, one should have the above qualities. If you are a team man, it would be perceived as your incompetence. Teamwork is a definite no-no for the career growth of an individual. But it is essential for the growth of the company. So you have to master the technique of using Teamwork without involving in the team. This is called Team Leadership and Managerial skills.

For a growth inside a company: Even if you are confident don’t show any pity with a co-worker. If you already have a team under you, but still not confident in the work, you better start to give commands and get alienated from the communications with the team. With this you can hide your weakness and display a fake strength.

Hockey victory that never done before

What a victory! India triumphed over South Korea by 7-2 in the final of the 7th Asia Cup Hockey Tournament. The huge margin of victory left every hockey loving Indian saying Chak De. For me more than the margin of the victory, the game displayed by the Indian Hockey team stuck the most. I never saw before Indian team showing so much control over the ball along with speed and tactics. It’s an absolute hockey.

The character of renewed Indian Hockey was evident in the whole tournament. Chinese were the lucky ones to escape the wrath of raising powers, as it was the first match. Semifinal against Japan was also a gem of a match. India annihilated Japan by 4-1 goals. The real flair of Indian hockey was all there to see in that match. The same tempo continued in final leaving South Korea listless.

What’s special?

Yes. There’s lot of specials emerged in the Indian Hockey team.

1. Defensive tactics paved way for Aggressive one.

2. Team work showing up, especially among forwards.

3. Controlling the ball with lightning speed is truly amazing.

4. The flair of Indian Hockey reviving the golden era before 80’s.



Just two years back the team had nothing to showcase. Then, what’s the reason behind the sudden transformation of Indian hockey from mediocrity to performance? Without any doubt, it’s the coach Joaquim Carvalho. He built the team with new motto. His motto is aggressive on the field. Today’s Indian Team is entirely his product. Now his team can beat any team in this world. This is not an exaggeration. If one had seen the game of Indian team in this Asia cup he would never get the doubt that this team is the future World Hockey Champion.

I appreciate “Headlines Today” news channel for its exclusive coverage after the Indian triumph in the final. It is the only channel among English news channels which gave importance to our national sport. Thanks “Headlines Today” for looking out of Cricket Mania.

Shahrukh khan was very humble saying that a film would be inspired by a sport, but a sport in itself cannot be just inspired by a film. He was replying to a question that whether his ‘Chak de’ film has inspired the Indian Hockey team. Bollywood star was right when he said that a sport is mightier than a mere film. No doubt, Chak de has created a magic all over India, bringing into fore the hockey condition in the country. But still a team’s performance for a consistent period cannot be inspired by a film.

Former Hockey star Dhanraj Pillay gave complete credit to the coach Carvalho. He expressed anguish over the government decision to take away Hockey from its priority list. Yes, Mad politicians doesn’t have sporting qualities. Let’s leave them out and say CHAK DE INDIA.

De Chak De in Satyam Cinemas - a shame

Satyam Cinemas in Chennai had been considered as one of the best theatres in India. But what’s the worth it has now to prove it? One of the oldest theatres in Chennai, the Satyam offered high class services attracting urban population and in the process gained good brand name. But now its business is running depending mainly on its brand name alone. But how long can it fool around people? Though the cinema crazy chennaiites do not bother too much about this, it’s not fair for Satyam or any other theatres to ride on the consumers who pay huge money.

I feel very bad to talk about the experience I got in Satyam on last Sunday when I went there to watch the Hindi movie ‘Chak de’. As usual, on Sunday Satyam and other important theatres would be houseful. I couldn’t get the ticket for ‘Chak de’ or any other movie. I asked the person sitting in the ticket counter to give ticket for the night show on Monday. He replied – “10 o clock show is already completely booked, only 11.45 show tickets are available.” I assumed 11.45 as one of the night show timings. Only after purchasing the ticket I came to know that it is a morning 11.45 show ticket. I immediately asked him to cancel the ticket. He told me that cancelling is impossible, but can change the timings of the show. I told him to do so. He asked me to come some other time for this.

After sometime I went to ticket counter and asked the person to change the timings of my ticket for any other day’s night show. He replied different answer, “….We don’t do cancellation or changes once the ticket is purchased”. Shocked by this unexpected answer, I retorted, “You accept the cancellations of tickets booked on online, but would not accept the request of the person who paid money directly in the counter.” That person didn’t care my words. “Online booking is a separate thing. Don’t mush up things like this”, he said recklessly.

After I shared this experience with my friends I came to know that this type of experiences with Satyam Cinemas has become a normal thing. One of my friends, Premkumar, who is also a journalist like me, narrated his experience which unhides the virtual process of Satyam Cinemas. Just 2 minutes before going to theatre, Premkumar checked the ticket availability in Satyam through online. 75 seats were available. When he asked in the ticket counter he got the answer ‘no’. Only two minutes or five minutes ago 75 tickets were available, what happened suddenly? He was shell shocked. Later on he came to know that Satyam Cinemas gets more profit from the Internet bookings as the profit margin is more from them.

The Hype and Swipe of Indian Cricket

One single game turned many fortunes. The match between India and Bangladesh in the world cup cricket 2007 gave a spectacular result leading to a possible upswing of cricket fortunes in Bangladesh and to a positive analysis of the development of cricket in India.

Bangla by beating India got into the super eight stage, where it got a chance to play with five bigger teams in the biggest tournament. Regardless of the win/lose results for Bangladesh in world cup, the team is destined to get pressure of expectations from the supporters back home. Bangla cricket can grow along with the pressure and expectations.

Indian cricket team, exiting prematurely from the world cup, got into a rare troubleshooting mode. The defeat against Bangladesh may change India’s view towards the game. Indian Cricket Board has really become serious and has been making some efforts to rejuvenate the team.

As an avid cricket fan, I am embarrassed to see Indian team getting thrashed by whole countrymen besides the defeats against Bangladesh and Srilanka cricket teams in the World Cup. I don’t understand the logic of the hues and cries raised against the team. I don’t see any deeper crisis regarding the strength of the Indian Cricket team. The team played one bad match against not so minnows Bangladesh, resulting in its removal from the World Cup.

Before the match against Bangladesh, the Indian team was hyped as the strongest contender to win the World Cup. It was tagged as one of the best balanced team in the tournament. The same people who elevated Indian Cricket Team with a hype are now in full reverse mode. No where in the world one can see a person simultaneously getting super hero and super villain status, but in India.

Before the tournament, Indian team had best players. But after it’s exit from the tournament, it is now the worst team with outdated and untalented players. Can anybody show better batsmen than Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Yuvaraj Singh, Sourav Ganguly right now?

Considered as a best batsman in the world, Sachin tendulkar had never been a match winner even in his hey days. But still he was the most dreadful for the opposition bowlers. Likewise Rahul, Sehwag, Dhoni, Ganguly and etc… The team comprising this same bunch or similar bunch of talented, inconsistent players made great wins and won laurels as the super heroes.

Now the time is not to change the team, but to improvise it. Plans should be there to make the players play more consistently. The team selection should be on the basis of performance, instead of Junior, Senior tag.

Balance your Work and Life

Every morning the great scramble begins for another day. Irritating travel and commuting, job pressures, inevitable communications you have to make regardless of your mood etc would make you grinded out.

The career alone will not make an entire life. If a person achieves his career goal, still, life and aspirations exists. There is a life beyond our career. In that life there are so many characters directly or indirectly related to us.

Take an example of wheel. When the wheel is rolling, the upper sides of the wheel have to come down, and so the lower sides of the wheel have to go up. If this rotation process is not happening means that wheel has got stuck and is not rolling.

Life is also like a wheel encircled by career, family and so many other things. If you focus only on your career means that the other parts of the life are stagnated and hence the life wheel is stopped rolling.

You go for a job to earn for a living to make your personal life more comfortable. If you think of the office whole day, surely it’s going to be having an adverse affect on your personal life. No matter how much you earn, if you cannot make your personal life a comfortable one, then what’s the use of earning?

You have to make right balance between your career and personal life. One can have effect on other. So tread your path carefully. Your family relationship may get affected by the tension you acquire from the office. This shaken family relationship may cause you disturbed and this would be have its own affect on your office work. So, on both fronts you would be in receiving end.

You find people who are completely submerged in the work place. They consider the career too serious and forget the other facets of life. They tend to take all responsibilities of the job by themselves. They go on moving under it until their back buckles under pressure. You can also see some people who seem to be workaholic. They stay in the office for long hours piling up huge job works in front of them. They couldn’t finish the work in right time and hence stay for late hours to finish the pending works.

Anyways, in both these cases, the job becomes monotonous and your approach towards the job also becomes monotonous. You completely lose the excited ness the job would have provided you.

Brain gets rusted by the monotonousness. Your energy gets drained away with no change in day to day life. Sparing some time with family members or your beloved ones, gives you extra energy and freshness. Moreover your beloved ones feel happy with your larger presence. And sure, their happiness will lead you to satisfaction in the end of the day. No tension in the end of the day means fresh adrenaline running in your body the next day. With that adrenaline, your approach towards job will be different. You find some other interesting ways, instead of that same monotonous way, to tackle your job works in time and you find more time to spend for your personal life. You no more find the job monotonous, but actually get satisfaction from it besides getting pleasure of fun with your family members or soul mates or your friends or your hobbies. This keeps you in good stead for day to day routine.

Indian Software giant INFOSYS’s Chairman Mr. Narayanamurthy in one of his speech, had talked about this problem. Here is some part of his speech.

“...Whatever the reason for putting in overtime, working long hours over the long term is harmful to the person and to the organization....My Colleagues who are in the office long hours frequently make mistakes caused by fatigue. Correcting these mistakes requires their time as well as the time and energy of others...

“Another problem is that people who are in the office for long hours are not pleasant company. They often complain about other people (who aren't working as hard); they are irritable, or cranky, or even angry. Other people avoid them. Such behavior poses problems, where work goes much better when people work together instead of avoiding one another.

“...here is a guideline I find helpful:

1) Wake up, eat a good breakfast, and go to work.
2) Work hard and smart for eight or nine hours.
3) Go home.
4) Read the comics, watch a funny movie, dig in the dirt, play with
your kids, etc.
5) Eat well and sleep well.

“This is called recreating. Doing steps 1, 3, 4, and 5 enable step 2. Working regular hours and recreating daily are simple concepts...Allowing for little rest is not ultimately practical. So, take a nap. Things will happen while you're asleep, but you will have the energy to catch up when you wake.

Hence "LOVE YOUR JOB BUT NEVER FALL IN LOVE WITH YOUR COMPANY"
(Because you never know when it stops loving you)"

- Narayana Murthy

Mr. Narayana murthy himself is top professional who had to work hard to achieve what he is now. But he never sacrificed his personal life happiness for the sake of this career goal.

So guys, don't overpower your inhibitions, and don't get overpowered by your aspirations....

Helping hand for Sachin

SACHIN TENDULKAR – The great master blaster. Yes, this is the phrase that was ringing full swing in the hearts of Indian cricket fans. But now?

As a 16 year old little boy, SACHIN made a not so little impression in his debutant series against Pakistan in Pakistan. How can one forget his consecutive 3 sixes against Abdul Qadir. That little boy had won the hearts of many Pakistan including bowling greats Imran Khan and Wasim Akram.

That 16 year old Sachin has now grown up to the age of 32. He has come through the ages with the great humbleness. He has been with great victories as well as failures enthralling the hearts of millions of Indians, getting accolades from cricket experts all over the world. The records he broken, the records he created can not be submerged in the near future. And so, the impression he recorded and the reverence he acquired from the cricket crazy fans can not be washed away in near future.

But what’s happening right now? The same Sachin Tendulkar who got laurels from the fans is getting bashed from the same fans. People are unable to digest the reality that Sachin is getting aged. They still see him as a 16 year old boy with lot of energies and risk taking abilities. But how come it possible; after all Sachin is a human being. Of late he has been in bad form. His eye sight has deserted him, so coordination with his eyes and ball has been hampered. His heart is willing to play good, but not his body. This is the harsh reality. Let’s accept this and make an attempt to fill his heart with warmth and affection. Let's hope this can make a miracle and transform him back to his form. If not let's give a bit applause for all he has done for the Indian Cricket all these days.