Meet "The BOSS"

Happened to watch Shivaji, the most hyped film of recent times. Its morning show in Chennai's udhayam theatre. Me and my friend were there at 10 o clock in the morning after attending another friend's marriage. We got the tickets and saw that the show is at 11.15. So was waiting outside the theatre. People slowly started coming.
Its a Thursday Noon show and its full. Such is the craze for Rajinikanth in TamilNadu.That guy simply rocks in whatever he does. The movie started with "Sultan" the animation movie trailer. The mere presence of the animated Rajinikanth made crowd gaga.
The movie started with the usual Super Star Rajini writing with the new background score by Rahman. It simply rocked. The introduction scene is mind blowing . Its completely different Rajini. 30 yrs younger. The tossing of Chewing gum and catching it showed his style still rocks.
The movie went on with some good comedy sequence from Vivek and Rajini. The story revolves around the NRI trying to invest in India.Trying to start colleges to educate poor. The villain trying to stop this because he already has lots of educational insitutions and making hell a lot of money.
He fights with Rajini and makes Rajini a poper in 1st half of the movie. In 2nd half of the movie Rajini raises like Phoenix and blast the villain.My review
1) Saw director shankar in "Ballelaka" song and in the title. I couldn't see him anywhere in the movie
2) Its full and full Rajini movie and its great to see his heroics.
3) Hats off to the Makeup person for making Rajini 30 yrs younger
4) Hats off to Thotta tharini to make such a beautiful sets in all the songs.Its world class
5) Hats off to my thala "Rahman" to come up with peppy numbers to suit Rajini fans
6) Camera work is coooooooool
7) Rajini tells "Coooooooooooooool" how many times in the movie? A good quiz question
8) "Pera kettale chumma athiruthulla" ,"saavara naal therincha vaazhra naal narakamaayidum" and lots of technical jorgans show that my place guy "Sujatha" is the dialogue writer :)
9) Vivek is there throuhout the movie. His timing is too good.He might come another round in tamil films from now on
10) There is no social message. No where Shankar's punch is there.
11) The Mottai Boss Rajini in the climax simply rocks.

Though a normal movie, the effort taken by the cameraman,make up person, Art director,music director and of course Rajini has made the movie a huge hit.
I liked the way the movie is hyped all over the country. It proves tamil movies are not far behind Bollywood movies. They are in fact far ahead of Hindi movies.
People from North to South are talking about Rajinikanth and Shivaji.
I like the way Rajinikanth trust God in whatever he does. He will be "The Boss" for another 20-30 years .

Cauvery

"kannadam thaai veedu endrirundaalum, kanni un maru veedu thennagam aagum, gangaiyil melaana kaaviri theertham, mangala neeraada mun vinai theerkkum, neer vannam engum mevida nanjai punjaigal paaradi, oor vannam enna koorume devalogame thaanadi, verengu sendra podhilum indha inbangal yedhadi"
(River Cauvery , though you are born in Karnataka your in-law house is TamilNadu,You are as pure as River ganga and you remove all sins of whoever who takes bath in you .Wherever you flow there is greenery around,wherever you flow the place is divine,wherever we go we don't get such a happy feeling)

Written by Poet Vali the above lines portray the exact feeling of every guy who is born in the beds of River Cauvery. I am fortunate enough to be one who was born in Tanjore and brought up in Srirangam. Both the places blessed with Cauvery river.
I used to play in River Cauvery right from my childhood. My Grandparents were living in a place called "Neduntheru" which is on the beds of the river. Swimming in the river was a wonderful experience during my childhood days. Me and my cousins used to play cricket in the dry river during summer vacation. Man, you won't get better ground anywhere in the world :)
After coming to Srirangam, I continued playing cricket in the dry river. Not only cricket, we do lots of activities in the river and on the banks of it .Playing throw ball while swimming. Getting bitten by small fishes. Asking people to stand in river so that fish eats the wound and it will cure your wound.Throwing stone flat in the river so that it goes like a frog (Reminds me of Rahman's worldspace ad ...)
Having puliyotharai(tamarind rice),thayir sadham(curd rice),thenkai saadham(coconut rice),vathal(fries) sitting in the beds of the river during Aadi-18(18 th day of Tamil month aadi).
Cauvery is always associated with my family. My Grandfather breathed his last in the banks of the same river where he used to take bath for nearly 40 odd years.
Cauvery is still a passion for people down south. Be it a guy from Tanjore,Trichy or nearby areas we worship the river.
After all she is a daughter-in-law for us(Tamils)

Krishna ...You come fast ...

"Krishna nee begane baro....Krishna nee begane baro..." is a beautiful song written by saint vyasaraya.Here the Saint calls out to Krishna and implores him to come to him . He launches into a devotional trance where he sees Krishna at a distance. Krishna's immaculate dressing and exquisite beauty makes the Saint detail them in this evergreen song. The amalgamation of genuine Bhakti with touchingly simple composition, sets one thinking whether is Krishna who is decorated with the ornaments, or the other way around.
This beautiful song has been given a new flavour by Hariharan and Leslie(Colonial Cousins). The theme being a small family with one son and one daughter living happily.The son joins some bad elements in his school and gets involved in religious vandalism. Being in jail for sometime, the son comes back home. The video is touching and fills your heart.The concern and affection a dad has to his son is well portrayed.
Adding to this the voice of Hariharan is mind blowing.Hats off to Colonial Cousins.The lyrics of the song is worth reading. So here it goes

Krishna Ni Bhe Gha-Ni, Baroo !
Krishna Ni Bhe Gha-Ni, Baroo !

Darkness coming around,
And every body fight with the brother
Every body wants control,
Don't hesitate to kill one-another

So come back as Jesus
Come back and save the world
Bless all the future of every boy and girl
Come back as Rama,
Forgive us for what we've done
Come back as Allah,
Come back as anyone

Religion is the reason,
The world is breaking up into pieces
Colour of the people,
Keeps us locked in hate please release us

So Come down and help us,
Save all the little ones
They need a teacher,
And you are the only one
We can't rely on,
To build a better world
A world that's for children,
A world that's for everyone

Time is healer, and time moves on
Time don't wait for any one
So, Tell me you'll be back
But that will take some time
I waiting ......

I'm waiting, yeah yeah......

Come back as Jesus
Come back and save the world
We need a teacher,
and You are the only one
Come back as Rama
Forgive us for what we've done
Come back as Allah
Come back for every one.......

Govinda Guruhari Gopala hu.....

Passion for the Game

"Cricket" is another religion in India. This is under statement.India's diversity is reflected in the game. The passion for the game is widespread. Right from my childhood the game has captured my attention and its still numero uno sport for me. If I could recollect correctly I started playing the game from my 2nd standard. Making bat out of coconut tree branches,playing with rubber ball. Not onlly rubber ball,we used to play with rubber cork(hard variety of rubber ball),Cork Ball,tennis ball and very rarely cricket ball.
Tennis ball cricket is a passion for us. Its lifeline for us during childhood days. Immitating players of that generation is a normal thing that I do in cricket field. I am kind of guy who loves spin bowling and playing with straight bat(textbook style). I recollect the day that I got my brother clean bowled with a full toss. Loosing slippers in the ground,coming back home and getting scolding from mom.Can't forget those days.
Tanjore is the place I stayed during my childhood days. The place I stayed had lots of empty grounds where we use to play all day. Fighting with the opposition team for giving out to a not out. Hitting the ball out of the ground and searching all through the evening. Gone are those beautiful days.
Shifting to Srirangam from Tanjore I couldn't get privilege of huge grounds. But still I use to play cricket in the streets. Hitting the ball in neighbours house and fighting with them to get the ball. Fighting with guys over the issue of taking the ball out of drain.
There is always fight between me and my brother in silly issues like out of no ball. You have bowled fast . I didn't notice when you bowled. My brother had always been very nice to me , giving second chances everytime.Playing cricket in school is a different experience. Getting caught by teacher for playing during lunch time. kneeling down in the hot sun althrough the evening for playing cricket in a rival school ground.Recollecting so many such things today makes me laugh.
I have always been a great fan of the game. Right from the Sunil Gavaskar,Krish Srikanth days to Sachin Tendulkar,Rahul Dravid days I have been following the game religiously.Though the kind of passion that I had for the game has died down a lot.

PSA

Huh.. What a climate..Cloudy,with light drizzle. Most romantic weather you can get in India. Thats Bangalore for you. No wonder all the IT companies are here and all the IT companies have both the genders working as a team.
As usual the day ended for me with dinner at one of not so famous food courts in the campus. Me and my friend had Square paratha with Aalu bhujii . Surprisingly, the dinner was great :)
After finishing the dinner we headed back to the bus stand. Suddenly saw a guy holding a girls hands. Got my first attack. I was jokingly telling my friend, man whats happening? Is this PSA(PublicShowofAffection). Then saw two more couples holding hands inside the campus.
I got my second and third attack :)
Consoling myself I was telling my friend Why a guy/girl holds another one's hand? Are they scared one will leave the another??
The country is becoming more and more western these days ..where is our culture? where is our tradition? where is our conservatism??
Recently read the news that they are not going to allow girl and guy touch each other in schools in Mumbai. Will this rule be extended to companies? If yes, I will be the first to vote for this .
Afterall this kind of PSA gives a heartbreak to guys like me who are single and available :(

Rahmania

Rahmania ..I have this disease right from the 90's When a guy called Allah Rakha Rahman started scoring music in films. Whenever I hear his music I just love it. I simply enjoy the composition that this young man does. The first time I heard the music of "Roja", I became a big fan of him.
He started the trend of introducing new singers. He started the trend of different kind of music. I always love his modesty. He is one among the best.
I love his melodies a lot. His 90's composition stand out in terms of melody. Since in late 90's there were many musicians scoring Rahman like numbers. People started recognising Rahman in everyone. Original is always original and he is the best.
He is the only music director from south who shined in all parts of the country. The nation dances to his "Taal".
Of late , We could hardly get Melodies from the great man. I hope we could see the old Rahman back. He is young and going places.
My Top5 of A.R.Rahman(Both in Tamil and Telugu)
1) Kadhal Rojave (SPB, Rahman at their best)
2)Vellai pookal (Rahman's best)
3)Yeh jo desh hai mera (Lyrics and Rahman's voice)
4) Azhage sugama (I love shrinvas voice)
5) Ennavalae adi (Unni rocks with Rahman)
More on Rahmania in my blogs to come ...

Sandwitched

Life is hell when u r in the middle/neutral and people around you and you cannot move your feet.
Last Friday it happened to me when I boarded the hosur bus.I stepped in the bus ,rather pushed inside the bus. With bag in my hand , and no breathing space left .I asked one guy sitting near the window to hold my bag. With people invading the bus as each stop goes. I was sandwitched between many guys.You will meet all kinds of people. People who are silent,people who say "isssh" when you touch them/step on their feet,people who complain,people who are contempt. You feel like hell during these times.You cannot move in and you cannot move out.
Similarly When it comes to life its really hard to be a middle-man/neutral person. Expressing your opinion,telling the truth,hiding secrets,convincing people. who is good? who is bad. Where should I stand? whom to support? whom to report ?will I be dragged inside ?You can neither move out nor move in. Such situation comes everytime in life.
I can co-relate things in real life and a bus journey. Though the duration is different , destination is different. Concept/application is same .

Mixed Feeling

I always had a dream of documenting whatever I see daily. I know blog is an option. But never tried my hand in blogging. Lets see how it goes....
Wait for more to come :)