Paa - Splendid

Saw Paa. Amazing movie.
Amitabh's infuses life into the movie without ever being Amitabh. If you had not heard that Big B is acting in the movie, you will never ever make out that the 13 yr old boy, Auro who impresses you onscreen is a 60+ old man. I think, credit should be shared with the Pa director, Balki and the technical crew to have executed this master piece which on paper would have simply read 'Abhishek plays father to a 13yr old Amitabh'. Divya Balan, acts like a dream and looks like a million bucks in sabyasachi sarees. Abhishek held his own even when pitted against author-backed mom & son roles. Ilaiyaraja's magic returns with haunting melodies. Media bashing was the only off-key note in this outing.

Tamil Padam Rocks

Its the biggest spoof film in tamil movies..Tamil Padam was already making waves in print ads. The trailer just sets the expectations roaring..and Oh..Maha Zeeya song rocks.
Eagerly awaiting the movie's release.

Harris Jayaraj - Haunting Melodies

Harris Jayaraj = Consistent Performer

The latest song that has possessed me is Vaaraaiyo Vaaraaiyo kaadhal kolla excellently rendered by Unnikrishnan & Chinmayee from Aadhavan.

Just reflecting back, it struck me that Harris has an almost enviable 100% track record in tamil films. Starting from Minnale - to the latest Aadhavan - his albums come under the 'most of the songs are really good'. Top of my mind blockbuster albums - Minnale, kaakha kaakha, chellame, anniyan, ghajini, vettaiyaadu vilayaadu, pachaikili muthucharam, unnale unnale, vaaranam aayiram, ayan. Even in a dud like bheema , mudhal mazhai was a block buster..may be satyam was one of his rare flops (even in that En Anbe was hummable)..May be the negatives will include a certain repetitive thread that runs along his songs.

I'm no expert in music..so from a layman perspective - I think his forte is simple - rhythmic - most importantly 'any body-can-sing-along' tunes - no complicated stuff.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Its been ages since I went to theater and watched a movie. But Harry Potter is not something that I could give a miss..So, went ahead and indulged in the Harry Potter mania (a night show - just the second time in my life!)

Zoom.. Action starts from Frame one itself. Some splendid visuals - greet us as London is terrorized by the Death Eaters. Let me not go into the story. But list out the superb scenes
1. Opening London attack
2. Prof. Horace Slughorn's intro as an armchair [ Dumbledore observes ' U make a very good Arm Chair']
3. Harry succeeding in making a great potion in the first class itself, when even Hermonie couldn't. The look on Hermonie's face is priceless.
4. Chase between Harry and Bellatrix and the subsequent destruction of Burrow.
5. Ron under Love potion effect
6. The retrieval of the Locket and the last fight against the Inferni, the flames are a great piece of Graphics work.
I love the small nuances like Harry and Ron fighting it out for the Potions book, Harry trying to look occupied when Lavender Brown proclaims her love for Ron on their train compartment door, the girls make a move to inhale the love potion and are disappointed when the lid is closed, Harry twitching his head when he touches the Ring Horcrux, the 'knowing look' on Harry, when Hermione tries her best to remind Ron about his hospital talk [Daniel Radcliffe looks really smart in that scene;-)]

Also, there were some amazing dialogues -
At the weasley twins' store
Ron: how much
Fred: 5 gallons
Ron: I'm your brother
Fred: 10 gallons
--
After the Slughorn's Party
Ron: How was the party?
Hermione: "Boring, though..pauses...Harry enjoyed the dessert" [ implying Ginny joined the party late during dessert time], much to the embarrassment of Harry.
---
After some action in the room of requirements
Innocent Ron: Did u and Ginny do it?
Rattled Harry: Whattt?
Again Innocent Brother Ron: Did u hide the book?
Relieved Harry: Oh .Yess
--
Prof.Slughorn: Students are not supposed to roam around after school hours
Harry under the influence of Good Luck Potion: Why don't you come along with me..
--
Prof.Filius Flitwick, while doing security check : Tell me your name, Potter
Exasperated Harry: You know me for the past six years
Prof: Rules are rules

Emma Watson simply radiates on the screen, from her intro applause in the theater, one can gauge her popularity. Rupert Grint spreads goofish charm as Ron. And it is hard to differentiate Harry Potter and Daniel Radcliffe.
Now coming to minuses - obviously it is with comparison to the book
1. I didn't take a liking to Ginny's casting, also the book explores a far more romantic angle.
2. Ron-Lavender Brown- Hermione - scenes are shallow, Ron, Hermione, per say don't have action scenes, they just don't use their wands
3. Many scenes are alerted - I would have preferred the Harry serving detention - misses the crucial match - Ron & Ginny win it big - Harry snogging Ginny - Ron giving a nod to their relationship.

But Harry Potter series is beyond the minuses..You have to simply relish it.

Tamil Cowboy Movie?

Sometime back, I have seen few scenes from a Dabba JaiShankar movie - based on cowboy theme. Hope Simbudevan, (who gave historicals a new lease of life with Imsai Arasan) doesn't dole out one such movie..Irumbu kottai Murattu Singam is the new cowboy movie on the floors. Raghava Lawrence is the hero, sandhya, padmapriya, lakshmi roy are the heroines.

Veera Thalapathy

Amazing....
Veera Thalapathy J.K.Ritheesh, the super star in the movie 'Nayagan' gets to fight for LS seat in Ramanathapuram. No more movies from him?..sad..we will miss the fun..
http://jkritheesh.com/portfolio.htm

Gandhi - The film

For the ...teenth time, Gandhi film is being shown on the TV along with a program where comedian karunas talks abt his fav. comedians. Vaazha Gandhi!
A trivia.. Approx. 300,000 extras were used in the opening sequence of the film - Gandhi's funeral sequence. - A world record at that.

Saroja travels

Venkat Prabhu (or is it the production camp?) has hit upon an innovative & powerful medium of advertizing his current hit movie- Saroja...Bingo ..the movie gets it due on the MTC bus tickets (local bus transport). Cool idea!!

Sobriquet TN

Anything can go scarce in TamilNadu, but not giving sobriquets. Esp. in Tamil Film industry. The latest that got my attention today was the one given to Ilaiyaraja - Isaignani 'Swamigal' !!!!

King Khan might not like it

He had, just moments ago, in response to another question, said he had only seen three Hindi films in his life. [Wife Bhavna, whom he met when both were students at New York's Tisch School of Arts, and proposed to through a fortune cookie, is the expert, he said].

"What's that guy's name, we were talking about him at lunch, Shah Rukh Khan, yeah, I think all three movies had him in them. There was this thing, he is touching her in the rain, what was the name of that movie, Kabhi something... [UTV CEO Ronnie Screwvala, co-producer of Night's upcoming film, helpfully supplied Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham]... right, that one; that was kind of cool. And I remember there was an old one, it was supposed to be very salacious at the time, wait, Shivam something? [Satyam Sivam Sundaram, supplied the ever helpful Screwvala]... right, that one, right there, that was smokin', that one. I don't remember the name of the third one -- wait, Devdas, there you go."

Manoj Night Shyamalan

GuruBhai - Gurumurthy

Yesterday - saw the tamil version of Guru. Good film with a terribly shallow climax..One character that made me go & do a G-Search was Gurumurthy - Shyam Saxena played my Madhavan.
Have read few of his articles in the papers but never knew the kind of power he could exercise.
Gurumurthy.net has a vast collection of his articles in Indian Express, interviews, speeches etc.
Rediff has a nice story on how Gurumurthy mediated between the Bajaj-s to settle their family feud.

Tanishq - Jodhaa Akbar jewellery collection

Do you have tons of money..Head to
http://www.tanishq-jodhaa-akbar.com/

U, Me aur Hum

A movie title that has profound meaning - U, Me aur Hum [U, Me and Us]
A pat on the back for Ajay Devgan for having zeroed in on this title.

Raghuvaran - a great actor

A sudden & early end to a great actor. Raghuvaran would always remain as one of my fav. actors. Had a great potential - heavily under used by the film industry. Most of the films, he was a caricature villain, but there was a certain spark that came out even through mundane characters.

A huge loss to filmdom ;-(

Jodhaa-Akbar

Saw Jodhaa Akbar last saturday - Satyam - Full house.
Quite impressed ..I should say. As a film, it stands on its own. Hrithik & Aishwarya (After HDDCS, I liked her in this) have come out with a flamboyant performance. What a difference between Dhoom 2 & this movie. A.R.Rahman rules. Ashutosh Gowariker can be commended for having brought in a terrific team, but the story is not in the league of Lagaan. The film was a lengthy one..the fights could have been toned down. There are the customary Hrithik scenes - Wild Elephant taming, bare torso sword fight practice, etc..But who is complaining? ;-) Aishwarya looks picture perfect, the costumes & jewelry adding to her beauty. In one of the reviews, somebody had mentioned, the director's master stroke was to give minimal dialogues to Aish. I agree. Can definitely see it once.

Jayalalitha Songs

Good compilation of songs sung by Jayalalitha...Dhool.com

Remix Songs

The latest trend in Tamil Filmdom is to remix old popular songs. But only very few click. Take the case of the songs that were released recently.

Ye Aatha Aaathorom-a: [Malaikottai] is strictly OK.

Engaiyum Eppothum: [Polladhavan] is below average for the simple reason, the original is still a big hit. It is not a joke to tamper with a cult classic.

Ponmagal vandhal: [Aghaghiya Tamil Magan] is easy on the ears. They have stuck to the original tune for the best part of the song with some rap interludes thrown here & there. Foot Tapping number. Watch Vijay imitating Sivaji in a black & white scene. Cool.

My Name is Billa: [Bila 2007] Disaster. I could just hear the sound only. Infact the entire Billa album lacks soul. Except for seval kodi, I didn't like any of the songs. Hope atleast the picturization of the songs save the day.

Saawariya - Iyarkai

Saawariya is finally out..What a hype..! but poor Bhansali seems to have lost it this time..But something that struck me was the story line. Our very own Tamil Movie Iyarkai, (what an irony! - Saawariya is pounded for being super-artificial - whereas Iyarkai means Natural) released 4 years ago also had a similar plot line. Bhansali says Saawariya is adapted from White Nights, a short story. The heroine is the girl in waiting, a certain good-looking Mr.Helpful lands on her doors, promises to help her reach her lover- falls in love in the process but just when the heroine decides to be prudent & thinks that 'the bird' in hand is worth 'two' (OK..one.. lost bird) in the bush, the original lover returns & Mr.Helpful is left behind to play martyr.
But whatever, I liked Sonam & Ranbir ;-)

ChakDe India

A very nice movie. It had almost everything you would root for..it plays on the underdog syndrome beautifully. You have to give it to the director, Shimit Amin for having the guts to take a Sports movie..that too a Hockey movie & that too women's hockey movie devoid of all heroism, romance, glamour, item songs, punch dialogues (the dialogues had the necessary punch..u get the difference ) The only ace he had was the towering presence of Sharukh Khan in an image-breaking role as Kabir Khan..a sincere & power packed performance.

The girls who portrayed the hockey team are all new comers..they have done a commendable job..my fav. being the punjabi bully- balbir kaur. The movie has its share of clichés..like a cricketer fiancé who gives a damn to hockey, eve-teasers getting their due from the girls, a men vs. women hockey match to decide on the sponsors, sharukh signaling the goal keeper to defend straight in the all important final penalty goal..etc. But as long as I like seeing whats happening on the screen, there are no complaints. It was almost like watching a nail biting hockey match live. (technically superlative film too)

Language is not a barrier to enjoy this movie. Go ahead ..give it a shot!

Satham Podathey

Satham Podathey Tamil Movie: A Psycho crime thriller falls flat on its face. Thumbs down from my side..;-((
saving grace : Padmapriya, Nithin Satya