, a fancy photo sharing thing.
Friday, August 08, 2008
Monday, February 20, 2006
Iruvar (The two personas) - Movie Review
I finally got a chance to completely watch the movie Iruvar today. As far as Maniratnam's direction goes, I could cite only enthralling moments. It is one of the movies which demands respect when watched.
The story line is a very familiar one depicting the life of two people. One, Anandan, the Actor who enters politics. Two, TamizhSelvan, a poet, writer, follower of DMK and more importantly a politician by plan. The Anandan and TamizhSelvan story flows almost like the real time story between M. G. Ramachandran (famously known as MGR, actor turned politician of TamilNadu, India) and M. Karunanidhi (the writer turned politician of TamilNadu).
Keeping the politics aside, it can be said that the meticulous details shown in the movie is good. The particular scene of liking is the one where Anandan is shot(with real gun) in his throat by a co-actor. After Anandan is wounded, the camera replaces his eyes. The camera infact falls down in slow motion and the vision shown is that of Anandan seing all the cry among his co-workers as he falls unconsious. Simply brilliant direction.
Prakash Raj has done a wonderful performance as usual. It is great and astounding to see him speak in pure tamil.
Some links to the related political information are given below. A particular point to note is that the movie was released in the year 1997. The year 1997 was the time when M. Karunanidhi was in power as CM of Tamil Nadu (1996 - 2001). It is not surprising the movie was not a great hit given the fact that it tries to tell the real story of not just the two powerful personas in TamilNadu politics and Tamil Cinema. A point to be noted along with the release year is, it was during the same time that J Jayalalitha was be pounded with various offences and court trials.
One of the reason for the movie being directed and choreographed this good may be fact that there was no pressure on Maniratham (or who ever the producer is) to make it a commercial hit. This movie generally lacks the commercial hit nature of any movie generally made by Maniratnam.
LINKS:
1. The IMDB record on this movie: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119385/
2. The real story in a couple of paragraphs: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MG_Ramachandran
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Jayalalithaa
4. Interview of Jayalalitha on BBC HARDTalk India. Very interesting.
Off to sleep now...
The story line is a very familiar one depicting the life of two people. One, Anandan, the Actor who enters politics. Two, TamizhSelvan, a poet, writer, follower of DMK and more importantly a politician by plan. The Anandan and TamizhSelvan story flows almost like the real time story between M. G. Ramachandran (famously known as MGR, actor turned politician of TamilNadu, India) and M. Karunanidhi (the writer turned politician of TamilNadu).
Keeping the politics aside, it can be said that the meticulous details shown in the movie is good. The particular scene of liking is the one where Anandan is shot(with real gun) in his throat by a co-actor. After Anandan is wounded, the camera replaces his eyes. The camera infact falls down in slow motion and the vision shown is that of Anandan seing all the cry among his co-workers as he falls unconsious. Simply brilliant direction.
Prakash Raj has done a wonderful performance as usual. It is great and astounding to see him speak in pure tamil.
Some links to the related political information are given below. A particular point to note is that the movie was released in the year 1997. The year 1997 was the time when M. Karunanidhi was in power as CM of Tamil Nadu (1996 - 2001). It is not surprising the movie was not a great hit given the fact that it tries to tell the real story of not just the two powerful personas in TamilNadu politics and Tamil Cinema. A point to be noted along with the release year is, it was during the same time that J Jayalalitha was be pounded with various offences and court trials.
One of the reason for the movie being directed and choreographed this good may be fact that there was no pressure on Maniratham (or who ever the producer is) to make it a commercial hit. This movie generally lacks the commercial hit nature of any movie generally made by Maniratnam.
LINKS:
1. The IMDB record on this movie: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119385/
2. The real story in a couple of paragraphs: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MG_Ramachandran
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Jayalalithaa
4. Interview of Jayalalitha on BBC HARDTalk India. Very interesting.
Off to sleep now...
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Bangalore/Bengalooru/Bangaluru
I am not quite a Merry Man today. I was deeply shocked and disturbed when I accidently landed on Times of India Website that has focussed on the Karnataka State Government's decision to change the name of the capital city Bangalore.
I am most disturbed is by the fact that the despite the current Government being under so much of critisism about ignoring the problems of the capital city of Karnataka, they can get time and effort to do such least important of issues. I am sure one has surely read/heard about Bangalore for its IT industry. While the Government has so many important issues at hand, they do such cheap tactics owing to some cheap politician.
The very fact that the proposed name is Bangaluru and not Bendekaalooru (which apparently is the real name of this city) highlights the fact that it has nothing to do with restoring the actual name of the city. While other cities in India have done a similar act, they have done it to restore the original name of the city like Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai. If the Government is not happy with Bendekaalooru (actually, no one is sure about the origins of the real name of Bangalore) then why do they want to change it to a intermediary name like Bangaluru.
Just keep it Bangalore or ruin it completely by calling it "Bende kaalooru".
It just frustrates the moment I think about this. Its time for the project leaders to take over the political leaders.
I am most disturbed is by the fact that the despite the current Government being under so much of critisism about ignoring the problems of the capital city of Karnataka, they can get time and effort to do such least important of issues. I am sure one has surely read/heard about Bangalore for its IT industry. While the Government has so many important issues at hand, they do such cheap tactics owing to some cheap politician.
The very fact that the proposed name is Bangaluru and not Bendekaalooru (which apparently is the real name of this city) highlights the fact that it has nothing to do with restoring the actual name of the city. While other cities in India have done a similar act, they have done it to restore the original name of the city like Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai. If the Government is not happy with Bendekaalooru (actually, no one is sure about the origins of the real name of Bangalore) then why do they want to change it to a intermediary name like Bangaluru.
Just keep it Bangalore or ruin it completely by calling it "Bende kaalooru".
It just frustrates the moment I think about this. Its time for the project leaders to take over the political leaders.
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Veerappan
For a change today (thanks to expiry of my subscription to Asian package), I was watching random free channels that get aired on british television. For no reason at all, I stopped switching the channels to watch an american show on channel4's more 4. Nearing the end of the show, a small popup appeared in the screen about the next programme.
Did I read it right? It was mentioned "Veerappan". I stared and looked at it properly while the popup was disappearing. It looked like "Veeroppan". I thought it was some thing else. After the end of the show, it became clear that it is not "Veeroppan", instead it is "Veerappan" indeed.
A documentary titled "VEERAPPAN - India's Last Bandit" (nearly the same colour) is underway now as I write this entry. It is getting interesting with lots of unknown facts being put in front of me. It looks like I would learn more about Veerappan by watching this documentary on a non-Indian channel aired outside India.
...
... (watching...)
...
After nearly 60 mins the show has now come to an end. And as expected the mention of the Rajkumar kidnap case was dramatized more clearly than the indian press did as it happened live.
Nearly after 1 year, I get to hear snippets of kannada voice in UK on Television with the famous kannada songs sung and acted by Rajkumar being shown. The song "nagu nagutha nali nali...yene aagali.." with Rajkumar in it was shown to introduce Rajkumar as India's important film personality. It followed by the riots in mysore that took place after the kidnaping.
The show went on to enact the entire drama as it had unfolded in time. There was an interview with Veerpappan's wife Muthu Lakshmi explaining the attrocities of STF. The show hurried through towards the end when things got complicated with the Veerpappan's huge demand list including the release of the suspects in Mysore Jail (the only demand the Govt tried to fulfil but was unable due to The Supreme Court over ruling of grant of bail to the suspects arrested under Terrorism Act).
The show also glimpsed upon the final release of Rajkumar with the help of Nedumaran. Also shown was an event where Rajkumar is seen singing in the stage "Huttidharey Kannada naadalli hutta beku...Mettidharey kannada manna mettabeku..", which was a nice one to hear.
I was most interested in the events that happened when Veerappan was killed, but not much focus was given on this. I was more interested in this part of the story because this event happened while I was not in India. So, I expected to get a better picture. But, no luck.
On the whole, a pretty simple good documentary.
It looks like Channel4/more4 channel is going to become my favourite now because of the various documentaries that are being aired.
Out to cook and dine...
Links
Did I read it right? It was mentioned "Veerappan". I stared and looked at it properly while the popup was disappearing. It looked like "Veeroppan". I thought it was some thing else. After the end of the show, it became clear that it is not "Veeroppan", instead it is "Veerappan" indeed.
A documentary titled "VEERAPPAN - India's Last Bandit" (nearly the same colour) is underway now as I write this entry. It is getting interesting with lots of unknown facts being put in front of me. It looks like I would learn more about Veerappan by watching this documentary on a non-Indian channel aired outside India.
...
... (watching...)
...
After nearly 60 mins the show has now come to an end. And as expected the mention of the Rajkumar kidnap case was dramatized more clearly than the indian press did as it happened live.
Nearly after 1 year, I get to hear snippets of kannada voice in UK on Television with the famous kannada songs sung and acted by Rajkumar being shown. The song "nagu nagutha nali nali...yene aagali.." with Rajkumar in it was shown to introduce Rajkumar as India's important film personality. It followed by the riots in mysore that took place after the kidnaping.
The show went on to enact the entire drama as it had unfolded in time. There was an interview with Veerpappan's wife Muthu Lakshmi explaining the attrocities of STF. The show hurried through towards the end when things got complicated with the Veerpappan's huge demand list including the release of the suspects in Mysore Jail (the only demand the Govt tried to fulfil but was unable due to The Supreme Court over ruling of grant of bail to the suspects arrested under Terrorism Act).
The show also glimpsed upon the final release of Rajkumar with the help of Nedumaran. Also shown was an event where Rajkumar is seen singing in the stage "Huttidharey Kannada naadalli hutta beku...Mettidharey kannada manna mettabeku..", which was a nice one to hear.
I was most interested in the events that happened when Veerappan was killed, but not much focus was given on this. I was more interested in this part of the story because this event happened while I was not in India. So, I expected to get a better picture. But, no luck.
On the whole, a pretty simple good documentary.
It looks like Channel4/more4 channel is going to become my favourite now because of the various documentaries that are being aired.
Out to cook and dine...
Links
- Channel4's More 4 listing about this documentary.
Friday, September 02, 2005
New Place, New People, New Experience
I've joined a new team today in cheltenham as part of my second job in cheltenham, infact in UK. Gives a bad feeling that so soon so many new things happen and they all happen too fast.
Although, the previous team's memories still linger in my mind, I am more happy to be part of a smaller organization than being in a big organization. I get reminded of being in my second job in Bangalore while I spent my day here.
Although, the first day at work, it was as usuall casual, and I felt very very comfortable. The best part is the amount of technical knowledge learnt in small companies.
So, here I go, in a new place next to a runway(hearing the gliders and small planes taking off an d landing almost every 2 minutes) not trying to runaway with my coding!
Although, the previous team's memories still linger in my mind, I am more happy to be part of a smaller organization than being in a big organization. I get reminded of being in my second job in Bangalore while I spent my day here.
Although, the first day at work, it was as usuall casual, and I felt very very comfortable. The best part is the amount of technical knowledge learnt in small companies.
So, here I go, in a new place next to a runway(hearing the gliders and small planes taking off an d landing almost every 2 minutes) not trying to runaway with my coding!
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
The Indian Connection
There have been lots of events happening lately which remind me of India. The latest one was the ticket checking in the bus I travelled to my office this morning. I've never witnessed such an event before in UK. Ticket checking is so very common in buses in Bangalore and very rarely have no one been caught travelling without a valid ticket in buses in Bangalore. It also highlights the fact how agile or practical the processes in India are tailored.
Although many feel that we should be replicating the process followed in western part of the world to Indian way of life, I believe that is totally wrong. Imposing a process has historically proven to be a failure. The process that evolves slowly and steadily is the one that brings happiness to oneself. In that perspective, the process in India is quite agile and does definately cope up with the huge man power of India.
Another event that reminded me of India is an accident occured to my friend in Hyderabad. He is hospitalised due to knee injury while he was commuting on his mobike. I remember that it would be the 2nd aniversary of my near to death accident involving my mobike and a car, coming this September. That was a very dramatic event where in I had to completely change significant parts of my bike.
Although many feel that we should be replicating the process followed in western part of the world to Indian way of life, I believe that is totally wrong. Imposing a process has historically proven to be a failure. The process that evolves slowly and steadily is the one that brings happiness to oneself. In that perspective, the process in India is quite agile and does definately cope up with the huge man power of India.
Another event that reminded me of India is an accident occured to my friend in Hyderabad. He is hospitalised due to knee injury while he was commuting on his mobike. I remember that it would be the 2nd aniversary of my near to death accident involving my mobike and a car, coming this September. That was a very dramatic event where in I had to completely change significant parts of my bike.
Monday, July 25, 2005
Uncle Sam! Yeh Akash ka jadoo hai!
I got reminded of a claim by my friend of nearly drowning him. The sequence of subconscious thoughts that led me to get reminded of that drowning event is quite nice.
The immediate thought is that of a lady walking across the corridor. She was wearing a skirt which looked like the beach wear in the beaches of Goa. And the reason to think of Goa beach and no other beach was I suppose the movie I watched on Saturday. It was the hindi movie "Dil Chahta Hai". I've recorded the movie in the Sky Box and now would be able to watch it as much as I can!
Talking about the drowning event, it happened a day or two after Sep 11, 2001. Rick and me went to Goa and it was Soham Pablo's idea of we joining him for visiting a beach in goa along with his classmates. The sea was calm and I encouraged Rick to get a bit deeper into the sea. Little did we realize that there was a tide rise. All of a sudden we realized we were being pushed by the waves. I managed to cling on to rough rock, while Rick almost drown himself. He shouted help in Bengali and at that moment his face was funny. And I could not resist laughing. I laughed partly because, Rick claimed that he knew how to swim I did not know how to swim. Despite that, he claims that I drowned him! Whew!
The immediate thought is that of a lady walking across the corridor. She was wearing a skirt which looked like the beach wear in the beaches of Goa. And the reason to think of Goa beach and no other beach was I suppose the movie I watched on Saturday. It was the hindi movie "Dil Chahta Hai". I've recorded the movie in the Sky Box and now would be able to watch it as much as I can!
Talking about the drowning event, it happened a day or two after Sep 11, 2001. Rick and me went to Goa and it was Soham Pablo's idea of we joining him for visiting a beach in goa along with his classmates. The sea was calm and I encouraged Rick to get a bit deeper into the sea. Little did we realize that there was a tide rise. All of a sudden we realized we were being pushed by the waves. I managed to cling on to rough rock, while Rick almost drown himself. He shouted help in Bengali and at that moment his face was funny. And I could not resist laughing. I laughed partly because, Rick claimed that he knew how to swim I did not know how to swim. Despite that, he claims that I drowned him! Whew!
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