Bheema - Music Review

Sublime lyrics, undecipherable syllables, zestfully rendered songs with some brilliant score and a "deja vu" feel make up "Bheema" - Harris Jayaraj is back again. 6 cool songs in the album with varying amount of "Harris Gibberish" (yeah, the unreadable, undecipherable syllables that he is so fond of and starts his songs with).

We can probably have Gibberish Quotient (GQ) for all Harris' albums :-)

Oru Mugamo - Terrific lyrics suggest a potential Vikram intro song. It may be picturized on the lines of "Karka Karka". Krish and Naresh Iyer on song here - My pick of the album!

Harris Gibberish - 2%.

Mudhal Mazhai - Beautifully sung. Sweet Lyrics. Hariharan-Mahathi combo after Saamy take you to a different level altogether. A slight feel of "deja vu".

Harris Gibberish - slightly pronounced.

Rangu Rangamma - Anybody who claim to have passed the Test of Tamil Movies as Ph.D material (TOTMP) should find out w/o even hearing the song that this is an item number. It sounds good, a deja vu feel... yet, a must have for long drives!

Siru Parvaiyaale - Karthik/Harini special. An overdose of Harris' fond syllables makes this song sound a bit irritable at times. Thamarai's lyrics deserve special mention.

Harris Gibberish - 4%

Ragasiya KanavugaL - Sweet melody from Hariharan and Madhushree. I do not understand why do music directors go for North Indian singers who cannot pronounce Tamil syllables ('zh' et. al) properly? There are a few exceptions - Shreya Ghosal is one. Madhushree emulates Udit Narayanan - Tamil Roadkill!

Enadhuyire - A very very different number rendered by Chinmayi and Nikhil Mathew.

Overall, this album may not please the music purists but its certain to go down really well with the masses. Expect it to be a chartbuster already!

P.S: GQ - 2.5 on 5 [On the lines of Figure of Merit ;-)]

தத்துவம்...

தத்துவம் after a long time. Here we go...

"பரோட்டா மாஸ்டர் மைதா மாவ போட்டு அந்த அடி அடிக்கரான். ஏன்டா அடிக்கர-னு கேட்டா வாய்க்கு ருசியா பரோட்டா கெடைக்குமா?"

:-)

நண்டு புடிக்க North Carolina

I was a little surprised to hear that several people in the US have "crab catching" as a hobby. A very different one indeed. And at the same time, they are passionate and patient enough to find out a nice spot to do this and do not mind travelling a whole lot.

My friend and I had a chat on Friday and he was enquiring about a manager whom we worked for. Pat came the reply "அவர் நண்டு புடிக்க North Carolina போயிருக்காரு"

He shot back "நண்டு கூட அதே area-ல கெடைக்காதா? அத அவ்ளோ தூரம் போய் புடிக்கணுமா?" Such a valid question. But என்ன பண்றது? இந்த ஊர் காரனுங்க இப்ப்டிதான்.

இதே நம்ம ஊரா இருந்திருந்தா, ஒரு பாலார் வாட்டர் தொட்டி கட்டி வெச்சா அழகா நண்டு வரும். இத உட்டுட்டு... அய்யோ அய்யோ!

What next?

After Shilpa Shetty, its now the turn of Bipasha Basu to get smoochy... So what's next in store from idiots wrapped in morons back home?
...
....
.....
......

1. First of all, a call for a ban on all MANU and Portugal's games on Indian Television courtesy Shivsena and PMK (in the south).
2. Writ petitions and "பைத்தியக்கார" interest litigations from you-know-who of you-know-which party to take legal action and trial the player in India (இவணுங்க செஞ்சாலும் செய்வாணுங்க!)

Ronaldo ji, வெளயாட்றதோட நிருத்திக்கப்டாதா?? எங்க ஊர் கிருக்கு மாய்க்காணுங்கள பத்தி பேப்பர்-ல எல்லாம் படிச்சதில்லையா?

Bommari - பொம்மரி

Ever since the telugu movie "Bommarilu" became a hit, I used to think about the possibility of it being remade, who would do it and also the names it could have.

The answer to who would remake it is fairly straight forward. It will either be Vijay or Jayam Ravi and his brother. Now that Bommarilu was intended for the A,B centers, Vijay is an automatic ejection. So here they come... Jayam Ravi and his brother with "Santosh Subramaniam" - yeah thats the movie's name.

I was thinking "Bommari" as the only possible name if it was ever remade in Tamil... but you never really know :-)

P.S: Dr. Rajesekar of இது தாண்டா போலீஸ் fame is coming to Tamil - obviously a dub and its called "உடம்பு எப்புடி இருக்கு"

Over to the next level of insanity.

Only we can do it...

Its always mighty funny watching bloopers and its additional comedy if its about cops. So how about official records in the Government valuing a bicycle at 90K, a bike at over a lakh, a boeing at Rs.1,600 and guitars classified under agriculture? Thats what the Tamil Nadu police have in their records.

Well, the best is yet to come - 15000 buffalos reported stolen in a single case and close to 100 FIRs getting filed before the crime was even committed!

இதெல்லாம் நம்மளால மட்டுமே முடியும்... என்ன சொல்றீங்க?

Think about this in another direction... We've just got the story for Vijaykanth's next movie :-)

I am just wondering what the case will be if we move up North. Bloopers volume 1,2,3... nu release பண்ணிட்டே இருக்கலாம்

Options...

Aleem Dar handed out the worst umpiring decision in cricket for a 5 year span 2005-2009 in the 3rd ODI of the recently concluded Future cup series between India and South Africa ruling a catch taken at first slip a feet and a half above ground as "not out".

There were uproars from a few fanatics asking him to be suspended/banned etc., So thinking a bit out of track, lets assume the ICC does remove from the elite panel. Here are two definite things that he can do.

• Take a cue from Anuradha Sengupta and banish movies of other languages that you do not know
  
• Take a cue from the jokers in Congress party and file dumbest of law suits against movies

Any takers?

P.S: The fact that ICC is "//SYSIN DD DUMMY" can be well understood from the fact that Asoka de Silva is still an umpire.

Time Pass

Anuradha Sengupta of CNNIBN has written a blog in their website about Sivaji and boy, it received close to 1000 "bashing" comments within a day. The comments made terrific reading and great timepass.

This is her counter to all those comments.

What's this?

An excerpt from Nirmal Shekar's article in "The Hindu" on Wimbledon

"Ah, the languorous pleasure of waiting to watch grass court
tennis at Wimbledon, and then, being seduced into a reverie as
tiny rain drops keep falling on billowing court covers!"

As if we are the audience of a literature contest? This is one reason I have always made it a point not to read his articles unless its about a really favorite topic of mine.

I remember the character Ray, in the sitcom "Everybody Loves Raymond" reading a book in exchange for his wife watching the ballgame with him on TV. He would read the first sentence as "Imagine a rain so beautiful that it actually never existed". The reaction on his face would say it all :-)

Sivaji

22nd Jun, '07
New Haven, CT

First time theater experience in US. A few natives turned up at the theater and we were saying "நீ எந்த hall-ல வேணாலும் போய் படம் பாரு... சத்தியமா ஒண்ணும் காதுல விழாது இன்னிக்கு". It was as expected a raucous crowd but as most of them were repeat audience, the raucousness was less pronounced. The theater management looked awe struck!

Something about the movie

• It's a colorful extravaganza. The movie is a visual treat!
• Newark Airport received a terrific applause with high decibel levels. Obviously!
• Udit Narayanan - as usual காதுல ஈயத்த கரச்சு ஊத்திட்டான்

Overall, a colorful technical fest with Shankar's good old formula executed via Rajni's beaten storyline of rich->pauper->rich again.

Watch the movie only in theaters. It doesn't fit anywhere else.

And nothing is cool anymore. It's "cooooool"

Its all about the head

Here comes that day, once every 35-40 days when I feel terribly uncomfortable, as uncomfortable as I can ever feel. Reason? Haircut. Yes, you read it right. Haircut it is. A good haircut is one thing that always eludes me. Right from the day I started to go alone to the Salon, I've always had bad to very bad haircuts only (come on, how long can my dad accompany me to the barber shop?).

And haircut day is always fun time for my mom who would give all possible comments about my head like "எலி பொந்துக்குள்ள தலைய விட்டா மாதிரி இருக்கு". And the trend became worser in October '95 during my Upanayanam when an act to uphold "Saasthram" screwed up whatever was in the top floor and I had to put up with that for many years until I received a peach of a haircut in June 2006. It was the first time I went to that shop near my home and I was so happy to leave with that to the United States.

I was told by my friend that it is mostly ladies who give haircuts in US and they are so professional etc., Overall, it was hyped up with all the necessary elements. The best haircut received in June 2006 was nulled by a factor -100 in Aug 2006. Bad (lady) luck with haircut continued in US and its been a different Salon every time here till today. I did get a good one from an old man near my home but his timings did not suit me :-(

The ladies always find different ways to screw with my hair and it takes a good 2-3 weeks to restore parity. The next haircut can be only after a good 2 months. Such is the impact :-(

I woke up with the same apprehension this morning courtesy an April 2k7 cut lined up right behind Aug 2006. It was yet another new shop this time and boy it was a guy atlast. End result - temporary relief for a few months... huh!

And I completed an year away from home today - one petty reason to feel happy :-)

Ring #4

11.50 PM Eastern : The San Antonio Spurs have done it yet again - they've just won their fourth NBA championship sweeping the Cleveland Cavaliers 4 to zip.

Tony Parker for the MVP.

Go Spurs Go!

Indian Cricket...

is in shambles. Period.

Deja vu

I was on my way to office in the 8.30 bus and there was this guy in the bus in front of me who every now and then looked deeped down into a bag that he carried along. I was wondering if he had something prized inside and was afraid of being mugged. A little later, there was this weird smell that spread inside. பாத்தா அய்யா ஒரு quarter யேத்திட்ருக்காரு.

நம்ம ஊர் பஸ்-ல போரா மாதிரியே ஒரு பீலிங் :-)

MooLai... and the lack of it

The recent law enforced by the TN government to make it mandatory for two wheeler riders to wear helmets and the corollary to the law a couple of days later showcases two incredibly contradictory things

• A conscious effort on the part of the govt to enforce something that alleviates the lack of common sense on the part of the two wheeler riding public
• Lack of willingness to enforce the rule with whole heartedness. The second part exposes "government" mooLai or rather, the lack of it.

With the kind of people we have in our states, it is seemingly essential that there must be a rule to have common sense prevail. The govt. took a bold step in this direction with the intro of the helmet/seatbelt rule eff. June 1. The decision was conveyed in Feb and that gave sufficient time for everybody to get set and go ahead from June 1. Negligence led to last minute shopping and as a result many people ventured out w/o helmets at their own peril. The result - மாமாவுக்கு குடுமா குடுமா... field day for cops!

The rule is still not clear for several people especially in the suburbs who ask "Is this rule applicable in Tambaram?" That's a superb question because Tambaram is considered part of the city whenever the govt feels it has to be - CAS is one example.

Then comes the shocker of the decision to revoke the rule for lady and child pillion riders. Do any of those law enforcers have something called "Brain"? Its the pillion riders who get fatal injuries most of the time. And the obvious next qn is "What about men in the pillion"?

A step ahead... from the crooked thinker - "what about people getting a free ride on the way?" Are they expected to take and wear helmets? ;-)

A step further ahead, the whole exercise seems to be an effort to sell helmets and make commission eh?!? Another scam in the making?!?