Random Rambles

Itz been one helluva week really. Yeah, with no work and me lazing around at home (On Vacation:) ) , wondering whether the sky looked this blue on a Monday morning I transcended the normal human thinking and realized the true meaning of "InActive".

Talking of Action, Technocrati has now come up with the list of top sites that are getting Attention - Technocrati Attention Index . Youtube tops the list as usual but was quite surprised to know that Ny times comes second. Weird. But given the current scenario not very surprising either.

Believe it or Not

Chennai is Cold.

Naan Kadavul - Mind blowing experience

Bala does it again .. This time very well exceeds the Pithamagan's benchmark. Awesome movie.

Wats good abt it ??
Well, Lots actually. If you ignore few logical flaws and can withstand some real bitter truth, i guess the movie does exceedingly well in all quarters.
Arya has done an amazing job. To be honest, he doesn't need to do much in terms of acting other than just showcase his weirdo attire and few mannerisms, but he does justice though. You do get a feel of watching an Actual Aghori in action... He doesn't need to cry, no need to laugh, just keep mum and fight but the movie is scripted so well, that even this seems amazing.
Pooja too has done a splendid job.. In fact the acting part actually is done by pooja and she well exceeds her previous films.
But i guess the people who acted as beggars simply stole the show. They make you sit and laugh in an otherwise deadly dry movie. Some scenes are so funny, that you no longer think them as handicapped or people who actually are meant to be sympathized. You just laugh along. Hats off.
The villians , well all vilians in a bala movie somehow do their part well :). He has a knack for identifying characteres.
Music is good. Could have been better, but not bad either.
Last but not the least , the direction is simply superb. Looks like Bala is superstitious in having old film songs replayed in his movie. Following Pithamagan, this movie also has one. But other than that , I just loved the snide remarks, the sarcasm and euphemisms, and also the mind boggling hard truth about the begging Mafia. Slumdog is just a tip of the iceberg. Danny boyle should have seen this first. The sheer brillaince of the director can be seen throughout the movie, be it when you watch in awe the portrayal of an Aghori, or you sit back and enjoy the intelligent humour while the next instant sit up and watch open mouthed the begging mafia's tortures. The movie could have very well taken a spiritual tone throughout, but i guess thats the speciality of Bala. He mixes fiction too well into something thats really weird or incomprehensible, that you dont really care about the difference. For instant, the scene where Pooja wishes to die and Arya gives her the gift of death (well thats the climax for u :) ) is something new to Tamil cinema, heck, even Indian cinema. I guess this topic can be debated spiritually, medically, politically and wat not. In a way it kind of signifies euthanesia, but i guess the spiritual tone hides it. But this is not a new concept to Hinduism. The ultimate truth of hinduism is to attain "Moksha" which means not to take the next birth. The aghori is shown as some one who can grant this wish. All in All a fantastic watch and a well deserved movie. Tamil cinema is reaching new peaks with movies like Subramaniyapuram and Naan Kadavul.

Wats not good about it:
Not much. As told before, there were some logical flaws here and there. Bala's true portrayal of the Begging Business make you feel a little bit uncomfortable. Also, Bala's could have emphasised more on Arya's character.

So whats my rating :)
****

Legends :
* - Only to be seen in wall posters.
** - Try it out at ur own risk.
*** - Worth watching once.
**** - Good, really good.
***** - Amazing.

Oh btw ,

Wishes on Valentines day and just miss for all those who were hoping mutalik to preside over the weddings.. Hang in there.. the country is not short of people (like him) ;)

Random Thoughts ...

Aham Brahmasmi..Thats the latest tagline of Bala's flick "Naan Kadavul". Two words , that says it all. I am yet to see the movie so will blog it later but today doing a simple google search on this phrase yeilded some interesting results.

For instance, look at this quote by Einstein,
"The fact that man produces a concept "I" besides the totality of this mental and emotional experiences or perceptions does not prove that there must be any specific existence [reality] behind such a concept.”
“We are succumbing to illusions produced by our self -created language, without reaching a better understanding of anything. Most of so
-called philosophy is due to this kind of fallacy.

Read full text

It is actually more interesting to see someone like Einstein who was/is(?) one of the most brilliant scientists commenting about philosophy which is way out of his realms.

The words literally mean "I am God". Acording to me the most important word of these is "I". Simply because "am" is just there to fill the void and void is within God in a way. There has been millions of opinions, ideas and perceptions in this single letter/word. Ignoring the philosophical/spiritual aspect this letter, which between themselves have millions of meanings, from a day to day perspective also, every common man gets impacted by this word. "I" also signifies the power of self. But this is a very tricky concept as in for the self, I is superior but considering I to be superior by the self can also be viewed as "Ego". Again, there are debates in different forms as to whether Ego is a positive or negative trait. Being an ardent fan of Ayn Rand, I am biased , yet i still wanna conclude that everything depends on perceptions.

Ok, i do understand that the above post was pure ramblings .. but then i am yet to see the movie , I gave a good link in my blog and also i am back :)

Wish u all a Very Happy New Year

It's been a long break, so long that it is a different year now. There are resolutions obviously, but then if all resolutions turn into actions then there is no point of having resolutions...

Let Life be simple in 2009 ( literally, figuratively etc etc ..)

Coming up - Welcome to SajjanPur

Fantastic Movie.. will blog soon with my reviews. Just one comment though.. Watch it once.

Hari Puthar ... or Oh whatever

I am seriously not sure why on earth did people have to file a case against this movie claiming the title closely resembles Harry Potter... Damn it, know what if the director had invited, JK rowling to the preview show of this movie, I am very sure that she wouldn't have even dared to file a case against this one..

It is bad, simply bad. I know that i am not a kid anymore and it just doesn't make sense to comment on a so called kid's movie. But come on, Home alone wasn't that bad inspite of being a Kids movie. Given that this movie is a Comedy of Terrors, I think my total attempt to smile lasted for only 5 mins. Please Note, My attempt only, i just couldn't laugh. Some kids in near by seats were looking at their parents so accusingly, that the parents compensated for the movie by buying them pop corns and ice creams twice during the movie, both before and after the interval.

The Only consolation were the kids themselves. Nothing more to add. Period.

Hari Puthar - Not sure what a kid will think .. But my review is

**

Legends :
* - Only to be seen in wall posters.
** - Try it out at ur own risk.
*** - Worth watching once.
**** - Good, really good.
***** - Amazing.

Long time No see...

And i am back once more after a long long break. Itz just that there were too many things going on at my work and in the world in general that blogging never entered my mind. But still, like Sachin says, i dont have any plans of getting retired in the near future.

Come to think of it, the near future is getting gloomier. The US financial market crisis is getting from bad to worse day by day and being part of the firm that is in the epicenter of this tremor is always gonna be difficult. It is just like a movie, a child is born, a young boy plays, couple get married, and in the last 5 mins or so during climax, couple get old or couple die. Complete in 3 hours. The fate of lehman bros and Merryl lynch were pretty much the same. 158 years of legacy was just buried in a weekend. This is claimed to be the worst crisis after the 1920's economic depression in Wall Street.

Come to think of it, those were days when Wall Street meant "Walled Street" and Fed meant nothing. Honestly, be it dot com bubble or bust, it did not count. But the last few years have been so much enlightening in terms of the financial markets and how things work. Inspite of being a ardent fan of "some of "Ayn Rand's philosophies, only recently did i truly understand to appreciate it. But then, given that we are in India, it is a long shot.

Come to think of it, Indian markets dont seem to function independently as claimed by some wise investors. As i had posted in one of my earlier posts, India is not going to be shielded from this crisis. Being globalized means to share the fame and the pain equally. The extent of damage caused by financial markets might not be very high, but then there are lot other issues in India that makes up the cumulative damage sum high. The journey has just begun and it is a long road ahead.

Come to think of it, the grand prix in Singapore was just awesome and sheer grandeur not because of the race but because of the roads. As rediff rightly put, both Alonso and Singapore were winners in race against time.

Finally as our good old Indian cricket team, who always makes us expect the unexpected, the author will like to ensure that he is not part of this team and does not value this principle very highly.

Bottomline ... more posts coming along....