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Monday, October 31, 2005

Deepavali wishes.....

Thanks for all your Deepavali wishes... Let me reciprocate the same from Little India... Wish you all a Happy & Enjoyable Deepavali day...






Little India Shopping!!!


219th post

Sunday, October 30, 2005

My Maiden attempt...

It was an interesting Deepavali nite, out of those which I had attended so far.

Reason.. my maiden attempt... (of what??)

Yesterday's Deepavali nite was organised in a good gathering, the purpose of which was to extract the talents of adults and also to provide ultimate fun to the audience.

The evening started with Arattai Arangam [Separate post on this, will follow], followed by a music programme delivered by a group of NUS/NTU students. The music programme was combined with a hilarious 'Super Jodi' event, in between the songs. This fusion was planned, just to tie the audience to their seats thru out those 3.5 hours. The idea was perfect.. eventhough during the later part, people started fizzling out for their dinner.

And why was it memorable? We (myself/my wife) were also part of that 'SJ' programme.

Eventhough the participants would have come prepared [like us :0) :0)] with some known questions about their spouse's likes/dislikes, 100% of the questions were not on that basis. More questions were on situational ones..... and I need to appreciate the persons who were behind those questions. A set of 5 printed questions were given to each partner (different set). Later, the same questions were fielded to the spouse to check the correctness.

Some interesting questions which we goofed up were:

The shampoo which my wife uses regularly??? I mentioned a body foam's name instead of a Shampoo. Didn't get the question correctly. My wife's look... com'n, how can you miss it?
The job which my wife does for me, even if she doesn't like to do??? I didn't remember forcing her for anything. So, I had mentioned that it was a difficult Q to answer. My partner's answer was different, which was true as well. "Watching a movie on the first day with me, even if she doesn't like to do it". [it struck me then, that I missed to see 'Majaa's first show today in Singapore]
Best friend of my wife, whom I like???? Since she has many, some of whom were present there in the audience, it was difficult for me to name one. What she had written down in the sheet, didn't match with what I said.....

The other notable questions where we scored were:

- The issue on which I got angry recently, with my wife???
- The type of Jewellery, which my wife likes..?
- Whether I will buy a dress for her, if she had not accepted my earlier selections? Or will I take her along with me always??
- Will my wife be supportive for my brother / sister's marriage/career advancements??

The couples were also expected to perform something in addition, to score bonus points. Eventhough most of them preferred to act for a 'Dumb Charades' question, one couple preferred dancing for a MGR song and one preferred for a small skit.

Our preference was a Song.

Believe me guys, for the first time I was singing on the stage. So, I cautioned the audience and asked them to ensure that they will be present even after those 3 minutes.... And the song which we selected (& practised for the last couple of days) was this fantastic number from 'Ghajini'.

சுட்டும் விழி சுடரே, சுட்டும் விழி சுடரே
என் உலகம் உன்னைச் சுற்றுதே
சட்டைப் பையில் உன் படம், தொட்டுத் தொட்டு உரச
என் இதயம் பற்றிக் கொள்ளுதே

உன் விழியில் விழுந்தேன், விண்வெளியில் பறந்தேன்
கண் விழித்து சொப்பனம் கண்டேன்
உன்னாலே, கண் விழித்து சொப்பனம் கண்டேன்

மெல்லினம் குரலில் கண்டேன்,வல்லினம் விழியில் கண்டேன்
இடையினம் தேடி இல்லை என்றேன்

தூக்கத்தில் உளறக் கொண்டேன், தூறலில் விரும்பி நின்றேன்
தும்மல் வந்தால் உன் நினைவைக் கொண்டேன்

கருப்பு வெள்ளை பூக்கள் உண்டா?, உன் கண்ணில் நான் கண்டேன்
உன் கண்கள், வண்டை உண்ணும் பூக்கள் என்பேன்
உன் கண்கள், வண்டை உண்ணும் பூக்கள் என்பேன்

மரங்கொத்தி பறவை ஒன்று, மனங்கொத்தி போன தென்று
உடல் முதல் உயிர் வரை தந்தேன்

தீ இன்றி திரியும் இன்றி, தேகங்கள் எரியும் என்று
இன்று தானே நானும் கண்டு கொண்டேன்

மழை அழகா? வெயில் அழகா? கொஞ்சும் போது மழை அழகு
கண்ணா நீ, கோபப் பட்டால் வெயில் அழகு
கண்ணா நீ, கோபப் பட்டால் வெயில் அழகு

Since this was the first time for me, it seems I had a tightened face on the stage (as commented by our friends). My wife didn't bother much, since she had done it couple of times earlier.

This adventure had helped us to score the required bonus points. With that help, we got the "Second best SJ" title. It was good, since we didn't go there with any expectations. My only worry earlier, was not to goof up during the song. Luckily, I didn't..... Eventhough my wife scored better than me in terms of modulation and expressions, I had a good start today [presumably!!!].
218th post

Thursday, October 27, 2005

Understanding A..B.. concept

While having a causal chat, my Colleague was talking about his friend, both of whom entered the industry at the same time. It seems his friend had gone up in IBM ladder now and currently in the interview panel. Just because he moved to Singapore, my colleague believes that he couldn't see the growth blah blah....

I couldn't blame him for his attitude. He is one among the many people who complain about the reverse of fortunes inspite of their abilities. I had seen different people with different perceptions from time to time. For simplicity, let us consider those who feel left out as 'B' while comparing with another 'A' in the following scenario. You can assume that my colleague is 'B' and his friend is 'A'. [Caution: Don't put me in the position of 'A' or 'B'. It is my General observation among a group of people. Pl. look into this generally]

Case#1
======
A & B were collegemates, during which time 'B's intellectual qualities were utilised well by 'A'. After few years, 'B' moved out of the country on an overseas assignment and loses his job motivation due to various reasons. When he returned back, he observed that 'A' is in a Vice-President position of a start-up growing company. 'B' is still wondering whether he made a wrong decision in moving out of India....

Case#2
======
A & B were introduced to each other in a party. As usual our 'B' has got several distinctions in a professional course and our 'A' had come to that level after several years of struggle. When 'B' looked into the career path of 'A', he got amazed. The job profile which 'B' is targetting for the last few years, thru hard work and sweat with his distinctive qualities, had fallen into 'A's laps without much efforts. 'B' is still working hard to get a recognition for his quailities...

Case#3
======
A & B, being relatives, are constantly compared for their achievements from time to time - at school level / college level / career level etc.,. Those comparision made by their parents, had passed on to them later. Being a Senior person, 'B' didn't expect 'A' to beat him in terms of career achievement & monetary terms. But, that cannot happen always when each person's abilities differ and are rewarded on their own merits. Now 'B' has got settled down with the reality slowly, waiting for his turn to come up...

Case#4
======
A & B are no way related. 'B' is much elder, that his son is younger than 'A' by few years. Eventhough 'B' is affluent, he ignored that fact and started wondering as to how 'A' has made so much money at this younger age. The hilarious part is when 'B' got worried about his son (a college student) as to whether he can earn as much as 'A'. They don't consider the fact, that they are already sitting on huge wealth which 'A' cannot earn immediately!!!

Case#5
======
'A' is serving in a particular industry and is in a good earning position. If it is in India, that much earnings may not be possible for the same profile.Eventhough 'B' cannot be matched with 'A' in terms of age, 'B' is still wondering about 'A's earning capacity with that profile - which may not fetch so much money in India.

Most of the above cases, boil down to a personal perception of "you lucky" type of feelings. There are two factors which play the major roles in these type of situations.

1) 'Luck' - Definitely, the fortune wheel stops at different places, the timing of which may not be known to the persons involved.
2) 'Efforts' put in by 'A' which 'B' fails to recognise

My perception is that the person who has the feelings of 'Left behind' should put in more efforts and should wait for the 'Lady Luck's smile at him. Eventhough, it may not happen in an easy way for 'B' as it had happened for 'A', the reality has to be faced. Isn't it?
217th post

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

The holy words "Belief - Trust - Hope - Faith..."

A SMS lottery scam had hit Singaporeans with more frequency in the recent past. Either thru SMS or thru missed call tricks, these conmen make the victims to fall into their traps and ask them to advance some amount to claim a bigger prize money [something similar to the Nigeria type of email frauds]. Last year, one of my friend had a similar experience of getting a mail from a Spannish Lottery agency, saying that he had won 500,000 Euro and has to pay some deposit to claim the winnings. He ignored it, after some background check.

When I look into the victims generally, I could observe that the reasons behind their plight are either too much of trust/faith or greediness. Let me not take the greediness part to discuss much. However, some naive people are tricked just because of their trust or faith on some system [which overshadows their failure to check the authenticity].

When a question is posted as to 'Why they acted like this?', the possible words which may be uttered are ' .. belief / trust / hope / faith..'.

Yes, several things on Life goes based on certain assumptions. However, whatever we hope/believe may not happen as we think it would happen. It goes on the other side unexpectedly. You can take any of these practical situations which I had listed down here... and you can relate it with 'n' no. of personalities known to you.

- Getting married to a 'Seem-to be' nice person, becoming a hell.
- Placement into a 'so-called nice pretty' job, landing you in problems with colleagues.
- Bringing up the Kids into a nice environment, hitting the rock unexpectedly in terms of their behaviours.
- Healthy one's thoughts that 'Nothing will affect me', getting shattered due to some diagnosis.
- Investing into some known Chitfunds or New ventures (including Films), getting bombed.
- Facing the dust, after trying to become big in politics.

Eventhough most of the assumptions / calculations are due to some sort of belief / trust on a system, there is a possibility for things to go in a different way.

This seems to be a test for anyone's willpower. Those who survive this becomes stronger and more focussed on their future ventures. They prepare themselves for any aftermaths of their future beliefs. If we have the mental strength, then we are the kings who can face any situation....

Life goes on with these type of positive thoughts only, to face the consequences of our beliefs / hopes. Isn't it?
216th post

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Birthday wishes to a cute girl....

Today must be one of her memorable birthdays, with so much of wishes pouring from everywhere.
















Really Cute, isn't it?



















Asin....


The variation which she has shown from Malabar (MKSM) to Priya to Kalpana was awesome. Very expressive face....My favourite facial expression of hers was while delivering this 'Antha Sanjay Ramasamiya Naan luv pannaleppa...' and the final moments when she departs.

Wish kollywood uses this talented girl, properly!!!. Eventhough, I am not sure if she has got a real chance to 'act' in 'Sivakasi'...I'm confident that she may continue her form in 'Majaa'.

You can visit this page also to wish her, if you want to. [this is her own guestbook maintained by her in her website WWW.ASINONLINE.COM --- an actress who has also got time to maintain her own website... hmmm, times are changing!!!!]
215th post

Sunday, October 23, 2005

Continuity of festive season...

Here in Singapore, the festive season starts with Navarathiri. This makes me always, to feel that I'm nearing the year-end and going to enjoy few more holidays. Immediately after Saraswathi Pooja & Vijaya dhasami, you can observe 'Fire walking' festival, Deepavali, Ramzan (Hari Raya Haji), Christmas, New-year, Pongal, Thai Poosam, Chinese New year, Bakrid (Hari Raya Pusa) etc., eventhough we may get holidays only for few of these :-( :-(

Last week, it was 'Fire walking' festival....

The 10 day long 'Fire walking' festival takes place in Sri Mariamman temple, located in China town. This is one of the oldest Hindu moument in Singapore, which can be dated back to 1820s. (almost 2 centuries...). Being administered by the 'Hindu Endowment Board' (Govt. organisation), this is not only one of the favourite temples of the residents, but also one of the main attractions for the overseas tourists. [Sometime back, The Hindu covered it extensively]

Eventhough I termed the event as a '10 day long Fire walking' festival, the actual 'Fire walking' happens only on the last day. During this event, the devotees cross a four-metre bed of glowing coals in the courtyard of the temple. The hot stroll recreates a scene from “The Mahabharata”, our epic poem, in which the goddess Draupadi proves her innocence by walking over burning coals.

During the first 9 days, lots of offerings will be carried out by the devotees like 'paal kudam', 'anga pirathachanam' etc., Normally, it starts in the midnight (1:30 or 3 am) and ends by 9 - 10 am in the morning, to avoid the scorching sun. The number of devotees who used to visit during these days, are always enormous. Sometimes, few westeners also used to participate in those offerings. It makes us to feel that we are somewhere in Tirunelveli or Madurai during a festival event.

We, a few member volunteers group, used to go to the temple during the night time to man the ticket counters ... but not every night, since we take turns [just to relieve the temple staff, who used to work round the clock during these 10 days ]. For the last couple of years, we are visiting them like this, which makes us light mentally, eventhough half-day's official work may be affected (during the weekdays). We did visit last week, as usual...

Incidentally, this morning being the 10th day (2am-8am), the 'Fire-walking' event would have taken place... Eventhough I got an opportunity to visit this event today morning, I didn't go due to various reasons.. one being, the pressure to face Monday morning office hours :-(:-( Eventhough it falls on Monday morning always, hope I would be able to catch up with the event atleast next year...

Some more on this event...... Writeup #1, Writeup #2
214th post

Friday, October 21, 2005

Risky moves by tinsel town designers....

When a designer wants to spend his own money, to convert his thoughts into a final product.. the result may be either abundant benefits or a long stay under a shell. This is what is happening in Kodambakkam, nowadays. Each and every director is adding another role to their credit... as a producer.

A news of this week, made my team to do some interesting digging....

Director Shakthi Chidambaram is going into the Producer's mould, after tasting success in several of his earlier ventures. Since those ventures like Ennamma Kannu, Charlie Chaplin, Mahanadigan, Englishkaaran etc., had a decent run in B&C centres, he would have decided to reap the profits himself out of his next venture titled 'Kovai brothers'. I think, he may make more money than the earlier ones in B&C centres, considering some of the pictures released earlier this week. [chk out yourself...... Courtesy: Tring Tring]

Few weeks back, director-turned-comedian Manobala wanted to try out the new role as producer. Few months earlier, K.Bhagyaraj's assistant Mr.Sivakumar (director of Arjun's 'Ayutha Poojai') wished to produce a new movie with his mentor in the key role as director and actor. Will they all be lucky like their predecessors who took up this additional role? Time will tell them...

I believe, most of them take up this new role, due to several reasons... (1) to encash their abilities (2) to strengthen their market (3) if they are unable to find any scapegoats (4) if they are confident of their juniors

Our DBI team made some interesting search, to pull out some of those existing directors who don the producer's role as well.. successfully or otherwise!!!

Let me start with 'Iyakunar Sigaram' K.Balachandar, whose production house 'Kavithaalaya' has carved a place in the industry with a lot of quality movies to its credit. [Was it called 'Kamalaalaya' or 'Kalaalaya' earlier? Something similar to that...]

I remember that in those earlier days, he used to direct most of them produced under this banner. Later, the house's trend of supporting other directors, had definitely converted it into a leading production house. Most of them were hits and I don't remember many flops from this house..

Some of them which I could recollect are Netrikann, Poovilangu, Sigaram, Velaikaaran, Keladi Kanmani, few family dramas of Visu, Roja, Rojavanam, Saami, Thirumalai, Vidukathai, Ayyah etc., Upcoming 'Ithaya Thirudan' (Directed by Saran) with 'Jayam' Ravi in the lead, is also from their house. I'm confident that they will come out with more clean entertainers like they did earlier.

Bharathiraja has rarely produced movies for outside directors, under his home banner 'Manoj creations'. Most of them from his house like Mudhal Mariyathai, Kodi Parakuthu etc., were directed by him. [a lot more, which I'm missing here!!]. 'Alli Arjuna' was the exceptional one, directed by Saran, eventhough the reason behind was known to everyone [BR's son Manoj as the hero]. With a limited scope of making himself & his son successful, he couldn't convert this into a big production house, as everyone is aware.

Maniratnam's houses produced some memorable movies directed not only by him, but also by some other young directors. His initial involvement with 'Aalayam Productions' had churned out Bombay & few more., and subsequent one thru 'Madras talkies' released movies likes Iruvar, Uyirae, Alai Payuthe, Kannathil Muthamittal, Ayutha Ezuthu etc., Those movies directed by outsiders include movies like Chatriyan, Nerukku Ner, Dum Dum Dum, Fivestar etc., I could even recall some of those TV serials like 'Anbulla snehidhiye' 'Punnagai' which were presented well.

Hope we are going to see a lot more quality movies from his house, as I heard recently that he is planning to produce movies for his former assistants like Susi Ganesan & Azhagam Perumal once again.

K.Bhagyaraj had mostly tried only his abilities thru his Saranya Cine Creations. Eventhough this production house had many movies to its credit like Ithu namma aalu,Veetle Vishesanga, Sundara Gandam, Vetiya Madichu Kattu etc., it couldn't make it big. The latest buzz, is that he is behind his daughter's debut movie 'Paarijaatham' as a producer. Probably if it succeeds, I hope he will support new directors to make more money. Otherwise, his house may not become a big one.

Ve.Sekar was one of the low profile directors who ventured into the production arena thru his 'Thiruvalluvar kalai Koodam', which has churned out so many family dramas like 'Pondatti sonna Ketukkanum' 'Varavu Ettana Selavu Pathana' 'Kaalam Maari Pocchu' etc. Of late this production house has started entertaining outside directors as well like Venkatesh for 'Aei' (Sarath/Namitha), Shakthi Chidambaram for his under-production 'Pattasu' (Vikranth / Sibiraj !!) etc., Low Budget, decent returns has become the motto of this house, as I could observe.

Shankar initialised his efforts with 'Mudhalvan' jointly with R.Madesh (director of 'Chocolate' & 'Madurey'), eventhough he didn't continue his own high budget ambitions. However, his support to his former assistant Balaji Sakthivel has definitely yielded a fine movie in 'Kaathal'. Heard that he is going to produce 3 more movies to be directed by his former assistants (including one for Balaji sakthivel). Indeed a clever move with good marketing skills... finding outside producer for his costly ventures and making profits out of his low budget movies. Very smart....

As we all know, SJ.Suryah wanted to have all the credits & debits to him, for his last two ventures 'New' and 'Ah Aah..' Just because, he was able to rake in more money, I pray that he won't produce some more unwatchable 'B' grade movies. He had already gained a name as 'sleaze king'. Hope he comes out clean atleast in his future movies.

Other interesting personalities, who did venture into this new role and are still continuing in the field as most of you know, are ...

R.Parthiban [Several strange attempts like Sarigamapathanee, Housefull, Ivan, Kudaikul Mazhai etc.,]
Rama.Narayanan [His 'Thenandal films' had supported many living creatures in Tamilnadu.. thru several spiritual ventures.]
K.S.Ravikumar [with his hilarious 'Thenali']
Kadhir[With a B.O. bomb 'Kaathal Virus'.. Assume, he couldn't come out of that debacle still]
Cheran [Well crafted 'Autograph' and Vijay Milton directed 'Azhagai Irukirai Payamai Irukirathu' which is under production]
Saran ['Aaru' being directed by Hari]
Bala [Thru his 'B' movies - Surya's 'Maayavi', Ajith's 'Paramasivan' under production]
Thankar Bacchan [A successful attempt in 'Chidambarathil Oru Appasamy' when he couldn't find a producer. Heard that he is planning not to produce his next venture]


If you can observe, only those production houses which are commercial enough to support outside directors had made it big. That's the lesson which most of the young directors had learnt nowadays and profiting out of it.... Smart guys...

Report Courtesy: Our DBI Team

Related - "Let me do it" series posts
Actors turned producers
Cinematographer turned Directors
Singer turned actors

213rd post

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Some funny moments..

Most of us have this Monday morning blues, as I had observed in many of the blog posts. Does this scenario reflect your mood of Monday morning? If so, you will definitely enjoy this joy of upcoming weekend and long holidays (particularly those Friday moments)!!!

Sometime back, I remember seeing this in 'Kumudham' weekly who shared it with the TN makkal. Most of you would have watched this already. Eventhough it looks funny, I thought it targets a specific sector of people. What do you say about the reality?
212th post

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

Id(o)le worship

You could have seen all sorts of cine star worships like these... [apart from traditional 'falling on feet' style]

- Builiding Temples for Actresses
- 'Paal Abishegam' for actor's cut-outs
- Tatooing the film personalities names
- Chanting or Printing posters as 'future CM / PM /President etc'

Have you seen this type of hero worship?

The Gist is this...

It seems, after failing to meet his favourite idol couple of times, our hardcore fan had put up posters everywhere in Chennai to make it visible to the hero. It might have worked out for this fan, that finally his idol might have seen him.


But these type of hardcore fans are going berserk with their idol worship. We can have film entertainment as 'supplement meals' to relax ourself, but not as a 'main course'. But our fans don't realise that and don't know where to draw the line.

Once Cheran had criticised this attitude of hero worship in his earlier venture 'Porkaalam', in which he cast himself as a cine hero [on the posters]. My take is that it will take a long time for this idle (oops.. Idol!!) worship to change tracks.

Luckily, I am not in the circle of these idol worshippers... even if it is Rajini or Vijay. Is there anyone from idol worshippers club, against my stand? Welcome... :-) :-)
211th post

Monday, October 17, 2005

MBA from IBM

You need to believe that I didn't intend to watch even a glimpse of 'Malargal' (First episode yesterday). I swear... honestly :-) :-) However, it so happened that I had to cross the living hall and got to see a scene.

This was the situation at that time...

An industrialist and his wife are talking about marriage alliances for their daughter. While going thru the photos, the girl's dad selects a picture and decides to visit them to finalise the alliance. The girl's Mom doesn't like the idea... she tells, "Indha sambandham ellam vendanga, IBM-la MBA padikkira en ponnukku ithellam sariyaa varaathu..." and it goes on. [In English: "Let us not go for this alliance. This may not suit our daughter studying MBA in IBM...."]

Got Shocked.... My wife also got confused [that means, I heard it correctly]. I didn't know that IBM has started MBA courses.

Was it an inadvertent error by the script writer (mixing it with IIM) or are they portraying the girl's Mom as an innocent lady [which doesn't seem to be, for me]? Or is there any 'Institute of Business Management' (IBM) which the script writer might have wanted to use in the script?

Definitely, 'Thaaikulangkal' may not mind {notice} all these type of silly errors, while getting engrossed with sensational and sentimental stories!!!

Anyhow, I don't intend to watch it anymore expecting some rare comedies like this, packaged in the sentimental stuff.... :-) :-)
210th post

Sunday, October 16, 2005

Expressions & talks.... differ!!!

During the weekend outing, met one of my colleague in the MRT (local train). Eventhough, I don't have constant touch with him and not in my regular email groups, I used to interact with him on certain technical issues from time to time.

The discussions went on as usual on official front, since we didn't have any other topic to talk about. His approach on the subject which we were broaching on, made a Desi girl standing beside us to throw a strange look on us. Reason... 'I know everything...' type of deliveries which he had made. His added comments on certain process oriented work, which I used to carry out in my way, irked me a bit.

However, I am used to these type of talks nowadays. Whenever I used to meet up these people who talk this way, I simply smile and approve whatever they talk and go ahead... unless, it affects me directly where I may want to return back to them. During my school days / college days, I didn't know how to differentiate these sort of talks. The journey thru the last couple of years and experience of meeting people of different races and countries, made it amusing to watch them talk.

Some people talk openly that 'their Organisation depends on them completely and nothing will move without them'. Possibly, true. The way they deliver it, may put us in an awkward postion. You may end up hearing some sarcastic comments too about others' abilities. But hearing it directly from the horse's mouth may make us uncomfortable.

However, these talks are better than those pessimistic ones. Whatever they talk may bring in unwanted jitters at that moment. I used to avoid them as much as possible or try to put their perspectives positively. If they keep on continuing, I simply close my ears.. and keep on nodding for whatever they talk... Best way to handle them :-) :-)

The best hilarious part is when someone talks in Muthulakshmi's way. [??? the way she talks with Thangavelu in 'Arivaali' ... prior to making Chappathis]. When they ask you a query and when you start explaining it, they used to continue 'ah.. I know this, I know this.. ' etc., After sometime, when you ask 'what will you do next?'.. you get reply 'that's what I don't know'. To realise the intensity of this hilarious part, you should have enjoyed that comedy scene from 'Arivaali'.

You may happen to see some more facially expressive people - who smiles at you simpy. You may have to work hard to pull out words from them. The output may generally be short and sweet.

However, the best & ideal way of talk which you don't get to see 100% of the time is this.

'... I'm confident that it may happen. Let us see what happens.. It is OK, even if doesn't happen.. Let us put some additional efforts again, to achieve the same' etc.,

This seems to be Practical and Positive. But you don't get to see this approach with everyone you meet.

Would always be glad to be ideal as well as to move with ideal personalities as close as possible... to make my life and surroundings better. One of my ideal dreams... on which I work on constantly.
209th post

Saturday, October 15, 2005

Beware ATA, the next war starts....

Satellite TVs are proceeding against the wishes of ATA's motto... BTW, if you are unaware of ATA, it is nothing but Anti Teleserial Alliance created by some of our friends online.

A new soap is being launched on Oct-17th (coming Monday) in SUN TV 7:30pm slot, pushing the existing 'Muhurtham' one hour behind. Named as 'Malargal', it is supposed to follow the footsteps of 'Metti Oli' with the same 'Delhi' Kumar in the lead, but with 5 sons instead of 5 daughters... Long live those souls who have decided to strengthen the motto of ATA.

Pic courtesy: The Hindu

If you had escaped seeing Nila in 'Ah Aah' (I envy you, guys), you are getting a chance to see her today (saturday) in Vijay TV, 19.30 IST... Luckily or otherwise, I don't have the chance to watch it... Will she be talking in thanglish? Any guess...
208th post

Thursday, October 13, 2005

Handle with Care - Glamoured Relationships

Blogfire is spreading everywhere.. so bloggers might not have had time to concentrate on certin issues like this broken relationship.

Of late, the trend in the marital relationship & pre-marital relationships are going sour in the film indsutry too often. Reasons are the common ones, which instigate the separation generally. However, due to the glamour associated to the industry they are normally getting blown up in a big way.

First is the Gossiping media business. Even, if people are just friends, the media network start writing about them in other words. Sometimes these kind of rumours make those persons involved to consider a relationship as rumoured and try to fall in the trap. But these sort of forced relationships don't last for a long time. These rumoured relationships fizzle out once the market is down, for one of the person involved. Classic example was Srikanth-Sneha case.

Let us assume that they pass off the gossiping corner and are really inclined to continue with the relationship. The next hurlde which they face is 'Expectation'. Do they realise what they expect? Sometimes, no.... Reality strikes once the glamour which was keeping them afloat fades away. Too much of devotion to the work, which was ignored before their relationship may be considered as a villain subsequently. In certain cases, the revenue starts dripping down or monetary pressure piles up, due to some bad moves (movies).. Many people fail in these tests & wake up suddenly to the reality. 'Let us cut it off' happens...

Ego may be one of the additional keys forcing a breakup. In this industry, there are lots of possibilities for people being driven to the corner due to this reason.

Atleast, if these breakups happen before marriage as in Selva-Sonia's case, the wound inflicted may heal off soon. Sometimes, the darling couples of the industry take decisions after leading an enviable life with kids.. for reasons known to them. I can name a few high profile couples who had broken up, like Sulakshana-Gopikrishna (MSV's son), Seetha-Parthiban, Nalini-Ramarajan, Sarika-Kamal, Rohini-Raghuvaran, Priya Raman-Ranjith... [If you notice, several of those affected ladies are in front of the cameras again, even if it is small screen].

Doesn't mean that all the glamoured relationships fail. You may observe certain ships sailing smoothly.. like Saranya-Ponvannan, Poornima-Bhagyaraj, Jayaram-Parvathi, Rajasekar-Jeevitha, Mukesh-Saritha, Maniratnam-Suhashini etc.,

We may not know the reasons behind this new development between Selva & Sonia. However, I felt that it was good for Selva & Sonia to split now, eventhough they were on the headlines when she accompanied the bride (Selva's sister) along with Aishwarya Dhanush. Personally, it looked odd for me at that time itself. Anyhow, better to face the reality now, rather than after having family life & kids.
207th post

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

'அவதாரம்' - ஒரு காலணியின் கதை

(thanglish format in the comments section)



நேற்று, தணித்தேன்
உன் தாகத்தை..

இன்று, பூரித்தேன்
என் அவதாரத்தை (எண்ணி)...

இருந்து இறந்த யானை
பொன்னென்பது இது தானோ?




சமீபத்திய The Economist வார இதழில் ஆப்பிரிக்காவிற்கான IMF கடனுதவி பற்றிய ஒரு செய்தியில் வெளியான இப்படத்தின் உந்துதலே காரணம். இக்கால்களுக்கு வெயில் சுடுவது போல, நமக்கும் உண்மை சுடுகிறது, இல்லையா?
206th post

Monday, October 10, 2005

Fight or Give up(!!) for a Cause

When you have only one Idiot Box and multiple programmes in different channels to watch simultaneously, you can expect a commotion in the living hall. During the Pre-Satellite TV era, when we were in Chennai - there used to be similar arguments with my brothers to watch certain programmes in DD1 & DD Metro. Obviously, preferences differ and you may tend to experience it very often...

Last sunday, similar situation arose. While I was into 'Sapthaswarangal', my son started pestering me. He wanted to change & view one of his favourite programmes 'Power Rangers' in the local channel. He tried in vain to get hold of the remote.. to realise later that he can't. He couldn't hide his frustration, since the continuity of the series has been missed out. [Note..Kids too prefer continuity in serials, not only tamizh thaaikulam]. Anyhow, he left the place finally....

Fortunately, my wife doesn't record 'Kolangal' (late night serial!!) nowadays since she is fed up of the never ending 'Abi' saga. Otherwise, I may have to unnecessarily give up(!!) some other interesting programmes in other channels. [Note.. No arguments here, just give up.... :-)]

Hope the above issues will be solved once this solution comes up.., which is expected to hit us soon.

This facility proposed by our local Cable company, allows us to record two programmes at the same time simultaneously. I believe there will be a price tag attached to it.. and hope it won't pinch me. I think, I can avoid the above situations, atleast thru this new facility.....
205th post

Sunday, October 09, 2005

Golu Raathiri

Happened to visit my friend's house over the weekend. And there were some amazing work done by his retired Dad for 'Golu'. It seems this was one of the smallest, out of his regular'Golu' displays back in India.

Most of them made out of thermacool stuff, looked very realistic.. some of those, which I liked were captured for your eyes too.

204th post







Friday, October 07, 2005

Melting titles, but the movies...

And the much awaited news has been released... the movie for which AR.Rahman will be composing next, is having the hottest pair of today in the lead roles. Yes, U are right. The Poetic title 'Jilendru Oru Kathal' is the one which I am talking about.

This movie has Surya and Asin in the lead roles. Don't leave out Jothika too. She is also playing the key role in this triangular love story. Debutant Director Krishna (an assistant of Gowtham Menon) is opening his account in this movie.

I love these type of poetic titles always. I even loved that 'Chennaiyil Oru Malaikaalam' title selected by Gowtham Menon. Unfortunately, he has scrapped it after a long gap. I am not sure if he will be using this title again for the new movie in which he is planning to venture with Arya & Jothika in the lead (After his 'V..V..' completion).

But most of the time, these directors fail to impress with their screenplay, eventhough the titles impress a lot. You expect something different from these strange titles. Most of them had flaunted the rules of a nice, sweet movie.

Some of those movies with melting titles, which I had observed are...

Sridhar's 'Azhage Unnai Aarathikireen' (Vijayakumar & Latha) which had some nice songs from Ilayaraja, eventhough I forgot whether it was a hit or an average movie.. any idea?

Un Kannil Neer Vazinthaal - What a poetic title? But it didn't help BaluMahendra much. Probably the audience would have expected an action oriented subjected in this Rajini-Madhavi flick and weren't impressed much with what was presented....

Yeh, Nee Romba Azhagaa Irukka? - Supposed to be one of the long titles after 'Aayiram Thalai Vaangiya Apoorva Sinthamani', the movie directed by Vasanth flopped dramatically in the BO. Eventhough he tried with 5 music directors for this movie, his screenplay failed to impress audience. Shaam, Sneha & Jaya Ray also couldn't help much with their performance. Bad luck....

Kangalaal Kaithu Sei - Nothing much to talk about this failed venture of Bharathi Raja. He, who tried to arrest the audience with the title, failed to arrest them with a tight screenplay. As I had mentioned in one of my earlier post, AR.Rahman's efforts didn't yield the desired results. I believe still BR is chewing its failure...

Enge Enathu Kavithai? - Just taken from the popular song (as mentioned in this post) of 'Kandukondein Kandukondein', had a poor casting (Kunal & ....) and went into the cans very quickly. (before you open and close your eyes)

Now I wonder whether the following movies will do some wonders in the BO or not.....

Azhagai Irukkirai, Payamai Irukkirathu - The movie being produced by Cheran, is directed by cameraman Vijay Milton. (captured in my earlier 'Let me do it..' series post). Will the Ladyluck who smiled on Bharath for the first 3 movies, smile at him for this movie - in which he is pairing with Mallika Kapoor? Need to wait and see if Vijay Milton can repeat what KV.Anand did in 'Kana Kandein'. Who knows? It may be a different movie from the failure trend of poetic titles..

Ezuthiyathaaradi - Ramana is acting in this low profile movie.. Any bets?

Nee Venumadi Enakku - Eventhough this cannot be classified as a poetic one, it looked strange to me. Not sure if this 'Jithan'Ramesh & Gajala starrer.. will do some business?

Ithu Thaan Kaathal Enbadha? - The director of this movie might have realised that titles won't do magics. So, instead of making it difficult for the audience to repeat such a lengthy title, he changed it to 'Jerry' recently. Will this change in title, do favours to 'Jithan'Ramesh & Meera Vasudevan? Fingers crossed...

BTW, Meera Vasudevan is supposed to marry Cinematographer Ashok Kumar's son? Why suddenly into a new movie????

In the last edition of A.Vikatan, I read that Director GandhiKrishna (of 'Nilakaalam' and 'Chellame') has got Writer Sujatha's acceptance, to direct one of his novel 'Aathalinaal Kaathal Seyveer'. A poetic name and indeed, the novel was a also neat love story. Gandhikrishna has experienced a lot in this tinseltown.. including scrapping of one of his project 'Engineer' (in which Arvindswamy & Madhuri Dixit acted). So, hope he will make use of his next opportunity to prove his skills again... which he proved in his two other movies.


Hope you will be blowing the dreambubbles with some more nice titles, which really succeeded in the B.O......

Other posts of 'Naming the film' Series
Recycle the Old names, again...
Listen.. Pick.. Name
Name the month - Decide your film name
A Naming convention with difference - Teaching Basics

203rd post

Wednesday, October 05, 2005

New avataar

Whenever an actor needs a break, he may decide 'Ok.. let me change my getup for the next character. Probably, it may click...'. Finally they endup tonsuring their head....

Like these following guys did....

Kamal - Sathya, Aalavandhan
Sarath - Sooriyan, Khakki
Satyaraj - Nooraavathu Naal, Jallikattu
Ajith - Red
Arunkumar - Jananam
Madhavan - Ayutha Ezuthu
Surya - Nandha, Ghajini

And a related tonsured look of Srikanth in 'Sathurangam' (yet to be released) and Dhanush in 'Athu oru Kanaa Kaalam' (yet to be released)

Some of these movies have not clicked as well. That's why some of our heroes never tried those looks..like Prashanth, Vijay, Vijaykanth etc.,

But do you know the reasons behind the following get up of the prominent businessman in the Indian BPO industry? I don't know whether it is a real one or doctored picture (looks like a real one to me)

Still the guy looks charming, eventhough he had put on some weight, compared to 13 years back!!!! Isn't it?
202nd post


Tuesday, October 04, 2005

தொலையா நினைவுகள்...

(thanglish format in the comments section)

சல சலக்கும் ஓடை
கல கலக்கும் மணியோசை
இவற்றின் நடுவே

பச்சை பசேலென ஒரு
வயல் வெளியில், நிதானமான
காலைப் பொழுது

ஹ்ம்ம்ம்...

வாழ்வில் தொலைந்து
போன அப்பள்ளி
விடுமுறையை எண்ணியே

நாட்களைக் கழிக்கும்
ஒரு நகரவாசியின்
பெருமூச்சு...



(அச்சிறு விஷயங்களைத் தேடி ஒரு சில வெளியூர் பயணங்கள் மேற்கொள்வது, வேறு விஷயம்!!! இருந்தாலும் அந்த சுகம் தனி சுகம் தான்....)

படத்தைப் பெரிதாக்கி ரசிக்கவும்
பட உதவி: கார்த்தியின் வலைப்பதிவு
201st post

Monday, October 03, 2005

The Day for ADs....

Enlarge them and enjoy...




200th post

Sunday, October 02, 2005

Following 'Harichandra' rules...

While preaching / advising the kids, we approach an issue in a particular way. But when it falls on us, the approach seems to differ (at times, diagonally opposite too). We do it most of the times, whatever be the reasons like 'to be practical' or 'to educate them' etc.,

Last week, my son was called for by his school Principal to her room, along with 2 other kids. Once he returned from school, he started sobbing and told that he was called for and got advices. The reasoning provided by him was that he was amidst two fighting kids and incidentally got caught.Further queries revealed that he also beat one of those kids. Later he revealed somemore.. So, all of them together had done something and was sent to her room. The initial intention was to prove that he didn't do anything... a Kid's attitude!!!!

Advising session started.. that he should not hide things like this, blah blah.

But honestly speaking, we do hide or misrepresent certain facts in our day-to-day life due to circumstances.... Some may be obvious, some may not be.. all depends on the individual's perceptions, as to whether it is right or wrong. Few of those instances, where either I was in the receiving end or at the delivering end......

1) Hiding some actual facts from relatives or friends, assuming that they won't like it or will be hurt.
2) Hiding an achievement(!!) or acquisition of an object/asset, from those who may look into those with different eyes.. I mean jealousy ones.
3) When one of your colleague, asks you to give good opinion about him to a Job agent - by acting as his 'Project manager' or 'Project lead' eventhough your relationship with him is not as such.

The following are strange things, which you might or might not have encountered....
4) Not revealing the place of the next career move or misrepresent it. [Read this related post of mine.. You may get to know more]
5) Hiding a proposed holiday plan, to those who are not close to you.. even when they ask so many questions. [similar to (2) above]
6) Misrepresenting or hiding facts for business reasons... justifying them as business rules.

So, in today's practical scenario we don't follow 'Harichandra' rules. The situational demand (of hiding or misrepresentation) has become the norm of the day. In that case, how forcefully can we advise the next generation? I could realise that it would be upto some extent only. Till, they realise the trick of manipulation and cannot withstand our advices(!!).

Do you have some other similar scenario, where you were in the middle?
199th post