Weekend movies - Chennai Kaadhal and Varalaaru

Chennai Kaadhal - Don't ask me why I watched this pathetic movie. I have been waiting for 2 movies at my local Indian store - Vattaram and Thiruvilaiyadal Aarambam. But since they both haven't gotten here yet and since I had seen all the other recent movies (save for untouched gems like Idhu Kaadhal Varum Paruvam & Nenjirukkum Varai), I decided to go with this one. One reason for selecting this one was Bharath, bcos of the kind of movies he has been selecting to do. Another reason was Vikraman. Mistake me not, I am probably the biggest hater of Vikraman and his movies you could find around. When I went to Vaanathai Pola during my final year in college, I couldn't even sit through the first 5 mins. But the reason why I still ventured into renting this DVD was bcos of his statements that he has given a youthful movie, quite different from his earlier offerings. Wrong. Lesson learnt – don’t trust the words of directors trying to make comebacks. This was easily the worst movie I have seen in a long time (Vallavan comes a close second). It had no story whatsoever and had the most stereotypical screenplay you could think of. It was so bad that even a child who has only watched 1 Tamil movie can easily predict every scene in the movie. If we were to compile a list of the top 100 clichéd scenes that ever came out of Tamil cinema, every scene in this movie would have found a place in that list. There would be couple of so-called serious scenes, followed by a comedy scene, which would in turn be followed by something that vaguely resembles a romance and then there would be the dream song on some exotic locales. Within all this commotion of a screenplay, the director finds the time & audacity to squeeze in a fight sequence every few scenes. Genelia and Bharath just sleepwalk through their roles. But you can't really blame them since there should be something in the movie to inspire them. BTW Bharath, what were all those collar lifting scenes with high sounding background music? You too, Bharath? Joshua Sridhar tries his best to rehash some of the earlier hits of both Mottai & ARR in the name of songs and ultimately fails. I can't think of one thing to appreciate in the movie. My only hope is that directors like Vikraman are never given another to chance to direct a film.

Varalaaru - Was not really looking forward to watching this movie. But since everyone had spoken highly of Ajith's performances in his effeminate role, I thought I should check it out. The movie was as typical a KSRavikumar movie can get. It is really amazing that how this guy can reel off movies, which you can neither classify as good nor as bad, at such a consistent rate. I mean, he simplifies the whole plot & story to such an extent that even a slightly complex story as this one was made to look so ordinary. You can give him the most complex story with an equally complex screenplay to direct and he will still be successful in coming up with a simple movie with completely predictable scenes. I think it requires a special talent to do that but that would also be the reason why he would never even be thought when the list of best directors in Tamil cinema is compiled by most of us. I have to say something about Ajith. It is so apparent that the guy puts in so much effort but for all his efforts, it doesn’t make watching him act a very enjoyable experience. Folks like Dhanush and Jeeva are way better than him when it comes to acting and I wouldn’t even go into discussing his name along with the likes of Surya and Vikram. His dancing is average, at best and it is amazing how he hasn't improved a bit all these years. Asin is there. Nothing much to say about her 'role'. The 'misunderstanding' which leads to the blossoming of love between Ajith & Asin is downright disgusting. The songs were strictly OK. Background music was a joke, as always. I am sure ARR would have assigned the BGM work to one of his assistants. I don't know when we started the concept of having this friend's group come along with the hero throughout the movie but it is starting to look ridiculous now-a-days. In this movie, Ajith's gang includes Ramesh Krishna, dance master Johnny, the guys who comes in 7GRC. It was pathetic to see them trout around in every scene. KS Ravikumar's streak of reeling off hits with beaten-to-death stories seems to continue in this largely uninteresting movie. It is when I see movies like these, I feel bad for Ajith whose career could have taken a turn for the better with Naan Kadavul.

2 Thalaivars - 1 video

This is the closest I have come to seeing both my Thalaivars in the same video. The Superstar watching the Little Master bat. What more can a fanatic ask for? :)

Second Coming - Nike's new commercial

I have always wanted to do such a post, embedding a YouTube video. And this commercial captured my attention the very first I saw it and I thought of starting with this one (I didn't use YouTube though - for YouTube users, the video can be seen here). Nike's commercials are always cool and this one is a good proof of the same. All the NBA superstars come together in this well-conceived ad, with my personal favorite Kobe standing in the middle of the lot. Nike has a good wallpaper that you can download here.

Pokkiri - Insipid Moviemaking at its best

Kushi and Gilli have been the only Vijay movies I have watched in the last 6-7 years (that should tell you how big a fan of his movies I have been) and reading about all the bad movies he has been casting himself in year in and year out, I wasn't really very much interested in going to this movie when I heard about its screening here. But finally had to go under my friends’ compulsion and I have to say that I did carry a very faint hope that may be Vijay has changed his ways. My first reaction mid-way through the movie - I have done myself a world of good by opting not to watch any Vijay movies all these years. This guy has not really changed much, as far as selection of story & scripts go. Man, the movie was just a big joke. If the only scene that you can recall from a movie after watching it, is a comedy scene involving Vadivelu, then there is something wrong with the movie. I can't believe that Prabhu Deva can come up with such a pathetic screenplay. The final 30 minutes were a torture to sit through. Prabhu Deva has made sure that every actor in the movie is wasted as much as possible. Watching Nasser and Prakash Raj doing the roles they did, was plain embarrassing. As we all know, Chandramukhi has this famous Enna kodumai Saravanan idhu moment. The reason I am mentioning it here is bcos this movie had so many such moments that it will be a futile attempt listing all of them.

Asin's role should have been the most confusing role she has ever done. The romantic portions were too idiotic to even write about it. The only thing I was looking forward to in the movie was to see how the Vijay - Prabhu Deva combo had done in the dance choreography department. Even there, it was a huge let-down. Except for the opening song, none of the songs were even close to being called impressive. Another thing I don’t understand is why in the world Vijay took close to a year to do a movie like this. Bcos the last time I read, he was supposedly looking for a good script. Though Vadivelu's comedy evoked a few laughs, couple of them were done in clearly bad taste and it only added to the discomfort of the movie-goer, who were already being fed with too much violence, straight out of a Telugu movie. The inspector role comes to my mind readily. There are so many ways that a director can make the audience dislike a particular character but Prabhu Deva chooses the most disgusting way of all.

There were 2 stand out comedy scenes from the movie:

1) Suttrum vizhi chudare sequence by Vadivelu – the entire audience went into uncontrollable laughter during this scene.
2) When Vijay is revealed as the undercover IPS officer (Oops…I have revealed the ‘unpredictable twist’ in the story). That was easily the biggest comedy scene (even better than the previous scene) in the movie which duly brought in a lot of catcalls from the audience.

One sincere request to Vijay - please do not try wearing the police officer dress. You look totally out of place like a clown (more like a watchman). On the whole, a completely forgettable & must-avoid movie and if you any of reading this haven’t seen the movie so far, please do not venture near the theater. You have been sufficiently warned. As for me, I have learnt my lesson. This will be the last Vijay film I would be seeing.

Veyil - Flawed classic

Call me a sucker to emotional and realistic movies but this easily was my best movie of the year 2006 (Haven’t seen Pudhupettai yet). This could have gone on to become a classic if only the director had done a simple thing right - not include 3 unnecessary songs. Remove the 3 songs I am talking about, this would have been an instant classic. The pace of the movie, which was too slow to the point of making the viewers uncomfortable, only gets worse with those 3 unnecessary songs. The Kaadhal Neruppin song in particular stood out, with even the way the song was shot completely standing at odds with the local fervor of the movie. The fact that it reminds one of the Dil Se Re song in picturization did not help matters either. I am sure the snail-paced screenplay and length of the movie are couple of reasons why not everybody liked Veyil. I actually had no problems with both of them but when I can see that the movie could have been a lot better if not for those 3 songs, I felt let-down.

Coming to the realism with which the movie was shot, I can even say that this complete movie looked more realistic, even more than Kaadhal. That should say what I felt about this bcos Kaadhal has by far been one of the 3 most realistic movies in Tamil cinema in the last few years (Pithamagan and Virumandi being the other 2). Every shot in the movie oozed of realism. And having spent a considerable portion of my life in the Virudhunagar & Madurai districts and with most of the movie being shot in these 2 districts, I could so much relate to the locations the movie was shot at and the references that were made in the movie. Tilakaraj textiles, parotta in the road-side shop, the Virudhunagar bus-stand, the VHNSN college - all these anyone who has lived in/ living in the area would just jump out of excitement on seeing them on-screen. I think that is one of the biggest advantages of shooting on the streets and roads of some city. That is exactly the reason why a movie like Kaadhal and Thavamaai Thavam Irundhu is so close to my heart (bcos they were shot in Madurai) and that is one reason why Veyil too will be close to my heart.

There were just too many good scenes in the movie which will linger in my memory forever. Like Balaji here points out, one would definitely be the scene where the heroine wraps herself up in film rolls after Pasupathy gets rid of her mundhaanai. That was just so poetic. Same is the case when Shriya Reddy gives Pasupathy that oil bath. That tight-rope walk scene, if it had not been properly handled and if it had been shown any other way, could have easily looked sleazily. The beautiful relationship that Pasupathy shares with both Bharath and Shriya Reddy was so heart-warming. Particularly the way Bharath warms up to his elder brother has been done very beautifully. The way each one of the family members react to his coming back has been done in a very realistic way. You have his father, who still carries the hatred and rejects him right away. Then, there is his mother who is so happy to see his lost son coming back but she is too burdened with the loads of running a family, she does not realize what Pasupathy expects from her. His sisters, who have no recollection of him, react in a very indifferent way, not knowing what to expect form him and also what he expects from them. Finally, there is Bharath who has been carrying the ‘burden’ of having been the reason for his brother running away from his home. He is the happiest of everybody and does his best in making him comfortable. Only a director who has experienced all these emotions could have thought about all of them in such a convincing & detailed manner and it is where IMO Vasanthabalan scores. After Thavamai Thavam Irundhu, this was the movie which left a drop or two in the corner of my eyes.

Pasupathi's proven acting skills come to the fore once again, but that is only during the latter part of the movie. I thought he was kind of a misfit in his younger role. Like many have felt, the toupee could have been done better. Bharath is awesome as always and to me, Bharath, along with Jeeva and Arya, are the 2 younger generation actors on whom I have placed my faith on. Shriya Reddy's cameo was again so good and overwhelming. Bhavana is very cute. I wasnt very much impressed with her when I saw her first in Chithiram Pesuthadi but I guess I have become a huge fan of her after watching Veyil. The Thala and Thalaivar joke in the movie, I am sure, will be remembered for a very long time.

Though the songs in the movie were pretty good, I thought G.V.Prakash's re-recording effort was pretty ordinary. In fact, in some of the heavy scenes in the movie, he let the movie down very badly. But we should pat the guy on his otherwise decent debut which gave us atleast 3 quality songs which we will carry in our hearts and minds - Veyilodu uravaadi, Uruguthe maruguthe and Kaadhal Neruppin.

Finally, to the man who made this movie possible - no amount of praise and admiration would suffice for Shankar, for placing his confidence in his ex-assistant director's story. He, along with Prakashraj, are easily the 2 best producers quality cinema lovers should look forward too. Though the disappointment that stems from the feeling of 'What could have' is huge, to me, the fact that the director has given us all a high quality movie as the final output outweighs all the negatives that I have of this movie. Shankar & Vasanthabalan, take a bow.

My picks for the Divisional Playoffs

As expected, the AFC produced 2 lop-sided games last week and the fiesty NFC served the NFL fans with a close encounter and an instant classic. It's time to pick this weekend's games. I am in the mood to pick the underdogs in each of the 4 games this weekend.

Colts over Ravens
The Ravens might have a superior defense but I have the confidence in Manning & co. to score the points against any defense. Plus, the Ravens offense is nothing to rave about. And they do not boast of a powerful running game, which is what you need if you want to keep the Colts offense off the field. The Chiefs failed to get their running game & offense going and they paid the price for it. The Ravens may the favorite but I am picking the Colts to win this one, in a surprisingly convincing manner.

Patriots over Chargers
The Chargers, in everyone's opinion, are the best team in the NFL. But to me, the best coach in the league is Bill Belichick. Who else can lead a team which lost 4 of its best receivers from last season, to a 12-4 regular season record. His clinical execution of the Jets last weekend was a gentle reminder of his coaching capabilities. LT has been held to under 100 yards in 5 games, this season. So expect the Patriots to do that too. IMO, the only thing that is going for the Chargers is the home field advantage. But the Patriots have been outstanding on the road this season, with only 1 of their 4 losses coming on the road. I pick the Patriots in this one, which should be very close.

Eagles over Saints
Sean Payton has brought this team from the very depths to the best team in the NFC and he deservedly won the Coach of the year honors. They have everything going for them - 1 week's rest, home field advantage and all that. But the Eagles have been resurgent under Garcia. Nobody, absolutely nobody, gave the Eagles a chance when McNabb was done for the season. But the Eagles have truly defied all odds and have come thus far. The Saints offense wont be able to score easily, the way they have done against most teams this season, against a Brian Dawkins-led Eagles defense. Plus, the Eagles have a really effective running game. Expect a high scoring affair with the Eagles edging out the Saints in the home stretch.

Seahawks over Bears
As a Seahawks fan, this was the match-up that I asked for. If there was ever a chance for our struggling team to get to the next round, it has to be against the Bears. The vaunted Bears defense is definitely penetrable as the Patriots (and even the Cardinals in that infamous Monday Night game) showed. Rex Grossman will be Seattle's trump card, as we need him to be inconsistent. Finally, it all comes down to the Seattle offense, or to be precise, to Shaun Alexander. His failure to get going has hurt the offense, making it too one dimensional and thus putting too much pressure on Hasselback. Being in Seattle, I have to pick the Seahawks in this one :)

There goes my 4 picks for this weekend's games. At the end of it all, I might end up looking foolish with all 4 favorites (and overwhelming at that) winning the games, but I am still placing my bet on the underdogs.

Deepavali album - Yuvan starts the year with a bang

I was kind of in the dark as to what to expect from this album bcos the director's previous movies all had some good numbers. Thullaadha Manamum Thullum & Pennin Manadhai Thottu - two of the better albums from S.A.Raj Kumar and Poovellaam Un Vaasam - decent album from Vidhyasagar. But at the same time, I have never been a fan of his movies and hence I wasn't sure if his movie will be able to inspire Yuvan to come up with some good songs. On top of that, Yuvan had delivered a very average Thamirabharani album for Hari who is usually pretty good at extracting songs from his MDs. So, it really did come as a surprise to me that Yuvan has come out with an almost complete album for director Ezhil. May be, Lingusamy who is the producer of the movie had some say in it.

Pogaadhe - Yuvan gets everything right in this one, including even his raw rendition. Haven't seen this extensive piano usage from Yuvan before. Another Ore Naalil quality song and pick of the album, for me.
Kaadhal Vaithu - Trademark soothing melody from Yuvan that is to stay in our hearts for a long time to come. Vijay Yesudoss is just awesome and plays the perfect foil in elevating the song. Sure to find a place in the best songs of the year.
Thoduven Thoduven - Yuvan disproves the notion that Rahman is the only who can come up with qawaalis and stuff. The Nisa nisa gare humming is addictive.
Kannan Varum Velai - readily catchy tune with Dandiya-style beats. Madhushree and Anuradha Sriram in tandem here make listening to the song an enjoyable experience
Dole Baaje - Starts off promisingly but completely loses track in the charanams. But the song might still become a big hit with decent picturisation. The only below average number of the album.

Chennai 6000028 and Satham Podaathey were the albums that I was looking forward to from Yuvan. But Yuvan springs a pleasant surprise here and comes up with a real quality album with 2 soulful melodies & 2 foot-tapping numbers.

Priceless in Seattle

Qwest field tickets - 115$
Parking - 20$
Soda, Fish & chips, Fries - 30$
No. 37 Shaun Alexander jersey - 75$
Watching the Seahawks beat the Cowboys in a nail-biter - Priceless


Saturday night was just unbelievable as I along with my friends & thousands of Seahawks fans were witness to an instant classic at the Qwest field stadium here in Seattle. As the Cowboys were ready to take a 2-point lead on the Seahawks with 1:19 left in the clock, we were already talking about how and if the Seahawks will be able to gain around 40 yards to give Josh Brown a chance at winning the game for us. That's when the now-infamous fumble by Romo happened and after some nervous moments which included a Hail-Mary pass from Romo that fell incomplete, the celebrations inside the stadium had truly began.

The atmosphere inside the stadium was something that I was not prepared for, even with my 3 game experience of watching the Seahawks play. Playoff games have their own intensity & aura which regular season games can hardly match. We almost watched the full game standing from our seats and the only time the fans let us sit in our seats was during the turnovers and timeouts. And when the Cowboys botched that FG attempt, the stadium went absolutely crazy and there was absolute mayhem in the stands. This was football at its best. Would be just awesome if the Seahawks are able to carry forward their momentum and come up with a victory against the Bears next weekend. Fingers crossed...

Speed Limits

Speed limit is probably the one single law that everyone here wishes it was not there. Not surprising, since we all love to drive at mind-boggling speeds. Driving fast has our adrenaline flowing and we all love to do that. On the first day at my on-campus job in grad school, we had a game of ice-breaker where to a question as to what is the one law that you wish is done away with - almost everyone in the team answered 'speeding'.

Anyway, the reason I started to write about speeds was after reading this report that Texas lawmakers are contemplating on increasing the speed limits on interstate highways to 80 mph. 75 is the maximum speed limit that I have seen on highways here. 80, though being just 5 MPH more, looks as though it might be too fast. The reason they attribute for such a decision is that in a survey that they took, the average speed of almost 85% of the drivers on the road was 79 MPH on a 75 MPH zone. So, why to have a speed limit for just name sake and hence they just increased the limit.

There is also this rumor which I have heard from many folks that Montana does not have any posted speed limits during daylight. Of course, now that I have just been there, I can say it is not true. But I have heard that there WAS a time when Montana did not have any speed limit. So, I set about to do some researching and found this Wikipedia link. This link has all the details that one would want to know about speed limits in the US. More importantly, it also had some information about the Montana speed limit myth. From the link:

Montana had a non-numeric "reasonable and prudent" speed limit during the daytime on most rural roads. Montana Code Annotated (MCA) Section 61-8-303 said "A person ... shall drive the vehicle ... at a rate of speed no greater than is reasonable and proper under the conditions existing at the point of operation...so as not to unduly or unreasonably endanger the life, limb, property, or other rights of a person entitled to the use of the street or highway."

On March 10, 1996 [5], a Montana Patrolman issued a speed ticket to a driver traveling at 85 mph (140 km/h) on a lonely stretch of State Highway 200. Although the officer gave no opinion as to what would have been a reasonable speed, the driver was convicted. The driver appealed all the way to the Montana Supreme Court. The Court reversed the conviction and held that a law requiring drivers to drive at a non-numerical "reasonable and proper" speed "is so vague that it violates the Due Process Clause ... of the Montana Constitution".

Due to this reversal, Montana scrambled to vote in a numerical limit as it technically had no speed limit whatsoever in the meantime. In June 1999, a new Montana speed limit law went into effect. The law's practical effect was to require posted limits on all roads and disallow any speed limit higher than 75 mph (120 km/h).

So, it is indeed true that Montana did not have any posted speed limit during the years 1995 to 1999. During my road trip to Mount Rushmore few months back, I could see why they did not have a speed limit for so long since you would hardly come across a car. We went stretches of miles before even driving past 1 car. While I was talking about this trip with my friends, one of my friends here at work was saying that traffic tickets were very cheap in MT - like it would be 15$ or 20$ and that you can pay off the cop right there and then. And unfortunately, we got a first-hand experience during our trip when my friend was pulled over by a cop for driving at 84 MPH on a 65 mph limit zone. You know what the ticket was for this 19 mph infraction? 40 bucks. How funny?! I am sure a similar ticket in any other state would have cost my friend a good fortune.