Geo’s Talkies – OK Kanmani

‪#‎OKKanmani‬ is vintage Mani Ratnam, even if it sounds like a cliche. The GodFather of modern romance at various points of time right from Mouna Raagam right up to Alaipayuthey has written a story that involves a man and woman of today, wonderfully played by Nithya Menen as Tara Kalingarayan and nicely portrayed by Dulquer Salman as Aditya Varadharajan.

Conversations over cell phones, professional aspirations and goals, values (some would say the lack of it) all have been woven into the story. He layers these troupes with those of an ageing couple faced with their own problems in day to day life. Its almost like a plant blossoming under a giant tree the two couples separated by age. The movie is also about Prakash's Raj's Ganapathy, in one of his finest roles ever, and Leela Samson's Bhavani though the trailers focus on Adhi-Tara.

The hip upper class crowd, for a change isn't portrayed as scheming and lacking in moral and ethical values. After a series of botched up female acting calls, the ace auteur nails it this time with his cast. Ramya Subramanian gets a good role to play in her first full scale movie outing almost like Swarnamalya and Medha got in Alaipayuthey. Buses, trains, rain, sea front, telephone calls, bikes all get a fresh take in this story. Though Mani's characters are mostly upper-middle class / upper class they always travel by public transport.

The story is light weight, entertaining and lacks serious drama or tension building moments. AR Rahman's re-recording (an Indianism for background score) has a higher amount of piano this time and the BGM is co-credited to Qutub-e-Kripa (KMMC composers). PC Sreeram's camera is inventive in it's angles, particularly featuring Adhi and Tara. The first series of conversations between the couple is beautifully staged and immaculately captured. Another Madras Talkies' regular Sreekar Prasad has edited the movie.

This movie is Mani Ratnam giving his fans a re-arrangement of his troupes, to people who felt he strayed away from his strengths as a story teller. [Asides: The movies didn't have to be rated U/A. "Pollachi Mahalingam", "Kalingarayar", the "TN-66 J" registered Audi and the name itself makes up a lot of references to Kovai aka Coimbatore. For some of us there is no other place like Cbe].

Geo’s Talkies – Onayum Aatukuttiyum

Tamil Cinema has been going through a wonderful period recently where anyone who has a good story – even decent story -  to narrate is getting the avenue to make his or her movie. The audience is surprisingly receptive to these movies from rank newcomers in an industry that is dominated by stars, big production houses and larger than life premises. Cinema was always supposed to be the common man’s escape from his daily grind, which is true to a large extent but should cinema be slotted within or constrained by such platitudes ?"

In a year where even a Mani Ratnam’s movie had to bite dust at the theatres came Mysskin’s “Onayum Aatukuttiyum”. Mysskin is an intelligent filmmaker, too intelligent some would say. In this movie he brings the story of a medical college student whose life gets intermeshed in a vicious web of crime and deceit. On his way back home after a night of studies at his friend’s house, Chandru finds a man lying on the road with bullet-shot wounds. Earlier a lot of people pass by the hapless man, the usual apathy we exhibit at this situation is portrayed starkly. People who stop to see if the man has life and leave when they see he has. People who shoot pictures for social media. People who don’t want to do anything about a wounded man on the road.

The system is the next on Mysskin’s list. Chandru isn’t able to get medical attention to the wounded man in a hospital, neither is he able to get the law enforcement’s attention. One of the police men even steal the wounded man’s watch right behind Chandru’s back. Sheer desperation forces Chandru to take the man home and treat his wound with help from his Professor, who himself is bereaved that night, an event that seems to play a role in the Professor deciding to help Chandru perform the medical procedures after initially rebuking him sharply for acting irresponsibly.

The Crime Branch lands on Chandru’s house the next day because the wounded man was Wolf, who was fleeing after being shot by the police in an “encounter”. Wolf, according to the Police, is a most wanted criminal with over 14 murders to his name which includes a blind teenager. A lot of these facts help us join the dots together in the third act of the movie. Chandru and his elder Brother are taken into Police custody, unofficially, while Chandru’s sister in law is kept under house arrest.

The Police characters have been sketched well. We are used to templates of either too good or too bad cops in uniform in Cinema. Here you have a mix of policemen. The corrupt officer who is hand in glove with another dreaded criminals. Tons of policemen on night beats, manning check points, who are scared as we’d be at such times. High ranking officer who want to help Chandru but hesitates due to passive pressure from his juniors and yet when circumstances change has no qualms in calling a hit to rid the society of an alleged dreaded criminal.

The best writing comes in the form of a CB-CID duo who read between the lines all through the movie to pursue their own course of finding Wolf. One of these two has a brilliant dialogue explaining to his superior officer why he won’t let Chandru escape Police custody, despite the custody being unlawful. When the Wolf wants to meet Chandru the Police hatch a plan to eliminate him. Is the Wolf stupid enough to walk into a trap laid out by the Police ? Why does the Wolf want to meet Chandru ? The rest of the movie is about how Chandru is used by the police as a lamb to lure the wolf and how Wolf navigates the quagmire.

This movie has been shot entirely in the night, not the usual DI work of turning a day shot into night. Ilaiyaraja’s foreground score, as the titles put it, support the movie ably. Mysskin’s martial arts background set the stage for some brilliant action choreography, complete with two samurai’s nailed to each other in the end. Mysskin even stretches the Onaay trait by showing Wolf with a tail. God is an underlying character all through the movie showing up on the wall Chandru runs past, as screams from Policemen who get shot, in the cemetery etc. “Onaayum Aatukuttiyum” is a brilliant attempt from a filmmaker who is completely in control of his form and technique, a Tamil movie that can rival any other good thriller from anywhere else in the world.

Geo’s Talkies - Skyfall

“This is the end” sings Adele when James Bond falls of a train, that’s passing a viaduct, into a river having been shot by one of his own and the opening credits begin. Sam Mendes sets the tone right at this point on what is to come. The pre-credit sequences are high octane with chases on four wheels and two wheels and that mandatory train which always seem to have the CAT equivalent of L&T Proclain and some stunning cars that have to end up as crushed metal.

Before getting shot 007 was attempting to retrieve a stolen hard disk that contained the list of NATO operatives across the world and MI-6 continues to pursue the target to retrieve the data before the cover of the field operatives are blown. In Julian Assange style the antagonist reveals five names every week putting pressure on MI-6 and M who is not just fighting a battle with an unknown enemy but also keeping political pressure from inside the UK at bay.

How 007 comes back and saves the organisation from the antagonist forms the rest of the story. The antagonist is one of the cleverest villains Bond has had to face in the last 50 years, who also has a homophobic streak that plays humorously. The mandatory Bond girls are there, one of them, as it always happens, gets killed brutally. There is no mention of any physical intimacy between Bond and the other though the lines they speak are risqué. The Ashton Martin DB5 (BMT 216A) which first appeared in GoldFinger (*ing Sean Connery) makes it’s appearance in this one.

Q now is a computer geek who still needs Bond’s brain to figure the name of a tube station that’s involved in a core plot point in the movie. The gun he passes on to Bond should be made mandatory to own, why wouldn’t anyone want to possess a gun that won’t fire without the owner’s finger prints on the trigger?

Thomas Newman’s first attempt at scoring for the Bond franchisee is a welcome change, the music  is void of the bravado we’ve come to associate with David Arnold’s score. Except for the legendary Monty Norman’s James Bond Theme which plays in the OST as arranged by David Arnold, Thomas goes ahead and weaves his own tapestry around the drama which makes the score subtle, synthesized in parts and engaging. It’s only fair to Sam that he brought Thomas into the movie after their successful collaboration on The Road to Perdition, American Beauty and Revolutionary Road.

Roger Deakin’s cinematography captures the mood of every scene lucidly and the latter scenes in Scotland thankfully aren’t postcards for Scotland Tourism but are stark and vivid to carry forward the narrative. Sam Mendes is no Michael Apted (The World is not enough) or Martin Campbell (Golden Eye, Casino Royale). Therefore this Bond movie is more of a drama with bursts of superb action sequences. Skyfall is a must watch.

Geo’s talkies – Departures (Japanese)

Departures was the winner in the best foreign film category at the Oscars in 1999. The movie is based on a novel titled Coffinman and was directed by Yojiro Takita and has English subtitles.

Daigo Kobayashi is a cellist with a modern Japanese orchestra which closes down due to lack of patronage. This leaves Daigo without a job and forces him to sell his costly and professional cello, move to the town he was born in to occupy the house left back by his deceased Mother. Daigo responds to an advertisement about a job with Sasaki and manages to bag it only to realize it wasn’t what he thought it to be. The job is to prepare dead bodies for burial, encoffination is the term used by some.

Reluctant Daigo learns the trade from his boss Sasaki, a man of few words but who portrays immense respect for the dead and living, who meticulously work on dead bodies with respect to wash, clean, clothe and make them look their best in the last few moments left on Earth. Daigo’s wife Mika doesn’t like his job when she get’s to know it, he becomes a pariah with the only other association he’s shown to have in the movie.

Daigo nurtures an almost perfect relationship with his boss and eventually learns to respect and practise his trade with art like precision. Having raised by a single mother, he nurses a grudge for his Father who deserted them while he was a child. His wife leaves him asking him to decide if he wants to continue the profession or live with her.

There isn’t too much dramatic tension in the narrative, all such setups are resolved before they can sink in. The movie has been shot very beautifully with classical or classical-like orchestral music to back up the shots. The third movement (popularly known as Ode to Joy) from Beethoven’s 9th plays in it’s full 6 track glory in the early section of the movie showing Daigo’s orchestra. Daigo find more music and looks inward as his learning of his trade progresses.

The ending reunites Daigo back with his wife and brings closure to his inner turmoil in a very nice way. The Japanese have made an art of folding paper, which goes by the name Origami. Even routine and mundane activities like manufacturing in an assembly line is practiced like an art in Japan. It’s hence not very surprising to see how much of a care and devotion is laid out to prepare dead people and give them a fitting farewell from this world.

There are many scenes that stand out due to content that’s emotional or soul stirring. A dead wife’s husband crying “Naomi”, Daigo’s boss Sasaki’s methods while working, Mika starting to take pride in her husband’s profession, the Japanese people’s liking for good food, all have been portrayed exquisitely. A scene depicting salmon trying to swim up a river while dead one’s float downstream is profound in meaning. The scene where Sasaki & Daigo show up 5 minutes late to be shouted at mirrors the fact that the Japanese are sticklers for punctuality.

Departures is a must watch on any movie lover’s list, for the way characters have been laid out and made to play; around the theme of mortal certainity, of death and loss, yet would make you exclaims “What a beautiful movie!” instead of anything negative.

Geo’s Talkies – Vinnaithaandi Varuvaya

Almost a decade after “Minnale”, Gautam Menon’s debut movie as a director in Tamil cinema comes another love story. The movies Gautam directed after the first weren’t out and out romantic movies though romance played a nice part in the overall narrative.

Initially reported by the media as “Chennaiyil oru mazhaikaalam”, the movie took the title of “Vinnaithaandi Varuvaya” when it was confirmed that Silambarasan was being cast to play the male lead. “Vinnaithaandi Varuvaya” is a nice warm love story, it’s takes you through the life of Karthik and Jessie. The former is a Mechanical Engineer by education who aspires to become a filmmaker, the parallels one can draw to Gautam’s education and profession are just too obvious.

Karthik also plays cricket and practices boxing as a hobby, which really turns out to be an excuse to a superbly set action sequence in the middle of the movie. Jessie is a young IT professional in Chennai, loves mathematics and we don’t get to know anything more about her.  Karthik is instantly smitten by her right from the first time he sees her. Of course, the fact that Karthik and his family live in the ground floor of Jessie’s house gives him ample opportunities to ogle at her every now and then.

So here’s the first act play out on screen, you have a premise and two smart, charming and beautiful people who inevitably have to fall for each other. What’s going to be different with this movie is that this is Gautam Menon’s story, someone who has fascinating attention for detail and can write at least some characters in 3 dimensions. So conflict comes in the form of 1) religion: Jessie is Syrian Catholic Malayali Christian and Karthik is Hindu, Vellalar; 2) age: Jessie’s a year older than Karthik; 3) will: Karthik is completely enamoured by Jessie while Jessie is slightly more of a realist.

Karthik get’s introduced to KS Ravikumar through Cinematographer Ganesh and get a shot at interning under him. How does Karthik convince Jessie about his love? Does Karthik break into the big league with his film making? These are core plot points whose resolution can’t be spelled out in a blog and spoil the experience for you.

Silambarasan as Karthik has tried his best to portray on screen his characters sans histrionics. He’s done a good job at emoting, however I still have bones to pick at his dialogue delivery. Trisha Krishnan as Jessie is a pretty sight, she emotes slightly better but has a long way to go in that department. I thought she looked awful in at least two close up shots.

Full credits should go to the director and the dress designer for dressing up Trisha in immaculate drapes of saris, superbly cut and fit salwars and some very elegant western attire. Babu Antony plays Jessie’s Father and Kittu plays Karthik’s Father.

The opening title sequences are innovative and appear to have been filmed on the Vembanad Lake, the same place where the Rajiv Gandhi snake boat race is held with much fanfare every year. Manoj Parahamsa has canned the backwaters of Kuttanad in all it’s splendour wonderfully for this movie, it can easily pass off as advertisement for God’s own country’s tourism department.

AR Rahman’s songs have already been a rage, this movie has one of his most complete background scores for Indian movies. I’m still not able to recollect a melody from the score however I remember enjoying their richness. They didn’t distract me from the narrative and they probably helped take the narrative forward. I got to mention about the 5.1 mix which wasn’t distractive even once, that’s rare for a Tamil movie and full credit for that should go to KJ Singh.

Finally kudos to Gautam Vasudev Menon on writing a nice warm love story which isn’t all sugary and fluffy and keeping it’s decent enough without the usual trappings of masala cinema like a parallel comedy track and an item number. “Vinnaithaandi Varuvaya” is an honest effort, worth watching in the halls for it’s clean content, decent performances and a nice love story.

Trivia:

1) Clever references to Rahman’s hit music pieces from the past, “Mustafa Mustafa” plays on when a reference to friendship is made between the lead pair and “Pa sa ni sa” (sung by Shankar Mahadevan) from Bombay is talked about in a similar scene where lead pairs eyes meet.
2) The church that is featured in this movie is St Mary’s Forane Church, Pulinkunnu, Alapuzha district. One has to drive down the Alapuzha to Changanasserry road to reach this place, probably 20 or so kms away.
3) For a change “Amazing grace” is played when Jessie is ushered into the Church for her wedding, usually it’s Wagner’s wedding march. Mendelssohn’s wedding march features in the song “Anbil Avan” though.
4) In Syrian Catholic Churches the engagement or manasuchodhyam is mandatory before a wedding. In the movie Jessie directly get’s ready to be married which can be considered a cinematic liberty.
5) Gautam Menon himself has dubbed for Jerry, Jessie’s brother. Chinmayi Sripada has dubbed for Trisha. Chinmayi’s tamil is spot on, but Malayalam leaves a lot to be desired. Case in point: First time when Jessie talks Malayalam on screen and then the lines she says at her Granny’s place when Karthik is in police custody.
6) Silambarasan continue his Ajith reverance with a reference to the Thalai and Billa in a conversation with Ganesh.
7) I’m wondering if the difference in age thing in this movie is yet another attempt at portraying Silambarasan’s own dalliance with the superstar’s elder daughter in the past.
8) KS Ravikumar steals the show in every scene he is featured in. Also nice self deprecating humour when Ganesh says to Karthik that Gautam Menon makes movies over a long time and with English dialogues.
9) St Alphonsa is seen in the frame in the dining room of Jessie’s house and at a bus stop in Pulinkunnu. Is this an attempt to hint the time this scene is set in? In 2009 Blessed Alphonsa was declared a Saint and could be seen at every nook and corner in Central Kerala.
10) Naga Chaithanya & Samantha play the lead roles in Telugu version of this movie, they also play a cameo in Karthik’s movie in the Tamil version.

We are the world 25 for Haiti

Fans of music have been stunned by “We are the world” written by Michael Jackson & Lionel Richie and produced by Quincy Jones for the group USA for Africa. This song featured Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, Bruce Springsteen, Kenny Rogers, Cyndi Lauper, Bob Dylan, Ray Charles to name a few.

25 years later the co-writer of the song and the producer team up yet again to re-create the magic, to help raise funds for Haiti. Michael Jackson is no more and Quincy Jones is probably a tad too old for today’s consoles, synthesizers and other equipments, I’m kidding, this man can still work his magic on a record.

RedOne, is a producer-songwriter who collaborates writes-produces works for Lionel Richie, Akon, Enrique Iglesias, produces the new version, Paul Haggis shoots the video. This song features a whole range of artists from across the world, almost 75 is what the official website says.

Jamie Foxx, Nicole Scherzinger (Lewis Hamilton’s ex girlfriend, Pussycat dolls), Celine Dion, Barbara Streissand, LL Cool J, Jamie Foxx, Miles Cyrus, Josh Groban, Janet Jackson, Usher, Lionel Richie, Carlos Santana, Michael Jackson, AR Rahman and a lot of other artists.

The new rendition is as good as the old one if not better, I’m glad it didn’t end up like the “Mile sur” experiment conducted in India, that was a disaster. Aishwarya Rai strutting on screen lip syncing to Shreya Ghosal’s voice is unacceptable, by any weird suspension of disbelief logic. Rahman on the continuum fingerboard was lovely and so were many of the real musicians featured in the video.

Coming back to world25, to compare how long an artist features in a collaborative track is debatable. However Nicole Scherzinger getting the most frames in this song is a little too boring. She’s pretty but is she the best vocalist? Hardly. Jamie Foxx however does a nice Ray Charles gig towards the end of the song.

Apart from the rap towards the end there isn’t anything new done to the music. AR Rahman is relegated to the choir, no solo act and even in the choir he’s lost despite being on the front row. I personally feel AR Rahman should have produced the track as a whole or co-produced.

I believe AR Rahman could have added that extra bit or charm and clever interludes or orchestrations if he was enlisted to join the production crew, paucity of time could be the reason. Doesn’t bode well for Rahmaniacs like me. I liked the inclusion of Michael Jackson’s footage and Janet Jackson singing a duet with him.

If you wants to show some concern for the tragedy in Haiti and contribute towards the relief effort do buy this song from iTunes, don’t download it for free. If some of us can stand up for celebrity no-brainer causes like MNIK we certainly should do our bit for worthy causes like this.

Bala on Rahman

"Rahman's music would not have worked for my films, from Sethu to Naan Kadavul", said Bala in an interview in rediff about his last release "Naan Kadavul". With all due respect to the fine director and story teller that Bala is, I wonder how would you know unless you've already given it a try and given up! 

Indians can win Oscars too - AR Rahman, Reesul Pookutty

It's official, the speculation is finally over. AR Rahman has bagged both the awards he was nominated in - Best Original Score & Best Song (Jai Ho) for the movie "Slumdog Millionaire". Let's face it, Slumdog was not the greatest movie ever made nor was the soundtrack AR Rahman's best. Indian audiences have seen him write and score better music in the past, South Indian audiences have seen this even more since AR Rahman started scoring for the movies in the early 90's. Having said that one can't deny the sheer magic of winning an Oscar is. AR Rahman meekly and with all humility stated thus after winning the first award (original score): "எல்ல புகழும் இறைவனுக்கே".

"All praise belongs to God alone", that was a candid statement to make in an arena where it's not fashionable to take God's name. To add to it he thanked his Mother for being there. Dressed in 'bandgala', which is a close necked version of an indian version of formal suit doesn't require a tie, Rahman belted out Jai Ho & O Saya before the audience. No big speeches, no drama and after winning the second award it looked like the emotions started to overwhelm him as he sprinted to the left of the stage in a hurry. This man deserves every bit of praise and adulation. With the dream of being able to stage an Indian Symphony Orchestra he has started a school of excellence in Music and insha allah the days are not far when we get to see this happen. Enough of going to Budapest, Prague or London to record orchestral music, in a couple of years we'll probably be doing this out of Chennai / Mumbai.

This is only the third time an Indian has won an Oscar award, the first person to win an Oscar was Bhanu Athaiya for the costumes in the movie 'Gandhi'. AR Rahman is the third person to bring the Oscar, Reesul Pookutty being the second. AR Rahman is the only Indian to have ever won two Oscar's at the same show. He's probably also the only composer in the world to have won a double - original score and original song in the same year. The world is really flat.

Reesul Pookutty sharing the 'sound mixing' award with the team that worked on 'Slumdog Millionaire' is a incredible for the technical crew based out of India which always was considered to be among the best in the world but hadn't been recognized as yet. The news channels are already getting opinions from all and sundry (stars, politicians and the like) about the Oscars and these Indian's winning it, here are some messages I got from my friends about Rahman winning the coveted award. These are ordinary people mind you, what's extraordinary about them is their love for good music. There are hardcore fans of Rahman in this list, there are ruthless critics too. The commonality they share is their love for all things good and music is foremost in that list.

"The maestro wins a double for India" - Joshua S Remigius

"Jai Ho" - J Xavier Roy

"Music takes it's pleasure in honoring the trend setter of 21st century" - J Donatus Fernando

"Emotions overwhelm me, I'm finding it difficult to express what's going on in my mind in it's entireity" - Renald M George

"Superb. Congrats to the legend - divine soul. Superb" - Gayathri S

"I didn't want to miss the historic event so I cancelled meetings to watch it live on TV at home. It was a great moment when he chose to say one line in Tamil" - Ramakrishnan V

"Hats off to a living legend, an inspiration. A person who stretches humility and modesty to extremes has won such a terrific honor in the international arena, I'm proud and I am sure every Indian is as much proud if not more" - Roy J George

"That's awesome" - Aaron Pradeep Raj

"Hooaye, am really happy to hear this" - James R Rosario

"WOW, that's great" - Rev.Fr.Mathew

Requiem for a dream

A requiem is a grand musical composition performed in honor of a deceased person, with a title like this you sort of guess which direction this movie will head. This movie introduces us to Sara whose onlyhobby is watching TV to obsessive limits. Harry is Sara's son who is a drug addict. Harry frequently mortgages the TV to get his dose of dope. Tyron is Harry's friend and accomplice and both of them start making money in drugs. Marion is Harry's girl friend and also a junkie.

I don't want to spell out the story, some characters get lucky and redeem themselves in the end. Harry's character almost makes it to the other side but he's stuck so deep in his own doing. Sara's obsession with TV makes her want to loose weight to appear on TV and end up loosing her mind too. Marion's drug obsession makes her sell herself at times and in the closing moments of the move we see her get involved in an orgy. Requiem for a dream is a startling motion picture that shows the damage drugs can cause in such a shocking, stark and bare manner that it wrenches one's gut and churns the stomach.

I haven't been affect by any movie as much as this one till now, this is shocking cinema.

Geo's Talkies - Om Shanti Om

I tried to find out what really was the meaning of the word 'entertainment' though I very well know what it means. I just wanted to be able to be able to express the meaning of the word 'entertainment' in a short sentence. So I'd like to agree that 'entertainment' is "a diversion that holds attention". It's side effects are joy, laughter, happiness and a myriad other things which could even be suspense if you're like me. 'Om Shanti Om' is a movie that is 'entertaining' and the reason for that is one man - Shah Rukh Khan. I have no qualms in stating this. I'd like to state for the record that I've seen most if not all of Shah Rukh's movies and I like his persona but I'm not quite a HUGE fan.

This movie is Farah Khan's second directorial outing and has she worked out a formula which tells a story and entertains at the same time? YES, that's the absolute answer. 'Om Shanti Om' is a movie that defies and embraces all genres at the same time. The movie broadly is a romance and is thrilling towards the end of the second half. The story line is very simple, it's the execution that comes up in shining colors. The movie is a story of a guy named Om, a junior artiste who is hopelessly smitten by the charms of the very beautiful leading lady of the 70's Shantipriya. Om hopes to make it to the actors league some day and is supported by an 'over the top' Kiron Kher as his Mother and Shreyas Talpade as his best buddy.

A tragedy occurs in the middle of the movie and Om reincarnates in a new avatar, the only difference is that this time he's already what he wanted to be in the previous birth. He's born in an affluent filmi family, he's a star already and he wins the Filmfare best actor award. He's got girls drooling all over him and he dictates scripts to directors and producers because that's how he works, or probably that's how it works for him. It is at this point that a chance encounter with the memories of his previous life rekindles the spirit of love and revenge in Om and when he meets a tall legged pretty nubile nymph who's startling resemblence to Shantipriya of the 70's. How does Om get the villain to confess? Does he get revenge? Is love timeless? Does Om get to unite with the love of his 'previous' life? All questions are answered in a perfectly filmi ishtyle.

Every frame has Shah Rukh stamped over it, his screen presence, excellent comic timing and passion makes this movie watch worth and repeat watch worthy. The story is pretty straight forward which is why I didn't mind disclosing most of the key plot points. There's lots in store in the movie, the lines will make one laugh heartily and the dialogues from old movies and hollywood look patched but they go well with the flow of the movie. The sets in the movie when showing the 70's are just spell binding, all credits to Sabu Cyril for the excellent work. For a movie that is loud in terms of colors used for dresses on screen, the sets stand out for their sheer authenticity and brilliance. Manikandan's camera does justice to every penny spent on the sets.

Music is the other highlight of the movie apart and the credits for this goes to Vishal / Shekar. I would like to specially mention the 'Om Shanti Om' climax song which is picturized as an opera-meets-reality-show. There's no need to mention that Farah Khan's dance choreography is excellent. SPOILER **** It's time to welcome the prettiest ghost in the history of Hindi cinema, Deepika Padukone is the prettiest face to have debuted in recent times. She's got an ethereal sense of beauty to her due to the way the shots are lit up and portrayed on screen. There's no real depth to her character but who cares, all the close up shots look gorgeous.

Sandeep Chowta has scored the background music for the movie which is apt and likeable. I'm a big fan of movies and I should also add here that I watch all sorts of movies. Yes, I do like some of the artsy ones too but I don't miss on a movie that's an entertainer. Do NOT miss this movie because if you do then you are simply missing a wholesome entertainer.

# Trivia

* Dialogues from Titanic ("king of the world") and Gone with the wind("Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn") pepper the movie at regular intervals.

* All the crew have acted in the movie too.

* Shah Rukh's wife Gauri Khan makes a sparkling debut on screen at the very end.

* 31 current actors from Bollywood made their appearance in the extended 'Om Shanti Om' song lighting up the screen.

Geo's Talkies - Anbe Sivam

’Anbe Sivam’, as interesting as the title sounds is a movie who’s essence is captured in it’s title, Love is God.

The story begins in an airport in Orissa where both Nalla, a disfigured, not good looking communist leader and Aras, a smart, suave and globalised yuppie are waiting for a flight which eventually get’s cancelled due to storm. They are forced to share a hotel room where all shades of both characters are aptly portrayed on screen. Aras desperately wants to get back home because he’s going to get married in four days. Nalla realistically takes Aras through the world that they are in which is just too dangerous and dirty for a yuppie like Aras who cannot understand why his mobile won’t work or his credit card is not accepted. Interspersed among all the opening scenes are liberal doses of humour, slapstick at it’s hilarious best or should I say worst.

The story gains momentum with the storm intensifying in Orissa and Nalla and Aras take up the journey together to Chennai by rail and road. Here we are exposed to Nalla’s life, the Nalla that was. The audience is transported to the world of trade unionism, Nalla’s street plays, his friends, his romance with the mill owners daughter and his idealogies, which are very marxist. Somewhere down the line, things don’t work out as they have to, Nalla gets disfigured in an accident, he loses his love and somehow escapes death by an inch. It’s this Nalla that starts to realise the divine power. Coming back to reality, Nalla and Aras become witness to a train accident and Aras comes back to the real world after bearing witness to gore and bloodshed. In the end he marries his girl and life moves on, watch out what really happens in the movie.

The main focus of this movie largely revolves around globalisation, faith, ideologies and love for the human being. Kamal Hassan as Nalla does what he does best, act, and believe me when you see the disfigured Nalla it’ll send shivers down your spine, he’s put his heart and soul into the role. Madhavan as Aras does a good job, no one else could have shared frame with Kamal and not ended up looking like a joker. Nasser as the hypocritical believer in God, who swears by God’s name in revenge does a splendid job. Art direction by Prabhakar is one of the strongest points of the movie, be it the flooded railway station and roads in Orissa, the mill protests in Coimbatore, the train accident in Andra, all have been re-created excellently. Vidyasagar’s music is a mix of Classical Symphonies and Vidyasagar’s own background score and five songs of which the title song and the street play song stand out.

Cinematography by Arthur Wilson is good though he didn’t have great sceneries to picturise, he’s done justice to every frame. Kamal Hassan has done the story and screenplay, one should commend him for the story but the screenplay is fudged, he must have got lost in a whirlpool of ideas and couldn’t decide on which to highlight. Sundar C is the director of this movie, this is clear in the comedy scenes that make up one half of the movie, but the later half looks like it was ghost-directed by Kamal himself. It’s just too unlike Sundar's earlier works and that’s what makes me suspicious. Lyrics are top class, by Vairamuthu. Here’s a sample from the title song:

Yaar yaar sivam, nee naan sivam(Who is God? Me and you, we are God)

Vazhvay thavam, anbe sivam (Life is a penence, Love is God)

Aathiham pesum adiyalkellam sivamay anbaagum(For the believer God is love)

Naathikam pesum nallavarkellam anbay sivamaagum(For the non believer love is God)

Idhayam enbadhu sathithaan enral erithazhal thinruvidum(If the heart is only flesh, it’ll be burnt by fire)

Anbin karuvi idhayam enral saavai venruvidum(If love originates from the heart, it’ll win over death)

Anbin paadhai serthavannukku mudivay illaiada(There’s no end for the person who takes the path of love)

Manathin neelam ethuvo athuvay vaazhivin neelamada(Life is as long as your mind)

# Plz bear with my crass translation(trans-literation), I know just enough Tamil to understand what it means.

’Anbe Sivam’, definitely watchable for the contrasting views it projects and the non-judgemental stance taken, but every frame has Kamal Hassan and that’s what is a not so positive point.

[This review was originally written and posted on mouthshut.com on the 27th of Jan 2003]

Geo's Talkies - Ocean's 12

After putting up the review of Ocean's 13 I thought putting up the Ocean's 12 review done earlier in Moutshut would be appropriate. So here's the review written on the 7th of Feb 2005.

Anybody who understands the dynamics of film making would agree that more difficult than making a successful movie is making a sequel. Steven Soderberg’s version of Rat pack eleven titled ’Oceans’ Eleven’ not only made millions at the box office but prompted the director to work on a sequel to it, aptly titled ’Oceans’ Twelve’.

Story

George Clooney as Danny Ocean and Julia Roberts as Tess are spending their ’second third anniversary’ in Europe. They get rattled by the presence of Benedict (Andy Garcia) demanding the return of the $160 million with interest they siphoned his casino in the previous movie. Benedict manages to globe trot and meet all members of the Oceans’ Eleven team to make sure the message is driven loud and clear. Brad Pitt as Rusty is recuperating from a failed romance with Isabel Lahiri played by the svelte Catherine Zeta Jones. Isabel works for the police force and is all determined to nail theives and the reason for this is something from her past.

Ocean, Rusty and the whole team decide to hit something in Europe to pay off their bucks to Benedict since hitting any place in the US would be walking into a death trap. The one question they have to find an answer to is to identify potential places that could help them make up this gigantic sum in a time span of one week. The added thrill to these situations is that Benedict had been alerted by Night Fox played by the dashing Vincent Cassel whose only motive here is to be proved as the best thief the world has ever seen. Linus Caldwell played by Matt Damon wants to play a much larger role this time around and it is hilarious to watch him on screen.

The story moves a bit slowly across Europe until the big deal is set despite some initial failures. This movie is full of surprises despite the presence of visual clues all over. Julia Roberts excels in comedy in a scene where she plays ’herself’ opposite Bruce Willis. Mind you, you need to listen to each word that is spoke to savor the humor and I am sure one would chuckle for the full length of the movie. After getting beaten to the first heist, Oceans team take up a challenge by Night Fox to steal a faberge egg. Do Ocean and his team make it through this challenge? Is Night Fox the better of the two? Is the premise set for yet another sequel, a la Oceans Thirteen?

Crew

Script by George Nolfi is the weakest part of this movie with things having kept at a slow pace in the beginning, but hey it’s never easy to write a decent continuation to a hugely successful heist movie. David Holmes’ music is there for one simple reason, functionality. You can hear Hip - Hop, Rock and the traditional hollywood piano - string combo in shades, but the movie is all about a different contemporary(not techno) sound aptly used in one flash back scene ance the end titles. This film was canned and directed by Steven Soderberg and he’s done a neat job, he never expected any critics to rave about this move I guess. But he will definitely smile his way to the box office since the audience would enjoy this movie.

Epilogue

This is a fun-movie, all the actors are wonderful on screen and exude a terrible sense of lethargy and chemistry that they don’t appear to be acting. The camera simply happens to be a voyeur in the lives of these people exposing their daily sides to us. It is a daunting task to shoot with big names in a movie that just about 2 hrs long. But all characters have enough screen time to warrant their names in the credits. George Clooney swims through the role with his calm demeanour and his on screen ramblings with . Brad Pitt does what he does best, charms his way into Jones’ heart. Andy Garcia has been wasted with having nothing to do expect walk into people’s lives.

Though cinema is a form of art, at times one simply needs to throw logic and stop looking for the tangible to enjoy a movie. Forget reading all this, simply rent this DVD/VCD or catch it in a theater. You won’t have to regret this experience if pure entertainment is what you are looking for despite that the fact that Oceans Eleven is a better movie. The end shows that there is indeed a possibility for Oceans Thirteen.

The new reliance tv ad

I'm absolutely in love with the new Reliance Mobile ad that is doing the rounds on TV. It's got simple lyrics and the rhythm of the song get's added with one more layer every 2 bars to end in a fitting finale, all this inside 1 minute which is what makes the whole ad, music and the concept spectacular. Is there a better way of conveying the fact that the color phones added color to lives. A big round of applause to the folks at Corcoise Films for the concept and execution and Dhruv Ghanekar & Ashutosh Pathak for the music.

baathon mein rang aayae hai jabsay
barsein barsein barsein rang barse

bheegi bheegi pathiyan barsay
rangwali pathiyan barsay

barsein barsein rang barse
barsein barsein rang barse

Geo's Talkies - Ocean's 13

"Ocean's 13" is a welcome third installment to the Ocean's series of movies produced by Jerry Weintrub and Steven Soderberg. As with all the Ocean's movies there's a lot of hilarious one liners in this one too. Reuben Tishkoff (Elliot Gould) get's kicked out of a lucrative hotel-casino project by his partner Willy Banks (Al Pacino) which gives Reuben a heart attack and confinement to bed. The rest 10 member regroup and pledge to take revenge in their typical style.

They conspire to hit Willy's hotel on it's opening night and turn the tables back on him and how? Rigged slot machines, dices, blackjacks. A plot is also hatched up to make the visit of the reviewer from Five Diamonds (like 5 stars) hell - chemical infested rooms, sick food and rude service. Add to this already mixed plot Terry Benedict and you know where we are heading. A small part by the Night Fox himself adds to the curiosity. The end is a foregone conclusion for all of us who are familiar with the series but how do that conjure it up is certainly a treat to watch.

I'd like to mention Ram here because he in a way piqued my interest onto the second movie and we saw it in Carnatic theaters without being able to understand a word of the dialog because of the crappy way the sound stage was setup there. I'm sure like Ram there would be many of you who'd take an instant liking to the third installment. One should have watched Ocean's 11 to completely enjoy this movie although it's not necessary to have seen Ocean's 12.

These guys have managed to take a jibe at Oprah Winfrey show and have exhibited the sensitive side of men in a satirical manner. George Clooney takes jibe at Brad Pitt in the end of the movie about settling down and having children, the resemblance to real life is so thin here. The only reason for Al Pacino to be in this movie is either because he was paid well or is a friend of the producers, his character simply exists for the Ocean's team to punch into. Steven Soderberg makes an appearance in the movie as Gecko, the genius behind the Casino's security systems.

And if you've not realized till now the women are absent in this edition. Ellen Barkins in the addition but she's got nothing much do than strut her stuff around the screen and get cozy with Matt in the end. I'll try and post some hilarious lines when I get to lay my hands on the DVD.

Geo's Talkies - Sivaji the boss

"Sivaji the boss" is Shankar's first directorial venture with the one and only Super star in India, Rajinikanth. It's tough to make a movie with Rajinikanth, there's a certain expectation from the audience and double guessing that is a herculaean task. Mani Ratnam would have spent a lot of time scripting "Thalapathy" because he had to keep Rajini's screen image in mind and also give Mammooty equal screen prominence, that was a good effort. Shankar plays to the gallery with Sivaji, there's everything the masses need. And there is Rajinikanth who remains the numero uno in the movie. For a change we are spared of the sister and mother sentiment which I welcome wholeheartedly.

I don't want to spell the story here, it's a typical Shankar socio-commercial story. An NRI comes back to India and wants to reform the system, he hits road blocks. How does he overcome all of them to make his mark? That's the story. You have oodles of humor, the one's with Shreya's parents are extremely silly to say the least. Vivek plays the hero most of the times stealing punch lines which Rajini should be delivering, the change is good. Thankfully Vivek's character has not been reduced to a caricature. That's one good thing about comedians acting with Rajini, they are not belittled. Shreya has just a little more to do than looking pretty in the songs dressed in the most skimpiest of dresses. There's lots of curves on display here, they say it's for the masses, it's also for the classes. Rajini dons umpteen looks in this movie which themselves make the movie repeat watch worthy, each look is unique and would sound outrageous on paper, but Rajini/Shankar have carried it off with elan and style.

AR Rahman plays another vital role with a superb soundtrack which is new and well recorded. The background score has obviously been done with a lot of time and attention paid to it. I loved the choral Sivaji title chant, if they brought it out on CD's it would be a nice disc to own. Thotta Tharani's sets are huge, they are magnificient but to me they all looked misplaced. Thotta Tharani is a master in his craft but maybe it's just me who is not able to see reason for those opulent sets. KV Anand's camera does a good job at capturing the images. This movie stars all Shankar regulars - Raghuvaran (cast against type, who could imagine the Anthony in Basha becoming one of his trusted men?), Cochin Haneefa (cliched bad guy), Manivannan (Father).

Vadivukkarasi (cast against type as the Mother, the granny role in Arunachalam lingers fresh in our memory), Solomon Pappaiyya, Raja, SunTVnews reader (can't recollect her name) and Suman who takes the villains character complete the cast. Nayanthara skips her way into the opening song in skimpy costumes showing ample cleavage, this actress has lost oodles of weight. This is a Rajinikanth movie, no looking above, below or beyond that. Suspension of disbelief is not an option, one has to keep one's logic at home and simply get immersed in the magic, that's what a Rajini movie is all about. "Sivaji" without any doubt could turn into the biggest blockbuster in recent times.

Trivia

# Watch out for Shankhar, KV Anand and Thotta Tharani on screen in the middle of "Ballaelakka"

# Mimicry by Mayilsamy, Chinni Jayanth and Damu in the end is short and hilarious.

# Rajini using the guitar as a gun a la Desperado style in the "Athiradi" song.

# Mercedes Benz stretch limo bearing a Pollachi registration number plate.

# Rajini's SUV's registration number totalling 8 (TN-09 AZ 98), surely this vehicle belongs to Shankar given his penchant for the number 8.

# Binny mills compound used in one of the action sequences where the villain comes with money, will filmmakers finally stop using this place. 3 out of the four movies I saw last are shot here.

Big B - movie

Being a fan of Mamooty and not wanting to miss a chance of watching 'Big B' (malayalam) in Central Theaters (Coimbatore), I went for the night show on Saturday. To say that this movie was bad would be an understatement. This movie was awful. Earlier last week Benoy Chettan had recommended 'Big B' over 'Chota Mumbai' (starring Mohanlal). I should watch the latter and see how it fares.

"Big B" is simply a collection of disconnected images masquerading as a movie. It's a story lifted off the Mark Wahlberg starrer "Four Brothers". It's pace is dismally slow, the screenplay is a jinx which doesn't settle down nor redeem itself. Songs in the movie are good and the action sequences are shot well. Background score is done well too but I felt it was too loud and the surrounds in the cinema hall were pounded for all and sundry. I'll stop here with a quote from a review on this movie in sify.com.

Mammootty's Big-B, is a stylish and technically savvy film from cinematographer turned director Amal Neerad. It is a fast paced entertainer, which is packaged like Amal's guru Ram Gopal Varma films, aimed at the youth audience.

What a farce!

Oscar awards - 2007

The OSCAR results are out and Martin Scorsese has finally been awarded an oscar. I stuck my neck out by speculating the winners for the 'Sound mixing' and 'Visual effects' category and appear to have got it right though the 'Best animated feature' award went to 'Happy Feet' while I thought 'Cars' was a good effort. The whole world and some aliens too predicted an oscar to Martin Scorsese which has ended in a double whammy - Best Direction and Best Picture, so no big deal on telling about that one.

Cross posted on our group blog

What are the odds? 13 to 1

After the thoroughly enjoyable Oceans 11 and Oceans 12 comes the final part of the trilogy from Steven Soderbergh aptly titled Oceans 13. If Oceans 11 was better that the old version, Oceans 12 took if further and was an entertaining movie. The premise of Oceans 13 appears to be interesting and that makes it a movie to look forward to not for it's oscar value but for simple entertainment.

When one member of the team get's cheated in a business deal all others join together to take revenge soliciting the help of Terry (Andy Garcia). The idea is to bankrupt a casino run by Al Pacino (who cheats Reuben) on it's opening night. This time it's not for the money but for revenge. The absence of Catherine Zeta Jones and Julia Roberts is going to be a minue, but Al Pacino's entry should raise the bar a few notches higher. Andy Garcia and Al Pacino will be seen in the same movie after "The Godfather III".

Disclaimer - Story snippets is based on leaks on the internet, this may or maynot be the actual story in the final version of the film expected to release in June 2007.

Roberto Benigni's next

After the super good 'Life is Beautiful' and 'Pinnochio', Roberto Benigni is back with 'The Tiger and the snow'. This movie appears to be another romance set in the times of the Iraq war. Trust Roberto to treat the story sensitively and in an incredibly humorous manner. I can't wait to see this movie, but I doubt if it would be ever released in my country. That reminds me of something, time to visit Burma Bazaar.

An update on 'After The End'

This series is yet to go online because I thought of putting up the sound clips in addition to writing about them. Currently I am trying to capture the sound and put them up as MP3's on this blog for readers to listen to the score too. This series will go online in not later than a week from now.