Sunday, December 31, 2006
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Mika is back
Monday, November 27, 2006
Supreme Court judgement - Mullaperiyar - Feb 2006
Under the aforesaid circumstances, we permit State of Tamil Nadu to carry out further strengthening measures as suggested by CWC and hope that State of Kerala would cooperate in the matter. The State of Kerala and its officers are restrained from causing any obstruction. After the strengthening work is complete to the satisfaction of the CWC, independent experts would examine the safety angle before the water level is permitted to be raised to 152 ft. The writ petition and the connected matters are disposed of by permitting the water level of the Mullaperiyar dam being raised to 142 ft. and by permitting the further strengthening of the dam as aforesaid.
Blog rechristened
Friday, November 24, 2006
Mullaperiyar and Madhani
Mullaperiyar dam
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Mr.Clean is back in business
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Faith in the criminal justice system in India
Friday, September 15, 2006
Into God's own country ---- Sep 2006 - Coimbatore to Avoly
Crossing into Kerala at Walayar from Coimbatore, I've always looked at the way greenery shapes out on either sides of the border. I love Coimbatore. I love everything about Coimbatore, it's weather, it's people the opportunities that it throws up. This time the drive to Muvattupuzha which is about 210 kms south west of Coimbatore wasn't exactly smooth. The reason, bad roads. The stretch from Coimbatore to Walayar was perhaps the worst in the whole journey due to the pot holes on the road which could at times bury a car in them. Driving into Kerala, crossing Walayar check post proved to be a challenge partly due to bad roads and more due to the number of lorries already parked on both sides of the road.
The route from Coimbatore to Muvattupuzha is fairly straight forward. One has to drive to the Athupalam and take the right which goes to Palakkad. Shortly after crossing Madukkarai one rejoins NH47 which connects Bangalore and Kanniyakumari. One has to drive on the NH47 till Angamali via Alathur, Vadakkanchery, Mannuthy, Chalakudi and take the left from Angamali junction to join the MC road to Muvattupuzha via Kalady and Perumbavoor. This journey will take one through a variety of scenic sights. The rice fields in Palakkad region on both sides of the high, the mini hill that one has to ascend and descend (Kuthiran) just after Vadakkanchery. Greenery between Chalakudy and Angamali are sights to capture on film.
Additionally, I tend to notice a large number of chapels, churches (Catholic, Orthodox and Jacobite) lined on both sides of the road after Vadakkancherry right upto Muvattupuzha. Some notable chuches are the one in Kodakkara which is right next to the highway, Koratty Muththi church which is a little off the highway and is famous for it's annual feast. The ferry that comes from Athirapally joins the highway near Angamali. There are a number of dams which are close to the highways - Peechi and Chimmoni are two of them which can be reached by motoring off the highway without too much of strain.
Inorder to reach Athirapally, one will have to drive all the way upto Chalakudy town (there is a traffic signal) and then take a left (a hair pin turn) and drive for about 2 kms and take the state highway towards Athirapally via Kuttichira check post and Konnakuzhy. There are three very popular Christian retreat centers which are very easily accessible from this highway. The first one passes through is Jerusalem Retreat Center which is on the stretch after Mannuthy when driving towards Chalakudy. Jerusalem is just a couple of metres away from the point where the road from Thrissur joins the NH47.
Potta Dhyana Kendram is situated on the right side of the road when driving toward Chalakudy about 2 kms away from the town. One had to drive for a short distance before reaching there. The Divine Retreat Center is situated after the river Chalakudy when one is driving towards Cochin. Right after crossing the Chalakudy river one reaches a junction named Muringoor. To the right of the road is the retreat in Tamil, Malayalam and other vernacular languages while to the left of the road is the retreat in English. Once in Angamali it's not difficult to spot the Joy Alukkas wedding center which is famous for the wedding shopping whose business runs into lakhs each day.
After taking the diversion from Angalmali one passes in front of the Little flower hospital. The next town is Kalady, famous for Shankaracharya. The tower where there is a memorial for Adi Shankara is visible from a distance. Upon getting into Kalady town, one has to proceed straight without taking any diversions. Taking left will take one to Malayatoor where St.Thomas once took refuge. It's a site of reverence and prayer and is famous for the feast that is held on the preceding Sunday after Easter. Taking the left would take one to Aluva and Cochin International Airport which is outside Ernakulam city.
The bridge across the river in the town of Kalady is one of the longer bridges in Kerala and is a little short of kilometre in length. The next town that one passes through is Perumbavoor after which one gets into Muvattupuzha. Muvattupuzha derives it's name from the fact that three rivers (muvaattu) meet in this town. It's an old town with a strong Muslim population. There is harmony between communities and the people here are light hearted. Now since I had to go to this placed called Avoly which is further east on the Madura highway, I have to pass through Kacherithazham and drive for about 1.5 kilometres and then take the road to the left from what is called the post office junction.
These roads were widened recently and it shows. One can cruise along in 100kmph if needed but normally it would take about 10 minutes to reach Avoly which is hidden from the highway a bit.
Sunday, September 10, 2006
Geo's Talkies - Lagay raho munnabhai
Munnabhai MBBS was a landmark film in the history of Indian cinema. Humor was restricted to slapstick or double entendres and this movie came like a welcome relief emphasising the need for a good story and dialogues and actors to carry it off. When the makes decide to make another movie on the same lines, it definitely stokes curiosity and does the second movie in this league live up to the expectation? It does and it better the first one.
The story
Murliprasad Sharma aka Munnabhai and Circuit are this time thugs who take care of vacating flats and property for a high profile builder called Lucky. Munnabhai this time is smitten by the voice of a Worldspace RJ Jhanvi. He's glued to her voice each morning and when he gets chance to meet her after taking a quiz content on air, he wins it in typical Munna/Circuit style which will bring the house down. On air with Jhanvi Munna get's into further trouble by telling that he was a professor and also a big fan and follower of Mahatma Gandhi.
Munnabhai gets a chance to go to Jhanvi's place to give a lecture on Bapu for which he spends time studying about Bapu and meet Bapu in the process. Bapu agrees to help him in the process but wants a favor from Munna in return. Jhanvi lives with her Grandfather and his friends in a place that is named '2nd Innings house'. Munna delivers a zabardast lecture and answers their questions making Jhanvi fall in love with him and earns the goodwill of all the old men there.
The story takes off in a different direction from here caused by some twisted events which bring Jhanvi's life to a standstill and from there on it's Munnabhai fighting for Jhanvi and her gang of old men. Not the typical dadahagiri that we know he is capable off. But Gandhigiri, yes Munna embraces the path of non-violence and truth and keeps us in splits during the process. Keeping up his word with Bapu, Munna discloses the truth about the real person he is to Jhanvi and looses his lady love.
What happens next? Does the path of truth ever work out well for individuals? Does Jhanvi come back to Munnabhai? How can one possible explain the presence of Bapu in the movie? All questions are answered in the movie sensibly with some surprises toward the end.
Credits
Sanjay Dutt looks like he was born to be Munnabhai, he might not have been one amongst the great actors in our country. But by now I am sure that nobody else can play Munnabhai so well like he does. Arshad Warse as Circuit does a splendid job. The scene where Munna apologises to circuit deserves special mention.
Jhanvi is a character ably played by Vidya Balan. She's beautiful and one of my friend felt her beauty was coming between the audience and her character. I thought otherwise. She excels in the role and somehow showed how much more effective Gracy Singh's character in the first part could have been. Boman Irani as Lucky proves once again that he's one of the finest actors in the country. He plays the role of a Sardar to perfection and amazes us with his body language and dialog delivery. Dia Mirza makes an appearance in the second half and so does Parikshant Sahni a Jimmy Shergill. Abishek Bachchan makes a cameo appearance in the last couple of minutes. Kulbhushan Karbanda and Saurabh Shukla play their parts well. The doctor from the old movie appears in this movie as a lawyer for a minute or perhaps two.
Every single character in the movie play their part to perfection. One song deserves special mention for the innovative way it's been shot and that is 'Samjho ho hi gaya'. All songs in this movie are simple and hummable. Shanthanu Moitra has delivered the good without complicating things on the aural arena. The background score also is fitting and appropriate. Camerawork by Muraleedharan is adequate and neat. Goa is always beautiful, it looks superb in the movie. All credits for this movie should go to the director Rajkumar Hirani, he's simply taken his original characters and set them in a new ambience and has bettered his first attempt.
Verdict
Lagay raho Munnabhai is not a sequel by any chance. It's more like the James Bond movies where the characters are known but they are set in different stories in different movies. To sum it up all, Munnabhai is a first rate movie that relates to the human spirit in each of us. It's a must see movie and the laughs that one get watching it is wholesome and deviod of the usual masala that bollywood attempts. For once, I was so very glad to see a movie which had no 'item' number. I only hope they keep the Munnabhai series rolling so that we can get treated to a new fare each time.
Trivia
# Worldspace is a satellite radio service. In this movie it's shown like a normal FM radio service.
# Worldspace doesn't yet have a receiver that can be fitted into cars. I know this for sure since I tried to get one for my car last year. Since it requires line of sight, retro fitting a receiver into a car like it's show in the police's jeep in the movie wouldn't actually serve any purpose unless one was driving on sky scrapers.
# The explanation given by the Psychiatrist in the movie for Munna seeing Bapu seems very convincing.
A hero bids adieu
Saturday, September 09, 2006
Geo's Talkies - Sillunu oru kadhal
What happens when your life crosses with the (once) love of your life when you are already married and happy with your wife and kid at some point in the future? Sound interesting ain't it? It did to me which led me to the theaters to catch the first day first show and does SOK live up to the promise? Not quite I should say.
The story
The film opens in a southern district in Tamilnadu where Gautam is getting married to Kundhavi. Gautam doesn't look too interested in the proceedings and so does Kundhavi who always aspired to fall hopelessly in love. The wedding party breaks into a song, a folkish number with good dancing and locales.
Cut to Mumbai six years later and Gautam is a hotshot husband, a caring and doting father. His daughter Ishu is the hyperactive kid in the block who has an opinion of an adult at times. Gautam is a mechanic who test drives cars in Maruti and Kundhavi is also a professional with a good job. A freak brush with a higher official during a research and development seminar pushes Gautam to do his own research which get's him tickets to New York to present a paper there.
Gautam leaves for America while Kundhavi get's to read his personal diary during his absence. The diary takes us back in time to Gautam's college days and we come to Coimbatore where Gautam was an engineering student and is hopelessly in love with Aishwarya (Ishu). Gautam was a rogue more than a student and is shown bashing up guys on campus and ragging juniors.
Aishwarya, is the daughter of the local MP (Member of Parliament) and Gautam decide to get married outside their families without the consent of their parents. On the day of the wedding the MP's goons bash up Gautam and take Aishwarya away. Cut back to the present where Gautam is back from the US while Kundhavi arranges for Aishwarya to come back to Gautam for one day under the pretext of fulfilling his wish in the diary. What happens to Gautam and Kundhavi? Where is Aishwarya and how is she? Do the relationships that were created by destiny stand the test of time? All these questions will be answered in the movie.
Credits
Surya as Gautam has done a good job as the college rascal, husband and father. He's getting better with each movie. Jyothika as Kundhavi also manages to convince us with her performance. I particularly like the scene where she confronts Gautam with his secret from the past and bursts into tears, the camera maintaining a tight shot all along. Bhoomika as Aishwarya walks in and out of the movie looking dreamy and adorable in her first avatar and sexy in the second avatar. She looks hopelessly thin in this movie though.
There are a number of other characters in the movie of which Vadivelu needs special mention only because if there was one person who should not have been in this movie it was him. That would also have spared us the audience the pain of sitting thorough his horrible jibes in the name of comedy. Sukanya has a small part in the movie, nothing substantial just a walk in walk out role. The movie is canned well, the village looks beautiful in the opening scene of the movie, camrea work by RD Rajasekhar. The length of the movie could have been trimmed by about 15 - 30 minutes to control the lag. Editing by Anthony could have been tighter.
AR Rahman's music and background score are the best things in this movie apart from Surya. "Ammi mithichaachu" has been canned appropriately doing justice to the song. "Munbay va" has also been shot well though nothing was new in it. The picturisation of "New york nagaram" leaves a lot to be desired. I wish this was done better. New york looks like Europe in this song and the transition are right out of a powerpoint presentation. By the way, most of the supporting cast in the movie is very amateur which works for the movie at times.
Krishna, the director does a reasonably good debut. The next time he sits on a movie, he should work closely on the screenplay because what looks good at the script level can be made or marred in the screenplay. This movie will surely hit with the college going romantic crowd and the female audience.
Trivia
# Is there a road tram service in New York? I doubt if there is one which means 'New york nagaram' was not shot in NY.
# 'New york nagaram' could have been anywhere in Switzerland because I remember seeing the plus sign, which is the swiss national flag, in this song sequence.
# Not many films are shot in Coimbatore. KG Theater, Cross cut road signal, fly over, Brooke bond road, KMCH (Kovai Medical Center Hospital), Agricultural university are all featured in this movie.
# PSB is the name of the engg college in the movie, the striking resemblance to PSG is something one can't miss.
# One of the opening scenes in the movie show a sunflower field in full bloom, was this Andhra? # One can't miss the obvious commercial endorsements - Maruti Swift, Boost, Head and Shoulders, TVS Apache
Friday, August 25, 2006
Geo's Talkies - Vetayadu Vilayadu
The movie opens in typical North Madras style if you are familiar with this territory. This is the land of Manali Ghajja, Royapuram Mani, Kasimedu Siva, Ennore Chidambaram. The movie opens like a typical tamil underworld movie with Royapuram Mani hurling abuses about a cop on the phone and asking for his eye. Within minutes the protaganist enters the scene which is heroic, forceful and right over the top.Raghavan a.k.a DCP (Deputy Commissioner of Police) Raghavan is a duty conscious police officer who gives two hoots about the spirit of the law when it comes to tackling anti social elements. He's straight and he's fearless and walks into any situation with elan and poise which only a honest and gutsy cop can have. The audience is treated to a melange of visuals as the titles flow in with 'Karka karka' playing alongside. This is Chennai, it's hip, it's happenning and it's sleek and well cut.
In Madurai, DCP Arockiaraj and Chitra are concerned about her daughter Rani's whereabouts since she went missing a day ago on her way back home from college. To add to the fear, Rani's finger is strung alongwith lemon and green chilles and hung over the entrance Arockiaraj's house. DCP Raghavan is summonned from Chennai to crack Arockiaraj's daughter's disappearance and for Raghavan it's simply a case of helping his mentor and associate in a time of need. The case is cracked in a day when Raghavan retrieves the disfigured corpse of Rani from a way side abandoned field. The news shatters Arockiaraj and Chitra and the fact that she was raped and sheared into two pieces adds to the agony the characters go through.
Arockiaraj and Chitra leave for the US for some rest and to disconnect from the memories of the local land while Raghavan get's on with his duties in Chennai when a call from the uS shakes him up. Arockiaraj and Rani are butchered in the US and the cops in the US suspect an execution. Raghavan persuades his boss (the DGP) to send him overseas to investigate this alongwith the cops in the US. During the flight to the US, we are introduced to Kayalvizhi who was Raghavan's wife and was killed by goons in Tirunelveli. It's here that we see that Raghavan also engages in encounters to wipe out anti social elements from the face of the earth. There is a beautiful song which is neatly shot and shows the intimacy that the couple share.
Anderson is the US contact for Raghavan and together they make a fine company. Anderson and Raghavan hit upon vital clue which links the murder of Rani to a string of murders in the US and one of them had a finger cut and strung along with lemon and green chillies like Raghavan has seen back in Madurai in Arockiaraj's house. Raghavan's stay in New York leads him to get friendly with Aradhana who appears to have a sordid past. Deserted by her husband for another woman, Aradhana tries to commit suicide but Raghavan's intervention saves her. Glances turn into interests and Aradhana starts sharing her sorrow with Raghavan while Raghavan develops a liking for Aradhana.
Raghavan's gut feeling leads them to a deserted fort which has four corpses buried under sand. All corpses have been butchered, mutilated and raped before being killed. They lay a trap and wait till the suspects walk into it. The second half of the movie is all about how they find the killers and do they manage to eliminate them and most importantly at what personal loss. Since this movie has released today, I wouldn't want to give away the suspense and as a gesture of encouraging people to watch this movie in the cinema halls, I will leave the story here and get into other areas.
The production
The first thing that hits me hard is the superlative production values this film has. It's a wholesome product technically with excellent camerawork, taut editing (it's not too tight at all), good music and awesome sound. I saw this movie in a dts theater and I should add that the sound mix for this movie is anything but one among the best from South India in recent times. The next thing that is instantly noticeable is the stalwart called Kamal Hassan, as DCP Raghavan, Kamal Hassan oozes charm, pumps in the required elan and poise that is required of a upright police officer. The scene where he hugs his dead wife and cries takes acting to a higher sphere altogether.
This movie has top class action sequences. They are well choreographed and neatly edited out to look as authentic as possible and not overtly relying on the matrix like sequences which our filmmakers have clinged onto in recent times. Balaji as Amudhan has done a classic performance. Telling you what he does in this movie would mean that I will have to give part of the story out and hence I refrain from that. Kamalinee as Kayalvizhi drifts in the part of Kamal's first wife like a dream. She's very beautiful and deserved more footage but in a cop movie we can't expect more. Jyothika as Aradhana for once in her life looks better than her Kushi looks and has atleast attempted to emote. Prakash Raj as Arockiaraj plays his role to perfection, he's got his own share of crying to do which he does with little effort.
Harris Jeyaraj has given good songs to this movie and his background score for this movie is a lot better than the run of the mill soundtracks that one hears. The background score is simply awesome in parts, I wish it was more continuous and symphonic. The title bit before the song in a way signalled and tuned the audiences to what was in store. Full credits to Harris and his sound engineering/recording/mixing team for coming up trumps in this venture. Ravi Varman's camera does full justice to New York, Manhattan and Brooklyn. There are crane shots, sunset shots, shots on the river and one song shot in Kerala (Kuttanad to be precise). Cinematography is top class, that's the verdict in short.
Anthony has always had his own place in editing and in this movie he's given a slick and glossy product. Kudos to him. All songs are well shot and are surely going to make business in song DVDs and VCDs. The murder scenes depicted in the movie are gory and tough to watch so be warned of them before hand. One rape scene shown in the movie is very depressing to see despite the absence of skin show. Tight close ups of the lead actors are shot brilliantly. Gautam Menon has excelled and matured as a director with this movie and the fact that all departments have played their part is a big testimony to the work of the director. Come on Gautam, make a cop movie with Rajini, I can't wait to see that. Now for some trivia which I noticed or am adding to here. If anything is wrong, feel free to email me.
Trivia
# Post mortem is shown as 08:30 PM, since when government hospitals started doing this after 06:00 PM.
# This is an example of art direction and good production, check out the photos of Christ in Arockiaraj's house when he is shown first and the picture of St.George in the entrance. I liked the metaphor it was when the severed finger and St.George who is believed to be the destroyer of evil.
# I don't know why the priest shown in Rani's funeral is not Catholic given the fact that we are exposed to he above ymbols. I assume he is orthodox but Arockiaraj doesn't appear to be one.
# Jyothika refers to a Ben Kingsley movie where the main character attempts suicide by tying his face up in a polythene bag, this movie is 'House of sand and fog'.
# I liked the way Kamal responds 'Hardware' to a question by Jyothika asking if he was working in 'software'.
# There is a scene towards the end of the movie where Kamal Hasan is shown wearing a Ray Ban aviator model glass and in more than one occasion the camera directly shoots the cooling glass showing a reflection of Jyothika in it. What's interesting is that we don't see the camera man nor the reflectors in Kamal's coolers which is sure shot good work
# Jyothika calling her daughter Maya (Jyothika's name in Kaakka Kaakka) and Balaji calling his buddy Ilamaran (Balaji's name in Kaakka Kaaka) is bound to draw attention to Gautam's previous movie.
# Kamal's motocycle has a registration plate with number as white instead of black in the Tirunelveli flashback sequences. That's authentic given the fact that the white number plates came into force from the 20th of Feb 2002. This is surely attention to detail.
# In the same period that as above, the OMNI van that is used to abduct Kayalvizhi has a white number plate and so does the minivan which Kamal and Prakashraj drive to reach the goon's den to rescue Kayalvizhi is also appropriate since tourist/commercial vehicles had a white number plate.
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Interesting facts
# The market of the TATA group is $45billion and they have spent Rs.4500 crores into acquisitions since 2002 and wait a minute, TATA employs a mind boggling 2,20,000 people.
# NR Narayan Murthy is a Western Classical Music freak and owns the full collection of Mozart on CDs, all 176 of them.
# Rajinikanth took a whopping Rs.15 crore as salary for Chandramukhi and hasn't commercially endorsed a single brand or product till date. Apparently Kamal Hassan also hasn't endorsed a single product for money till now.
I picked these from last weeks India Today which had a list of 50 'powerful' people.
Friday, March 03, 2006
The Pakistani Dictator
Now the other thing that I've said: if he thinks everyone is crossing from here, I've been saying let us fence the border and let us also mine the border. We are experts at mining, they should mine the border on their side. We will fence it on our side. If that is all right I am for it, so that they are not allowed to go across at all. And then let us see what is happening in Afghanistan.
Why don't they agree to this, I've said this openly many times before, they don't do it, for whatever are their reasons. I know how effective the fence, the Indian fence which is about 1,800 kilometres, and they are fencing the Kashmir mountains also, it is so difficult.
Why are they doing that, are they mad, they are spending billions of rupees. Because it is effective. Let's fence this border so that this blame game is killed once for ever
In an interview to BBC the above was the non-chalant reply by General Pervez Musharraf to a question about President Hamid Karzai's allegations about infiltration of militants from Pakistan into Afghanistan. This same bugger fires at Indian soldiers working at putting up the fence to prevent militants entering into India from Pakistan. Doublespeak for Musharraf is like water to fish, way to go General. The full chat transcript is available here
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
Rajdeep / IBN / Lama Tashi
Grammy nominations are known to go to the diverse of people. Our Indian Classical musicians like Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Pandit Ravishankar et all have been nominated and have won accolades in this arena. This year there's a Buddhish monk from Arunachal Pradesh, his name is Lama Tashi and he's been nominating for a collection of chants he got recorded. I saw this monk in TV and he was how modest a person could be, no wonder he's a Buddhist monk.
Monday, January 30, 2006
Geo's talkies - Rang De Basanti
Rakesh Mehra's latest offering 'Rang De Basanti' is one of the movies that's as commercial as a Hindi movie can be and manages to retail a semblance of sensibility with patriotism and some real concerns churned into the narrative. The movie opens in the UK where we find 'Sue' (a budding filmmaker) who wants to make a movie on the Indian freedom struggle after reading a diary written by her grandfather James McKinley who was an office in the British Police force in the 1930's in India. This diary captures the last days of India's freedom fighters who took the path of violence - Bhagat Singg, Chandrashekhar Azad ..... etc.
After some initial setbacks to her vision, Sue reaches India to meet Sonia and figure out a way to make her movie. They have auditions in college campuses which don't quite work and the audience is held in splits in these moments. Diljeet (DJ), Sukhi, Aslam and Karan are a group of friends who quite correctly stand for the youth as they are in the country today. They don't care too much about the heroes from the past and don't look at them beyond the textbooks. They simply have lost hope in the dream that was called 'Hindustan'.
Amidst the fun, beer drinking and the aish-o-aaram of college, the audience is introduced to some right wing elements which we all can strongly relate to. Laxman portrays the role of a hardcore swadeshi who see modern culture as a pollutant to 'hindustani' values. Sue sees her characters in these guys and coaxes them into playing their respective parts for her documentary. It all begins without any commitment or seriousness from all the players. Ajay, Sonia's fiancée is an airforce pilot who get's killed in an air crash.
This incident changes their perception, which was already being swayed by the powerful characters of the freedom fighters, totally. To make things worse, the govt blames Ajay for the crash which precipitates the situation and spirals to a point where the lead characters end up taking an idealistic decision. This leads to a situation where the present day men and the freedom fighters from the past, become one in spirit.
RDB is humorous, it's patriotic, it evokes a strong patriotic fervour in us without sermonizing. The music of the movie has been composed by AR Rahman and to say that Rahman has exceeded his brief would be an understatement. The prayer song composed to go with the situation when the lead characters enter the Golden Temple is out of this world. All songs have been apt and fit the movie well, most of the songs are used more in the background with the visuals taking the main role in the narration except one romantic song and a bhangra song.
Binod Pradhan's camera work is neat and appropriate. Sameer Chanda has excelled in production design and art direction. Screenplay is coherent without any loose ends and the credit goes to Renzil D'Silva. Prasoon Joshi has penned the songs and dialogues and most of the conversation will keep the audience in splits. Special mention has to be made about Kiron Kher, to me she's one of the most under rated actresses. One smirk on her face and you can feel her pain, one smile and you can feel the attachment of a mother, she excels in the role of DJ's mother.
Aamir Khan is one of the finest actor in India and when you see him as DJ on screen you know why. Atul Kulkarni plays the role of Lakshman to perfection. Kunal Kapoor as Aslam plays the Muslim youth role neatly and giving his character depth is Om Puri in a cameo as his father bleating out the normal sentiment against India. Sukhi is Sharman Joshi and in this movie we see him in a new avatar, someone who fears he'd die a virgin. Siddharth (the same guy we in the South saw in Ayutha Ezhuthu) manages to give a convincing performance. It's Madhavan who steals the show as Flight Lieutenant Ajay Rathod and Soha Ali Khan plays Sonia, his love interest, Soha though has a long way to go in terms of acting. Waheeda Rehman plays a cameo role as Madhavan's mother and brings the old school acting and mannerism into the contemporary script, very refreshing. Alice Patton as Sue does justice to her role in the movie and manages to stand her ground, especially in the scenes when DJ seems to have feelings for her.
Rang De Basanti is surely worth every rupee you can spend on it, give it a watch and let's see if you get lumps in your throat during the movie, believe me, there's are more than just one or two moments for that to happen.
Friday, January 27, 2006
Cable wars in Tamilnadu - State v/s Private operators (read SCV)
As a customer we should be sure of one thing, there is no such thing as free lunch. Many of the so-called cable channels that are supposedly fleecing the customers are off the highest quality and the procure transmission rights to sports events and exclusive telecasts at exhorbitant prices and a small part of that is passed on to the subscriber. The programs that are telecast on those channels don't generally cater to the normal soap watching crowd. An example I'd like to cite is Formula One. Thanks to Narain Karthikeyan, Formula One is covered extensively in the media. There was a time in the past when the national newspapers would cover the event on a column on their sports page. After the advent of PRIME sports we got a chance to see them all live and this channel later became Star Sports.
News was not a commodity those days as it is today in India. It's sad to see the amount of interest an Amitabh Bachchan on a strecher can generate when he surely should be deserving a lot of privacy in times like that. The media can't feed people of enough junk, that's the plain fact. All news channels resort to some sort of political bickering or sensationalising news like a rape or a horrendous murder. But there are also one or just a couple of balanced new providers who when viewed discernly can be identified because they don't resort to who is bigger.
The state has hardly done an angelic job with the services it provided as a monopoly in the past nor is it today. Electricity theft is rampant and is dubbed as tranmission loss. Freebies are doled out in the name of welfare and that causes a big loss to the exchequer. When DOT was the sole service provider of phone connections, we have all faced the various difficulties involved in getting a telephone connection and problems with the quality of service. Bringing in competition has levelelled the field and is putting the consumer in a seat where he can choose the best that in there on the plate.
Let's imaging a scenario where the cable services is in the hands of the government and please pardon my humor. General elections are round the corner and the govt decides to give out free cable connections to poor farmers in thanjavur, and pass a bill wherein all the rural unemployed will get one cable connection free. How is that for a novel idea? I know I am kidding and trivialising this debate, but this is entirely possible. What if the government decides to play it dirty and blank out certain channels like SCV is doing? What if the government decides to put up a box in each box (free of cost) and regularly keep an eye on the channels a household watches? Why should the government be subject to this exclusive information? Isn't it an invasion of one's privacy?
Instead of talking about taking over another man's business, the government if it's concerns are genuine should work towards setting up it's own cable infrastructure, believe me, the profits it can make from this is huge. Our country's thirst for petrol and bandwidth is exponentially increasing and apart from cable services, the govt can sell bandwidth on it's infrastructure for voice and data services. Let the government take up the challenge of living up to it's name, provide budget cable services and believe me, there won't be a huge reduction in the cable TV charges. I have always believed that a normal Thamizh household's viewing needs can be fitted into a Rs.50 per month subscription assuming that we can have a couple of Tamil Channels (which require a decoder included) and a host of other free to air channels.
Viewers who need anything more than what is offered can be charged extra monthly/annually depending on what their viewing preference is. If this plan succeeds, people who are currently having service connections from other service providers will automatically be pulled towards this because they'd see no sense in them coughing out exhorbitant charges only because there was no competition. It will also prove to be a watershed for the current service providers who will have to eventually straight up their act and come up with competitive rates and better services. Monopoly at any time in any service industry will corrupt people, competition will straighten it all out. Maruti, BSNL, Computer manufacturers, mobile service providers are some examples where competition had made things difficult for them to survive in a scenario where once they had to competitors. These companies to our joy have found better ways to attract customers and provide top-notch services for almost the same price as their competitors.
Some links related to this post ....
News in chennaionline.com, a popular e-zine
News reported in business line