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.

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

I was catching the press conference now on TV after the Italian Grand Prix today and as speculated Michael Schumacher announces his retirement from Formula 1 at the end of this season. It's the end of an era of razor sharp racing. Ruthlessly competitive, fiercly hungry for victory in every race he went to fight, Michael got his 90th Grand prix win today and is by far the best driver ever in Formula 1. I am a fan of McLaren for more than a decade now but I have to acknowledge the fact that Michael Schumacher is a legend. Good bye Michael, racing fans will miss you.

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