Geo's talkies - In the Loop, Eeram, State of Play

"In the Loop" is a delightful British comedy on state of affairs in today's world which satirizes the machinations of world leaders and in the process provides solid laughs. This is a movie that highlights the complete ignorance, stupidity and pathetic levels of understanding that manifest bureaucrats in higher echelons of power.

A British minister who suffers from foot in the mouth syndrome, who thinks the war in Iraq is "unforeseeable". A Director of communications in the ministry who's got a vicious and profane tongue. Cross over to the US and you meet their counterparts who are scheming, silly and outright stupid at times and you have a sure fire recipe for laughter. This movie has a one line story, it's more about the actions that are weaved around it and the "impending war" a reference to the conflict in the middle east (Iraq). For the one's that like comedy that's not contrived or artificial this one is a must watch movie.

"Eeram" is a good movie to comes out from the stable of S Pictures directed by another newbie. All movies produced by this production house have had reasonably good content and neat execution and this movie is no different despite the paranormal tint in the story. A murder in an upper middle class dwelling raises eyebrows with the majortiy alluding to the woman's infidelity as the cause for it.

The fact that the investigating officer is a person who wanted to marry the woman murdered when he was in college adds to the intrigue and from there it becomes a case of 'whodunnit'. The ending is a tad disappointing however the movie is way better than most of the one's that get released every Friday.

"State of play" is a superb thriller which starts off with the murder of a staff in Senator Stephen Collins' office, this staff was the chief researcher for the committee which was reviewing a particular company's role in providing home land security, an example of in-sourcing if one could call it so. Things get murky when the senator's friend, a journalist with the Washington Globe investigates two murders and starts to see a link in them.

Things take a dramatic turn there and the movie hits out in many directions before reaching it's finale. This is a plot heavy movie which works incredibly well, a must watch for the one's that seeks thrills and suspense.

Geo's talkies - Kurbaan

At the outset I have to confess, I'm not a fan of all the movies that have come out of Dharma Productions. I don't like to be treated like someone whose brain is in a deep freezer. I also have to confess that I went to watch "Kurbaan" with a lot of contempt, I even argued with a friend about the quality of content that could be on screen. I'm glad I was proven wrong, the movie turned out to be a surprise, a rather pleasant one at that.

Rensil D'Silva's directorial debut turned out to be an engaging thriller worth the money you pay to gain admission into the theaters. Previously credited for the screenplay of "Rang De Basanti" along with Rakesh Mehra, Rensil writes Karan Johar's story for the screen and does it respectably. Here's a movie Bollywood can be proud off, here's an effort from Karan Johar's production house that'll partly answer all the criticism he's been getting from many sources, the harshest being the folks at PFC.

I don't want to spell out the story, it's about a Muslim man and Hindu woman falling in love, both are professors in a college in Delhi. They move to the US, the man going abroad to get the woman to return back to her US university job. A murder in the asian neighbourhood they live in and suspicious characters of a particular religion get's the movie to speed up. There are moments when you lose a heart beat following on-screen action, there is a lot of suspense and all's well does not end well.

Saif Ali Khan plays the role of Ehsaan, he almost underplays his character to terrific effort. He looks slightly older than the age he portrays on screen though. Kareena plays her role of Avantika to perfection, from being subtle she moves to forceful in a sublime sort of a way towards the end. Vivek Oberoi excels in the role of Riyaz, a journalist with a news channel despite intermittently botching up the accent when he has to speak like an American citizen. Diya Mirza plays Rehana and sticks out like a sore thumb amidst these acting talents, she's wooden to say the least.

Salim - Sulaiman have delivered a rousing background score to the movie with loads of silence interspersed. There's a lovely piano that's played to highlight certain emotions and a very country-sounding guitar is employed for the lighter scenes. I liked the background score more than the soundtrack which is good despite having the characteristic KJo rhythm patterns. I'd like to call the editing lazy, despite being a thriller the transitions between scenes aren't abrupt, they are gradual, works in a very nice way.

Of course parallels might be drawn by some to "Fanaa", "New York", "Khuda Ke Liye" however the similarity would just be the backdrop of terrorism that these movies are set to. "Kurbaan" refreshingly avoids taking an over-simplistic view of the subject, it doesn't give you a long sermon in the end about good and bad, it doesn't take sides, I loved this aspect of the movie the most. Another aspect is the lack of dumbing down the film and the absence of flashbacks for every single plot point.

There's a scene in the movie where the camera focuses to Kiron Kher's (A regular in Dharma Productions) face while she speaks about incidents in her life and in that one minute, you paint a picture of what she's talking about in your mind to such dramatic effect that introducing a flashback scene there cannot match what your mind portrays to you in response to the acting on screen. Kiron Kher and Om Puri excel in the roles they have been assigned.

Nakul Kamte's sound design is minimalistic, I can say this simply because in the South we are used to turning once in a while to check what's going on because of the sound that emanates from the surround speakers. When Saif and Kareena are having a dialogue on the roof top of a building about moving to the US there is silence in the soundtrack, clear dialogues, birds chirping, a hint of a breeze and many such atmospheric elements, nice work.

Despite the lack of a water tight plot, despite not being an overtly intelligent movie, despite being able to guess the twists beforehand, "Kurbaan" is a must watch for it's content, top class acting (the best this year) and a decent screenplay.

How far can you go?

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, this picture is the defining image of the relationship I shared with Roy J George, a brother of sorts. He was there in the hospital when I was born and I was there in the hospital when he died. He carried me from my Mother’s care when my life started and I carried him back to his Mother when his life had come to an end. 

I can’t describe how it feels inside me to be gazing at this moment, to look ahead and stare at a vacuum of uncertainty, a void of nothingness. Who will talk sense to me when I meander? Who will I try to emulate? I cannot believe that he is no more, I cannot accept that he’s left to be cared for by God and his chosen angels. I can’t simply brush this off as a stroke of ill luck, destiny.

His was not an age to die, his was an age to achieve and he did achieve a lot. Laurels from his fraternity, continual education, the best Father the kids could have and most importantly the most humble, humane and emphatic human being I have ever known. I won’t say I miss you, you know how much I do. Till destiny brings us together again, keep watching over me my treasured friend and get the angels to guide my thoughts, actions and words. 

There’s one place you always were, are and will be and no one can EVER steal you from there from me, not even destiny.

Erratum - Indians can win Oscars too - AR Rahman, Reesul Pookutty

In this article written right after Rahman and Resul won Oscar's this year I went on to say "AR Rahman is the only Indian to have ever won two Oscar's at the same show". This statement is not true, James Horner won two Oscars for 'Best music' and 'Best original score' in 1998. Thanks due to all my friends who pointed out this discrepancy and to James (not James Horner) specifically.

Formula 1 - How did it turn around? - A response

I usually try not to bother about how the press covers certain sporting events however this article in the Times of India is a good example of getting the facts wrong right from the word go.

The writer starts off by calling the erstwhile Spyker F1 team 'bedraggled and tardy'. Bedraggled they might have been but tardy, hardly. There's no space for tardy in the cut throat competition that exists in Formula 1. The writer should have known that Michiel Mol the co-owner of Force India also owned a part of the Spyker F1 team. Has he even heard about Mike Gascoyne who has worked with most of the F1 teams on the grid who was fired last year from FIF1?

The article goes on to say about the charm and convincing power of FIF1's team prinicipal. If McLaren were that convinced why was Simon Roberts taken aboard? Simon Roberts was McLaren's Operations Director at the time of being absorbed as COO in FIF1. Mercedes high performance engines was signed on as a engine supplier and McLaren would supply gearbox and hydraulic systems and also give on track support. KERS was available as an option which apparently FIF1 haven't exercised up till now. 

The only area where FIF1 has had to do some R & D was in the wind tunnel in Brackley which has a Jordan legacy attached to it. Of course the work these guys have done in the aero package has paid rich dividends in the medium downforce circuit that is Spa. Any one who has a decent understanding of the sport would invest in a windtunnel, that needn't be a good idea injust in 'hindsight'. The writer goes on to state that "Force India obviously found that important piece of the puzzle", pray what puzzle I ask? Isn't that a basic requirement if you want to run an F1 car in a competition?

The writer stretches his ignorance further by calling KERS "Kinetic Energy Restoration System" and "an ex McLaren brain" "Simon Peters". KERS my friend stands for Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems and the "ex McLaren brain" is Simon Roberts. A simple visit to FIF1's website would have helped the TOI writer to double check his facts. But that is just too much to ask isnt it because then he'd have also seen that not one name on 'the force' page is 'Indian' except the team prinicipal. In fact RIL (Reliance Industries) and the lovely women on Force TV (who apparently also double as pit babes) are what's only Indian in this Formula 1 team's website.

The icing on the cake is this statement -"Mallya has brought pride to a nation that has achieved a lot but has never been associated with this technology driven sport". Can someone please say what brings pride to a nation that doesn't have engineers this team thinks are talented enough to work for them, that doesn't have an F1 driver this team thinks is good enough to drive for them? As somone who has been following the sport since 1997 I take great interest in the sport. It's nice to see FIF1 make such a great improvement to their running, but to call it an achievement to India, to run cover story on our newspapers and to expect that all Indians should take great pride in it is simply stretching things a bit too far.

Imagine the amount of revenue a team can make if it converts even 1/3rd of the cricket crazy sports fans to watch F1. How much more sponsors will line up to support the live coverage of the sport? The bidding price for live coverage in Asia would run into billions of dollars, look at the broadcasters competing for cricketing rights. Force India is a Formula 1 team owned partly by an India but to paint the car in the colors of my national flag and to even expect me to applaud it's achievements only because it's 'supposedly' Indian is a fallacy.

Geo's Talkies - Kaminey

This is going to a little difficult, trying to write about a movie I enjoyed completely without spelling out it's plot. 'Kaminey', the newest Vishal Bharadwaj movie comes with a lot of baggage. The man at the helm of affairs doesn't treat the audience with kid gloves and is adept at making movies for kids and adults with such aplomb that you wonder if he suffers from multiple personality disorder, and I'm not even talking about the fact that he writes his own music.

'Kaminey' is Vishal's take on the time tested hindi movie 'twin brother' plot. The movie is a roller coaster with lots of thrills, it's twisted and take off into various directions, however the grand finale comes across as fitting. Charlie and Guddu are identical twins who are opposites. The former has a speech impairment which makes him pronounce 's' as 'f' and the latter stammers. Charlie works for a group of Bengali Brothers who fix horse races while Guddu is associated with an NGO. Guddu is caught in a situation when he impregnates Sweety during an outing, the irony here is that the song just before this revelation is about protection, condoms and AIDS. Sweety is the sister of a linguistic chauvinist who mouths 'jai maharashtra', whose name is Bhope Bhau. Bhope cannot fathom the fact that his sister has fallen for a guy who is an outsider, another lovely piece of screenplay where Guddu's real name Sanjay Kumar Sharma (hails from UP) is portrayed on screen.

Any more of the story would really be a farce, the movie is best enjoyed on screen. It takes about half hour in which about ten or so characters are introduced on screen and you might end up wondering what's going on. But you got to let the movie play out and by the time it's interval you are almost familiar with everyone. This movie is infested with 'kamineys' in the form of drug lords, cops, politicians and what not.

This movie also is so grounded in today's world, the world where a guy from UP is perceived as an outsider in Maharashtra, a world where Trivandrum has become Thiruvananathapuram, Bombay, Mumbai, Calcutta, Kolkata and so on. There's a lovely scene between Sweety and Shahid on screen where she proclaims her love for him using the city names (read politically correct), Vishal can combine love and politics so subtly into the screen play. Charlie and Guddu's Father who hails from UP works for the Railways, the anti-narcotic squad cops who are hand in glove with the drug trafficking mafia are some examples.

Trains play an understated role in this movie, some of the sweeping moment in this movie are framed on screen with a train passing by or still which almost plays conscience or mirrors the flow of thought in the head of the character on screen at that particular time. Colours in the movie are muted to give it a noir feel I suppose. Most of the filming is done using the steadicam which transports you right into the action.

The writing is probably the star of 'Kaminey', every character get's his/her own time on screen and it takes a while to get used to this kind of exposition. Shahid has done a superb job of portraying Charlie & Guddu and almost makes us believe that they are two different people, Priyanka finally has done very good acting. I believe they've used sync sound in which case the work done capturing sounds and dialogues are amazing. Amole Gupte (hint: Taara Zameen Par) excels in the role of Bhope Bhau. There are many more people who have played their part to perfection. 

Tassadaq Hussain's camera work is exquisite. Vishal's music is as much a star as the writing of this movie. The background score complements the narrative without screaming for attention, a quality that is rare. This is one of those movies where you have someone in charge who is sure of the direction he wants to go and comes out with flying colours in his effort. Vishal's fascination for Shakespeare is well known, he's done a brilliant job of adapting Shakespeare to the Indian milieu in two of his previous outings. On this one he's tried to incorporate some plot elements of the Bard along with screenplay elements of Robert Rodriguez, Quentin Tarantino, Guy Ritchie and the like. A nice song plays in the background during the gangster show down in the very end almost like the title song in 'Omkara' which was filmed with scenes of action and violence.

I'm not going to talk about the laconic black humour that is lined up in almost every scene, they keep the laughs coming. The result is an excellent movie which keeps the viewer enthralled during it's playing time and doesn't indulge in insulting the viewer's intelligence by playing out long drawn flashback sequences for every plot twist. Bravo Vishal, can't wait for the next movie which would complete his Shakespeare trilogy.

Timesheet - Coimbatore to Bangalore - A duet

Coimbatore to Bangalore - A duet

After posting the distance chart for the drive done on the 12th July I was compelled to repeat the same drive via Sathyamangalam and make another one. This time there was Kanja for company and we started after tea from Coimbatore. We chose to take the Sathyamangalam route to get to Mettur instead of the Avanashi to avoid getting stuck in the evening traffic. I finished 175 kms of my drive upto Mecheri in 2 hrs 56 mins, the average speed works out to a lacklustre 57 kmph. Kanja did 176 kms of his drive from Mecheri to Silk board in 2 hrs 15 kms, the average speed works out to a very admirable 73 kmph. Here are some quick facts:

Route: Coimbatore to Bangalore via Annur, Sathyamangalam, Anthiyur, Mettur, Thoppur, Krishnagiri, Hosur

Departure: 26th July 2009, 1713 IST (Sungam Bypass, Coimbatore)

Arrival: 26th july 2009, 2305 IST (Viveknagar, Bangalore)

Total distance: 357 kms

Time taken: 5 hours 52 minutes (includes a 10 minute stopover for tea at Mecheri)

Avg speed: 61 kmph

Avg speed after deducting break time: 63 kmph

Fastest sector: Thoppur to Krishnagiri (NH7) - 85 kmph

Slowest sector: Mettur dam to Mecheri - 37 kmph

Fuel consumed: 23 lts (Petrol)

Mileage: 15.5 kmpl

Silver arrows beginning to shimmer ...

It was terrific to see a McLaren driver back on the podium after China last year. Lewis Hamilton drove a near perfect race after gaining lead when Fernando went to the pits for fuel. Mind you, he didn't set the fastest lap nor did he speed away from the rest of the pack, he controlled the race from the front without giving any heartache to his crew in the paddock. It was evident from Germany last weekend that McLaren's upgrades were starting to deliver the performance they so badly needed. However it's yet to be seen if it's the nature of these slow corner ciruits that is masking the inefficiency of the aerodynamics on the McLaren's care which would be obvious in high speed corners where the Brawn and RBR cars simply fly through.

This year the FOTA teams are following a compulsory 2 week closure of their factories to allow their staff take a break in the middle of the season. In Valencia we should see some more performance enhancements done on the McLaren. When everyone was losing their patience with KERS McLaren and Ferrari didn't trash their KERS programme and the result was amply evident for everyone to see. McLaren get's the distinction for being the first ever KERS equipped F1 car to win a race, having trashed KERS it's high time BMW looked into the whole package and see how they could use it to better their vehicle's performance.

In 2007 McLaren was at the center of a storm in Hungary which was later termed as 'pitlane-gate' by some journalists. Fernando caused a problem impeding Lewis' pitstop by staying put after refuelling thus causing a delay in refuelling Lewis' car. This season it was Felipe's turn albeit a ghastly one at that. A damper spring which fell off Rubens' car floated in the air and hit Felipe, who was about 4 seconds behind Rubens, on the left eyebrow causing him to ram into a tyre wall. It was scary to see the driver motionless in the car till the medics carried him out of it into an ambulance. 

Fans of F1 are so used to see drivers get into worse accidents and walk out of the incident unscathed due to the extreme levels of stress on safety that this incident brought back the fact that in racing human's were involved. Timo Glock's crash in Aus 2008 was terrifying and when Timo walked out of the wreck without any injury it was a testimony to the high levels of safety that are enforced in F1. Felipe's accident could start off a debate about having a canopy to shield the driver, I hope better sense prevails when making a decision on this aspect. 

I hope Felipe gets well soon and is racing fit without any delay and turns out terrific performances in the GPs he gets to participate this year. I hope Martin Whitmarsh, having tasted his first ever race win as team prinicipal goes on to lead the team into more successes this year and put in a superior development effort into next year's car. I hope Formula1 remains this pinnacle of automobile engineering and continues to break new grounds through innovation and persistence. Am I hoping for too much?

Timesheet - Coimbatore to Bangalore - Driving alone

Coimbatore to Bangalore - Driving alone

After almost a year I was going to drive from Coimbatore to Bangalore without a person for company. This time the vehicle was Maruti 800, the old warhorse which has clocked 1.5 lac kms in the odometer. Left home after tea in the evening hoping to get to Mettur by night fall. Got to Trichy road from home and took it to reach L&T toll gate in Chintamanipudur. Drove past the toll to Avanashi via Nilambur and Karumathampatti. Early evening traffic on the two laned NH-47 made the drive tight and packed though I got to Avanashi with 6 minutes to spare for an hour.

A block in the usual Mettupalayam road junction got the traffic stacked up in Avanashi town. After reaching Chengapally the drive was faster in comparison and it took just 30 minutes to cover 44 kms to reach Bhavani. The drive towards Mettur via Ammapettai was marred with shoddy roads and diminishing day light. The clock showed 19:12 IST when exiting Mettur dam and taking the road to Thoppur. The distance of 84 kms from Komarapalayam to Thoppur 4 landed road junction took 90 minutes, the average speed worked out to 56 kmph which is not bad given the heavy traffic and twilight conditions.

Joining the NH7 at Thoppur was relieving, the next 9 kms to Thoppur L&T toll gate took 10 mins and I stopped for a much deserved rest at Adyar Ananda Bhavan (AAB), the first stop coming after 198 kms. After a 30 mins dinner break I rejoined the road. The second leg of the journey was quicker due to NH7 and the general dislike for the night by most on the road helped speed the journey up, 44 minutes and 66 kms later I got to the NHAI toll booth in Krishnagiri. The clock showed 21:14 ISt and I had 87 kms to cover before calling it a day.

Driving to Hosur from here took 40 minutes (47 kms) and a small traffic holdup on the road in front of the inter city bus stand took a good 10 minutes to clear. After another 51 minutes I managed to cover the remaining 40 minutes of the journey to reach home and doze off into the night. Here's a quick stats cheat sheet.

Route: Coimbatore to Bangalore via Avanashi, Bhavani, Mettur, Thoppur, Krishnagiri, Hosur

Departure: 12th July 2009, 1634 IST (Sungam Bypass, Coimbatore)

Arrival: 12th July 2009, 2246 IST (Viveknagar, Bangalore)

Total distance - 351 kms

Time taken - 6 hours 12 minutes (includes a 30 min stopover for dinner at AAB, Thoppur)

Average speed - 56.6 kmph 

Average speed after deducting break time - 61.6 kmph

Fastest sector - Thoppur to Krishnagiri (NH7) - 66 kms in 44 mins (Avg speed - 90 kmph)

Slowest sector - Hosur to Silk board - 34 kms in 37 mins (Avg speed - 55 kmph)

Max speed achieved - 140 kmph

Fuel consumed - 18 lts (Petrol)

Mileage - 19.5 kmpl

Requiscat in pace - Michael Jackson

The undisputed 'King of Pop' and one of the largest selling artists in the history of modern pop music Michael Jackson died of cardiac arrest in California today. The death of this star leaves a huge void in the minds of his fans. Michael Jackson was the undoubted leader in fan following whose life was very controversial but never his music. MJ is the winner of 13 Grammy awards and is rumoured to have sold 750 albums across the globe.

Bad, Thriller, Dangerous, Blood on the dance floor, History turned into record breaking albums as did Michael's popularity. With such great hits as 'Bad', 'Smooth Criminal', 'The way you make me feel', 'Beat it', 'Billie Jean', 'The girl is mine', 'Jam', 'Dangerous', 'Heal the world', 'Remember the time', 'Black or white', 'You are not alone', 'Scream', 'Stranger in moscow', 'Earth song', 'Cry', 'Speechless', Michael's knack for churning out lilting melodies and beat heavy songs earned him millions of fans.

My brother and I used to wonder if Michael would ever get back to his old self and give his fans one more best selling album despite the lacklustre sales of 'Invincible' which was released after MJ walked out of Sony over a dispute about publishing rights of his music. The music company which has a separate division for MJ (Epic Records) didn't take this kindly and a lot of bad blood was spilled over in the media. 

Jam Jam

Here Comes The Man

Hot Damn

The Big Boy Stands

Movin' Up A Hand

Makin' Funky Tracks

With My Man

Michael Jackson

Smooth Criminal

That's The Man

Mike's So Relaxed

Mingle Mingle Jingle

In The Jungle

Bum Rushed The Door

3 And 4's In A Bundle

Execute The Plan

First I Cooled Like A Fan

Got With Janet

Then With Guy

Now With Michael

Cause It Ain't Hard To...

That was Heavy D's rap in 'Jam' from the album 'Dangerous'. To call MJ a phenemenon would still be an understatement. His command over rhythm programming and orchestration was second to none in the pop arena. In an age where an artist had to depend on a producer to score the music, MJ belong to a elite group who most often wrote their own music. MJ started off his career with Quincy Jones producing his songs. This trend changed with 'Dangerous' after which he co-produced his albums with Bruce Swedien, Bus Kohen, Ted Riley. R Kelly started working with MJ from History onwards, 'Cry' from 'Invincible' was also a collaboration with R Kelly. 

MJ's song 'Will you be there' featured in the movie 'Free Willy' was counted to be one of the all time best songs to be associated with a movie. MJ's personal life was troubled all through. He converted to Islam in November last year and came to be known as Mikaeel. He was working on an album with Steve Porcaro in Bahrain, he's known Steve since his Thriller days. MJ was on track to perform live from the 13th of July which would have signalled his return to the live stage. The voice has been silenced, we won't get to see any more moon walks. I've seen the legend at it's peak and then being overshadowed by lesser mortals whose music though mediocre in quality was louder than MJ. 

Did MJ not anticipate the changing tastes of new generations? Why couldn't he transform into a trendsetter like he did in the late seventies, eighties and early nineties? Was there ever a performer like MJ who could set the stage on fire? Will there ever be one? I sincerely hoped MJ would come out with just one more album and silence his critics, captivate this generation and cast a spell on them, but alas that's not going to happen anymore. This not even if the album he's been working on is released. With hearfelt prayers I mourn the loss of my musical hero, someone whose string and voice arrangement still gives me goosebumps, whose moonwalk on stage could prompt me to get up and shake despite the fact that I have clay feet. Michael, we'll miss you, our prayers will always be with you. 

Like A Comet

Blazing 'Cross The Evening Sky 

Gone Too Soon

Like A Rainbow

Fading In The Twinkling Of An Eye

Gone Too Soon

Shiny And Sparkly

And Splendidly Bright

Here One Day

Gone One Night

Like The Loss Of Sunlight

On A Cloudy Afternoon

Gone Too Soon

Like A Castle

Built Upon A Sandy Beach

Gone Too Soon

Like A Perfect Flower

That Is Just Beyond Your Reach

Gone Too Soon

Born To Amuse, To Inspire, To Delight

Here One Day

Gone One Night

Like A Sunset

Dying With The Rising Of The Moon

Gone Too Soon

(This song was written for Ryan White, a young victim of AIDS, by Michael Jackson in 1993)

AR Rahman - The Musical Storm - Book

Having picked this book from Crossword on Monday I hoped to be able to read it on the train in the weekend but the subject was too good for me to postpone it till then. This is an unauthorized biography by Kamini Mathai, I've read many of her articles in 'The New Indian Express'. The book does give some insight into the reclusive composer's style and life but there's nothing compelling in this book for a die-hard fan.

One look at the cover and I sincerely hoped it wasn't going to be like 'Superstar' which was Rajini's biography penned by Gayathri. In that book 'petti kadai' was referred to as 'box shop', that's how transliterated it all can be. The tag line given is plain lazy. "The Musical Storm" is nothing but the English translation of "Isai Puyal", that's how AR Rahman is referred to in movie credits and album covers. If my memory serves me right it was KS Ravikumar who coined this title and used it first in the movie "Tenali". Of course this book has it's share of nice little things like Harris Jayaraj for example. Until I did read this book I didn't know that 'Majnu' was offered to AR Rahman who couldn't take it up and referred Harris Jayaraj instead.

Given the fact that there's hardly any information about Rahman that's official, anything that gives us a peek into the composer's life, style, preferences would certainly tickle the curiosity in a music lover. From that perspective this book is surely worth one read. An AR Rahman fan knows most of the things in the book already or can even give some more insight into areas which the book doesn't get into.

Geo's Talkies - Angels and Demons

"Angels & Demons filmed by Ron Howard is roughly based on the book by the same name written by Dan Brown", I'd like to begin writing about this movie by stating this loud and clear. This book was written before 'The Da Vinci Code' while the movie starts off at some point after 'The Da Vinci Code' with references to this movie atleast twice on screen, once when the Priest from Vatican comes to Robert Langdon asking for his help and again when Robert Langdon meets the Camerlango.

The movie starts off with the funeral of a pope with the Vatican in mourning, this wasn't part of the book. After a quick refresher on the processes followed we move to CERN where production of antimatter is in progress under the supervision of Fr.Silvano and Dr.Vittoria. The priest is killed and antimatter is stolen. A priest from the Catholic church meets Robert and solicits his help in helping them find the Illuminati who it is suspected are behind the theft of the antimatter and the threat to four kidnapped cardinals who are also known as the 'preferati'.

To spell out the story completely would be to state too much of plot which is best enjoyed on screen if one hasn't read the book already. The movie uses the books premise as it's foundation and branches out though keeping most of the plotting around the murders in Rome intact. It deviates majorly in the way Robert is brought into the story, it doesn't talk about Camerlango's filial relationship with the deceased pope, the assasin is no longer Arab probably to stay within the realm of political correctness nor is there a hint of an attraction between Robert and Vittoria.

The movie is racy, it hits the ground running. The audience is taken rapidly from one plot to another without any delay without making the screenplay fuzzy. I particularly liked every scene in which the characters referred to 'The Da Vinci Code', they were well conceived. The first shot on screen began with music used in 'The Da Vinci Code', the main motif that was played when Robert finds the rose beneath the Louvre in Paris is one of Hans Zimmer's works and he's brought it back here to improvise it further and take it a step ahead using the choir, stupendous effort. This theme is used in multiple instances in the movie, it takes a different tonal color at some points because of the way it's treated each time.

After Vittoria rips a page off Galileo's Veritas from the Vatican Archives the lead characters set off towards the first church in Rome, the racy music remain a steps ahead of them in the 5/8 time signature, this is an original piece which is superbly written and orchestrated, awesome stuff. I can't state for sure if this movie's music is better than 'The Da Vinci Code' as I strongly count 'The Da Vinci Code' to be one of Hans Zimmer's best scores written for the screen. The way each motif is taken from the previous movie and reworked in this one is too good. A solo violin plays many motifs and the most interesting exposition is when it plays the old motif, lilting stuff. In the credits I saw Joshua Bell's name listed which sort of proved why the solo violin was superior.

Since most of Vatican is either CG or shot on a stage I didn't find too much of brilliance in camera work, all the action scenes were well shot and the night scenes were well lit and shot making it very difficult to spot the CG in them. At a little over 2 hours this movie is faster than the time you actually spend in the hall. I guess this is Ron Howard's way of atoning for 'The Da Vinci Code', I'm kidding. Watch this one, surely worth it and sit back in the hall when the end credits roll, you'll get to hear the full score from the old movie re-orchestrated along with Joshua Bell's violin. If your curiosity is piqued buy the book and read it.

Italian food

The last three days into the weekend were hectic beyond comprehension. Waking up at 12 noon on Sunday meant that I caught up on just a small percentage of lost slept over the week. "Let's go fine dining, treat's on me", said Josh. "Let's do it", I said and jumped out of bed. "Where are you thinking of going?", I asked to which Josh replied "Let's do some good food today dude, surely non vegetarian and not your usual Brindavan". "Fine, give me 10 minutes" I said and off I went for a bath.

Ten minutes later we were driving in Koramangala 6th block passing Koramangala club for the third time trying to fine Fiorano Ristorante when I said "Do you know where exactly it is or have an address somewhere?". "Dude, I've been here a couple of times okay, it's somewhere here I'm sure, my geography is not that bad !". "Oh well tell me about it" I said with a wry smile which could beat any fox in a 'wicked smile' competition. "My geography was very good, believe me" said Josh to which I asked "And when was that?". He replied "In school probably, that was when you didn't even know me" to which both of us laughed loudly and finally found the restaurant. I've known Josh since VII standard.

Fiorano also is the name of Ferrari's test track outside Maranello. To the uninitiated Maranello is Ferrari's headquarters in Italy. I've eaten authentic Italian food only once before in my life on an overseas trip and I was looking forward to a good meal. I'm very open in trying out new cuisines.

Josh was a pro in cuisines, especially foreign and was a good person to go with if you were in a mood to try Greek, Italian, Mexican or Mesopotamian cuisines. Having woken up with a blistering headache I badly needed a drink to take the migrane away and drink we did - virgin mary & bloody mary. We went through a rather elaborate italian meal:

Fritto Di Calamari (deep fried squid rings)
Stracciatella con pollo (chicken soup with cheese, italian spices and egg)
Spaghetti Alla Carbonara (spaghetti with bacon, eggs and parmesan cheese)
Costollette Di Maiale (grilled pork chops served with sun dried tomatoes, mashed potatoes and grilled pineapples)
Tiramisu (chocolate cheese cake flavoured with rum)
Mango Cheese Cake
Lemon Cheese Cake

After enjoying every morsel of food the restaurant had to offer Josh exclaimed "It's when the bill comes that the sinking feeling comes back damn". We walked out of the restaurant and started driving homewards when the sms tone went beep beep beep. You have made a debit card payment of Rs.2848 in Fiorano Ristorante said the message. "Dude, why can't they tell us before we make the payment too" said Josh. "You are about to make a payment of Rs.2848 should be a value-add banks can do, don't you think?"

The pilgrimage ..... 5 yrs and counting

Paulo Coelho's 'The Pilgrimage' is the writer's account of his pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain. St.James' Cathedral is a famous attraction that brings in scores of pilgrims to this place. The trek to Santiago is renown and arduous and requires a lot of personal determination to undertake the journey. St.James is also the patron saint of Spain. In the ancient times all pilgrims going to the holy land (Jerusalem) from Rome would visit Santiago on their way.

Catholics in India have their own St.James in St.Thomas who came to India in the first century via the spice route and got off in Cranganore which is modern day Kodungallor near Ernakulam in the state of Kerala. During those times the caravan route from the west coast to the east between Kerala and Tamilnadu was through Malayatoor. It is in Malayatoor that St.Thomas fled to the top of the hill to pray and meditate. Malayatoor is a small hamlet of farmers. This is situated in Ernakulam District about 14 kms from Kalady, which was the birthplace of Adi Shankara. St.Thomas died a martyr's death in Madras and was interred in the site of the Santhome Cathedral before being exhumed and taken back to Rome.

The river Periyar flows in all it's glory through the sleepy town of Malayatoor, this separates the town from the elephant reserve Kodanad. After the onset of the monsoon the river periyar in spate is a sight to behold. The places where one would normally be able to get down for a bath or swim would become very dangerous with strong currents and flash floods. Situated on the banks of this river is the Church of St.Thomas, believed to have been built centuries ago. The hill that St.Thomas prayed on is today an international shrine and the end of the Lenten season plays host to lakhs of pilgrims visiting the shrine re-enacting Christ's last moments on Earth by reciting the stations of the cross.

I've been a visitor to Malayatoor for 6 yrs now, my first trip to Malayatoor was in 2004. This year it was just Kan (Renald George) & Bob (Antony Renald) for company, Josh couldn't make it due to professional commitments. For us it was a repeat of the trip we made in 2004, it was just the three of us then and it was the first time Kan & Bob visited Malayatoor. This year we reached the foothills at 10PM. It took us over an hour to get to the top. After getting down we spent some time in the Periyar and headed to Ernakulam hoping to get home by 2 AM so as to get some food to eat and sleep.

A quick moment in St.George's Church, Edapally from where we reached Ben's house in Thripunithura. Molly Aunty's meat curry with parotta and bread brought a top class day to it's fruition. This year's trip was filled with more driving, less arguing (with Kan), more eating, more talking, more traffic and very less tension. Over to Malayatoor 2010 ......

Driving on a highway - Part 1

Driving on highways are experiences in themselves. An automobile can either be a joy or a nightmare on a highway. One can either be thrilled, elated and happy with the experience or feel stressed, tired and bored even worse a freak incident can cause it to be a nightmare which'll haunt you all your life. Reading Jiya writing for the first time about driving on a highway brought out a certain sense of excitement and discovery. I started driving in 1995 and a Maruti OMNI was the car/van on which I learnt the art and honed it (if one could call it so). City driving demands lots of patience, deft use of the gear & clutch (if you are driving a diesel), lots of attention to the road and mirrors (all three - center, left, right), anticipate a rash bike to cut across or a pedestrian to jump across a median, and most importantly keep your cool given the increasingly stuffed city road, pollution & traffic hold ups. On the other hand to drive on highway one'll need all of the above coupled with an instinct to know when to speed (rip as some would call it) and when to exercise extreme caution. Having driven all over South India on all the highways and most of the state highways if there's one thing that's common to all roads in India then that is their unpredictability. One has to stay ahead of the automobile one is driving performing calculations in real time in one's mind working out the distances in overtaking & braking, knowing when to put your foot down on the accelerator and when to brake so on and so forth.

We all know the risks of highway driving, the speed for one can be deceiving and give one a false sense of safety. With the high speeds modern cars can achieve and the increasing improved nature of our roads the thrill of going overboard on the speedometer is not an easy prospect to fight over. Mind you, I'm not advocating snail's pace on a highway, it beats the whole point. I'm only advocating a more cautioned approach where the drive is majorly convinced of his/her actions. And ofcourse one person's view might just not match with another and hence each one interprets events in their own special way. There are no set rights and wrongs and no one can claim to be immune from an accident. An accident / mishap can happen to anyone, to the aggressive, to the extremely cautious, to all and sundry, one can only take some precautions hoping to remain on the safe side and enjoy the drive. I'd like to cite an example here of an extremely competent drive I know, my brother. This guy is a master of speed, he can do Coimbatore --> Bangalore(340 kms via Sathyamangalam, Mettur) in 5 hrs (minus a couple of minutes). He knows where to bark and where to calm down, sitting with him in the front seat will open your mind to innovative ways of calculating time it takes to overtake a vehicle with oncoming traffic. The way he slips in and out of traffic looks and feels so effortless and one could think it's because of the power in the car he drives but most often he sets the records straight by doing the same on a Maruti 800. Even this guy has had a bad day on the road and the reason was sleepishness. Despite the best of human efforts and thinking there can always be a day when things simply don't go your way, don't fear that day.

Before you hit a highway plan your trip here's some pointers for the layman which are apart from the fact that the vehicle should have been recently serviced and is not due for a service anytime within the next 1000 kms. Most of these are also regular maintenance tips but hold more importance when embarking on long trips.

* Start the engine and let it idle for 2 minutes, closely hear to the engine's hum and try to see if any unnatural ratting, clinging or vibration is observed.
* Switch off, check engine oil level by pulling out the dipstick in the engine. The right way to do this is to pull the dipstick out, clean the oil off it, dip it into the engine and pull it out. Check if oil is within the min/max markings and also see it's colour. Any shade of brown/black means it's time for an oil change (on petrol vehicles this is done every 10000 kms, on diesel's it usually every 7500 kms)
* Check coolant levels and top the wiper water container with fresh water preferably not hardwater/seawater if possible.
* Check all electricals for proper functioning - headlights, turn indicators, fog lamps, horn, electronic locking system.
* Check the aircon and let it run for 10 minutes, try to see if any abnormal smells comes into the cabin like smoking or burnt oil. Make sure the cooling happens normally and watch out for signs of a lag in cooling in which case the gas in the system needs recharging.
* Check brakes and get them adjusted if the pedal is too soft or if biting occurs when braking.
* Start the engine, engage the first gear and release the clutch. The vehicle should get into motion smoothly with no signs of strain or jumping. If the clutch is not in good shape you'll feel the vehicle behaving like a frog getting into motion. This problem needs immediate attention to avoid being stranded on a highway with a broken or faulty clutch.
* Check onboard and confirm that you have a copy of the registration certificate, insurance papers (up to date), emission certificate (irrespective of the state you are driving in), driving license and the first aid kit with basic medication (cotton wool, dettol, paracetamol, saridon/anacin). Do not carry cough syrup. It's okay if a driver coughs for 50 kms before reaching the destination than allowing him to drink cough syrup and sleep midway.
* Check and make sure you have the tools for refitting the tyre on board (spanners, jack and a hazard sign)
* Check tyre pressures, don't miss the spare wheel. Check the pressure early in the morning or late night and don't drive too long to check. The idea is to check cold tyre pressures which are what you find marked on the body. When you drive longer you heat up the air inside the tyres and can cause setting an incorrect value. An Indigo rated is 28 psi tyre pressure normally. After driving 25 kms at 80 kmph the pressure shoots up to 30psi which is perfectly is normal and within the working parameters of the rubber. But if I check pressure at this point then I'll bring the pressure down 2 psi down (to 28 psi because that is what is on the body) which is less than ideal. Make it a habit of checking tyre pressures the first thing in the morning all the time.

We're making an assumption that wheel balancing and alignment has been carried out on the automobile every 5000 kms and the tyres are in good shape. After writing this much I'm tempted to convert this post into a series because summing it all up will make this one HUGE article. So, over to the next part of this post next week. Drive safe folks.

F1 2009 - Thoughts after a race and a half

Albert Park this year has turned to be a complete revelation. Who'd have expected the team that almost didn't make it to active racing in 2009 to come from behind and take top honours. With testing having shown already that the usual front runners are going to have a lot of work to do to remain in the front and some surprises were in store. Williams is a good example of a team that seems to have got it almost right in terms of engine, aerodynamics and drivers. Their pace during testing has been quick and they've demonstrated considerable consistence topping time sheets. Toyota similarly have shown progress with their 2009 car during testing.

McLaren and Ferrari are the two front runners who seem to have a lot going against them. During testing they had huge problem keeping up with the rest of the pack though the reds from Italy managed to top the timesheets every now and then. It's another matter that these two teams adopted KERS early on and were focussed to run it on their car right from the first race.

Brawn GP came from nowhere with no sponsors in tow and swept the first race completely. Overnight Ross Brawn became a sensation, not that he was any less earlier. His work in Benetton with Michael Schumacher is part of F1 legend and the records he helped Michael break after moving to Ferrari is part of F1 folklore. Yes, Brawn was truly worthy of every bit of the praise it was receiving however probing a little further one would see that Honda Racing (before it became Brawn GP) spent all of 2008 developing the 2009 car. The 2009 car was supposed to be Ross Brawn's baby.

Jenson Button's second ever Formula 1 victory came in Brawn's first ever GP. Today in Sepang Jenson too his second consecutive pole position ever. Surely there's a lot in store for the fans.

Sebastian Vettel proved his driving capabilities in Torro Rosso last year and showed class in Melbourne this year. A freak incident with Robert Kubica cost both drivers their championship points and Vettel was served an unfair penalty of 10 grid places in Sepang. Sebastian Buemi's debut in active racing is proving to be interesting, there's going to be a lot to see from this guy this season. Force India with the ugliest looking car on the grid don't seem to have made rapid progress despite the technical support from McLaren-Mercedes. Ofcourse since they haven't done too much testing by mid season their true mettle will show.

After watching qualifying in Sepang I'm pretty sure of one aspect of this year. The frontrunners are the one's that are not running KERS and it makes sense because KERS needs significant economic investment. McLaren and Ferrari are the two consistent KERS runners and the weight of their cars are atleast 20-35 kgs more than the frontrunners. Add to this the fact that McLaren is having a problem with grip and cornering speeds and you know where the focus should lie. Easier said than done, how will McLaren go about closing the gap will be seen in the days to come. It would be unfair to expect McLaren to suddenly show up in the front row in the next race. However in a couple of races I expect them to be back in contention and I get this feeling that back in Woking a diffuser similar to the one's used by Brawn, Williams & Toyota are in the works and might debut in Spain, that would be subject to the FIA ruling from the hearing scheduled on the 14th of April w.r.t diffusers.

Starting from 13th & 14th would definitely not be a prospect Lewis & Heiki would be looking forward to but is there a choice? They will have to have a clean start and then make up as much places on the grid as possible. I hope Heiki adds to whatever Lewis is able to garner from each GP and avoid repeating the mistakes of last year. Over to Malysia .....

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! 

Formula1 - 2009 season - A curtain raiser

2009 will either turn out to be the year overtaking came back to F1 or the year of disastrous performances from drivers all and sundry. The reason being the sweeping changes introduced to the format this year. The absence of traction control brought a lot of focus back to the driver last year. We saw cars twitching into turns and skidding while driving out of it. Flat spotting tyres happened more often with drivers trying to outbrake each other into a turn. This year's regulations will bring max rev limit down to 18,000 rpm from 19,000 rpm. A driver will be allowed 8 engines for the season and 4 more for testing, any more engines will invite a 10 place penalty on the grid. Interestingly Renault has been allowed to introduce changes to it's engine to equalize performance with the others.

This years cars won't have any aerodynamic enhancements on their body work, this is to allow the cars running behind run in clean air rather than get caught in the turbulence impeding overtaking. The front wing will be seen lower and wider almost extending from end to end of the wheel of the car. Driver will be able to make adjustments to the wing from the cockpit, this has been limited to two adjustments per lap. Technically this means if a driver changed his wing to facilitate better traction on a slow curvy track, he'll have to switch to his normal position when he hit's a high speed straight. Any further change in the same lap won't be allowed though the quantum penalty he might invite is not clear yet.

KERS will see the light of the day in active racing this year. Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) is a new optional system which allows saving a car's energy lost normally during braking and makes it available for use on demand for the driver at a later stage. This system is designed to provide as much as 80 hp power to the driver, the catch here is that the driver is not allowed to use it for more than 6.7 seconds per lap. For the one's used to seeing the 'Fast and furious' series I believe we can imagine this to be something like the 'nitro boost' the drivers are shown to have in the movie. I'm ready to stick my neck out and say not all teams will run their cars with KERS in Melbourne, KERS comes with a significant handicap in terms of weight for the flywheel and battery and it might take some time for the teams to work out the performance equation which will vote for or against using KERS.

Bridgestone remains the lone supplier of tyres for F1 and this year's regulations bring in slicks back to active racing, no more grooves. Drivers will have to use two compounds in every race like last year but how the slicks fare in wet weather conditions is going to be anybody's guess. With reduced downforce this is surely going to go the cartoon way. It will also bring in tight racing and hopefully bring up more overtaking opportunities. 

There is a testing ban during the season which means teams won't be allowed to do any kind of testing after Melbourne until mid December. This is a move that is aimed at reducing costs and help prevent financially sound teams from splurging on testing while helping other teams to not worry about not having the money to conduct such testing. A hugely unpopular rule that was in force last year was about pitting when the safety car was on track. Imagine a car that was dangerously low on fuel and was on it's way to pit when a on track incident forced the safety car to come in. The pit lane would be closed and if this car enters the pit to refuel a penalty would be served (either a 10 second stop/go penalty or a drive-thru pit penalty). This year this rule has been withdrawn and the pit lane would remain open. To keep an eye on drivers who rush into the pits to take unfair advantage a new system will be employed which will calculate the time a car needs to take to get to the pits, if any driver arrives sooner he'll invite a penalty.

Some of these rules are aimed at helping F1 develop technologies that can be used on road cars but environmentalists will be disappointed that nothing has been introduced to help the sport take a greener turn. The cars look odd, last year's cars were stunningly beautiful while this year's are a little sore to see. The team line up is almost the same as last year the only change being in Honda Racing. This has been rechristened Brawn GP and the legendary Ross Brawn has invested his money to save this team after Honda withdrew from F1. Mercedes Benz has been allowed to supply engines to the Brackley outfit and it will be interesting to see Ross Brawn use his team and resources working with a Mercedes engine, using a Ferrari engine would have been a natural choice but it remains a mystery as to why he couldn't secure an engine deal with Ferrari. 

Force India wasn't anything to speak about last year and during the end the termination of some high profile personnel got it in the news. Vijay Mallya knows to work the media to his advantage. With McLaren electronics & gearbox and Mercedes Benz engines this team might be the dark horse this year. Who can forget Simon Roberts and the role he played in McLaren? He's taken up the role of the COO in Force India and prior to this assignment he was Operations Director in McLaren. Simon joined McLaren in 2003 as General Manager and was responsible then for for coordinating the manufacture and assembly processes, I.T., transport and logistics, quality, vehicle technology laboratories and human resources. If only the team prinicipal can concentrate on actual racing, instead of strutting pretty women (girls) on the grid week after week, this year could be a windfall year for this team with an Indian name.

All of the team predictably are holding all their cards close to the chest and rightly so. Red Bull appears to have gotten a lot of mileage and Mark Webber's recovery is well on track. Renault have been doing very well in testing, Alonso topped the time sheets this week. BMW have been the 'let your work do your talking' type and one can be sure that they are doing very good progress. McLaren should have a lot to worry about and this year's focus would be to get both the driver's and constructor's titles back to Woking. Ron Dennis has stepped down from the role of Team Prinicipal and Martin Whitmarsh (Marty) has stepped in his place. I expect Ron to show up at all races, this man got divorced last year and it can't get any worse than that.

One can expect Norbert Haug (Head of Mercedes Benz Sporting) to hang around in Force India & Brawn Racing's garage give that engine partnership he shares with this team. Abu Dhabi makes it's presence on the F1 calendar this year, Canada is absent with which F1 does not travel to North America at all. Remember previously we had a race in Montreal and in Indianapolis which lost their places in the last two years. Everytime I start writing about F1 I try to be brief but brevity is not my forte. This season promises a lot but can it deliver? Let's see how it all pans out, over to Melbourne.

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

Requiescat in pace - Herbert Roy Boother

Herbert Roy Boother or Uncle Roy as he was known among friends breathed his last today in Asokan Hospital, Coimbatore. An accomplished bass guitarist with a keen ear for music, Uncle Roy was one of the rare people who'd make you instantly comfortable. He was our worst critic when we used to play in the Church. I vividly remember seeing him stand in the last rows closely following the music that we used to play, I used to loathe the thought of getting feedback because we sucked big time with our music and he was not a person to mince words. 

The honest and genuine feedback he always shared was a motivation to do better. I was even fortunate to jam with him, I remember practising carols for Christmas when he offered to play the bass. It was an opportunity too good but at the same time scary because here was a person you looked up to musically who was offering to play with you. We did jam together and Uncle wasn't exactly pleased with the music we did then but he never gave up on us.

I can't seem to nail the correct date but it was during Easter of 2002 that Uncle Roy suggested that we play a full drum set in the Church. We went to a friend of his and brought back a bass, snare, cymbals, hi-hat and a high, mid & low tom. Sam was supposed to play it but couldn't due to some last minute compulsions. The cover we did of 'More love, more power' sung by Stanley was appreciated by Uncle who used to be amazed at times at how a computer can make many things easier. 

Uncle Roy was also a known face in the Coimbatore orchestra circuit. He used to play bass guitar and he enjoyed it so much that you could see him completely immersed in his music when he was on stage. He sounded like a bass guitar too, the baritone voice he had still rings in my ears. I used to be a regular for tea in his house till a couple of years ago and I can't say how much thankful I've been for the hospitality of the Boother family. After getting a job I've never been able to visit them as regularly as I could when I was a student. 

Stanley's been a close friend from school and we recently met when he visited India for Christmas. The last couple of years have been demanding on Uncle with his usual movements restricted by illness causing him to visit a hospital more than often. Uncle Roy is survived by Aunty Felis, Stanley and his sister Geena. The void he leaves can never be filled and we all join the family is spirit to share the pain. May God grant peace to his soul.

Geo's Talkies - Naan Kadavul (I'm God - Tamil)

I have a particular fondness for a film director who writes his own story. There's a sense of conceiving an idea, carrying it in one's mind allowing it to grow and finally giving birth to it by seeing it play on screen, there's a motherhood cycle related to it. Today there are as many director's who take another person's story and get the movie to work as are director's who write the story and screenplay and direct the movie for the big screen. 

Bala belongs to the latter group, after interning with Balu Mahendra this young man from Madurai debuted with the superhit 'Sethu' which was as middle as a mainstream Thamizh movie could become gave a fresh lease of life to a hitherto unknown actor who has been the voice of many on screen, Vikram. Bala's fourth directorial attempt 'Naan Kadavul', which translates into 'I am God', starts promisingly. When the protagonist utters 'Aham Bhramasmi' a couple of minutes into the film it sets expectations and also get's the viewer all excited to get a sense of how far a mainstream movie can go to work around the concept without having to bother about formula and without tinkering with logic. 

The movie opens gloriously in Kasi, 'Om Sivoham' plays as the title sequences play out, visuals of the Ganges in Kasi are sights to behold. Here's a father in search of his son he gave up in Kasi 14 yrs ago heeding to astrological advice hoping for better fortunes for his family. Accompanied by his daughter he reaches a famous priest in Kasi who helps him out despite abhoring the thought that a father gave up his son listening to superstition.

Rudhran is the son the father has been searching for, he's an Aghori (see trivia for more) now. Rudhran is sent by his Guru back to his hometown to return after renouncing his worldly connections. Rudhran arrives in his hometown in Southern Tamilnadu to his mother. The mother doesn't get the son's love nor can they understand the methods to his madness - blowing the conch and playing rustic drums in the middle of the night, smoking ganja etc.

Thandavan (notice the resemble to 'Andavan' meaning God in Tamil) uses beggars to earn his living, he's the head of a large begging mafia in this small town. He earns large amounts of money getting people to beg and doesn't give a damn about human life. He beats the one's that dare question, he deforms and multilates them. Murugesan works for Thandavan and is assigned a group of beggars who collect the highest among their peers by begging in the foothills of a hill top temple - Malaikkovil.

One night in search of ganja Rudhran arrives to the hill top to find other ascetics (some real, some fake) smoking to their glory. This hill become his abode from here on. He mouthes filth and sanskrit shlokas when questioned and is revered and feared by the folks around him. Amsavalli is a blind beggar with a sweet voice, she's stolen from her group of small timers who don the roles of MGR, Sivaji, Rajini, Nayanthara etc to make money and is taken to Thandavan. Here enters Nair from Kerala who runs a large begging group in places of religious interest in Kerala, Nair wants a change of faces to improve collections and hence takes people from Thandavan to Kerala.

Nair comes back to Malaikkovil with a proposal to make money with Amsavalli hoping to sell her off to a rich but completely deformed person who'd never have any woman bed with him due to the gory nature of his face. Amsavalli is left in the hill top temple by Murugesan and his accomplice hoping to save her from the ill that is to visit her and pleading the God there to save her. Rudhran answers their prayers, he takes on Nair and kills him. This infuriates Thandavan who mutilates Amsavalli's face. How Rudhran takes on all the evil he sees around him complete the narrative.

Arya comes out tops as Rudhran, the key here being in the fact that he doesn't have to emote too much. He brings in a completely different mannerism and body language to the aghori ascetic's character and the long beard and hair complement the persona of the character he is playing. Pooja, the glamour girl we all are used to, surprises us with her portrayal of Amsavalli. Shod of any glamour and with darkened complexion and lenses to blind her vision she does a good job of portraying the character of a blind beggar. Her north indian accent lends a wee bit more of credibility to the role she's playing though many see it as a handicap. Arya and Pooja have got the roles of their life time in this movie. Despite this one can't but imagine how it would have been should a more competent pair of actors were chosen to esssay these roles.

Every other character in this movie is aptly cast, there's no one who is miscast or who doesn't play the part well. I'm not able to name the person who played Thandavan, he's menacing and the very look of him on screen builds a huge amount of hatred in our hearts. Bala has reportedly used real beggars to act in this movie for a monthly salary of 2500/month. It shows on screen and most of them play their part rather beautifully. 

There's an underlying tinge of humor in some scenes and despite the rather sordid state of affairs we see on screen some lines made me laugh rather loudly. The way the beggars laughed and made fun of the world around them brought both a smile and a tear to one's eyes. I had a minor problem with the dialogues in the beginning of the movie when it sounded very dramatic in that the characters mouthed them like it was a stage drama.  Arthur Wilson's cinematography is the other high point of this movie. The opening in Kasi is outstanding. The camera literally crawls in and out of scenes majorly, most of the shooting is done from below the knee level which adds another layer of mystique to an already mystic movie.

Ilaiyaraja's music elevates this movie one notch more. The songs are superbly written and tuned. I couldn't pick one number which didn't fit the mood of a scene or which wasn't melodic enough. The background music was superlative to say the least. Here's a movie where Harris could learn a thing or two about writing for action scenes. Raja Sir's score for the action is apt and fits the thematic needs perfectly. The dialogs are laced with lewd and vulgar language when one sees it from a prudish metro dweller's point of view but one shouldn't expect anything less from a fare that is so grounded in reality. 

All the Tamil swear phrases have been beeped out but a particular swear word in Hindi which would translate into 'sister violater' wasn't beeped out. Is it that the Censor board folks in Chennai don't know enough Hindi? Given the large influx of IT professional from various parts of the country into Chennai this swear word should be rather widely known. It's rare that an actor get's an author backed role, Arya certainly get's to play the most challenging role of his career. The way he's introduced on screen while he's doing seershasan is so bold. On the low side Arya's character is not completely explored, there is no mention of what's he thinking or how he's tuned to see things, we have to assume that as an aghori he's broken off all his material leanings including his family which deserted him 14 yrs ago. The logic given towards the end for moksha for a character who begs redemption is hardly plausible.

Extras don't have any role to play in a scene in Indian movies. They simply have to stick to a marked position with a particular look on their face which an AD gives them. This movie breaks that routine. I'd like to mention a very short scene of a beggar crawling in a bus asking for alms during a song sequence. In the background you see the insides of the bus, the camera looking into the front where a conductor is changing the board of the bus, the back reads 'Bus Station' implying that this bus is leaving to a suburb or village nearby. The conductor picks his bag and moves ahead to issue tickets. All this happens in a couple of seconds but to keep a scene so dynamic takes a lot of rehearsal and vision and Bala has it. It's small things such as these that elevate 'Naan Kadavul' to a good movie. 

This is not a pop corn movie. This movie arrests it's viewer. You can't take your eyes off the screen. You are either repelled by the scenes you see or are engrossed in it in a non voyeuristic manner. The star behind 'Naan Kadavul' is Bala, the writer/director. It takes a lot of courage and guts to take a story about beggars and their problems and project it on screen. On paper it's not viable at all and no producer worth his salt would spend a penny on a project that looks so doomed. I hope this movie is seen by as many people as possible for the sheer magnitude of thoughts condensed into it. At a little over 2 hrs this is a lot shorters than the normal postcard swiss dramas we see churned out by our filmfolk.

Trivia:

# Aghori sanyasis see them as a symbol of Lord Shiva as per Hindu mythology. They are rumoured to indulge in cannibalism. 

# Aghori sanyasis believe in the perfectness of Lord Shiva and the fact that he is responsible for everything in this world - animate and inanimate.

# Corpses are freed off their curse by Aghori sanyasis to allow them attain moksha hence liberating them from their cycle of reincarnation.

# Aghori sanyasis can be distinguished from others by the way they smear ash left after incarceration of a corpse on their faces and body.

# The scenes in Kasi were shot in the real Kasi on the banks of the Ganges.

# The scenes depicting Malaikkovil were shot at Thenkarai near Kumbakarai in Theni district of Tamilnadu.

# The water falls shown near Malaikkovil is Kumbakarai falls in Theni district. This area was known to be naxalite prone but fast developing into a tourist spot recently.

Slumdog's nominations at the Oscars

Is this going to be a case of the underdog 'Slumdog' going on to become an Oscar sensation? Look at all the nominations and it's anybody's guess,. AR Rahman is nominated in twice for best song ("O Saya" and "Jai ho") and original score, a total of three nominations. Another first ever for an Indian is Reesul Pookutty who has been nominated with Ian Tapp and Richard Pryke for achievement in sound mixing. 

Reesul recently worked on the sound of 'Ghajini' which was released in December in India. He was first noticed for the work he did on Sanjay Leela Bhansali's 'Black' with whom he went on to work with later for 'Saawariya'. He also is credited on Zinda, Bluffmaster, Mathrbhumi and many more for sound design. Reesul hails from Kollam district in Kerala and is an alumnus of FTII, Pune.  over to the 22nd of Feb 2009.

Achievement in cinematography

 “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Anthony Dod Mantle 

Achievement in directing

 “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Danny Boyle 

Achievement in film editing

 “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Chris Dickens 

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)

 “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), A.R. Rahman 

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)

 “Jai Ho” from “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Music by A.R. Rahman, Lyric by Gulzar 

 “O Saya” from “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Music and Lyric by A.R. Rahman and Maya Arulpragasam

Achievement in sound editing

  “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Tom Sayers 

Achievement in sound mixing

 “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke and Resul Pookutty 

Adapted screenplay

 “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Screenplay by Simon Beaufoy

Windows 7

I am currently using Windows 7 Beta 32-bit edition on my desktop, after three hours of setting it up and playing around my initial feelings are so positive about this when compared to Vista.

I saw one glitch with the Intel display accelerator which the system recovered from automatically the experience has been trouble free. The default installation attempted to change the display resolution to 1280 x 1024 (60 Hz) which for some reason wasn't displaying on a DELL 19" LCD monitor. Changing this to 1280 x 1024 (85 Hz) fixed the display problem.

Music - Oscar hopefuls - 2009

I was tempted to post when I saw a pic of such distinguished composers on Hollywood reporter. Here's a short description on each of them. 

From left: Jan AP Kaczmarek, Alexander Desplat, Danny Elfman (Top most), Howard Shore, AR Rahman are the composers posing in the picture above.  [Image copyrighted by Hollywood reporter and used here in a non-commercial context, will be removed if objections are raised by the copyright owner]

Jan AP Kaczmarek is a Polish composer who has won the Oscar award for Finding Neverland. Jan effectively was able to create melodies on the piano and merge it the the orchestra in his soundtrack for Finding Neverland which was instantly appealing at the same time was layered enough for hardcore classical music fans to discern in the long run. He is also known for two symphonic compositions done in Poland - Cantata for Freedom & Oratorio. Jan's tickets to the awards nite this year is 'The Visitor'. 

Alexander Desplat is considered French and has composed music for such films as Lust, Caution, The Luzhin Defence, Girl with a Pearl Earring, Syriana, Birth, Hostage, Casanova, The Nest and The Painted Veil. He got noticed for his score for 'The Painted Veil' for which he earned a Golden Globe for best original score. His score for the epic 'The Queen' was nominated for the Academy award (Oscar). This year he's rumoured to be nominated for the score done for the movie 'The Curious case of Benjamin Button'.

Danny Elfman is an American composer whose scores to movies have been described as wild, maniac, romantic, lush, serious, dark, bright etc. Having scored the first Batman movie, Danny is know for his work in movies such as Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare before Christmas, Good Will Hunting, Chicago, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Kingdon etc. Danny has been nominated for the Academy award for Good Will Hunting (Dramatic Score), Men in Black (Musical or Comedy) & Big Fish (Original Score) but hasn't won the coveted Oscar as yet, is this going to be his year for the work done on the movie titled 'Milk'?

Howard Shore is the most popular and decorated of the names we have on this post today. Having composed for such successful movies as The Silence of the Lambs, The Lord of the rings trilogy, Philadelphia, Se7en, The Departed, The Aviator, Gangs of New York, Howard has won the academy award thrice - Best Original Score for The Fellowship of the Ring, Best Original Song (sung by Annie Lennox) and Best Original Score for The Return of the king. The year he's likely to be nominated for the score of the movie 'Doubt'. 

AR Rahman is probably the best selling composer in this list simply because of the sheer number of record sales his music is attributed to, it's rumoured to be close to 110 million putting him in the same league as Michael Jackson in terms of sales. AR Rahman is an indian born composer who changed the way music was done in mainstream indian movies. After breaking all records in Indian he went west to compose music for the hugely successful musical Bombay Dreams (premiered in London) and The Lord of the rings (premiered in Toronto). His work on 'Warriors of Heaven and Earth' a chinese production was well received. Rahman is rumoured to get nominated to the academy awards for 'Slumdog Millionaire'. 

I'm going to stick my neck out and make two predictions. AR Rahman is going to be nominated for Best Original Score and Best Original Song for 'Slumdog Millionaire', he'll win Best Original Song ('Jai Ho' sung by Sukhwinder Sing, Lyrics by Gulzar, Produced by AR Rahman). Over to the short list expected in Feb 2009.