Geo's Talkies - Dil Chahta Hai

Dil Chahtha Hai is a primarily about three guys, Akaash, Siddharth and Sameer. All three are from well to do families and they are shown to be the best of friends. They party together, travel together and have fun. Akaash does not really believe in love, he’s more of a realist who believes he has no time to romance. Sameer has time only to fall in and out of love, everytime he falls in love he strives hard to keep it glowing but alas, it never works. Siddharth is an artist with the third eye, he sees what normal people don’t see. He lives in a world of his own and is the type of guy even if we’ve known for years would still not have known him, paradoxically.

The usual stuff that happens between college students like parties, date fundas, crushes, jokes are shown superbly in this movie. The friendship hit’s a speedbreaker when Siddharth begins to develop feelings for an older women, Tara, who’s a divorcee with a grown up child who comes to live in Akaash’s locality and has an eye for art and alcohol. Akaash and Siddharth get distanced over a freak remark by Akaash over their relationship and the movie treads a new course from here. Siddharth takes up art full time, Sameer get’s into business with his Dad and so does Akaash.

Akaash goes to Australia where he meets Shalini with whom he’s already blooped a meeting in a graduation party when in college. Akaash get’s into business professionally & personally and in the process he finds himself inextricably in love with Shalini who’s already engaged with Rohit, an arrogant and overtly possessive son of Shalini’s father’s business partner, why she wants to marry him is also shown in the movie, a la Hindi film style. Meanwhile, Sameer finds love in Pooja after turning down a proposal to marry her because he was averse to the idea of an arranged marriage.

The story actually begins with Tara being taken to a hospital where she is waiting her death on account of a damaged liver. It progresses from there where all these items are presented in flashback sequences. Tara dies leaving Siddharth broken hearted, Akaash apologises to Siddharth and the three become friends again, and if you thought this is where the story ended you just jumped the gun. Months later Siddharth finds love in the form of Akaash’s ex-flame Deepa and all’s well end’s well.

I usually don’t like to spell out the story of a movie but this movie’s highlight is in the way the characters are presented on screen, how they behave and strike a rapport with the audiences. Another reason for making the story public was because this is a fairly old movie. DCH’s team has done a lot of study in etching the characters, we can find very real characters one notable example apart from the main cast being Priya, a cameo by ex-VJ Suchitra Pillai. She simply lives her role exhibiting the upperclass aura that we can usually see around.

There are some scenes that require special mention, one being Akaash’s phone call to Sameer asking him to put him on to Siddharth to apologise. Akaash’s transition from a joker to a serious viewer in an Opera house with Shalini. Akaash, Sameer and Siddharth sitting on a wall of a ruins of a fort in Goa. The most hilarious scene is when Sameer who’s dating a foreigner Christine in Goa is shown groaning and moaning in a bedroom with all kinds of dress and lingerie strewn around, no, it’s not what you are thinking!!!

Director Farhan Akthar has created a mark for him with his debut, his innovative style of presenting the story needs special mention. Editing by Sreekar Prasad is good, very smooth. Ravi K Chandran’s camera work is more than excellent, it’s fabulous. There’s a dominant color tone to signify the youthful feel of the movie. Nakul Kamte has done superb work with the sound, we have lot’s of silences and the foley artists have filled in the gaps. Shot using sync sound, the result is stunning.

Music of this movie is one of the best that came out that year, credits must go to Shankhar Mahadevan, Ehsaan Noorani & Loy Mendonsa for the songs and scintillating background scores. The background scores are a mix of techno-rock, piano-flute-guitar pieces and they are apt and mesmerising. Aamir Khan as Akaash, Saif Ali Khan as Sameer, Akshaye Khanna as Siddharth, Preity Zinta as Shalini, Sonali Kulkarni as Pooja, Dimple Kapadia as Tara gell into their role quite perfectly. Dimple Kapadia has got the most intense eyes in the film industry but this performance is not a superlative one, just the usual one.

Overall this was the best movie to have released then, if you have not seen it then you have missed great entertainment.

[Published originally on the 30th of December 2002 on mouthshut.com]

Geo's Talkies - Parineeta

Vidhu Vinod Chopra is one of the few directors in India who’s got it all to call himself a good director. His movies have had good music, excellent cinematography and a good script to take the story forward. For the novices, he roped in Sanjay Leela Bhansali to direct his songs in ’1942 A love story’. The script is credited to him in this movie and he’s done the screenplay with Pradeep Sarkar. Who is Pradeep Sarkar? With over a 1000 ad movies under his belt, Pradeep Sarkar is the director of this movie. I wonder if a non-Bengali could have done justice to this story.

The original story ’Parineeta’ (Married woman) was penned by Saratchandra Chatterjee, the same person who did ’Devdas’. It begins in 1962 in calcutta where we see Shekhar getting ready for what appears to be his wedding. 30 seconds into the movie a jump cut takes you to what’s running on his mind and that’s Lolitha, his childhood buddy and sweetheart. Lolitha as we later understand has grown up with Shekhar and they’ve been close to each other as cheese and bread. Her parents die when she’s young and she grows up in an uncles place who are Shekhar’s neighbours.

Shekhar’s father, Navin is a construction baron as it’s typical to people from West Bengal. He’s a man known for his ruthless ambition and strict demeanour. Lolitha has an adorable sister, aptly enacted by Raima Sen. She’s always full of life. Enter Girish, almost God like and acts like a saviour, helps Lolitha’s uncles family out of a financial mess antagonising Shekhar’s Dad in the process who manages to engineer a split between the lead characters. Shekhar ends up loosing the two things he loved most in his life, his music and his wife.

Did I say wife? You need to see the movie to know how Lolitha becomes Shekhar’s wife, the scenes depicting this are sheer poetry. Shekhar meanwhile agrees to wed Gayathri Tantia, the daughter of another wealthy baron. At this point the story comes back to the present. Girish’s one sided love for Lolitha, Koel’s (Lolitha’s sister) admiration and crush on Girish, Shekhar’s love for Lolitha and Lolitha’s love for Shekhar, everything is so nicely portrayed in the movie without going over the top. Everything is so subtle but clear.

Though the movie goes back and forth in time, there in no difficult in the audience understanding the transition because of the beautiful execution hence removing the need for ’some time ago’, ’present day’ etc. The strength of this movie is that it is based on a solid foundation, i.e., the original book written by Saratchandra Chatterjee. The screen writers have adapted the story beautifully to the 60’s, the book is originally set in the beginning of the 20th century. Production design by Apocalypse Filmworks, Pradeep Sarkar’s ad company, is top notch. A lot of hard work and money has gone into re-creating Calcutta of the sixties.

Saif Ali Khan who portrays the role of Shekhar brilliantly bringing out the repulsiveness, angst, jealousy, short temper and shows that he’s pampered but with infinite love for his beloved which is understated. If one wonders how can Saif fit into an almost period character this one is a sterling example. Sanjay Dutt is all that Saif’s character is not, we have seen him in similar characters in the past, this is is unique though. Vidya Balan enacts the role of Lolitha to perfection, at one point she makes you feel so bad for the dialog writers because you end up only seeing her, we can hardly listen. She brings out myriad amount of emotions and subtle gestures on her face which light up the screen.

Sabyasachi Chakravarthy plays the role of Navin Rai to perfection, one needs to pay attention to the effortless transition he makes between Hindi and English on screen. He looks, lives and breathes life into his character. There’s nothing one can blame on the actors, this should be one of the movies with the most appropriate cast who don the roles to perfection. Cinematography by Nataraja Subramanian (he’s worked with Pradeep on ads before) captures Calcutta for what it is, Howrah bridge in dusk, Trams on the road, large havelis lit up to show all their splendour, darkness that seem like they are being drawn on screen while they are actually the absence of light. A thousand standing ovations to the cinematographer for the brilliantly capturing the visuals on screen.

Another aspect that strikes you is the use of sound. I saw this movie on a DVD that had a dts encoded soundtrack. When one says dts, immediately you hear helicopters going all over you, gun shots, woosh’s, etc come to one’s mind. This movie is a good example of using technology to create a wholesome ambience sans the loud sound effects one usually relates to it. When you see something on screen, you also hear it. Good use of sound helps in taking the audience right into what’s hapenning on screen, the durga pooja in the movie is an example of this aspect. Biswadeep Chatterjee scores full marks for sound design and recording.

If I have to pick a bone at the director, I’d say the ending was a bit over the top, especially the main guy demolishing a wall with people around him going ’do it Shekhar’, ’come on shekhar’. The speed at which things move when Shekhar get into business is real fast and the director hasn’t wasted any time in developing that part of his character. Diya Mirza essays the role of looking good as Gayathri and nothing much to say about her, we don’t expect much either. Rekha comes in a nice cameo as a Jazz singer in Moulin Rouge, nothing much to talk about it except that she’s done a good job.

Music director Shantanu Moitra has excelled in the simple and hummable tunes he’s created. They are appropriate and fit into the movie perfectly.Pradeep Sarkar is the man of the moment in this movie, all his experience has gone into making this movie which shows. A man who is making his first feature in his early 50’s is not an easy task, but all the experience he’s had has shown in getting the screenplay done and keeping off from the in-your-face commercial tamasha.

On the whole ’Parineeta’ is surely one of the best modern movies that are commercial but still try to strike a balance between what’s logical and aesthetic without getting over the top and crass. ’Parineeta’ is a class apart from the usual bollywood fare, now for all you who are curios about what hapenned to Shekhar’s wife, does he get her? What happens to Girish’s love? Where does Koel fit into all this? Go see the movie or still better buy a VCD or DVD, it sure is worth the price.

[Published originally on the 13th of October 2005 on mouthshut.com]

Censorship and the I&B Ministry

The I&B (Information and Broadcasting) ministry in the Government of India is bent upon playing spoilsport in the past decade. In the past if one I&B Minister thought FTV should be banned, the current minister has taken it a step further and banned AXN from Indian airwaves for a period of two months. This sort of arbitrary action has been a signature recently for example consider the furore over 'The DaVinci Code'. I for one could not watch this movie when it released because of the ban in Tamilnadu. But the fact that I own it (legally) on DVD is another matter now.

Yesterday's ban on AXN was immature if not unwarranted. The statement released by the I&B ministry reads as follows.

“It had come to the notice of the Central Government that some cable operators in the country through their Cable Television Networks are transmitting /re-transmitting a satellite channel namely “AXN” which is reportedly telecasting programmes such as ‘World’s Sexiest Advertisements’ that are against good taste or decency and are likely to adversely affect public morality,”

Now what constitutes 'good taste' or 'decency' is open to interpretation. I am sure all the umpteen mega serials are 'decent' as are all the proceedings shown in state assemblies and parliament. Let's take a look at the provisions in the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 that could have been invoked to effect this ban. Chapter 5 section 20 of this act reads as follows.

(3) Where the Central Government considers that any programme of any channel is not in conformity with the prescribed programme code referred to in section 5 or the prescribed advertisement code referred to in section 6, it may by order, regulate or prohibit the transmission or re-transmission of such programme”.

Obviously this section can be invoked at any programme and an arbitrary ban can be effected because there is no established procedure to haul up the broadcaster and solicit an explanation (which I don't think is fair at all in the first place). The program code referred to in section 5 is show below. See for yourself how varied it's provisions are.

Programme Code - No programme should be carried in the cable service which:-

(a) Offends against good taste or decency:

(b) Contains criticism of friendly countries;

(c) Contains attack on religions or communities or visuals or words contemptuous of religious groups or which promote communal attitudes;

(d) Contains anything obscene, defamatory, deliberate, false and suggestive innuendos and half truths;

(e) Is likely to encourage or incite violence or contains anything against maintenance of law and order or which promote-anti-national attitudes;

(f) Contains anything amounting to contempt of court;

(g) Contains aspersions against the integrity of the President and Judiciary;

(h) Contains anything affecting the integrity of the Nation;

(i) Criticises, maligns or slanders any individual in person or certain groups, segments of social, public and moral life of the country ;

(j) Encourages superstition or blind belief;

(k) Denigrates women through the depiction in any manner of the figure of a women, her form or body or any part thereof in such a way as to have the effect of being indecent, or derogatory to women, or is likely to deprave, corrupt or injure the public morality or morals;

(l) Denigrates children;

(m) Contains visuals or words which reflect a slandering, ironical and snobbish attitude in the portrayal of certain ethnic, linguistic and regional groups

(n) Contravenes the provisions of the Cinematograph Act, 1952.

(o) is not suitable for unrestricted public exhibition.

Explanation – For the purpose of this clause, the expression “unrestricted public exhibition” shall have the same meaning as assigned to it in the Cinematograph Act, 1952 (37 of 1952);

Given this matter, another one came up yesterday which kind of sends one logic in a tailspin. Pray what's in public interest about Shilpa Shetty taking part in 'Big Brother' for a sum of 3 crores for 25 days? Why is the government worried about what is happening in the show? If Bollywood is worried it certainly has a right to and if fans are worries their worry is not misplaced. But the Government certainly has other pressing matters to talk about and work on. The I&B minister calling a meeting of secretaries in New Delhi to tackle the matter of alleged racism in a TV show is surely in India's interest!

At the end of the day, it looks like everyone wants to be featured in the next days' newspaper and all news bulletins. The I&B ministry needs a liberal minded minister who'd be able to open up airwaves like Dr.Manmohan Singh did to the Economy in the 90's. They also need someone like Mr.P.Chidambaram to continue the reforms otherwise the successor will end up undoing all changes effected by the predecessor.

Geo's Talkies - The Shawshank Redemption

What makes a movie spectacular, a cut above from the rest? A good story, a clear screenplay, neat performances, technically sound which includes the faculties of music, cinematography, editing, art direction and production. There are a lot of movie which might fit into one of these genres - action thrillers, suspense thrillers, romance, musicals. There are a couple of genres where we don’t have a tight narrative, where the director takes the liberty to move things at his pace, we could call them drama.

Drama is a tricky slot to be in because apart from all that the movie has, it has to relate to the human spirit in some way to be special. ’The Shawshank Redemption’ is an excellent movie by that standards. It’s a story about this banker played by Tim Robbins(Andy) who’s imprisoned for the murder of his wife, over the course of the movie we get to know more about the murder.

In the prison the movie introduces us to a variety of characters. Morgan Freeman as Red who plays the role of a convict serving a life sentence fits into the character perfectly and so does Bob Gunton as Warden Norton, the hypocrite Bible-obsessed disciplinarian. The film moves highlighting all aspects of prison life, the not-so good and bad side, like Andy being sexually abused. The film begins to show glimmers of hope when Andy begins to get into the system and tries to work it for the good of the prisoners.

There is also a very interesting insight into the murder of Andy’s wifes’ murder when a new convict comes in and things get a bit worse from then. But the real treat is in the last 15 minutes when all things fall right where they have to be and elicit a very positive reaction from each one of us. This is where the film truly wins and this is where the director has proved his mettle.

Frank Darabont had shown a lot of promise with this movie in the mid nineties, though this film failed to get an Oscar despite being nominated for more than one categories does not in any way diminish it’s sheen, we all know about the Oscar’s and how they can be manipulated. Stephen King’s book was translated into this beautiful movie is another achievement, given the fact that Stephen King always dwells with supernatural concepts. The same writer-director team came up with ’The Green Mile’ years later shows the talent in the director, the writers talent is not a question here since it’s been proved more than once in the past.

Music in this movie can be compared to Tim Robbins performance, one could call it under-stated. Given the concept of the movie Thomas Newman has done a splendid work, either this movie could have provided one big theme that went with the concept or it could have a number of themes that went with the story and the music director has chosen to do the latter which fits into the soundscape perfectly, so finally we have one person to carry on the Alfred Newman legacy. Special mention has to be made about the scene in which Andy plays the duet ’’Sull’aria... Che soave zeffiretto ’’ from opera ’’Le nozze di Figaro’’(The Marriage of Figaro composed by Mozart) , as audiences we can feel the freedom that Andy speaks about and that’s what Opera is all about.
Roger Deakins, the cinematographer has also executed his task very well, we have optimally lit(should I say darkened) prison scenes and a beautiful helicopter aerial shot of the prison which is breath-taking, editing has also been done deftly and a very novel method of transition between scenes heightens the narrative, like the sound of gavel in the court and clanking of doors in the prison.
'Fear can hold you prisoner, Hope can set you free’, says the tag line and I doubt whether we’d have anything to contrast it, this is one movie everyone must see to know what goes into making a good film. If I had to pick the top movies of all time, I’m sure ’The Shawshank Redemption’ would make it to the list without any second thoughts.

[Published originally on the 30th of October 2002 on mouthshut.com]

Nerd test result

Music and movies - After "The End"

Music in the movies always play a vital role and I am sure most if not all of us walk out of the cinema hall as the end titles start rolling in. There are cinema halls which simply stop projecting as soon as the credits start to roll which is unfortunate too. It makes sense to them to save on electricity and stop showing something which the audience is least interested in. On a personal level, most of the end titles of movies have some of the best music from the movie backing up the credits and I thought why not write about some of them which I've seen and tended to like. With this in mind, we'll be rolling out a new series titled After "The End" which has nothing to do with the Apocalypse or Armageddon, but will only try to talk about the music that underscores the movie credits after we've seen 'The End' on screen. I hope to post the first opinion on this service by the end of this week.

Geo's Talkies - Stigmata

This is a movie which tries to build it’s plot around the Catholic concept of ’Stigmata’,which is a state where the afflicted suffers the wounds that Jesus Christ had when he was on the cross. It’s is supposed to originate from a very high state of religiousness and faith.

The movie has spectacular cinematography, especially when in the beginning before the titles come up. It begins with a priest who’s investigating a miracle in South America stumbles upon a crying statute, the higher up’s in the Vatican put him on another mission where he has to solve the case of an atheist suffering from Stigmata.

It’s here that the movie gains momentum, an atheist suffering Stigmata is not a credible explanation. The priests internal conflicts, the priests struggle regarding his faith, his reason for being a priest and a scientist all form a very interesting narrative. Though the Catholic Church is portrayed in a not-so-good light, it doesn’t spark off a major controversy.

All these were part of the debate the Church has had and is having for centuries now. The end has a surprise which to a certain extent explains all the happenings, which is though not fully acceptable but in any case fine. This is a movie for Christians and non-Christians alike, for Christians it’ll provide some insights to the concept of faith and to non-Christians it’s a mystery solved, a thriller.

Musically, this movie has nothing great to offer, it has some real good Techno, House based tracks which are played when the lead character come in the frame, which enhances the narrative highlighting the mindset of the character. The other scenes in the Church and Priest are the usual, Gregorian, Gothic or Classical music which is passe .

Cinematography and Editing are strong points of this movie, editing is razor sharp with inter-cuts and some inter-play of visuals enhance the feel of the situation. Wonderful camera work all along the movie highlight the look and mood of the movie.

Overall, Stigmata can be termed as an OK thriller which might be heresy to some but valuable insight to many.

[Published originally on the 26th of October 2002 on mouthshut.com]

Trivia

# Stigmata are bleeding wounds in the wrists & feet, back, on the scalp and on one side of the chest. These are believed to be symbols of the wounds Christ got when he was crucified - nails through his wrist and feet, lashes on his back, spear through his chest and wounds caused on the scalp by the crown of thorns.

John Williams on music ....

“There’s a very basic human, non-verbal aspect to our need to make music and use it as part of our human expression. It doesn’t have to do with body movements, it doesn’t have to do with articulation of a language, but with something spiritual.”

Content - mouthshut.com

I wrote my first movie opinion on the 26th of October 2002 after watching this movie titled 'Stigmata' because I was terribly affected by the content and presentation of this movie. It's always been a challenge to do this consistently and the fact that I wrote only about 13 other views in 4 yrs is a testimony to the lazy bum I am. But with the re-naming of this blog I made a promise to myself that I will be more consistent in putting up opinions and I'm working hard to live up to that promise. To consolidate my writings, I intend to move some views from mouthshut.com over to this blog so that new content is published. With blogger I believe I am able to reach a much wider audience and the absence of word limit works well for a verbose writer like me.

Guru, Mani Ratnam and .......

Looking at the way the media is projecting and reporting "Guru" it appears that the first blockbuster for the year is already in the movie halls. Mani Ratnam should be one relieved man, given the fact that he's yet to taste 'stupendous' success north of the Vindhyas though this is not an indicator of the quality of films he makes. The South Indian audience has already been treated to some off his finest works and most if not all have been big grossers in the box office.

Mani has never been very vocal in the media despite the huge excitement his projects generate. Partnering with CNN-IBN this time for 'Guru', Mani certainly has worked on the PR area and as Anuradha Senguptha said at the end of interview that Mani should allow the media to meet him more. By the way, this interview is a must see for any cinema fan. A usually wry Taran Adarsh has also provided a decent report about the box office opening in IndiaFM.

As I expected, the people who saw this movie in my home town have been raving about the titles and the innovative and rather surprising way in which it's ushered onto the screen. Mind you, most of the people in this part of the world are very aware about the technical aspects of films. No wonder that the largest number of dts theaters are in Andhra Pradesh and every movie releasing in Telugu and Tamils comes out with a dts encoded soundtrack.

Geo's Talkies - Guru

Guru is the story of dreams, of relationships caught in between them and off a man who fought the odds to create value for people who trusted in him. Gurukant Desai hails from Iddhar village in Gujarat whose father is a school headmaster. He goes to Istanbul, Turkey in search of better pastures after failing in school . After doing fairly well over there he returns back to India with dreams of setting up a business.

Guru marries Sujata, a daughter of a wealthy money lender and whose recently been ditched by her lover. They go to Mumbai to setup a business against the wishes of Guru’s father. In Mumbai Guru faces all sorts of hurdles attempting to setting up his business and meets Manikdas Gupta who runs a newspaper ‘The Independent’ who helps Guru in voicing his concerns through his newspaper. Meenakshi aka Meenu is Manikdas’ is the differently abled terminally ill granddaughter of Manikdas aka Nanaji.

Guru setups a strong business empire and in the process breaks a few laws in a system that his largely sided with the one’s that have money. This causes concern in Manikdas who’s straight as an arrow approach towards life makes him despise Guru and enlists Shyam Saxena, a successful journalist, in exposing Guru. Meenu meanwhile marries Shyam and lives the remaining days of her life in his company.

What happens to Guru and his empire? That’s for the audience to see in the theaters. “Sapna nahi dekhna, sapnay kabhi sach nahi hothay” – this is the line Guru speaks as the movie opens in an empty cricket stadium. That sets the tone for the movie and the things to come because we know right then the futility of that line somehow. Gurukant Desai is the character handled by Abishek Bachchan and does he do a wonderful job? Oh yes he does, this is his best performance till date. He displays variety, range and a certain aura which binds us to his character.

Mithun Chakraborthy plays the role of Manikdas Gupta. I wish Mithunda does more character roles in movies, but it’s hard to get a character of such depth and substance. He plays the role perfectly and still has an immense screen presence. Aishwarya Rai plays the character of Sujata, surprisingly for a cynic like me who has never like any of the acting she’s done in the past except her dancing skills, this turns out to be a better performance. The deglamourized Aishwarya works well in the movie and I am sure a lot of hard work has gone into her character and role.

Madhavan walks the character of Shyam Saxena which looks easy to play but there’s a lot of subtle things he does proving his experience in the Mani Ratnam production unit. Vidya Balan essays the role of Meenakshi, this is one capable actor we all want to see more. No running around, no dancing but perched on a wheel chair, she emotes well and has a wonderful voice. All other characters are dealt with by talented people and veterans and full marks to the director in selecting this cast. No song till now has done justice to Mallika as ‘Mayya mayya’ in this movie. This song is sensuous, well lit and shot and has good dance too. It’s not vulgar and arousing like item numbers are these days. We can’t expect any less from the badshah of item numbers Mr.Mani Ratnam.

Rajiv Menon’s camera captures the proceedings accurately and innovatively. This man is not only a good director and singer but also an exceptionally talented cinematographer. The last time Rajiv and Mani came together, Bombay happened. Though the expectations on the second outing could have been huge, Rajiv has equaled them if not surpassed. Look out for lights on temple dooms, light reflections on pillars and the way the Turkish Church is lit up for ‘Mayya mayya’. Sreekar Prasad’s editing is not sharp in the sense that we know how it is in the movies in the past 2 – 3 yrs. Transitions between scenes are not swish-zoom-tak but more subdued and laidback, I guess the subject deserves this kind of treatment. I am sure he’s also ruthlessly chopped out some scenes from the movie, for example, the following scene did not feature in the movie at all.

Samir Chanda’s 20 yr experience shows in the production design. Except for the tram in the Mumbai scene in the beginning, which I thought was a bit too tacky and unreal, everything else about this production is superlative. To believe that the sets were put up in the Binny mills compound in Chennai is tough, it’s so real and fits the period. The train in the movie from the 50’s looks real too. Sridhar (a Mani regular) captures and recreates the necessary aural ambience and the dts mix is not distracting at all. Not sure if they used sync sound, my logic says that the dialogs are dubbed.

AR Rahman, the musical genius weaves a score that at once melodic, periodic and inventive. How I wish producers would give him all the time he needs to work on music. The result can’t get any better than this. A musical from Mani with AR Rahman writing tunes is the best it can get in terms of music in India. All songs fit into the story and the background score needs a separate review of it’s own. Like with all Mani movies this movie has a song too which is not featured in the audio release. This song is used for Meenu’s character.

Mani has a unique way of portraying relationships on screen. Be it husband-wife, father-children or friends, all relationships he films are so real and unique. There's this bedroom scene in this movie where Guru and Sujata are beating each other in a playful manner, who could imagine intimacy can be shown in such weird yet effective manner. Shyam proposing to Meenu and ultimately kissing her after she gives her consent is another intensely romantic scene. The same can be said about the bonding generated between Manikdas and Guru and the lack of that between Guru and his Father. Humor has been woven into the screenplay and dialogs and some lines will hold you in splits.

This movie is a Mani Ratnam movie. I can simply stop my case with this one line. Only this man can take characters from real life, fictionalize them and present them on screen as an entertaining movie. Mani the auteur is the brain behind Guru. Every frame bears his signature, every character is imprinted with his DNA. When you have a good leader, you have a team have team that excels in what it does. That’s the success behind such a nice product, Mani motivates, taunts, guides and extracts the best from each of his team members and the result is there for all to see.

Guru, I am speculating is going to be the launch of Mani into big league Bollywood (in terms of box office collections). He deserves every bit of that attention and he’s delivered a decent movie that’s not void of cinematic elements but are set in an ambience that’s as real as Bollywood can get. Way to go Mani, let’s wait for Lajjo now. This movie is going to be a blockbuster.

Trivia

# The song ‘Barso re’ opens in Athirapilly falls. No matter how many times we see this location, when it’s canned by Rajiv Menon it does look a bit more spectacular. I am sure the remaining locations are somewhere in Kerala too.
# Thirumalainaicker Mahal is the location where ‘Tere bina’ was shot. This is the same location that Mani used in ‘Iruvar’ in the scenes featuring Prakash Raj and Mohanlal.
# There’s this scene almost in the middle of the movie where Abhishekh is talking to Mithun about his means of growing business and Vidya gives a wry smile and Abhishek returns it. Both actors display brilliance in emoting.
# Binny mills compound in Chennai is the same location where the climax for ‘Vettaiyadu Villayaadu’ was shot recently. It’s a big chunk of real estate right in the middle of Chennai city.
# The titles of this movie is very innovative, a big round of applause to the visual team that conceptualized and executed it.
# Gurubhai (as Abhishek is called in the movie) resembles Dhirubhai, but this is coincidental as is The Independent to The Indian Express. Manikdas Gupta is not Ramnath Goenka and Shyam Saxena is not S Gurumurthy. As Mani's first frame says, "Any resemblance to characters in real life is coincidental".

Mullaperiyar - murky waters

A week ago I tried to bring Idukki dam into the Mullaperiyar debate because it appeared to be hiding something the Kerala government didn't want to disclose. This morning Sam Rajappa (political analyst who was with The Statesman earlier) reiterates his position on Mullaperiyar in a column in 'The New Indian Express'. Earlier in December last year Sam posted an article in The Statesman about the same subject. Here are some of his assertions.

The Idukki dam was not getting filled up fully after completion of it's construction because of not so copious rain in it's catchment areas and the KSEB (Kerala State Electricity Board) engineers hit upon an idea of reducing the storage level of Mullaperiyar (which is upstream) to 136ft to bring in enough water overflowing from there. It took 4 years after completion for all 6 power generators in Moolamattom power house (situated downstream of the Idukki dam) to generate power.

Given Kerala's energy situation, the fear is understandable. There is a 30 minute load shedding in summer in Ernakulam district (there could be in others, but I can't say for sure) and if there i no enough storage in Idukki dam which generates the bulk of Kerala's power for the Central region then the situation could worsen. If this assertion is entirely true then full marks to the Nostradamus' in Kerala for the successful campaign in instilling fear in the minds of people.

Previously I stated the following here.

# Despite copious rains the Idukki reservoir was filled only to the extent of 57.365 tmc though it's full storage was 70.500 tmc. The Idukki dam which is situated further downstream ahead of the Mullaperiyar dam can take in excess of 11 tmc water should the worst happen.

And now Sam's article reiterates that all the water from Mullaperiyar will add to about 1ft more water in the Idukki dam. He also makes another interesting observation. After leaving the Mullaperiyar dam the rivers meanders through thick hilly sections for 32 kms and for the remaining 16 kms there are pockets of human inhabitation. The article alleges that these hamlets will not be submerged but might get inundated.

The life of a dam has been a key question and if one was to view it from the Kerala government's perspective then the Stanley reservoir (Mettur), Bhakra Nangal dam, Nagarjuna Sagar dam and a couple of other dams are already running way past their life and could be an 'imminent' danger. This can be anything but true. A dam's life after construction entirely depends on how it's monitored and maintained from there on. Look at the Grand Anaicut (Kallanai) in Trichy, built by the Chola's, it's been in active service for about 1000 years.

All concerns raised by the Govt of Kerala could be valid. That's when you bring Idukki into the perspective. Mullaperiyar is surely not Kerala's only concern, the truth lies in Idukki which nobody is talking about.

Mika Hakkinen - Update

In this post I speculated a full time return by Mika Hakkinen to Formula 1, I guess I was carried away by the prospect of such a development. It's been recently announced that Gerhard Berger was the person who talked Mika into getting back in shape and step into the F1 cockpit instead of doing the rounds in DTM. Ron Dennis footed the bill for the testing and return apparently and given Ron's previous association with Mika it's no surprise. If only Mika would seriously contemplate a return all off us who grew up seeing early Formula 1 (in India) after 1996 would be extremely excited.

Here's the full new report on this news.

Journeys - Jan 2007

2007 is promising to be a journey filled year. I have to make a trip on all weekends in January and the following is how I have planned it out.

5th & 6th Jan 2007 - Avoly, Ernakulam District - Sanu's wedding
13th to 15th Jan 2007 - Madras a.k.a Chennai - Break from the routine
20th & 21st Jan 2007 - Madurai - Ravi's betrothal

Back from God's own country

Though I got back to Coimbatore on Sunday I could not get myself to put up a post about the weekend primarily because I was tired to the bone driving and the next day (Monday) was pretty hectic at work. The route was better than I expected and since we started in the evening, half of the driving was with the headlights on. Surprisingly the total distance was covered in 4 hrs which included a 20 minute tea/snack break.

One reason which contributed to the reduced running time (previously it was 5 hrs) was the improved state of roads in Kerala and the 25 km stretch in Tamilnadu which has been repaired though in a shoddy manner. I must admit that the roads after Angamaly all the way upto Avoly are super smooth and well laid. Ofcourse there will be 3 or 4 places where the road is ruined because of some work but otherwise this stretch is a drivers dream. It also does wonders to a vehicles mileage.

Sunday was the feast of the Epiphany and the main Catholic Church in Muvattupuzha (The Holy Magi Church) was draped with lights. The Church was brimming with people at 2200 hrs in the night and vendors were selling all sorts of stuff from rosaries, dollars, pendants, prayers books to halwa and other eatables. Festivals in Churches are celebrated in grandeur in Kerala and the whole town/village takes part in the festivities. I wanted to shoot some pictures and post it in here but guess what, Murphy's law simply cut me out. That's right, there was no charge left in the camera and I had to get home to recharge it. Lesson learnt and time to invest in some sort of a charger that will work in the car.

After taking part in some festivities we got to bed around midnight. The weather was pleasant and it was not sultry as I expected to be. Early in the morning around 5 the chill was getting to the bones and the sound of early morning mist falling on tin roof woke me up. For a city slicker like me, the joys that a country setting can instill is priceless. Walking across fields drenched with dew kissed blades of grass to the sounds of chirping birds and the sun sneaking across the horizon painting the sky in various hues of oranges and yellows can take one to another world.

The wedding next day was another grand celebration. Sanu wedded Deepa (she's from Manjapra which is near Kalady) in St.Sebastin's Church, Anicadu in the presence of friends and family. The wedding ceremony was conducted by Rev.Fr.Matthew Vellangal (retired Vicar General in Kothamangalam Diocese and Sanu's grand uncle) alongwith Fr.Varghese Paul , Fr.Matthew Paul (both Sanu's paternal uncles), Fr.Shyju (Sanu's cousin) and a couple of other priests from the brides side.

I was amazed at the beautiful music the choir played. It was bad that I did not find out the names of the people in it. The two female voices effortlessly navigated the complex swaras in the songs and the lone male voice was adequate to say the least. Keyborad (Korg) was deftly handled by a man who was thirtysome a tabla added support. The orchestrations that were preprogrammed were done well. There was this one time when the priest didn't keep up with the tempo or sang the wrong note, but that's bound to happen every now and then. Especially when you consider the fact that the priest and the orchestra would never have practised together previously.

We started back to Coimbatore after lunch at 1530 hrs and except for a flat tyre which was fixed in Vadakkanchery, the journey was hassle free. When we finally made it to Coimbatore, the time was 1930. We passed through St.Sebastin's Church in Ukkadam thanking God for the safe trip, this has almost become a ritual. Anytime I leave in in the South West direction by road I make it a point to pass through this Church. The statue of Christ standing atop the Church with open hands is a reassuring sight to me.

I will be travelling to Madras (Chennai, I still like the old name though) this weekend since Monday is going to be a holiday anyway for Pongal. If I make the trip to Pondicherry, it would be worth the trip otherwise Roy Maama's family will make it special anyway, especially the kids Mia and Mishma.

Off to God's own country

I am gearing up for the first travel in 2007. Where else but what's now quite popular as God's own country though I'd be glad to call it the 'Devil's own'. I hope the roads are better than the last time around, but the chances of that are remote given the fact that the worst stretch between Coimbatore and Palakkad hasn't seen any repair works in about an year now. The nice thing this time is going to be absence of rain (I love Kerala's monsoon, I love it's sun more) and the late winter weather which should make living there less sultry.

Travel notes or interesting observations will follow in the next 24-48 hrs. Let's hope it turns out to be an enjoyable weekend.

Mullaperiyar Dam - Another perspective from the Kerala side

This is the URL to a Kerala government's video about the Mullaperiyar issue. The video somehow looks sensational and appears to be made to instigate fear in the minds of people. On the other hand Kerala's concerns appear to be valid too. But amidst all this smoke, what is the status of the Idukki dam? Word is out that the monitoring systems setup on it have not been working or are giving erraneous results since 1990. A little more light on the Idukki dam could open another can of worms and this time Kerala won't be able to deflect attention anywhere else.

Another advertisement from The Hindu published by the Govt of Kerala

New Year wishes

Here's wishing each one of you a blessed, joyful and fun-filled New Year 2007

Mika is back

Mika Hakinnen, two time world champion whom Michael Schumacher once described as a driver he respected and enjoyed racing with is back into Formula 1. Not as a race driver but as a test driver. A press release from McLaren Mercedes racing team says that Mika will take over from Pedro DeLa Rosa from the 30th of Nov 2006. Nevermind that Mika is not back on the competitive racing track. The feedback he can give as a test driver should help fine tune things up in the McLaren Formula 1 team. After the departure of Adrian Newey (aerodynamics) McLaren seem to have lost an edge they used to have in car design.

I for one would love to read about Mika's lap timings and test results from now on. The car must have changed from how it was in 2001. The last race Mika drove was the Japanese GP in 2001. Welcome back Mika Hakkinen. Now why am I hoping he'll start racing sometime soon?

McLaren press release

Supreme Court judgement - Mullaperiyar - Feb 2006

After trying to get the original judgement delivered by Supreme Court in the Mullaperiyar dam issue, I found the judgement delivered by Supreme Court. The following are some specifics pertaining to this issue.

Case No - 386 of 2001

Petitioner - Mullaperiyar Environmental Protection Forum

Respondent - Union of India & Ors

Date of Judgement - 27th Feb 2006

Bench comprising of - Y.K. Sabharwal, C.K.Thakker & P.K. Balasubramanyan

The judgement exhibits in a rather crystal clear manner in which the Supreme Court of India has looked into various facets of the case and came to a conclusion on this issue. The arguments raised by both sides are as follows. Before getting into the details, here's a short background. In the year 1979 water leakage was detected in the gallery of the dam and the full reservoir storage level was brought down to 136 ft. The Central Water Commission [CWC] was brought to inspect the safety of the dam and come up with its recommendations. The state of Kerala raised reservations to the CWC report and it's representative appended a dissent note stating that he water level could not be raised beyond 136 ft.

Kerala's argument

# Technically the life of any dam is 50 years and this dam was already over a 100 yrs old and hence this dam was well beyond it's safe useful life.

# If anything happens to the dam, the disaster could completely wipe out the three adjoining districts in Kerala.

# The dam was constructed at a time (1887 - 1895) when the design and testing processes were at it's infancy in British India and hence there's been no real measure of stress and tension because the dam has been holding water in it since the first time it was filled.

# The dam was situated in a region prone to frequent tremors and an earthquake could cause large scale destruction of life and property.

# The CWC which did the initial study didn't take into consideration all points raised by the official of the State of Kerala. Hence their recommendations can't be considered as binding on it. It was also added that he CWC was not the highest technical body in the country for giving technical advise.

# The reservoir of the dam is part of the Periyar Wildlife Santuary and is a 'Project Tiger' reserve. The loss of flora and fauna upon increase of water level would be invaluable. The raising of the storage would also affect the ecology and economy of the State of Kerala. The totaly area covered currently is 777 sq.kms.

# The agreement between the Madras Presidency and the State of Travancore executed in 1886 was null and void since it was done under pressure and was written to be valid for 999 yrs.

Tamilnadu's counter argument

# The CWC was the highest technical body with sufficient expertise on the subject. The CWC had inspected the dam and found that several allegations raised by the State of Kerala were incorrect and baseless.

# The CWC report allows the State of Tamilnadu to raise the water level to 142 ft after certain strengthening measures (this was already done immediatly after the CWC report) are undertaken and upon completion of the Earthen bund, Baby dam and other measures the height was be raised to the full reservoir level of 152 ft.

# The Kerala govt did not co-operate in this matter and refused to allow raising the height of storage to 142 ft.

# It was not open to the State of Kerala to not co-operate and accept the recommendations and suggestions of the CWC.

# Increasing of water level from 136 ft to 152 ft (the full reservoir) level increase the inundated area by another 11.6 sq.kms. The percentage of area that would be submerged would be 1.44% which is meagre.

# The increase in strorage level would not affect the flora and fauna and would only better the wildlife habitat. There will also be an increase in tourism which would translate into higher revenue earnings for the State of Kerala. The increased aquatic life would mean more revenue too since the State of Kerala had the fishing rights in the reservoir.

The Supreme Court's observation

# The water level on the dam was brought down to 136 ft to facilitate Tamilnadu to conduct strengthening measures.

# The total area of the sanctuary is about 777 square kilometers. The leased area of about 8,000 acres is a part of the total area. By raising the water level, the boundaries of the sanctuary do not get altered. The total area of the sanctuary remains 777 square kilometers.

# It is on record that animals particularly elephants and tigers like it when the water level touches the forest line. Birds and animals love water spread and exhibit their exuberant pleasure with heavy rains filling the reservoir resulting in lot of greenery and ecological environment around. The apprehension regarding adverse impact on environment and ecology have been found by the experts to be unfounded.

# Regarding the issue as to the safety of the dam on water level being raised to 142 ft. from the present level of 136 ft, the various reports have examined the safety angle in depth including the viewpoint of earthquake resistance. The apprehensions have been found to be baseless.

# Despite copious rains the Idukki reservoir was filled only to the extent of 57.365 tmc though it's full storage was 70.500 tmc. The Idukki dam which is situated further downstream ahead of the Mullaperiyar dam can take in excess of 11 tmc water should the worst happen.

# The concerns raised about earthquake appear to be baseless since an affidavit failed in April 2004 showed that no damage was caused to the structure.

# The experts having reported about the safety of the dam and the Kerala Government having adopted an obstructionist approach. (Observed twice in the judgement)

The Supreme Court goes on and concludes the following on this matter which is very concise and clear to both sides.

Under the aforesaid circumstances, we permit State of Tamil Nadu to carry out further strengthening measures as suggested by CWC and hope that State of Kerala would cooperate in the matter. The State of Kerala and its officers are restrained from causing any obstruction. After the strengthening work is complete to the satisfaction of the CWC, independent experts would examine the safety angle before the water level is permitted to be raised to 152 ft. The writ petition and the connected matters are disposed of by permitting the water level of the Mullaperiyar dam being raised to 142 ft. and by permitting the further strengthening of the dam as aforesaid.

Disclaimer : The views expressed in the article are simply a condensed form of the Supreme Court judgement. The author assumes no legal responsibility from anyone using it's content in part or in full and will not assume any liabilites for any consequences arising out of it's usage. This article is written in good faith to present a fairly balanced point of view to an issue which is of importance to both Kerala and Tamilnadu. This article has also tried to be fair and objective in putting forth the facts of the matter and has stuck to the Supreme Court verdict closely. The author does not intend to violate any law and would be glad to comply with existing regulations of any part of this article is offending or unwarranted.

Blog rechristened

'Pacem in terris' which means 'Peace on earth' is the new identity I have given this blog. With this makeover I have promised myself to be more regular in posting to it and voicing my opinion on a number of issues which strike a chord.

Mullaperiyar and Madhani

Just got reminded of the camaraderie exhibited by Chief Minister VS Achuthanandhan of Kerala upon assuming office in Kerala with Chief Minister Karunanadhi of Tamilnadu. There were a couple of letters exchanged between them about the fate of the PDP leader Abdul Naser Madhani currently lodged in the Coimbatore Central Prison undergoing trial for alleged involvement in the Coimbatore bomb blasts case of 1998. They even met in Madras and the Kerala CM's delegation visited Madhani in the Coimbatore prison. Sherlock Holmes would have seen a link between something gone awry in one of these talks to have irritated the Kerala Chief Minister who has been going hammer and tongs against the Tamilnadu Chief Minister ever since and Mullaperiyar appears to be caught in the cross fire. Or all this could be simply a figment of Holmes' imagination, who knows?

Mullaperiyar dam

The 110 year old Mullaperiyar dam is in the middle of another water controversy. Tamilnadu which is still battling Karnataka on sharing of Kaveri waters gets yet another one on it's hands and it so hard to see which side is apolitical. It all started with a Feb 2006 Supreme Court verdict allowing Tamilnadu to raise the dams storage to 142ft from the current storage level of 136ft. The apex court would have taken most/all of the concerns of both sides before delivering it's verdict in this matter and one of the prime areas it would have looked at would be the safety of the century old dam made of slime and mortar.

This verdict surely didn't go down well with Kerala which promulgated an ordinance in it's assembly stalling any increase of the reservoir storage level. The Kerala government has also raised it's concerns about dam safety and the fall out of a disaster should the dam burst are all valid apprehensions which need to be considered. The Tamilnadu government and all it's politicians cutting across party lines are sticking to the stand on implementing the Supreme Court order with the AIADMK and MDMK gunning for the Chief Minister's scalp. This has caused tension on both sides and politicians raising the ante each time by rhetoric directed at inciting passion.

What makes me comment on this issue? As a concerned citizen I hate it when two federal states in the dominion of India fight with each other as though they are competing countries. I can't but refrain from using the cliched 'like India v/s Pakistan' phrase. I am a regular visitor to Vallakadavu, Thodupuzha, Moolamattom and other places in Kerala which are right in the eye of the storm about this issue and could be wiped out from the face of the earth should the worst happen. On another note, I live in Coimbatore which is a multi-cultural, mlulti-lingual and plural society and has a large number of Malayalee population and is one of the main transit points into Tamilnadu from Kerala.

Traffic between Coimbatore and Palakkad via Walayar and via Pollachi was stopped yesterday because of alleged provocation from the Kerala government by bringing in Navy personnel to the dam site under the pretext of inspecting it's safety. Now, this act of bringing in people to the dam to inspect it's safety should have been intimated to the Tamilnadu side by the Kerala government and going by the press this was done. However, good statesmanship would have called for keeping all these actions in abeyance till the Centre govt mediated interstate talks scheduled for the 29th of Nov was held.

In order to understand the importance of the traffic between Kerala and Tamilnadu through Walayar one has to gauge a number of aspects. The NH-47 is the road that links Coimbatore and Palakkad and Walayar is one of the highest revenue generating checkposts in India. Almost all of the goods transported out of Kerala to the North passes through Walayar and the movement of people between the states is the highest in this sector. The Sabarimala season has just started and a large number of pilgrims from Tamilnadu, Karnataka and Andra Pradesh were stranded because of this blockade which somehow has political overtones to it. The following are some questions which can be raised:-

# A national highway was blocked by a group of people (reports suggest that they were about 500). Why didn't the state police remove them and clear the highway for traffic?

# The argument that these were farmers doesn't hold good for Walayar and KK Chavady. There aren't any farmers who would have been affected by this problem in this region and the Aliyar dam has sufficient water this season to cater to the irrigation needs of the Pollachi region which is the agricultural region of Coimbatore.

Almost all of the national media (NDTV, IBN, Times NOW) are sided with Kerala's point of view and I haven't seen statements by the Tamilnadu ministers. On a lighter note this could be due to the fluent manner in which Kerala ministers can converse fluently in English. Surely Tamilnadu has a point and that is about the lost crop each year due to lack of water. Kerala is a water surplus state and Tamilnadu is a power surplus state. Why can't we complement these with each other? Share power with Kerala which undergoes half hour to an hour of load shedding each day in the Summer. Why aren't we seeing unity in diversity? Why are our politicians playing power games? What can we do about the problem and get both sides to move ahead?

The following are genuine concerns that need to be addressed :-

# The safety of the dam should be of prime importance. All concerns raised by the Kerala side should be studied, investigated and addressed by a mutually agreeable authority. This is an aspect which should be deviod of any political overtones and no compromise should be done on an issue which hangs like a sword across the necks of the people in Idukki, Ernakulam and Kottayam district in Kerala.

# The reservoir storage in this dam when raised is going to inundate more areas in the Kerala side which will need to be addressed in terms of loss of flora and fauna and relocation people.

# Both sides should refrain from rhetoric and not talk anything more about this issue till the talks scheduled for the 29th are finished.

I am no polticial analyst nor am I an authority on dam safety. I am just a concerned citizen in the Union of India and have loyalities towards it's constitution. I hope this doesn't escalate into a Kaveri sort of dispute where there anti-Tamil attitude in Karnataka and the fallout of such actions would be despicable. We belong to the same country, this should be the mantra in the minds of both sides. Having put forth my views, I guess it's time to simply wait for the likes of Arundhati (Roy) and Medha (Patkar) to come and take over this issue. Now that would put a different spin to this issue which we can't predict.

Mr.Clean is back in business

Arackaparambil Kurian Antony a.k.a A K Antony is back in the union cabinet as the Defence minister. Widely respected across party lines for his clean image and non-corrupt public life, AK Antony is truly one among the rare breed of politicians in India today. Born in Cherthala, a small town in the district of Alapuzha in Kerala, this two time chief minister was written off when he had to vacate his Chief inister's chair due to intense infighting in the Kerala Congress party. He went on to head the chair of the Disciplinary committee of the Congress party and was last seen in the media when Natwar Singh' was hauled up for indiscipline in the party. Surely, no one else had the moral right to pull up Natwar except for AK Antony in the Congress party. Let's hope he manages to stem the rot in the Armed forces which is facing too many corruption charges in the past couple of years.

Faith in the criminal justice system in India

The lower courts in India have always raised questions of the law being above partisan considerations but time and again and High Court in each state the the Supreme Court have stepped in to prove that the law is indeed fair in dealing with criminals. The conviction of the rapist and murdered of Priyadarshini Matoo today bring back the faith one needs to have on the Indian judiciary system. The media also cashed in on the case in a constructive sort of a way and got people to unite by calling for SMS campaigns and emails. Let's these sentences deter possible criminals from committing acts of brutality and instill a fear of having to face the law for their doings with no hope of getting away from them.

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

Geo's Talkies - Vetayadu Vilayadu

Vetayadu Vilayadu (VV) is the second movie with police officers as the central characters directed by Gautam Menon. I have been a big fan of police movies in my younger days and after seeing 'Kakka kakka', I began to like movies in that genre (if you can call it so) yet again. The title roughly mean 'hunt, play' which could actually be meaning the cat and mouse that the police are upto with criminals.

Story

The movie opens in typical North Madras style if you are familiar with this territory. This is the land of Manali Ghajja, Royapuram Mani, Kasimedu Siva, Ennore Chidambaram. The movie opens like a typical tamil underworld movie with Royapuram Mani hurling abuses about a cop on the phone and asking for his eye. Within minutes the protaganist enters the scene which is heroic, forceful and right over the top.Raghavan a.k.a DCP (Deputy Commissioner of Police) Raghavan is a duty conscious police officer who gives two hoots about the spirit of the law when it comes to tackling anti social elements. He's straight and he's fearless and walks into any situation with elan and poise which only a honest and gutsy cop can have. The audience is treated to a melange of visuals as the titles flow in with 'Karka karka' playing alongside. This is Chennai, it's hip, it's happenning and it's sleek and well cut.

In Madurai, DCP Arockiaraj and Chitra are concerned about her daughter Rani's whereabouts since she went missing a day ago on her way back home from college. To add to the fear, Rani's finger is strung alongwith lemon and green chilles and hung over the entrance Arockiaraj's house. DCP Raghavan is summonned from Chennai to crack Arockiaraj's daughter's disappearance and for Raghavan it's simply a case of helping his mentor and associate in a time of need. The case is cracked in a day when Raghavan retrieves the disfigured corpse of Rani from a way side abandoned field. The news shatters Arockiaraj and Chitra and the fact that she was raped and sheared into two pieces adds to the agony the characters go through.

Arockiaraj and Chitra leave for the US for some rest and to disconnect from the memories of the local land while Raghavan get's on with his duties in Chennai when a call from the uS shakes him up. Arockiaraj and Rani are butchered in the US and the cops in the US suspect an execution. Raghavan persuades his boss (the DGP) to send him overseas to investigate this alongwith the cops in the US. During the flight to the US, we are introduced to Kayalvizhi who was Raghavan's wife and was killed by goons in Tirunelveli. It's here that we see that Raghavan also engages in encounters to wipe out anti social elements from the face of the earth. There is a beautiful song which is neatly shot and shows the intimacy that the couple share.

Anderson is the US contact for Raghavan and together they make a fine company. Anderson and Raghavan hit upon vital clue which links the murder of Rani to a string of murders in the US and one of them had a finger cut and strung along with lemon and green chillies like Raghavan has seen back in Madurai in Arockiaraj's house. Raghavan's stay in New York leads him to get friendly with Aradhana who appears to have a sordid past. Deserted by her husband for another woman, Aradhana tries to commit suicide but Raghavan's intervention saves her. Glances turn into interests and Aradhana starts sharing her sorrow with Raghavan while Raghavan develops a liking for Aradhana.

Raghavan's gut feeling leads them to a deserted fort which has four corpses buried under sand. All corpses have been butchered, mutilated and raped before being killed. They lay a trap and wait till the suspects walk into it. The second half of the movie is all about how they find the killers and do they manage to eliminate them and most importantly at what personal loss. Since this movie has released today, I wouldn't want to give away the suspense and as a gesture of encouraging people to watch this movie in the cinema halls, I will leave the story here and get into other areas.

The production

The first thing that hits me hard is the superlative production values this film has. It's a wholesome product technically with excellent camerawork, taut editing (it's not too tight at all), good music and awesome sound. I saw this movie in a dts theater and I should add that the sound mix for this movie is anything but one among the best from South India in recent times. The next thing that is instantly noticeable is the stalwart called Kamal Hassan, as DCP Raghavan, Kamal Hassan oozes charm, pumps in the required elan and poise that is required of a upright police officer. The scene where he hugs his dead wife and cries takes acting to a higher sphere altogether.

This movie has top class action sequences. They are well choreographed and neatly edited out to look as authentic as possible and not overtly relying on the matrix like sequences which our filmmakers have clinged onto in recent times. Balaji as Amudhan has done a classic performance. Telling you what he does in this movie would mean that I will have to give part of the story out and hence I refrain from that. Kamalinee as Kayalvizhi drifts in the part of Kamal's first wife like a dream. She's very beautiful and deserved more footage but in a cop movie we can't expect more. Jyothika as Aradhana for once in her life looks better than her Kushi looks and has atleast attempted to emote. Prakash Raj as Arockiaraj plays his role to perfection, he's got his own share of crying to do which he does with little effort.

Harris Jeyaraj has given good songs to this movie and his background score for this movie is a lot better than the run of the mill soundtracks that one hears. The background score is simply awesome in parts, I wish it was more continuous and symphonic. The title bit before the song in a way signalled and tuned the audiences to what was in store. Full credits to Harris and his sound engineering/recording/mixing team for coming up trumps in this venture. Ravi Varman's camera does full justice to New York, Manhattan and Brooklyn. There are crane shots, sunset shots, shots on the river and one song shot in Kerala (Kuttanad to be precise). Cinematography is top class, that's the verdict in short.

Anthony has always had his own place in editing and in this movie he's given a slick and glossy product. Kudos to him. All songs are well shot and are surely going to make business in song DVDs and VCDs. The murder scenes depicted in the movie are gory and tough to watch so be warned of them before hand. One rape scene shown in the movie is very depressing to see despite the absence of skin show. Tight close ups of the lead actors are shot brilliantly. Gautam Menon has excelled and matured as a director with this movie and the fact that all departments have played their part is a big testimony to the work of the director. Come on Gautam, make a cop movie with Rajini, I can't wait to see that. Now for some trivia which I noticed or am adding to here. If anything is wrong, feel free to email me.

Trivia

# Post mortem is shown as 08:30 PM, since when government hospitals started doing this after 06:00 PM.
# This is an example of art direction and good production, check out the photos of Christ in Arockiaraj's house when he is shown first and the picture of St.George in the entrance. I liked the metaphor it was when the severed finger and St.George who is believed to be the destroyer of evil.
# I don't know why the priest shown in Rani's funeral is not Catholic given the fact that we are exposed to he above ymbols. I assume he is orthodox but Arockiaraj doesn't appear to be one.
# Jyothika refers to a Ben Kingsley movie where the main character attempts suicide by tying his face up in a polythene bag, this movie is 'House of sand and fog'.
# I liked the way Kamal responds 'Hardware' to a question by Jyothika asking if he was working in 'software'.
# There is a scene towards the end of the movie where Kamal Hasan is shown wearing a Ray Ban aviator model glass and in more than one occasion the camera directly shoots the cooling glass showing a reflection of Jyothika in it. What's interesting is that we don't see the camera man nor the reflectors in Kamal's coolers which is sure shot good work
# Jyothika calling her daughter Maya (Jyothika's name in Kaakka Kaakka) and Balaji calling his buddy Ilamaran (Balaji's name in Kaakka Kaaka) is bound to draw attention to Gautam's previous movie.
# Kamal's motocycle has a registration plate with number as white instead of black in the Tirunelveli flashback sequences. That's authentic given the fact that the white number plates came into force from the 20th of Feb 2002. This is surely attention to detail.
# In the same period that as above, the OMNI van that is used to abduct Kayalvizhi has a white number plate and so does the minivan which Kamal and Prakashraj drive to reach the goon's den to rescue Kayalvizhi is also appropriate since tourist/commercial vehicles had a white number plate.

Interesting facts

Did you know?

# The market of the TATA group is $45billion and they have spent Rs.4500 crores into acquisitions since 2002 and wait a minute, TATA employs a mind boggling 2,20,000 people.

# NR Narayan Murthy is a Western Classical Music freak and owns the full collection of Mozart on CDs, all 176 of them.

# Rajinikanth took a whopping Rs.15 crore as salary for Chandramukhi and hasn't commercially endorsed a single brand or product till date. Apparently Kamal Hassan also hasn't endorsed a single product for money till now.

I picked these from last weeks India Today which had a list of 50 'powerful' people.

The Pakistani Dictator

Who said the following lines?

Now the other thing that I've said: if he thinks everyone is crossing from here, I've been saying let us fence the border and let us also mine the border. We are experts at mining, they should mine the border on their side. We will fence it on our side. If that is all right I am for it, so that they are not allowed to go across at all. And then let us see what is happening in Afghanistan.

Why don't they agree to this, I've said this openly many times before, they don't do it, for whatever are their reasons. I know how effective the fence, the Indian fence which is about 1,800 kilometres, and they are fencing the Kashmir mountains also, it is so difficult.

Why are they doing that, are they mad, they are spending billions of rupees. Because it is effective. Let's fence this border so that this blame game is killed once for ever

In an interview to BBC the above was the non-chalant reply by General Pervez Musharraf to a question about President Hamid Karzai's allegations about infiltration of militants from Pakistan into Afghanistan. This same bugger fires at Indian soldiers working at putting up the fence to prevent militants entering into India from Pakistan. Doublespeak for Musharraf is like water to fish, way to go General. The full chat transcript is available here