2nd Reviews

Another year end post

2010-03-12T02:26:00.024+05:30

2009 has gone by and just like last year my movie watching has been very sporadic as opposed my Utopian ideal of a movie per day. Except for the revisited movies, I cannot recollect more than 10 old movies that I saw for the first time. But 2009 has been a great year as far as the Tamil and Hindi movies were concerned. Bala and Selvaraghavan finally released their movies, after the eternal wait and both of the them disappointed considering their standards(Selvaraghavan heavily). Naan Kadavul despite its continuity flaws, was still a Bala film. In spite of running the major part of the film among beggars, there is never a tiny bit of condescension towards them. With the majority of the people, handicapped, disfigured and living the lowest forms of life imaginable, Bala never gives a glimpse of pity look at them. And that to me along with some momentary brilliances, made the movie a masterpiece. The organic feeling of a Bala film was bigtime missing and that made the difference. As some of them pointed out, I am pretty sure we would gloss over its discontinuity over the course of time and it would rank along with Pithamagan and Nanda.

As I feared, Aayirathil Oruvan turned to be real bad, but I expected his lowlife characterization brilliance to seep through the silly plots, which just never happened. The first half was a snail race and the second half was too idiosyncratic to make any impact. The only worth of money was the just-before-interval scene when those three went mad. Thanks to www.Tamilfms.com, I caught Ayan, Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu both of which stood up very well with repeated viewings especially Vennila. The humor in Vennila... worked brilliantly and except for the forced ending, Vennila must be the newcomer movie of the year. Very eagerly awaiting Susindran's next movie Naan Mahan Alla. I also liked Poo(a 2008 film though) a lot, although I suspect whether it was the movie or wine, that worked for me.

All the TV programs declared Pasanga and Nadodigal to be the movie of year. While having tried and failed to complete watching both the films, I think our audiences should go straight to hell. While Pasanga just did not have anything to stop me from switching it off, Nadodigal was plain crap. When you think this movie about a bunch of idiots, doing idiotic things, the movie takes great pride in their idiocy, all in the name of rural high morals. And the terrible line of actors, starting with the ever annoying Ganja Karuppu, Sasikumar and the other unknown bad actors, just made things real worse. I think the pretentious rural movies are here to stay and have to just get over the fact. Venkat Prabhu has become authuttacase afer Saroja, I would need a few beers to even try Goa. It is unfortunate that a substandard product like Saroja became a hit, leading Venakt Pradu down the same crappy path. Kamal continues to waste his directorial talents by giving craps like Dasavatharam and being part of movies like Unnaipol Oruvan that does not even deserve to be inaugurated by him. The saddest thing of all is that Nandhala never got released and I think it is even futile to expect that to happened anytime soon.

It seems that the Bollywood is cruising down its own path to glory with smaller films reaching the heights that we cannot dream of in Tamil cinema. My movie of the year has to be Oye lucky! Oye lucky! which portrayed the class aspirations of small crook in such a controlled and subtle manner, that made it a classic. It is not even explainable how a sad undercurrent runs throughout the film in spite of how lucky and successful the hero seems to be doing initially. A single time watch is just not enough to write about this movie. Love, Sex and Dhokha will be most awaited Hindi movie of the year. Aamir Khan continues to give decent movies, that is lapped up by the audiences as kids do to candy bars. In spite of working in parts, 3-Idiots is full of email forward jokes and cliche of the worst kind, that made me cringe in my seat. With the 44 year old Aamir Khan looking dashing and amazingly youthful in the movie, Madhavan turned out to be the Chinni Jayanth of Bollywood. I think I must be cursed that none of the Vishal Bharadwaj movies would work on me, while the world and the critics I respect the most, go gaga over him. I just didn't have any chemistrty with Kamine . Dev.D was right on the way to be one of best movies of the year, when suddenly towards the end both the protagonist and the movie wanted to just (be) feel good spoiling the whole experience.

2009 had been a great year for the Tamil Film Music with so many newcomers. Being an avid hater of Harris Jeyaraj, I cannot help but like Varanam Aayiram. With Anal Melae Panithuli, HJ reached the heights that I never thought was possible by him. Vaaranam must be his best album since Samurai. Vennilaa Kabadi Kuzhu was good album, with Lesa Panithuli the standout track. Yuvan finally came to the forefront with Paiyaa and Goa. Goa must be complete soundtrack after a long time. Having missed it when it was released, Rameshwaram and Poo must be my favorite of the year. Even songs like Mazhai Peyum Bothum, Thalakulam from Reningunta, Mazhaiye from Earam, turned out to be real gems. I wish these MDs don't turn out to be another Ramesh Vinayakams.

Bad Acting or Bad Dialogue/Direction?

2010-03-07T07:55:00.006+05:30

Thinking about this Anjali scene, one thing that stood out was Raghuvaran's acting and a neighbor's complaint about their children acting carzy in 1:30. I should be the only person in the whole universe, who must think that Raghuvaran's acting is just ridiculous in this scene. And look at Raghuvarans dialoue - "Athukku", "Ellarum", "Enna", "Mathavangulukkellam", "Illa", all in succession. It almost seemed that Mrs.Sekar was trying to control Sekar's over-acting.

Mixed Doubles

2009-01-03T15:26:00.006+05:30

It only happens with great movies that they bring different response from you at different times. Two years ago, this movie posed as a comedy about the hypocrite nature of the Indian male in terms of his sexual fantasies. Watching it today again, it feels like a dark drama.

Mixed Doubles is the story of Sunil Arora(Ranvir Shorey) who driven by one of his friends suggestion tries to coax his wife malti(Konkona Sen) into wife swapping. This story traverses from the time this idea pops into his head and how he goes about convincing his wife. Whether he succeeds or not is the rest, brought out in one of the best climaxes that acts as the completing arc to this character study. During my first viewing, it played out as a really funny movie with well-defined characters which bring out the mentalities of middle-class folks. But watching it now has a repulsive touch to it on how much of a hypocrite Sunil Arora turns out to be.

Vinay Pathak is a cheating husband who acts as a playboy in Sunil's office and Saurabh Shukla is another colleague of his. It is interesting that they are not just two colleagues in office but rather bring out two facets of Sunil's character in the movie. As an example of how well though out the charcters are,we can note that though all three are seen together, it is rather Saurabh Shukla and Sunil are real friends, as Sunil chooses only him to be complicit in a setup and turn for approval for his and not the dubious Vinay pathak. I was feeling that it was getting moralistic about its lead character towards the end but couldn't complain. The end credit labeled the movie as an "a-moral tale" like any great movie which would know what exactly it was doing.

2008

2009-01-01T14:58:00.006+05:30

2008 has been an definitive year as far as my movie watching experience is concerned. Looking back I see a huge transformation in my response towards the movies. It goes without saying that every year makes you feel your younger-self naive in comparison, but at the least I feel a gradation in how early I invalidate myself these days. It is not surprising that all my top movies are the ones that I have seen this year, meaning that I either revisited or just discovered them.

I always felt that why all this fuss about Alfred Hitchcock as he just makes those thrillers which never seem exciting to me. I can pardon myself that I have watched only Vertigo during that time, a movie which doesn't excite even now and even Kurosowa though of Hitchcock the same way(yes very weird). But with Rear Window, Rope and Marnie, Hitchcock has become one of my favorite directors.

Re-watching Trois couleurs: Bleu(Krzysztof Kieslowski) cemented its position as one of the most poetic movies ever. That reminds me that I still haven't seen his much acclaimed Decalogue yet. I also happen to cover more than two-thirds of Michael Haneke movies and it is due to my bad memory and possibly a change in perspective, I'm doubting whether Haneke will attract me the same way he did not very long ago. This year also saw Zodiac from one of my favorite directors who thankfully broke away from his pop-generation image only to return to The Curious Case of Benjamin Button which again seem to generate the same kind of wrong-response that Fight Club did years ago. This movie has been in to-do list for long as I wanted to see it theaters. Werner Herzog is another discovery last year and thanks to Netflix online viewing and a sympathetic friend who shared his online account for some high-quality online viewing.

After a few failed attempts, I finally managed to see Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind which made me eat my words that Kauffman films are just clear and nothing more. Eternal... for such a complex films that it is(which you never realize watching it), is amazingly organic and profound in its experience, which I wonder any other writer can create. Talking about organic and profound experiences, I also manage to watch the long delayed The Thin Red Line which again is one of the most beautiful films. I also want to declare that I have adopted Jim Jarmusch as my thalaivar with Broken Flowers and Coffee and Cigarettes racing into my Top-n films of all time. That reminds me that I have to see a lot of Ozu films, whose Tokyo Story tells me that he just might be my man.

One of the constant preoccupation that I have had during the last month is Monty Python. Starting from Flying Circus to Life of Brian and Holy Grail, there is no parallel with what they have done with comedy. I'm sure there must be some religion(?) created after them with absolute disrespect for everything including the religion itself. If we have a religion based upon the Dude of The Big Lebowski, how can we not have one based on Monty Python. But it is rather pity that I will soon run out of all youtube videos, interviews about Monty Python.

Lesser due to my bad memory and probably because of the movies itself, I can't remember many Indian movies that I loved with the exception of Manorama-Six Feet Under and Anjathey. Saroja created a leap of faith in me that there can be pathetic directors who can create good movies by stroke of luck. The Chennai-600028 director has given such a drivel called Saroja, that makes me think whether his debut movie was pure luck or more possibly his only good idea. In preparation for Naan Kadavul, I have been watching Bala's movies and revisited Pithamagan for the first time(one of those rare movies which I never see the second time for a too-painful first time experience). Watching Pithamagan makes me realize that an good Indian movie, more so a Tamil movie gives a much real experience than any of non-native movies that you see, irrespective of how good they are. I must wait for Nandala to see what Mysskin can do as I don't want to make the same mistake as I did with Venkat Prabhu. And I'm still waiting for that first perfect film from Selvaraghavan in Aayirathil Oruvan.

sex, lies and videotape

2008-11-10T01:25:00.004+05:30

There is always a talk about whether Sex, lies and Videotape deserved the praise that it got when it came out. Being more familiar with Steven Soderberg's work now, might seem the accusation to be right, but I can do sense the reception when it came out at that time. A good night sleep always put many movies in perspective to me. I generally don't bother to think too much above the movie after it is over and the next day(I usually watch it late at night), I have a more concrete feeling of how much the movie has worked. Sex, lies and Videotape is a tour de force during its run time, but probably feels a bit too optimistic to my taste now.

Anne & John are an unhappy couple, whose marriage is failing both emotionally and sexually. John meanwhile is having an affair with Anne's sister. Enter Grahan, who is long lost friend of John, who was like John before but no more now, to stay with the couple for few days. The story is about how his appearance catalyzes the change in status quo where everyone is confronted with the truth of their situations. The title Sex, lies and Videotape is a misnomer as the movie is about the alienation that people have and how peoples problem are more likely to be caused by it than about sex, lies and of course videotape. There is a beautiful scene where Anne confronts Graham about how he is trying to get away with people, and Graham explains that though he has some problems(real big problems in fact), but they are his.

Probably this is a thing with Soderberg, since I guess he likes to end his films in a suggestive optimistic way, which did not sit well with the rest of the movie. But the whole narrative structure of the movie is top-notch and I feel its better than both Traffic or Erin Brokovich, that it is far more organic than the other films. I have my doubts about this film, and I might have to return to it to find whether this is as good as I think it is now.

Idhayathai Thirudathey

2008-11-09T00:29:00.003+05:30

Idhayathai Thirudathey has probably has more moments of amazing BGM sequences than any other movie. It is not just that the BGMs are great, but there are so many amazing moments in the movie that take things to a different plane altogether. And the title sequence is one my favorites one of all time.

The way the flute rushes from 1:30 to 1:35 just to come to a halt. Bringing in the title sequence when they talk about Nagarjuna's condition. And the violin flourish towards the end. Too much.

Current addiction

2008-10-28T11:47:00.003+05:30

I'm madly addicted to this great song Mannaiyum Ponnaiyum. Words totally fail me when I try to explain what is good about this song. This is roller coaster ride and the songs changes it rhythm, scale after every stanza. But it seems there is a larger construct to these changes than what I can fathom. If only some one could explain to me in plain English. If haven't paid much attention to this song, do yourself a favor and listen to it.

Broken Flowers

2008-10-11T03:44:00.005+05:30

From little that I know about the different forms of cinema, I can firmly state the one with absolutely no parallels is Jim Jarmusch, and yes the Coen Brothers. Thinking again, I can say that for all the great directors, but if you know Jarmusch's films, you'll know what I mean. Broken Flowers is probably the most mainstream film of Jarmusch and for a second I though(before seeing the film), whether he wanted to reach out to a bigger audience a.k.a sellout. But watching Broken Flowers reassures that Jarmusch knows and controls totally what he is doing.

Don Johnston(the fantastic Billy Murray) receives a letter that he has an unknown son, right after his girl friend leaves him. Persuaded by his neighbor, he goes on a road trip meeting his ex-girl friends to find some clue about the hypothetical son. There are no give-aways in the plot. The movie is about his journey and what it does to the un-intimidated Don. Jarmusch excellent ability with the actors again plays a great part and with Bill Murray, what we get is something fantastic.

The movie never gets suggestive at any point of time, about what the characters feel, lest what should the audience feel. With the slow pace and Murray's superb acting, we are drawn into the world and play the passive audience for real, and go through the same thoughts as Don does. Watching this film makes it apparent, how we hardly play a passive audience in a film, and there is almost direct instructions from the directors on how do we go about reacting to the film. The film never suggests us as to what to feel, but we play the plain observer and not wait for cues from the director and what & how to feel about it. This is very different film from Jarmusch and possibly his most emotional one from him.

ARR?

2008-10-10T08:39:00.002+05:30

Came across this video in youtube. Sounds very like ARR. Must be during his ad. days.

Bloody good horror movie

2008-10-07T04:25:00.006+05:30

The earliest memory of me getting scared was watching The Evil Dead(1981) when I was about 10. From then on, I was never able to even look at places that was dark. And it was probably about 5 years back when I saw a scene in The Evil Dead 2, and found it to be not scary at all. I didn't realize that it was actually a funny scene from the movie. But there is always a buzz among the horror movie fans about how good The Evil Dead is and that pushed me to watch the first part again.

Simply put, this is the best B horror movie ever. This was the only movie that I have seen in my adult life, which scared me throughout the run-time of the film. And this is the best B movie ever. Having watched recently Blood Simple and Grindhouse, this one is in its the purest B movie form. Blood Simple,while operating within the B movie constraints actually transcends B movies and Grindhouse is too conscious about being a B movie and too witty for that. Sam Raimi definitely knew what he was doing.

This movie simply avoids any kind of character development, hardly gives any time to reflect, no great acting, very low budget makeup(extremely effective though), but scared the shit out of me. The fact that the hero is a chicken shit, works fantastic in the movie and the character Linda's child-like portrayal of a ghost was top notch. The camera has been fantastic too, like how it highlights a ghost's eyes and such stuff. The fact that the plot devices, the typical jump-in during a silent moment and many such things though has been copied and used in the thousands of movies to follow, it doesn't diminish the effectiveness of the movie, which is weird for an horror movie which relies on unpredictability, unless you are talking about something like Rosemary's baby.

Having seen the trailers of Army of Darkness, I might jump on to that before part 2, as AoD looks like one hell of a fun movie.

Marnie(1964)

2008-10-03T11:58:00.005+05:30

I have seen movies which are both dramas and thrillers, but this is the movie which has a perfect fusion of both the genres. It is a shame that this Hitchcock masterpiece is so goddamn underrated. Marnie is one of the best thrillers where the outcome of situations aren't a matter of life and death, but puts you on the edge of the seat since we care so much about because of our involvement with the leads. Hitchcock always has a thing for complex female characters, isn't he?

Marnie is about the titular character who is a compulsive thief, who joins unsuspecting offices as a clerk and steals the money from their lockers. But she has a mystery in her past which makes repulsive against men and the color of red. Mark Rutland(Sean Connery) is a wealthy businessman, who unraveling her identity uses it to blackmail to marry him, as he wants to "cure" her. What follows is a one-on-one game against both to stay on top of the situation.

Marnie is probably the most thrilling Hitchcock movie only next to Rope. As much it is interested in Marnie, it is also very keen in observing Mark's compulsiveness to Marnie. Again like Vertigo, we have a male-female relationship where the female is a weirdo and the male is obsessive about her. So what we have is a power game between abnormal human beings and its keep you on the edge expecting who is going to snap out of their control.

In spite of all the greatness, the movie is pretty badly made in use of color, fake sets, doubles etc. And that is a big aberration when we compare Hitchcock's other movies. And the standard trait of Hitchcock movies, which is the final explanatory act is present here as in Psycho or Rope. Similar to the other two movies, it belittles the complexity of the situation and reduces the overall effect. Just like how kurosawa gets philosophical in his climaxes, Hitchcock wants to explain the whys and hows towards the end. But otherwise, Marnie is a roller coaster ride and a more accomplished work than Psycho, though not even half as popular than that.

The 5 things of me and Raaja that You May Not Know About

2008-09-29T07:38:00.005+05:30

There is this new tag game going along and Kamal has tagged me to write about some Raaja specific questions. The first question is a journey in itself and I guess I have to digress a bit on that.

1.) The moment that introduced you to Raaja

I see my Raaja association as distinct phases which for the uninitiated might be indistinguishable. The earliest memory of Raaja that I can recollect is my brother recording Anjali which was in my 3rd standard. He bought the cassette with little idea of the songs and that proved to be the best decision he made.

My college life shaped my music and movie sensibilities a lot and every year in my college was marked by a specific music artist affiliation. I was exposed to the pop music world during my school days and in the first year I was infested with a heavy metal addiction which weaned away in the later years with only my Pink Floyd association which stays good till date. The second year started with the Rahman addiction(which stays good till today too) and I was picking out the lesser know numbers - En Swasakatre, 1947 Earth being one of the favorite albums.

It was during the third year that I realized that my play lists were more frequented by Raaja than any other. I still remember the times when I played the entire interludes vocally, with a lot of kindals from everyone of course. By that time I realized that Raaja is so damn good.

But the true Raaja moment happened a year after the college with the Reetigowlai numbers. Thanks to orkut, I stumbled upon Meetatha Oru Veenai which opened up a new world to me. It showed me that a new level of pleasure can be derived out of songs especially his songs. And then I had a play list of Chinna Kannan Azhaikkiran, Ramam Kathai Kelungal, Thalaiyai Kuniyum Thaamaraiye, to reinforce my Raaga awareness. And that was the time, I realized that I have reached the pinnacle of music pleasure and he is simply the best in world(by that time, I didn't realize that there was another genius Thyagrajar and Bala Kanaka was his composition and there is another set of treasure waiting to unwind). So when SPB sings "Raama atho parappa..alangaara seethai", my heart swelled with pleasure and eyes with aanatha kanneer

Finally I'm in a phase where I can identify some of the common tricks that Raaja employs in the songs and I look for the new things in his songs and it is always a internal conversation with me about how this song is structured and how the tune went in any particular way which cannot be expressed as it was a meta-level discussion and my absolute lack of knowledge of the formal representations of music.
Now it is usual to get lost in the world of that song with little regard to the present world and have musical conversations with myself.

2.) Name one occasion where Raaja's music directly/ indirectly influenced your life.

This kinda ties in with the previous question. The year after the college turned me into an agnostic from an atheist and the prime reason which I think is because I now have the proof that people can feel an absolute elated level of happiness which they owe it to an supreme being. So the question of an existence of a supreme being can be set aside as what they felt is real. The only difference is that I attribute that state to Raaja.

3.) Lets take Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi into account. Assuming that one of this is either your mother tongue or native language, name a favorite song in each of the other 4 languages that immediately comes to your mind.

Telugu - Bala Kanaka. Yes though it is not Raaja's composition. Raaja adds a great deal of beauty to Thyagarajar's composition which even the stalwarts of carnatic music simply cannot.

Malayalam - Kaiyetha Kombatha from Vinodhayathra. An impeccable album which no one except for Velraman seem to rave about.

Kannada - Jothiyali from Geetha. SPB & SJ all the way

Hindi - Lajja's title. This piece trumps every other title music done by him.

4.) One song of Ilaiyaraaja that you consider rare and think a song that many people should have known but don't

Since Kamal has taken away Kannirendil, I would pick Chandirarum from Avatharam. Impeccable orchestration which made me dance on the road as if to reinforce the fact that his music makes me go mad at times.

5.) Lets keep the last one simple...Raaja's number that you are hearing right now/ most recently heard..?

Idhu ilamai ilamai - Ambigai Neril Vanthal. Ah what a prelude.

Blood Simple(1984)

2008-09-07T11:52:00.005+05:30

One of the early Coen brothers movie, this one is so loaded with heart attacks. What is simply great with Blood Simple is there is no release to tension at any point but rather the tension seeps in you and stays till the end. This is about a planned murder that went wrong in every way unimaginable. But that is saying just half of what the plot is, the full plot is simply indescribable. This is convoluted story with a decent number of plot holes. But when the final product is so well made, they don't seem much of a bother. What the brothers have exploited is build the tension with little movement on screen, even lesser dialogues and build up our tension and let it slow down on its own as there are no tension-release moments.

It is interesting to see how the standard Coen brother traits are something they have been carrying along from the start. The introductory talk, the lethargic background music, the slow camera movements and an absolute lack of surprise. This is a noir-ish thriller which will give you as many slow heart attacks as you can handle.

Funny Games

2008-08-03T01:03:00.003+05:30

This is the movie that Scary movie will never be. A strong indictment against the slasher movies predominantly from the US about the appetite that we have for the gore and our total lack of understanding about the violence that we see in media/movies. The movie is about a family being terrorized by two anonymous guys, who plays games with them with their life at stake. But what Funny Games does is present the violence in the crudest way possible and makes it a point to not miss out the smaller but nevertheless important moments. The movie addresses the audience directly about the cheap thrills that we seek for and show us the real face of violence. When Roman Polanski was asked why violence in his movies are in fact that violent, he replied that if violence does not evoke the aversive reaction, it is just porn(little did he know that a genre called torture-porn will soon emerge). This movie is that statement.

Caché

2008-08-03T00:51:00.007+05:30

Caché is simply one of the most heart wrenching drama since Dogville. It is a movie about the insecurity that we have and the lack of communication between couples, but alas masquerading as a thriller. Thrill is the last thing you'll expect twenty minutes into the film. Like all great films, this film is too complex for us to set the definition as this is what is about but one facet of it is, it is about people, how they shield their conscience when the best thing to do is just face it.

The plot is immaterial and the whole can be seen as a Macgauffin. But if you insist:), a couple gets some surveillance tapes,anonymous calls and scary letters from an unknown man and that leads them to series of events. But what we see is how an ordinary person react to in this situation, how his insecurities make him do the wrong things(oh no, not in Crash kind of a way). This is a movie, that gets under you skin and stay there for a while. The scene where the lead talks to his mother is one of the most moving scenes brought through an absolutely mundane conversation. If you haven't seen any of Michael Haneke's films, then you absolutely can't predict the experience you'll live through.

Taste Alienation

2008-08-02T23:28:00.010+05:30

As someone with little regard for the individuality and other Ayan Rand-esque things, I had been troubled with my recent alienation regarding the perception of some "good" movies. When the whole world seems to be all over Subramaniapuram and The Dark Knight, I sit in the theater wondering what is it that these people see that is just not visible to me. Well though this is not the first time that I have been disapproving of the audience' taste(the last big case was the shallow Paruthi Veeran), it came as quite a shock when Subramainapuram was exalted by Bradwaj Rangan here. Similarly The Dark Knight was given the green signal by Ebert too.

I sat through the whole of Subramaniapuram as some kind of a non-reactive substance to the emotional plights of plight who just seemed too dumb and more so too unreal. And The Dark Knight has too many incidents happening one after the other making me feel like taking in events coming right out of a machine gun. So there again I listen to the standard complaint that I watch too many englees movies or just that I'm an intellectual snob. While not completely denying either of these accusations, all I can wish for is more Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Nas, where I can just enjoy the proceedings with the audience(that too for two times in theater!!) and shout back at everyone that as long as I you make an entertaining film I don't give a shit about logic, emotional depth and all that crap.

Grizzly Man

2008-07-29T23:06:00.006+05:30

When I started watching this documentary what I expected was an adulatory film on the bravery of a noble man towards the noble cause of saving the animals. With absolutely no exposure to Werner Herzog, I quite under estimated this film. The film is about a man called Timothy Treadwell, who stayed with the Grizzly bears about 7-8 summers in a row and eventually got killed by one of the bears. What started as a laudatory footage of the man who sacrificed his life for a cause eventually became a psychiatric study of a man who crosses over the boundary of madness. Hence the film tag line is rightfully "In nature, there are boundaries".

Timothy Treadwell is a trouble man with a chaotic middle age, who becomes obsessed with the grizzly bears, in fact animals in general and starts to live among the bears in order to protect, study and bond with them. But Timothy is not just another activist who wants to do his thing to protect the nature. Timothy is a man who is pretty pissed with the human civilization itself and feels the animal kingdom is a simpler and better world. He even wants to transform himself into a bear, so that he can step away from this world and become one of them. The film explains about how Timothy is not quite in touch with the reality and shows his obsession with the animals and nature. He even believes that there is a design to the nature though claiming to be an atheist.

The documentary is made from the video footage that Timothy has made during his stay with the bears along with the account of people who has moved with him during his different walks of life. His friends believe that this man had a meaning to his life and Herzog too infers the same albeit in a different manner.

The Happening

2008-07-20T00:09:00.003+05:30

Hype damages many movies. So does wrong marketing. The Happening suffers from both, along with the historical misunderstanding of Shyamalan's movies that they are actually thrillers. His movies are about people as any good movie is, set against a supernatural backdrop. That is why Shyamalan's movies work better the second time you watch it since you are not looking for thrills anymore. The Happening is no different except that the people part falls flat unlike the rest of his films.

North eastern United States is attacked by some odd phenomenon due to which people lose their self preservation instinct and start killing themselves. No one really knows what and why it is happening and they don't even know what to run away from(They never get to know till the end of the film). From the start of the movie, I pretty much got that it is similar to the The Birds in the sense that when nature suddenly starts kicking your ass, all you can do is speculate. So from the start, my main concern was how it
is happening rather than the whys and whats.

The movie starts from the school where Elliot(Mark Whalberg) is working as a teacher and follows him through a days journey escaping from the thing. People try to speculate about the nature of attacker and the attacks but they are wrong for the most part which is reflected during the movie itself. Elliot, Alma his wife, fellow teacher Julian and his daughter Jess try to get to somewhere in a train away from the mess but they get stranded nowhere as all normal operations come to a halt. The whole situation is portrayed as a tragedy, which appealed to me a lot rather than a on-the-run scenario. When an havoc of this scale happens people are shit scared and you have no clue what it is, people might just not run around mad. Meanwhile Alma is having an affair with someone which Elliot doesn't know off and that added an additional touch to the tragedy. The other husband-wife relationship that we see is that of Julian and his wife(whom we never say on-screen anyway). The anxiety that Julian faces not knowing where his wife is very real and he entrusts Jess to Elliot and Alma and goes on to get his wife.

What went on up to this was very affecting and there is no comfort during a tragedy like this whether you explain the whats & ifs or not. But the Elliot-Alma relationship is something that evokes no reaction from me from this point on and it is way too fast the way they patch things up. So when they do the "if I die I'll die with you" acts, I preferred those two to be dead. In fact I felt sorry for Joey who is Alma's secret lover and the poor guy keeps calling Alma to find out whether shes safe. Quite sweet indeed.So whatever happens with Elliot, Alma & Jess is plain silly and way too fast, but the good thing is movie pretty soon after the second act. Though the movie is bad by Shyamalan's standards, atleast its no The incredible Hulk

Sangathamizh Kaviye

2008-07-19T00:34:00.003+05:30

All nights are not equal. Some nights are so frigging great, when my Winamp brings forth a gem of IR that I never paid that much attention to before and just lights up the whole world. There are some good songs/movies that I generally stay away from, without any rational explanation. Sangathamizh Kaviye belongs to that category, and whenever its turn comes up I always skip it. Though it is acting stupid to the core, the reward of discovering a Raja gem is beyond words.

Sangathamizh Kaviye, needless to say has a beyond expressions amazing tune. I hear it is a Ragamalika set in Abheri and Bhagaeshree, which escaped my Raga-insensitive ears. This is one song which makes me feel stupid about thinking whether it is SPB or KJY who is better, because the entire question is context dependent. If you are listenin to a SPB song at that time, he is better and vice-versa. But here, Chithra trumps KJY by a millimeter which might be because she gets to sing the excellent improvisation lines "Sangathamizh Kaviye" at 2:20 which has a starkly different notes from the start of the song. Similar the minor variation she shows during the "Kadhalan kaipadathan" around 3:11 is absolute bliss. I always wonder these kind of improvisations are Raja's products and how much of input comes from the singers, as these are gamakas that cannot be captured in notations.

Among the zillion things I admire about Raja songs, one that is often not discussed about is how Raja chooses the right percussion for the melody heavy songs. These are songs that are pure rockers with their tunes and Raja divides the bar into exact mathirais and the percussion matches like its not two difference aspects but the bass and treble of a perfect voice. That is why I like the Valli Valli ena Vanthal percussion a lot. Its never complex and does its job fine. But the biggest favorite in the category is Maalaiyil Yaaro bass track, which is as lethargic as the tune but fits the tempo so well that it lulls you into the deep mediation of the tune easily. I often find that Raja adds the ornamentation when he thinks(I think he thinks) that the base melody is not strong enough to carry the whole song. The complex bass lines, the variable rhythms boost the not so great tunes. Case in point: Maanjolai Kili Thano. Digressions apart, listening to this song everyday will prevent heart attacks. Period.

Subramaniapuram

2008-07-12T00:59:00.018+05:30

Coming out of Subramaniapuram, I was happy about one thing. Movies these days certainly look better, acted better and edited even better. But sadly there is still a long way to go as far as empathizing with characters are concerned. Subramaniapuram works in some places but there is no coherent soul to the whole movie and it is just too restless to reflect on anything. The story is about three people Azhar(Chennai-28 guy), Paraman(Sasikumar, the director) and Kasi(Ganja Karuupu), who is sucked in the murder racket by an ex-councilor father figure. Azhagar is in love with the ex-councilor daughter, and the story ambles between the love angle and the revenge story of these guys on the ex-councilor who has betrayed them. Following the Pithamagan trend of establishing of the characters in the first half and getting about its business in the second, it fails miserably in the first half. I do get that it is retro film and the director has tried to capture the 80s. But what was shown as fleeting glimpse of old edition of Ananda Vikatan, India map inclusive of Pakistan and the old calendar in Hey Ram, here it pauses on each and every 80s article to congratulate itself. You get to a point like "Yes I do know ts retro movie, but will you stop flashing that thing". And how many times would you see the heroine stealing a look at the hero, however cut she might be? Even otherwise there is hardly any character development, as in I never quite believed they are actual people. So when they fall into troubles and eventually get killed, you hardly feel anything, though at some places it evokes some feeling for a moment though.

The second half works a lot better than the first, and when Azhagar finally feels the pinch of death, I thought the movie is getting somewhere. But it had too many plans in its mind, starting from the love angle, then on the moral corruption of ordinary men, execution mechanism of the aruva-style assassins. Had it paused on any of these things for some more time, it would've been worth the effort.

***************Spoilers********************
The final act of Kasi betraying Paraman was entirely apathetic or even ignorant to the Kasi's dilemma of saving his own life over their friends. Suggesting that he actually did for money is preposterous as his life was in danger and money would've been of least importance during that mayhem. But it seems the director knows better. And it seems the part where Paraman gets his revenge on the heroine is chopped during our show(see the picture). Sometimes theaters do their editing, arggg. Don't you think we had enough of movies, where the more innocent guy gets killed and the other goes on a revenge spree?
***************Spoilers********************

And yes theaters are the worst place to see any movie. The audience burst into laughter and whistles when someone's head was chopped. And the movie is hardly to be blamed as it showed some respect to the living and the dead where someone is actually being murdered that too in an absolute gruesome manner. I had absolutely clue what the hell was funny about it and when these people are the intended audience, should we demand the movies to be more empathetic towards the characters, who are gonna be slaughtered among whistles and laughter from the audience?

Rope

2008-07-04T00:35:00.000+05:30

Rope is simply the best thriller ever made. It is true that Hitchcock turns all copper to gold, but when you give him an interesting premise set in claustrophobic setting, the magic he creates is beyond words. This movie has simply surpassed all my favorite Hitchcock films that is Rear Window, Psycho and The Birds. It was intriguing what a closed setting can work wonders in Dial M for Murder. But when the movie absolutely stays in one apartment through out its runtime and it is the tension that the characters undergo that we share rather than being a third person watching them for thrill, he just creates magic.

The story is about two guys murdering one of their friends and hiding his body in their apartment while throwing a party to celebrate their murder. The two guys have a master-slave relationship with one guy savoring how murder has just been elevated to art while the other one just can't take it. What Hitchcock does is create the tension through the interaction between the people rather than focus on the actual evidence and situational props. The reason I think why this film works so marvelously is the view not a from a third person but we look at the situations with the character not at them. Rope is like an elaborate version of the conversation between Bates and Marion Crane which is implicitly about Bates' mother and Crane's robbery, but on the surface it was a casual exchange between two people with big secrets to hide. Rope has very little camera movement due to which our attention rests entirely with the people on screen especially watching their reactions without any distractions. This reminded me of how Dogville worked wonders where there is absolutely no props and it was just a stage drama captured through a movie camera. The only part that didn't work as well as the rest is the climax which is more talky and I preferred Dial M for Murder climax better. Rope stands tall among the master oeuvre with only Vertigo and Notorious being the possible rivals as I haven't seen them yet.

Update: During my second viewing, the relationship between the Brandon and Philip was even more apparent(or just that I paid more attention to details). Other than the homosexual subtext, it is clear that Brandon does not have the physical capability/courage to perform any act of violence and Philip is more of his tool than rather his slave. The murder is physically committed by Philip only and following that scene, Brandon struggles to open the cork of the champagne bottle and Philip offers to open it for him. This to me was establishing what the physical capabilities of both. And on the same note, Brandon cannot use his gun though he has to and it is Philip who loses his control and Rupert has to manhandle him. The whole movie maintains this relationship and the fact that Philip is quite pissed off with Brandon's dominance is more clear and credible.

It is disheartening to see the uninitiated(including me till a few movies before) labeling Hitchcock as a maker of thriller movies, while Hitchcock is definitely that but he is much more when it comes to the characters especially with Psycho and The Birds where the characters are as intriguing as the plot itself if not more.

Varusham.16 - Revisited

2008-06-30T14:07:00.000+05:30

Recently I got to see Varusham.16, which to my surprise managed to fare better than I expected. Pretty much expecting a family soap(which it is), I was pleasantly surprised by the mundane details that the film had. And the movie had more lifelike characters than what I thought it had except for the extremely annoying villian who just didn't add anything to the movie except to make you cringe at the hopeless potrayal of him and to provide a climactic climax. Few minutes into the movie, I had doubts about the configuration of the family about who is the actual thatha of Karthik, where Karthik's father is. Jayabharathi(Karthik's mother) doesn't dress like a widow so is obviously separated from her husband. But you never get to see whats the backstory of that and it was intriguing to me. And 'Poornam' Viswanathan remarks during one of his conversation that he is a ondi-kattai and has noone in his life except for the family thus making his efforts to hold the thiruvizha and hold the family together more sympathetic(I never got empathetic about it anyway). And the favorite character of the movie is obviously Karthik who has good shades of evil and his confrontation with his thatha after the muthal-mariyathai being given to Kushboo is such a good scene that the only possibility of its presence in Tamil Cinema is being borrowed from the neighbouring state. The thatha-peran relationship was brought out well and the confrontation scene makes a stronger case for Karthik to inflict some kind of harm on his arch-rival Kushboo. And the winner dialogue comes from furious Vadivukarasi(after Karthik sneaks into Kushboo's bathroom and gets caught-What an amazing scene that is), that she knows what the family thinks about the prospect of Kushboo-Karthik as a couple and they have absolutely no say in the matter except for she and her family. It was good to see the movie being conscious of the family dynamics that would be rampant in that kind of a scenario and the underlying expectation for the family's unity to be attained through the lead pair's marriage which is never explicitly stated anywhere else. And it was heartening to see the hero doing such a vileful act of entering someone's bathroom, where the hero is actually not donning a "negative" character. It is hard to see anything like that, other than being portrayed in a villainesque or a silmisha way. Needless to say Raja's music takes the movie to the next level whether it is heartening motif that is played or the uneasy feeling that he gives during the inauspicious and not so happy moments. The complete let down as I mentioned earlier was the morai-maapillai-from-delhi guy who is annoyance at its best. I heard that the malayalam version did not have a bloody ending and the heroine simply leaves after the brief sojourn with her maternal family. Probably too much to ask from a tamil movie, but I wish it just did that to give a wholesome touch.

2008-06-27T22:55:00.000+05:30

Subramaniapuram - James Vasanthan

Though I can't quite predict about his future, James Vasanthan has definitely started with a bang. Ever since I heard Kangal Irandum in radio, I had a hard time identifying the music director since the sound didn't belong to anyone else. Inspite of start of the tune sounding very similar to Kamban Enge Ponan(or its distant cousin Colleguku Povom Cut Adikka Maatam from Alai) I knew there is a new kid on the block. It seems like James has been planning to get into the music industry for long and he mentioned World Music is his passion. That is why the simple indian melodies backed by mild synth sounds is his style.

The clincher of the album is Kangal Irandal whose strength is the rendition. Sung by Belly Raj and Deepa Mariam, names I never heard of, this is as beautiful rendition it can get. The lyrics suit the songs well and archaic words like "nuzhainthiTTai" and "kalanthiTTai" stand out in a good way and the way Deepa sings those words is marvellous. All born out of the synthesizers, the interludes are good as well. Kadhal Siluvaiyil is an OK number which starts like the Bicycle theme of Meenaxi, but goes on like a typical Shankar Mahadevan lover angst number. Theneeril Snehitham is typical soft rock though it is new to TFM. With a distracting rap bit as an interlude, the songs gains good momentum towards the end. What I liked about the theme is though expected to be a fast number, it stop in between to have a jugalbandhi going on its own pace for sometime.

2007-07-12T01:35:00.000+05:30

Rahman,

When you compose an excellent song like Ey Hairathe and gives it to the master improviser Hariharan, should you go for Taal-ish cheesy vocal interludes? And Tamilians doesn't deserve an Hariharan version? Your cheesy romantic interludes worries me no end, especially when they come in between a good song as Munbe Vaa. And with those long postludes as in Mayya Mayya and an attitude-full Ek lo Ek Muft, you rock!!!!!!!I say bring it on.....

A carping fan

2007-07-12T01:17:00.000+05:30

Fusion in Sandwich style

No amount of words is going to do justice to this song - Neethane Enthan from Ninaivellam Nithya. If asked to give the difference between a scale and raga, this would be the perfect example as this is a sandwich structured composition with Madhyamavathi in one stanza and its western equivalent in the next. And with a pro given the job to render, the transition is invisible. This song is certainly once of the best of SPB who juggles the alternative styles with an amazing ease. Listen to the first line, Neethane... till 0:50, which has a semi-classical approach and from then on its the jazzy western approach comes marked by a peppy bass backing.And they play the same way throughout even through the interludes!!!! The beauty lies in the seamless transition, if not, this could've ended up very gimmicky. But with IR, it is always invisible to the naked eye.

2007-06-19T20:25:00.000+05:30

The Unsung

There are many things that defies logic (my logic). One of them is the level of success that Ramesh Vinayagam deserves which still eludes him. All other songs aside, his Nenje Thullipo is the most original and faithful-to-the-genre Rock N Roll song that I have heard in tamil. Founded on an excellent tune, this song is exactly what Rock N Roll is all about. Its a pity that i found this gem just a few months back and from then on it is just getting better and better. The usage of guitar and drums is the epitome of what the Rock N Roll is all about. A tune which advances with the speed that it is almost going to trip over, break in between to have some fast riffs in guitar while the excited drums player is let lose. Full marks for Karthik to render it so excellently. Let hope Ramesh Vinayam doesn't turn out to be another Karthik Raja.

http://www.tamilvibes.net/A-Z%20Tamil%20Mp3%20Database968687554/index.php?q=f&f=%2FU%2FUniversity

2007-05-30T01:33:00.000+05:30

Masterpieces that are BGMs

Pithamagan is the epitome of Re-recording for many reasons. BGM is arguably the best ever. The movie is one of the best ever too with ample scope for music to be very emotive. And third, I have the best quality mp3s with very little hindrance from the dialogues.

01 Opening - IR starts with a bang. The first scene with a pregnant female giving birth in a Graveyard. Very mystic and sad, you can never have an intro music that sets the right mood for the film.

02 Hotel - This is the best the BGM and the visual can go in sync. The music fills the gap between the physical acts to the perfection.

03 Gomathi and follow - The first part shows the sympathy towards the character. This is one place where IR clearly shows his understanding over the movies tone. Though Ganja Karuppu makes some comedy in between, the music lays stress on the lead character, how he is hungry and about the sympathy shown towards him.

04 Laila - This is my second most favorite BGM in the movie. Here actually the BGM acts. Just see how the music becomes playful. I don't know where this scene comes, but I can exactly see Laila's expressions through this music. There are more similar BGMs whenever Laila comes in(excellent synth bass) particularly the one when Surya comes in to meet her in her house.

05 Deep forest - An excellent piece when the music doesn't have to be emotive but just give the backdrop for the visuals.

06 Drug Making - Very similar to the one above.

07 Smuggling - Mini Symphony man. I'm reminded Guru's BGM. If I were him I would be releasing this as a symphony. But this guy composes and uses these as BGMs in movies. Such audacity:)

11 Sithan release - Read the next description

12 Sithan laughs - Listen to the happy part. No words I can say that can possibly explain how happy I feel listening to this music. I exactly felt like the character in the movie. This is godly stuff. And you wouldn't believe it, listen to the bass track that comes with the music. He writes those excellent separate bass tracks for BGMs!!!!!!!!!. Music is not his work, its his passion. This is the proof. A few seconds piece, I have listened to it a million times and it always has the same effect.

14 Sakthi Corpse - This is pakka example of usage of silence. How he stops all music and slowly builds up the tension.

Download the BGM from here
http://www.sendspace.com/file/ra4iml

This is the best BGM can get and this is another work that can be released as a separate album.

2007-05-19T23:16:00.000+05:30

Ival Oru Ilanguruvi - A study to quantify the genius

It always happens that you must have heard the songs many times before, but it is just one fine day the genius of the song manifests itself to you in all its glory, it becomes difficult to inhale all the happiness in one gulp. I don't know whether it was my mood today or the divine intervention, I'm totally smitten by this song from Brahma. From head to tail, from the pallavi, preludes to the ends, this song is treat in both the musical and lyrical front and also it makes me wonder what was the done first whether it was the lyrics or the music or the lyrics is just a Tamil translation of the musical notes. What a typical scenario, the female lead lost in wilderness singing about her self and thinking about the life that is to come. The first stanza tells about her, how she is fresh like a mountain river and all that and how the music is so fitting the lyrics. And see how pacy, lilting the tune is. Theres never too much of instruments as the heroine in a land away from human intrusion.

The next stanza comes where she is wondering how she is wandering alone in the world and see how the tunes adorns a more reflective, questioning tone. And the great prelude and the first interlude, where theres a conversation between flute & a keyboard?. This song is just one bliss and nothing less.

And I heard in the song the scale changes from Natabhairavi to (donno what scale it changes to) to achieve the reflective tone that it does in the end of second stanza.

Now that I have raved about the song pretty much, let me try to pinpoint the genius in his tunes. It is pretty ordinary to see people raving about the orchestration, counterpoints, the bass guitar and everything else in his songs but not much is written about the base tune of the song except for occasional reference to the ragams and any shruhti bethams and similar techniques present if any. But the first thing that should be remarked about IR is the how greats the tunes are. Not many people discuss this often for many reasons 1. They might not get it. 2. Its taken for granted for IR. 3. Its not quantifiable. The third point is always interesting to me, to actually try to say this is what is great about the tune. Just like the existence of god (pun intended), somethings can't be materialized and hence cannot be quantified. Thats a reason why theres no point in trying to make a person understand why IR is god.

But I came up with a scenario to visualize it. Let compare two songs. One from IR and another from his son YSR. Disclaimer: This is in no way to vilify YSR. The song malargale from Puthukottaiyilirunthu Saravanan is one of YSR's best I would say. A girl, more like an orphan, is running amok in the wilderness, talking to the nature and going into the reflective mood. If both the songs are viewed, though the feeling generated musically is highly relevant what comes from IR is the exact feeling translated musically. In case of YSR's song, it is more like a beautiful poem ornamented with esoteric phrases and complex words. But in the case of IR's, its one simple statement which bangs the point right into your head. Of course the complexity only lies in the process of his creation but what comes out of his simple and simple is genius. Probably, this is the best I can come close to show where and whether god exists (not too much of a pun- stress is only on the other meaning) and if you weren't in the place as me even once, this should be a indiscernible rant from a fanatic.

2007-04-02T20:06:00.000+05:30

Illatha Ondru

While I contemplate about whether it is a good/great idea to expose yourself to a greater extent in your writings, there is one thing that I can say about the book Illatha Ondru. It takes you into Sundara Ramaswamy's world. Few stories tell you who he was, what he has been through and why he has become a writer. Before I ponder on how great the book and shower some more praises on the great writer of modern era, I must say that like many writers (I'm talking about the literature people here and not the sidney shelton and the likes), Su.Ra was quite a sucker in his life. Bad childhoods make great writers. Of course you need the talent too since a good number of unhappy population will come up for a contest about who had the worst childhood of all, it requires a certain among of loneliness to have the introspection of a writer. From what we see through the story "Jannal" and from the fact that Su.Ra was bed ridden a good part of childhood, we know that he had a sucker's life as a child and all he got to do was stare at the wall and let his imagination take him for a ride.In this beautiful/cruel story about a boy bedridden and barely has anything to do during his time, he talks about the only TV he got to see which is the jannal adjacent to his bed. It is really interesting how he gets into the psyche of boy and lets us get into that psyche too. He repeats the same perfection again in "Engal Teacher" which chronicles a teacher's career in the point of view of a not-so-great-at-studies student who considers the teacher as his inspiration to do good academics. I was marveled at the profile given to the narrator here with exposing minimal details about him and how a teacher inspires these uninspired students.

Another excellent story is Tharkolai where the protagonist attempts or rather contemplates suicide. The story follows him in one of escapades to attempt suicide and shows why there are so less suicides. My favorites of the book is "Kovil kalaiyum uzhavu maadum" and "seethai mark seeyakai". Both stories are similar in an aspect that it shows the naives goodness in people and is so opposite of the dark stories which I alked about before. The sheer brilliance is in the variety offered and his narrative style, his ability at getting the different dialects to perfection is a different posts altogether.

2007-03-21T23:40:00.000+05:30

The Demi-God

It takes quite an amount of ignorance to say that IR has over used SPB. Come on. Thinking from MD's point of view, why should I go for another one when I have SPB in hand. Anyway let me come to the point. SPB has the real knack of reading between the lines of IR's compositions. He always stress the most beautiful places in a composition and highlights and exhibits that in such a way you can say hey man he is the best. I was listening to Inum enai enna seyya pogirai from Singara Velan which is no-words-can-do-justice kind of a song where SPB shows his mastery too. Look at the place where he sings nee thana naan padum sugamana aagasa vaani and concentrate on how he spells aagasavaani. He sings like AAGAsavaaAAni, thosE capital AAs there is an excellent improvisation which both Janaki also do but SPB shows a minute extra capitalisation on that. And similarly how he sings "ilamai azhaigai alli anaipatharke" the second time in Ithazil kathai Ezhuthum from Unnal Mudiyum thambi of which I can rave all my lifetime, he stresses on "alli" and brings out the beauty of that phrase. Same thing which he does in "Azhagai sumanthu varum azhakarasi"...That extra stress "sumanthu"....Oh! what an excellent phrase that is. Thats the sign of a great singer.

2007-03-14T22:58:00.000+05:30

Trend Setters

It is always good to know that though the real music has taken a plunge into the deepest of deepest ditches in TFM, people do learn a thing or two from the living legend.Raja showed in Kajhuraho kanavilo-ONOK how a carnatic-follow-like-a-shadow violin piece can elevate the whole listening experience by racing almost ahead of the vocals thus making the song appear more racy than what it could've been. This is one thing which YSR sure learned from his father where he employs the same technique in Thaliye thevaiyilla from Thamirabharanai(an impressive number from Hariharan-Bhavatharini duo). But as any good listener will tell, there is always a difference. The attention to details is certainly missing in the later song where the BGM piece has limited imagination and the original can be made into a text book for future generations to study, adopt and learn.

2007-02-23T22:43:00.000+05:30

The Heaven Song

I have found what song they play in heaven. It is Mounamana Neram. As more and more I try to delve into the Classical music front(both Carnatic & Western), it clearly unravels in front of me how Raja is the "Raja". As far as I have seen simplicity is genius is a front that Raja owns better than anyone else(Thyagarajar compositions comes close to this). Listen to the first thirty seconds of the song. A piano starts which set the sruthi in place, a flute comes in the scene(the piano stays and they form a harmony) and this is exactly where Rajavinal Pirappin Payan Petra instrument Bass guitar enters.....What it does...Just plays the first note of the flute piece...Just one chord...And the effect it has....I see this accelerator effect in so so many places....Meaningless notes/chords played played in harmony with the main tune and the effect it gives...So much for the first 15 seconds. Then comes the stunner...Janaki the demi-god sings an out of the world melody and listen to the bass lines...Yes I cried listening to it....The first 30 seconds is more worth than the whole of the other music(non Raja's) I have ever heard in my life....

2007-01-13T02:10:00.000+05:30

Grahanam (2004) - It nevers get more unbiased than this

You never come accross a movie which just has a story to tell and not th creator standing behinds the frame saying whats his take on the whole issue. Believe me, its rare. Inspite of having a strong story with a lot of scope for propoganda(better said as where the dirctor can take a stance), this is a movie with no direct motif. Debut movie from Mohana Krishna Indraganti this is about a story of a women who is accused by her husband and the society of chastity. It is not about who is right and wrong but just how circumstances leads from one thing to another. Right from the start we are shown what the movie has up its sleeves. We have a women who has more of a motherly relationship with a 14 year old kid. The scenes where the interact gives a sexual undertone to it. Yes it is not the movie but it is ourselves who feel that. A point of reflecting our own mentality? The movie harps on your incapability to take things on its face value when you need to.

And the characters in the movie are people with good reasoning skills who make the right decisions at the right time. It should be taken with a pinch of salt that I call those decisions "right". But thats the beauty of the movie. Like any good work of literature (this movie based on telugu literature work), the movie gives you ample space to think rather than being judgemental on any of the character in the movie which makes it an all-out masterpiece.

2006-11-19T21:31:00.000+05:30

Being Cyrus

Being Cyrus is one of the fresh air movies which inherits the filmmaker's confusion between a thriller and character study. Probably it wants to be both and ends up a little short of attaining the top honours for either one of them. Yes its not a review of the movie which has released a long back. Yesterday i catched up the movie on Sony Pix, or say i catched up the title of the movie and remembered how much i loved the title score. It is a masterpiece. But what is intriguing here i where it was actually from Salim-Sulaiman. They are a constant feature in the no-song-offbeat movies and i have always found their score to do sublime justice to the movie. But to get an all-out WCM is great. I have grave doubts whether it is some famous score that is being used here. A good possibility of that but anyway its a great piece. And surprisingly cool toad has it. Who uploads all these over there? Anyway download here for some great solo violin, bass and a flute ensemble. Wish i can get to read about the music somewhere.

2006-11-15T00:52:00.000+05:30

Fusion

A term which more or less become a misnomer because of the various no-form music taking cover under this term. But God as usual does not give the term to the music but defines the term itself in totality. It always takes more than two ears and loads of concentration to get the complexity. Simplicity is complexity. An every man's hit. Raja gives musical enlightenment to the people. Listen to Poonkathave Thaazh Thiravai-Nizhalgal . The first few seconds is history. Till now i thought this part had just one violin. I never even came to realise there were two and above all one with a carnatic tinge and other an all-out WCM piece? All i can say is "Naan tvya paathu valantha balaveenama kootam". To use musical withcraft(lol) against a lowliest soul like me is unfair. Pay more attention to the WCM violin. Its plays an totally out of the world melody and after the seconds both merge into one single tune. What a blend. These few moments make this song an immortal one. A million other reasons too. Soon to be updated.......

2006-11-14T00:36:00.000+05:30

Counterpoint

Counterpoint a technique of having parallel melodies creating more than the sum of individual parts. IR ku velayattu maari. Listen to this song Poonthalir ada-Panneer Pushpangal. A text book definition of counterpoint. Ofcourse we have En kamani un kathalan-Badrakali. Another beautiful counterpoint drenched in awesome melody. But this is a song where IR is slightly surpasing his standards. Read the following piece written in tfmpage.page. I suttufied it from there written by a member called baroque which does the right justice

baroque wrote: With that idea of Counterpoint in mind, I listen the song ‘poonthalir aada....’ one more time....
In the prelude ‘the chorus and the guitar’ counterpoint followed by Balu divinely starts ‘poonthalir aada....’ and the second interlude is phenomenal , very memorable two guitars playing different melodies, then first guitar stops ,the chorus humming starts while the second guitar continues at the back and chorus ends while violin , flute and the guitar all play together!!
In the first interlude also chorus-guitar counterpoint!! The entire song is MIND- BLOWING!!
Lets swim in the Ocean of Raaja’s musical bliss!!!

2006-11-07T00:59:00.000+05:30

Prejudiced

Prejudices maketh a man. While i was searching like a mad man of all the lost treasures here is a song Nee thane En than Pn Vasanthan-Ninaivellam Nithya which was right there under my nose which was one of my most hummed songs but never acknowledged its greatness except for a raja gem(that itself is quite a praise though). I was looking to learn the lyrics of song a bit and there it was eating up my mind. Set in Madhyamavathi raaga which i think IR has toyed with it a lot. It is a bubbly raaga. So filled with musical enthusiasm that always leaves my looking for a word to describe the feeling. Something like a great dance number that your legs automatically respond to but you are born in a word where noone has legs and you dont know what is dancing(yup...i watched Guru recently....IR rocks there man)...Another great number is Kuyile Kuyile from Aan Pavam...The pace of the song is beyond perfection....The beats..while being a semi clasical that it is, this song is just short of being an all out racy number at the same time giving enough to time to exhibit the classicalism. A great mix of moods in the interludes....a western & a semi classical sandwich? And how it is invisible to the undiscerning eye...If you cant see...im getting a little mad over here...And the most repeated thing ever...The Bass rules...Though not on a complete parallel alapanai as in say Rasave Unnai Vidamaten from Aranmanai Kili...It does a bit(a little bit) of an underplay as far as a separate track is concerned, giving a general dharr effect on the beat timing,a counterpoint in most places,(those places dont require anything else) but giving a perfect disco rhthm in most places....Being a gamakam rich raaga(that is how raja makes me see it...where have i heard a non-IR madhyamavati?), (how can anyone forget the right to into heavens Thulli Thulli alapanai set in the same raaga?), SPB gives full suport in singing department. The phrase "santhosam unnodu kai veesum ennalum"..What a beauty SPB adds to it...He rocks....And finally what a great lyrics...This makes a song great pleasure to sing getting a great satisfaction of pronouncing some pure sweet lyrics...Soon i might be writing about Azhaga Mada pura from Ellame En rasa than....Slow death in the same raaga....

To sum up, what can i sum up...starting listening people....Its bliss time

2006-10-22T01:57:00.000+05:30

Percussions

Tholin Mele from Ninaivellam Nitha. Generally im generally deaf to intricacies(read as basics) of percussions. 4/8, 8/4 or 19/47, it al means the same to me. Here Raja has brought some hippy African tribe and landed them right on our ears. Can someone confirm me that he has thought f the percussion after deciding upon the tune(like henormally does)? If so, then damn me man. Ayway. Bliss. Total Bliss.

2006-10-16T22:20:00.000+05:30

Behind our backs

For decades we were manipulated. Yes. Classicalism was done to cine music, done to our tastes and noone knew it. Songs which i have relished upon, which were dear to me were those which didnt sound too complex,too classical and above not all too hard to get it. And this man has nutured our tastes so much that whereever we have a classical piece(of him) we just take it for granted. When i first introduced to the concery of harmony, i thought it was another arbit theory of music. I might see it, even spot it but not feel it. So all this story for what. I got enlightened. Time and again, this happens. You cannot see the beauty when some points it out. It just pops up in fron of you and says here I'm. There is absolutly no other.

Now getting to the song, infact it not the song. A small interlude. Not more than 10 seconds. I think this should be the shortest piece that has caught my attention so uch. Nilava thaan kaiyila pudichen. Yes the song where the village damsel and her romeo have their share of romance. Song cannot be more fitting to the village scenario. Nice usage of orchestration, great flute. But the interlude im talking about starts at about 0:16 to 0:26 and nothing more. What a pace man. Theres a violin/cello, flute and bass guitar. Three sperate tracks(can i use that term?). How well they transpose on each other. Three sine waves of 90 degree shift? I see all my engineering theories written all over it. How well can you teach the our basic mathematic principles. Words cant do justice. I keep asking myself. Whether i have seen any real magic or is it just an illusion. For the uninitiated, un-enlightened these words just ramblings. But believe its a different thing. If Raja says he is just serving appalam and pickle, he is right. I want more of these. I want virunthu. Or atleast a fast food feast.

2006-09-24T03:19:00.000+05:30

I have decided one thing. Im going to record all my thought on the one passion(what an understatement!!!!) I have, which is listening/writing/talking about Ilaiyaraja's music.

Download the song here

Let me get the first thing straight. The tune is beyond words. And that too when it comes to mohanam, they all affect me like anything. If this obvious, then the next thing im about to say is evn more. The Orchestration. Flute and Violin. Considered to the most primary instrument of IR by some lamers ofcourse(which instrument isn't?), when they join, it is sheer plain bliss. I definitely saw god. And IR is making me believe in god nowadays. He has definitely made me believe in life atleast.

For a good amount of time, I was wondering about the invisible magic IR does to the lame listeners like me. Its like a simple card trick bffling a 3 year old. The song has two parts. One a melancholic one sung by Janaki and the next is duet with IR. The second part is a happier one. People familiar with the happier/sad version of songs are pretty much familiar with the basics. The tempo becomes slower. Solo violin pieces etc. Pardon me for stereotyping. These are the only techniques that i know. But this is different situation ofcourse. Single song. Two parts. Two opposite emotions.

So what IR does here. First thing is create the magic invisible to the illiterate eye. In the second part you see a string instrument played along the percussion. Before that you see an extremely brilliant usage of strings. Im not sure of the instrument though. We will go to the intersting part. The BGM. The violin orchestra. You wouldnt believ that it is exactly the same notes that i played in the both the places. But the crucial difference is they are in different octaves. The first someone pointed it out to me, oh!!!!!!!!!!!! that is why. And next is the bass part. In the first part, the bass justs drags along, playing the lower chords and the exact thala counts. And in the next part, IR shows his bass play. Great lines as always of Raja's though a lot feeble this time. And the flavour of both the lines are the same.

Listen and be drugged.

2006-04-02T23:30:00.000+05:30

Moment

I always tell my friend when she tells she doesnt understand anything that i say, "I dont make much sense anyway,nevermind".When i was trying to question this very fact i somehow conected this thing to another puzzle/question i had which is one of the most puzzling "out of the world" thing i ever think of.How much value does your past or any other moment that has happened before has?Meaning whatever that has happened yesterday cant we just forget the whole damn thing good or bad.The releveance/irrelevance of the yesterday to today is purely hypothetical.Its too fictitious.Kind of questions that is asked in matrix like "What is real?How do you define real?".So "How good(true/importtant/relevant) is your past?" is also another question that is purely hypothetical/fictitious or in other words entirely on based on the person.

Basically all things make sense in the mood you try to make sense.Philosophical/meta-physical/mundane you name it.Someone must have given a thought that way.One of those moods is one i cant describe myself.Will make a futile attempt though because anyway all these things are abstract and what you "make" out of it is certainly yours and not mine.I'll just be the devil's advocate.It is mood that i describe as one white sheet with nothing written on it.Bland pointless and more importantly lacking the interest to see the point.So when you dont want to see the point,you just dont see the point right.So what appened yesterday doesnt make a tiny rat's ass worth(donno which movie i got that expression).And i extrapolate that yesterday to those futile(!!!!) years spent as child tennage adolescent etc then nothing makes sense except for today.More precisely the moment.And if you try to make the point what you are today is because of what you were yesterday.So what?.Why should I have the obligation towards something that doesn't exists anymore and moreover of which i have serious doubts over the credibility of the memory I have(Thanks to Rashomon) to the utter useless feeling of pointlessnes.

This is the point in which i wonder whether all I did was beating around the bush(do I do anything else ever?????) and just stop it.And incase you have reached the conclusion that it is the moment that matters.Then be still for sometime.The moment will pass(e).

2006-02-11T02:19:00.000+05:30

The Find

One of the greatest pleasures in life is when you are looking for something ordinary, you get something stupendous in value. This doesnt happen always. But when you are looking into the collection of one of the biggest, greatest and god knows what kind of a adjective I can put here composer of all times IR, you will never know what you can get.

IR has given a fabuluos music in Marupadiyum(Im talking about BGM in all the places) and i was looking for it in the net.But then I come accross this unnamed piece which reminds me of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Waltz from Swan Lake(though not of great resemblence except for a high pitched violin bit in the start and the particular type of composition).Please excuse me if you find myself blabbering some nonsence(Im talking about those who know much about the classical music).
The piece is the title BGM of Ithayathai Thirudathe(not 100% sure).I was playing it alternating with "Bala Kanaka" and "Chinna Kannan" and this piece stands out more as a western composition and not in line with the other too.But then I removed the other two from the playlist and three hours straight it is still playing(mind u the time is 3 A.M).
If there is a word called Symphony,then I knew what it was.Bliss.Eternal Bliss.The piece starts with a piano piece which sets the tempo in place and then I think it is a violin piece and then starts the maestro's work.A violin piece starts and followed by another violinpiece in background.This is what is called Symphony.I dont think it makes any sense to you know.I tell you.Listen to the piece and unless you listen carefully you wouldnt know there are two violin bits going in exact tandem and with the miniscule knowledge I have in music I question-Was this ever done?.
Everyone knows IR is too good at the classical part.But at the symphony,I never knew any significant piece in history of IRs' but this is one hell of a stunner.Because the flute part,three violin bits,piano are all self-sustaining and would have been great music in itself.But they all come together and create this divinity of divine piece and I just cant say anything.
Forgive me for the musical nonsense I have put here.Try to find this piece in the net.Or contact me,I'll upload in coolgoose soon.

2006-01-26T21:51:00.000+05:30

Road to Addiction Continued.......

The previous post was about a month back(I guess.. I never had a great track of time anyway). I wanted to feel more about the self-indulgent self-molestation involved and thought I will come back and put in more after more revelation about it. But you know, you can never tell what will come on you.

Previously, what I enjoyed the most about smoking is, you see a ring of fire burning itself at its own place so much resembling about the very fact that life itself is on the same track extinguishing itself day by day. And then comes the interesting fact. You inhale it , the more it burns , the smaller it becomes and hell ya you are screwing yourself too the same way. This parallel symbolism(is that a right expression???) was the greatest attraction behind smoking and I would have been a lot happier man if life burnt at the same rate as my precious little cigarrette. Infact this was the main reason i wanted to smoke the spirit out of my body and not what RP has suggested about the pointless being the point (this is the caption of the movie "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas"....every doper and non-doper must see it), though I really liked the point he is getting at.So this romantic feeling of mine was like all my previous romances.You have it and then one fine you realise that there was a feeling like that before but you dont know lost it. But I would say it was lotter better to smoke the spirit out of your body than do nothing about its existence.

2005-11-25T02:16:00.000+05:30

Road to Addiction

After my so called poem of mine(I would rather call it a broken stream of consciousness) was wondering what i can possible about. Wondering whether there was anything worth happening in my life worth writing. But then I found this new thing happening to me. One more habit to the kitty. Smoking.

I hated smoking. Infact i hate smoking. Always wondered why do people smoke? Because the first time you get high a li'le bit,the next time a li'le less high, the next time a lot lesser and then in eventuality you might even wonder why the hell do you smoke and why the hell you have become a smoker too.But I thought there might be something cool about it. Something really good which you will never get to know unless you tried. So just like "any other soon to be addict" person i tried. Shit what a smell , what a smoke and what the fuck. I gave my first cigarette the middle finger and gave myself a slap.

And incase you dont know i hated drinking too the first time.

This happened quite sometime back and then came the phase of my love with whiskey. I was in love. Infact i was never in love before. I loved whiskey. I wouldnt want to go into those details anyway. And one other day in bar someone suggested if you smoke when you drink that gets you the real high. I was hooked. Anything that enhanced the drinking effect starting from weeds,grass or McDonalds Mexican wrap(which is the thing that can make me puke on an empty stomach) Im all game to try. I smoked and smoked a lot more. There was a small techinical difficulty i had to face. I didn't inhale. Even now i think smoking without inhaling is the coolest way to "smoke". You get the feel without the nicotine in your lungs(damn i hate that stuff). But people ask me what is the point? I asked them what is the point in smoking anyway? You have a point? No point in smoking right? WRONG.

There is a point in smoking. A very valid point which most of smokers who smoked their lungs to tar didnt know. There is no point in smoking. Absolutely nothing. And that is the beauty of it. Thank to RP who pointed it out to me that people smoke because they dont have a reason to smoke. But that is on a superficial level. I would very well get to the subconscious level of it.

So as i was speaking smoking has no reason. You get down a bus and you go to office. You might very well go in and slog your ass to all the richness in the world. But if you are a smoker you smoke. Just because something can be done between two activities and which doesnt have a meaning in itself , it compels me to do it. You wait for sometime you smoke. You get bored you smoke. You feel fucking angry you smoke. Unlike drinking you dont need an occation other than the fact that you are slogging your ass off for whatever the fictitious reason you can possibly have and there is something in this world that gets you everyday closer to heaven. Anytime anyday you can ruin yourself. You can fill that empty space with nicotine.

2005-06-29T13:40:00.000+05:30

Why I thank myself

The contemplation has kept me alive

And the contemplation is forcing me to the edge

But there is no me without it

And there is no it without me

So therefore I contemplate

And therefore I condemn the contemplation

Because I like circles

Because I like the circle of thoughts

How do you go on and on

And still you go on and on

Just to find that you still go on and on

But the circle makes me going

And the circle keeps me going

So I thank the circles

I thank the contemplation

But on second thoughts

I wonder why I thank myself