Aaranya Kaandam- New Kaandam in Tamil Cinema

                     Eventhough the movie is a year old, the National award function almost a month back where it received the Silver lotus award for “Best editing” (KL Praveen and NB Srikanth ) and Golden lotus award for “Best debut film of a director”(Thiyagarajan Kumararaja ) prompted me to pen these words.

         The movie begins on a different note…… right when the credits start rolling with no BGM. Each shot builds upon the previous one slowly and gradually. A group of likely gangsters casually talking among themselves with a lot of daily life references and the music blaring on the speaker in the background and an aged man with a likely consort in a dimly lighted room.........

                      The characters then start to unfold at a leisurely pace. The viewers get a peek into the savage life of gangsters,  Even the names are beastly like gods in Hindu mythology…..Singamperumal, Pasupathy, Kodukapuli, Gajendran, Gajapathy,The director has explored the various shades of each character thereby showing the various faces of humans.The tight shots used extensively and intelligently have added to the intensity between characters.

                            

                      Everyone have done their parts commendably.Jackie Shroff as Singamperumal, Sampath Raj as Pasupathy, Guru Somasundaram as Kaalaiyan, Master Vasanth as Kodukapuli, Ajay Raj as Chittu,Yasmin Ponappa as Subbu.Especially Sampath with his commanding voice will definitely be the most sought after actor for supporting roles in years to come.Jackie Shroff‘s dialogue delivery and satires have the audience LOL. Guru Somasundaram and Master Vasanth have performed like real world father-son duo and especially Guru's koothu-Pattarai experience has come to fore.It is a definite break for Ravikrishna as Sappai.

                      The dialogues are intelligently written, making the viewers think a bit and felt that he could be India's answer to Tarantino and Nolan.The cinematography is perfectly in tune with the movie, showing the darker shades of human character and using natural lighting mostly. Many live locations are used . Another plus of the movie is the absence of jarring BGM for all shots normally associated with gangster movies except a few zany ones for a few close ups.

                      The real star of the movie is however, editing .The editing is very taut till the last shot, making the viewer glue onto the screen one sequence after other without wandering away from the crux of the story  . It will definitely go down as a landmark in the career of KL Praveen and NB Srikanth.

                        

                      The censor board demanding 52 cuts for a movie inspite after giving A–rating is the most ridiculous a situation can get. The effort of a movie maker goes down the drain every time.The idea of the creator is taken away from the audience, in the thought that violence depicted is likely to instill bad behavior in the mind of the audience, is totally ludicrous. If a movie is given A certification,it is expected that the audience is mature enough to discriminate between the bad and the good shown in a film. Vulgarity and profanity need a definite redefinition. The censor board, still working on age-old ideas and archaic laws needs more progressive minded individuals to prevent situations like these. (Trivia: The so called honorable Censor board still functions under the The Cinematographic Act 1952 with a few modifications ) .The censor board has never kept it’s laws in tune with the modern world cinema. Films that have been censored in our country, run uncompromisingly everywhere in the world vowing audiences and winning accolades at film festivals abroad. Cash –rich television channels not promoting movies like these and on flip side promoting senseless masala movies just for money is the biggest irony. Some people gave me a blank look when spoke about this film and  did not seem to recognise such a film even existed.Added to this, the movie also not doing commercially well, shows that we still have miles to go as a  mature cinema audience and our movies being on par with world cinema. It is high time we recognise our own native content and try to move up the ladder in our evaluation of films.

                    But hats off to Thiyagarajan Kumararaja for coming up with arguably one of the best and original scripts in Indian cinema .But his real and biggest contribution to the movie has been steering clear of any romantic, emotional scenes, opening dances , fights or any sort of melodrama from first shot to last, with rawness of humans being depicted beautifully in all it’s glory and giving us a 100% true gangster movie and at the same time remaining true to the words the movie starts with

                         

      “Yethu thevaiyo athuvey dharmam”

Nandalala- Poignant,brilliant

Even though it's a long time the movie was released,I wanted to put this one on my blog board badly.By the time I have completed this write up,I would have lost the number of times I would have watched the movie. After a really long, long time, this is a movie that has compelled me to watch it twice in a theatre. First of all, this is no comparison with “Kikujiro”, since I have not watched it. Even if this is an inspiration from that supposedly gem of a movie, this is a brilliant attempt in Tamil cinema . Credits should be given to the director for avoiding any masala. Hats off to the director for having broken one of the most irritating clichés of Tamil cinema – intro song, duets, punch dialogues,,,It was heartening to come out of a movie hall in 2 hours ----which might set the trend for Tamil cinema.

The movie pivots on two heroes- BGM and cinematography

Like how the movie starts with IR, I also start with IR’s BGM and songs. It is yet another masterpiece from the wizard of RR .Just for a moment imagine the movie without IR’s BGM. The gross effect of the music and symphony is just out of the world experience. The use of various instruments is brilliant, although I am not aware of most of them. The orchestration in some scenes takes the film to a different level altogether without the need for any dialogues and has done all the talking.

The second hero is Mahesh muthuswamy.Some of the finest Tamil movies were mainly engrossing due to dialogues, characterizations and some fine performances from the protagonists. But I am really delighted seeing such a true visually talking movie. The movie had every typically Myskkin: shots close up frames interleaved with wide angle shots, definite top angles of sky, macro shots of nature like flowers, insects. The usage of montages has been perfect and has not been overdone even a bit.

The casting is almost perfect. The lead characters Mysskin, Snigdha and Aswath Ram have done their roles to almost perfection.Mysskin; the actor has come out with flying colours and has been really tickling throughout. Not casting a big star and taking one of the lead roles for himself, actually has worked in favour of the movie. The little chap Aswath looks to me as an already seasoned performer. The emotions he has potrayed at this age are very impressive. Mysskin, the director’s unusual knack of making unexpected casting ------ like Pandiarajan as Logu in Anjathey, has come to the fore once again. Snighdha as a sex worker has done her job to perfection ,even though she has little screen presence compared to both the protagonists .Even the small secondary characters have a long lasting impact on the viewer like the old tender coconut seller, the bullock cart driver, the lorry driver, the police man etc. Some inanimate objects like the yellow car used by the troublesome college lads or the bike used by the dad and his kid seems to be characters of their own.

Like a usual Mysskin fare, it has several of the director’s trademarks. Especially the small but witty dialogues, like the “bypass or main road comedy, stomach pain comedy” etc. Heart touching scenes in extremely small but exact doses like the handicapped girl treating a handicapped man. The effort gone into every minute detailing of each character is immaculate .The way Bhaskar mani character wears the shoes wrongly is a testimony to this. The director has conveyed most shots only through BGM and cinematography and leaving interpretation to the viewers like the scene where they meet the mother of the boy or let it be the scene where Bhaskar mani gets beaten up by a group of thugs when try to force away Snigdha .The editing is excellent and the transition from one scene to other is seamless and has greatly enhanced the quality of screenplay The only thing that is atypically Mysskin is the obvious absence of a kuthu song and yellow-sari clad women.

The only cons I would like to add, that too for the sake of commenting negative points is the way Bhaskar mani character is shaped appears a bit murky in the sense that some scenes depict him to be a normal man and on the other hand mentally affected in most scenes. Thinking from another angle ,the director might have taken the advantage that his degree of insanity is not defined anywhere. The song “Thalatta ketka naanum” song doesn’t seem to fit in the screenplay a bit ,in the sense that it appears a bit unnecessary and if the director could have done away with it ,the movie have been more compact and it would have been a near perfect movie.
According to my knowledge of Indian cinema, this has to be the most perfect road movie . KH himself has recommended the film to Sun movies. The latest accolade that “he would love to do a film” like Nandalala from none other than Bala truly is another feather in the cap for the movie.

Twin Towers

The year 2009 had seen myriad events.But it had been a year of personal landmarks for two of the greatest icons of India and conjures up some pleasant memories for the duo. They have inspired a whole generation of performers over the years ,still young people wanting to emulate them. They have run out of space for memorabilia in their cupboards. Let's take a bit of a peek into the past.

14-Dec-1989 -The cold winds are howling across on a winter day in Sialkot ,Pakistan and the temparatures were freezing.A 16 year old walks out to middle to face the most fearsome and brutal bowling attack of our times -Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis-backed by the legendary Imran Khan.. A hell of a ball hits the boy on the helmet with blood oozing from the nose.But the boy shows no nerves, just has a glare at the bowler and refuses any medical assistance. Since then the world of cricket was never the same again and a legend is born.


15-Nov-2009- The boy still around and completes 20 years of cricket .Mountains of cricket records to his name and the list still growing.The statisticians have run out of ideas keeping track the no.of records in the man's name ( OOPS!!! still a boy's name)

The year was 1959 - A very popular producer went to a marriage. He sees a 5 year old boy who was so cute and very mischievous. He asks him "Thambi, en padhathila Nadikiraya?"(Boy do you want to act my film), Athuku andha paiyan(For which the boy replies)"Ennaku, Pomeranian nai vangi thanthingana Nadikiren" (If you buy me a pomeranian dog I will act in the film). That producer agrees with him and the boy acts in that film). The producer was AVM. The film is "Kalathur kanamma" ,releases on Aug12,1959 and the boy receives National award for the best child artiste.The range of characters the boy went on to do is still something unparalleled in Indian cinema.

Aug12,2009-The boy has completed 50 years in cinema and over 200 films spanning more than quarter of a dozen languages, a record 4 national awards,19 filmfare awards ...the list goes on. After his latest award in 2000 ,the boy has written to the organisation to exempt him from further awards.

These guys continually set benchmarks for themselves.Let it be the upper cut,masterly cover drive , on drive,cheeky paddle sweep etc of Sachin or the unforgettable performances of Kamal in Moondram pirai,Nayagan, etc. Surviving 10 to 15 years in any field is great by any standard. But 20 or 50 years in any field is a monster of an achievement ,something incomprehensible for any ordinary folks like us.Contrary to what many people believe, money ceases to be a motivating factor after a certain time and it takes more than that to survive all these tough years in professional life. What do people like them share in common ? A seven letter Mantra called "Passion" They are intensely passionate about their job,continuous commitment to the passion .But the most important thing, I think, keeps them apart from the rest of the crowd is their "Willingness to learn". It is what keeps the fire in the belly without getting extinguished after all these long years of yeoman service to their respective fields. . The one thing not to be forgotten is that they are still competing with people almost half their age and they may not be physically as good as they were in their 20's .

When people almost write off these guys and their retirement talks seems to be in the air ,their passion helps them rise like phoenix from the ashes. Definitely age is to catch up with them (Actually just trying for a long,long time).But they are still giving their contemporaries and rookies a run for their money. When the young competitors think that they have come somewhere close to their achievements,they have other ideas.They have raised the bar and already hit a new high.

Let's explore the first "c"

The critics often comment that "Sachin is not the best player anymore,he better hang up his boots",etc.His knocks have not been matching ones,has not won a World cup for the country".Let these guys know that game of cricket is a team affair and just one man show is not enough to win matches.The reason players from countries like Australia and South Africa have been involved in many match winning knocks is that they have been backed by some excellent bowling and some gravity defying fielding.

A person playing for 20 years after all injuries from head to foot ,it speaks volumes of his fortitude. Everytime his game or his body has thrown up a challenge,he has taken it up with a big heart and has come out stronger .Just to survive those pecking complaints itself, is a no mean achievement.Averaging around 55 in tests ,45 in ODI's ,30000 international runs,nearing half century of centuries in test and ODI's. Do the critics need any more numbers than this ??? .In the past decade, Ponting seems to have closed in on him but the guy is buzzing again ,seems to be in the prime of his life in the past two seasons and the gap is again starting to widen. In case, if critics say a player cannot be chosen based on his past records alone,I have got something to say aloud .Another myth has been shattered in the just concluded IPL - that T20 is a young man's format. The guy has got an orange cap and the guy is 37 years young !!! a week back.

What sets him truly apart from rest of the people at the top , I believe are two things .First of all not a single incident of on-field break of code of conduct in all these years.He has let his bat do the talking all these years. But the most important thing I would say has been his longevity.According to a latest stat "He becomes the first modern player whose career has spanned across Four decades" .At the heart of all of this has been his child-like enthusiasm.,still enjoying the game ,celebrating every moment like a candy -loving kid and his double ton is truly an icing on the cake.

lets's move from one "c" to another

Wrt to UH ,learning ,learning and learning ,nothing less.In addition to an actor and a director, he is a screenwriter, lyricist, screenwriter,choreographer .....................The list just seems to be endless and growing everyday.The effort put into each performance is just staggering. The effect of the greats of Tamil cinema like Nagesh,Sivaji Ganesan,K.Balachandar,Bharathiraja,Balu Mahendra from whom he had learnt or lived since he was a 5 year old definitely seems to have a profound effect on him. As said rightly by Sir Isaac Newton"If I have seen further it is only by standing on the shoulders of giants".Since his first movie ,he has been now and then frequented by controversies for almost all his movies. But the way he has handled all these controversies is absolutely fantastic and the most important thing is that he has never allowed these controversies to interfere his work.

His love for cinema is evident from the fact that he has spent most of his earnings in cinema only in cinema thru,his production house ,Rajkamal International which has given some of the best movies of our times starting from the path breaker of 80's "Vikram" to another path breaker again of 2K's "Unnaipol oruvan" . The list also includes some the best Tamil cinema has seen which includes Devar Magan,Virumandi, Hey Ram all of which is an exhibtion of a genius called Kamal. The reason why films like Kurudhipunal,Hey Ram ,Anbe Sivam were never a commercial success even though they were critically well acclaimed and were the best in the class baffles me to this day.This only further stresses the reality that this man is probably way,way ahead of our times.

The relationship he has shared with his contemporaries has been his one of the most commendable qualties.His relationship with his most famous contemporary of our times, Mr .Superstar since their days as students of KB has reached it's peak evident from latest painting gifted to Kamal by Rajini.Another praiseworthy thing has been that he has always remained clear of politics and devoted all these years to what he knows best and does best -cinema,except for an involvement in a few gatherings which I feel, might be due to some political pressures..Personally I expect three things from him -

1) Less of Kamal the actor and more of Kamal the screenwriter and director in the coming days and he needs to create a generation of Kamal Hassans who can serve cinema for generations to come.

2) Put all his ego behind (the same applies to other stars as well) and get involved in many more multistarrers like "Unnaipol oruvan" which augurs well for Indian cinema and in particular Tamil cinema so that we can expect a "Godfather" like Indian movie atleast in the near future.

3) It's time he goes global.The world needs to know of this genius .I hope to see a "Kamal-Tarantino" or a "Kamal-Scorsese" or a "Kamal-Clint Eastwood" combination one day on the screen.It might be one of the best moments of my life as a cinema lover.

Just think of the situation if these geniuses have never existed.Cinema or cricket might not have the cult status they enjoy today.Just to think of the hour when these guys call it a day absolutely scares me.Pardon me if I have left some of the the other best geniuses of our generation like ARR,Federer,Tiger woods or other umpteen number of geniuses the world has seen.I just wanted to remain focussed on the two landmark events .

To achieve all these in a country like India where people are fanatic about two things -cricket and cinema, leaves me dumbfounded. These guys enjoy a cult status .One day you are the god and next day you are brought down to earth..At the drop of a hat ,media would bray for their blood. and public would burn effigies. ,.These people tend to be in the limelight always .They are often attacked personally.Their personal life also becomes a part of the focus.Especially the way Sachin was booed in that infamous test against England by his own home crowd in Mumbai is definitely one of the darkest incidents in the recent decade for the game.The protests against "Hey Ram " or the name issue against "Virumaandi" exposes the degree of infantilism of the Indian public and politicians.The maturity level as an audience is abysmally low which never seems to have improved .

We must believe though these guys are geniuses, they are just ordinary men like you and me at the end of the day .The most important thing critics or fans should fathom is that these men are beyond any criticism..They are above any victory or defeat.As fans we need to be more open minded of any victory or defeat .But as far as I am concerned,. I just see them as performers and they are the best in the business.Surviving all these huge mental pressures, these people amazingly continue to produce quality stuff in their respective fields.

My travelogue

Readers of this blog of mine are about to embark on a long journey really, really, long ....Just kindly hang on.... It was the evening of 26th Sept, 2009.Myself and a friend of mine took our flight to New Delhi by a "fly five star "airline. As the tagline suggests, it was really five star having good inflight entertainment, amiable hospitality. As I am some sort of aerophobic, I was getting slight jitters. But it was a surprisingly smooth ride except for a bit of turbulence for a few minutes. And in just 2 and 1/2 hours flat we reached Delhi. The Delhi airport seemed to be surprisingly glossy, the facilities have dramatically improved and in no time our baggages were cleared and we took a cab and checked into a hotel some where in Paharganj near ND railway station. On the way we saw Rajghat and the myriad no. of memorials around it, MP’s residences, and many old structures interspersed with new urban structures. I felt that city retained it's old world charm ------- but only in patches. Soon I was joined by some of my buddies from Bangalore. On 27th morning we took a tempo traveller and started our journey to visit The Taj -certainly one of the most awaited moments of my life. It was 4 hour journey and the TT zipped past the 4 lane highways and reached there around 11 pm. By that time sun was starting to have a say on our travel. It was scorching hot and whenever we saw a drinking water tap, for our parched throats it was like an oasis in a desert. I felt Agra was now, how it must have been centuries ago--- small bylanes, petty biryani shops, Muslim fakirs here and there. We took a guide who led us thru small lanes, thru the eastern gate towards the Taj. The sight which we saw something to behold. The architecture was so stunning and was definitely one of the finest examples of Islamic architecture in India. The intricate carvings, inlaid semiprecious stones which glowed when light falls on them, the imposing minarets all reminiscent of an advanced architecture and a glorious Indian civilisation.It is truly a symbol of love .No wonder all young couples were longing to take snaps ...........................Next let's go to Fatehpur Sikri-(Fateh means "Victory" Pur means "city")--The capital city of Akbar.It is another marvel in red sandstone. What left me absolutely floored was the city planning - a term irrelevant to Indian babus.... quarters for servants, queens quarters, discussion rooms, winter and summer palaces. Another striking thing was the religious tolerance of Akbar-- separate palaces for his Hindu, Muslim and Christian queens----something unheard of in those days. On 28th morning we started our trip to India gate-symbol of true sons of the soil. I felt really humbled before one the most admired and revered landmarks of India. No wonder people were clicking a lot of snaps .Then we went further down the Rajpath and had a glimpse of North block, South block, Parliament (corridors of power of Indian babus) and finally the imposing Rashtrapati bhavan ( some trivia about Rashtrapati bhavan :--No steel was used to construct Rashtrapati bhavan.--Biggest residence of any Head of the State in the world) All the above built by Sir Edwin Lutyens and Sir Herbert Baker (both British architects) -perfect fusion of different Indian styles (Mughal, Rajput etc.)------- examples of legacy of the British in India. And by the end of the day, sun wearied us down and did some local shopping and soon retired to our rooms. Now move over Delhi and Agra .Now join me in what I personally feel is going to be certainly one the toughest tours of my life(comparable to Indian cricket team touring Australia).Everyone's ultimate distant dream ---- visit the Himalayas( meaning "abode of snow") . [[To comprehend the enormous scale of this mountain range consider that Aconcagua, in the Andes, at 6,962 m (22,841 ft), is the highest peak outside Asia, whereas the Himalayan system includes over 100 mountains exceeding 7,200 metres (23,622 ft).[2] ]](source: Wikipedia). We started our journey from Delhi by Innova and Indigo. We soon started our journey to Chandigarh for our first 250 Kilometres. It was really a long time but we just breezed through the 250 Kms with our Innova touching 100 kms (at times peaking 110 kms) and the music blaring in our music player we found the journey quite a smooth one. The infrastructure has really improved in the past years and the roads were as smooth as a cheese. Soon we were in the land of five rivers. We had a break at a Punjabi Dhaba ---- had some lip smacking parathas, straight from the pan rotis, super thick curd and delicious cheese. Especially the way they made the rotis, which were flying like a flying saucer in the dhabawallas’s hands. Banta Singh may be a symbol of ridicule: But on the contrary I found Punjabis to be extremely hard working, super fit and someone who even might be a septuagenarian or and even an octogenarian was found to be handling a Enfy quite easily. The results of years of hard work seem to be showing in the State-- I found not an inch of land vacant, everywhere vast stretches of green fertile land--as far as my eye could see.
The Himalayas were soon in sight. The plains soon disappeared and the hills were in sight. High pine trees, pint sized houses soon were visible to us. The four lane roads soon narrowed down into a single stretch of road. At some places it was hardly a feet between our vehicle on either side. But the drivers seemed to know the roads like the back of their hand and manoeuvered the vehicle deftly. The atmosphere was totally opposite to our urban life-very tranquil, less pollution and above all a life in tune with nature. But an urban characteristic we could not escape was the horrendous traffic- a single vehicle holdup was enough to create a mile long traffic which took hours to clear.

We started the next morning and started continued to do some real adventures--- Rafting in the Beas. After some real good haggling with the Raft operator, for the first time in my life I had a feel of what real adventure sports mean. What seemed to be stream from a distance, felt like a deluge as we went near it. We had a real feel of adrenaline rushing through the body and felt our heart beats were at their peak speed. The water was absolutely nerve freezing, and the sceneries we saw throughout our 9 kms of rafting were just spellbounding.Then we proceeded towards our next destination - Hotsprings at Manikaran. We visited the Gurudwara where we were astonished by what we saw -people cooking in the hot springs in Gurudwara and the food being served freely to people there. Just dip the food in a hot spring and in 20 mins the food is
cooked!!!!! .Nature's another beauty --- The springs were boiling hot whereas the outside temperature was around 6 degrees. Now it's time to get chillier--We began for a grand finale our tour-The Rohtang La( Rohtang pass) ,situated at almost 13,000 feet above MSL .We started at 4.30 am in the morning we were advised that due to traffic hold up it might take upto 6 to 7 hrs also sometimes. It was chilly outside and the temperature outside showed it to be 6 degrees and the winds were already howling. It was pitch dark when we started but around 8 or 9am the Sun slowly appeared in the horizon after a long night’s sleep. The road was getting narrower as the altitude increased. But hats off!!! to the BRO for such a commendable job they have done in getting the roads laid and maintaining them superbly at such treacherous heights. The scenes we saw all along the hills seemed to be right out of a fairy tale. The backdrop behind us were getting increasingly dazing,...the mountains appeared like a row of elephants walking in a procession, the waterfalls which appeared like water flowing dripping out a pipe, clouds began which began to engulf us which looked like a scene from a Typical Indian mythological daily soap, cars lorries and trucks below us looked like play things of a small kid and the roads appeared serpentine like the one in a snakes and ladders game. The whole journey took us an unbelievable 5 hours for just 52 kms. Then the drivers dropped us at a govt.parking lot where a string of ponies were waiting for us. We had straight from the stove 2 mins. noodles which was selling like hot cakes. After much intense haggling with the pony operator, we settled for Rs.300/ person .We felt like Genghis Khan when we got on to the ponies. But we did not know that we were in for some back breaking and eye popping 2 hour experience. We felt as if we were riding on a tora-tora with the ponies swaying on both sides. It was really one of the toughest experiences of my life. Then finally we reached the snow clad peaks at Rohtang. . There we could see the valleys around us with rivers slowing flowing between them at a nearly 5k to 6k feet below us. We saw scenes which we had seen in only old Bollywood movies. By now, it was getting more chillier and we had a slight discomfort in breathing due to depleting oxygen levels which made our first hand small experience in hiking all the more difficult. The weather was manageably pleasant, but not as we expected .........we went anticipating snowfall and planned to do some skiing. But we were contented that the climate was really kind to us because the locals said that heavy snowfalls and avalanches were quite common there and we did not want them to spoil our party. The photographs we took there were countless, with cameras flashing from all sides which made us feel like silver screen hero walking the ramp. Soon we did not notice the time was running and it was half past 1'o clock in the afternoon. We had some dinner at the local Dhaba and soon started our return journey to Manali and reached there around 7 Pm. Since we were damn tired, our limbs and bones were pleading for rest, we had our dinner and were fast asleep in no time. Next early morning we did some local shopping as our hotel was right in middle of the mall road including some world famous Kullu Shawl and Sweaters, some dry fruits etc. As we were ready to leave for Delhi, we packed our luggage and soon checked out at 12pm. We felt like remaining at that place for the whole of life .Alas!!!! Life sometimes I feel is cruel to you and does not allow you to do that. With a heavy heart, we left the place. On the way we were saw the most important thing the Himachal stands for---Apples. We were shown acres and acres of apple orchards till the eye could see. We could not further resist the temptation, had a few morsels of apples and bought quite a few boxes for ourselves. This time around too our car had a few glitches but the drivers again showed all their experience and mended them in no time. We had 2 or 3 breaks throughout our return journey- one at Mandi, one again at Chandigarh and another in some roadside Dhaba. Since it was a overnight travel, we remained asleep throughout .When we woke up, we were in Delhi Nizamuddin RS to make our way back to Chennai .It was busy as usual with typical Indian RS scenes--scores of people lying down on platforms, chaiwalas, fruit vendors, stinking toilets, dogs everywhere around dozing around, etc. The train started around 6am in the morning .We had a typical Indian breakfast consisting of Upma and Dhal in the IRCTC pantry. It was a hot Indian summer till we reached Agra around 11 am. We felt right inside a frying pan and it was boiling hot. Then we had our lunch at 1 pm consisting of Veg.Pulav. and had a long sleep .By afternoon we had entered MP and saw Chambal ravines-- once the fortress of Phoolan Devi. Much to our relief it started to drizzle and the climate became much cooler. By evening 5pm we had reached Bhopal. We then engaged for a game of cards ,and some chitchatting .The time was running fast and only when the train attendant brought us the night dinner ,we realised it was 9pm in the night. Then again fell asleep around 10 pm and in the morning we had reached AP border. We reached Vijayawada around at 10.30pm. When we crossed Vijayawada junction, we felt that nature does shed its chocolate boy image sometimes. River Krishna was in full flow-Like Sachin at his best, unstoppable and destructive .Only when we saw that scene we got the news that it has been raining cats and dogs there for almost the last week. The picture was very grim: the water level was barely 8 to 10 feet below our bridge. Then we reached Gudur junction had a simple lunch of curd rice with some delicious Andhra pickles. Around 4 pm when Tamil signboards were in sight, we realized that we had entered TN border and around 6 pm reached Madras Egmore. As you travelled with me all along the journey, you must have realised that it must be a long and tough journey. But for me personally it has been one of the most satisfying tours of my life except for a few hiccups here and there. What we encountered was hills, hills and again hills..... nothing else for almost 4 days. But the experience of visiting Himalayas was entirely satisfying. But one truth I should not be hiding is that, I definitely ran out of words to express my experiences of the tour. The Himalayas can be related to every superlative that exists in English language-highest, tallest, shortest, longest etc Throughout the journey ,I could see the diverse landscapes the country has: from the sky touching Himalayas, the dry plains of UP and MP to the fertile lands of Andhra Pradesh. And equally diverse climates .from freezing temperatures in the Himalayas to the Super hot climate in Agra to a humid Chennai. As some locals we encountered said, the mountains call you back again because we have planned to raise the bar next time-We are planning to scale another peak next time--Khardung Pass (41 kms from Leh and a hair raising 500 kms from Manali).(As per today's records at 18000 feet, it is the highest motorable pass in the world.)Finally it reminds me of Robert Frost words," And miles to go before I sleep"

varanam ayiram -it's surya and songs all the way

Out of the the "S" quintet -surya,songs,six pack,screenplay,script.... the fourth and fifth S's seems to have been totally lost -- The screenplay to have just a chain of incidents in the life of a man with no connections-something like a documentary..... Especially after a stunning film like kakkha kakkha, this wild wavering in screenplay comes both as a surprise and a disappointment to me especially from someone like Gautam......Especially the scenes where the hero goes to America just for his loved one seem to be too far fetched when he his dad seems to be struck in lot of debt.The director seems to have focussed too much on six pack and songs.But there is no doubt that the 1 st two S's definitely have the ability to carry the film ......Surya seems to have matured amazingly and the wide range of emotions he portrayed seems to me to be just amazing .He definitely transformed himself to a different level altogether with this film. As a father he seems so subtle in his portrayal.
The next "S" songs seems to be mind blowing .Especially "Mundinam" and and "nenjukkul peidhidum" seems to be the best of the pack.

The director should have concentrated more the final "S" then it would have been a better and a complete movie and would have been a classic movie ----Atleast in tamil cinema.But this has been a definite disappointment for me personally ...

T20 Review

With the dust slowing settling down on one of the recent extravaganzas in sporting history,it's time to review some of the performances.The winners have shown that with some astute captaincy, even underdogs can change in into an formidable unit. ..Australia has definitely missed warnie ---- the captain. And the other man who has really been improving with time to time has been M.S.DHONI .His batting skills have never in doubt but as a captain he has improved leaps and bounds over the years .He has really matured as a player playing some smart and sensible cricket ,showing some amazing consistency over the last year and managing players from different geographies and handling them really well and going up the order ,taking the lead and setting good example for other players.It has really showcased the bench strength of the country.It has really helped bring out some of the best potentials in the country. Somebody who has impressed me again and again was the man who has be puzzling batsmen over years --- Glenn Mcgrath.He might not have ended up on the winning side or have taken the maximum wickets of the tournament,but has shown he can be effective even in this form of cricket,where power hitting is the norm.What his bowling has emphasised is there is no substitute of classical bowling .The problem for batsmen is that he is never in double mind and he is keeping it so simple ,hitting the "corridor of uncertainty" consistently. The above holds good for sachin tendulkar with delicate classical cuts and masterly cover drives, and shaun pollock who impressed me with his all round performances and clever pace changes. The older players never seem to wilt with age and look like old wine getting better and better as age progresses.
What really frustrated me many of the younger players do not seem to have learnt from these great players and seem to repeat their mistakes toooo many times .As far as bowlers are concerned with no time to settle down and you need to get into a rhythm right from the word go,variety was the key and Pragyan ojha showed great amount of temperament getting wickets after being hit for runs and doing the old time tested technique ---flighting the ball and has been rewarded with a test match berth .On the batting front too there seem to be many positives with parthiv patel ,shaun marsh and rohit sharma seem to me the best of the tournament.The good thing about them were they were not slogging ,all clean cricketing strokes.And it also showcased the level of professionalism in australian cricket displayed by ,shane watson, james hopes -everything all round performances
Only thing that needs attention is case of sporting wickets. If the wickets are more sporting ,the bowlers can have more say in the course of the match.
I feel the Only darker side of T20 is that it might take the beauty away from test cricket and to an extent ODI's .The true test of a cricketer is test cricket. T20 might be a money spinner and great entertainment for the crowds but a cricketer's career I feel is 99% test cricket and remaining 1 % ODI's ,T20's , T10,s ,T 5's bla,bla,bla ....... Test cricket is what makes or break a cricketer. It thoroughly exposes the talents as a cricketer . It exposes everything u need as a sportsman fitness,agility,temperament,passion for the game,your technical superiority,ur approach to the game,equanimity .......... almost everything related to the game as a batsmen ,bowler ,fielder .This is what has happened in the case of ppl. like yuvraj singh who was found wanting in technique and thoroughly exposed in the test series against australia and likely to expose others in the near future.