Revisit of some old posts

1) Starting from the oldest, I had written this post 3 years ago about harvesting of human power in gym. From one comment that I got last year, I was happy to know that the idea is getting implemented by some gyms in Hong Kong.

2) I had this list of my favorite top 10 villains in Tamil cinema. Some good ones were missed, as some readers had mentioned and as I Had acknowledged. Check out this recent list by Behindwoods and watch out for overlaps.

3) I like most reality shows involving talent-hunt, be it dance, music, singing or humor. I had posted about one of my fav shows - Nach Baliye, the Season 2 of which was just over when I wrote the post. This Friday, the Season 4 has kick-started. Season 2 was a huge success, with good judges and cute couples. Season 3 was a forgettable one, though I havent watched most of the episodes. It even ended controversially, with court cases and allegations of favoritism/bias. Season 4 looks very promising, with great judges - Farah Khan, Arjun Rampal and Karishma Kapoor (South ex-heroines must have a look at her.. Looks like time has stopped moving forward in her life alone.. she looks almost the same as in 'Dil To Pagal Hai' or 'Fiza'). Among the participants, Jaspal Bhatti is a surprise choice... Hope he caters well to the Bhangra audience. Thee are a few known and newfaces from soap operas, but at least 6 couples look promising. Let it rock!!

4) Another important addition to 'Science in song lyrics' post: "Moongil kAdugalE" from Samurai. I came across this song only recently, and when I heard that it is Vikram's fav song, I can understand. Superbly sung by Hariharsn and brilliantly penned by Vairamthu, the following lines have some wonderful references to scientific events, linking them with philosophy and humanity..
In the second stanza, he goes:
"Uppu kadalOram mEgam uRpathi AnAlum
upputhaNNeerai mEgam oru pOdhum sindhAdhu
i.e., Even though clouds originate from salty sea, it never rains salt water)

Malaiyil veezhndhAlum sooriyan marithu povathilllai
nilavukku oLiootti thannai neettithukkolgirathu"
(Though the sun disappears behind the hill, it doesnt die; it enlightens the moon and extends its longevity)

Then, he says
"Jananam maraNam aRiyA vaNNam nAnum mazhaithuLi AvEnO"
(Will I become like rain which has no birth or death?)

The first part beautifully talks about the natural process of distillation. For the question of why salt doesnt evaporate alongwith water is bcos the vapor pressure of salt is very low. Thus, the evaporation of water from sea separates pure water from saline sea.

In the second part, the process of reflection of sunlight by moon is poetically described. Vairamuthu says that it elongates the life of sun.

In the last part, the fundamental chemical theory about conservation of molecular structure upon physical changes is narrated. Water, or any chemical for that matter, can neither be created nor be destroyed due to the physical processes that take place around or with them. For that, chemistry is required. Vairamuthu compares that law to the hero's wish of living forever without a knowledge about life or death. If his wis was granted, he would be like 'Hancock'.

5) In an earlier quiz, I had asked about the uniqueness of Harris Jeyaraj. Now, what is unique about our Gaptun Vijayakanth, Surya and Vikram, which separates them from others such as Sivaji, Rajni, Kamal, Satyaraj, Karthik, Prabhu, Vijay, Ajith, Sarathkumar and 'Mike' Mohan? Since I havent enabled comment moderation, you might find the answers from others' comments.

PS: Oru sudden doubt.. I have some friends who were raised by their grandmothers. As there are so many songs praising mother in Tamil cinema, why is there not a single song praising her in a senti way? (Pl. ignore "Paatti sollai thattAdhey").

Feel-good movies

Just watched 'Mozhi' and absolutely loved it. Though the performances were undoubtedly top-notch, what surprised me was director Radhamohan's intelligence, maturity and innovation in handling different storylines in a short span of time. He has the uncanny ability to choose a complicated story and stick to telling it without adding any violence or blood to it, and ending it such that one feels how it would feel to be surrounded by such goody-goody people - not to forget the power of love.

He is among a handful of directors who dont like the concept of having a villain in their movie. All the conflicts and complications are created by God, circumstances or some minor misunderstandings. Luckily, he doesn't like tragedy. Only a few have managed to even attempt it in some their movies: (I am not including comedy movies here)
Maniratnam: Mouna Ragam, Idhayathai Thirudathey and Alaipayuthey. Though each of these movies had an accident, the general mood was good. In 'IT', it depends on the EQ and the optimism level of the audience to assimilate the climax.
Cheran: Autograph, Thavamai thavamirundhu and Pandavar Bhoomi (?, since I havent seen it). Yes, there was the attack scene in Autograph and the 'Anni' character in TT, but, that apart, didn't he handle the human emotions so well?

Vikraman: Gokulam, Naan pesa ninaippadhellam, Poove unakkaga, Unnidathil ennai koduthen. Hopefully the failure of Chennai kadhal helps us see the good-old Vikraman of soft movies.

K. Viswanath: If not for tending towards someone's death in the end of the movies, he would have been there right at the top of my list.
K. Balachander: Azhagan would top my list. There are some more in his long career.

There are quite a few who have given one such movie, usually their first, only to turn to masala/action/violent flicks subsequently. I hope Radhamohan sticks to his strength and delivers some more unforgettable films.

Best of 2006

Little over a fortnight to go before bidding adieu to this year, and it is time to look back at the events of the year that would be remembered after a long long time.. Similar to the last year, I have created a series of polls to decide the best of 2006 in tamil film industry. Barring a handful, rest of the movies disappointed big time. It appears as if the quality is declining each year.. This year has been dominated by movies based on Underworld, and I really hope that the trend is over.

Please cast ur valuable vote to the deserving candidate(s) under each category (Do I sound like a politician? ;) ) Some of the entries might spring a surprise, but that pretty much sums up the story.. it is hard to think of genuinely 'best' ones.. Anyway, here we go..

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Best Film
	Chithiram Pesudhadi
	Imsai Arasan 23am Pulikesi
	Em magan
	Vettaiyadu Vilayadu

Best Actor
	Kamal Hassan (VV)
	Vadivelu (Imsai Arasan)
	Bharath (En Magan, Pattiyal)
	Jeeva (Dishyum, E)

Best Actress
	Sneha (Pudhupettai)
	Sangeetha (Uyir)
	Reema Sen (Vallavan)
	Jyothika (VV, SOK)

Best Director
	Mishkin (Chithiram Pesudhadi)
	Gautham (VV)
	K Bhagyaraj (Paarijatham)
	Simbudevan (Imsai Arasan)

Best Music Director
	AR Rahman (SOK)
	Yuvan (Pudhupettai, Pattiyal, Azhagai Irukkirai...)
	Harris Jayaraj (VV)
	Devi Sri Prasad (Something something..)

PS: For Non-tamil friends, a couple of polls concerning only the best Hindi movie:

Best Hindi Film
	Rang De Basanti
	KANK
	Lage Raho Munnabhai
	Omkara

I was surprised that 2006 was a better year for Bollywood than Kollywood.. I had to exclude movies like Krrish, Corporate, Fanaa and Dhoom 2, which were pretty good as well..

I hope and wish that 2007 is better for Tamil cine industry.. Eagerly waiting for Dasavatharam and Sivaji..

Kamal's first wife syndrome

While talking about Kamal, my friend stated “In many of Kamal’s movies, the first wife/lover dies.. donno why he has to choose it that way”. We started counting such movies and it was really surprising to find quite a lot of them. Then I remarked that, his so-so relationship with his first wife in real life had something to do with it. Look at the list below.. quite unusual number of movies..

Wife/first love dies:

1) Ullasa paravaigal
2) Ilama oonjaladugiradhu
3) Sattam en kaiyil
4) Sigappu Rojakkal
5) Japanil Kalyanaraman
6) Oru kadhiyin diary
7) Vikram
8) Punnagai Mannan
9) Nayakan
10) Vetri Vizha
11) Mahanadhi
12) Paasa valai (Subha sankalpam)
13) Hey Ram
14) Virumandi
15) Vettaiyadu Vilayadu

Lover dies:

1) Ninaithaley inikkum
2) Chanakyan (Malayalam)
3) Guna
4) Maro charitra/Ek duje keliye

I cant think of any other actor who has such a ‘dubious’ record.. If I had missed any other Kamal movie, or if you feel about someone else having some such unique trend, shoot..

PS: Oru douttu: Indha madhiri reserach panna oru 'B.Phil.' degree-yachum yaravadhu koduppangala? :)

Dreamgirls

A prelude to the Valentine’s day..

My first DG was Amala. From 'Satya' until 'Kodi Parakkudhu,' she was awesome; after that, she became horribly thin and faded away from my thoughts slowly. She was replaced, strangely, Kimi Katkar. I first saw her in the movie ‘Abhimanyu’, which was the remake of our ‘Sakalakala vallavan’. She looked very gorgeous and stunning in that movie and for a few years (until Hum) she was my DG.

Then, one day in early 90’s, I saw the ad for Pepsi.. a cute girl said ‘Hi, I am Sanjana.. can I have a pepsi plz?’ to Aamir Khan and that was it. She was one of the 5 most beautiful girls I have ever seen. Yeah yeah you know who she is.. she was my DG until I saw Sonali Bendre in ‘95.
That was the time the internet was booming up; she was the girl whose pictures were the most famous in the web.

In ’96, I saw ‘Tere mere sapne’ in which Priya Gill was introduced, along with Simran. She acted as a Tamil girl in the movie. I was totally lost.
Then came 'Keerthi Reddy'.. a special one.. she was the only actress to whom I have sent a fan letter.. ;-)








Next year, the mettle was passed to Mahima Choudhary, who was deadly in Pardes,after a great ad for Wills during World cup '96..
Lisa Ray replaced her soon. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's album 'Afreen' shown on DD those times was such a lovely song.

As you can see, mid 90's had me drooling over 5 beauties; the transition from teenage to the 20's.. It was inevitable.. ;-)








After that, love happened and research also took over. Still, few other girls to be my DG of late are.. Divya Khosla and Tamanna.

Villadhi Villains

Recently, when Amrish Puri died, I felt that Indian cinema has lost one of the most charming actors.. Though he acted in a few non-negative roles towards the end of his career, he was obviously famous for his villainous roles. When I think of the most notorious villains Tamil cinema has seen, here is what comes to my mind...

1) Maayan in Thevar magan - Nasser in a really deadly role as Kamal's pangaali.. The climax scene "Vaada, Thevar Magane.. " is unforgettable...

2) Neelambari in Padayappa - Not that a Kamal's villain has to be followed by Rajini's.. but, usually in Rajini's movies the villain's role would be only for the fight scenes.. but, Ramya scored over Rajini. As even Rajini acknowledged, "Neelambari ille-nna Padayappa ille".

3) Amavasai in Amaidhi Padai - After long time, Satyaraj got a chance to be a baddie and, didnt he give a scare to the other villains? Smart, cunning and thick-skinned, he completely eclipsed the 'son' Satyaraj.. "vazhkkaiyile munneranumna naayi ennanga.. edhu vandhalum midhichu pottu poitte irukkanunga..."

4) Badri in Kurudhipunal: Again Nasser.. never yielding to the psychological interrogation of Aadhi (Kamal), he had something in him that even Aadhi was afraid of.

5) Madan in Kanakandaen: A young and handsome person with always a smile on his lips shows his real face as the money-minded crook. As much as he was loveable as a gentleman, he earns our hatred later.

6) MN Nambiar in Mandhirikumari: As the bald and notorious minister, Nambiar was a villain personified all the way - his looks, walking, speech, voice everything.

7) Madhavan in Aasai - As the army officer-turned-Ravana, Prakash Raj was irrepressible. The climax was top class act.

8) Deva in Vaali - As the deaf-and-dumb but immensely intelligent elder sibling, Ajit gave his best performance so far. Bone-chilling performance.

9) Annachi in Chatriyan - Thilagan as the old fox taught a new lesson in villainry by not going overboard. "Chatriyan-ku saavu illennu sollittu ippo enn kaaladiyile eppadi sethu kidakkiraan paar.."

10) Veerabadran in Captain Prabhakaran - I think he was the first portrayal of Veerappan.. Dirty, ugly and deadly.. Mansur Ali Khan would have given Veerappan a real run for money. His scream "Pirabhakara" is still echoing in my ears..