Rock On!!! Simply Rocks!

After my allergic reactions to Kuselan, I decided to give the task of watching movies another chance and it seems that this time I selected wisely. It looks like Indian cinema is coming of age with refreshing attempts like ‘Rock On’ that tread the road not taken. With the emergence of off-beat films such as these we bid adieu to romantic heroes and swooning heroines, over dramatic parents, wedding songs and drama, insane action and violence and are introduced to characters that could easily be one of us fighting personal and professional turmoil the way we do.

The storyline is very similar to the much loved ‘Dil Chahta Hai’. The story of 4 friends bound by music and a rock band called ‘Magik’ who have a fall out, pursue their own professional lives whilst the dreams of music takes a back seat and reunite 10 years down the lane to chase their musical dreams and their final performance draws plenty of similarities between the 3 friends of DCH who pretty much do the same thing, with the exception of the rock band and music performances.

All performances are laudable, with Farhan Akthar leading the pack with his singing, acting, producing; the man is a storehouse of talent that has been unleashed upon the unsuspecting audiences. An excellent acting debut and possibly an award winning one! Arjun Rampal convincingly plays the role of the talented lead guitarist, a man of fewer words struggling between chasing his dreams and supporting his family. It seems that no director has extracted the best that this actor could offer until now, with the exception of a Farah Khan in ‘OSO’. Purab Kohli playing the ever cheerful ‘Killer Drummer’ makes drumming look like child’s play and Luke Kenny who plays the man on the keyboard completes the rest of this rock band. The men are aptly supported by the women Prachi Desai and Sahana Goswami, who play their strong and supporting wives, pulling off the most believable casting coup!

The music by Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy is rocking (for the lack of any better words that I could think of) and is definitely not like anything you might have heard from them in the past. ‘Indi Rock’ may make waves in a big way thanks to this musically gifted trio. Each of their songs powered by wonderful lyrics and performed by the untrained voice of Farhan Akthar, a change from the usual perfect and sweet voices we hear from Bollywood will make the audience sway and tap their feet. It also gives the movie an essence of being genuine. ‘Sinbad the Sailor’ a song after my own heart takes the cake. Abhishek Kapoor’s directorial attempt is a must watch for all music lovers and audiences who love good cinema. It is all about following your dreams!! Rock On!!

I've been tagged...

I have been tagged by Renu who hangs out on Anooboothi and its nice to know that there are folks out there who would like to know me better :-) I have made an honest attempt to unlock mysteries of my mind.... The rules for tagging are as follows:

RULE #1 People who have been tagged must write their answers on their blogs and replace any question that they dislike with a new question formulated by themselves.
RULE #2 Tag 6 people to do this quiz and those who are tagged cannot refuse. These people must state who they were tagged by and cannot tag the person whom they were tagged by continue this game by sending it to other people.

1. If your lover betrayed you, what will your reaction be?
I would ask him to take a hike, then I'd cry, have a tub of ice cream and thrash him on my blog!

2. If you can have a dream come true, what would it be
Ummmm......too many to list at this point of time!

3. Whose butt would you like to kick?
The annoying room mate, the annoying ministers and annoying relatives! That was easy....

4. What would do with a billion dollars?
Resign, buy a home at park avenue and invest some money in savings and plan the rest of my life!

5. Will you fall in love with your best friend?
I could.......though not sure if it would work the other way around!

6. Which is more blessed: loving someone or being loved by someone?
I guess the later is more important for a good life so being loved by someone.


7. How long do you intend to wait for someone you love?
Until the idiot turns up! Then I'd give him a piece of my mind!

8. If the person you secretly like is attached, what will you do?
Sulk and be annoyed with him!

9. If you could root for one social cause, what would it be?
Clean and less polluted environment and SPCA

10. What takes you down the fastest?
Hypocrites and liars.

11. Where do you see yourself in 10 years time?
I don't know where I see myself tomorrow so no way do I know what I'd be 10 years down the lane!

12. What’s your fear?
Spiders, lizards, cockroaches, manipulators and liars.

13. What kind of person do you think the person who tagged you is?
I think Renu is an extremely balanced person and very analytical about things that happen around her. Definitely a sweet soul, I guess.

14. Which places would you like to visit before you die?
Italy, Greece and Egypt!!! I would love to extensively tour these places!

15. What did you originally want to do in life?
I wanted to be an architect, but ended up in the great IT industry. However, no regrets...

16. What category of people do you hate the most?
Gossip mongers everywhere and those who try to force their opinions on me.

17. Would you forgive and forget someone no matter how horrible a thing he has done?
I don't think I can do either - If the pain is too much the other party is going down!

18. Do you prefer being single or in a relationship?
A balance of both - being in a good relationship with some personal space

List of 6 people to tag: Sorry I still don't know too many people here and the ones I do know have either tagged me or have been tagged. So I am going to have to pass

The coffee break - Electronics and Furniture for sale!

Since the most popular topic of conversation at the IT office cafeterias is the ongoing Financial crisis, I couldn't resist bringing to you some of the light hearted moments of such conversations. I tried to go one step forward and make a cartoon out of it. These crazy statments are represented from the view point of the coffee cups at the cafeteria - What if they could react over cracks made by people like us? Here is my first one.Since my handwriting may not be legible to all, I have just documented the human dialogues below as well.Thanks to my colleague who cracked this joke which had most of either in splits or emabarassed because we fell into the trap and ended up looking silly!Hope you enjoy it.

Man - Hey! U want to buy a HD Flat screen TV - 52" at 80% discount?

Woman - Sure!!I'm in! Where can I get it?

Man - Lehmans!! If you go immediately u can get bargain rates! Ha Ha!! All office equipment and furniture is on sale! Closing Sale...

Woman - Umm....#$***

[In case you were wondering most large multinationals have huge flat screens for video conferencing and other presentations].

A Random SOS call....

It’s a roller coaster week – Right now, the world of finance seems to enjoy nothing better than crashing in all directions. The panic is evident among folks from all walks of lives and I bet it is a tedious week for the man (or woman as the case may be) up there who sees and manages it all. A few examples of requests he /she have probably been receiving:

1. The blue collar worker: Dear God let nothing happen to my bank, my money is in there!
2. Employee at the bank: Dear God let nothing happen to this bank, I work here plus my money is in here….somewhere!
3. The board of the bank: Dear God let the feds approve our loan request to bail us out so that we don’t get pelted by our employees and the blue collar workers or anyone else!
4. Employees of an IT company: Dear God we hope that this crisis wave doesn’t hit any of our prospects. We need the projects so badly! Also our money is lying in some of those banks………..
5. Other positive thinkers: Dear God, let my mortgage rates go down, so that my installment years could be reduced from 10 to 9 and our money is in some of those banks!!!

In the midst of these panic attacks, I panicked because I got locked out of my personal email account! Anyone who had chanced to see me this morning, trying to get my email account to open, ignoring my morning cup of tea that lay forgotten on my window sill would have been in splits! I had no money in there though…Priorities you guys! I made it to work, and dragged my way to the cafeteria for my espresso shot (I had forgotten the tea, remember?) and fellow colleagues were animatedly discussing what else but the financial crisis! Most memorable dig at the entire issue was this one liner: What would you prefer: Being stranded in the midst of Ike the hurricane or the East coast financial crisis?

Our time was spent worrying and debating this issue and its possible effects on the economy of a country and in turn its people. At the end of the discussions and with the Feds, republicans and democrats still continuing to fight it out in the Promised Land, we had to put in few extra hours at work to make up for the debate time. I concluded that the solution to this issue is not something we can churn out, so why bother panicking about something that’s out of our hands. Panicking about locked personal email accounts seems more normal! I believe that the money is going to be there because the Promised Land is one power hungry nation and pigs will fly before they let anything untoward happen. As I try to stay afloat amidst these crazy times, my lips involuntarily utter the words: Dear God, please help me survive!

What comes next?

The latest buzz on the western hemisphere of the world – High Heels for babies!!!! Yes that’s right you can now dress up your infant daughter in pretty clothes with matching high heels to boot. Isn’t that cute?? All the other babies and their mommas are going to be so jealous. In the very near future, this can also be matched up with an amazing cosmetic line with baby foundation, blush and mascara that would come with their very own matching baby eye shadows, false eye lashes for the mascara and the blush brush!

The lines of shoes, aptly titles ‘Heelarious’, a brain child of two Seattle based mothers (yes! Mothers) tops the most ridiculous ideas to hit the worlds this century, “Cheese Masala dosa” and “Sambhar flavored Maggi” being some others (My apologies to readers who may love either of these) I wonder what’s next! A new exercise routine for babies considered too chubby to fit into the new line of happening baby fashions? Or low fat baby food! It is one thing for adults to be conscious about the way they look but why force the idea of false beauty on babies whose mode of transportation is being pushed around in a pram. Do we want ‘generation next’ to grow up with ideas that beauty is skin deep? Whatever happened to the age of innocence? It seems that some folks are in a hurry for their kids to grow up much faster than they ideally should. This can be the only explanation for forcing adult accessories on a kid that’s still in a crib. My take on ‘Heelarious’ is that this is definitely hilarious and I don’t mean that in a nice way.

If you are a parent who is interested in making emergency visits to the hospital for broken bones, you should get a pair for your baby to match her designer diapers who is probably wondering how she got out into this crazy world in the first place and still trying to understand the identity of the mysterious lady constantly feeding and changing her and now fitting her for the new heels! I would like to leave you with these thoughts: Shouldn’t the parents of the world focus on how they can actually help their kids by providing them with good education, help them build character, provide for them a safe and healthy environment and other important issues rather than making a choice between a leopard and a zebra print heel shoe for their babies?

The original news article can be read at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26673132/

My ode to Coffee

The only time I remember venturing into poetry was way back in primary school. My mom claims I used to churn out crazy poems back then. (Well my mom loves anything that I do and thinks it is cute! In all fairness, all moms are that way :-) ) Anyways I was so caffeinated after a cup of coffee this evening that I started to sing its praises right away! I have been ripping apart some topics recently so I had to write something crazy to make up! This was my attempt. Have a good laugh.

As I get out of bed each morning, sleepy and lazy to move
The thought of you makes me groove,
I miss those days when you used to waft around the house
Jump starting my day as I clicked my mouse,
You have your origin around the globe
India, Ethiopia, Columbia, Guatemala, Mexico and Verona,
The world loves you by the many forms you take
Plain, Espressos, Cappuccinos, lattes, tropical ice-bergs and more,
Many turn to you for their energy shots
Justifying why most folks make you by the pots,
Your enemies say you are bad
But that is just too sad,
They don't know you
Like your friends do,
O coffee wherever I go
I find my way to your abode,
You help me chase my blues away
I can’t survive without you for a day.

Good God No!

I did not want to do a piece ripping something apart , but it seems that our society keeps feeding us more craziness each day. The latest buzz to make headlines indicating an increased level of insanity among the residents of Tamil Nadu is about a new temple that is going to spring up in the district of Tirunelveli. The special aura about this temple is that the Goddess captured in stone is mortal and would not have the capability to grant any wishes. Confused?? If you have not heard, an avid fan is constructing a temple for the siren Namitha. Apparently the lady, popular for her ever shrinking outfits on her big frame rather than her acting abilities is so thrilled that she is the only actress to have a temple built in her honor apart from the late 80’s and 90’s screen goddess Kushboo. Contrastingly Kushboo was also hailed for her acting abilities. Incidentally Kushboo’s temple was demolished by her fans who had built it post her comments on HIV protection for women; just making it clear how time, money and resources are frittered away in our state on projects that generate no profit. I am just glad it is not the tax payer’s money that is being used for this useless project; or is it?

As a state, we could do with better roads, storm drains, a clean environment, lower levels of noise and air pollution, better garbage disposal etc., Rather our fellow public prefer to splash it on building temples for an actress who has not done anything of great importance even as far as her acting roles go till date. Have our people gone insane? What would be the advantage of investing time, space and people on its construction? How many people would visit this temple and what would be the purpose behind their visit? Normal people go to the temple to pray; would those visiting this temple simply stand there and drool?? This is definitely something that the public would outgrow making its presence questionable.

These questions and more storm through my mind as I wonder about the gradual decadence of a state known for its cultural values. This temple is an indication of how women are still treated in certain strata of the society – as objects of glamour with pea sized brains. We should be setting better examples for future generations in terms of treating people with dignity and respect and churning out leaders and statesmen with good character. If we do have money to splurge on ideas like these why don’t we see any improvement in the lifestyles of our fellow state inhabitants? If only Namitha could advise her fans to put this money to better use rather than making statements on how she wouldn’t mind more temples being built for her, the rest of us may have some respect for her. Your thoughts are appreciated.

O Krishna – This Kuselan has caused a headache!

Place: I am not sure (My guess is Dwaraka)
Time: A few centuries ago

Name of Act: Lord Krishna and Kuselan - A great friendship.

Main Act: Kuselan a childhood friend and devotee of Lord Krishna lived in poverty and hunger. Taking his wife’s advice, armed with a pack of rice flakes wondering if the Lord would recognize him he proceeded to visit the Lord to request his help to tide over his bad times. Lord Krishna recognized and embraced Kuselan and treated him as an honored guest. He was curious about the pack under Kuselan's arms, the rice flakes which Kuselan had been embarrassed to present to the Lord as it was poor man’s food and not really fit for a king. When the Lord came to know, he chided Kuselan and ate the rice flakes with immense happiness and excitement.

When Kuselan returned to his village, he was surprised to find that his old hut had been transformed into a palatial bungalow!! He had been blessed by the lord and would no longer live a life of poverty and hunger but a life of great comfort and luxury.

Verdict: Touching story of true and lasting friendship.

Cut to present day

Place: Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Time: 2008! A lazy week end at the theatres

Name of Act: Kuselan - The movie guest starring Superstart Rajnikanth. Also starring others.

Main Act: The lifestyle of the village barber Balu borders on poverty. He is barely able to support his wife who breaks plenty of cooking pots and kids and is behind on their school fees payment. His business is being stolen by a fellow barber who used to apprentice under Balu. A movie crew visits the village for a shooting and the hero of the movie is a current day superstar Ashok who also happens to be Balu’s childhood friend. The village folk are on Balu’s case, so that they can visit Ashok, snap pictures with him or invite him to preside over their local school functions. Balu hesitates as he is not sure if his friend would recognize him as he still belongs to the lowest strata of the society and Ashok is a larger than life star. Life becomes difficult for Balu as everyone accuse him of lying about his friendship with Ashok. But the clouds of humiliation clears away when Ashok recognizes his friend at the school function and embraces his old friend and returns with him to Balu’s house.

My comments: This movie is a classic example of one that has comedy tracks for the sake of it! None of those tracks managed to make me smile and I found myself mostly squirming out of disgust! Vadivelu needs a serious change of image and dialogue delivery style! The whole idea of an idiot with a greedy and glamorous wife with him being a peeping tom to his fitness conscious wife or an actress changing was despicable! Generating business by drugging and stealing from prospective clients was too much to digest. It just wasn’t funny! To add to this misery, there was another gang of actors who call themselves comedians headed by Livingston and the result – more squirms and an increased headache!

The character of the real / reel life heroine – Nayanthara! Agreed she worked hard on obtaining that body but the lady needs a designer! At this point I wonder how this movie was awarded a ‘U’ certificate. I thought the censor board would do their job in ensuring that close up shots of her ‘wah-wah’s’ are chopped from the film! I pity the parents who had to have ‘the talk’ with their kids after they had watched this ‘family’ movie. And to think that Nayan has stooped so low – literally and figuratively; she is definitely no Kajol when it comes to prancing around in the rain with those ultra mini white skirts and transparent white tie shirts and she could definitely do with a refresher course in basics of acting.

Now for the redeeming characteristics of the movie, the main characters of this movie Pasupathi and Meena did what everyone should have done: justice to their roles of a quiet barber with amazingly high moraility levels and his supportive wife. Superstar Rajini looked good, (however he needs to consider a change in lipstick color, deep maroon doesn’t flatter him) played himself and did it well but he could not carry this disaster on his shoulders. There were two songs that were melodious and other than these factors this was one terrible movie!

Verdict: Does Kollywood churn out quality cinema these days?? Did the producers and directors of this movie think that the public would watch this movie because of the Superstar factor and a leading lady who was willing to drop more than what the pubic bargained for? It seems that they were riding solely on this factor for the film’s success. Well, we are not crazy and that is all I have to say apart from the following! I didn’t want to do another piece featuring the superstar (I like him!) but then the makers of this movie have forced me. On that note, to all parties involved in this project, try watching the movies that you make and check if it is entertaining before you release it. Ever heard the concept of a test audience?? If not look it up! What could have been a wonderful movie on friendship, inspired from the touching story of friendship shared between Lord Krishna and childhood friend Kuselan just turned out to be a big dud because you take us, the paying masses for granted. Our brains function and analyze more than your imagination and we will definitely think twice before putting our wallets on a diet to watch movies from this team in the future.

'Manna' - This stunt aint no good

Recently I read an article on MSN India about how our Superstar was miffed with music maestro ARR because ARR had requested the superstar’s daughter to meet him at 4.00AM in the morning at his recording studio to discuss the music of the movie ‘Sultan’. (Click here to read the original article: http://entertainment.in.msn.com/southcinema/article.aspx?cp-documentid=1656746). What I failed to understand is the factor that caused the miff and why this made the news in the first place. Working women all over India, with non-celebrity parents, never caused any issues because we were asked to work late or through out the night with a bunch of guys or in solitude. Our parents did not raise their eyebrows at our bosses and management because they understood that the whole team was working and that late hours, early morning conference calls crossed our professional lives more than we would like it to.

If ARR works through the night on his music and asked its producer / director to meet him at his studio to discuss and finalize the same I fail to understand what the hoopla is about? I am sure it was pretty evident that he was not inviting her for a secret rendezvous! If it was it would have been headlines by now!! ARR, the man known for less talk and his quiet demeanor being the better man ignored this jibe and finished his job like he was supposed to. Decency score: ARR - 1, Superstar - 0

To our beloved style 'mannan' – Please do not make headlines about such trivial things that happen in your line of work when it could cause more damage for others especially when it is not their fault. It is just the way they work. We love you for the kind of values you promote, you stylish punch dialogues and much more. Please remember that there are thousands of parents in the state and in India who are miffed and worried sick about the fact that their daughters need to work late often. They take it with a grain of salt because a part of getting the job well done is also being accommodating with the members of the team and this is even more paramount when you are the commanding the ship as in the case of your daughter. We would love for you to be in the news for your movies, your political and philosophical views, your charity works and other great things that would make your star shine brighter than before.