Variety is the spice of life

 When i was watching Marmadesam, one thing that stuck me was the greenery in the city 3 decades back, especially the "Ambalakkaala kadigai" portions!! Either they had shot extensively in and around Besant Nagar or inside some studio with wide open spaces and gardens!! It is hard to believe that Chennai was this green a few years before. And the lack of traffic on roads that go deadly empty in late evenings or even those traffic that they show during day time is hardly comparable to what we witness on daily basis. Of course the population increase of both people and their vehicles has been humungous in the last 2 decades. But still, to realize that we had actually lived through such times as well, when things were green and traffic was lean is hard to believe!! One thing that stands out common and in fact has increased like everything else is the heat!! In most of the scenes the actors are drenched in sweat, especially the out door shots with huge blobs of sweat covering most ...

This is one movie, that has been raking in good reviews and great word of mouth publicity in recent times. After "Labber pandhu" this is the next movie that has gained immensely true genuine appreciation by movie watchers and has become a blockbuster hit. When i started watching the movie, the initial few scenes made me wonder, if all of those comments on the movie were biased. But the moment the little boy steps in, the tone of the movie became clear.  The srilankan family of Sasikumar, Simran and their 2 boys, who illegally enter India (something to ponder in the age of Trump) get settled in a residential area in chennai through their relative Yogi babu, who strictly advises them not to indulge with neighbours for they may get caught by their tamil slang, which will reveal their nationality. The ease with which he arranges aadhar till voter id for them, makes one wonder, how easy it is to get identification proof's for illegals while the resident citizen struggle to get...

Whenever i encounter near miss situations, i often think of the timelines where that miss might've actually happened and how that stream would've progressed. A weirdly wicked thought of a wandering mind, but still considering all those multiverse, alternate realities, parallel world concepts abound, an alternate timeline triggering from a road not taken or an incident that happened or otherwise is something that i often think. What if is my favorite dream scenario where in i keep wondering what would've happened, had i stayed in the same school beyond my 5th standard. That school had sections only till primary and eventually i would've had to move out is a different story. What would've happened if i had not moved to CBSE but continued in state board? what if we had moved to a different house instead of the one where i spent most of my childhood till the time i went to college? what if i was not the elder sibling and had someone to look upto? would i've actually...

Couple of weeks back, towards the beginning of this month, we were at war with our notorious neighbor country. Ever since the attack on the tourists happened, it was an inevitable scenario that was waiting to happen. In this era, where every leader worth their salt, wants to shoot out not just from their mouth but also from their arsenal, there is no country in the world that wants to just buy missiles and other arms for deterrence alone, but to use them for any eventuality.  When the first news of our Airforce bombarding the terror targets came out, the next immediate thought was on the retaliation from their end. Last time when the surgical strike happened, despite the entire world being aware of the targets they had the guts to retaliate and even capture one of our pilots who by god's grace came back. Wars, especially with those who don't follow any rules, are never ending. When the rouge nation has openly declared that they would bleed India by waging a battle of thousand c...

 I've often mentioned about one mokka game that me and junior play. We play act stories with a gang of companions - namely, Teddy the bear, Elly the elephant, Mangu the monkey, Chotta bheem as himself and few other folks who make adhoc appearances as per junior's wish. The thing is, he has to compulsorily play at least one "episode" each night before going to sleep and as many times as i can fit in during the day time when he is free. He is so fond of these "episodes" as he has named them after watching all those cartoons that he has a photo of himself along with his gang members stuck on our bedroom door, which has been renamed as the episode gang room. Whomever hears us play act those "scenes" would be wondering for sure what is wrong with these guys, playing with toys after all these years!! At times i feel it has become too tedious and an addiction of an activity that junior should come out of but making him laugh is something that i love and d...

When i saw a few episodes from the earlier seasons it was nauseatingly gory and alarming instead of Dystopian. The Black Mirror series, i felt, was meant to scare people on how irresponsible use of technology will destroy the fabric of humanity. The latest season seems to be a much-diluted version when it comes to the disturbing reality of the future and has a lot of human emotion mixed in as the base theme. The very first episode made me wonder at how realistic the possibility of such a scenario happening and, in some cases, how it is already happening!! There is a happy couple, an engineer husband and a schoolteacher wife, who are trying hard to get pregnant and suddenly the wife is diagnosed with a fatal disease, which is albeit uncurable by present day medication. There is an up-and-coming startup who offers an experimental treatment at a limited cost which the husband readily agrees to. Initially, the monthly subscription for the treatment is a bit manageable, but the side effects...

 For those who grew up with Sun TV, Marmadesam would be synonymous with great story telling and riveting weekly thrill ritual. It was one series that played a great part in establishing Sun TV as not just a credible replacement but a very strong opponent to DoorDarshan, which later waned into oblivion with its proud spot as the defacto (being the only option) channel for the masses. While DD was known for identifying gem of talents, Sun TV cashed in on their creativity with unhindered freedom. Indira soundararajan, the author of the books on which the marmadesam series were made, became quite popular after the series. I've seen Vidaathu karuppu, Rudra veenai when i was abroad and was amazed at the production values and the kind of casting alongside brisk story telling , which has made those series as fresh today as the day they were made. Never had a chance to watch Ragasiyam and by luck stumbled on an Youtube channel, who are playing these series. Thanks to them for bringing these...

For a long time i've wondered how directors convince producers to fund their films. When someone shares their experiences during their interviews i used to find it unconvincing. How can some guy, especially if he is a first-time director, convince someone to spare crores of rupees to fund a story!! How convincing that guy had to be in effectively making the other person part with their hard-earned money!! And how gullible they sound if they are throwing good money after bad at some guy who had narrated a story, how much ever interesting it may be!! And to top it all, most of the time the producers borrow money at cutthroat interest rates to fund those projects, more often than not ending up with debt that has proved fatal in many a case!! And imagine the skill of those story tellers who doesn't just make you fund their dreams but also push you to the extent that you borrow money to pay you!!! And despite knowing that 9 out of ten movies fail miserably, there are still so many p...

This is not a fanboy post. For it requires a certain sense of knowledge and level to appreciate or even talk about this mad genius. Mad because, despite all those accolades and appreciations and awards, i still believe people are yet to grasp the full impact of what this man has done and been doing for several decades!! When the news of his symphony being performed live at London started pouring in, i had a dream that day. I am going somewhere and there is a huge crowd pushing each other to witness some one walking in front of them. That personality is none other than the Maestro himself. Possibly returning back after a successful rendition of the symphony. Our eyes meet for a moment and not knowing what to do i stand still for a moment with tears streaming across face. Incidentally i could see the same emotion on IR's face as well, possibly more of a relief having completed one more of his dreams and conquered yet another peak for others to follow. I had never been a die hard fan ...

Music has this special place in everyone's heart. Even the lyrics that you might not have heard for years, comes rushing to your mind the moment you think of it or hear the music associated with it. At times it becomes a ear worm that refuses to switch off, playing continuously in loop. Likewise are the singers i would say. Years back, when my friend mentioned about Mohammad Rafi, i was hearing his name for the very first time and was thinking of him as some foreign individual. It was several years later only i got accustomed to his mesmerizing talent and all those fantastic songs in his honey dipped voice. Kishor kumar got introduced as a comedian in movies and later only realized it was the same guy who sang all those master class songs. Even now, the moment i think of him, his performances in padosan or chalti ka naam gaadi comes to mind and then only his mellifluous voice. Ditto goes for SPB.  For long his name was a default one that i assumed to be present on every movie title...

 I started this book at around 3 AM one night, unable to sleep and wrapped it up by 8AM same day. At that time, I was still in the second part of Silent Parade which i had started almost a month back!!! Netflix seems to've bought all of Coben's novels and have made them into web series. The catch being that, most of them are set in Baltic or Eastern European region. So right from character names to the lead actors almost everything is European about it!! Naama enamo Americala poranthu valantha pola, somehow the American setup, seems to have a sense of familiarity about it that is strictly lacking in Europe, especially Baltic or Scandinavia, based stories. While the book was much easy a quick read, having been based on America, seems like the series by the same name, is set in Poland. For the first time, i get to see a Coben series, after reading the book. And going by the first episode, seems they've tweaked the story majorly!!! Adhey kadhai thaanannu lighta doubt coming. F...

There are many kinds of tortures in this wicked world. But the worst of all should be not knowing how the story ends in a book that you started but unable to finish it and yet not wanting to drop it without finishing!!! The story is so slow that at times, the words seem to simply hang in air, refusing to settle down into a sentence. To top it all, that this being a translated version with scores of characters having names that are as easy to remember as organic chemistry equations, doesn't make it any easier!! I began reading this book sometime early this year or was it a continuation from last year i don't remember. It picked pace when Thala mentioned it and i seemed to hit a dead end in the first part, that simply refused to move forward despite me doing hop skip and jump across several sections. The comfort of having seen "Galileo" series, which gave a face to Yukawa, Kishitani, Kusanagi and Utsumi, got lost pretty soon with the story dragging between two murders t...

Malayalam movie world has always been blessed with great looking actresses. But in recent years, they've churned out several good actors who are not just stars but fantastic performers as well. In the past decade or two, their lineup has been one of the best in the country which no other "wood" can boast off, right from Nivin Pauly to Fahadh, Dulqur, Kunchako, Tovino and in the recent years the list has only grown with the former lot holding steady. Basil thomas, Vineeth  srini are my latest favorite and looks like the general audience loves their movies as well. The more recent addition being that Gafoor boy who starred in Premalu and I am Kathalan. They seem to have the right set of actors for every age category with Mammooty and Mohan lal still going strong alongside Prithiviraj and co. And their way of storytelling has started to change as well, adapting to mainstream trends of other states. They were already master story tellers and melody still rules their songs, wi...

While watching Jurassic park with junior (for the umpteenth time) there was one guy who looked very familiar. If you've seen the same movie several dozen times, obviously some level of familiarity has to seep in. But this guy in particular, the one who steals the dino DNA/embryo thing from the lab, looked very familiar. It suddenly dawned on me from where and then only i realized he is from Seinfeld, where this guy plays a character called Newman, despite having seen that series several times i had never actually written about it!! Arthritis of the memory may be!! Many of my friends have told me that compared to Friends, they prefer Seinfeld better. While those who vouch for Friends are settled in India not one of the Seinfeld fans are here at the moment. Maybe it comes with the territory. The series is probably the most Americanist of series I've ever seen. It is openly racist in many situations, especially the one involving a Pakistani hotelier who gets deported back to his n...

Wifey has enrolled Junior in a group called Bala Muktas. That group is run by a dedicated bunch of ladies who teach slokas and stories on our Puranas to kids for free. They conduct bajans and special performances at their homes and whomever is graceful enough to give them space. It is such a positive group that kids relish going to their sessions. What started as an online class during Covid times is now a thriving weekly session attended by at least a dozen kids along with their parents. Last week they had arranged for a recital cum drama kind of a presentation on Ramayana (till Paaduka pattabishekam part), where in each kid was given a short speech on the character they play. They have to narrate their part as a character sketch and the filler portions where supported by the teachers and rest of the kids into making it a mini drama with small acts. Each kid aced their role and the way they spoke without stage fear, the eldest of the kid being from sixth standard with majority of the ...

 I have read that one of the easiest signs that you are getting of getting old is the taste in music. One will begin to appreciate the same set of songs, that they might not have cared much about in their youth, and more so, detest the current crop of songs. I saw it happen with my dad, when he used to term Ilayaraja songs as "dapaanguthu" and would appreciate only MSV. In our household music was mostly silent for we never ever had a fixed time to listen to cinema songs unless they were being played out aloud in streets or in some music channel. I began to listen to music and my sense for appreciating songs from different languages actually blossomed and died in Bangalore. I maintain almost the same playlist that was formed during those days and very rarely does a song manage to squeak in. That playlist was an amalgamation of likes from several people known to me, who used my hard drive as a common repository for storing songs. Whenever i travel to office or on a long distanc...

 Of all the OTT's Netflix is hell bent on infusing drug culture as the way of life in India i guess. Every other series they come up with, not just glorifies the narcotics and its effects, it makes the police who chase the criminals as bad or even more eviler than the sellers themselves, there by giving more credit to the actual antagonists, painting them as better amongst the two evils!!  This series is so downright blatant in its attempt to make drug peddling common place that, right from first scene, the leading lady or at least one of the quartet, secretly peddles some local drug for curing impotence amongst her customers who orders home made food from her. The famous dabbawalas whom every management firm wanted to study for their greater than six sigma level of performances should actually protest and put a case against the makers of this series for defaming their good name and their very line of business as something so murky!! What starts as a within the apartment activ...

 Today only watched the movie and wanted to post the review right away illaati saami kutham aaidum. When the trailer of this movie was launched, like several like minded people i had cursed it to the extent possible, especially the way at which the hero proudly proclaims he has 48 arrears!! On top of that he gets to romance two good looking heroine, smoking like no tomorrow and of course the mandatory liquor drinking scenes, all coupled together to form such a cringe opinion about the movie that it was hate at first sight (or view in YouTube terminology). If i keep repeating the same flaws that have become common place across all the movies, i felt like repeating myself and had stopped posting about movies for a while. But after seeing several positive reviews about this one, was really curious to test the extent of rot that had set in the minds of people, that they were praising such a rotten to the core movie. I was happily wrong. In fact, the movie preaches exactly what i wanted...

 Ever since they launched the New Education Policy, the current day scenario was ripening for its own sweet time, with every ambivalent opportunist politician, worth their salt, having a go at the poor masses, confusing them with their crazy concoctions of deceit and lies. With the three-language policy, the current government has opened a literal can of worms across the country with each political nut, turning the other into a zombie, with their crack pot ideologies, across the spectrum. Why should one read more languages? what is the use? why not? what is the harm? you are lying to bring in hindi. you are lying because you already have hindi in your institutions. These seems to be the standard quotes that you get..no..are forced to hear whenever, by mistake, you stumble across any news channel. The harsh reality is way different. If i take junior as example, the way they teach tamil in his school makes me cry in anguish. Despite my best of efforts to influence him into reading ta...

 Ever since i saw "The Intern" i've been smitten by Robert De Niro. Agreed that he had done several magnificent movies prior, but his performance in Intern made not just his character but the entire movie impressive. When i saw his name being mentioned in this drama series, that was the first cue to mark it on the watchlist. The initial few minutes into the series, chaos reign supreme, with America being under attack for yet another time in the web series world, this time with all their cyber systems, from phone to plane, getting hacked simultaneously. With no group claiming responsibility for the attack which lasted just a couple of minutes yet resulted in several train/plane crashes and loss of thousands of lives, entire country is panic stricken, with people on the verge of mass hysteria. If we take a step back and try to imagine the situation, it may not make that much of a sense in a country like India, even though with increased technological dependency we may nearl...

Recently Junior came up with a home work given by his class teacher on “one thing that he feels proud of”. The first question junior asked was, isn’t being proud bad? Didn’t’ Ravana and other asuras fell because of their pride? (Mind voicela overa Amar chitra katha vaangi kudutha ipdi than aagumnu thittikittay ) I, as usual, was stumped for an answer and was trying to cook up one on the fly. “Being proud thappu aana what the teacher means here is to share some good things that we do, which makes us happy, that others can also follow”. (shabba…ipdilaam history examla kooda suthi valaichu answer sonnathilla…ipovay kannakattuthay.innum enna kepaano nu while I was wondering, somehow that round about-ish answer settled further questions from him and he went to his mother for legal verification of the response provided by me. Ipdilaam naama padikarachay nammala ketruntha..hmm..as usual blank papera kuduthutu vandhiruka vendi thaan..for I was far too honest to lie and even for lying sake woul...

Not a day goes by without me missing my dad. With each passing day, I continue to wonder about the kind of childhood and care he gave us and the way he managed to hold the family together financially, at times thinking if it was all even real and possibly a scene out of matrix!! To put things in context, my PG course fees per semester was 9 times his salary at that time and he also had 4 mouths to feed at home alongside other expenses, including educational expenses of my sibling as well!! More than the money or the ability to earn it, I am amazed at the level of confidence he must’ve had in himself and the belief that he can pull it off!! Ditto goes for my mom who was a home maker and as I used to teasingly say then, which sounds emphatic now, that had she been the finance minister of India, we would’ve been a surplus economy several decades back! Somehow, they managed to not just balance out the expenses but also in ensuring what was “must” and be always available. It is not a surviv...

 I always wondered what would be the exact equivalent for the term "Rasika" in English. Connoisseur sounds more French than common English and kind of sounds too complicated, if not pompous. The tamil word sounds bit closer to heart and feels it is applicable to even laymen. Just like how you don't have to be an expert cook to enjoy a good food, it applies across all disciplines of art where in your ability to enjoy something good need not necessarily means you are completely aware of the nuances of that particular art or an expert to pass on any comment. Enjoyment, though is shown as synonym for "Rasanai" feels more generic. "Taste" was another option that google threw as possible equivalent which i felt was bit closer to what i was looking for. It might sound dumbed down a bit too much but my quest towards finding a good English equivalent for the word Rasanai ended there. I have often marveled at the devotion level explanation given by fans of respe...

There is a book by Sidney Sheldon called "Doomsday Conspiracy". It is a funky story that involves a worldwide hunt for a group of tourists who happened to witness a balloon crash, which turns out to be a UFO during investigation. The person who is sent to identify the witnesses stumbles upon one clue after another and unearths the whole list of people only to find them mysteriously dead, moments after he passed on information about them to their superiors. In the end it all turns out to be one global conspiracy of a cabal, who control every major decision on earth, when it comes to mooting money making schemes. Be it bypassing legal ways to promote their business or topple governments to push their agenda, voiding any agreement or treaty that comes in their way of exploiting earth's resources for their monetary gain. The aliens who are concerned about the status of earth, decides to make a visit to save the fate of the planet from the clutches of that evil cabal that stre...

Stumbled on this book while searching for "Galileo" web series. Whenever i read these english translated versions, I wish i could read the original Japanese version. Not that the translation is bad in this case. In fact, it feels too correct -  as if, Google translate has been run on every single line with UK accent as the base for translation. Some of the colloquial usages sound odd even if the book was originally written by an English native author. That apart, as compared to some of the other translated works like "the name of the game is kidnapping" where right from the title, it feels amateurish and filled with grammatical errors, Invisible Helix is definitely one of the better translated books of Keigo. Like his every other detective novel, this one is steeply into human relations and the strong family bonding. In fact, across all of the 4 books that i've read, the core plot involve homicide, where the cause of death would be as a result of retaliation for...

Sani pradosham is quite famous of all the regular pradoshams in shivan temples. Even during regular times, the number of people who turn up for this happens to be much more than the usual ones that fall on other days of the week. With Social media, whenever there is a random post claiming that particular one happens to be ultra special for some reason best known to Whatsapp university, you can easily make out its impact by the turn outs. The last one i attended, apparently was on such a timing it seems, for the entire stretch around the temple, all the 4 maada streets, where jam packed. Literally you've to walk over vehicles if you had to cross the road for there were hardly any space for pedestrians. And once inside the temple, it was even heavier with literal standing space being luxury. Engenthu thaan ivlo per thideernu varuvaangalo!! Many a times i've loathed in this very space the crowds that turn up at every nook andd corner worth visiting. Any hill station or water body ...

 Kudos to the curative team of Netflix, who rarely let the audience down when it comes to picking engaging story lines. Very rarely we get to see real life stories or book adaptations based on real life situations or events getting due justice on screen in India. Black Warrant ticks that mark in most aspects. It is a series based on few incidents on Tihar jail. Each of those incidents being landmark in their own and if i am not mistaken, it is adapted from the book written by the then jailor of Tihar. To me the surprise package of the list was "Billa and Ranga" - the title made famous by blockbuster movies starring Rajini. Apparently they both were gruesome killers who had killed a teenage boy and girl mercilessly and had been sentenced to death by hanging. The way the jail authorities go about preparing for hanging and how one of them ends up surviving the first attempt only for the action to be completed by force by the jailer team tells not just the human aspect behind tho...