Variety is the spice of life

The quest for a desi superhero movie has been as old as the mountains. Our reel life matinee idols used to double up as super humans, with their power to punch and smash so much that, apart from spitting web, they mimicked all the super powers exhibited by Marvel/DC characters. There were failed attempts to open a franchise of a desi superhero, but even for Krrish, possibly the only series to make money from this genre, they had to “borrow” heavily from X-Men and other Hollywood films to stay relevant at the BO. Shaktimaan, the tv series, “leveraged” heavily from Superman and Harry Potter, mixing it into religious and cultural aspects, reviving and probably resuscitated Mukesh Khanna’s otherwise forgotten glory of B.R.Chopra’s Bheeshma. In tamil, the writers and directors were very clear. As long as they had MGR, Rajini and the rest of aspiring actors, happening to don their mantle, seeking their place in CM office, there is no need to even experiment this theme. Mugamoodi, was a notab...

I think Indian movie makers are slowly picking the nuances of making content for OTT. All this while, either they were preparing content that had too less of a storyline to be stretched across multiple episodes or too long a story to be crammed into an half hour slot. With Aranyak, I think the wheel has truly turned the corner. Editing for webseries would be a new skill for our folks I guess and this series truly has some good cuts. Every episode bringing in something new and the thrill element maintained, all the while moving the narrative towards the case investigation, despite so many sub plots blooming everywhere. The story revolves around a murder investigation of a teenage girl, crime scene happening to be the hotel of the local MP and modus operandi reflecting handiwork of a serial killer, feared as the “leopard man”. There are several sub plots primary of which being that of the female lead, the lady cop, who is about to take an yearlong sabbatical to spend time with her family...

If 2020 was bad worldwide, 2021 screwed up my personal world royally. Health-wise it was probably the worst ever year we ever had as a family where in every single one of us were having some ailment or other for better part of the year with junior being the latest addition. Hope 2022 is better in this aspect. Professionally as well, it was very stressful and a dissatisfactory one. That apart, it was a dull and boring year on every front that was slightly interesting in 2020. All the charm associated with OTT became commonplace and possibly when the offices and schools open up next year, we may need a definite readjustment to revert back to lifestyle 2 years back. That may include some yearly plans subscribed across these OTT’s. There could be a big churn in movie industry which has slowly started adapting to the OTT way of life vs theaters. Culturally, OTT platform has brought the entire world to the living room of people and artists nationwide are becoming familiar faces which will op...

There are certain books, that paint such a vivid mental image while reading, which makes you wonder when you will see them on screen. Especially those on the thriller genre kind, with fast paced action. Dan Brown is a past master in this game, who had successfully managed to convert the fame of his books into movie scripts. The movie version may not have set the box office on fire but still he has proud claim of his works being represented in multiple medium. Same goes for Chetan Bhagat who has managed to weave the scripts that he sells to his Bollywood producers onto his novels, so that it saves him double work, but gets him double pay!! I’ve often posted about the Agatha christie novels I’ve read in recent past but never once I recollect to have mentioned about them being made into movies. May be subconsciously I found the subject to be a bit slow for today’s movie audience or for its dialogue intensive nature, neither of which will help in setting up a pulsating movie watching exper...

I recently came across a Linkedin profile of a person who was my UG Batchmate. He had tagged himself as an App Guru and others, that sounded borderline pompous but definitely not short on confidence. For a second I had a recollection of who he was during the college days and judged his status message. He was never shy of calling out his achievements even then and it was not a surprise to see him retaining that belief decades after as well. I’ven’t much followed his career and had little clue from his career history as to how it related to his tags. I then realized, I’ve been making prejudiced judgements based on how he was several years back as to who he is at present!!  The realization struck even more severe when i applied how others from my own past will be perceiving me based on what I am now as against how I was then!! Rather than blaming myself for such thoughts, wanted to make it as a generalized thought process and hence the post 😊  I can take cushion from the fact th...

I have been fascinated by this series for several years now, revisiting the experience of reading the previous book – Prelude to Foundation, that I read almost 20 years back. The concept of a mathematician on a quest across galaxies, searching for a sample size for his statistical experiment of predicting the future of the Galactic empire and how he eventually decides the very planet where he resides to be the perfect case study was too much of a fantastic premise. I used to relate India as how Hari Sheldon, the mathematician, relates Trantor as the perfect sample set, for gauging this world. For this country has all the natural wealth, landscapes, resources, almost 14% of world population, civilization stretching across several millennia, cultural richness, you name it, you will find it here. Just like how Hari can predict the fall or future of the Galactic empire, a reasonable statistic for this world can be derived from the performance of this great country.  Foundation refers t...

For the first ever time a trailer gets review post!!! There is an upcoming movie scheduled for Christmas eve release, on 1983 world up win. It has been in making for a while with much hype around who will be playing Kapil’s devils. Now that the trailer is out, it is no wonder that the expectation around the movie has hit the ceiling. It is possibly one of the best made trailers, with the actual events contributing to its content naturally. I belong to that tribe of movie watchers who get goosebumps on just seeing India flag being waved in slow motion, with or without thumping BGM. More so if it is accompanied by a sporting event where India is shown victorious. All the more top of the world stuff if it happens to be on cricket. This one trailer has all these 3 elements along with situations that happened in real. If at all it is even slightly and remotely engaging of a screenplay, this movie would be the biggest blockbuster to come out of India.  All things apart – Kapil Dev. Proba...

Last week happen to see 2 movies based on time loop concept. It is a first for tamil movie world that a concept that is primarily seen only in Hollywood movies is being tried here. And that too 2 movies back to back on same concept. Possibly, I guess, the first one that got released, “Jango”, could’ve been the pioneer who thought of this concept while “Maanaadu” which followed immediately could’ve been an inspired from Jango’s team or maybe the storyline got leaked out. Between the two, Maanadu is hands on winner, both in terms of making, casting, acting, reach, publicity and also on BO collection. The similarity between the 2 movies, doesn’t just end with the theme. In both the movies, the hero tries to save someone from getting killed. While it happens to be the wife character in Jango, it is the state CM in Maanadu. In both movies, the villain encounters same time loop scenario as the hero, stuck on the same day. Whereas the reason for the linkage is explained cleanly on the former,...

This book is probably the better of all his previous efforts is the statement with which the review begins and possibly the biggest by number of pages as well. Chetan Bhagat is probably the most vilified author in the country, whose critics have already ensured he is the most read English novelist in the country, with over a million copies in circulation. The nation is divided on whether he is a good author or not, but numbers don’t lie. Many of his novels have been scripted into biggest blockbusters hindi cinema has ever seen, notable of the lot being “3 idiots”. His works may not set the literary Thames on fire, but sure are unrivalled time pass reads. Right from the title, he has a template which he repeats to successful effect in most of his novels. The title will always carry some numeral, whether it is forced or even remotely related to the story. There will be a “fatso” guy so fond of eating and Punjabi parents. South Indians will mostly be negative or prudes at best and somehow...

The two acronyms that govern almost every modern relationship. Fear of Losing out and Fear of missing out. I was introduced to these as the millennial lingo by our CHRO just to point out how she is tune with times and how much we weren’t. Showing off apart, it made me realize how true these words, depict the present day scenario of relationships. When communication tools were luxury, letters did the deed, where people have to actually take effort in pouring their heart out, but well within the confines of the stickable area. Those confident enough of their content, used post cards. But neither were easy on the hand and depended a lot on various parameters, handwriting being the least of them. With landline phones, it got extended a bit and with mobile phones, the virtual presence got as assured as the signal strength offered by the provider. With more and more tools and means that encouraged closer and continuous communicable means, the more are the fear of missing out. People have bec...

For a short while, didn’t had much of book recommendations or shares happening and began to re-read some of the old ones. Dan Brown is one author, I often go back to in case of boredom. I may have strong opinion on his content, especially the way he leads people on wild goose chase, full of thrilling reveals, only to end it as a damp squib, but one thrill of a ride nevertheless. When I first read Inferno, I felt so bored that it didn’t feel like typical Dan Brown book at all. After hop-skip-jumping across pages during the first try, it felt ghost written at best. When you are awake at 3 AM in the morning, with limited choice of reading material, Inferno didn’t feel half as bad.  As mentioned on the review before, the book definitely competes with Travel advisor – Venice, Florence. It details about galleries and locations across those two cities like never before and in detail that wouldn’t even be found on history books. Brown must have spent quite a lot of time across these two ci...

Finally the series comes to an end which started with “7 deadly wonders”. Like Chetan Baghat novels, which always have a numeral in its name, the Jack West Jr series of Reilley make it easier for the readers with the chronological arrangement by their naming conventions. I actually started with “Six sacred stones” the second book of the series and has been following this series since last 10 plus years. On the way to Mumbai from Chennai had stumbled upon this book on a HigginBothams and the 2.5 hour flight went faster than usual with its company. I was given the “Five great warriors” as a birthday gift by G3 (I guess), a blog mate who is no longer in the blogspace. The entire series can actually split into 2 quests with 7th, 6th and 5th of the series dedicated to saving the earth from Dark sun, while from 4th onwards till the last one, it is about saving the entire universe from an Omega event, by activating a machine, spread across several cities and the entire world. Almost 90% of ea...

I’ve typed several versions of this post and had deleted every single one of them without posting. At times, pouring out the thought on a note and deleting them after re-reading them, gives a cathartic effect. It feels like shouting into the wind that no one else can hear. But this space being my virtual residence for almost 17 years now(!!!) has tracked many of my of my pheelings and mokkais in its unfurnished naked form of truth. Unknowingly I’ve created a repository of what I underwent enough to worth a mention as a blog post in the past to have a measure of how I am today. Sadly I couldn’t find much of a change in my thought process, but at least I’ve the data points to crib and maybe improve as well. I am still scared of the unknowns and the more scarier the scenario the more angrier I get, often lashing out at unassuming coparticipants in my life, who used to have no clue on my mood, but off late have got accustomed to the patterns.  I still struggle in accepting the fact, th...

Other than cop/crime thrillers and family sitcoms, the most favorite theme of any channel producing drama series, would be medical field. There are several super hit series on this field and it continues to provide never ending stream of premises and situations for script writers to explore. Having binge watched a couple of them, my favorite of the lot would be House M.D, for its unique and probably the first ever medical series, to feature diagnosis of a disease like a crime thriller. The entire setup resembled a sherlockian mystery and it was clarified by David Shore, the creator as well, of his love for that fictional detective. Even the names of the characters carried strong relativity with House for Holmes, James for John, the erratic, eccentric, brilliant, arrogant but golden hearted nature of House and so on. Grey’s Anatomy was another such series based on doctors and hospital. But the similarity ends right there, with this one focusing more on human emotions, love and probably ...

Netflix, true to its logo is dark black and blood red in its content curation as well. Most of the hit drama series of Netflix have all been dystopian, exploring darkest nature of human mind bent so much that it raises not just fear but also slight wonderment on how different it works. If not for the wonderment quotient, which one may feel ashamed to admit, these series would’nt be such blockbuster hits. The biggest revolution or change that such streaming platforms have made is that the entire world or wherever they are allowed to stream, now has a common viewing platform, where irrespective of the culture and background, stories can be told and understood. Subtitling is going to be such a roaring business in coming days. Learning multiple languages and understanding the essence of the dialogues written, will definitely pave way for language specialists. Trusting the texts as much as the contextual meaning derived, Money Heist (Spanish) made such a big splash in India that for its rec...

I’ve mentioned about “Tamizhachi Aandal” series that is presently coming on “Kumudham” (tamil weekly magazine) a couple of times in this space. It is possibly one of the best written devotional series I’ve ever read. It doesn’t fully go overboard on philosophical stuff and is very smartly written, with clever intermixes of “paasurams” by the aazhvaars, the history of the place where it was sung, the story of the deity on whom it was written, mixing it with the main story of Aandal. The entire episode is narrated by Periyaazhavar, Aandal’s dad at his house, along with the company of their neighbours and friends. The story has grown manifold in dimension, having started at the time when Vairamuthu (cinema lyricist) defamed Aandal’s birth and fame. Every week, the story covers one or other aazhvaar and their interactions with god, narrated as a story, worth made into multiple movies. As I mentioned, the narration is strictly simple. There are no over the top philosophical teachings, with ...

Expectations – that is the magic formula for box office I guess. The hype that people create about heroes, heroines, directors, comedians and possibly some other technicians as well, makes the movie and many a times break it as well. But those that are seen without any expectation, often have a higher probability of success. Agreed that it may not pull crowds from day one show one and it may not reap big time money on the first day itself. Such movies often have the cushion of being low budget and hence can sustain for a lengthier period to recover the money invested. The only strength or USP of such movies are their content and presentation. It need not require a multi crore budget or high profile cast but decent presentation and likeable chemistry between the characters. Edhukuda ivlo peria buildup!! Pathu line aaidchu innum enna review nu sollavay illangaravangaluku…adhaan matteray. It is a simple story and I actually wasn’t much interested in watching it for the reviews posted prio...

This series is a light hearted take on a theme popularized by “Angadi theru” movie. As the name says, its about events happening on a supermarket on the lines of Walmart, the day to day activities of the staff and their personal life. Its heavy duty communist/socialist message, surviving for six seasons, makes one wonder about the present leaning of the American public. The USP of the show is, it never takes itself seriously enough. The topics of minimum wage, racism, corporate exploitation, over worked staff, stereotyping, every single one of them have been spoken about in a light hearted way and never preached as a solution. It is just dealt with it as how it is being dealt with in daily life. The minimum wage call which leads to unionism and how it is underplayed to the point of being forgotten actually shows at its heart America will always be the capitalist dream land and in a way it works for the show as well, for the lead character herself, who is also the producer, turns a self...

 Kolai kolaiya munthirikka -6 “Dei Ram..andha police kitta Royapettah kannamapetta nu edho alandhu vittiye.. nejamavay ..ipo naama enga thaan poganum” asks Anil “Iru google map la paathu solren..moodhevi..enga porathunu theriyama thaana nanay muzhichitruken…idea!!…ipdi panna enna..pesama koovathula poatutu poidalama” wonders Ram Sivaraman, tied securely inside the veshti, starts sweating. “Adapavingala…nejamavay enakku sangu oothiduvanga polarukkay”  Unable to control himself he shouts “Noooo”  “Aaah…enda ipdi kathhara..idea pudikalaina medhuva sollu..kaadhu goiiinnn guthu” shouted Ram “Dei..neeye kolaiya pannitu…neeye idea kuduthutu..neeye No nu sollitu en mela enda pazhiya podra”argues Anil “Innoru thadava naan thaan kola pannen sonna..nejamavay kolagaran aaiduven..bayathula ekkuthappa ularikitay irukka nee” “Dei Ram…seekrama edhavadhu plan pannuda..maatinom sethom” While they were wondering, suddenly a scooter comes out of nowhere and crashes into them, sending the “bo...

The decade beginning mid sixties till late 70’s is probably the most favorite of many, cutting across different fields, be it technology, art, music, politics or sports. Something happened in that time where in there was a tremendous spurt of activities across the globe, which has pushed the human race to the point where we are now. Some call it great leap forward and considering the thought process maturity, the critical inventions and discoveries that happened, it is no less named. May be the devastating war which just got concluded and the great depression that befell the world as an aftermath, played a catalyst. But there had been wars before and there were even severe depression cycles, be it financial or otherwise. None had resulted in such a rich explosion of events, that has virtually sealed the top spot for humans on the eco cycle pyramid.  One can find so many reference points as to why the 70’s happen to be the golden age of mankind across the arts and crafts that give u...

I often used to hear this term or come across it on editorials and political discussions, without fully understanding the context or reason. When I stumbled on this movie, was pleasantly surprised by the content and it was quite engaging as well. Pity that I saw the watered down version as the original version of the 60’s which was a direct adaptation of the novel, seemed to have more spine than the later version that I saw, where in the makers had bent over backwards in ensuring that the Chinese market for the movie is not affected by the original storyline nor to antagonize the sleeping dragon over nothing. The theme being so unique and fresh that even on a dumbed down remake it felt fresh. Wonder how much hysterical it would’ve been and the effect it might have had on the audience then, polarized by cold war. The story deals with brainwashing of an US soldier, who happens to come from an influential political family, headed by a headstrong ambitious woman, who is hell bent on making...

“Was it him?”  The thought rang out loud on his mind, ever since he saw that guy on supermarket. Some one once wisely said that, if you feel Déjà vu of having met someone quite frequently, it means you are old!! When that someone happens to be your grand-daughter, she can never be wrong!! Off late I seem to run into people who give me similar looks, confused whether we know each other or the creepy version of “why this guy is staring at me?!!!”. When he responded back with same quizzical look, it was my turn to look down, doing an imaginary search for an unknown lost item. “Are you…are you Ram by any chance?”  “er..yes. And you are..Anil right?” “ENDAAA DEI……Ethana naal aachu unna paathu” the same baritone voice with mild yet noticeable tremors, caught the attention of all shoppers on aisle 3. “You are Ram from Viveka right?” he asked silently “Idha mudhalla ketutu apruma kathirukanum…ipo illa sonna enna pannuva”  “Nee theravay maataa nu appovay theriyum…epdida irukka? In...

I often used to wonder how my dad managed to go through things that he would’ve during his mid-life. I have specifically avoided the word crisis, not that he never encountered one, but quite sure he never made any of us at home, realize about it. He was adamantly strong person, physically and mentally, yet retained his childlike innocence at heart. Considering that he had to feed 4 mouths in his meagre salary and ensure that top notch education are also made available for his kids, slogging through an organization that rarely recognized him, I never remember him cribbing majorly about his office situation. I do remember on and off cases when he actually felt bad about the lack of recognition for his efforts or how they take things for granted when a task is given to him, but even in such scenarios he would be telling that with pride how he solved that situation for his organization more and less on how they don’t realize his worth. He served in the same company for more than 3 decades ...

 I m on a vintage drama series binge watch. Considering that Fresh Prince was first aired in the early 90’s and it is already 30 years old, says something about the speed with which time is passing by!!! There used to be on and off episodes of this series shown on DD sometime back and was never a fan. I specifically wanted to give this a try while reading some trivia about black people in entertainment, when watching Star Trek. And Will Smith was always an exceptionally likeable character by people world over. There is a positive, unbridled energy about him that even dull and sad characters come alive on screen. This being his first attempt on screen, having started his career as a rapper, it was quite surprising to see his performances. In fact of all the other senior members of the cast, it felt as if he was the only person so sure of the story line and performances. The confidence displayed, for a new comer was amazing. May be it tripped the performances of others possibly, as t...

Many a time after watching some movies, I’ve asked myself, how in the world anyone could make such a movie and how did they possibly managed to assemble their crew leave alone financed. #Home is one such movie which leaves one perplexed as to every aspect of its creation. To call it a movie in itself is a contradiction for it doesn’t stick to any formula or norms of a normal movie and is in fact a collection of life events, candidly canned. I would love to see some making portions included along with the movie DVD release, where in the story narration sequences between the director and lead actors can be shown. The way they’ve all performed, it is impossible to not believe it is their own life story. Again writing a review for such a simple yet complex movie is a task in itself. I actually wanted to glorify the movie, but the more I think about it, can only compare it with other duds and crib about how bad other movies are as compared to this one. At times, being simple and defining si...