Variety is the spice of life

One thing that always fascinates in novels by Jeffrey Archer is, how he treats or introduces his lead characters. They are given equal space and almost similar introductions. How they respond to such situations clearly tells the viewers who is the protagonist and who is the villain. In fact, for most of the first half of the novel, both will be right in their own terms and when they do cross swords with each other, from then on its a clear course on who will win in the end. There would always be a mid second half sequence where the hero will falter badly and the villain will be triumphant. The end climax will involve some nail biting situations where the villain will loose in a quirky way or by some rebellious act from one of his own that paves the way for heroic comeback by the lead character. Be it Matter of Honour, Kane & Abel, Prodigal daughter (the second half), Fourth estate, Honour amongst theives and in multiple times across the whole book of First amongst equals, you can s...

Just like how you need something sweet or sour to save your tastebuds after a really bad meal, i started reading Jeffrey archer to make up for some bit of sanity that got permanently wiped off after reading "Extinction". That author is not to be blamed though. He gave enough and more clues but when you are on a deathly spiral, before you realize, you are already stuck between rock, hard place, with several layers of muck. Archer has been my maanaseega english teacher who taught me about an utopian world where people always knew what to say, how to say and how best to say. Initially i was so smitten by his works that i sometimes used to quote his quips as jokes but sadly none of the recipients picked it or i was that bad in presenting them (which sounds more plausible). When i started reading "Shall we tell the president" which was my most favorite thriller novel ever and remains so till date by a long margin unless someone suggests a better book, i was surprised to ...

I am fond of genres that deal with doomsday weapon and how the good guys race up to thwart the attempts by villain group. While the ending is always positive with good triumphing over bad, despite knowing the ending, its the kind of weapon, how it is developed, its back story or historical significance, how it impacted any past event or geography, such trivia makes this genre interesting, with a liberal mix of fact and fiction. When you have relatable or recognizable events thrown in the mix, it makes it all the more interesting, trying to decode which is real and which is not. With this backdrop i started with this book. My initial target was "Origin" by the same author which had decent reviews but ended up with this one. One of the person who had reviewed about this had wondered out "thought they had stopped writing these kind of books". You see the problem with written statements as against oral being, the modulation with which they are conveyed. You dont get the...

 Arkangel happens to be the latest edition in the sigma series, one of the most prolific novel series ever with almost over a dozen stories on the ultra secret US government agency, whose job is to protect the world from unfathomable dangers and challenges presented to the very existence of human life and not just American (for a change).  The core strength of all of those stories being the unbelievingly original plot involving famous personalities or places or characters or situations, that get dragged into the plot, which unless thwarted by the Sigma team, and in the hands of the villain team, may potentially get weaponized and lead to global destruction or human extinction. In fact almost all of the stories in the series could be snuck into this plot and yet he manages to churn novel after novel into best sellers says about the skill of the author. Arkangel, fails miserably in this aspect for it already has that hook plot to keep the viewers interested. This time, Sigma for...

Na. Muthukumar, is one of the favorite lyricists of many tamil film fans, who loved his creations even off screen as standalone presentations. Be it his poem collections or his song lyrics as a collection, most of them are rich in fantastic imaginations and sheer poetry that lasts longer and linger in your mind for much long. As many claim his best efforts, movie wise, was with Selvaragavan directed films and with Yuvan shankar raja as the music director. The trio worked magic on screen and churned out several chartbusters that were not just lilting melodies but quite rich in lyrical content as well. I happened to read about one such song which was my longtime favorite and when i read the reasoning behind the song and how it was constructed as a question-response kind of a word play i was astonished to say the least. It is one of the saddest songs in scripted in tamil movies ever and makes heart breaking viewing. But the sheer poetry behind that song made me write this post, which is a...

 I dont the remember the last time i saw a decent comedy movie in tamil. With the advent of mega serials and with their ever growing reach, well into those domains that were considered fit only for big screen viewing, the opportunity for comedy in movies have shrunk drastically. If you make a family subject, which offers good scope for humor, it is branded as mega serial and people feel they get more than their money's worth in tv itself for such stories and refuse their patronage. And you can hardly have laughter unless it is maniacal for the villain, amidst all those blood and gore that rule the mainstream movies. Amidst such trauma/drama comes this movie which has its own laugh out loud moments and some genuinely funny screenplay. Basil Thomas, i was stunned to read that he was the director of Minnal Murali, looks like a kid just out of school and has so many box office wins under his belt. He plays the hero in the movie and has as much screen time as Prithviraj, the real sellin...