Kamal Vishwaroopam & Chennai

On 24th Jan, I told myself why am I not living in California? I can watch the movie with Kamal himself... AN opportunity that even Chennai would not have given me. By noon that day, I could not see any updates on theatre screening for weekend in Kansas that I called up the theatre only to know they have not finalised on show timings!! Thankfully Thursday night got the update of weekend show timings and friday shows.

We could only plan for Sunday show and my patience was tested when I read comments and check in posts from friends in Facebook  For the first time I ended up having alarm for Sunday morning so that I don't end up going late to the theatre.

Sunday morning reached the theatre at 10.40 am for the 11am show and was so happy to sit in and got more happier 5 min after the movie started that Shravan decided to sleep and I watched the movie happily without any disturbance.

Kamal Hassan -The god of Tamil rather Indian Cinema!!

Kathak dance - None in film industry can match the facial expressions he gave. Every expression was worth admiration :) I closely followed the complete dance to see if any one of the ladies who danced with him in that song could match the expressions he gave but in vain. None of the dancers there could match him in performance. Hats off man :)

The transformation scene and the scene Pooja is stunned seeing his change over - those scenes r still in my eyes and at 58 only kamal can look so stunning!! Ur indeed ulaganayagan man :) The transformation scene indeed told everyone from now on its a hollywood movie for u!

In the last few days I did read few negative reviews, but this is a perfect movie. Nothing commercial or masala (something we always get to see in every tamil movie) added as we had seen in few of his earlier movies. Every scene, Every work in the movie matched Hollywood movies!! Ofcourse the movie was slow here and there but that dint do any harm to it!! 

One man proving it in many avatar - amazing direction , good story, astonishing acting and performance !! An all rounder indeed :) But yes the same man as Producer, I wonder if he would be able to win with all this ban ban happening in Tamil Nadu.

If If in case it never releases in TN, every movie lover has missed a great movie in his life. For a story revolving around Afghanistan & America, what has it got to be banned in TN? 

Movie so apt to release for Republic day !! This Indian has made every Indian proud by taking an Tamil cinema worldwide :) A salute to Kamal for this achievement !!

Fun with Driving

After just 2 days of driving , I told myself, I have wasted 14 months in US without the fun of driving!! I literally wait for tuesdays and thursdays as the car stays with me on those 2 days :)

Its so nice to drive on smooth roads with perfect lane rules and speed limits to follow. I am hoping to get myself to the highways very soon. Though I got Indian licence 7 yrs back, I hardly drove the car in India and that way left hand driving was not weird or uncomfortable to me.. It just came normal and felt comfortable too.

I was asking myself is driving fun anytime in India? Having used 2 wheeler for more than 10 yrs I wonder if there can be a day when I can feel driving fun and cool in India.. but I am going to enjoy driving until I am here in US :)

Billa

I am not posting a review of the movie here but its more about a movie experiences after a long time


After Vettai in January, got to see Billa last weekend. A movie I had been longing to see and was more excited that it released in kansas. Could not wait for the saturday show and I dint know I had more surprised waiting for me on that day.


Just as we walked to pick our tickets, I saw so many people walking into the theatre with ticket for billa in hand. Never before have I watched any Indian movie here with more than 15 people for a show.


I was also happy for having reached the theatre well in advance so I dint have to miss thala intro scene. By the time movie started, I was surprised to see almost 80% full theatre. I have only seen Avatar and MI4 houseful and to see so many people felt like being home.

The gang of guys right in front of me, whistled and enjoyed the intro scene and also the same fun continued throughout the movie. My luck favored more as Shravan watched only 20 min of the movie and went on to sleep. That made me more happy to watch the movie without his disturbance.


There is no interval break here in US like we have in India. So it just runs continuously. But this time we had a interval break. At that point I noticed there were close to 4 Americans sitting and watching Billa with us. I am still wondering what pulled them to see this movie :)


The gang of guys in front of us not just whistled for thala intro but also had lots of small pieces of paper which they threw all over for the intro scene. That moment of act was fun for me to watch being an Ajith fan. But when the movie was over and as we walked out of the theatre, I could see how dirty and clumsy those seats were with papers all over. Wherever we go, we dont change. All our clumsy stupid behavior comes along with us!! Sad Indeed!!


A nice experience of watching a movie which made me more like having watched billa in satyam. That did make me a lot more happier.


On the movie, I did enjoy the movie. Yuvan and the 2 ladies - heroine and villie both were equal let down. Nayan and Namitha suited well in the other movie while the choices here were a mess! Ajith  looked stunning as ever. A movie worth a watch for everyone and for thala fans, its worth lots more :)

Christmas Lights

I am feeling bad that something in me has made me stay away from blogging. I can never put the blame on my 14 month baby as he is such a sweet boy who gives me atleast 2 hrs daily for internet!!


Being Christmas time, I found that there are number of places where they have special Christmas lights and decoration as part of celebration. Having found such a place some 20 miles from home, we decided to visit last Saturday. When we read about this place, I did find people commenting that weekends traffic would be pretty heavy. Since the lights are open until 11PM we decided go still give it a try and went there by 8PM. We were just 2 miles from destination and realised that cars are waiting to move for nearly 2 miles from that place. Still we believed we would drive thru that 2 miles atleast in 30 min. But after 45 minutes I checked in my GPS to only find we have crossed only 0.2 miles of the 2 mile traffic stretch!! 


The 45 min wait reminded me of tidal park and IIT area traffic jam. But then having been away from such traffic problems in the last few months, this 45 min wait for Christmas lights seemed too irritating and horrible!! We lost patience, moved to next lane changed route and got home :(

We decided to go again on Monday evening as it would be a working day with lesser traffic and thankfully we cleared that slow traffic this time in 20 min and reached the Christmas lights area. 


I have never had the opportunity to see Christmas decoration all these years. The lights were stretched out for a distance of 1.5 miles and it was indeed a beautiful sight to watch.  If only the temperature had not been so chilly we could have walked that stretch. I am hoping to find more Christmas lights decoration this week as well!!


Advance Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all :-)

Hoping to stay active

I am just hoping that I would get time to blog and also read more blogs from now on.

Exactly 16 days without laptop, and I felt like being in hell!!! The moment the fedex guy gave me the laptop, I gave few toys to my son and immediatly opened the package and connected it. I only hope my son gives me some time to relax which I can spend with my dear friend Laptop :)

Kavalan & Easan

Got to watch Kavalan and Easan in the last 2 weekends. I was not sure if I am doing the right thing by watching a Vijay movie, but I got some feedback like "this movie is not a typical Vijay kind, so give it a shot". Thankfully for once the comment given by my brother was right. It was a very different movie for Vijay but there was nothing too special either except for the last half an hour which turned to be little different than expected! I had not watched the original Bodyguard movie and so it seemed ok to watch once.

As for Easan, it was again my brother who said "its a decent movie, u can watch". Everything was fine about the movie except for the fact that I feel Sasikumar can never show any thing in a light manner!! Any violent activity or murder he shows, he makes it so hard. May be he feels only that will leave an impact in audience mind. The first half showing how a business man and political man fight over each other was indeed enjoyable :) May be as my brother said I would also rate this movie as Watchable once.

Manmadhan Ambu

Nearly after 6 months, I got the time to watch a movie. My obvious choice was MA as it was Kamal's latest movie. Though I enjoyed close to 2 hrs of the movie, the last part was hopeless!! I have never been this disappointed specially when its a comedy storyline (ofcourse Mumbai Express was not impressive either). Still I don't have much regrets simply because watching the stunning ever handsome Kamal was enough as always :) Neela Vaanam song deserves all appreciation. It was really nice!! His pregnant wife being murdered or killed is a repeat but still its far better than portraying himself as a 30 year old romancing a college girl!! :) I wish his next movie makes his fans and audience all happy and enjoy the movie well.

Dinner @ Annalakshmi

After so many years, I had a chance to go to a Veg Restaurant for Dinner :) Yes the IT life literally denied me the chance to enjoy good veg food in a Veg restaurant. There is a huge difference in the quality and taste of Veg food that one gets in a Veg Restaurant and Non Veg Restaurant.

With life getting too busy with Shravan, my only choice for New Yr eve was a short dinner for 2 hrs (2 hrs is the time limit my mom gives me to go out with Suresh when she takes care of Shravan). To decide on the place, I had the major constraint of the restaurant being quite close to home and then getting a reservation on new yr eve and food being good there and at affordable rates!! On looking at my conditions, I told my sister  "I am going to end up having dinner at our house dinning table only"

It was Suresh who came up with the idea of Veg Restaurant and then we narrowed our choices to Namma Veedu / Rasam / Annalakshmi and Veg Nation. Namma Veedu rejected as it was in Vadapalani and the traffic would be hopeless on New Yr eve. Veg Nation in Anna Salai wasn't really impressive and so I rejected it. Some how I decided to check on Annalakshmi first and I was happy to get my reservation done on phone in 5 min and it also satisfied me that I can drive there in 20 min from home. To add on the rates for Buffet was only 500 which was quite a decent one for New yr eve.

I left home at 8.10PM and reached my table sharp at 8.30 PM and enjoyed a peaceful dinner after a very long time. The ambiance was amazing and to add on, as I said earlier, the food tasted so good. Yes Veg food is always best at Veg Restaurants only!! Infact we even decided to get our parents sometime here for a dinner. Around 9.30 we finished dinner and then drove home by 9.50PM. Thankfully the route we chose had less traffic at both times and that helped me keep on my schedule of 2 hrs :) 

Dinner at Annalakshmi is worth and I would even add, its right place to drop in as couples or as family with elders of course the base  criteria being you are a Vegetarian or one who enjoys veg food :)

Too long a break

This break from blogging has been really too long and as I wondered why, its basically the break from Internet itself. In the last 8 months, never had I been sitting with Internet and laptop for more than 15 min continuously!! Sometimes I had visited few friends blog for few minutes, read updates and logged out. Again dint get the time to sit back, relax and scribble something in my page!! Hoping the long break ends with today and I will get some time to relax, read peacefully and also scribble my thoughts.

Where does this happen?

You enter this building, fully air conditioned, lots of computers and people sitting and working there. Ofcourse they have customers in front of them and they are serving the request. Now you are a stranger to that place and you need some help from them. You enter the building and walk in. There are some people sitting idle with the computer before them but no one bothers to ask you, "May I help you". And later on you feel so much out of the place with no clue as to which side to walk and enquire your query!! Finally you head to a desk where someone is not busy with any customer and tell them excuse me, and you see them looking at you only after a long gap and finally responding a simple "YES". By then, you wonder why did I come here for my work. I should have gone somewhere else where is there is more concern for customers :(

IPL win for Chennai

I guess I am the last person to blog on this and infact I am trying to write when everyone has even forgotten the topic. But this semifinal and final were 2 matches which made me immensly happy, after a long long time. Its been more than a yr since I watched and enjoyed a match like this. Though I felt till we qualified for the semifinal, that we dont really deserve this, after the amazing win in semifinal and the same following in the final, I was really happy and felt so good for the Chennai team. All I saw was amazing team effort when bowling and fielding with some good batting performances. Specially I would say, fielding standard had improved a lot recently and Suresh Raina, my god, he is just amazing on the field!! Who can forget the catch he took or the maiden over from Ashvin, cool caption in Dhoni, with all other guys supporting so well and finally lifting the IPL Cup. It was a great moment when Polard got out and made sure that nothing can now stop Chennai from lifting the cup :) Wish we see similar cool performances in World T20 and win the cup for India :)

Does Chennai deserve to qualify?

When I think if we deserve to qualify, I feel we dont deserve more because if you see the matches lost, its been so pathetic! Such failures can never be digested. On the positive side I can recollect only the Rajasthan Royals game worth but nothing else. Still I end up sitting to calculate, Can Chennai qualify even if we lose to Punjab and I feel upset when I find that the answer is No :(

Its really sad to read the paper where Dhoni has said, its not in our hands and more with Deccan Charges game!! That adds more to my point of why should we qualify? Anyways I have no idea on doing anything other than watch the game tomorrow, fingers crossed that Chennai should win and then again watch the second game more curiously to see who loses Delhi or Deccan :)

Pathetic Experience at MAC entrance

I have been to MAC stadium twice for test matches and once during 2008 IPL. But I had the worst possible experience this week when I made it for CSK and MI match. People warned me that you won’t get good seats unless you make it to stadium 2 or 3 hrs in advance. Being a working day, I could make it to stadium by 6.45 PM for 8PM match. I was shocked to see that the gate for Rs 500 was crowded with the queue running from gate in bells road to Madras University entrance on Wallajah Road. I was trying to verify if it was some problems which lead to that big queue. But I could not identify any issues in any other gates. There were queues but to the maximum of 100 people or so. What I saw in Rs 500 queue was close to 3000 people.

Ofcourse there were number of people trying to break the queue and join in between but I still wonder how things can be so unorganized that people had to miss 2 to 5 overs of the game before they could enter the stadium.The entrance gate is so damn small that it permits only one person to pass through at a time, whereas the stand corresponding to that gate is one of the largest stands. I can only wish that these kind of things dont happen again!!
 

Its been a long break

There had been number of times in the last one month I wanted to write. From Movies to IPL. Its been busy time at home that I had not had the chance to sit down and write.

After the first few games in IPL, with Chennai losing matches in succession, I seriously lost interest in watching. Infact avoiding the matches helped me get some good sleep last week :) Though wednesday game against Blore was a decent win, yesterday with Rajastan Royals was unbelivable. More than the factor of the win, I am pretty sure every fan in the stadium would have been so happy for every Re he had spent for the ticket and match. With the pitch favouring the batsman, it was amazing performance from Royals as well. Not to forget that amazing catch from Bollingar. That match was a treat to watch. I am all excited and waiting to watch the match against Mumbai in the stadium. I hope that Chennai can break the winning streat of Mumbai guys :)

Vinnaithandi Varuvaya had been a movie I wanted to watch since the date of release and it took me more than a month to really plan and watch it. After a long time, I enjoyed watching a full time simple love story taken forward in a beautiful fashion. Not just that, the charater of a girl in love who belongs to a conservative family was beautifully brought up and it was so damn realistic. This is the only movie in recent past that I really fell in love with :)

Some latest tamil movies

Naanayam

Naanayam, with the subject being bank robbery, will make you develop interest. The scenes which explains the robbery plan and difficulty behind it is quite interesting but otherwise on the whole, it missed the thrill and feel expected of a movie involving robbery. Couple of twists were attempted but then dint have great impact. Only one song was really good, rest never made an impact. But a good try and can be watched once.


Ayirathil Oruvan,

An attempt worth appreciating though not successful. There were few mess here and there, but still when compared to all the movies these days, this movie was worth watching!

GOA

I really went expecting a lot of comedy and enjoyment. Trust me, suthama siripu varala!! Jai's English was highlight and fun. But it was really hard to sit till the end. I enjoyed Chn 28 and Saroja very much. Infact I watched those movies so many times and can still watch. But GOA, there is no chance to watch again!!

On the whole, I would rate Aayirathil Oruvan first, followed by Naanayam and Kutti with GOA coming last in my list.

Kutti

Polladavan was a good entertainer and with that in mind I went to watch Kutty. Also recollecting the fact that it’s the super hit Arya in Telegu which is remade in Tamil now. I did like the story line of loving someone without expecting anything in return, even to the extent of loving them when they give hatred in return!! But then I am really not sure what’s still missing in the movie. The comedy was boring and even the sequence between Dhanush and Shreya are not giving the feel needed except in the last 10 min of the movie. It would have been very much possible to make the Dhanush Shreya sequence more nice and induce his unconditional innocent love for her far better. Altogether not a great movie to enjoy!!

Cinematic Truth

This is something I had been wanting to pen down for more than a month now. I heard 2 extreme acts by dr and drivers which made me wonder where are we heading to.

Until few weeks back I never really thought that hospitals will deny admission to patients of road accident with the reason as "Police case". The patient was bleeding with head injuries after a hit and run by auto man and the hospital denies him treatment. I also learnt from this accident that there are so many GH in towns where they still dont have basic first aid facilities as well!!

You take a non stop bus from one place to another. Half way thru the journey you receive a emergency call and ask the driver to stop right in the highway as you need to travel back right away. As humans we expect that drivers will understand our emergency and stop the bus for couple of minutes. I heard of this incident when the passengers pleading for stopping the bus inorder to handle some emergency were denied saying "Non stop service"

Are human values lost forever in India?

Changes in a short time

I know I am yet to feel more difference than what I have felt. In continuation to my previous post, as we landed in Doha airport, I started realising that I miss USA and will miss it more in days to come. The atmosphere and feel at the Doha airport was enough to start with. I realised I am already quite far from US!! Secondly on landing in Chennai, the way people removed the seat belts even before the signs were up and the way they were so fast to take the hand baggage from the cabin above made me wonder if I was already in Koyembedu Bus stop!!

Just 3 baggage claim area made me wonder, how could people call this as "Anna International Airport" Except for the fact that international flights really arrive, there was not a single reason why it should be called "International"

The horn sounds from vehicles together with Air pollution adds to once tension. Very soon roller coasters might be termed milder when compared to Chennai Auto Drivers!

This is just the changes I have seen in 12 hrs. Wondering how much more to see but at the same time after a week, I would get used to it as well!! Thats India for Indians!!

Avatar & then Bye Bye USA

For the first time I witnessed close to houseful theatre in Mall of America for this movie. I was surprised and even felt like being in a Chennai theatre. The work involved in the movie was mind blowing and it was great to watch. But then there was nothing too special in the story line and that made me feel the climax was quite dragging. To me, 160 minutes was too long to watch a movie where it was not a thriller or a movie which is fast paced!!

That happens to be my last movie for not just 2009 but in US as well :( Yup New Year 2010 has welcomed me back to Chennai. The best thing to happen on my day of journey was the snow showering on me and telling me good bye :) When I flew out of US I dint have any feeling striking me but the moment I landed in the Doha Airport I realised that US was over and I was heading back to India. From that moment I started missing US altogether.

Countdown starts!!

India Calls
Infosys Calls
Family Calls
Friends Call

Everything is true but I like this Minnesota life, I like a lot things here!!

It was a mixed feeling when I saw my tickets yesterday. One day already down in my countdown, I am more upset on leaving this place than excited on going to Chennai. I am not sure how my feeling would be when I land there!! I have no clue if future will bring me here again but its really sure I will miss this place and the kind of life I enjoyed here :(