Decoding a classic

I am not a dumbhead trying to review a classic that was published 10 years before I was born and that has been inspiring generations of writers and film makers to come up with interpretations galore- yes, the book I am referring to is nothing but the father of crime fiction genre- The Godfather by Mario Puzo. I have been toying with the idea of reading this one for years together. I did try a couple of times earlier as well but could not complete it since the flow was not there. Reading through a very visual narrative style used to take me to the world of the Corleons- I used to imagine that I was living in the same mall on Long Island, NY where the whole story was unfolding. I was Sonny sometimes, Johny sometimes and Mike sometime else. That is the sheer power of Puzo's writing- his plot engulfs you into it without you even realizing it! It is not about just one character- it is about a generation of people who influenced the country they were living in and thus somewhere it becomes the story of a country that is the United States of America post the second World War and the massive destruction and confusion it caused. It is precisely for this reason that the novel stands out. Its vast canvas and wide variety of characters and how the author justifies and gives a strong background to each and every character is what enhances the beauty of the plot! If it is about wielding massive power justifiably like Don Corleone on the one hand, it is also a coming of age story as in the case of Michael Corleone. As far as Johny Fontane is concerned, it tells us how bad it is to get carried away by fame and fortune and by forgetting one's basics. Sonny suffers due to misuse of power and a bad temper while Freddy thinks through his balls and not his brains. We also have Tom Hagen who is forever indebted to the family that gave him life and shows his gratitude throughout. Carlo Rizzi is punished for being untruthful, so is Tessio for forgetting his past. Kay Adams gets rewarded for her undying love while Connie suffers on account of her foolishness. The silent sufferer is epitomized by Mama Corleone. The sheer variety of characters and the wide gamut of emotions and relatable situations that they go through keeps this larger than life drama close to reality and that probably is the reason why the Godfather turned out to be a classic read and re read by a generation! The word "Mafia" became common place thanks to Puzo and whatever anyone would say, there is no denying the fact that the Godfather has at least a handful of characters a reader can reconcile with. No wonder, this one has stood the test of time. I think I should grab a copy of Francis Ford Coppola's screen adaptation of the book starring that majestic Marlon Brando and ever dependable Al Pacino. Will shoot out my thoughts after I watch the movie!

Sorry state of Malayalam Cinema!

The 60's and the 70's they say were the best times for the Malayalam Film Industry- K G George, Padmarajan, Bharathan, Mohan, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Aravindan, Gopi, Nedumudi Venu, Thilakan, Jagathy Sreekumar, Sobha, Srividya, Jalaja- there were many talented names who contributed immensely to the cause of cinema and those were the days when at the national level, everyone was on the lookout for what stuff Malayalam filmdom has to offer.

Circa 2008! We have the industry down in the dumps! Agreed, the 54th National Film Awards have bought some relief to the industry (thanks to Priyanandan, Thilakan, Kamal, Major Ravi, Madhu Kaithapram, Nedumudi Venu and the Samudhra institute of dance) but the recent MACTA fiasco makes one feel that the industry wallahs are more interested in settling personal scores rather than focusing on the quality of films that they are making.

How else would one explain a director lodging a complaint with the MACTA (Malayalam Cine Technician's Association, for the uninitiated) that an actor has accepted advance from the director and then refused to work with him? When did directors start booking actors? Where is the producer here? And what is wrong if Thulasidas was removed from the director's chair? When was the last time Thulasidas made a movie that was, to put in mild terms, bearable? College Kumaran, Rakshakan, Melevaryathe Malakhakuttikal, Mr. Brahmachari- oh, come on!

The audience would be happy that Dilip did not give another chance to Thulasidas to test the patience of the viewers. Also, the feelings that Vinayan has for Dilip is well known. Occupying the position of General Secretary of a respectable association, Vinayan should not be using his position to settle scores with anyone. He might be the messiah of the under- privileged but in a creative industry that involves huge amount of money, there is no place for non performers. I completely agree with the faction of creative artistes who left MACTA to form a different federation and fully agree with the stand of AMMA on the whole issue.

Anyways, now that FEFSI has intervened and the adhoc committee has been formed, it is time for another round of elections. This time, let us hope and pray that the positions that matter in the association are taken up by people who are interested in making quality films. At least then, we might get some respite from the inanity that has become the identity of Malayalam films these days!

The dirty game that is Politics

With the General Elections fast approaching, its sleepless nights for all of the ruling party's men (and women) at New Delhi- as if that was not enough, Karat and Co are dropping the nuclear bomb on the poor UPA- forget implementing Common Minimum Programme, there is no minimum common interest among the UPA allies in running the show. The faster the government falls, the better for the common man. With skyrocketing rates of inflation being accelerated by the instability at the centre, it is better that the left withdraws support to the UPA and calls for a no- confidence motion. Let us hope that the drama ends soon with the General Elections and that the lotus blooms all over the country post elections!

Things are no different in the tiny south western state of the country that houses intellectuals like me (!)- whole lot of buffoonery happening in all the ministries with higher education being a big question mark, no industrial progress, no public works being undertaken properly, road transport is in a mess with demands for fare hike and every ministry failing to keep its promises. With the 7th standard text book row that is giving more than enough headache to the law and order department and the unpredictable monsoons that is driving the Electricity Ministry crazy, the common man is resorting to divine intervention to put things in place.

Not that I am expecting anything better to happen but there are times when I am left wondering after reading the day's newspaper- when are we going to improve as a country? When are things going to change for better? When and how are we going to take on mighty economies like US, Japan, UK and China? When are we going to put an end to corruption and irresponsibility prevalent in positions that matter? When? When? When? When?

Sporting times...

So, the night is going to decide whether the EURO 2008 trophy is going to rest on Germany's shoulders or whether Spain is going to claim its stake on the trophy after 44 long years. I am waiting with my fingers crossed and my heart is with Germany. Lets see...

Ana Ivanovic is out of Wimbledon but the rest has been proceeding as expected. Sania is out from the singles but progressing as far as doubles and mixed doubles are concerned. Williams sisters are in good form. Federer, Nadal and Djokovic are advancing and the next week we should come across even better action from the grass courts of Wimbledon!

India is shining as expected and only time can tell whether the guys will bring the Asia Cup home. I am hopeful though!

More movie reviews

If you are tired of my views on movies and if Hollywood is your cup of tea, follow the links below to understand what Jams thinks about a few recent releases-

1. Dashavatharam
2. The Incredible Hulk
3. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
4. The Chronicles of Narnia- Prince Caspian

An atheist pays homage to Mother Nature

You get to know you are not in for the regular commercial fare when the titles start appearing on the screen on the backdrop of chennai's seaside. The first shot that spans through the Chennai skyline till it lands in the stadium sucks you into the movie. The 12th century episode that involves the shaivite king and the vaishnavite Rangarajan Nambi (Kamalhassan in his first avatar) wows you with its finesse and fine dialogues. From there on it is one thrilling ride across countries with Dr Govind holding the vile that contains the killer virus and an Indian investigating officer and an American terrorist both on its trail.

You have one avataram or the other turning up every 15 minutes and barely an hour into the movie, you have at least 3 avatarams appearing on every frame and that is when you realize the extent of research and detailing that has gone into this script. It is not about weaving a story around 10 characters for making a film titled Dashavatharam, it is about the multitude of issues that Kamal addresses in his racy, intelligent script- starting with Shaivite- Vaishanvite struggle of yore, it moves ahead and addresses burning issues like bio- weapons, international terrorism, apathy to Islam, Sand mafia, absolute casteism that is still prevalent in rural India and many more. But what bowled me over was the final point that Kamal drives home in his own characteristic manner- the universal fact that there is no power in the world that is mightier than the power of Mother Nature and what better way to prove it than recreating the havoc caused by Tsunami!

On the flip side you have tacky special effects, heavy make up that comes in the way of a fine actor like Kamal (his expressions are completely hidden under those heavy masks made of plaster of paris and not all of his avatarams look convincing), the supporting cast- none of them get a chance to make their presence felt since all important roles are played by Kamal himself, the lacklustre music by Himesh Reshammiya (the only song that stands out is Ulaganayagane) and the heroines (Mallika Sherawat is wasted, Jayaprada looks good thats all about her, Asin is competent but her screechy voice irritates)

What works for the film apart from Kamal's intelligent script are Ravi Varman's camera, Devisri Prasad's impressive background score, razor sharp editing by Ashmit Kunder and above all, the efforts of the captain of the ship- K S Ravikumar who proves that when it comes to heading a mammoth project like this one, there is no better man for the job!

Dashavatharam might not exactly set the cash registers ringing since it is not for the average cine goer but Kamalhassan, Ravikumar and Aascar Ravichandran can be proud of this one- these incarnations will definitely stand the test of time!

Father is the Groom

A lecherous old man (Om Puri hitting rock bottom by accepting a role as hideous as this) holds on to his pillow and dreams about a dozen bikini clad babes cavorting with him on the beach. A modern, chic and highly educated girl (Genelia D'souza rolling her eyes, raising her brow and twitching her lower lip in the name of acting) calls up her ex- college mate (Akshaye Khanna trying to infuse his boyish charm into an ill written role) and his family and makes stories about their non existent relationship. A dull music teacher (a jaded, disinterested and awfully miscast Sobhana) wearing drab cotton saris sings raagas to herself with her tampura. The old father (Paresh Rawal, looking unhealthy and not in form) clad in white dhoti kurtas doubles up as cook for his younger son and feels sorry for the trauma that his older son (Manoj Joshi) goes through, thanks to his ill tempered wife. A tough she cop (Archana Puran Singh, typecast) shouts unprintable stuff at full throttle everytime she appears on screen. Welcome to the world of slapstick comedies, Priyadarshan style! This time the remake raja has zeroed in on Sibi Malayil's "Ishtam" (2001). You have to give it to Priyadarshan in the sense that whenever he attempts a remake, he remains as faithful as faithful can be to the original. He does not make a remake of the same story, or the same script or the same scenes. Instead it is a dialogue by dialogue remake so much so that one wonders whether he is using scriptwriters or translators to pen his dialogues. However, the natural charm and subtlety that made the malayalam original endearing is sorely missing in "Mere Baap Pehle Aap" Add to that Sabu Cyril's difficult on the eyes Production Design (think they have been using the same sets that were erected during Hungama days), Vidyasagar's lack lustre music and the nerve wrecking loudness that runs throughout the film- one will definitely agree that the remake is nowhere close to the original.

However, for those of you who have not seen the original, this one might still appeal provided you are a fan of the Priyadarshan brand of comedy!

Regressive and Repulsive

If you want to know what waste of time, talent and resources mean, please get a CD (I would not advocate buying a DVD, not even in the name of educating oneself) of “Laaga Chunari Main Daag”. How else would you account for the following?

• A reputed production house like “Yash Raj Films” venturing into making a remake of K Balachander’s “Arangetram” (Tamil) which was released way back in 1973
• Making a mockery of the talents of 3 of the all time best actresses Indian Cinema has ever seen- Jaya Bachchan (extremely weepy); Hema Malini (awfully miscast) and Rani Mukherji (struggling to make sense out of an ill written role)
• Poor characterization and inane dialogues to be mouthed by a host of talented actors from television and stage- Anupam Kher (absolute lack of conviction); Tinnu Anand (miserable part) and Sushant Singh (has to wear the same expression throughout)
• Bringing in 2 of the most promising youngsters of Bollywood and then cheating them (as well as the audience) by providing roles that are as good as walk over parts (Kunal Kapoor partly succeeds in putting in an endearing performance and Abhishek Bachchan wearing those designer suits and looking lost in the chaos that surrounds him)
• Taking up a story as old as the hills and trying to rehash it into something commercially viable by unnecessarily weaving in Zurich and Locarno into the narrative just to keep up the reputation of the production house (these parts are a big let down, notwithstanding the designer costumes of the heroines and the songs that are at best, immensely forgettable)
• In the process of narrating the story, making a mockery of the intellect and sense of the audience by providing them with those jaded dialogues and predictable script that could have helped had this movie been released in the 70's
• Trying in vain to recreate Varansi in the YRF studios at Mumbai and making it too glossy to look convincing in the whole bargain

I can go on and on and on. The two things that helped me sit through the movie were- a natural, straight from the heart performance from the ever dependable Konkona Sen Sharma and the lyrics, music and picturization of that extremely cute and fresh "Hum to aise hain bhaiyya" song (Lyrics by Swanand Kikire and Music by Shantanu Moitra)

Mr. Pradeep Sarkar- you were extremely promising in your debut (Parineeta) but this one is regressive cinema at its best!

Simply, NOT APPLICABLE!

Ah, Monsoons...

It is that time of the year I always look out for- the monsoons! The first rain, the smell of the soil after it gets the first few drops of the rain, the lush greenery all around and the sheer pleasure of watching the rain drops fall on the ground...its something one has to experience to understand.

The monsoons have been an integral part of every Keralite's life. It has inspired poets, writers, movie makers and I dont know who all. You can associate any kind of emotion with rain. It can give you that sense of deja vu, that sense of nostalgia, it can bring back to you feelings of intimacy, romance or eroticism on the one hand or of loss, loneliness or craving for companionship on the other. Being the very practical person that I am, the one feeling that comes back and forth to me whenever I see the heavy rainfall outside is that of hunger! The very thought of eating hot and fresh pazhamporis, bajjis or samosas with a piping hot cup of coffee while enjoying the rains from your balcony is eternal bliss for me!

Sometimes, the rains also take me to my childhood days when we used to get drenched on our way back home from school. In spite of taking umbrellas or rain coats with us, we used to roam around on the roads without resorting to any of these. We will reach home dripping and the fun was that in spite of all this, we will be healthy and hale the next day for school. The only time I used to hate rain was probably when it used to rain on my way to school. Water seeping in through your black leather shoes and drenching your socks and to sit in the classroom all day in your wet socks or the worst scenario when it used to rain on Fridays- days on which we are supposed to wear white uniform to school and if it rains on our way to school, our uniforms will be muddy red in color by the time we reach school...

Times have changed and so have I. But, that one thing which still remains with me is the sheer pleasure and excitement I experience when the rain gods shower their kindness on us, June through August. Its been just one month since the monsoons started and I am looking forward to the rains to continue till Onam...

Father of the Groom!

Karan Johar and Aditya Chopra can smile (so can Kunal Kohli, Siddharth Anand and anyone and everyone involved in churning out the so called "feel good" family entertainers out of the YRF stable) because they have company down south and that is M Raja- the young director who has worked hard to bring back this genre into the mainstream and has been fairly successful with that (M Kumaran s/o Mahalakshmy, Something Something Unakkum Enakkum)

Now he teams up with his young brother "Jeyam" (Remake) Ravi to come up with "Santhosh s/o Subramaniam"- another flick on the father, mother, son relationship. It is to Raja's credit that he is not getting tired with this genre though this is his third outing in a row and does manage to bring in some freshness to each and every one of his attempts. If Nadia was the attraction of M Kumaran, it was Trisha in Something and here it is Genelia D'souza who makes a comeback to Kollywood after Boys, Sachin and Chennai Kaadhal. I could hear the audience going ga- ga over Genelia and I was left wondering if repeating the 5 expressions (happy- go- lucky, pleasant surprise, tinge of romance, naughtiness bordering on craziness and sad for no reason) with a certain regularity throughout the length and breadth of a movie calls for so much of adulation. Whatever it is, one request to whoever is going to cast Genelia in future is that plese dont can her close up shots when she has to lip sync for Tamil. It is atrocious and obscene and if you dont agree with me please watch how Genelia lip syncs for the scene where she declares she doesnt want to spend her life with Ravi!

After showing the loving mother and the loving father in his previous flicks, this time Raja focusses on the father's love- bordering on insanity. Here the father is a successful businessman (Prakash Raj for whom playing an eccentric has become a cake walk) who decides what each and every member in the family would do- not for a livelihood but even on a daily basis. The son (Jeyam Ravi) hates his father for this and abuses his father after gulping down a couple of beer bottles with his friends. Sonny wants to decide his career and find his soul mate but dad plays villain. Dad zeroes in on a rich heiress and puts Sonny into his office. Bechara sonny is confused and turns into a recluse only to be mesmerized by the charm of a middle class college girl Haasini (Genelia).

Papa finds and frowns, Sonny begs and cries, Mama and Sisters coax and cajole (and in the middle of all this we have a wooden elder bro who looks like an out of work cricketer- read Sadagopan Ramesh) and finally the girl is brought into the house to live for 7 days. Girl breaks every rule in Papa's book and endears herself to all except Papa and on the d- day declares that she feels claustrophobic in the house since she cannot run around at her will doing her stuff.

Papa is happy, sonny is broken, Momma is angry, Sisters are teary and big bro wears the same expression as the huge sofa set in the sitting room of the Subramaniams. From here on, the movie almost completely loses focus with each and every character getting into a lecture of the who, when, where, why and how of things. Papa relents at the end of it all (thank God!) and the entire family dressed in designer wear shows up at the girl's house but here is trouble- you have an equally nauseating father (Sayaji Shinde, grossly miscast in a badly written role) who now wants the rich sonny to get into his middle class routine and thus the torture continues for Santhosh. Poor audience is spared otherwise Raja and Ravi would not have been.

The concept is universal and something that is identifiable in the present day nuclear family scenario but too much of cinematic liberty, melodrama and cheeky dialogues mar the show. Genelia is a no- show, Jeyam Ravi has an endearing screen presence but does not get stretched enough as an actor, Prakash Raj is disappointingly repetitive, Geetha gets to show her mettle in a couple of scenes, Koushalya has to look like a mannequin out of a garment store and the rest of the cast do not deserve a mention.

The songs are hummable (credit: Devisree Prasad) and have been choreographed and shot well. Editor should have been on vacation since the movie needs some trimming especially towards the last reels. All the characters have been clothed well but the Art Direction is tacky and over the top. The director manages to hold the movie together with great difficulty but Raja must definitely be complemented for staying away from the mandatory item number. The ladies are elegantly dressed and Genelia's looks and costumes are neat and beautiful.

Santhosh Subramaniam is a good time pass movie if you stay away from analyzing it the way I did :-)

PS: Find out what Jams has to say about this one

Its all about the father!

"Em Magan' directed by first timer Thirumurugan tries to look at the father- son relationship from a different angle- the father in question is the grocery shop owner (Nasser) who has come up the hard way and the son here is Krishna (Bharath) a modern college going youngster who is constantly reprimanded by his father who does not understand the significance of education and feels that his son is wasting away time and talent in college.

Krishna lives in constant fear of his father, his only solace being his loving mother (Charanya) and his uncle (Vadivelu). His classmate (Gazala) who is the daughter of the father's auditor takes an interest in him which is despised by the father. However, Krishna holds a torch for his uncle's daughter, Janani (Gopika) but is unable to meet her due to issues between their parents. The death of Krishna's maternal grandfather changes things and he is united with Janani. However, the young lovers are caught redhanded by the family and all hell breaks loose. Krishna and Janani leave their homes and from there on starts Krishna's journey. The rest of the film is about how Krishna progresses in his career and how he becomes acceptable to his father again.

Em Magan's story is as old as the hills and it works on a very predictable premise. However, the light script coupled with fabulous performances from the cast elevate it to a very high level. Nasser lives the role of the father and Charanya very clearly demonstrates the predicament of a mother torn between her husband and son. Gopika leaves a mark with her endearing screen presence and it is another winner all the way for Bharath. Vadivelu is in his full splendor playing the good natured though funny uncle. Ghazala has nothing much to do.

Technically, it is an avant garde attempt. Vidyasagar's music complements the mood of the story with the "Goligundu" song standing out for its simple lyrics and melodious music. Em Magan had been a critical and commerical success when it was released in late 2006! Now it is enjoying a very successful run on the sattelite channels thanks to the pure, homely entertainment it provides.

A master's take on Lesbianism!

I am happy that my post on Alternate Sexuality has invited 2 strong responses, but I would still stick to my views! While the whole world today thinks it is upmarket and fashionable to openly speak and discuss about LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transsexual, Queer), Kerala had a master filmmaker who could touch upon Lesbianism in a very subtle manner as early as 1985!

While many may disagree with me when I say it was an effort on the part of master filmmaker Padmarajan to portray lesbianism in a covert manner in Deshadanakkili Karayarilla through the characters of Sally (Shari) and Nimmy (Karthika), catching up with the movie recently, I strongly feel the same considering the intelligence and foresight that Padmarajan has displayed in his other films.

The shy, submissive Nimmy plays the perfect foil to the smart and fiery Sally. What happens when teenage girls are left with no one to care for them and how their rebellious nature takes them in the wrong path has been clearly depicted in the movie. It is all in the psyche and the mindset and that is what Padmarajan explains very clearly.

Shari and Karthika put in endearing performances, Urvashi as the helpless teacher exhibits a spark of what a huge talent she is out to become in future and Mohanlal puts in a restrained performance as the Bank Manager under suspension.

Padmarajan's tight script and perky dialogues add to the charm of the movie. Raveendran's mastery is audible in Pooveno and Vaanambadi. Photography and Editing complement the script well.

The manner in which Padmarajan deals with the relationship of his two teenage heroines and treats its evolution is beautiful to say the least. How they jump out of the excursion, how they manage to find job and accomodation in the big, bad city and how they lead their lives till they stumble upon Mohanlal's character- the events are very natural, the progression is in a very identifiable manner and all the characters are so well grounded and deep rooted in reality. One has to give it away to Padmarajan for having come up with such a skillfully crafted movie. The genius of the filmmaker lies in the fact that even after 2 decades, the characters are so identifiable and fresh so much so that Deshadanakkili Karayarilla is one of those rare films that is being discussed even today...

Yavanika: A Masterpiece

It was after a lot of hunting around that I finally managed to grab a VCD of K G George's masterpeice- Yavanika! I have been hearing people singing hosannas in praise of this one ever since I can remember and there I was all eyes for the mystery to unfold!

I dont think I need to dwell on what the story line of the 30 year old classic is. As known to almost everyone it is resolving the mystery behind the death of a tabla artiste, Ayyappan (Bharath Gopi) in a drama troupe. We have had murder mysteries galore, but what sets this one apart is the sheer identifiability of each of the characters- the troupe owner (Thilakan); the rich boy turned actor who has an affinity for women, Balagopalan (Nedumudi Venu), the lead actress and Ayyappan's mistress out of lack of choice, Rohini (Jalaja), the quiet and subdued Kollappally (Venu Nagavally), the loud and funny side kick (Jagathy) who has a gut wrenching past, the list is endless...

A taut script by K G George with S L Puram Sadanandan's apt dialogues enhancing the effect, Ramachandra Babu's cinematography and M B Sreenivasan's fabulous music- all of these have contributed immensely to the success of the movie. To think that, Yavanika was released in the early 1980's when everyone in the industry was either making a romantic film with Sankar and Menaka or remaking the eternal Manmohan Desai/ Prakash Mehra lost and found Bollywood flicks in Hindi. It requires indescribable foresight and intelligence to come up with a trend setter like this one that too without compromising on the aesthetics of film making- a quality that has been demonstrated by the ever dependable K G George film after film. The excellent craftsman's grip on the medium of film making has to be experienced to be believed. It is sad that K G George is not making films anymore.

Yavanika is also remembered for its performances- there is not even a single actor who has not benefitted from the film's success- thanks to George who has extracted fabulous performances from each and every member of the cast. Gopi's iconic Ayyappan walked away with lion's share of the accolades and the movie opened up opportunities for Mammootty to play the investigating officer/ cop in at least 25 more films. It is not only veterans like Thilakan, Nedumudi Venu, Jagathy Sreekumar and Venu Nagavally who attract but even actors like Thodupuzha Vasanthi, Vilasini and Ashokan who have very limited screen time. And what more to write about Jalaja- the eternal favorite of middle of the road movie makers all through mid- 70's to mid- 80's?

It is for no reason that Yavanika is considered a classic!!!

Bonanza for lovers of sports!!!

Let me confess at the beginning itself that I have never been a "sporty" person though I do enjoy watching little bit of cricket, soccer and tennis once in a while. I was just thinking about the summer of 2008 and the many sporting events that went through as well as the ones scheduled and boy- o- boy, it cant get any better for lovers of sports in India!

It started with the money and madness of IPL in April. Initially I was a bit apprehensive about how successful it would be and I did have my reservations about the way players were bought and sold like commodities by the money- bags of the country. But once it started, it was as if there was nothing else happening in the country- Sachin's inability to play, the Harbhajan- Sreesanth fiasco, the Ganguly- SRK war of words, the BCCI v SRK imbroglio, the cheer girls and the protests from the protectors of Indian culture- it was like a well written Bollywood commerical potboiler that had everyone wanting for more. After a month and half of fast and energetic cricket, Rajasthan Royals walked away with the trophy in their kitty.

Cut it to Rolland Garros- yet another Federer v Nadal and it was the latter proving once again his superiority on the clay court. Barely was the French open over, we had the tri- series tournament between India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Expectedly, it was an India- Pak battle in the finals with the latter having an easy march over our countrymen.

Immediately, the focus shifted to Euro 2008. Non sport football action every night with the best players in the universe struggling it out against each other for the highly coveted cup- we have Spain taking on Italy tonight in the last quarter finals and the semi finals scheduled in a couple of days from now. Will it be Germany v Italy in the grand finale? Let us wait and watch.

And guys that is not it! We have the baap of lawn tennis starting tomorrow in UK- the most awaited and the most coveted Wimbledon- the odds are in favor of Nadal. But we do have the formidable trio posing a threat to him- Federer, Roddick, Djokovic. The ladies also pack quite a punch- Ana Ivanovic, the winner at Rolland Garros; the indefatigable Maria Sharapova, the indispensable Williams sisters- or it could be a surprise entrant in both the categories. Anyways, the whole world is keeping its fingers crossed and all eyes are on grass courts at Wimbledon.

Lovers of cricket need not be disappointed for we have the big Asia Cup starting in Pakistan on 23 June- with Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and India; along with UAE and Hong Kong, battling it out, this one is gonna be a real good warm up before the Champions trophy starts rolling in September 2008!

And that is just not it guys- the biggest sporting event of the world, this time bogged down by all kinds of controversies foreseeable and posing to be more of a political event than a sporting event- yes, you guessed it right- the mega Olympics 2008 rolling out of China in August!!!

I dont think there has ever been a deluge of sporting events like this any time in the recent past! I am enjoying all of these in spite of not being a very "sporty" person and I can understand how much a real sports lover would be enjoying all of this! For the time being, my attention is on who lifts the Euro Cup! I am with Germany, how about u?

The Grand Finale of Vodafone Thakadhimi!

I have never been a fan of reality shows, in fact I have hated them all the while and have even written on this same blog about how much I hate them. I had always thought that they were completely stage managed. Not that I think any different now especially when I look at the reality shows on Hindi channels. But a reality show finally did come which caught my fancy like anything and that was "Vodafone Thakadhimi" telecast during weekends on Asianet. I would not say that I have seen the show without missing even a single episode. In fact, there have been very few episodes that I have seen at full length. Dance, as a form of art had always interested me and that was a strong reason for me to give Thakadhimi a try. From the first episode itself, I fell for Gopika Varma. I had not heard about her before and the always over made up lady in her bright and striking synthetic sarees used to act out like a true mohiniyattam artiste when she was commenting on the performances of the contestants. Vineeth's long hair and that idiotic hairband used to irritate me (thank god, he cut his hair short soon after); the male anchor (I have never really cared to know his name!) was a non entity, but the pretty Aishwarya and the classy Lakshmy Gopalaswamy (her broken Malayalam notwithstanding) made it to the top of my list of favorites... And thus it continued and as the show progressed from one weekend to the other, I started paying keen attention to Gopika's comments. Once the contestant starts performing, Gopika would have her entire concenteration so strongly fixed on each and every nuance of his/ her performance and in the end, would come up with a suggestion on something as minute as the pattern of raising a brow or how the fingers should be placed while enacting a mudra- that is when I understood how complete a dancer she was! My strong hatred for Gopika turned into stronger respect! The extent of hardwork that the contestants put in coupled with fair and equitable judgement on the part of the judges only served to improve the quality of the show. And it went on and on and on and finally after 9 long months, the final episodes were telecast this weekend. Vineeth in a royal sherwani, Lakshmi in her trademark designer sari, Celebrity judge Brinda in black western formals and Celebrity guest Jayaprada glowing in her salwar were all seated there to judge Akhila, Gayathri, Jobin and Sharath. A host of spirited performances later, Gayathri has been crowned the winner with Akhila, Jobin and Sharath bagging the 1st, 2nd and 3rd runners up prizes respectively. There would not be anymore Thakadhimis from next weekend onwards, but I surely will miss Gopika and Lakshmy, for that was the kind of influence the ladies had on me :-) It really was a good platform for budding talents to showcase their dancing skills- from classical to cinematic to contemporary to fusion- it explored all forms of dance- themes drawn from all spheres imaginable to mankind- this one was a "real" reality show in all its splendor! I would like to congratulate Asianet, Vodafone and Confident Group (sponsors of the first prize of 45 lakhs cash or a limo) for having come up with such a great concept and doing a good job out of it! Hope the encouraging responses from the viewers make the channel think in the direction of introducing a sequel! I will not complain...