The King of Pop is no more...

Anything connected with Hollywood or English music is generally not my cup of tea. That said, I make it a point to understand what exactly is going on in the West and generally respect pioneers in any field of activity there. And thats precisely the reason why I thought I should write a few lines about Michael Jackson- the iconic King of Pop whose fall from superstardom to disgrace is fodder enough to write 500 page novels!

My earliest memory of Michael Jackson was his poster adorning the walls of my father's cousin (in his 20's then) as early as mid- to- late 1980's. It might not sound like a big deal for anyone but the fact is that this cousin of mine was a resident of the then small town of Aluva in Ernakulam District and you do not generally expect a 20 something Tam- Brahm from a town like that to adore MJ at those times. That precisely tells us the kind of influence that MJ and his music had on us, ordinary souls.

And this could be the reason I remember only 2 of his albums- "BAD" and "DANGEROUS" which were out almost at that time. There is no denying the fact that he was a big influence on Indian youth. The hysteria that his concert in Mumbai created a decade ago is testimony to that. Look at the number of mainstream Indian dancers who were influenced by his style- Prabhudeva, Javed Jaffery, Govinda- the trend continues even to this date. It was not uncommon to see Bollywood songs choreographed and picturized a-la Jackson style in the 80's and the 90's.

While the entire world acknowledges the magnificent talent that was MJ, the controversies in his personal life brought its fair share of disgrace too- the multiple cosmetic surgeries he underwent, constant use of drugs and most importantly, sexual abuse of children which he used to indulge in filled up newspapers and tabloids like anything. MJ had this knack of creating controversies one after the other- when you thought it was all over, he would come up with something new (Remember how he was holding his kid on the balcony of his room in a Hotel!). All through his career, he did live his life king size and made significant contributions to charity- something which no one can forget.

MJ had hit rock bottom with all controversies in his personal and professional lives and kinda withdrew from public attention after the not so good performance of his album "Invincibles" in the early part of this decade. The star singer was in the midst of collecting himself and giving his life and career another shot with a planned European tour in the latter part of this year when this catastrophe took place. While the entire World is creating controversies on what could have been the exact cause of MJ's death, for music lovers across the world, the iconic crotch grabbing superstar would not appear on stage once again, singing "Just Beat It" anymore...

MJ will always be remembered for having carved a niche for himself through his unique singing style and for inspiring generations of music lovers, musicians and dancers. The king of music and controversies has left for his heavenly abode and while we settle down to that fact, we also realize that the void that he has left is something that cannot be filled by anyone else. Yes, there just cannot be another MJ...

###$%^^&&((&*(^))T%((^%%(%$!

All of us swear or use bad words at some point of time in our lives with a certain regularity and thats the reason why I have left the Title of this post open for people to fill up the way they want to after watching "Kambakkht Ishq". This is the most crude, sexist, irksome, tiresome, disappointing, irritating, sleazy, pointless, embarrassing movie to have come out of Bollywood ever.

"Pammal K Sambantham"- the original Tamil movie that this one is based on is easily Kamal Hassan's worst ever. Why would anyone want to remake that scrap is the first question. And if it all Sabir Khan decided to should he have made it this way so much so that the original feels as if it is worthy of an oscar in comparison?

Sajid Nadiadwala would have figured in the prayers of millions had he spent 60 crores on feeding the poor than making this movie. And Kareena Kapoor stoops to levels that no mainstream actress has in the history of Hollywood. She looks undeniably HOT but need not have taken additional efforts to expose her plunging neckline and hemline. Amrita Arora, on the other hand, leaves very little to the audience's imagination. I dont think her husband would have seen anything in her that the audience of this movie has not. Aftab Shivadasani maintains one expression throughout- I did not understand whether it was disinterest, disappointment or helplessness- Neither would have helped anyways!

Kirron Kher, Boman Irani and Javed Jaffrey add to your irritation- the gags are the kind that have been around ever since Bollywood! Brandon Routh puts in a harmless special appearance. But you get puzzled when you see Denise Richards falling for a stuntman in Hollywood to produce "golden babies" or when Sylvester Stallone lands up in a lowly boulevard to save our damsel in distress.

There is not even a single scene that justifies spending money on "Kambhakth Ishq'. The "Bebo main Bebo" song passes muster and Kareena's clothes (some of them) are attractive. You just need to tune into a sattelite channel to catch those. As for Akshay Kumar, his career is fast heading towards South Pole and if he does not take care, he will end up with the same fate as Govinda's.

My recommendation to you- Stay as far away from a cinema screening this humbug as possible!

Remembering Lohithadas!

28 June 2009 will remain a dark day in the history of Malayalam Cinema for having lost one of its most talented scenarists- A K Lohithadas- at the tender age of 54. Considered by many as the heir of stalwarts like P Padmarajan and M T Vasudevan Nair, A K Lohithadas started his career in Malayalam cinema with a bang- the skilfully written and emotionally moving "Thaniyaavarthanam" which won the Kerala State Film Award for the Best Story in 1987. Mammootty's moving portrayal of the troubled Balan Maash who is stamped as mentally ill by his family and villagers by blindly giving into the belief that every man in his family will have to succumb to mental illness following a curse disturbed the audience to no end and to this date is considered one of the best characters that Mamootty has enacted in his 30 odd year long career.

Thaniyavarthanam also paved way for a successful scriptwriter- director duo- Sibi Malayil- Lohitadas who went on to give us one masterpiece after another- Ezhuthappurangal (Suhasini won a State Award for Best Actress), Kireedom (Mohanlal won a special jury award at the National Level), Mudra, His Highness Abdullah (Nedumudi Venu won a National Award for Best Supporting Actor), Bharatham (Mohanlal's first Best Actor Honour at the National level), Kamaladalam, Chenkol (sequel to Kireedom) and Dhanam (the weakest of the lot). Lohithadas successfully teamed up with other directors also like Sathyan Anthicaud (Sasneham, Veendum Chila Veettukaryangal, Thoovalkottaram, Kudumba Puranam), Bharathan (Amaram, Venkalam), I V Sasi (Mukthi), Cochin Haneef (Vaalsalyam) and Joshi (Kauravar, Mahayaanam).

He also helped out debutant directors like George Kithu (Aadharam), M A Venu (Chakoram) and Sundar Das (Sallapam) and made a huge impact with his directorial debut "Bhoothakkanadi" in 1997 which also won him the Best Debutant Director award at the National level. Unfortunately, from there on started his journey downhill which was characterised by mediocre to poor scripts, box office failures and unnecessary controversies. His subsequent outings like Karunyam, Ormacheppu, Kanmadam, Joker, Kasthooriman, Chakram, Nivedyam, Arayannangalude Veedu expected with mediocre to poor response at the box office. The ones that made fair amount of money were Joker, Kasthooriman and Karunyam.

The superstars who had won multiple awards playing his characters started avoiding him and his unwillingness to write for other directors landed him in trouble. The positive contribution that he made to Malayalam Cinema during his last 10 years were the few talented actresses that he discovered/ re discovered- Manju Warrier (Sallapam), Lakshmy Gopalaswamy (Arayannangalude Veedu), Samyuktha Varma (Veendum Chila Veetukaryangal), Maanya (Joker), Meera Jasmine (Kasthooriman) and Bhama (Nivedyam).

While the Malayalam Film Industry acknowledged his talent to spot talent, this also brought with it fair share of controversies- the major one involving Lohitadas and his favourite protege- Meera Jasmine. The actress even walked out of her family and Lohitadas was blamed for all issues in her personal life- so much so that the duo decided not to work together after the debacle of "Kasthooriman" (Tamil) which also pushed Lohithadas into financial troubles from which he could not free himself until his death.

His untimely death did come as a shock for multitudes of his fans who were still positive that Lohitadas could weave magic once again with his pen and scores of artistes who wanted to associate with him one way or the other.

There is no doubt that Lohitadas has left a void in Malayalam Cinema that is hard to fill. He will be remembered through the scores of timeless characters that he created and Balan Maash, Vidyadharan (Bhoothakkanadi), Achooti (Amaram), Bappootti (Aadharam), Gopinathan (Bharatham), Abdullah (His Highness Abdullah), Sethumadhavan (Kireedom), Rajalakshmy (Ezhuthappurangal) and many more will continue to haunt us for a very long time to come.

May his soul Rest in Peace!

A treat for Veggies!

Mint Masala surprisingly has not been reviewed kindly here but my first visit to the restaurant at Bashyam Circle, Sadashiv Nagar, Bangalore left me wanting for more. I tried out their Weekday Vegetarian Lunch Buffet moderately priced at Rs.225/- net aur main ungliyaan chaatthe reh gaya...

It all started with a yummy Banana Shake and Talumein Soup. Aloo Bajji, Soya Bean fritters and Barbacued and spiced Paneer formed the starters. The Papdi Chaat was the major attraction at the Salad Bar along with the Customary Green Salad and yummy Tossed Salad. Dahi Vada was a tad too sweet (probably the weakest link on the spread) but was more than compensated by the presence of yummy Singapore Noodles and spicy Biriyani. The Bhindi- Aloo curry was sumptous and the Gobi- Mutter curry in rich Pudina gravy was new to me. The Fetuccine was average at best and the curd rice and mixed raitha were good.

Gulab Jamun, Rajbhog, Vannila Cake and yummy Ice cream were waiting for us at the dessert counter and we had a gala time binging on them with a generous dose of hot chocolate syrup all over them. The rotis and kulchas are provided at your table on request and the ambience and service are average.

I particularly liked the frames adorning the wall- with pepper, cloves, cinnamon and the like neatly arranged within the frame. The variety of saunf (after mint) provided eases you out after the heavy meal though Mint Masala can restrict the amount of rose essence that they add to your finger bowl- the strong aroma almost gives you a headache!

That said a sumptuous 100% vegetarian lunch spread at an economic price should be attractive enough for any veggie foodie and if you are attracted, dont hesitate to step in...

Dining at Level 13!

A Breezy evening on a weekend is the right time to enjoy a sumptuous dinner on the 13th Floor of Barton Centre on MG Road, Bangalore. The restaurant in question is Ebony- its a unique experience in Fine dining.

The Cool Bangalore breeze blowing onto your face and the lights on top of the UB City gleaming at you from a distance, the maddening rush on MG Road below you feel is happening at another end of the globe for the serenity and calm that you experience at Level 13 on MG Road is uncomparable to anything else (in spite of having a noisy pub next door, I dont know how they do it!). Add to it, wide array of dishes to choose from and you are in for a treat!

We started off with mocktails, fried baby corns and roasted papads (papads are on the house). The list of mocktails was quite alluring and all of them were equally exotic. The baby corn dish was rightly spiced up and the hot, crispy papads on a chilly evening just added to the pleasure.

Time for main course- it was Subz ki Biriyani, Egg Pad Thai and the traditional Rotis for us with a Rajasthani style Mixed Vegetable Curry. The Biriyani was served with Vegetable Raita with a generous sprinkling of Chaat Masala and Mirchi ka Ras- a dark brown gravy with a whole lot of green chillies. To be very honest, it tasted like manna. The Pad Thai serving was quite generous with Vegetables and Rice Noodles neatly filled into an Egg Wrap. I cannot describe enough of its taste. We had yummy chilly pickle to go with the above. The rotis were soft and fresh and the Mixed Vegetable Curry was lip smacking to say the least.

We would have loved to take a generous go at the Dessert menu. Though all of us had the right bend of mind, none of us had enough space in our over sized tummies to take it. We ended up buying a Lemon cream cake (well, sort of, forgot its exact name) and shared it among all of us- It had rich cream with a squeezing of Lemon Juice and crushed cookies mixed with strawberry cream- Mix it all up and give it a try- you will land up straight away in heaven!

Food and ambience at Ebony scores very high on my rating. Considering the fact that you dont get to see many such places in Bangalore I would call Ebony good value for money. A decent meal for 2 would cost you between 1- 1.5 K. Strongly recommended especially for dinner and make sure you spend considerable time at the restaurant. Start early and come back late :-)

Noble Interiors beyond Glossy Exteriors

I personally think it is time we moved over the whole 9/11 debacle. Come to think of it, its been almost 8 years now and construction is fast progressing at the site right in the heart of New York. Every one has moved on and are trying to forget (if not forgive) what happened in the past. But our movie makers on this side of the globe are yet to get over the ill treatment meted out to Muslims in the US post 9/11. Lets hope this is the last one on the subject...

That said, New York is not half bad. It is quite watchable though the first half is comparatively dull and highly wordy, some of the scenes do not work (especially the reaction of the entire cast to the twin towers being bombed, thats a real spoiler!) and the lead cast does not exactly comprise of the best of actors.

John Abraham with his lethal torso and boyish grin is appealing but he has never been much of an actor and in spite of graphic scenes that show him being tortured by FBI for no rhyme or reason, your heart does not quite go out to him, thanks to his limited acting talent. Katrina Kaif looks fetching and that is no news! This is her best performance till date but she fails to look convincing as the mother of a 4- year old.

Irrfan Khan is a solid performer who has the ability to rise above any script and here also he does the same. If there is one actor who is likely to benefit immensely from this enterprise, it ought to be the blue eyed Neil Nithin Mukesh. He slips into the fresh, naive, innocent Omar in the first half like a glove and brings out the helplessness in the second half very clearly.

Another interesting performance is of John's assistant who was similarly harrassed by FBI and his rendition of his sufferings to Katrina will touch everyone's heart. The guy is definitely someone to watch out for!

I agree that Kabir Khan's intentions behind putting together something like New York is noble and this is much better than his previous outing "Kabul Express" which ended up being a documentary. However, Kabir fails to strike the right balance between glossiness and realism and ends up alienating the characters from the audience to a great extent. John and Neil do not make good classmates- the former easily looks a decade older than the latter! If he had chosen more talented actors instead of John and Katrina, may be the film would have ended up looking better.

Pritam's music is pedestrian and there are sequences you feel could have been trimmed down (Rameshwar S Bhagat is the editor). Aseem Mishra is successful in giving a glossy look to the film and Rocky S needs to be creditted to make his actors wear clothes that are really "wearable" (quite opposed to Yash Raj Culture). Technically, New York is as good as any other Yash Raj production but while walking out of the cinema hall, you cannot help but feeling that Kabir Khan did not use the potential of his script to the fullest...That said, New York is definitely a one time see...

Colonial Cousins @ JTPAC

I have been unpardonably late in coming up with this post considering the fact that I ended up taking 3 weeks to post what I thought about the Colonial Cousins' concert at JTPAC, Tripunithura.

And let me tell you in the first instance itself that for me, the concert was nothing more than average. Probably, I expected lot more from the talented duo. Probably, my expectations soared higher when I saw JTPAC jam packed for the first time. Probably, my energy levels started increasing when the otherwise emotionless crowd starting clapping, hooting and howling to the music of Colonial Cousins. And worst thing, probably (well, not really), I did not enjoy Hariharan's characteristic tampering of songs when he rendered them on stage.

I am not a great expert of any of the music forms- Carnatic, Hindustani, Ghazal, Fusion or Rock- forms that Hariharan claims to be an expert on. But I did feel that in many places while Hariharan added his own to the songs, his singing went off key and off pitch with the sangathis and the swara sthanam's moving totally out of control. The good thing was that the concert ended on a peak. Hariharan and Leslie started with their little known songs and kept the best for the last. They did a good job reproducing their best songs and the audience went home happy.

I was particularly happy with their rendition of "Krishna Nee Begana, Oho Kaizala and Something in the way you smile". Hariharan added his share of popular film songs as well- the opening lines of "Kallai Mattum" was particularly engrossing and so was the high energy "Chappa Chappa" which he chose to end the concert with. The classic "Uyirae" and the lilting "Walking in the Moonlight" did suffer partially from the Hariharan- on- stage syndrome. Leslie was comparatively better and used his guitar much more than his vocals. Stephen Devassy on his synthesizer contributed significantly to the duo and the rest of the crew were good enough.

I dont know how many of those who were present at the concert would agree when I say that the performance was at best mediocre, but I would still vote the Subramaniam's higher than the Colonial Cousins...

Try "Loony Life"...

Jaate Jaate let me tell you something if you are interested in reading "howlarious" stuff- Try reading Jaya Madhavan's column- Loony Life on the Indian Express Magazine- "I witness" every Sunday. The lady is hilarious to the core and I bet you will gather enough energy to last all through the week if the first thing you do on a Sunday morning is to read her column. Here is a sample for you...

Haath ki Safaai...

Its a bit too late to analyze the results of the 2009 Lok Sabha Elections but what tempts me to write this piece is the extent of excitement and happiness that I felt when I saw the composition of the cabinet this time. Let me declare that I have never been a great supporter of Congress or UPA. Like any other Political Party in India, they have also been into vote bank politics, dynasty politics, caste politics, corruption and every other vice that you would associate a Political Party with. But this time around, Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh have provided reassurance to the youth of the country that the future of the country is in safe hands at least for the next 5 years. If you are not sure, sample this:

• Our Prime Minister undoubtedly is the most educated Prime Minister in the World. With his expertise of Economy and Finance, he is just what the doctor prescribed in tough times like this!
• Our Finance Minister is another veteran- a leader with a clean image who is going strong in spite of being septugenerian. He has an able assistant in the ministry and with a brainy Planning Commission Deputy Chairman to his aide, I am sure the Union Budget that is going to be out in a few days will have a lot of things for the common man to cheer about
• Look at the young blood that has been infused into the various ministries- Shashi Tharoor, Sachin Pilot, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Milind Deora, Agatha Sangma, Kumari Shelja, Dayanidhi Maran, Napoleon, the list is endless. It helps that none of them are Cabinet Ministers, they are either MoS or ministers with independent charge. A good training ground to take on higher responsibilites next time
• Just take a glance at the mix of youth and experience in the various ministries- SM Krishna- Shashi Tharoor, Pranab Mukherjee- Mullappally Ramachandran, Sharad Pawar- K V Thomas- almost all ministries that matter have been handed over to able duo. This is more than encouraging!
• The share of the supporting parties in the Cabinet have come down. Agreed, the Centre did bow down to a certain extent to the demands of DMK Supremo but if people like Dayanidhi being back in the ministry, I dont think there is any reason to complain
• Purists may scoff at the extent of 2nd generation representation in the Lok Sabha, but I personally feel this is the way since all these young turks not only boast of pedigree, they also boast of good education, modern outlook and most importantly, they need not lay their hands on the Khajaana since all of them have seen money from ever since they can remember
• I personally liked the portfolios handed over to A K Antony, Pranab Mukherjee and S M Krishna- they definitely are the best men for their respective jobs.

On the flip side, you have Deedi not getting along well with her deputies, Veerappa Moily being in the cabinet and playing vote bank, caste and gender politics when it came to electing the Speaker of the house, but when I look at the larger picture, I feel this government is going to stay put for the next 5 years and if they can meet the mighty expectations of a billion people and bring the economy back on track, its going to be "Haath Ki Safaai" in 2014...

Multiplexes v Producers- The Stalemate Ends...

A genuine lover of Bollywood like me had a tough time all through this summer. The reason was not just the sweltering heat, it was also the famine that we experienced across cinema halls for the past 2 months. Thanks to the Multiplexes v Producers stalemate that extended well over 60 days, there was an absolutely dry spell across the country. Even music channels failed miserably in attracting audiences and all those reality shows of getting gorgeous or vying for a hunk's attention did not reflect in TRP's. Many Singleplexes closed down for renovation and Multiplexes were relying on IPL 2 and re run of hits from the past 2 years which are anyways all over sattelite channels during weekends. The producers and multiplexes finally reached an amicable settlement- as opposed to 50% during the first 3 weeks which was the original demand, now it stands reduced to 50%, 45% and 40% during the first 3 weeks, it seems. I am not too sure about the statistics and I really dont care how they share the profits. I am looking at this issue purely from the point of view of a fan of Bollywood- Look at what the viewer has lost! Last summer we had a plethora of releases (so what if most of them were substandard, at least we had something to watch!) and this summer we had nothing, absolutely nothing. Summers are considered to be the season of blockbusters in Bollywood. Did the learned producers and distributors failed to understand that? Look at the kind of money that they locked up in the name of profit sharing. Could they not have arrived at a consensus much earlier? Most importantly, how are all these biggies going to be released now? What is the strategy and how are they planning to prevent movies eating into each other's business? With the skyrocketing ticket charges, they obviously cannot expect the viewer to shell money on everything that releases. That leaves the choice with the audience and now its time to see which of those biggies is going to earn the big bucks at the box office window! My take on the whole issue is that the parties involved should have considered the trade in general and the hapless audience in particular. With tough times all around, the audience would have definitely flocked to theatres to watch entertaining cinema. With the entire vacation period left unexploited, I am sure many of the moneybags in the industry are going to turn paupers when their holed up movies see the light of the day. Lets hope that this is the first and the last time something like this happens to the industry... And dont miss to catch New York, Kambhakht Ishq and Love Aaj Kal in the theatres- all 3 of them look promising :-)

A Tribute to Kamala Das

I know I am no one in particular to write about Kamala Das but then everyone who has read her prose or poetry would definitely have something to say about her for that is the kind of impression her writings leave on the reader. I dont remember another writer who was equally adept at writing in English as well as her mother tongue (an Indian language, in this case, Malayalam). Her prose and poetry in both the languages conveyed to the reader her deep knowledge, understanding and the vast vocabulary of hers in both the languages.

The language apart, another aspect that characterized her writing is the free spiritedness of her prose and poetry. "My Story" and "Summer in Calcutta" are classic examples. She never succumbed to the fake morality that is so characteristic of Malayalees and never shied away from putting her honest thoughts into words . Probably, the first writer in Malayalam to write so descriptively about the physicality and sexual desires of human beings, she never considered anything taboo but never compromised on class. Her writings had not even a tinge of vulgarity which is commendable. If she came across as the fiery feminist in some of her writings, she was also the calm, home loving, conventional woman lost in nostalgia as is evident from "Neermathalam Pootha Kaalam". Be it Novel, Column, Poetry, Articles or Short Stories, Kamala left a strong mark on whatever form of writing she attempted.

The numerous awards and accolades that came her way stand testimony to this. Her association with "Pambaram" was a rude shock to the self imposed custodians of morality in Kerala and her unsuccessful foray into Politics took many by surprise. During her sunset days, she suddenly declared her decision to convert to Islam and became Kamala Suraiyya overnight. Behind that tough exterior of a strong, self willed woman, there existed a gentle heart that craved for love, recognition and happiness! Love was all that she stood for and she could never hate anyone- even those who strongly opposed her writings. Her cordial relationship with all of her contemporaries in the field of literature proves this.

Kamala might have left for the heavenly abode but her writings will remain well etched in the minds of all her readers. The celebrated writer who almost won the Nobel Prize for Literature is not among us any more but through "Baalyakaalasmaranakal", "Nashtapetta Neelambari" and many other works, she will remain in our hearts forever. Here is a salute to the woman who lived her life on her own terms. Kamala will continue to inspire many generations of writers through her literature...

Friends, Weddings and Child Births!

Weekends are turning out to be busier than ever as I and a friend of mine realized yesterday evening. Every weekend we are either smiling and getting introduced to a friend's wife at their wedding or listening patiently to another friend's experience either in person or over e mail on how difficult it is to change nappies and how irritated you feel when your slumber is disturbed right in the middle of the night with the shrill cries of your offspring! And that is not all, we do have a third category of friends- the ones who are waiting for their wives to get into the labor room and finish off that ritual- that one thing that they are all waiting for with bated breath- the arrival of their first offspring!

And here we are, the 2 of us, 18 going on 30's still wandering around the city and hitting its hip and happening joints, catching up with books and movies, discussing sports and politics and many other unprintable things with complete disregard for the families' pleas to get booked, hooked and finally (over) cooked!!! The only solace is that we are not alone, we have half a dozen more in our category- the big difference is that they want to get married and are desperately trying to find a girl of their choice but we have no such intentions as yet :-)

All said and done, it is good to share some one else's happiness and sorrows as soon as that person is interested in the kind of life he is living. I would not say that in my opinion, that is the best way to live one's life yet, I am yet to get bored with my bachelor status. In fact I love everything associated with it- the freedom of speech, action, decision making, enjoying without any bounds, not being have to be nice to all and sundry, you know, the works...These are all too important for me for the time being to make a compromise and settle into matrimony! I am a good listener to all stories that my friends have to tell me about wedding and the life after. I contribute to the multiple e mails to the group from members announcing either their wedding or the arrival of their first, second or nth offspring. I congratulate them on the occassion and make it a point to comment on the photographs. I attend all functions I am invited to but when it comes to my own life, I am yet to show the green signal! In fact, I am still showing RED and am nowhere close to even AMBER...

Onto the Sports Arena!

This summer has been celebration time for all genuine lovers of sports- IPL 2, followed by Rolland Garros and now onto IPL T/20 World Cup- there has been enough to lap up for the genuine sports enthusiast! IPL 2 started slow but started getting better and better as it progressed. By the time of semi- finals, it had seen quite a few ups and downs. Chennai and Delhi which were considered the super contenders for the title had to bow down and the inevitable finals had Hyderabad pitted against Bangalore! The stakes were high for Bangalore but in the end Gilchrist lead his team to victory while bagging the "Man of the Series" himself. Till IPL 2 happened, T/20 was considered the "young" thing but Gilly, Hayden, Sachin and Kumble proved that wrong and how- probably this was the biggest lesson that IPL 2 taught us!

Rolland Garros was not free of surprises either. All eyes were on Rafa to lift the trophy for the consecutive 5th time and create a world record of sorts but it was another gentlman who equalled another record- of winning 14 grand slam titles just like Pete Sampras and the man in question was Roger Federer who finally lifted the French Open Title that has been eluding him ever since he jumped into the international arena! Soderling who upset Rafa tried his best to match Federer's skills with the racket but had to bow down to the king himself! The competition in the category of the fairer sex was also as intense and finally, Dinara Safina had to bow down to Svetlana Kuznestova who lifted her first French Open Trophy! Sania Mirza did very little to make us Indians proud but that was more or less compensated by Leander Paes who lifted the doubles trophy- exciting times those were...

And now the focus is completely on ICC T/20 World Cup on at England- Whether or not India will make it past the Super Eight will be decided tonight when they meet the hosts. India is definitely not playing the champions game this time- sample that difficult win over Bangladesh and that pitiable show opposite the West Indies. South Africa is in crackling form and so are the Lankans! Pakistan did the unimaginable by scoring over the Kiwis- only time can tell who will make it to the Semis.

I am looking at SA, Lanka, New Zealand and West Indies in the Semis. That would make the Semis and the Finals interesting! If it is WI v SA in the finals, I really dont care who wins at the end out of the 2 deserving teams that have not made any big news for quite sometime now. Lets keep our fingers crossed...

Crying Foul while Playing the Fool...

I am still wondering how T V Chandran had the gumption to claim that the Kerala State Film Award Jury was afraid of Adoor Gopalakrishnan. They should ideally be afraid of Chandran himself and the kind of movies he is churning out (2 movies of T V Chandran were in the race for the awards this year!). The only reason I thought of catching "Vilaapangalkkappuram" in a theatre was because I did not have anything else in particular to do and while sitting through this movie (which felt painfully long even at 100 odd minutes), I thought I could have spent the time on sleep rather than this moronic work of art! The communal and political exploitation of a rape victim has been the favorite theme for Indian filmmakers ever since the parallel cinema movement started in India (20 years before yours faithfully was born!) and it is high time our filmmakers moved over the Godhra riots of 2002 (I am not commenting on the social responsibilities of a film maker and all that crap. To me, cinema is either good or bad and in this case, it is unpardonably bad!) The problem with Vilaapangalkkappuram is its incohesive script and characters that lack a rooting or a graph. What was the point in bringing in Biju Menon- how does he contribute to the larger picture? And what is a talented actor like Suhasini Manirathnam doing- mouthing the same dialogues and wearing the same expression over and over again? My heart went out to Thilakan who puts in the worst performance of his career. As for others- Rosilin, M R Gopakumar, Nandu, Sudheesh, V K Sreeraman, Zeenath, Praveena- well they all come and go! I did not particularly like Priyanka Nair's performance either- she was behaving like a psychopath in the climax and I dont understand how that character could muster enough courage to leave the hospital and have faith in the character played by Tilakan especially after the trauma that she has gone through... Chandran has always been a strong feminist and has made much better films in the past- Mangamma, Alicinte Anveshanam, Susanna, Paadam Onnu Oru Vilaapam- where his ladies played strong, deep rooted characters. In comparison, Vilaapangalkkappuram is nothing but a few shots stitched together in the name of cinema that causes embarrassment to everyone associated with it including the hapless viewer who thinks about giving it a try!

Kerala State Film Awards 2008

With much fanfare, the Kerala State Film Awards for 2008 have been announced and thankfully, there have not been many controversies. T V Chandran did cry foul and veteran actor Thilakan joined him but considering the kind of accolades Adoor Gopalakrishnan has been receiving from all over the world, we will have to conclude that Chandran has been hit by pangs of jealousy and Thilakan is getting slightly senile as testified by fellow actors of the Malayalam Film Industry. As usual, most of the awards went to movies that the public has not yet seen- Oru Pennum Randu Aanum, Bhoomi Malayalam, Vilaapangalkkappuram and Bioscope bagged most of the 29 awards and none of them has had a theatrical release (Except Vilaapangalkkappuram that was released a couple of weeks after the awards were announced) Since I am not a privilaged movie goer I have not had a chance to take a peek at any of the movies listed above but I am particularly aghast at a couple of awards- the most prominent being awarding "Innathe Chinthavishayam" as the most popular film with aesthetic appeal. Now, this is one movie that made its scriptwriter- director Sathyan Anthicaud quite unpopular and look at those badly shot song sequences and preachy dialogues- you call that aesthetic appeal? The State Award Jury seems to be particularly kind to Anthicaud this honor coming in consecution to the highly undeserving best scriptwriter award for "Vinodayathra" (Its heart was in the right place but its script was all over the place!) I was shell shocked to know that Shankar Mahadevan won the best male playback singer award for "Kalyana Kacheri" from Maadambi- that badly written, badly shot and awfully sung song up for an award- give me a break!!! Thankfully, Lal and Anoop Menon bagged well deserved awards for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor respectively. Its such a great feeling to know that the jury did not get carried away by the clout of Mohanlal and Mamootty who have been churning out mediocre to bad performances with a certain regularity over the past few years... It is difficult to rate the jury as good, bad or average considering the fact that most of the awards went to films that the public had not seen. If it was not for those couple of awards that went to undeserving hands, I would have called it fairly "fair" this time around...

Visit to Naalambalam

Those of you who know me personally would agree that I am not the temple visiting type or the conventionally pious type though I have always had deep faith in God! Part of it has also to do with the course I studied and the long and untimely working hours associated with it as well as the current job. My sojourns outside India also added its share of fuel to the fire.

So when the extended family declared that we had to take this trip to 4 major temples in Central Kerala I was quite happy to be part of the group. For once, it had been a really long time since I visited any temple and the 4 temples we had zeroed in on were very famous and ones I had visited as a kid!

Off we were on a Sunday morning- 9 of us barely fitting into a Tavera which was air conditioned just for name's sake braving the burning summer heat and our first destination was Kodungalloor after the beautiful journey via Vyppeen and Paravoor covering the Goshree bridges. I had plans of visiting Kodungalloor ever since I was down with a bout of Chicken Pox. It is generally considered to be auspicious and good for one's health to visit the Kodungalloor Bhagavathi after you are cured of Chicken Pox. Well, Chicken Pox was a good 2 years earlier, but better late than never.

Or, so I thought but Bhagavathi was not kind enough. We were encountered by long queues outside the temple at 8 in the morning. Apparently, someone had made the temple surroundings Ashudham and there was a cleaning up pooja in progress. Since we had in our plan to visit 3 more temples, we decided to meet Bhagavathi sometime in future or rather Bhagavathi decided we were not worthy of a darshan this time!

We were luckier with our next destinations though. The second in row was the only temple in India dedicated to Bharatha- one of the 4 brothers in the Ramayana situated in the holy town of Irinjalakuda in Thrissur District- the imposing architectural marvel that is Koodalmanickyam. Renowned all over Kerala and among Malayalees all over the world for the massive Temple pond and the majestic Koothambalam, Koodalmanickyam temple is enchanting to say the least.

The temple situated in a huge plot has lots of open area, the neatly done Pradakshina vazhi and a lot of Upa moorthies around the sanctum sanctorum. The Kuleepani Theertham or the temple pond is believed to have the presence of River Ganga and mythology has it that a group of sages had offered prayers to River Ganga to absorb the land on which their Yaagashaala stood and this became the Temple pond. The many fishes in the pond are considered to be incarnations of the Devas and the pond is not used for bathing. Its crystal clear water shines in the bright sunlight and the sight of the beautiful fishes is soothing :-)

Unfortunately for us the pradakshina vazhi around the Theertham was closed and hence we could not make that pradakshinam which we all wanted to make. The darshanam of Lord Bharatha was grand since there was not much crowd in the temple and all of us felt happy visiting the temple after donkey's years!

After grabbing a quick bite (Masala Dosa, Vada, Kaapi- typical South Indian breakfast!) at Hotel Woodlands near the Temple Nada, off we were to visit my namesake- Lord Ram at Thriprayar. A temple that is fairly crowded almost throughout the year is located on the banks of Thriprayar and is always buzzing with activity- Vedi Vazhipaadu being one of the most important! After the customary darshan at the temple which lasted for a little less than 30 seconds thanks to the crowd, off we were to see the thoni in which the deity is taken around in the river during the festival season! After a highly satisfying visit and darshan at Triprayar, our next destination was the most frequented temple of Kerala.

Yes, you guessed it right! We were to visit Unni Kannan at Sree Krishna Temple, Guruvayoor. This is one temple that needs no introduction to South Indians. The massive temple is one of the most famous pilgrimage spots in South India and is inundated with devotees throughout the year. The number of hotels in Guruvayoor is evidence enough (It is another thing that none of them serve forget good, even decent food. Our experience at lunch was horrendous to say the least!) for the kind of money that the town generates thanks to the Lord.

With the vaastha we had at the temple and due to grandma's inability to spend long hours in the queue (due to her old age!), we were fortunate to get special entry to the temple. As usual, the temple was teeming with devotees and looked more like a railway platform. The mid summer mid day heat was unbearable and people were sweating like anything! The 20- odd second darshanam however was truly worth all the wait. Unni Kannan was done up beautifully in sandalwood paste and you could feel the divinity in the sanctum sanctorum. We bought Paalpayasam, Malaru and Sugar from the Vazhipaadu counter considering the sweet tooth that we share with the lord himself and off we were in about an hour's time after completing the Thulabharam for my cousin sister!

The final destination was my grandma's ancestral home at Ponnani in Malappuram District. Grandma, Ma and Uncle were ecstasic on meeting their cousins and after exchanging the customary pleasantries (which include the usual high voltage drama- tears, reunion, talking of old times, very, very Bollywood!), all of them became those wild kids of the post and the wild kids of today (yours faithfully including) had a blast listening to them. My grand aunt who I thought was ailing looked pretty hearty and healthy to me and spend some moments with her as well as around the sprawling house.

It was close to pack up time when we decided to visit the nearest Thrikkavu Bhagavathy Temple- the small, divine and fabulous temple close home. The Bhagavathy in the sanctum sanctorum looked celestial, the Saraswathy Mandapam providing the rightly peaceful atmosphere. The daily visitors were involved in lighting the chuttuvilakku and making thechi poo garlands for the deity- the sight of the unspoilt Kerala villagers gave me a high! It was with this feeling of happiness that we ventured on to the Azhimugham or the beach near the fisherman's village. Arabian Sea was not particularly furious but not really peaceful either- after almost half an hour of playing around at the beach we were back home for an early dinner of hot Kozhukkattas with Chutney, Puli Inchi, Poricha Kuzhambu and Pazhani Panchamrutham to add further to the taste!

By the time we were back home, hardly any of us could breathe. The long day and the long journey had taken its complete toll on us and the heavy rains on the way back had made navigation difficult briefly but all of us were happy- after all it was a family reunion after a very long time and a very productive, pious and enjoyable trip with one's clan!

Here is looking forward to some more of these :-)

Dinner at the Travancore Court...

Play, Movies and on to my all time favorite topic- Food! The occassion was the visit of my Uncle and family from Chattisgarh and being the absolute foodies that we are, we decided to go out for a buffett dinner with the entire family- grandma, ma, me, sis, unc, aunt, kids, a cousin and her daughter- 10 of us and the kind of gang in which a normal person would find it difficult to decipher who is the craziest!

We zeroed in on Travancore Court- Underground parking, a Mohanlal venture and a place that none of us (with the exception of yours faithfully!) had been to before. Table reservation was made in the morning itself and there we were at sharp 8.30 PM without even caring about the torrential rainfall outside!

The hotel suffers from lack of space but the architects have made sure that utilized space available to the maximum. The revolving door at the reception is quite nice and a novelty among Kochi hotels. The lobby with its heavy antique furniture made of Eetty gives you that feeling of royalty. The neatly maintained and scarcely frequented Coffee Shop is the ideal place to read a book while sipping a cup of hot coffee and the Dining Hall in the first floor (Restaurant is named East India Company, kinda cute, ryt?) is majestic and sprawling.

The huge table that was reserved for us was quite inviting and so was the sumptous spread on offer. Appam, Roti, Naan and Kappa were the breads. Fried Rice, Pasta and Noodles filled up the Rice/ Noodles section. Dal Fry, Vegetable Stew, Gobi Curry, Thoran, Sambhar, Mixed Vegetable Curry etc filled up the vegetarian section and for the NV's, fish, chicken, mutton, pork and beef were on offer. The Tomato Shorba was nothing great and ditto for the starter which was quite so- so. But the Main Course was tasty, fresh and comprised of quite a few new dishes. The salad bar was adequately stocked and the Four Bean Salad was a big success!!!

The dessert section had assorted Indian Sweets, Pastry, Payasam, Gulab Jamun with Ice Cream and the customary sauces. The souffle was mind blowing! At Rs.300 + taxes per person, Travancore Court buffett is quite reasonable considering the number of dishes on offer. For kids in the 5- 12 year group, one needs to pay Rs.180 + tax. The best thing about the buffet is the low masala, salt and chilli content which does not make you feel uneasy even if you binge on the food on offer!

The hotel scores very high on the cleanliness quotient and the service quotient. The photographs of Travancore and Kochi Maharajas of yore adorn the walls of this beautifully designed building and gives one a sense of deja vu'. I would recommend Travancore Court for its healthy food and old world ambience- 2 good reasons to pay at least one visit :-)

Shaadi@Barbaadi.com

At the very outset, thanks to all of you who posted comments asking for my take on Shaadi@Barbaadi.com and apologize for the delay in posting this. I was quite preoccupied for the past 3 weekends and did not find enough time to post anything.

So, here we go! Shaadi @ Barbaadi.com is a hilarious take on married life and the saas- bahu relationship. There is nothing new on offer. In fact, most of the gags are the kind you have read earlier on E mail forwards or SMS. However, what makes it interesting is the spontainity of the performers and the break neck speed at which incidents after incidents, gags after gags are brought on stage.

Paresh Rawal is a riot and with his team of 2 male actors and 3 female actors, the highly talented Rawal has provided us with a laugh riot! It is 2.5 hours of pure, unadulterated fun and Paresh's take on the Gujrati household fits well into the stories and jokes that are in circulation about the clan. The idea of having the male and female Soothradhar who come and speak to the audience in between sequences is novel and adds to the masti! The gags involving the misplaced Kadai, Paresh mistaking his mother's moaning for Chinese and Paresh's conclusion that there should not be a "Ba" in Gujju families stay back with you days after you watch the play in action.

I personally had a blast at JT PAC with Shaadi...though the only disappointment was Swaroop Sampath not showing up at Kochi! That said, Rawal's excellent writing, directing and dialogue delivery skills were on display and with the support of an extremely talented team, he made it a truly memorable evening for the audience :-)

Veruthe Oru Cinema!

I cannot simply stop cursing the moment I decided to add the DVD of "Veruthe Oru Bharya" to my collection and I am still wondering what is it that made me watch this crap today itself after sitting through a wonderfully made classic.

I do not know how many fellow Keralites would agree but I would say that this is the worst piece of Cinema to have come out in recent times. It is regressive, hypocritical and pseudo- intellectual to say the least and K Gireesh Kumar- Akku Akbar duo's attempts at recreating the Sreenivasan- Sathyan Anthicaud magic falls flat on its face and is a classic example of how an interesting yarn can be made into a difficult- to- sit through cinema.

The idea of the lady of the house going on a strike to teach her chauvinistic husband a lesson is extremely interesting but the hackeneyed script and the lacklustre direction disappoints. And when I say it is bad, it is so bad that you feel like hooting at the attempts of Jayaram and Gopika to pull this through. Most of the scenes are irritating to say the least and some of the highly irritating ones are- the whole sequence of the Veegaland- Kodaikanal excursion, Rahman and Ganesh Kumar putting in guest appearances as a Police Inspector and Psychiatrist respectively and trying in vain to mouth those preachy dialogues realistically, the sequences at the wedding reception of Jayaram's colleague and Jayaram's outburst at his brother- in- law's wedding reception. And mind you, these are only a few of the irritating moments!

The saving grace is that 3 odd minute song sequence with Jayaram and Gopika where the actor does a neat job of imitating different stars- from Prem Nazir to Suresh Gopi with a great degree of success. It is better you watch the song sequence on a Satellite channel than sit through this inanity! I suggest a re run of Thalayanamanthram or Sasneham, VOB is a strict no- no!!!

Hitting the Right Notes...

K Balachander is the kind of director who has given us movies that we will cherish for years together and "Sindhu Bhairavi" is one of the most prominent among them. My earliest memory of the movie is watching it in a moving bus while I was traveling from Bangalore to Kochi along with my parents and that was sometime in 1986, a good old 23 years back. I had the good fortune to watch it once again sometime during the late 80's/ early 90's when DD Thiruvananthapuram telecasted the movie on a Saturday morning. I did not understand much of the movie except the mesmerising sound track that has stayed with me ever since.

I have been hunting for the VCD/ DVD of this movie for quite sometime and finally managed to grab a copy 2 weeks back. And here I was sitting in front of my television screen after popping the VCD of this much acclaimed movie into my DVD player!

There is no point writing about the story line of a film released more than 2 decades ago and which is very well considered a classic by lovers of genuine cinema. Watching a movie 25 odd years later definitely makes you think in a different direction than what you would have when you saw it for the first time. That is precisely what happened with me this morning.

Though Sindhu Bhairavi deals with the story of a Padmashree awarded renowned singer J K Balaganapathy (Sivakumar, probably the only time he has attempted some acting in his decades long career), the characters of J K B, Sindhu (Suhasini in her first and only National Award winning role till date) and Bhairavi (Sulakshana playing one of the very few characters that clearly exhibits her immense talent) are real people with real emotions; strengths and weaknesses that you would normally associate with human beings compared to the protagonists of modern day cinema who are so good and puritan that you feel they are less human and more celestial.

The few important sequences which I feel raised this film to the level of a classic are:

• The idea of naming the leading ladies as Sindhu and Bhairavi- 2 prominent raagas of Carnatic Music and when they merge together, they form Sindhu Bhairavi- a 3rd raaga. It is highly imaginative of KB to have named his women so since both the ladies have to come together to recreate music in JKB's life
• The characerization of Sindhu and Bhairavi- how they play perfect foil to each other. Bhairavi is the docile, conventional, pious housewife as opposed to the bold, strong, educated, outspoken and highly intelligent Sindhu. It is also interesting to see how Bhairavi's character graph progresses throughout the movie. Her strong opposition to Sindhu when she learns that Sindhu is JKB's mistress and her helplessness while she approaches Sindhu to help her out with reforming JKB and finally her selfless love for JKB that comes to the fore when she herself arranges for her husband's wedding with Sindhu. KB's women have always been strong but Sindhu and Bhairavi take this another step forward
• Mesmerizing supporting cast comprising of Manimala, Delhi Ganesh, Veeraraghavan, Janakaraj and Kavithalayaa Krishnan. Manimala brings to life the crisis that she goes through when she learns that Sindhu is her own daughter born out of wedlock. Delhi Ganesh is superb in almost all scenes that he features in- especially when he plays the mridangam outside JKB's home when JKB asks him to leave the concert as he comes drunk and also when he puts up a drunkard act in front of JKB to persuade him to stop meeting Sindhu. Veeraraghavan provides the most humurous sequence in the movie when he explains to Sindhu how he will provide different music to the same lyrics when it is filmed on different actors. Janakaraj as the compulsive liar is the vidooshaka of the whole drama. The arguement that Kavithalayaa Krishnan has with Veeraraghavan over Aarabhi and Devagandhaari is interesting
• The sheer poetry that flows out through Vairamuthu's pen- Paadariyen Padippariyean, Kalaivaaniye and Naanoru Sindhu are lessons for aspiring lyric writers. Vairamuthu's astounding ability to bring to life the thoughts of his characters through his words is clearly evident here
• The brilliance and genius of that gifted singer K S Chithra- this was probably the first time she was singing Tamil songs and just give an ear to the clarity with which she pronounces the profound words. It is no wonder that 3 of her 6 National Awards have been for Tamil songs and not for songs in her mother tongue
• K J Yesudas is at his best. His deep knowledge of Carnatic Music has been put to abundant use by Ilaiyaraaja
• Ilaiyaraaja in his National Award winning avtaar as the Music Director. The Maestro's deep knowledge of music is evident in the way Paadariyen has been cleverly merged with Mari Mari Ninne. "Manathil Uruthi Vendum" is another deft composition where the beauty of Bharathi's words have been enhanced by the simple orchestration. And did you know that "Mahaganapathim" sounds better without the Mrudangam?
• K Balachander's supreme directorial skills- watch out for how he undresses the Tampura and the Mrudangam to depict the physicality in JKB's relationship with Sindhu; or how he explains days passing by through shots of Newspapers and periodicals being delivered at Sindhu's door; or how he uses that song sequence of "Un Dayavu Illaiya" to depict JKB falling hopelessly in love with Sindhu. Probably the only weak link in the script is the characterization of Prathap Pothan who has his one way love affair going with Sindhu. The script never bothers to explain what happens of that character and it remains an angle the movie could have done without. I personally did not approve of the sequence where JKB breaks his Tampura when he learns that his friends had asked Sindhu to leave the city. The arguement might be that it was necessary to show the human side of the great singer but breaking the Tampura was making it a tad too cinematic!
• And finally for the whole idea that KB and Ilaiyaraaja put forth through Sindhu- that of rendering Nattu Pattu in Sangeetha Sabhas. I can imagine the kind of hue and cry purists would have made 25 years back for even mentioning such an idea. And look at how things have changed in the past 5 years or so- Bombay Jayashree, Mahathi, Unnikrishnan and Sudha Raghunathan have no qualms singing for hardcore commerical masala movies along with their regular renditions at the Sabhas and the audience is not complaining either. Talk about being ahead of one's times and I don't think there has been anyone like KB in Indian Cinema who has really done that!

To all those who have not seen the classic yet, all I can tell you is you don't know what you are missing!