As general public we read & think more of big tragic events like 9/11 or Mumbai 26/11. But due to their near-common, frequent nature we hardly think about everyday tragedies that Security Forces in War Zones like IRAQ or Afghanistan undergo. “The Hurt Locker” movie is an attempt to address that awareness creation. It is about a US Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team during the Iraq War. I came to know about the movie due to its nomination to this year awards. The story sounded interesting and I believe there have been very few movies about the ongoing IRAQ or Afghanistan War (many documentaries exist, but rarely many movies). The movie is directed by Kathryn Bigelow and story by Mark Boal, a freelance writer who was embedded with a bomb squad.

After watching the movie today, I should say the movie seems to be a honest attempt at telling the story as it is on ground. The scene were a local man strapped with timer explosives around him, all of them secured with steel bars and locks that prevent removal in time was a very moving one.  Doesn’t seem to have lot of “Hollywood” effects added normally for better story telling. Doesn’t go into flash back of characters and tries hard to stick to the factual line as closely as possible. A must watch for any Movie Buff and for anyone remotely interested in understanding the modern day warfare against terrorism in our world.

I was trying to get tickets to this movie in Satyam Cinemas for few weeks now, few days back I managed to book for today’s 11:30AM show.  “Avatar” the movie was awesome and the 3D effects were not force-fitted, so they blended naturally into the scenes. The concept of a new world, a new planet the “Pandora” is very convincing and thought-provoking, so I was not surprised when I found that there was a Wikipedia for Pandora called “Pandora Pedia”

Great job by James Cameron and his team. Congratulations!

I know this movie came few years back, but I managed to see it only today. The movie is one of the few made on what happened on the tragic September 11, 2001. United 93 is about the events aboard United Airlines Flight 93, which was hijacked during the September 11, 2001 attacks. The film attempts to recount as much as possible and was supposed to made with the full cooperation of all the families of the passengers.

While watching the movie you are certainly to feel “moved” and “emotional”. Even with such a powerful background to work with the Director has done his best by not dramatizing or glorifying any individual. Certainly a must movie to watch if you are curious on what happened on 9/11.

Just like most of the Hollywood movies I have watched in recent years, I saw this movie (The Time Traveler’s Wife) too on a long-distance flight. This was on my return flight from SFO to Hong Kong in Cathay Pacific – on Business class they have a nice selection of movie, TV shows, a 17” LCD screen and a full-flat bed.

As someone who has watched lot of Star Trek episodes,  the idea of Time Travel was familiar to me, so I was inquisitive after seeing the title of this movie. The movie is about “A love story about a man with a genetic disorder that causes him to time travel unpredictably, and about his wife, an artist, who has to cope with his frequent absences and dangerous experiences”. The story has been told by the Director quite nicely and he brings out the emotional pain of a wife with a husband who keeps disappearing suddenly. In one instance, just before their marriage, the Bridegroom in his 20s disappears and reappears just seconds before marriage in his 40s.

A nice movie to watch if you like the idea of Time Travel, otherwise can be pretty confusing to follow!

Though Lagaan was a very popular Hindi movie that came early this decade, I haven’t seen it so far. I bought the collector’s edition of the DVD few years back, but it has been sleeping in my CD rack. Today with the rains in Chennai, I was not able to go out, so I watched this movie.

The first impression anyone seeing the film is that it is an excellent movie, must see. Initially I was worried on how I will sit through for a Three-and-Half hour movie, but the director & actors keep the interest level high all the time. The other significant things that impresses you is A.R.Rahman’s brilliant background score, the choreography and the dialogs.

I had purchased the DVD of this movie “An American Affair” sometime back, but never watched it till today. I can’t recall on why I bought this movie as I haven’t heard or read about it; nor I could recognize from the names any of the actors of the movie. The only reason I can think of is probably I thought the movie was about Marilyn Monroe. It turned out to be not. The movie set in 1963 was about adolescent attraction of a school boy to his new neighbour - a pretty lady who has relationship with then U.S. President John F.Kennedy.

I try hard but nothing I am able to remember or say that is great about the movie. A boring movie with an average coverage of a Thirteen-year-old boy’s adolescent yearnings.

வார விடுமுறை, என் சகோதரிகள் மற்றும் அவர்களின் பிள்ளைகள் வந்திருந்தார்கள். பேசிக் கொண்டிருந்தப் போது திடிரேனயுதித்த யோசனையின்று சினிமாவிற்கு போகலாமென்று. எதிர்ப்பார்த்த மாதிரி சத்தியம்/ஐனாக்ஸ் திரையரங்களில் டிக்கெட் இல்லை. இணையத்தில் பார்த்ததில் மயாஜாலில் 3:10 காட்சிக்கு டிக்கெட் கிடைத்தது. காரை எடுத்துக் கொண்டு தி.தி. என்று மாம்பலத்திலிருந்து கிழக்கு கடற்கரை சாலை (30 கி.மி.) சென்றோம். எங்கள் பயணம் வீண் போகவில்லை, கமல் ஏமாற்றவில்லை. ஒரு நல்ல படத்தை அழகாக கொடுத்துள்ளார். ரொம்ப இழுக்காமல், முன்கதைகளுக்குச் செல்லாமல் ஒன்னே முக்கால் மணியளவில் ஒரு ஆங்கிலப்பட பாணியில் படத்தை கொடுத்துள்ளார் இயக்குனர் சக்கிரி டோளேட்டி. மோகன்லால் அலட்டிக் கொல்லாமல் தன் பாத்திரத்தைச் செய்துள்ளார். வசனம் சில வாரங்களுக்கு முன் நான் படித்து ரொம்பவே ரசித்த மூன்று விரல் புத்தகத்தின் ஆசிரியர் இரா.முருகன் தான், நச்சென்று ஆழமாகவும் ஆழகாகவும் இருந்தது. அனைவருக்கும் பாராட்டுக்கள்.

படத்தின் விமர்சனத்தை ஏற்கனவே பலர் தங்களின் வலைப்பூக்களில் என்னை விட நன்றாக சொல்லிவிட்டதால் அதன் முகவரிகள் இங்கே: Cable சங்கர் வலைப்பக்கம், Prakash வலைப்பக்கம், விவசாயி வலைப்பக்கம்.

உன்னைப் போல் ஒருவன் – நல்ல படம், பார்க்க வேண்டியப் படம்.

ஒரு நல்ல தலைப்பை, ஒரு (பழைய) நல்ல படத்தின் பெயரை இப்படி ஒரு சுமாரான படமெடுத்து கெடுக்காமலிருந்திருக்கலாம்.

ஒரே கல்லூ‌ரியில் படித்தவர்கள் எட்டு ஆண்டுகளுக்குப் பின் மீண்டும் அதே கல்லூரியில் ஒன்று சேர்கிறார்கள், அப்போது ஒரு கொலை முயற்சி, அதற்குப் பின்னால் முன்பு நடந்த ஒரு கொலை, காதல்.  படிக்க சுவாரஸியமாக தெ‌ரியும் இந்த‌க் கதை தான் ‘நினைத்தாலே இனிக்கும்’ - மலையாளத்தில் வெளியான கிளாஸ்மேட் படத்திலிருந்து எடுத்தது. ஒரு நல்ல கதையை எப்படி எடுக்கக் கூடாது என்பதற்கு மிகச் சிறந்த உதாரணமாக இந்தப் படத்தை சொல்லலாம்.

எட்டு வருடங்களுக்குப் பிறகு சந்திக்கும் கதாபாத்திரங்களின் தோற்றங்களில் எந்த மாற்றமும் இல்லை. ஷக்தியை ஏன் எல்லோருக்கும் பிடிக்கும், அவர் அப்படி என்ன சாதனை செய்த மாணவர் என்பது புரியவில்லை; அதனால் அவரது மரணம் எந்த தாக்கத்தையும் ஏற்படுத்தவில்லை; ப்‌ரியாமணி பாத்திரத்தோடு ஒட்டவேயில்லை; ப்‌ரியாமணி-பிருத்விராஜ் காதலில் எந்த ஒரு அழுத்தமும் அவர்களுக்குள் ஒரு இற்பும் தெரிவில்லை.

மொத்தத்தில் இந்தப் படத்தைப் பற்றி வெப்துனியவில் சொன்னதுப் போல - நினைத்தாலே இனிக்கும், நினைத்தாலே கசக்கும்

Being not well for last two days (seasonal viral infection) has its advantages. Since I was at home without much work to do, I finally got some time to catch up on movies I have been wanting to see for some time. Yesterday it was “Ayan” and today I got to see “Quantum of Solace”.

Quantum of Solace is a direct sequel to the 2006 film Casino Royale. Daniel Craig's second performance as James Bond and he has done a fabulous job. I felt this film to be more of a regular action film than an usual 007 film which is all about gadgets/hi-tech tricks. The story line though little weak is on a contemporary topic of “Environment” with the bond battling a member of the Quantum organisation posing as an environmentalist who intends to stage a coup d'état in Bolivia to take control of its water supply.

சன் பிக்சர்ஸின் அயன் இன்று பார்த்தேன். கதையென்று பார்த்தால் கடத்தல் மாபியாக்களின் வழக்கமான மோதல்தான். தமிழில் ஆக்‌ஷன் படம் பார்த்து எத்தனை நாளாச்சு என சொல்ல வைக்கும் வேகம், தமன்னா அழகாக வந்து போகிறார், கேமரா அபாரம் - – இவை தான் படத்தின் பலம். மற்றப்படி வழக்கமானப் படம், பல முறைப் பார்த்த கதை, பல காட்சிகள் நம்மால் முன்னேயே யுகிக்க முடிகிறது. சுர்யா இதை விட நல்லயொரு கதையை தேர்வு செய்திருக்கலாம்.

அயன் – சூடுயில்லை.

I like the TV series – Star Trek. I find the episodes involving (imaginary) alien civilizations interesting as they offer a nice introspection in our globalized world without the baggage of reality. I first watched the series when HBO India started to air the Voyager (Captain Janeway) series and Next Generation (Captain Jean-Luc Picard) few years back. 

Today I watched the recently released movie version of “Star Trek”. The first half of the movie is little boring but the second half picks up speed and maintains the usual momentum of a star trek story.  Worth to watch in a DVD for star trek fans that’s all.

I have joined the rest of the world in posting common happenings in YouTube. Handling the camera for this 20 seconds itself, took me good amount of persuasion of my wife, so not sure whether I will post any more of these.

Video Description: Every year few days after the Ganesh Chathurthi (Birthday) celebrations, the clay idols are dropped in to water well or sea. It is a common tradition in many parts of India. The video shows me dropping the idol in our water well.Since the idols used in houses are made in clay with no chemicals added it is environmentally friendly too.

Technical Details: This video was recorded with Flip Ultra HD camera and I used the new “Windows Live Movie Maker” (WLMM) to edit the video and publish it to YouTube. You read it correct - WLMM now supports MP4 formats and a direct one button upload to Google’s YouTube.

படம் திரை அரங்கைவிட்டுச் சென்றுப் பல மாதங்கள் ஆகிவிட்டது, ஆனால் இன்று தான் நான் பார்த்தேன் - கொஞ்சம் லேட் தான். வில்லு விஜய் பிரபுதேவா காம்பினேஷன். போக்கிரியால் கவரப்பட்ட எனக்கு, இந்தப் படத்தின் மேல் ஒரு எதிர்ப்பார்ப்பு. எதிர்ப்பார்ப்பை மிக குறைவாகத் தான் பிரபுதேவா புர்த்திச் செய்துள்ளார், இன்னும் யோசித்து செய்துயிருக்க வேண்டும். போக்கிரியில் ஜெயித்தப் பல விஷயங்களை அப்படியே பயன்படுத்தியுள்ளார், அதனால் பல இடங்களில் பழையச் சோறு வாசம்.

சொல்லும்படி படத்தில் ஒன்றுமில்லை. விஜய் ரொம்ப உழைத்துயிருக்கிறார் – நடனக்காட்சிகளிலும், சண்டைக்காட்சிகளிலும் அவரின் உழைப்பு தெரிகிறது, திரைக்கதையில் இன்னும் கொஞ்சம் கவனமாக இருந்திருந்தால் படம் நன்றாக வந்திருக்கும். படம் பல இடங்களில் ஆங்கில ஜேம்ஸ் பாண்டு படங்களையும் உள்ளூர் அர்ஜுன் படங்களையும் நினைவுப் படுத்துகிறது. பெரிய அளவில், வெளிநாட்டிற்கு எல்லாம் சென்ற கதை கடைசியில் பலத் தமிழ் படங்களைப் போலவே ஒரு பழைய கோவிலில் முடிவது சப்பென்று போய் விடுகிறது.

தமிழ் சினிமாவில் எல்லா நாயகர்களுக்கும் எம்.ஜி.ஆர். மேல் பக்தியிருக்கலாம் தப்பில்லை, ஆனால் அவரோடு ஒப்பிட்டு/அவர் செய்ததையேச் செய்யக் கூடாதென்று என்று தான் புத்தி வருமோ?. வில்லு – அம்பில் கூர்மையில்லை, மொக்கை!

I saw this movie The Shawshank Redemption a year or so back on a long flight. Unfortunately I started the movie after its 10th minute or so (when the main character Andy gets into the high security prison of 1940’s the Shawshank State Prison) and stopped just before the climax began, so I missed the highlight of the movie – the famous prison break. The part of the movie that I saw where a friendship blossoms between the two inmates (played by Tim Robbins & Morgan Freeman) was excellent that I have been wanting to see the movie in full. After I returned I searched for this movie with possible keywords that I could remember like Prison break and so on, but since the movie title was difficult for me to recall I couldn’t find it.

Recently about a week back, in one of the so called Stupid videos reposted in FaceBook by a friend I saw this movie title (the video had used the same name sound track) and I remembered about this movie. Today I traced the movie and finished watching the portions I missed. After watching it fully now and doing some reading on the Internet about the movie, I feel this - the thing about this movie is that you cannot forget it, when I watched the portions I missed today I could vividly recall the scenes I watched before and I am not good with memory. The movie certainly seems to leave a mark of itself in you. The movie was first released in 1994 and you can see many of the later years Tamil movies with Prison stories seem have been liberal with their inspiration borrowed from this movie.

A must watch, don’t miss it.

எங்கள் கிளப்பில் (TNCA Club) இன்று போட்ட படம், பசங்க. இது முழுக்க முழுக்க சிறுவர்களை மட்டும் மையமாகக் கொண்டு, எந்த ஒரு ஸ்டார் வேல்யூவும் இல்லாமல் எடுக்கப்பட்ட படம். படத்தின் இயக்குநர் முதல் நடிகர்கள் வரை யாரையும் கேள்விப்பட்டது கூட கிடையாது. எனக்கு இந்த படத்தில் தெரிந்த இரண்டே இரண்டு பெயர்கள் இசையமைப்பாளர் ஜேம்ஸ் வசந்தன், தயாரிப்பாளர் சசிக்குமார் மட்டுமே.

முதலில் கொஞ்சம் அதிகப்பிரசங்கித் தனமாக பசங்க செய்வதுப் போல தோன்றினாலும் படத்தில் ஒரு இடத்தில் கூட அபாசமோ, வன்முறையோயில்லை; மிக இயல்பான காட்சியமைப்புகள், சிறுவர்களின் நேர்த்தியான நடிப்பு. ஆசிரியராக வரும் நடிகர் அற்புதமாக செய்துயுள்ளார். முதல் பாதி கொஞ்சம் தொய்வடைந்தாலும், இடைவேளைக்குப் பிறகு படம் வேகம்.

நாயகன், நாயகி தங்கள் முதல் சந்திப்பிலிருந்து அவர்களுக்கு உதவுவது அவர்களின் செல்பேசி – இதைப் பார்க்கும் போது செல்பேசியால் ஒரு பத்தாண்டுகளிலேயே வாழ்க்கை எவ்வளவு மாறிவிட்டது என்று தோன்றியது (நான் காலேஜில் படிக்கும் போதுக்கூட இவ்வளவு எளிதாக சக மாணவிகளோடு பேச முடியாது, நண்பர்கள் நம்மை ஓட்டிவிடுவார்கள்).

இந்தப் படத்தைப் பற்றி இந்த வலைப்பக்கங்களில் (தேடல், வெட்டிப்பயல்)  அழகாக சொல்லியுள்ளதால் நான் இத்தோடு முடித்துக் கொள்கிறேன்.

After watching few months back The Pink Panther movie I was interested in seeing the sequel Pink Panther 2 by Steve Martin. So got a DVD of the movie and watched it today. It is a very hilarious movie. As in the first movie Steve Martin was all round funny. Aishwarya Rai has done a good performance in an important role. If you get a chance don’t miss to see this comedy movie.

I just now watched this documentary movie “HOME” by Director Yann Arthus-Bertrand (a french photographer and world renowned environmentalist). The full movie is available in HD Quality free in Youtube from yesterday till 14th June 2009. Don’t miss this opportunity to watch this must see movie.

I came to my office on a Saturday today so I can watch the movie in High Definition (HD) with the high-bandwidth that is available in the office – the privileges of being the CEO .  The quality was amazing, unbelievable it was playing over the Internet. Like I mentioned last year when I watched “Casino Royale (1967)” in HD from Hulu.com, the availability of these high quality content over the Internet is now becoming more and more wide stream than ever. These compel me to predict that in next 10 years we will see the end of distribution of entertainment content (movies and songs) in any physical form – it will happen much faster than the best of Internet evangelists have dreamed of and it will happen even in developing countries like India at nearly the same pace.

Coming back to the movie “HOME”, the documentary chronicles how life on earth came into existence 4 Billions years back, how we humans came into existence 200,000 years back and how we started farming 10,000 years back. This background helps you to understand and appreciate the destruction we are making on our planet, after the discovery of OIL and our dependence on it. The movie emphasizes the fact of how all organisms and the Earth are linked in a "delicate but crucial" balance with each other, and how no organism can be self-sufficient. I really liked the fact, the movie didn’t end with a pessimistic note of all being lost on climate change, but on a positive note that worldwide change is happening (though in pockets) and we can reverse the trends.

I purchased the DVD of this movie during my US trip last year, but never managed to get interested to even open the case. Today evening I had few hours to kill, so went and saw this movie. The DVD is two-sided you have the normal 2D version in Side-A, and the 3D version in Side-B; and it ships with 4 pairs of 3D glasses to view.

"Journey to the center of the earth" is a 2008 version of the story inspired by the book by "Jules Verne" (the famous science fiction author who wrote classics like Around the world in 80 days). The 3D experience right in your home was awesome. I have read the original novel in my childhood and I had then enjoyed it thoroughly. The movie's story line is weak and the movie could have been taken much better especially with such a powerful background theme. Several glaring gaps exists - how come they don't get burned on their way down and then way up accelerating at tremendous speed; how is there a gravity in the center of the earth?

My suggestion will be to give this movie a miss!

After nearly a month I watched a movie yesterday, when in the afternoon today while browsing TV channels aimlessly I caught this movie in Star Movies . It was a 1996 Romantic Comedy movie "She's the One" starring Edward Burns & Jennifer Aniston. The story is about two Brothers, Mickey and Francis their tribulations of love, betrayal, and family. John Mahoney appears as the brothers father, who I have seen and enjoyed in his performance as the Dad in the popular TV Comedy sitcom Frasier - as usual he was brilliant. 

Overall, I will rate the movie as a "Okay" to watch movie.

I always enjoy watching Pink Panther cartoons, but didn't knew they made a movie inspired by it. The other day my friend Dr.Satheesh mentioned about this movie "The Pink Panther (2006)" and how hilarious it was. Since I had iTunes installed on my machine (as I have a iPhone) I thought I should check out the famous iStore experience and buy the movie through it. Unfortunately my Apple account (since I have an India SIM for iPhone) didn't show me any movies. It seems there are very little items to buy in terms of music, movies, TV shows for rest of USA. So I used my US Credit Card and created a new account. Unlike Hulu.com and Amazon VOD services which restrict any activity for outside USA IP addresses, Apple allows you to purchase from iStore if you have a USA credit card and billing address. iStore presented two options - either to purchase the movie at $9.99 (too expensive considering I can buy the legal VCD/DVD in India for nearly half of that price) or rent it for $2.99. I selected to rent it. And I should say the whole experience was fabulous, any novice computer user can do it easily. After the purchase movie downloaded (nearly 1GB in high quality) seamlessly. The quality of the movie playback was great.

iStore rental has a limitation, the movie is available for 30 days from purchase and from the time you start playing it first you only have 24 hours (this could have been improved by increasing to 2 or 3 days). About the movie itself it was hilarious, a great comedy and a must watch. Steve Martin has done a fine job - his body language, dialogue delivery especially where he learns to pronounce "hamburger" was brilliant.

Few days back I joined my son while he was seeing in Pogo channel this movie - Mr. Bean: The Movie. The movie is a full length comedy just like any of the Mr.Bean's series. I had a thorough laugh for the 2 hours+ of the movie.

The story is a simple line but was enough for Rowan Atkinson to exploit to his fullest advantage. Bean works as a caretaker at Britain's Royal National Gallery where his bosses want to fire him, but couldn't because the chairman of the gallery likes him. They send him to a Los Angeles (USA) art gallery instead, where he'll have to officiate the opening of the greatest US picture ever (called "Whistler's Mother"). There David Langley, curator of the LA museum invites Mr. Bean to stay with his family and Bean begins causing problems to David's marriage and family.  Bean is given a few minutes alone to study the painting for his grand "speech", however, Bean sneezes on the painting and wipes it with a handkerchief, not knowing that it is covered in blue ink. Terrified, Bean tries to fix it but causes more damage.Rest of the story is how during the night, Mr. Bean hatches a plan and restores the painting by keeping a copy. In the climax, Bean is mistaken for a doctor and pushed into an operating theatre containing a policemen, who has been shot. While the other doctors and nurses are distracted, Bean unconventionally retrieves the bullet and saves him. Overall, the movie is a total comedy riot - enjoy it.

ரொம்ப நாட்களாகப் பார்க்க நினைத்து, எங்கள் கிளப்பில் (TNCA Club) நேற்று போட்டதினால் பார்த்தப் படம் அபியும் நானும். ”மொழி” படத்தின் இயக்குனர் ”ராதாமோகன்” அவர்களின் படமிது என்பதால் எனக்கும் என் மனைவிக்கும் இந்தப் படத்திற்கு நிறைய எதிர்ப்பாப்பு. ஆங்காங்கே கொஞ்சம் ”சந்தோஷ் சுப்ரமண்யம்”  படத்தையும் ”கண்ணாமூச்சி ஏனடா” படத்தையும் நினைக்க வைத்தாலும் ஒரு பாசாமான அப்பாவைப் பற்றி ஒரு நல்ல படத்தைக் கொடுத்துள்ளார்  ராதாமோகன். இந்த மாதிரி ஒரு கதையம்சமுள்ள படத்தை தைரியமாக தயாரித்த பிரகாஷ்ராஜ் அவர்களை எவ்வளவுப் பாராட்டினாலும் தகும்.

Yes, Prime Minister, is a British TV Serial by BBC which ran in late 80's and was a sequel to Yes Minister. This was shown in Doordharshan during my school days and I have heard great comments about them. Though I watched few of the episodes I couldn't appreciate it then. 

Few weeks back, while shopping in Landmark I saw the VCD version of Yes, Prime Minister Series 1 and 2 at Rs.350 per series. Over this weekend I watched the 8 episodes of Series 1. I had 4 hours of non-stop laugher and I had to marvel at the brilliance of the writers who have portrayed what life could be inside 10, Downing street in the most humorous way. This is a must see for anyone remotely interested with politics in general.

Yes, Prime Minister is now second in my list of favourite political satires of all time, First in the list is Cho's Muhammad Bin Thuglak.

I was watching in TV today a clip from a Tamil movie where the lead couple are college students with the story revolving around their college life. In almost all Tamil movies that have college stories, the main couple will be featured as the leaders of their respective groups in the story. The female lead character (Heroine) will be the most beautiful girl in the college and all the boys will be seen going behind her. Similarly the male lead character (Hero) will always come first in studies, sports, gym and music.

I was wondering why they don't make movies where the main characters are featured as members of a group and not as group leaders. I am sure you can tell an interesting realistic story with the main characters just blending in a group and still the story revolving around their life. Do you feel the same, please post your comments.

இந்த வாரம் திங்கட்கிழமை அன்று கலைஞர் டிவியில் காலை எட்டு மணிக்கு எனதுப் பேட்டி ஒளிபரப்பானது. போன வெள்ளியன்று விஜிபி கடற்கரை தங்கும் விடுதியில் திரு. ரமேஷ் பிரபா அவர்கள் கேள்விக் கேட்க நான் பதிலளித்தேன். கீழேயுள்ள இந்த ஒளிப்பதிவைப் பார்த்துவிட்டு உங்கள் கருத்தைச் சொல்லவும். திரு. ரமேஷ் பிரபா அவர்களுக்கு என்னை அறிமுகம் செய்த நண்பர் திரு.ஆண்டோ பீட்டர் அவர்களுக்கு என் நன்றி.

இந்தப் பேட்டியில் நான் என்னப் பேசினேன் என்று நான் இங்கே எழுதுவதை விட நண்பர் மறைமலை இலக்குவனார் எனக்கு அனுப்பிள்ள ஒரு மின்-அஞ்சலில் மிக அழகாக  சொல்லியுள்ளார். ஆகவே அதன் சுருக்கத்தை இங்கே கொடுத்துள்ளேன்.

“இணையத்தில் தமிழ் பெற்றுள்ள ஏற்றம், எழுத்துருவைச் சீரமைப்பதில் ஏற்பட்ட பல்வேறு கருத்துக்குழுக்கள், இன்று யூனிக்கோடு எவ்வகையில் உதவுகிறது என்பது குறித்த விவரம்,விசைப்பலகை என்றால் என்ன, விசைப்பலகைகள் மாறுபட்டு அமைந்தது ஏன், ஆங்கிலத்தில் விசைப்பலகையின் ஒருசீர்மை, தமிழில் அத்தகைய ஒருசீர்மைக்கு யூனிக்கோடு எங்ஙனம் உதவுகிறது என்பது பற்றிய ஆய்வு, இன்றைய இளைஞர்கள் கணினித்துறையில் எதிர்கொள்ளும் சிக்கல்கள், இணையத்தில் நிகழும் பல்வேறு மோசடிகள், அவற்றைச் சமாளிக்கும் விதம், டிஜிட்டல் கையொப்பம் என்றால் என்ன, பணவரவு செலவில் அதன் பயன்பாடு யாது, இணைய வானொலி, இணையத் தொலைக்காட்சி ஆகியவை பெற்றுள்ள தனிச்சிறப்புகள், எதிர்காலத்தில் இணையம் பெறப்போகும் வளர்ச்சிவலைப்பூக்களில் தமிழ் பெற்றுள்ள சிறப்பிடம் என்று அடுக்கிக் கொண்டே போனீர்கள்.

கணிப்பொறியாளர்கள் கைகட்டிச்சேவகம் செய்யவேண்டியதில்லை என்பதற்குத் தாங்களும் தங்களுக்கு முன்னரும் பின்னரும் வந்த தொழில் முனைவோர்கள் எடுத்துக்காட்டாக விளங்குவதைச் சுட்டிக்காட்டினீர்கள். ஒபாமாவின் வருகையால் நமக்கு எவ்வித அச்சமும் இல்லை என்பதைச்சுட்டி அமெரிக்காவைப் பூச்சாண்டி காட்டிவருவோரின் அழிம்புக்கு முற்றுப்புள்ளி வைத்தீர்கள்.தமிழக அரசு இதுவரை அளித்துவந்த ஒத்துழைப்புக்கு உத்தமத்தின் சார்பில் நன்றி தெரிவித்தீர்கள். இந்த அல்லது அடுத்த ஆண்டில் இணையமாநாடு நடத்தவேண்டிய சூழலை எடுத்துரைக்கத்தவறவில்லை.

உத்தமம் பற்றிய முறையான அறிமுகத்தை அளித்தபின்னர் தான் உங்கள் உரையைத் தொடங்கினீர்கள்.

எடுப்பான தோற்றம், எழுச்சி வாய்ந்த குரல், சிறப்பான கருத்துகள் என்னும் மூன்றும் ஒருங்கிணைந்து உங்கள் நேர்காணலைச் சுவையுடன் விளங்கச் செய்தது.நன்றி.வாழ்க”

I saw this movie, Will Smith's Hancock in my return flight from US in Cathay Pacific. Comparing to his other movies, this is relatively a easy role to be played by Will Smith and he has done it without any disappointment. The movie is about John Hancock (Will Smith) a drunkard with superhuman powers, including supersonic flight, immortality, and super-strength. Though he uses his powers to stop criminals in his residence of Los Angeles, his activities cause millions of dollars in property damage due.

This is an average movie, can be seen if you are a Will Smith fan or a Special Effects fan, other than those two there is nothing worth mentioning.

Yesterday I watched in Comcast, the movie "The Pursuit of Happyness". Will Smith has superbly portrayed the character of a struggling salesman who takes custody of his son as he's poised to begin a life-changing professional endeavour. The story is inspired by a true story of an investment tycoon (of the same name portrayed) Chris Gardener. An emotional story told very well, the boy (done by Will Smith's real son Jaden Smith) has acted great especially in the scenes - where they are moving from place to place after a long day when they don't have a place to sleep.

Don't miss seeing this award winning movie.

Last weekend, I went to this much talked about Tamil Movie - SAROJA. Directed by Chennai 600028 movie fame Venkat Prabhu (son of Music Director Gangai Amaran) movie was certainly enjoyable. The story is all about what happens when 4 friends on a red colour van (Nice looking van shown above) get lost on their way from Chennai to Hyderabad. The whole story happens in one single night where they cross path with a kidnap gang and how they finally escape from them. The director has done a fabulous job in keeping the action alive scene after scene, you are almost left wondering what's going to happen next. Definitely a new kind of film in Tamil Cinema. Excellent performance by the relatively new faces to Tamil cinema with the veterans Prakash Raj and Jayaram also doing their roles well. I really liked the place where the main villain behind the whole plot is revealed only in the last few minutes and his background story is shown in few quick slides.

A must see for every Tamil movie buff.

In the evening today there was a Bollywood play "All the Best" directed by distinguished director "Feroz Khan". I was hoping it will be in English as my understanding of Hindi is extremely limited, and I will certainly not be able to appreciate a Comedy Play in Hindi. The play did turn out to be in Hindi, but since the play had a mute character there was lot of hand gestures and body language so I could understand it well and was able to have split laughs as well. The appreciation should go to the four excellent actors (Iqbal Azad, Kikoo Sharda, Kranti Redkar and Vikas Kadam) who performed brilliantly on the stage.

The play deals with three friends, one blind, the other deaf and third mute, who all fall for the same girl.

If this comes to your town, don't miss it.

This sunday I watched this movie - Click by Adam Sandler. Many of the English movies are now available in India at affordable rates - this one (VCD) distributed by Sony Music India costs me Rs.299 (USD 7).

The story is a powerful one, something that all of us would have felt in our lives more than once - that is to have a remote control to skip unpleasant moments (or) play again the happy occasions. Unfortunately, the director of the movie Frank Coraci has missed this opportunity to exploit the story line to his advantage. He has given an average movie. The initial half an hour or so was certainly boring and the place where he gets this universal remote control that changes his live forever could have been better. The last half an hour where the incidents that unfold makes Michael Newman (acted by Adam Sandler) realize the consequences of having such a device are certainly taken well. Where he talks about work-live balance, the Director has avoided being too philosophical or toeing religious lines.

Should you watch this movie, yes if you don't have any other choice (or) you are stuck on a plane. 

குசேலன் - பசுபதி, மீனா, நயன்தாரா மற்றும் பலர் நடித்துல்ல ரஜினியின் புதியப் படம். கடந்த 14ம் தேதி அபிராமி அரங்கில் பார்த்தேன் - ஏன் போனேன் என்றாகிவிட்டது. பி.வாசு போன்றோரு சிறந்த இயக்குனர் இப்படி ஒரு சுமாரான படத்தை அதுவும் மலையாலத்தில் வந்த ”கதபறயும் போல்” என்ற நல்ல கதையை இப்படி எடுத்துள்ளார் என்பது மிகுந்த ஏமாற்றம்.

படம் ஏமாற்றம் என்பதை காட்டும் விதமாக அபிராமியில் கீழ்த்தளத்தில் ஒருவர் கூடயில்லை. வெளிவந்த சில நாட்களேயான  ரஜினியின் புதிய படம் என்பதை நம்பவே முடியவேயில்லை.

• படத்தில் ஒருவர்க்கூடக் தங்களின் கதாபத்திரங்களோடு ஒட்டவேயில்லை
• பசுபதி படம் முழுவதும் எதையோ யோசனைச் செய்துக்கொண்டேயிருக்கிறார், அவர் பேசும் காட்சியில்கூட அப்படித்தான். ஏன் இதில் நடிக்க சம்மதிதோம் என்றோ?
• இசை பிரகாஷ் - ஒரு பாடல்கூட நினைவிலில்லை. பேரின்ப பேச்சுக்காரன் பாடல்கூட வெயில் படத்தின்வாடை தான் அடிக்கிறது
• ரஜினி நடித்திருக்கும் அசோக் குமார் கதாபத்திரத்திற்குக் கடைசி காட்சி தவிர வேறு ஒரு காட்சிகூடயில்லை. பாடல் காட்சிகள்கூட முந்தியப் படங்களின் தழுவல் -  புதியதாக எதுயும் யோசிக்க முடியவில்லை என்பது வேட்கம்.
• முழுப் படமும் ரஜினியின் சுய விளம்பரம். இதைப் பார்க்க ஒரு தொலைக்காட்சியில் ரஜினியின் முழுநீள பேட்டியே போதும்.

நானும் என் சிறு வயதில் ரஜினியின் ரசிகன்தான். ஆனால், குசேலன் திகட்டுகிறது. 

படம் இப்படி என்றால் அபிராமி அரங்கம் இதைவிட மோசம். வெளியில் நன்றாகயிருந்தாலும் உள்ளே சென்றவுடன் ஒரு பத்து வருடத்திற்கு முன்பிருந்த  திரையரங்குகளை சந்தேகமில்லாமல் நினைவுபடுத்துகிறது - அவ்வளவு பழசு.

While returning from the USA in my flight I saw this movie "The Bank Job". The Bank Job is supposed to be a true life story of a bank robbery that took place in London in 1971. The robbery was allegedly plotted by UK's secret police to cover up a prominent member of British Royal Family. It involved thieves digging a tunnel below a shop into a near-by bank, get into its vault and rob it. After finding millions of pounds in the vault they also discover lot of dirty secrets - and realize why the secret police plotted them into this. They use the mud uncovered to negotiate for getting their safe passage. In the true life it is claimed none of the robbers were arrested due to their safe passage given by the government.

A good movie that is enjoyable and also well taken. A must see if you like this "Genre" of movies.

After spending few hours in San Jose Tech Museum I took the local VTA bus 180 to travel to the Great way mall. I was not sure on the direction of the bus to take, their call centre was unhelpful answering my query, then I asked one of the bus driver who guided me to take the bus going in the"Fremont BART" direction. After Seattle Bay Area seems to have a decent public transport system, which made me like this US city a bit. There is nothing exceptional about the mall other than it is big and you get all designer stuffs here.

To kill time I went to Century Cinemas there to watch "Hellboy II" - why Hellboy, because there was no other movie I would have liked. The movie's story is completely fictitious and unbelievable, but the graphics and effects are superb.

I was in San Jose area and had the whole day to spend before my return flight (Jet Airways from SFO to BOM) in the evening. So I started the day with my friend dropping me in San Jose Tech Museum.

First I went to see the IMAX movie "The Alps" which had breath taking views and an emotional story - an expert climber had been wanting to climb the "Eiger" mountain in the Alps which had killed his father 40 years back.

Then I went to see the exhibits, which included a Silicon IC (Chip) manufacturing, Gene therapy, inventions, solar energy and many more. It is a must see museum for today's students.

I wish we had something like this in India - may be in Bangalore Indian IT giants can take a clue from their Silicon Valley counterparts to fund one. What impressed me was the web page creation kit they have - in every exhibit you can insert your bar coded ticket to get a photograph of yourself and at the end you can post all of them into your own custom web page, cool!

I was in our US office today and at the end of the day I had few hours to kill and a few Mbps of Internet pipe. So I made the best use - watch some videos in Hulu.com. For those of you who are outside USA, Hulu is promoted by NBC and News Corp media houses, that has only legal videos and tons of it - including popular TV shows like "The Simpsons" & "The Office". These are supported by naturally advertisements.

While browsing I came across this movie "Casino Royale (1967)" which was said to be a spoof on the original James Bond movie. I didn't know this was a real movie, I assumed it to be a short fun clip but it turned out to be a 2 hour full movie. This is an all-star 1967 spoof of Ian Fleming's 007. David Niven comes as the aging Sir James Bond, called out of retirement to take on the organized threat of SMERSH. After watching the movie which was fun I learned about its creation - which involved 5 Directors,  6 James Bonds and one of the James Bonds' Peter Sellers leaving in between.

Note: Hulu I guess is accessible only in North America due to geographical limits of its copyright reach.

The next movie I watched on flight was Vikram's Bheema. This movie got delayed for over 3 years & in the period Vikram didn't act in any other movie. The story was usual and very ordinary. It is about a gangster and gang wars - we have seen enough of this in Tamil movies. The only difference is that everyone gets killed in the climax - Hero, Heroine, both the Gang Leaders (Prakash Raj, Raghuvaran) and Thailavasal Vijay. If you can please skip watching this movie, a low-point in Vikram and Director N. Linguswamy's careers.

On my Jet Airways flight from Mumbai to SFO I saw this movie 10,000 BC. It is a fictitious story of how a Hero from a small tribe fights against a large civilization (resembling Egypt Pyramid days). After a sustained chase he wins over them, get his people and his love released.

The settings, costume, fighting's have been taken well. At times in the movie you feel a little bored and the story is overall unbelievable.

Though I purchased this DVD a year ago (at a steep price @ Rs.499)  I didn't get the time to watch it till now. Today being a Sunday and free from any work luckily I had the time to watch the movie "An Inconvenient Truth" made by Former Vice President Al Gore. I didn't know Al Gore was such a powerful speaker, he was amazing on stage - I have noted down few presentation tips from his speech. He seems to have come out as a more powerful person after his dramatic hair-splitting loss of the US Presidency to George W Bush in 2000.

The movie is brief and runs only for about 90 minutes and it is completely on a presentation given by Al Gore with clippings in between. Since enough has been said about this movie and global warming, all I will say - this is a very compelling movie for the cause of reducing our effects on environment. I pledge to start doing my small baby steps on this from today.

The hugely anticipated release of Kamal Hasan's mega budget movie - Dasavathaaram got released yesterday after many delays. Apart from the inherent delays due to the complexity of producing the movie, there were many court cases against the movie and the producer V.Ravichandran had to even change his film production company's name from OSCAR to AASCAR due to a legal notice from Hollywood (Economic Times news yesterday) in the last few days.

Kamal stars in 10 roles in the movie. The movie (details here) is released in almost all theatres in the city (and in the state) and in all the shows. Adding to this Government has also allowed few extra shows at 9AM, etc. , even then when I checked with few theatres I was told the movie is full for next 15 days. Luckily my wife got two tickets for today (second day of the movie) 11:25AM show at INOX City Centre. Show started 10-15 late as the earlier show got delayed, the movie is a long one nearly 3 hours with a brief 5 minute intermission. There was a huge queue to even get into the theatre

The story line of the movie is very simple and nothing exceptional - just a routine action chase film. The first half of the movie was boring and very long, the intermission came only after 2 hours. Kamal has done the story, screenplay and dialogue, so in his signature style there are few atheist touches - the  13th Century "Nambi" story possibly hurting a bit of religious sentiments. The second half was more interesting, especially where all the characters converge into the single climax moment. Lot of hard work seems to have gone into making of the movie - in the direction, acting, makeup, stunts, planning, etc. which has to appreciated greatly. Tamil movie industry has been elevated several steps with this movie - no doubts on that. The story and music could have been better. Movie is all about Kamal, with only two other characters having some role - Asin and M S Baskar. Kamal has roped in Jayaprada for a role in a Tamil Movie that too a song after a long time. Mallika Sherawat doing a song sequence and few fight scenes.

The ten roles Kamal dons are:

1. Rangaraja Nambi - 13th Century Vaishnavaite
2. Govind Ramasamy -the "Hero", a scientist
3. Christian Fletcher - Villain (Ex-CIA Agent)
4. Balaram Naidu - The funny CBI officer with nice Telugu Accent
5. George Bush - American President (surprising why Kamal wanted to do this role, compared to other roles not very impressive)
6. Avtar Singh - A Punjabi singer
7. Shinghen Narahasi - Japan Marshal arts master (Impressive fighting scenes)
8. Krishnaveni - Iyengar Great grandmother (Excellent in the makeup)
9. Vincent Poovaraagan - Social Activist (nice black skin makeup)
10. Kalifullah Khan - The 7 Feet Tall Role (An antitode to the Aboorva Sagatharagal shorter Kamal)

Will I recommend the movie, "Yes" to watch a brilliant cinema and appreciate the hard work. Do you need to rush to see the movie - No Need!.

Yesterday I took my son and his cousins to this movie - "Ghatothkach". As Sathyam Cinemas website was down I used their door delivery facility for getting the tickets which was very convenient and you had to pay only Rs.75 extra for the service.

In Mahabharat epic Ghatothkach is the son of Bheema (Pandavas). Ghatothkach inherits immense strength from his father and wonderful magic powers which he uses for good. With this one line story from the epic and inspired by the 1957 live action film Mayabazar, Ghatothkach movie gives a clean entertainment for kids. The movie is directed by legendary director Mr.Singeetam Srinivasa Rao.

My kid loved the scenes where Ghatothkach and his pet elephant utters the magic words "Ambilica Bambulica".  Having seen the Tamil Mayabaazar movie and the song "Kalyana Samayel Saatham" (Same video clip in Telugu here) I expected the scene in the movie to be more grand and entertaining, but it was very brief here. The movie ends kind of suddenly before you expect the end. There is nothing for grown-ups in the movie other than the superb animation and music. My wife slept through the 90 minutes film. Good time pass for kids in the summer.

I had a good laugh now by watching this video clip of a recent CSI episode that carried a dialog "create a GUI Interface in Visual Basic to track the IP address". I love "Visual Basic" and it was good to hear it getting prime time media attention!

நேற்று விடுமுறை, எங்கே போவது என்று யோசனை செய்ததில்  சுட்டெரிகக்கும் கோடை வெயில் பயமுறுத்தியது. குளிர்ந்த திரையரங்கம் தான் சரி என்று முடிவு செய்து, இணையத்தில் தேடியதில் ”சத்தியம்” திரையரங்கத்தில் ”சந்தோஷ் சுப்ரமண்யம்” படத்திருக்கு  சிட்டு கிடைத்தது. எவ்வளவு தேடியும் “அறை எண் 305” மற்றும் “யாரடி நீ மோகினி”க்கு இடம் கிடைக்கவில்லை. இது ஒரு வகையில் சந்தோஷமாக இருந்தது, ஒரு சில வருடங்கள் முன்பு வரை தியேட்டர் தொழிலே அழிந்துவிடும் என்ற நிலையிலிருந்து இது ஒரு நல்ல வளாச்சி. எதனால் என்று எனக்கு சரியாக சொல்ல தெரியவில்லை - அரசாங்க வரி சலுகையாகயிருக்காலம், திருட்டு விசிடிக்கு எதிரான போலிஸ் வேட்டையாகயிருக்காலம். எனக்கு தோன்றுவது என்னவோ மக்களிடம் இப்பொழுதிருக்கும் பணப்புழக்கம் (Disposable income) மற்றும் ஒரே இடத்திலுள்ள பல சிறு திரையரங்குகள் (Multiplexes) வளர்ச்சி தான் முக்கிய காரணங்களாக.

எது எப்படியோ ஜெயம் ரவியின்  ”சந்தோஷ் சுப்ரமண்யம்” படத்திற்கு  வருவோம். படத்தைப் பற்றி எதுவுமே தொரியாமல், எந்த எதிர்ப்பார்பும் இல்லாமல்  போனதால் ஏமாற்றமில்லை. அடிதடியில்லை, அசிங்கமான மொழிகள் இல்லை, ஆபாசம் இல்லை அதனால் குடும்பத்தொடு செல்லலாம். பாடல்கள் மோசமில்லை ஆனால் சுமார், தனியாக நகைச்சுவையென்று எதுவுமில்லை. அப்பா மகன் இடையே நடக்கும் நல்ல உணர்ச்சிவசமான கதை என்றாலும் அதிகப்படியான சினிமாதனமில்லாமல் எடுத்திருக்கிறார் இயக்குனர், வசனங்களும் குறைவான எதார்தமானவையாக இருந்தது.  குறிப்பாக ரவி-பிரகாஷ்ராஜ் பேசும் கடைசிக்காட்சி அழகு.

இந்திய கிரிக்கேட் விரர் ”சடகோபன் ரமேஷ்” இதில் ரவிக்கு அண்ணவாக வருகிறார் - அவரின் முதல் படவாய்ப்பு என்று நினைக்கிறேன்.

படம் பார்த்துவிட்டு இணையத்தில் தேடியதில் தெரிய வந்தது; 

• ஆந்திராவில் சக்கைப் போடு போட்ட தெலுங்குப் படம் பொம்மரிலு. சித்தார்த், ஜெனிலியா, பிரகாஷ்ராஜ் தெலுங்கில் நடித்திருக்கிறார்கள். அந்தப் படத்தின் தமிழ்  ரீமேக் தான் சந்தோஷ் சுப்ரமணியம் என்று. தெலுங்கில் சித்தார்த் நடித்த இடத்தில் ஜெயம்ரவி என்பது மட்டுமே மாற்றம்.
• படத்தின் இயக்குனர் ராஜா மற்றும் நடித்துல்ல ஜெயம் ரவி இருவரும் தமிழில் பிரபலமான எடிட்டர் மோகன் அவர்களின் மகன்கள்

On my way back from USA, I saw this movie "Juno". I suppose this to be a hit movie b'cos in every store I went to in last 1 week in Seattle, I kept seeing tons of DVDs of this movie. It is starred by Ellen Page as a 16 year old Teen, who gets pregnant and gives away the baby for adoption. The story is about what happens during her pregnancy - how supportive her parents were on this and how the couple who are adopting the baby gets divorced before the baby's arrival. I will not rate it as a great/must see types, but certainly worth to see if someone lends you the DVD. 

I saw this documentary (Original German dubbed to English) on my Lufthansa flight (Frankfurt to Seattle) last week - imagine they having only this worthwhile to watch. Overall Lufthansa hardly had a dozen movie and absolutely no comedy TV Shows in their in-flight entertainment - it is one of the things I don't like in Lufthansa. And they don't offer a hygiene kit (toothpaste, socks, perfume) either individually (or) even have it in the rest rooms. Lufthansa, please charge one or two dollars more and offer a decent hygiene kit - with airport security and restrictions on carrying liquids and paste it is difficult for us to bring it ourselves.

OK, enough of my airline ranting, coming back to the documentary. It is a retro comedy that talks about gender differences - a mixer of biology lessons and a love story line of two couples. Acted by Benno Furmann and Jessica Schwarz. Fun to watch especially how couples fall in love, fall out and then fall back in love. Nice to watch on an airplanes while killing the time.

Footnote: Native speakers of Non-English languages, pardon my ignorance and dumb description here. When I had to type Furmann's name with the non-English U character with a dash on top, I went to Windows Character Map application to copy it. That's when I saw there are 6 different variations of U, 5 of them having a symbol on top (Tilde, Dash, Half Moon, Circle, Double quotes) and sixth one having a hook on bottom. Interesting, isn't it.

I just now saw this movie on a Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt to Seattle - where I am going for MVP/RD Summit. The movie is about August Rush (played by Freddie Highmore) an orphan who loves Music more than food and runs out in search of his parents. His parents (played by Keri Russell and Jonathan Rhys) are a sheltered cellist and a charismatic guitarist who get separated by accident after a single night of love and living in search of each other for 11 years. The mother herself never knew she had a boy born alive. The story is about how this boy becomes a child music prodigy performing his own composition in New York Central Park music festival and gets united with his parents at the end. The movie has some Bollywood/Kollywood like elements like the boy running into bad guys (played by Robin Williams) and always falling back into good guys. A nice to see Movie with fine background music.  

On my flight from India to US two weeks back, I watched Chak De! in Jet Airways In-Flight Entertainment. Irony is that I have the DVD of the movie purchased and lying idle in my house for months now.

The movie is a great attempt and a much-needed one to highlight the neglect of all other sports in India other than Cricket that too on Women Hockey. Other than track games and recently tennis, women sports have been for long least appreciated in the country. This movie where SRK acts in the role of a wrongly corruption tainted coach who desperately fights in getting the girls ready and there by clean his records. Very well done movie, must see.

In the USA, RV means Recreational Vehicle which basically is a motor home where you live for brief periods during vacation.

I saw the movie "RV" with my wife about a month or two back, in TV. This movie acted by Robin Williams (Bob Munro) is about Bob hiring a RV to take the family on vacation and he is not familiar with using RV and gets into lot of funny situations. Not a great movie, but certainly a clean fun movie that can be watched with family & kids.

Yesterday I saw "The Brave One". The story is simple - A Radioshow artist Erica Bain (played by Jodie Foster) and her boyfriend are attacked by mobs in New York Central Park with the boyfriend getting killed. Erica recovers and tries to get her life back, feel unsecure and gets a gun illegally for self-protection. She then goes on to doing few killings of bad guys and finally takes revenge on the killers of her boyfriend. The story line reminded me two Tamil Movies  (Superstart Rajnikanth in Naan Maahan Illai & Naan Sigappu Manithan) released around 1984/1985. In "The Brave One"  Terrence Howard plays a role of Police Detective Mercer which reminds the same role played by Director K.Bhagyaraj. 

Y.Gee.Mahendra's UAA has released a new tamil play (drama) called "சுதேசி ஐயர்" (Sudeshi Iyer). The first show happened yesterday in Bharat Kalachar and today there was shows in Rani Seethai Hall. Seeing the banner near Duraiswamy subway yesterday, I went for the third show of the play today with my family. It was advertised as "சிரிப்போ சிரிப்பு, புதுமையோ புதுமை”, but my expectation was limited due to previous experiences with plays.

Fortunately, it turned out to be true, the play was certainly hilarious and enjoyable. Worth seeing. The story was not much, a 70 year old Swadeshi type Father wants to teach his family the illness of deteriorating value system in the materialistic world now. He takes them in a time machine to 1945 and the family gets to experience the world and value system in 1945, gets to see Mahatma Gandhi and they realize their mistakes. All this is told in a very hilarious and filled with jokes. My 4-1/2 year old son and my 75 year dad both enjoyed the play, that I guess speaks for wide audience satisfied by the play.

இரண்டு வாரங்களுக்கு முன் பொங்கல் விடுமுறையில் இந்தப் படத்தை சத்யம் திரையரங்கத்தில் பார்த்தேன். இந்தப் படத்தைப் பற்றி ஒரே வரியில் சொல்வதானால் இப்படி சொல்லலாம்:

“அதிக பொருட்செலவில் அழகான ஒளிபதிவில் முழுவதும் மலேசியா நாட்டில் எடுக்கப்பட்டுள்ள மிகச் சுமாரானப் படம்”.

ரஜினி நடித்த பழையப் பில்லா படத்தை நீங்கள் ஏற்கனவே பார்த்திருந்தால் தயவு செய்து இந்தப் படத்தைப் பார்க்காமல் இருந்து உங்கள் பணத்தை மிச்சம் செய்யலாம். இயக்குனர் விஷ்ணுவரதன் ஒன்றைக்கூட மாற்றவில்லை - சுத்த ஈ அடிச்சான் காப்பி.

நான் கொடுத்தக் காசுக்கு ஒரே ஆறுதல் - கறுப்பு உடையில் நயன்தாரா அழகாக வந்து போகிறார், சண்டை காட்சிகளில் வேகமாக செய்து அசத்துகிறார். எவ்வளவு யோசித்தாலும் இதைத் தவிர வேறு ஒன்றும் ஞாபகம் வரவில்லை.

Having bought the DVD several months back, I managed to watch the movie "Guru" staring Abhishek Bachchan yesterday. The story was widely rumoured to be based on Reliance Dhirubhai Ambani's life. Abhishek definitely has done a superb performance in the movie coming as the ambitious businessman. Though Aishwarya Rai comes throughout the movie, she has very little role and leaves no impact.

The first half of the movie, where Gurukant Desai raises to fame fast was well taken, but the second half resembles more a routine Hindi Movie with a fight (not physical) and the Hero winning at the end. Overall, if you remove the Reliance Ambani connection from your mind, this is a very ordinary movie - Director Mani Rathnam could have done better.

நேற்று பக்ரித் - அலுவலகம் விடுமுறை.  இரண்டு நாட்களுக்கு முன்பே இணையத்தில் பார்த்ததில் பிர்லா மற்றும் அழகிய தமிழ்மகன் போன்ற ஏந்த படத்திற்கும்  இடம் கிடைக்காதால்,  "கண்ணாமூச்சி ஏனடா" படத்திற்கு முன்பதிவு செய்து நேற்று போனோம்.

படத்தில் கதை என்று எதுவும் இல்லை. அடிதடி, கொலை, கவர்ச்சி என்று எல்லா மசாலா சமாசாரங்களைத் தவிர்த்து குடும்பத்தோடு பார்க்க கூடிய ஓரு  முழுநீள நகைச்சுவை படத்தை கொடுத்துள்ளார் இயக்குனர் பிரியா.  படத்தில் பெரியாதாக பேசும்படி எதுவும் இல்லையென்றாலும் படத்தைப் பார்க்காலம்.        

I have watched few Hindi movies, main reason being I understand little of the language. Though I can read and write Hindi (since I was in a CBSE school where it was compulsory till 8th standard), strangely I cannot understand the language much.

Last week in NDTV, I saw the coverage of a new movie produced by Sanjay Dutt - "Dus Kahaniyaan". Somehow the idea of 10 different short stories made into one single movie interested me, especially the part "Shabana Azmi" playing a south indian grandmother. So today we went to the movie in Sathyam Cinemas "Season" theatre. Before I say about the movie I liked Satyam's online booking which includes facility to order snacks and softdrinks as well (these are delivered to your seat during interval).

The movie was certainly a different experience, with each director doing their best to set the character, highlight the background and tell the story all in 15 minutes. If you a regular movie goer, don't miss this movie. I saw a good review from Times of India about the movie, which reflects pretty much what I had to say and has said it better.

BTW, at few instances I did ask my wife to help me in understanding of the dialogues

Last month while in the US, I bought this DVD "Uncovered - The Whole Truth About the Iraq War" a documentary picture. I managed to watch this only today.

The picture talks about the false intelligence behind the US war on Iraq. Though the DVD is pretty old (made in 2004), seemed to be still relevant. Since it was a documentary it seemed to be made too academic and it was boring beyond a point. Unless you are going to argue with someone on the subject - you should skip watching this movie.

தமிழில் வெளிவந்த நகைச்சுவை நாடங்களில் மிகவும் பிரபலமாக கருதப்படுவது அய்யா... அம்மா... அம்மம்மா...

என் சிறு வயதில் சென்னை தொலைக்காட்சியில் முதல் தடவையாக பார்த்ததில் இருந்து என்னை மிகவும் கவார்ந்த மற்றும் ஒலிநாடாவில் (Audio Cassette) பலப்பல முறை நான் கேட்ட நாடங்கமும் இது தான். ‘கிரேசி’ மோகன் எழுதி காத்தாடி ராமமூர்த்தி நடித்த இந்த நாடங்கம், இதற்குப்பின் தமிழில் வெளிவந்த அனைத்து நகைச்சுவைப் படைப்புகளிலும் (சினிமா, நாடகம், கதை) தனது தாக்கத்தை பதித்துள்ளது. பிற்காலத்தில் ‘கிரேசி’ மோகன் எழுதிய பல பிரபலமாக நாடங்களில் அவரையும் அறியாமல் சிலயிடங்களில் இதன் துனுக்குகளை நாம் கேட்கலாம்.

ஒலிநாடாவில் மட்டுமே வெளிவந்த இந்த படைப்பு இப்பொழுது ஓளிதட்டு (VCD) வடிவில் வந்துள்ளது. போன வாரம் Landmark கடையில் பார்த்தவுடன் இதை வாங்கியதில் (ரூ 199) எனக்கு மகிழ்ச்சி. ஒரு சிறு ஏமாற்றம் இது சென்னை தொலைக்காட்சியில் வெளிவந்த காத்தாடி ராமமூர்த்தியுடன் டெல்லி கணேஷ் மற்றும் பலர் நடித்த மூலப்பிரதி அல்ல சமீபத்தில் பதிவு செய்யப்பட்டது,  

இருந்தாலும் இந்த நாடங்கத்தை இதுவரைப் பார்க்காதவார்கள் உடனே இந்த ஓளிதட்டை வாங்கிப் பார்க்கலாம்.

The other day I was in Landmark (Nungambakkam High Road Branch) and saw the largest collection of Original Tamil DVDs and VCDs from Moserbaer and other manufacturers. It was several hundreds of movies spanning last several decades of Tamil movie including those released in last few years. Before this the largest such collection of original Tamil movies I have seen only in Singapore Serangoon Road (where VCDs are priced at SGD 10 and DVDs at SGD 20). In Landmark that day for instance I bought காக்க காக்க DVD at Rs.49 and வீரா, குரு சிஷ்யன் DVD combo at Rs.65.

After several decades, Tamil Film Producers & copyright owners seems to have come to their senses. Instead of fighting piracy they seem to have realized making their recent and old assets widely available as Discs in affordable rates will bring a new revenue stream for them. Just like T-Series in early 80's brought out affordable Cassettes and pioneered in India the original music market, Moser Baer seems to have now done the trick for VCDs and DVDs by bringing out original discs at Rs.39 and Rs.49/-

I am a fan of Bruce Willis - not so much for his Die Hard action series, but for his other master performances in movies like The Sixth Sense (where he brings the Night Shyamalan's creation into life) and Armageddon. The first time I have watched Bruce Willis on screen (small screen) was in late 80's TV serials Moonlighting.

Today on the flight from LA to Taipei (14:30 Hours journey), after getting some sleep completing all the comedy shows I had to watch some movies to burn the time - so it was Die Hard 4 and Tamil Kreedam (next post). The actions performed by Bruce Willis was just like any other Die Hard movie and were good but not impressive, the story line was pathetic. It was about an ex-government IT security expert turning bad, who tries to shutdown all the computer systems in USA including Traffic, Power, etc. Bruce Willis along with a teenage cyber-hacker saves the world. The screen play could certainly have been fresh, it reminded of all many previous Hollywood movies. This post will go for pages If I listed all the goof-ups I noticed, but select few here:

• Why is that all Hollywood Action movies have their villain operating out of big trucks - is there no other mobile offices available?
• How come the villain get high-speed connectivity to all places around the USA from the truck - even with satellite dishes you can't get high-speed
• You can't even get a webpage rendered correctly even on 3G with Mobile phones, but it was interesting to see a Nokia 9300 (my previous phone) used for connecting into high-security computers
• Even on any critical banking back end applications, the entire architecture is not known to one person. Here the entire countries backup strategy was build and known to one guy
• How come the teenager effortlessly connects and accesses all computers?. How does he know the commands of all systems, understands Power Plants, Nuclear Plants, etc. In practical world, even moving from a Windows PC to Unix Workstations is difficult for best of geeks out there
• Won't the government have at least one equally intelligent guy like the villain or at least better than the teenager, surprising
• Finally, how on earth can you hit a helicopter with a car

May be I should have not watched the movie.

இது ஒரு சண்டைப் படம். வாழ்க்கையில் சாதிக்கும் தருனத்தில் கனவுடன் இருக்கும் சாதாரண ஒரு இளைஞனின் வாழ்க்கை விதியால் எப்படி மாறுகிறது என்பது தான் கதை. கண்டிப்பாக கதை புதிதில்லை, ஆனாலும் அழகாக அதை எடுக்க முடியும் என்று காட்டியுள்ளார் புது இயக்குனர் விஜய்.  அதற்காக அவரைப் பாராட்டலாம்.  அஜித் அசத்துகிறார், அச்சாரிமாக இருக்கிறது - எப்படி மனிதர் நாளாக நாளாக வயதைக் குறைத்துவருகிறார் என்று.

சினிமா தனம் இல்லாத யதார்தமான முடிவு. வாய்ப்பு கிடைத்தால் இந்த படத்தை கண்டிப்பாகப் பார்க்கலாம்.

I am  writing this post on a flight from London to Los Angeles. Since I had a good night sleep on my previous leg from Mumbai to London, I didn't want to sleep now, instead spending the time got on clearing my backlogs of emails and tasks. I own a Zune Player that I rarely carry outside, I think I already have enough electronics with me all the time - Laptop, its cables, cell phone and USB drives. I use my Zune most of the time while I am at home connected to Lansec speakers. Recently I found a good use for Zune, it is to take it on long trips for watching movies that I don't get time to watch while at time. The best thing about Zune is that it has a quite big size screen which makes it comfortable for watching movies, battery that lasts for nearly 2 full movies and I can charge it back by connecting it to my laptop.

I bought the DVD of the movie "World Trade Center" few months back but never had the time to watch it at home. Before leaving I converted the DVD into Zune format using PCDVD software. The software does a good conversion, but freezes once in a while running in Vista.

Coming back to the movie, I was expecting (should I say ignorantly) the movie to be the story behind the plot & how it was executed. Instead the movie was about how two cops from Port Authority (PAPD) who risked their lives to safe people after the first tower coming down, got themselves trapped in concourse of building 5. The whole movie revolves around these two officers and their anxious family. The director has nicely handled the story on the lines of human spirit, moments before death and courage of people in uniform. After watching the movie completely, it struck me if the movie had covered any other story line or talked about the plot it would have been disrespectful to the thousands of families who lost their loved one's on that tragic day.

I was part of history yesterday (at least let me feel it that way), watching among millions through TV of course the first ever Twenty20 match played by India. This was the 10th International Twenty20 match. Having watched a cricket match after few years, I feel the 20:20 format has great potential and in all likelihood become mainstream cricket just the way One-Day did for Test matches. The four hours (half-a-day) is very convenient for audience to enjoy a good cricket match and sight-seeing all within a day.

In yesterday's match (India vs Pakistan) it was good cricket with typical swings of a India-Pakistan match till the last ball. I really enjoyed watching the bowl-out which decided who got the 2 points with each side nominating 5 bowlers who bowled one ball each. Of course, the way Indians played left much to be desired!. One thing was obvious, though Indians may not be the champions in the game - Indian businesses (sponsors) are clearly who are paying for the tournament.  

This week one of my colleagues gave me a DVD of the movie April 1945, A Nation awaits its ...  "DOWNFALL". Surprisingly I didn't put it in my CD shelves for watching one of the days (which will never come) but managed to see it today.

In the last half-a-century much as been written and movies taken about the Holocaust & World War II. But many of them skip the last few weeks of Hitler or mention them in passing paragraphs. This movie is all about the last few weeks, when it was certain the Nazis have lost. This different perspective makes the movie different and enjoyable, even though it is 2:30 Hours.

Oliver Hirschbiegel (the Director of the movie) chronicles the last desperate days in Hitler's underground bunker, as the Red Army unrelentingly closes in. It's April 1945. The streets of Berlin are defended by armed children, and the fate of Nazism is sealed. Some blindly believe Hitler capable of some last-minute miracle. Yet there is still a human drama to play out... Read a nice review of movie here.

If you are interested in war history and the human toll it takes, this is a nice movie to watch.

21st June is a special day for me - it is when Vishwak Solutions Pvt. Ltd was incorporated in 2001 and my Son was born in 2003.

This 21st June, I decided to go with my family to Sivaji "The boss", what a mistake - we should have celebrated the happy occassion in a much better fashion. The movie for me was a big dissapointment. BOSS for me implied "Blatant Omission of Story and Screenplay".

Since this movie has been commented to death, I will make this post ery brief. 1) The movie runs for too long (3 hours+), 2) I am not able to figure out how a software architect in USA working for 20 years can earn Rs.200 Crores and 3) Sankar has used the RobinHood theme to death.

Overall Rajini looks young in the movie; but Director Sankar's creativity seems to have aged and in coma!!!

Update 22/Jul/07: I came across this honest review of the movie which was different from every thing else around. Due to the hype created for movie (Hat's to AVM for a great marketing job) everyone seems to be acting like in Emperors New Clothes  when in public.

Today in HBO I saw a good comedy movie "Vice Versa". Simple story line on how a father and son get switched between their bodies through a magic. It was hilarious to see a 8 year old brain for a 30+ Year successful manager and vice-versa. When I searched Internet I was surprised to find the movie was 20 years old taken in 1988, and around the same time about 5 other movies and TV Serials had come with similar story lines.

While watching the movie, the boy actor was very familiar. When I searched on the Internet, I learned his name as "Fred Savage". Going through his movies/serials I recollected having seen him in his very popular serial of 1980-90s - Wonder Years and enjoying it a lot in my high-school days. I should have seen the entire serial, the serial had the boy speak out his feelings to the audience in an adult voice. Every boy in adolescent age could relate to this serial, an all time classic.

I also learned the boy seen above has now grown up (obviously of course), married and have a kid!

On my flight from London to Seattle, I watched the recent James Bond 007 movie - Casino Royale. Daniel Craig has acted well and is looking good as the new bond. But the movie was unlike any previous Bond movie I have seen - pretty boring for a Bond movie. No new gadgets, car chases - it was more physical fights and chases like an Indian Movie.     

Today I started from Chennai to USA, enroute London (that's where I am doing this post after paying GBP 10 for 24 Hrs T-Mobile Wi-Fi) by British Airways. Like I have said in my past posts, almost all my Non-Tamil Movie watching happens while in long distance flights like these. Today I got a Upgrade to Business Class and could enjoy to a private selection of movies in the BA flight. While the first 7 hours of flight I slept, the last two hours I caught up with some movie watching.

The movie was about the Late Uganda Military Ruler Idi Amin and the friendship with a young Scotland doctor who comes to Uganda to help in a NGO. The doctor initially reluctant to take the President's Physician job, then get lured by the benefits and status it provides and soon becomes Amin's trusted advisor - little did he know that closeness to power centre's are always a double-edged sword. The movie depicts the doctor's emotional dilemma between his Western Principals and friendship with the President. It doesn't attempt to be an historic record of all events of Idi Amin's rule. Nice to watch.

While in the terminal I came to an Italian Coffee Shop "Costa" for a cup of tea. But look below at their monstorous cup given for GBP 1.5. The cup was much bigger than a regular soup bowl, so I had to definitely take a snap of it!

(I have kept my Nokia 9500 next to the cup for size comparison)

Today during my flight by Japan Airlines from Tokyo to Singapore I watched A Good Year by Russell Crowe. While selecting the movie my expectations was very limited. Having seen Russell Crowe in Gladiator, I didn't expect him to perform well on a love story (don't ask me why) and the story line of a London Banker going to France Wineyard and finding love was sounding slow and boring. By the time I made my mind, the movie was into its 20th minute or so, but the movie went very interesting and I was hooked. I saw it once again throughout to feel the entire story line in one go. A good movie to watch if you are in a mood for a slow story.  

Trailer can be seen from here.

Yesterday, while in Singapore for transit to my Japan trip, I had few hours to kill - this was after doing all the eating and shopping in Singapore. With my maternal uncle, we went to "Ghost Rider" in the multiplex inside Plaza Singapura (Wikipedia has the history about this mall). Honestly, we haven't heard about the movie before, had very little expectations other than "Nicholas Cage" name.

I am not a fan of ghostly scary movies, but this movie was not scary but comedy. Comedy because someone like Sony Pictures will come up with this story line and then waste their money filming it. I am not complaining the story line is unbelievable, but it had nothing worth mentioning or even seeing what so ever. Total washout from my perspective. Having said that Kids and Teenager might find the movie interesting, for the action by Nicholas Cage - but even for that there are better action movies.  

You can read more reviews here, but I am surprised few of them rated this movie 4 out of 5!

In the Jet Airways flight from Chennai to Singapore I watched "Lage Raho Munnabhai". Since I got a Business Class upgrade, they gave a Personal Video System - which was a small Fujitsu Lifebook laptop with customized hardware and software.

I don't understand "Hindi" beyond the basics, so I was skeptical on how much I will like the movie and understand the jokes. But the English Subtitle really was useful and well done that I enjoyed the movie 100%. I laughed and laughed, that I had to control myself during several instances from being heard by my fellow passengers. I didn't know Sanjay Dutt could do this well a comedy performance, I always imagined him to be an action hero (pardon my ignorance of Hindi Movies). The director "Rajkumar Hirani" has done a fabulous job of giving a movie of world-class quality in the presentation style.

Though it is sad that "Gandhian" philosophy has to be shown to be followed by a Gunda, it was given in a nice fashion. And finally, Vidya Balan was looking beautiful throughout the movie!

சில்லுனு ஒரு காதல், சூர்யா ஜோதிகா நடித்த இந்தப் படத்தை ஓரிரண்டு மாதங்கள் முன்பு பார்த்தேன்.சூர்யா ஜோதிகாவின் திருமணத்தின் பொழுது வெளிவந்தது மட்டுமே படத்திற்கான விளம்பரமாக அமைந்தது.படத்தில் கணவன் மனைவி உறவை/அன்பை ஆழமாக அதே சமயம் இயல்பாக இயக்குனர் சொல்லியுள்ளார், மற்றபடி படத்தைப் பார்த்தப்பொழுது என்னை எதுவும் மிகவாக கவரவில்லை.

படத்தின் பாடல்களை பிறகு தொலைக்காட்சியில் பார்க்கும் பொழுது, பாடல் ஒளிப்பதிவு மிகவும் நெர்த்தியாக தெரிகிறது -குறிப்பாக "நியுயார்க் நகரம்" பாடல் மிக அழகாக Editing செய்யப்பட்டுள்ளது.ஒரு காட்சியில் சூர்யா வலதுப்பக்கமாக வெளியேரினால் அடுத்த காட்சியில் ஜோதிகா இடதுப்பக்கமாக தோன்றுவார், ஒருவரில் (கணவன் சூர்யா) இருந்து மற்றவர் (மனைவி ஜோதிகா) வருவது போல் மிக நெர்த்தியாக தொழில்நுட்பத்தைப் பயன்படுத்தியுள்ளார் இயக்குனர் கிருஷ்ணா

இதைத் தவிர பாடல் சிடியை தினமும் வண்டியில் கேட்டப்பொழுது "நியுயார்க் நகரம்" பாடலும், "அம்மி மிதிச்சாச்சு" பாடலும் என்னை வெகுவாக கவர்ந்தது. இதில் "நியுயார்க் நகரம்" பாடல் முழுவதையும் கவிஞர் வாலி ஆங்கில கலப்பிண்றி (காபி பொன்ற ஒரிரு தவிர) இயல்பான தமிழில் எழுதியுள்ளார் - குறிப்பாக டயரியை (Diary)  நாட்குறிப்பு என்று அழகாக சொல்லியுள்ளார். ஒவ்வொரு முறையும் அந்த பாடலை கேட்கும்பொழுதும் ரகுமான் குரல் மனதை வருடாமல் விடவில்லை.  

Last Sunday, I had some quality leisure time to spend with my son. I started by opening a Tom and Jerry Puzzle that he has - boy I didn't remember that puzzles were fun and also tough. Being a 3 year restless kid, after 180 seconds he became bored by it and started playing on his own, but I spent the next 20 minutes and completed the puzzle. In this materialistic world, we miss out on these simple activities like a Puzzle. To prove that I did complete it, here is the photo:

The next I did with my son was to watch a DVD with him. Some how the cartoons I consider otherwise kiddish, becomes fun while watching with him. In his School (Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan) for Pre-KG that he is studying they are teaching him Vegetables. So he is excited whenever he sees a Vegetable (with the 't' pronounced bold by him). So while shopping in LandMark my wife picked up this DVD on Vegetables, though I buy many CD/DVD everytime I travel, my wife gets lucky in picking the good ones.  Past experience for me with buying Indian made Kid CD/DVDs were not good - the CDs were not made as interesting to kids as the western made one's like Oswald/Barney/TeleTubbies. The exception to this, was the hugely successful "Hanuman" DVD. To my surprise, this DVD on Vegetables was made very well - the DVD has made a boring topic like teaching Vegetables fun, as it was told in a story format with good animation and characters. I recommend this for any kid below 5 years. I wishes to the maker of this DVD - Gipsy.

(Click to view the cover and story brief)

As part of our office monthly Movie Mania, I today watched in Melody theatre, Kamal Hasan's "Vettaiyadu Vilayadu" directed by Gautam. To summarize my comments in 3 descriptions it will be "a disappointment", "very gruesome" and "missing logic".

ChennaiOnline has a good review about the movie, I agree with it except about Kamal looking good in the movie. My recommendation, please don't take your kids to the movie (though I saw many in the theatre). 

One of the most respected faces of India in the international IT space Mr.Azim Premji (Chairman, WIPRO) gave his first TV Interview. Premji was speaking to Shekhar Gupta, the Editor-in-Chief of The Indian Express in NDTV's Walk the Talk programme. Coming from a background of Brick and Mortar (lifcobooks.com)  Business family myself, I admire Premji. His courage is commendable for expanding WIPRO from Vegetable Oils and Soaps to the new economy of IT Services.

Read this interview to peek into one of India's success story.