Thoorathil Therium Velicham
Paathaikku Sondhamillai
Minnalin Ooliyai Pidikka
Minmini Poochikku Theriyavillai

Vizhi Unakku Sondhamadi
Vethanaigal Ennakku Sondhamadi
Alai Kadalai Kadanthapinney
Nuraigal Mattum Karaikkey Sondhamadi
...
...
Puyaladithaal Malai Irukkum
Marangalum Pookalum Maraindhu Vidum
Sirippu Varum Azhugai Varum
Kaathalil Irandumey Kalandhu Varum

If Kanaa Kaanum Kalangal was touchy, this Kan Pesum Varthaigal grips. Na. Muthukumar, the lyricist and Singer Karthik need special mention. The picturisation isn't all that avid but this song would stay in your heart for a long time. Reason ? An emotion called pain. And this one carries sheer pain.

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Except NDTV, there weren't too much hungama on any other media network about the 14000 weddings that happened yesterday in Delhi. NDTVs report on the weddings gave an insight about the kind of chaos, Delhi went through yesterday.

Yesterday was supposed to be the most auspicious day of the year, add to it, the most chaotic too. The images of crowd, traffic was mind blowing. And if only it was in Chennai, the traffic would have come to nearly a halt. Looks like the price hike of mandapams, flower, music bands, ghoda and even pudits, were at an all-time high. Imagine the money flow. A average spending of 10 lakhs a marriage would mount up close to a huge 1400 crores. If this was the statistics just in Delhi, imagine the whole of India. Big Fat Indian Wedding. Read more here.

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Been down for the last couple of days with a viral fever. It's not just me but a good number of Chennaites who share this virus along with me[Per doctor, it wasn't a viral fever. just a fever, whatever]. Also thanks to my nice eating habits in any roadside shop of Chennai. That noble habit is under tight scrutiny at home and I nearly swore on camphor that I would avoid (note- avoid, not stop) eating elsewhere.

For all these years, eating on Saravana/Kaiyendhi Bhavans has made me immune to most of the quick spreading germs. A few months of good home food kicked out the immunity and I am now a welcoming victim for all these germs. Enough. To cut the long story short, if you are at Chennai, the best way to protect yourself is to eat anywhere without looking for any hygiene. Within couple of months, I assure, you are Mr. Immune.

So the whole of the weekend, I've been at home. This is the only week I've been completely at home. And when you have nothing to do except books and the television it is so cool. Watched television to my glory yesterday. Not just the usual kollywood stuff but some good ones like the Biography of Sidney Sheldon, a documentary on the man behind Bram Stoker's Dracula in the History Channel and ofcourse Steve Ballmer's visit to India in CNBC. Also did watch one of MGR's initial hits called Mahadevi and was zapped by the production values and the screenplay.

This morning the fever was again peaking and a very close friend who has come down from Canada was here to invite me for his marriage. A few hours of chatting got us nostalgic and we happily shared those days of filled with a plethora of emotions. Especially biking around Chennai even during the floods, the long evenings which we spent talking all kinds of stuff at the Drive-In Woodlands and even the toughest of events that we just laughed out.

Just after he left, I realized, the fever gone. Poye Pochu !!

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[Pic : vikatan.com]

Pugazhendhi[not the Arjun of Mudhalvan]. As the name goes, this Gold Medalist from the Madurai Medical College, has bagged infinite wishes from the villages in and around Kalpakkam. Has been servicing the village people for just Rs.3 a consultation.

Fourteen years back, after his passout from the medical college, when his scientist friends persuaded him to come over to Kalpakkam, he setup his first hospital in a remote village called Sathurangapattinam. People from in around that area intially misunderstood him to be duplicate doc. As time rolled over, his fair intentions became clearer and he is now lovably nicknamed as the Three Rupees Doctor. Still single and away from his family, he makes a mediocre living by selling medicine to the villagers at a nominal profit.

In his upstanding interview to Ananda Vikatan, Pugazhendhi attributes his college professors for guiding him to this noble service. He also remarks about the training he gives to the unemployed youth, empowering them to setup clinics at the villages nearby. This idea, at a first glance seemed like an illegal act. He could rather convince his fellow doctors who are busy in the metros to join him in the villages. Because this training-a-youth-as-a-doctor should never have a reverse effect on the diseased. Then, Pugazhendhi's noble ideas would be dubbed otherway. Thanks to the current media which can transform a mouse into an elephant[or paen into perumal as in tamil].

Reading this article in today's Vikatan, I was prompted to blog about this. Not just that. Incidentally due to my viral fever, I was at a local hospital, few hours back. While they charged me a half hundred for the consultation, the prescribed medicines amounted few more hundreds. Imagine the cost of setting right a a chronic disease. Pretty costly. Just like everyone, I only hope we have many more such examples. This dude Pugazhendhi, certainly needs to be be celebrated and encouraged.

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Set in modern day India, Swades is a film that tackles the issues facing the citizens of this nation on a grass roots level, says the Swades website. To add more, what begins as a simple mission prompted by nostalgia and affection turns into a journey into the heartland of rural India, both literally and metaphorically. The site is designed intuitively and loaded with tons of wallpapers and stills. This pic of A R Rahman with Ashutosh and Javed Aktar seemed interesting.

The first line of the site reads, From the Writer & Director of the Academy Award Nominated 'Lagaan'. Though I have reservations about sending Indian movies to the Oscars, this one was quite heartening to see.

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If Adam and Eve had been Chinese we'll all be in Paradise, because they would have ignored the apple and eaten the snake. A heady gag. Who else but Kamal Hassan cracking this during a chat about Mumbai Xpress. A good look at the pic in the link would make you guess a couple of things. Kamal as Avinasi would be a deaf and a wannabe US settler(note the USA emblem on his leather coat as he watches a plane fly high). More...

Hurray !! Just one more month for the Thiruvasakam in Symphony to release. Maestro Illayaraja will come back rocking. More...

Shahrukh 'stereotyped' Khan talks about lending his voice to the remake of The Incredibles as Hum Hain Lajawab in Hindi. This is however a great effort. More...

Goodbye Arthur Hailey. While a teenager, I was hugely inspired by his thrillers like Hotel and Wheels than the best selling Airport. We will miss you, forever. More...

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Starting tomorrow[Nov 26th], we will have the first competitive film festival in the Pilot Theatre of Chennai being organised by International Tamil Film Academy[ITFA] and the former prime-time giant Seventh Channel. The film festival will have 25 international films showcased for five days.

Some bigges include Together[China], Bread and Tulips[Italy] and Nachbarinnen a.k.a Wanted [Germany]. Read more from Hindu. The synopsis of the german film Nachbarinnen interests me. Could be made in a well planned tamil movie. Am planning to take a spin on the weekend.

Update [26 Nov 2004] - Selected list of the movies in the screening.

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Naethu Thanimayila Poachu Yaarum Thunailla
Yaaro Vazhi Thunaikku Vandhaal Yaedum Innailla
Ulagathil Edhuvum Thanichu Illaiye
Kuzhalil Raagam Malaril Vaasam Saerndhadhu Poala

Should it because of the mesmerizing flute that drives me crazy ? Should it be because of the human bondage thats revealed so realistically as moving images ? Should it be because of the mood set by the worthy lyrics? Should it be because of the joy-amidst-pain sentiment shared with us ?

Not sure of the specifics but it does something to me. Make me broody, enraptured and transports me to a strange horizon. I've fallen in love with this song, again. Thanks to illayaraja and ofcourse Bala.

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If you need a nice peek into the photographs of Dhanush-Aishwarya reception album, here it is at Behind Woods. This one seems to be a huge array of exclusive pics of the reception.

Am not sure how these guys got hold of the album but I am sure this is going to increase the bandwidth extensively. Also the presentation of Behind Woods is very intutive. Way to go and nice job dudes.

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[Pic : hindu.com]

After the comical Vasool Raja MBBS, it's Kamal's turn to care for a movie for himself. And this formula of one-mass-movie-one-class-movie has been continuing for some time now[except for Panchathanthiram following PKS]. Expectedly, Kamal Hassan pens the story/screenplay and packs bag to board Mumbai Xpress.

Mumbai Express is said to be a family entertainer and will be directed by the veteran Singeetham Sreeenivasa Rao. As remarked by Kamal himself Singeetham and KamalHassan, though generations apart by age, have a great chemistry between them that makes this duo an interesting combo. As Kamal is tight-lipped about the story line, it makes me speculate that the movie could be of the genre of Anbe Sivam where the classy theme was mixed in propotion with the comedy.

When the bi-lingual Mumbai Xpress was announced publicly on his birthday, there weren't many details to decipher the feel of the movie. Now with Kamal Hassan engaging Manisha Koirala on the lead role and having illayaraja to tune it's getting a lot clearer. The tamil train will include Nasser, Ramesh Aravind and Pasupathi while the Hindi express will have Om Puri and Mahesh Manjirekar.

Here's the link to Hindu's article on this. BTW, who comes to your mind after you see this new makeover of Kamal Hassan ? It reminds me of Bally Sagoo.

Update - Mumbai Xpress Flash teaser here at Kumudam explains all. Kamalhassan sits on the top of a Dharavi hut and talks about the democracy in Mumbai city. Also say his nick name is Mumbai Xpress, original name is Avinashi. Another interesting character, a horse is named as Baazigar. Must Watch.

Another gallery of Mumbai Xpress at India Glitz.

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[Pic : galatta.com]

Simbhu requests a shoulder to cry, talks a mile long amateurish dialogue about his girlfriend, who ran away with someone and when the cricket fame Mandira Bedi consoles him, catches her by her hips and over her shoulder winks at the camera. You know by then what manmadhan is going to be. Don't you?

Taking off as a modern day adaptation of Sigappu Rojakkal, manmadhan is all about serial killing girls who are unfaithful to their husbands/boy friends. While this fact hasn't been established clearly through dialogues, the screenplay makes you to assume this. Similar to its predecessor serial killing thrillers, the protagonist/anti-hero has a purpose. That purpose as expected is a lengthy flashback. By a chance most of the girls whom our hero meets are diseased by infidelity. Contradictory to real life, these girls fall for the hero in the first pass he makes at them. This disease, again as per the kollywood grammar doesn't affect the heroine.

Simbhu has done a great job to showcase his multi-faceted talents in many ways as possible. The better thing is that all his efforts have stuck to the story line making them more in-direct. In his previous movies, such efforts have stood out making it as a promotion of Simbhu and the movie theme was lost in the process. His performance in some scenes puts him in the league of acting actors.

Unfortunately, the screenplay that he has penned is a drag. What could have been a simple 2-hour nail-biting thriller has been elongated to a 18 reel lengthy movie. He takes ample time to set the story and the first half just drags to unveil the interval suspense. The flashback, set in a town hostel could have been cut efficiently keeping the time factor in mind. The climax and the twists that occur at regular intervals have got the movie going.

Jyothika with her usual charm and her quaint dialogue delivery performs again. But in a hero-centric movie she has very less to do. Her dance in the number Enn Aasai Mythiliye rocks. Even in the wildest dreams one wouldn't have imagined Jyo to dance so well in a single lengthy shot. Like his Saghlai Chinni Jayanth, Ragalai Santhanam gets to become the new age college friend. This guys needs a notice and heroes beware cause he can out perform others in a scene with his wits.

You could hardly spot Balakumaran, the dialogue writer in this visual movie and also one would certainly ponder over the rational behind those lengthy dialogues of love-lost. Kakkha Kakkha fame RD Rajasekhar's camera has simply brought in the urban look and feel for the movie. With some daring close-ups and unbelievable angles, Rajasekhar is a cameraman to adore. Nevertheless, too much shaking the camera pains the eyes. Antony, the editor who along with the cameraman has done the wonder work for the movie. With the movie moving so smooth, I still don't believe how he would have allowed those lengthy slow motion shots of Simbhu. A little more cuts in the narration and the movie could have been cute-bundled in less than two hours.

Yuvan's songs have been rocking the music scene for quite some time. That rap in that manmadhan song goes well with the number. What stands out is the long pathos number, Kathal Valarthen. Not to forget the folk rendering of Shankar Mahadevan and Sriram in Vanam Enna. Jay Murugan who hasn't been brought to light in the media needs to be appreciated to for his directorial skills of manmadhan. If supposedly this is his debut movie in direction, amazing job.

This young dude Simbhu to perform in most of the areas of filmmaking might make him look like a braggart but if only he could maneuver his talents he is certain to stay here. manmadhan could be counted as of his one of the initial successes he is going to encounter in the days to come.

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On Friday evening, the stars shined brighter over the sky just to make up for the rain that poured few weeks back. Two weeks back on a Friday, it poured like hell and the music show named Light up a life, organized by the IIT Madras Atma charity wing was postponed. This week it happened at the Open Air Theatre of IIT. And it happened with full josh.

Gangai Amaran's musical evening started exactly on the shceduled time. That's something which happens only for some of the carnatic kutcheris in Chennai. And we know how Gangai Amaran can get the pulse of the crowd so fast. He did. From 7 in the evening till 10:30 it was sheer music. Music of all kinds Bhaghavathar, Kannadasan, A R Rahman, Vidyasagar, Ghazal, Hindi and Telugu film music. What reverberated even after the show were Illayaraja's numbers that occupied the main theme of the show.

SPB Charan has the yesteryear SPB's voice. Remember the number Then Sindhuthey Vaanam, Slightly feminine, very SPB. SPB Charan has that exact voice. And fortunately, like his dad he could dwell in any octave so profoundly. Some evergreen numbers that amazed me were Sankarabharanam and Sorgam Madhuviley. Added to it was his rendering to Manmadha Rasa. Seemed like SPBs version of the song, fantastic variation to Shankar Mahadevan's original rendering.

The final medley lasted for more than 15 minutes where SPB Charan, Venkat Prabhu and the whole singing group were catching up on each other like a competition. The song that started all was Cheena Thaana and finally ended with Chinna Pasanga Nanga [Aruvadai Naal]. And as expected at the end, Gangai Amaran finished it with the Malar Polla Manam Vendum song that's broadcasted everyday morning in Vijay TV.

IBM who was the sponsor of the show gave away goodies to the audience. Software as goodies? The last thing you would expect from a musical show. Yeah, they gave away a whole bunch of CDs that consisted of a enterprise edition of DB2 ver 8.1 [one that was looking to download from the net], Lotus domino and Web Sphere studio's evaluation edition. Of course, the brochures that they gave away were finally flying high, as rockets. We know our guys, right.

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My blog has been reached in record numbers for the past two days. Looks like the huge crowd is coming from this Google search of Dhanush-Aishwarya marriage.

So if you are the one landing here and cursing me for not uploading the marriage pic, here it is for you. Just for you.

[Pic : rajinifans.com]

Catch some more pics at behindwoods gallery.

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Have shifted to Total Choice Hosting service from Bloghosts. Bloghosts are closing for business and hence I had to switch to a new one. The guys at bloghosts were amazing and I didn't want to actually leave them.

TCH guys gave away a great deal for bloghosts customers of a free upgrade. So currently I am on a plan that gives more bandwidth and ample storage space. These guys also have great support. What more do I need to ask for.

Last evening, I switched the nameservers and so for sometime you must have been seeing older entries because my new site was backed up few days back itself. I have brought back the older enteries from the copies I had. The comments of the last four posts are missing. I know the previous post did have a good debate going on. In a day or two I will back up all the comments and put them as they were posted.

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[pic: kapaleeswarar.com]

Yesterday, I spent a warm evening at the Mylapore Kapaleeswarar Temple. This is the first time I had been to the temple since the consecration happened on August 30th 2004. To visit a temple within the first forty days of its consecration is tantamount to performing a Ashwamedha Yaga. I missed it anyway. Mylapore still remains/will remain to be the center of spiritual chennai. Not much has changed around the temple except for the new bhavans and hotels that have mushroomed. However, the roadside shop near the theradi still gives away tasty bajjis of all types.

After the kumbhabishekam, the gopurams glitter in the twilight with the backdrop of a bluish sky. Couldn't take a shot as I didn't have my digital camera. Usually I love the gopurams that have lost their paints which give them a antique look and re-itrating that truth stands tall over time. However, this mylapore temple has one of the finest gopurams in the city and I did bask that same pleasure even with the finest of paints.

That new red neon board fixed in the middle of the gopuram said, Anbe Sivam. Wow !! It meant a world to me. For Hinduism, isn't to be seen as a religion. It’s a way of life. Anbe Sivam is a much profound explanation to that definition. The ideology of Shiva, the theology of Hinduism all encompassed in just two words.

Inside the temple, near the sanctum sanctorum, the white cardboard read, Non-Hindus Not Allowed. Ah!! Red alert. With all that Anbe Sivam philosophy up the gopurams, this board with just a few feet away contradicts. It hurts. This is the second time I'm boring this over in the blog. The last time I vented this out was while I had been to the Madurai Temple. Why wouldn't this be taken out may be a question to the believers who have understood the Hindu school of thought.

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Anand Chandrasekharan, who guest blogs here , has won the Global Indus Technovators Award for 2004. Anand will recieve this award today at a special ceremony to be held from 6-9:30 pm. at Wong Auditorium, MIT .

I did know this news a couple of weeks back but was waiting to post it here only after they announced the technovators 2004 online. This award is given away by the Indian Business Club at Massachusetts Institute of Technology to recognize and felicitate 20 distinguished innovators of Indus origin working at the cutting-edge of technology that may be harnessed for far-reaching applications.

Anand co-founded Aeroprise from Stanford, which specialises in Mobile Workflow Management system. Having known Anand for sometime now, I'm personally happy for this acknowledgement and wanted to share it here.

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Google's GMAIL is just out with POP access and thats really a great news for people who loved the good old way of reading mails offline using Outlook Express/Eudora/Thunderbird. The New Features link disappeared from my gmail account fwe days back and when it re-appeared just now, I was expecting a surprise to surface. This one was a true bonker bonks.

POP Access has been something that many e-Mail services have been blocking over the years. With this Google is marching a step forward in the race for email kingdom. Another good reason why you should grab a GMAIL id. If you already have one it's time to configure the POP. Looks like the POP Access is being activated in batches since 12th Nov. So if you don't have one activated, its just matter of days before it becomes active.

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This post isn't about the multitude of films that borrowed story ideas from the Hollywood classic Godfather. With the protests over english names for tamil movies still gearing up, I was suprised this morning to a see an film ad on tamil dailies that read, God father. A middle aged man with a thick white moustache and spectacles posed for the ad. He looked similar to our Ajith. Adjusting my eyes, I looked it up once more. It's Ajith Kumar himself.

There was more to come. The film produced by NIC Arts is being directed by K S Ravikumar. The previous time Ajith and KSR combo worked out in Villain. Note the english name again. Ask for the technical crew and here you go with more. A R Rahman on the keys and PC Sreeram with the camera.

What more should we do but hope that KSR doesn't re-use Jaggubhai's story here. But jokes apart, it is a dream combo especially with PC Sreeram joining the crew. Probably this was what Ajith mentioned in his Attakasam trailer as, Ezhundutaen, Tho Varen.

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The rain clouds aren't above Chennai. We are on schedule, as of now. I am awaiting a reply from our may-be sponsors. Looks like they have also gone on a diwali long leave. We have 15 official enteries through my comments box. We might have more bloggers if the rain isn't playing spoil-sport.

Will put up a note here if there are any updates about schedule and place.

Update 1 - Sify Blogs, to whom we had requested a coverage has put up a note on their blogs homepage about the meet. However, the link is being directed to Blog Street India's Chennai city directory. Thanks Sify Team.

Update 2 - Blogging Diwali, the Chennai way happened. Happened fine for 3 hours. Will put up an update here soon. Pictures will also been available soon.

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Giving a live commentary of deepavali is getting a little boring. Thats even to me but I just can't resist this one.

The fireworks stuff, I think just got better over the years. South India has really adopted the crack the crakers in the night from the north over the last couple of decades. Tonight was a gala night as the skies lighted with the colors of fireworks. Sounds everywhere. Near ones, distant ones, echoed ones, lighted ones and what not.

Six years back, on a diwali evening, when me and my friend were driving desperately to Woodlands Drive-In, it was just zero visibility due to crackers, over T.Nagar and we just prayed not to bump on some poor pedestrian. Tonight wasn't a similar one. The visibility was quite normal. Some kids say that in schools, their teachers were highly dis-couraging them of bursting crackers due to pollution. With half of the kids having this excuse and the other half glued to their television sets watching Baba and Azhagiya Theeye, the crackers have certainly lost a lil bit of their charm.

On televisions, Kamal Hasan ruled the day. Jaya TV's 3 hour long show named Kalakka Povathu...Kamal, where Kamal had several guests like SPB, Chitra, Manorama and many others visiting him and sharing their experiences of working with him. All this and they also rendered some nicest songs. SPB sang the all-time hit, Kamban Yemaandaan and had Kamal to do lip sync for that. It was nearly perfect and SPB said this was a kind of soul sharing which he and Kamal had. Goosebumps. By popular expectation, Kamal sang that fantastical Anbe Sivam number in the end. Can't have ended it better.

Trisha on a special interview was completely cool and seemed to be all herself. After a long time it was like witnessing a lead girl from the tinsel world who could shed all those fantasies surronding her and could talk sense. While talking about her Aayitha Ezhuthu experience she remembered how Mani Ratnam, to keep the crew's spirit high, wore a life jacket and dived into the beach along with Sidharth and her during the shoot of Hey !! Goodbye Nanba. Long sentence that was.

Anniyan Vikram was on the ECR roads waving Happy Deepavali to strangers and giving them a sweet surprise. His long hair also says Anniyan is still on sets. Let's hope they can make it to pongal. On Baba, Rajini is busy using that sixth mantra. Baba...Cinema Cinema.

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It's deepavali morning. The night is still chasing the dawn. The sound, the smell and the smoke all underlining the quintessential character of Deepavali.

This site was down for past couple of days and it's just up today, as a deepavali gift. Thanks to the guys at bloghosts who got this up.

Anyway, if you are looking for blogger meet info, look at the previous post.

Happy Festival of Lights !!

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What would a bunch of bloggers do normally? Blog. Chennai Bloggers? What else, they meet. So if you are a blogger/non-blogger and if you are in/around/near Chennai this Diwali weekend, the kutty, tiny and cute blogger meet is happening this weekend. Warm welcome to the new journo-bloggers of Chennai.

Blogstreet's Indian version lists hundred and twenty three Chennai Bloggers, as of today. Even if half of that crowd is in town this sunday and even if half of that lot attend the blogger meet, we would have a bunch of fiercely opinionated bloggers around. I know too much of opinions don't actually make sense. But aren't meets always made to make sense. I hear you whisper, Lazy mams, cut the crap and come straight to point.

Ok, where did I leave my story? Yeah, so we meet on Sunday the 14th of November by 3:30 4:30 pm. Isn't that the children's day? Chennai Childlike Bloggers, as usual meet at famous blogger meet spot of Besant Nagar/Elliots beach, near the huge white memorial, as you often see in the climaxes of kollywood flicks. We might get sponsors for the sunday sundal and some Lights On from the media.

All Pocket-sized Nokia Space Shuttles, Digi Cams, Pen Cams, Spy Cams and even Web cams are welcome. We will be missing regulars like Kingsley, Mdeii Anand and many others this time. If someone could arrange for a web cast of the meet, they can pop in too.

Being the 3rd Official Chennai Blogger Meet of this year, we are set to rock the show. So drop in and check out as the Chennai Bloggers wisecrack(er) their way into this Diwali.

P.S : Leave a note here about your availability or mail me at lazygeek[at]gmail.com.

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Having read this year's Deepavali special issue of Vikatan, I have to say that it is indeed one of the best gifts one can give/get for this Deepavali. When I started reading the Vikatan Deepavali Malar, I had a pre-conceived notion that its going to be another Ananda Vikatan with those typical commerical stuff. Not anymore.

If not for the Vikatan special issue, I think the best gift for most of the occasions could be a good book. Note this, Good Book. Not a bad one. So if a friend gifts me a pack of Ladoos this deepavali, he also has to foot the doctor bill and the costly tablets that my doctor prescribes me. The doc gets tons of free samples for such prescriptions from the medical companies. Thats another story. So if you are planning a gift, for your friend, how about a good book ?

Ashokamithran's account on the history of tamil short stories in Vikatan is awe-inspiring. He was able to size down the hundred year long history of tamil shortstories to a couple of pages. No wonder he still rocks.

Ashokamithran writes a monthly column for Kumudam's Theeranadhi. Last month on Kumudam's Theeranadhi, his column on Varanasi Kasi, set me thinking philosophically. His unique ability lies in conveying the most powerful things with a minimum set of words. A writer who certainly needs to be celebrated. This month in his theeranadhi page, the fiction based on the Iowa city is worth a mention. Will give a pointer to that article once it's online.

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[Pic - bizhat.com]

No yaps, no cribs. Just a birthday wish to this gentleman on his 50th birthday. Am saving many more such wishes for the coming future that will reiterate Kamal Hassan's name in the History of Indian Cinema.

Happy Birthday Mr - Krishnaswamy, Nalla Sivam, Chappani, Guna, Velu Naicker, Senapathy, Abay Kumar, Saketh Ram, Shakti Velu, Kameswaran, Virumandi, Appu, Udhayamoorthy, Satyamoorthy and the list goes on.

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[Pic: rajinifans.com]

On a dull morning like today, with no evidence of the shining sun and the newspapers underlining the oil price rise, I desperately needed a break. Television. What else.

It was Rajini in Arunachalam dancing and singing Athaandaa Ithaanda Arunachalam Naanthaanda in KTV. While we know that Rajini takes special care for the introduction song, this one is a very special one. Many Rajini fans like the intro numbers from Annamalai and Baasha. This Arunachalam song went a little unnoticied because the movie itself wasn't a rocking hit. Those tight close-ups of Rajini, I should say made him look younger. Thanks to the nice wig. On watching it, I was prompted to write this note.

Over the years Rajini has evolved, like everyone else. For him the growth has been exponential in terms of films, fame and fans. If only he does a qualitative analysis, he may not be accepting his growth. It was indeed not his fault. Blame it on his producers, the directors and finally his fans who were content with Rajini as a typical kollywood hero. In the process of manufacturing such commercial masalas, the actor inside Rajini has exited. Rajini was much better an actor than one could think of.

The early 1980's were the golden era of Rajini as an actor. Thanks to Mahendran for the fantastical Mullum Malarum[1978] and Johnny[1980]. If Balachander got out the actor in Rajini with Moondru Mudhichu and Thillu Mullu, Mahendran shaped the diamond. Though, Kaali of Mullum Malarum has been widely accepted as one of Rajini's best, my favorite has been Johnny throughout. During its release, Johnny was widely advertised as an action movie due to various compulsions. Mahendran known for his visual style of telling a story had two amazing roles for Rajini in Johnny. Both of which, Rajini hadn't even attempted before. Johnny had the best of everything from music to photography to romance. Even today it is regarded as the best of Illayaraja's movies.

Since then, we have had him play a playboy in Netrikan, a classy cop named Alex Pandian in Moondru Mugam, the nicest father in Nallavanukku Nallavan, a sentimental brother in Padikaathavan, an angry young man in Bashaa and so on. The actor in him was slowly getting disappeared.

Those school/college days when I used to be a frantic Rajini fan, I missed out to identify the versatility in him. I've grown over the years, understanding the language and the medium of cinema. Today when I applaud at some of the best actors of cinema, I feel the Rajini factor could have been a great force. We all have a collective responsibility in edging out the actor in Rajinikanth. To cry over spilled milk would be a inappropriate. Heck!! Not much can be done now. I hate to finish this on a negative note. But to be true, the films that follow will have the IMAGE of Rajini. The other face of actor, just like the pic above, will go unnoticed. The actor will be spotted no more until someone challenges the so-called-formula. The only solace is that, he still acts.

lazy geek | # | Comments (26)

Just like it's predecessor, the Indian version of American Idol, obviously called as Indian Idol should be gripping. Having witnessed first season of American Idol closely in the US, I would have preferred to change the format a lil bit to suit the viewers of the peninsula. This one looks like Munnabhai MBBS dubbed into all 4 languages. There aren't many changes to the format and presentation.

The Indian Idol is being broadcasted from 9 pm every evening in the Sony TV. Chennai viewers without CAS are the ones who are fortunate/unfortunate enough to not view it. They are still on the prelims so live auditions haven't started yet and I am not sure if they are bringing in the vote-over-phone feature in this version.

The judges. Sonu Nigam, Anu Malik and Farah Khan. We know that Sonu Nigam has a mesmerizing voice, his new found hair style makes him look like Zhakir Hussain. He takes on the Randy Jackson image of American Idol. Our famous(!) Anu Malik takes on the bad boy Simon Cowell's image. Anu Malik sticks his neck out in rejections. In acceptances, it's Sonu. I am able to mark this pattern clearly.

The disaster, per me, comes as Farah Khan. She plays the similar role of Paula Abdul. While I love Farah as a choerographer and even as a director, she may not fit in here. They could have went with the likes of Sadana Sargam or Alka Yagnik. I did watch Farah's Main Hoon Na and was impressed by the commercial movie she was able to put together. Again, Main Hoon Na was a collage of Matrix and other stunt stuff but was fairly commendable by a debutant director. Here in Indian Idol, she's not even being authoritative as Paula. She is just nodding heads to the opinions of Sonu Nigam and Anu Malik. Probably a bit xenophobic among the musicians.

With all such trivial issues, Indian Idol seems to have got the frenzy of the audience. I know people who watch even the repeat telecasts of the same show. In a country with so much population, I am sure there is tough competition ahead. Good Luck to those dudes!!.

lazy geek | # | Comments (173)

From Toy Story to Finding Nemo it was a journey through the wonder world of animation.

Now, it's just two days left for The Incredibles to rock. The guys at Pixar are making it happen again. I'm looking forward to it, very anxiously.

lazy geek | # | Comments (10)

[Pic - chennaionline.com]

I was expecting this article quite sometime back on Hindu about the Cinderella Pattu Paavaadai[silk skirt] of RMKV Silks which is THE sensation of this year's deepavali.

Cinderella Pattu Pavadai has Cinderella's fairy tale story twined in silk on the borders of the skirt. The latest ad with the young girl in a green Cinderella pattu pavadai is a big hit, already. Ramya had a post on this sometime back.

Young school girls are said to be crashing the gates of RMKV to have a look at the pattu pavadai. Priced around 1500-3000 bucks the orders are overwhelming and if you are planning to get one for your kid this deepavali, you might not. My colleague who wanted to get her daughter this fairytale silk skirt, found the current delivery date might be aroud 20th November. Book your orders for Pongal, now.

Did someone say fashion gets recycled ?. We are getting back to where we were before. This one is a good comeback.

lazy geek | # | Comments (11)