Sivaji -- Thalaivar photo

That is thalaivar in his new getup for 'Sivaji'. It seems it is for the climax scene of the movie. Makes me expect the movie more.

Veyyil -- Movie review

Cast: Pasupathy, Bharath, Bhavana, Shriya Reddy
Produced by : Shankar
Direction: Vasantha Balan

Story: The story revolves around the two brothers Kathir (Bharath) and Murugesan(Pasupathy). When Murugesan skips school to watch a MGR movie, he is caught in the theatre by his father. His father punishes him in front of all the people in the village & this makes Murugesan to run away from the village with his mother's jewels & money. He is robbed of the money on his way to Chennai & hence he takes refuge in a village where he gets to work for a cinema talkies ( A theatre). The story traces the life of Murugesan & his brother Kathir from this point on. Murugesan, due to circumstances, is forced to return to his native village. Whether his parents & brother accept him and take him into their family fold forms the rest of the plot.

Performances: It would be a gross injustice to Pasupathy if I say that he has acted well as Murugesan. He has virtually lived as Murugesan. Be it sadness, love, anger or anguish, the emotions come naturally to him. I would really expect this performance of his to make the list of nominees for the national award for the year 2006.

Bharath, portraying a hot-headed lad is another apt choice for the role. Be it the anger that he shows when he talks to Bhavana or the softness that he shows to his brother, he does it very naturally. He is one actor who can be expected to go places in Kollywood (Assuming he avoids junk movies like Chennai Kadhal & remains selective in the movies that he accepts)

Bhavana, as the lady love of Bharath is sweet and acts her part well. The scene where she does the recording with Bharath is a not to be missed scene. Her eyes does most of the acting. Her role is short & seems to be added for spicing up things.

The other notable performances are from Shriya Reddy and the people acting as the parents of Murugesan.

Screenplay: The screenplay is free flowing with very few hitches. The first half of the movie is fast paced and the proceedings become slightly dour in the second half of the movie. Some of the scenes in the second half seem forced at best & could have been avoided.

Camera: The camera & editing for the movie is adequate. The camera catches the village life beautifully in the "Veyilodu Villayadi" song. In the name of innovation, the fight scenes between Bharath & the villain are shot differently and it would only sticks out as a sour thumb.

Music: The songs "Kadhal Neruppin Nadanam", "Uruguthe Maruguthe" and "Veyillodu Villayadi" are instantly catchy and would remain in the lips of the public for some time atleast. The Back Ground Music (BGM) is brilliant in some scenes & leaves us desiring for a better score at some places. Do not miss the BGM when Murugesan is travelling by bus back to his village. A haunting flute plucks the strings of the heart in that scene. (The sad part is, immediately after this scene, when Murugesan sets his foot on his village, I was expecting a great score. The music director disappoints me with some pretty ordinary music at this scene) Overall, it is a good effort considering that this is the first movie for the music director G.V. Prakash.

Final Cut: Despite all this small grouches, this is a good movie & is worth watching.

Rating: 7/10

To kill a mockingbird -- Book review

Author: Harper Lee
Year of Publication: 1960
Accolades: Winner of 1961 Pulitzer prize
Introduction: Reading this book left me confused. Confused on whether this is "One of the best" books that I have ever read or is it "The best" book that I have ever read.

The plot: The story takes place in a small county called as Maycomb, Alabama in the year 1935 when racism and prejudice against the Negroes was prevalent. The story revolves around the Finch family consisting of the father Atticus Finch, his 13-year old son Jim, his 9-year old daughter Scout & their maid servant Calpurnia. Atticus,a lawyer, is asked to defend a black person called Tom Robinson who has been charged with the rape of a white woman. The story describes the problems & hardships that the Finch family undergoes when Atticus takes up this case. There is also an interesting sub-plot revolving around the mysterious character of 'Boo' Radley, a neighbour of the Finch family who never comes out of his house. The other interesting characters of this novel are Aunt Maudie (She lives in the apartment opposite to that of the Finch), Aunt Alexandra (Sister of Atticus) and the ever mischievous Dill (Friend of Scout & Jim). Whether Atticus is able to acquit Tom of his charges & whether he is able to appease the people of Maycomb county for fighting for a black person forms the rest of the story.

Narration Style: The story is narrated by Scout, the nine year old daughter of Atticus. This makes for a pretty interesting read as looking at such a serious issue as racism through the eyes of a unprejudiced 9-year old drives home the point in a subtle yet powerful way. There are some places in the narration where you would feel that Scout is 'Super intelligent' to talk about such complex issues as racism, rape & murder. This is probably one of the places where the author could have taken some other approach to narrating the incidents. This is a minor complaint for the narration is gripping with vivid descriptions of the Maycomb county, the pranks that the 3 kids play & the case itself.

Highlight of the book: The following dialog between Scout & Atticus captures the essence of the novel so beautifully that I am forced to reproduce it verbatim. The following exchange occurs when Scout talks about the prudence of Atticus fighting the case for Tom.

Scout: Well, most folks seem to think they're right and you're wrong....
Atticus: They're certainly entitled to think that, and they're entitled to full respect for their opinions but before I can live with other folks I've got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience.

Bottom line: This is "The Best" book that I have read till now. A must read.
Trivia: Gregory Peck won the Oscar for portraying the role of Atticus Finch in the movie of the same name.

Rights for Robots!!!!!

I did see this coming but never expected this to happen by the year 2056. In a report coming out of U.K, robots are expected to be given the same rights as humans sometime in the next 50 years.

The development in artificial intelligence in the coming years and hence the ability of the robots to think independently would act as a major factor in going the above said way. I am not in a position to think whether this is needed or not for I have still not recovered from the 'creepy' feeling that I had on learning that we have succeeded in producing robots that have the ability to 'learn' about itself. Let me not post anything improper on this report of giving rights to robot & pave way for a robot suing me at a later point of time!!!!

Ilaiyaraaja's new album

(Photo courtesy: Boxmusiq.com)

I stopped expecting any great film albums from Ilaiyaraaja a few years back itself. His latest film albums tended to be a poor rework/rehash of his yesteryear hits & I didn't want to waste my time listening to them. His non-filmy albums like Thiruvaasagam are the ones for which I always look forward to. I found out today that a new non-filmy album called "The music messiah" might hit the market soon. Am eagerly looking forward to it as the names of the songs listed look very promising. There are samples of songs available at this site. The review of these initial samples from IR fanatics is that it sounds to be an extension of the BGM's that was done for the Malayalam movie 'Guru'. (If you are an IR fan and have not listened to the songs from this album, you are surely missing something). I have not listened to the BGM's of this movie & so I am sure that it would be something new to hear & rave about. The expected date of release is 07/Jan/2007. Am eagerly waiting to grab this album.

Integrity -- How far would you go?

(Photo by: Ashok Krishnan)

Have been following the Jessica Lall case for some time now & the judgment has been provided in the case a few days back. The accused Manu Sharma has been found guilty by the High Court & has been meted out with life imprisonment. One of the main reasons for the verdict is the statement given in the court by the key witness Bina Ramani. She had earlier turned hostile & that had caused a lower court to acquit Manu Sharma. It seems that she was threated to not provide any statements in the court. It is indeed a courageous thing to come out to the court & act as a prime witness in spite of the threats.

Reading the news about her courage led to a question arising in my mind. Would I have done the same thing if I were to be present in a crime scene? Would I show the courage & the integrity (Of which I speak about all the time..........) to act as a witness & testify before the court if I were threatened? With all honesty, I don't think I would have done that. When you are threatened with dire consequences not just for yourself but for your near & dear, I don't think I have 'enough' integrity to stand and fight for justice. It is indeed shameful on my part but that is what it all came down to when I thought deeply about it.I believe I still have a long way to go before I could call myself a person of integrity. Sad but true..........

Humans -- Are we all knowing????

I found two articles (Coincidentally, adjacent to each other) in the science and technology section of Google news that made me think a lot about the 'Power' of human beings.

One of the articles talked about the invention of a robot that can 'learn' on its own. I got a very creepy feeling on learning that we humans have 'Matured' to develop a robot that can learn by itself. Do we really understand the consequences of such an invention? Are we talking about giving the robots a 'brain' to think on its own?Are we trying to play God here?

The other article talked about the discovery of close to 150 new species of animals in places "We humans" thought as uninhabitable. Various fishes & other animals were found in places like under hot thermal vent, in darkest & deepest of regions of sea. We had believed all these days that no living being can survive in these harsh conditions but we were proved wrong. The first thing that came to my mind is about the book 'God's Debris'. In one of the chapters, the protagonist makes fun about the fallacy in human thinking that makes us think that humans are the only "Intelligent" species on earth.

Are humans the 'Most' intelligent? Are humans "All knowing"?

Too many questions. So little answers...........

Check This Out

This is one interesting transcript between Steve Jobs & the Universal Music's CEO. A brilliantly written piece. Have fun reading it!!!!!

Sourav is 'Back'!!!!!!

Tch Tch Tch.......... Why is my blog turning into a 'Cricket' blog??? And why do I have to write (Of all the things) about what is wrong with having Ganguly in the Indian team???? Tch Tch Tch!!!!

Let me begin with making a few things clear right upfront:

1) Ganguly is a very good batsman & a decent bowler. No doubts on that
2) He is the most 'Successful' Indian captain and is a natural leader. No doubts on that as well

With the above facts in place, why do I still have a 'Bad' feeling about having Ganguly in the team? It is for the simple reason that he is also a very shrewd 'Politician' who can (and has been known to) break havoc in the dressing room with his 'cheap' tricks. This is one of the primary reasons he found himself at loggerheads with Chappell. There are so many examples of sports persons who are extremely talented & still end up sitting it out because of their attitudes and loud mouths (Remember Terrell Owens of the Eagles?). Ganguly is no different when it comes to attitude and creating rifts in the team.

The things that 'can' happen when Ganguly takes up the field with the Indian team are:

1) He can polarize the team with two different factions, one supporting him & the other supporting Dravid & Chappell
2) He can play a selfish game where he is totally not concerned about the final outcome of the test series but hangs on to his place in the team by scoring runs and taking wickets

The above said things are a definite 'NO NO' for any team and it does not look too good for the Indian team who are really going through a very bad patch at this stage. All that I can do at this stage is hope that my 'Gut' feeling about our Dada are wrong and that the Indians make a turn around in their fortunes with Ganguly. All The Best, Guys!!!!!