Vaaranam Aayiram -- Music Review

Music by: Harris Jayaraj

Annal Maelae (Sudha Raghunathan) -- A soft song sung that it is almost like a carnatic song with a simple tabla background that slowly evolves into a pleasant yet minimal orchestration. Don't miss out on the haunting flute interlude after the first paragraph. Nothing to complain about in this song. Nothing impressive either. Allow the song to play.

Ava Enna (Karthik, V.Prasanna) -- It starts like a soft Kuthu song!!! (What a paradox). It is simple and yet beautiful. What is different about this song from the regular kuthu songs is the lyrics. Clean meanigful lyrics is not something that we associate with a Kuthu but this one breaks that tradition. A tune that might not make you go out and dance but a song that would surely make you sway your head in appreciation. The ending of the song is where I was not very comfortable with as the tune seem to have got lost with some stupid voices in the background. Other than that, this is a song that can be enjoyed. Allow this song to play.

Yethi Yethi (Benny Dayal, Naresh Iyer, Solar Sai) -- Sounds very similar to 'Ohh Maama Maama' when the song begins but soon starts to go in a different path. There is also one particular point where it sounds like 'Taxi Taxi'. Interspersed with the 'usual' Harris funny sounds. The differnce between this song and the others is the use of English words in the lyrics. Go for the forward button.

Mundhinam (Naresh Iyer, Prashanthini) -- Starts with a dialogue rendition by Surya. As always, Surya has trouble with 'zha'!!! Naresh Iyer breezes through this beautiful duet. And the voice of Prashanthini is so sweet and she pronounces the words perfectly(and so much better than the Tamil killing Madhushree's). The prelude is something that has to be enjoyed in peace with a headphone. Then, there comes the interlude that rises the bar for the song a few notches. Then there is the so easy on the ear singing. Even for the complex words, they sing it so lightly without killing the word. An amazing song. Go for the rewind button once the song gets over.

Nenjukkul Peidhidum (Hariharan, Devan, V.Prasanna) -- With clear traces of 'Mudhal Naal Indru', at the beginning, I was having apprehensions of how this song will turn out to be. What turns out is a mesmerizing number with the soothing voice of Hariharan. The vintage Hariharan is back in this song and with HJ, they create magic. This song is indeed a drizzle in the hearts. Go for the rewind button once the song gets over. Over & over again!!!

Adiyae Kolluthey (Krish, Benny Dayal, Shruthi Hassan) -- This song has been there in the net for sometime now. I was not sure at that time whether this song is from 'Vaaranam Aayiram' but now I am sure. The song starts like a rock music live in concert. Did you like 'Uyirin Uyirae'? If yes, then you would love this song. Shruti Haasan gives perfect company to Krish & Benny Dayal. If you were shaking head for 'Ava Enna' song, I am confident that you will be dancing for this song. The 3 distinctive voices are beautifully interwoven to produce yet another brilliant song. Any doubt on what you should do? Its obvious.Go for the rewind button once the song gets over.

Oh! Shanthi Shanthi (Clinton, S.P.B.Charan) -- This is one song that tOtally caught me by surprise. It starts like a pathos song, then moves over to be a fast paced song and then again keeps switching tones. SPB Charan does what we have always associated with his illustrious father. The singing while smiling or smiling while singing is a trademark SPB signature and Charan does that to perfection in this song. A great way to finish this album. Go for the rewind button once the song gets over. An even better solution would be to put the last 4 songs in a loop in your winamp.

Perfect tamil lyrics, simple yet haunting tunes, brilliant interludes and unobtrusive music are what we have come to associate Harris Jayaraj's music with. And when HJ works with Gautham Menon, it has always brought out some mesmerizing songs. Combined with the stills that I have seen for this movie, the music definitely raises the expectations for the movie. Harris Jayaraj along with Thamarai have indeed delivered what were expected of them.

Last Shout: Buy 2 CD's of this album. I am sure that one of them will get wasted because of all the rewinds and revisits.

US Presidential Elections

It is always fun to follow politics in the US and if it happens to be an election year, it is double the fun. The freedom that the media enjoys here is unheard/unthinkable of in India. The presidential candidates are openly made fun of in TV and as long as the hosts of these TV shows don't cross the unmentioned taboo line, it is taken as part of the game. The other day, David Letterman was going crazy about John McCain missing his late night show. Then there is also the 'Saturday Night Live' show where Sarah Palin was getting teared apart. If any of the TV stations back in India try this, they can be very sure that their TV stations would be ransacked the very next day. Sadly, what Shankar showed in 'Mudhalvan' movie really does happen in India. How I wish that Indian media also gets this kind of freedom and do this kind of coverage. There is no doubt that the media in India is getting powerful by the day but the only thing that I am hoping for is that the media houses do not start abusing the vast powers that get vested on them.

Manal Kayiru -- Tamil Movie

Disclaimer: This is not a movie review of ‘Manal Kayiru’.

I found a website that had some of the old Tamil movies which I had not watched in a long time. There was 'Manal Kayiru' in there and it was so much fun to watch this movie. Visu had his heydays in the Tamil movie industry and this movie is one good example of why he was so highly successful at that time. A simple plot, a well knit screenplay, dialogues that sit well with the audience and a cast that fits the role to a ‘T’ are the hallmarks of a Visu movie and this movie is no different. The plot is a rather simple one of S.V.Sekar laying down 8 conditions for his future wife and the situations that arise once Visu gets S.V.Sekar married to a girl who does not satisfy even one of his conditions.

When I watched this movie, the one thing that immediately struck me is the way in which the maturity of the audience has increased over the years. A typical example of this happens during a dream sequence. S.V.Sekar has not yet seen the girl that his sister and Visu are constantly talking about and he starts dreaming about her. As he has not seen her photo till that point, the dream sequence does not show her face. All that it shows are the legs and the torso of a girl dancing in the beach. This directorial touch is very obvious but in the next scene, S.V.Sekar says it loud that he is not able to see her face to make sure that the audience understands why her face was not shown! I also could remember how during the days of Bheem singh, when the hero/heroine took a bottle of poison, not only it had ‘Visham’ written on it in bold fonts but the hero would also talk for a minute about the poison to ensure that everyone understood. Then came the period of Bhagyaraj when he just zoomed in on the bottle of poison (The ‘Visham’ in bold fonts was still intact) and then the person (both hero & heroine in the case of Bhagyaraj) would drink it without any dialogues. Then it was Balachander with his ‘touch’. The heroine would search for a bottle from a wooden shelf and would pour their contents into her mouth. No dialogues. No close up shots. No tears. Then finally, we have Bala. Scene one. He shows the heroine talking sadly to someone. Scene two. The camera pans into a room and we have the dead body of the heroine lying there (Remember Sethu?) No explicit explanations. No dramatizations. Just the facts. This change in direction would not have come about without the audience being introduced slowly to these changes. I am hoping that there would be even more changes that enables Tamil movie industry to come up with really world class movies.

According To Me -- US Economy

This post is not to talk about whether the US government should dole out $700 billion to bail out the Wall street. Did you guys think that I had so much knowledge to talk about all these things? The only thing that I clearly understood after reading all the news for the last 3-4 days about the financial situation is that I have no idea about economics! When I tried to research more into the topic, I got even more confused......

Can someone explain to me all this in 'english'? I mean, the only thing that I can understand is that it is going to change the game radically. Whether it is for the good or bad, I have no way of knowing. Will this affect India? It is going to affect India is the simple answer. That is one thing that I am very sure of. When US catches a cold, the whole of India sneezes BIG time. And this seems to be a time when US seems to have caught a pretty bad cold. (The pun when considered with the picture above is surely unintended!)

(And I found the below picture right after I finished this posting. It was too good and so simple that I have decided to add this picture as well to the post)

Guide to 35mm photography -- Book Review

This is not a book review per se as I have still not completed this book. The main reason that I am writing about this book is for the simple reason that I find this book to be fascinating. Any amateur photographer would really appreciate this book for this has all the needed information for understanding the basics of a camera. The concepts like aperture, shutter speed, focal length, exposure, depth of field and so many other things that I have never heard of are given in a succinct fashion. Each of these topics covering not more than 2 pages (The book is also a small one) and with lots of examples, it is very easy for a person to follow. The best way to learn from this book is to carry it in the hand when someone sets out on their photographic expedition. A very good companion. A 'MUST HAVE' reference book for anyone who is interested in photography.