World Cup Series -- Team New Zealand

The 'Blacks' from New Zealand recently did something what others have not been able to do in 646 one day internationals. Hand out the Aussies a 10-wicket loss for the first time in their cricketing history. The blacks also humiliated the Aussies by "black washing" them in the Chappell-Hadlee series. Does this all mean that the New Zealander's have the arsenal to take their first world cup? Will they be able to break their jinx of not having played in a world cup final till now? The lack of depth in their bowling will prove to be this team's Achilles heel and would prevent them from going all the way.

Strengths:
1) Captain Stephen Fleming's ability to marshal's his resources brilliantly
2) Shane Bond's pace
3) Their desire to take home the world cup

Weaknesses:
1) Lack of quality spin bowlers
2) Question mark over Jacob Oram's return
3) Ability to handle the pressure at the fag end of the tournament

Position after Super 8 stage:
5 or 6(Five or Six)

The squad:
Stephen Fleming(Captain), Shane Bond, James Franklin, Peter Fulton, Mark Gillespie, Michael Mason, Brendon McCullum, Craig McMillan, Jacob Oram, Jeetan Patel, Scott Styris, Ross Taylor, Daryl Tuffey, Daniel Vettori, Lou Vincent

Expert Speaks: Vamsi's Take

License to Thrill!

All it takes for a team to realize that there is no pressure on it whatsoever that its players start playing with their true potential. This lack of pressure can come in two ways, either you have a world class team and there is no chance you can lose, or you are playing against one and the odds are all against you. This was the kind of approach that ensured the Kiwis go on to give the world champions the kind of drubbing they haven't tasted in close to a decade. It is true that the Aussies weren't playing with half their normal side, but then it wasn't the full Australian bowling squad that defeated India and WI in Malaysia and also, it needs a determined effort from the whole team when you are chasing two 300 plus totals in crunch situations. And then you have Bond, who ripped apart the Australian line-up in the first match of the series.

But then, what are New Zealand's chances for the upcoming world cup? The good news part of it for New Zealand ends up with Craig McMillan, who's proven again that a break from cricket can bring out the best in you, and Shane Bond, who's immaculate pace has undone the best of teams. Their team has been one of the worst hit by injuries and surprise retirements. NZ would have loved to have Nathan Astle in their line-up given the state of WI pitches and his retirement couldn't have come at a worst possible juncture for their team, pschologically. But given Astle's recent form, it wouldn't be such a big blow. His retirement might provide a youngster the opportunity to come in and play with the same zeal and enthusiasm that Astle showed in his first tour of WI back in 1996.

NZ team has always comprised of its mix and match of all rounders, Chris Cairns and Chris Harris being two striking names, who could carry their team out of trouble single-handedly. Ever since their retirement, they have been unable to find any suitable replacements. Jacob Oram is one man who has been able to stand up to the opposition and has shown his ability to fight,more out of dogged determination than skill, and surely his experience with the bat and ball will come in handy. But then, he has been on the active injury list for NZ for quite sometime now, and how he shapes up after his break remains to be seen.

NZ have a lot of problems to resolve before the start of this world cup. Their biggest headache will be their inability to adapt on sluggish pitches. Their last two home series have been a great success but it should be realized that NZ has always been a strong team against any opposition at home. Their team has been playing extremely well on bouncy tracks and small grounds and are definetely gonna come a cropper when it comes to playing on slow pitches and against quality spin teams, as Srilanka and India showed them previously. The only area where they have no trouble whatsoever is in the area of fielding. They do not have a stable batting line-up and their bowling starts and ends with Bond. Coming to Bond, who's pace and swing have the knack of troubling the best of batsmen, I cannot remember a single series that has him playing in all the matches in the past 18 months, for he has always attracted injuries on himself. Their spin options end with Daniel Vettori, which is not a bad sign, for they might not need more than one spinner in the team.

Coming to their strengths, which aren't many, with the most experienced captain of three world cups, Stephen Flemming is probably looking at his last world cup as a player and a captain and he would definetely want to finish it on a high, but there aren't many players around him who can carry the burden of the innings under trying conditions. Craig McMillan and Scott Styris can support him in the batting department, and then there is inexperience. Bowling will depend completely on the availability of Shane Bond, and Daniel Vettori has a decent role to play as well. And if Vettori can be used properly in the batting order, he can be a handy batsman in this tournament. Overall, in order for NZ to excel in this world cup, they will certainly have to look towards the senior players to guide the new comers into defining their roles and giving them the freedom and responsibility. But then, when playing quality opposition, experience does come handy in alien conditions.

Finally, if this team starts playing with the confidence of dethroning the Aussies, they might be able to surprise a few teams in the tournament like they did to South Africa last world cup, but sadly that is about all you can expect from New Zealand.

Chennai 600028 -- Music Review

Music by: Yuvan Shankar Raja

Jalsa (Remix) -- A typical club remix song. Sounds like a modified version of "Pushing It Hard" from the movie "Kanda Naal Mudhal". Pronunciations are horrible. Go for the 'Skip' button

Jalsa -- A beautiful start and a much better singing keeps this song afloat. Sings about the importance of friendship or something on those lines. Allow this song to 'Play'

Natpukullae -- Even with the horrendous singing of Yuvan and a small resemblance to one of his previous song, this short song sustains the interest till the end. Allow this song to 'Play'

Ohh oh Ennanamo -- A beautifully done song with layer after layer of embellishments. If you are one of those persons who is very particular about proper pronunciation, Anushka(The singer) would have been banished to hell for life. Allow this song to 'Play'

Saroja -- You will be pardoned if you thought it is a song for a Vijay movie. A typical Shankar Mahadevan Kuthu song. As usual, a couple of lines from an old movie have been added in the middle of the song. Go for the 'Skip' button

Ullae Vaa -- The song starts with a Rap that is more like an English song than a Tamil song. The lyrics of the song seem to want to make use of the world cup fever with liberal use of the names of the Indian cricket team. The tamil rap in the interlude is enjoyable. Rest of the song is eminently forgettable. Go for the 'Skip' button

Unn Paarvai – This song is a tutorial on how to spoil an excellent tune and a nonchalant yet brilliant singing by adding bizarre sounding noises in the background. I have nothing against using computer generated sounds in a song but this takes it to a level where it starts to get on your nerves. If not for Vijay Yesudas, I would have hit the forward button in the first minute of the song itself. Go for the 'Skip' button

Yaaro Yaaro (Friendship) – If the inexplicable sounds were an irritation in the previous song, some kiddish lyrics spoils an otherwise decent song. Notwithstanding the orchestral music in the interlude, this song fails to evoke & sustain the interest. Go for the 'Skip' button

Yaaro Yaaro (Love) – Whenever a song features SPB & Chitra, we have come to expect a scintillating song. This song does not elevate itself to that level, maybe because of a jaded sounding SPB or listless music or some factor which I am unable to fathom. Best song of the album. Allow this song to 'Play'

Last Shout: Not worth buying

World Cup Series -- Team England

It is indeed an irony that England, the ‘birthplace’ of cricket, has not won a world cup. Like everything else in their lives, cricket & cricketers are probably given more credit than they actually deserve. With a victory in the one day series over the Aussies secure in their kitty, the whole of England might have started ‘dreaming’ about the chances of their team winning their first world cup. A dream it would prove out to be for this England team lacks the depth & the firepower to go beyond the ‘Super 8’ stage of the tournament.

Strengths:
1) Andrew Flintoff
2) A fully fit Kevin Pietersen
3) The return of Michael Vaughan to the helm
4) The all-round talent of Paul Collingwood

Weaknesses:
1) Lack of quality fast & spin bowling
2) Limited all-rounders
3) A fickle middle order

Position after Super 8 stage:
8(Eight)

The squad:
Michael Vaughan(Captain), Ed Joyce, Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen, Andrew Strauss, Paul Collingwood, Andrew Flintoff, Ravi Bopara, Paul Nixon, Jamie Dalrymple, Liam Plunkett, James Anderson, Sajid Mahmood, Jon Lewis, Monty Panesar

Cricket World Cup 2007

With just 16 days to go for the world cup, it is proving highly irresistible for me to not blog something about cricket. Who has the best chance to win this world cup? Will the Aussies do what the Windies of the 70's were not able to achieve? Will the Aussies be able to prove everyone who has been shouting hoarse that their glory days are over wrong? Will Lara or Tendulkar help their team (And themselves, by the way) win the greatest one-day prize? Is the present England team capable of breaking their jinx of never winning a world cup this time? Which of the teams among Sri Lanka or New Zealand the dark horse of this tournament capable of producing some great upsets? Is any other team apart from the 8 top teams capable of making an impact/upset in the tournament? Does the present South African team have the mental edge to go all the way? What should be the expectation from the Indian team with the top order clicking and peaking at the right time?

Whatever the outcome of this tournament, it is going to be a great entertainer. So, lets enjoy the show!

Travel Diary -- Dhyana Lingam

(The road leading to the Dhyana Lingam meditation center)

Had been to Coimbatore this week (Taking a break from my office routine) from 22/Feb to 25/Feb. This vacation turned out to be more of a pilgrimage with me visiting 5 temples in and around CBE in two days time. One of the places I visited is the "Dhyana Lingam" near Velliangiri hills(In the backdrop). It is 30 kms from CBE and we traveled by a car to this place. The last 6 to 7 kms of this travel is on muddy roads and it is indeed a nature lover's delight to be traveling to this place. The serene atmosphere combined with the natural roads, pristine forest make an avid photographer like me jump in joy.

The dhyana lingam shrine, established by Sadhguru, has a meditation center, a small pool located 30 feet below the ground level in which a 660 kg mercury lingam has been consectrated and 3 faces of Lord Shiva representing the 3 phases of man kind. (I would try to find more information on what the exact terms for the 3 faces are and post it here). The pool is around 6 feet deep & anyone could take a dip in the holy water assuming they have a spare set of dress along with them. One can enter into the pool after climbing down some 30 odd steps. The water is supplied from a pipe from the ground. The idol of Shiva immersed in the water is supposed to give the water medicinal properties. As I was not aware of this pool, all that I could end up doing is enter the pool to dip my feet in the holy water.

(Entrance to the meditation center. "Aum" symbol is visible)

The entrance to the meditation center has a large beam that bears the signs of "Aum", the " Crescent" and the "Cross" signifying that the meditation center is beyond all religions, faiths & beliefs. Inside, it has a semicircular dome like structure with a Shiva Lingam in the center. There are small cave like enclosures in the wall. People are recommended to sit in these enclosures and meditate. The peace and serenity that engulfs the whole place is something that can only be experienced and can never be described in words.

There are a lot of volunteers from the "Isha Foundation" who guide the visitors around the place. First time visitors to the place are given a brief introduction about the place and about the decorum that needs to be maintained while in the place. There is also a coffee day inside the building that serves various types of porridge(Kanji in tamil). Given all these positive points, there was something in my mind that kept nagging me and did not allow me getting the peace that I should have taken from this place. Was it the nature of the construction of the building that looked more like a set from a movie (or) is it that photos were prohibited not just inside but also outside the building (or) the fact that most of the volunteers had a clean shaven head with a 2-day old stub of beard that seemed out of place? I would never be able to tell.

All said & done, this a place that needs to be visited for the sheer natural environment in which this meditation center is constructed.

Deepavali -- Movie Review

Introduction: Let me get honest about this. I watched this movie only for two reasons. One is the fact that it had 3 songs that I liked a lot & the other reason is that it had Bhavana!!! (And you obviously know which of these two is the main reason..... :-) ) The fact that the movie was directed by Ezhil, the director who is known for making 'senti' movies like "Thulatha Mannamum Thullum" and "Poovellam Unn Vaasam" did act as a small deterrent. How did this bold venture of mine turn out to be?

Story: The story starts on an interesting note with the hero Billu('Jayam' Ravi) getting thrashed by henchmen of the villain and left to die in the highway. The hero gets hit by a lorry and he is thrown out of the road. He survives the accident and as only heroes can, gets out of the hospital bed to rush towards Bangalore in his bike. In Bangalore, the heroine Susi(Bhavana) is happy singing a song & is getting ready for her betrothal. When Billu enters the scene and asks Susi to come with him, Susi looks bewildered as she doesn't recognize Billu. The story goes on a flashback mode to trace why Susi behaves as though she doesn't know Billu with whom she was in love in Chennai. Whether Billu is able to win the love of Susi forms the rest of the plot.

It seems the producer of the movie Lingusamy(The director of movies like 'Run', 'Anandam' & 'Sandai Kozhi') has ghost directed the movie in many places for there are sudden changes in pace of the movie. After the brisk start to the movie, the movie starts meandering its way. At the point where the audience could not have taken it anymore, an interesting twist happens in the plot that makes us sit up and expect more. This sequence of 'slow' motion type of story & a sudden twist in the script occurs throughout the movie and proves to be the undoing for the film.

Performances: As expected, 'Jayam' Ravi proves his mettle in action & dance sequences. The unexpected thing is his portrayal of a soft lover character with panache. 'Jayam' Ravi proves my expectation wrong with his subdued performance. He really emotes well & handles the role with complete ease. Hats off to him. Bhavana appears in beautiful, jazzy costumes and looks awesome :-) . And regarding her acting, she delivers what is expected of a person from the Malayalam movie industry. A topnotch performance. Then there is some worthy performances from Vijayakumar, Haneefa, Devadarshini & villain(Not sure about his name).

Other aspects: The Yuvan tuned songs "Kadhal Vaithu", "Pogathe" & "Thoduvaen" are worth many a listen. The picturization of the songs is a treat to the eyes with the colors, hues & costumes making the songs a visually satisfying experience. Don't miss out the way in which the camera plays around some middle eastern country fort during the song "Thoduvaen". Yuvan comes of age with a classy background score. Be it the introduction of the hero, the soft & poignant love scenes, the meeting between the hero & the villain, Yuvan comes up with scintillating scores for each of these scenes.

The camera by Vijay Milton has class written all over it. I did not think even for a moment that the Royapuram area around which the movie revolves is actually a set done by Sasikumar. A wonderfully done piece of artwork that would have made the stalwarts like Sabu Cyril & 'Thotta' Tharani happy.

Final Cut: Despite exemplary performances by the actors & the technical crew, this movie fails to create the much needed impact because of a sloppy storyline. If the screenplay had been much more taut, this movie could have gone to become a great box office hit.

Rating: 5/10

PachaiKili MuthuCharam -- Movie Review

Introduction: Gautham is one of those highly rated directors well known for his distinct style of movie making. With all his previous ventures (Minnale, Kaaka Kaaka, Vettayadu Villayaadu) proving to be great grossers, will he prove that he is no ordinary flash-in-the-pan and that he is here to stay & change the way movies are made in tamil?

Story: When the 6-year old son of Venkatesh(Sarath Kumar) and Kalyani(Andrea) is identified with diabetes, the life of Venkatesh takes a turn. With Kalyani very much worried about their son's health and spending most of her time with their son, the marital life of Venkatesh suffers. This is when Geetha(Jyothika), a married woman working in ABN AMRO Bank, enters the life of the hero. With a relationship bordering on extra-marital affairs which both Venkatesh & Geetha realize, the story takes yet another turn when they both decide to spend a day in a beach resort. What happens in the beach resort & the repercussions of all these forms the rest of the story.

Performances: As expected, the best performance comes from Jyothika. Jyothika seems to have all the emotions in her repertoire and it comes of brilliantly on screen. Sarath Kumar shows that emoting comes as naturally as doing the fight sequences. Here he does both with elan. Milind Soman(He plays the villain) does his role to perfection without much ado. Andrea is probably the weakest link among the lead roles and it is one of the sour points of the movie.

Other aspects: One of the first things that needs to be appreciated is the number of close-up shots that the director has used with his lead characters. To be able to use this many close-up shots is to believe in the acting talents of his lead actors and barring Andrea, the others have done justice to Menon's trust on them. The camera by Arvind Krishna is pleasing and allows the movie to smoothly flow. The screenplay is tight enough to maintain the viewer's interest & the only place where the movie disappoints is in the final 20 minutes where the director seems confused on the way he needs to finish the movie. The way the song "Unn Siripinil" is pictured very much similar to the song "Partha Mudhal Naale" from "Vettayadu Villayadu" and could have been avoided.

The music by Harris Jeyaraj is astounding, to say the least. With all the songs hugely popular already, the background music also proves as an asset to the movie. The editing is crisp except for one particular place in the movie where it seemed to have jumped to the next shot without finishing the previous one. Pay good attention to the sets in the background for the song "Kaadhal Konjam". The paintings in the background are so real that it would be easy to assume that the song was taken outside than in a set.

Final Cut: The movie needs to be appreciated for the Hollywood like film-making in general and for usage of the close-up shots in particular. If not for the shoddy finish, this movie would have set a new standard in tamil movie making.

Rating: 6.5/10

Katrin Mozhi -- Song review

Song : Katrin Mozhi
Movie : Mozhi
Singer: Balram
Lyrics: Vairamuthu
Music : Vidyasagar

The song starts with a short, soft & sweet guitar prelude. This guitar piece is instantly catchy and raises your expectation about the song. Then, the voice of Balram starts off beautifully. The resounding voice of balram streams along with the Guitar piece and takes you to another plane. Till the start of the first para, the voice of Balram & the guitar play in such harmony that you are transported to a different world. Just before the first para starts, the guitar gives way to a foot-tapping tabla piece and a mellifluos flute piece. Once the para starts, the tabla takes a secondary role allowing the magnetic voice of Balram to lead the way. The pure tamil lyrics & the excellent pronounciation makes the song even more beautiful. The interlude consists of a piano piece that weaves magic and leaves the listener's spellbound. Like adding another color to an already colorful rangoli, the tabla is added as another layer to the piano. Soon, the tabla paves way for a haunting flute piece. The end of the interlude is followed by the second para with again just the tabla supporting the vocals. As though to signify the importance of silence, the song ends in a perfect way with just the voice of Balram bringing a peace that is too good to be missed.

It would be a gross injustice if a description of this extra-ordinary song is done without a mention of the importance of the lyrics by Vairamuthu. The lyrics are in the same mode as the "Unn samayal arayil" from Dhill except that this talks about the language of language itself. The two lines given below gave me the goose bumps.

"Iyarkayin Mozhigal Purinthuvidil,
Manitharin Mozhigal Thevayillai.

Ithayathin Mozhigal Purinthuvidil,

Manitharku Mozhiye Thevayillai"

A song that should directly enter the realms of all-time hits. A classic indeed!

Mozhi -- The language of 'Love'

I have high expectations on movies that are produced by Prakash Raj. I consider his movies to be slightly different from the normal fare & also because of the high importance that he places on the technical aspects of the film like music, camera, story & screenplay.

The 'supposed' story line of the movie "Mozhi" sounded exciting & the fact that the just released audio of the same movie is getting some pretty good reviews (I am yet to hear the song as I was not able to get hold of the CD) has me eagerly waiting for this movie. Check out this link of the movie for more information.

Besant Nagar beach -- Photos (Take II)

Photo #1

Photo #1: A woman predicting the future for a young man. The eager & anxious look in the face of the young guy and the all knowing posture of the woman forms a real beautiful setting.

Photo #2

Photo #2: The colors captured in the photo speaks a thousand words. You name a color and it is present in this photo.

Photo #3

Photo #3: My most favorite photo in all this. This small kid just came up before me & stood looking at the camera as though he was waiting to be photographed. The kurta that he is wearing gives a 1950's look to the picture. His dark complexion combined with the sepia tone enhances the quality of the picture.

Besant Nagar beach -- Photos

This weekend I had been to Besant Nagar beach & obviously with my camera. Had a rich haul of photos and some of them came really well. One of the best things about digital camera is the 'Sepia' tone photos and the black & white photos that can be taken with them. These photos turn out to be more natural than the conversions that can be done with softwares like Picassa.

Photo #1

Photo #1: The masks that were on sale had a kaleidoscope like colors & it was too good to be missed.

Photo #2

Photo #2: The boy selling the cotton puffs. The pink color of the cotton puffs, the light blue sky & sea all seem neutralized in the sepia tone and gives a surrealistic image of the setting. The briskness of the boy selling the goods is something that would remain in my memory image for quite sometime.

Photo #3

Photo #3: A black & white photo of a battered hand pulled cart. On a buzzing environment like the beach, this dilapidated cart presents quite a stark contrast. The B & W seems to add more meaning to the picture.

Photo #4

Photo #4: A poor old man walking through the crowds asking for help. This again provided a chance to capture the contrast that existed in the environment. With people around having fun in the beach, an old man asking for money gave a sad picture. The two dogs sleeping in the midst of all the commotion is yet another contrast.

(It would be really helpful for me if visitors could post their comments & ratings for the photos. Thanks)

Thaamirabharani -- Movie review

Statutory warning: Hari, the director of the movie & Bharath Reddy, the producer of the movie have issued a notice in the interest of the public. The notice says that they cannot be held responsible for any acts of violence that the audience commit after watching this movie.

Trivia: Hari & Bharath Reddy have asked for 'Z Class' security from the 'Films Division of India' (They are 'experienced' in handling these kind of situations & movies) as they perceive a threat to their life's by fans frustrated after watching this movie & wanting to take out their agony on either the director or the producer.

Story: The story is so complex & full of sub-plots that narrating "Mahabharatha" would appear to be child's play. The story is so long winded that at one point in the story, we have a flashback within a flashback!!!!! It is not just the circle that is spinning whenever a flashback begins. It is our heads that is left spinning in all the directions while the story is narrated. If your are one of those guys who decides to ignore the frustration of having such a long story by 'watching' the heroine, you will be even more disappointed at that. The heroine should be some relative of the producer or a popular MLA. There is no other way the girl could have been chosen for the role of a heroine. If a screen test had been taken, she would have failed to qualify even for Doordarshan's serials.

Performance: How do you waste the talent of an accomplished actress like Nathiya? How do you make Vijayakumar all the more irritating in his 'old man from village' role? How do you ineffectively use a performer like Nasser? Watch this movie to get a 'live demo' for doing all the above stated things & more. Then there is Prabhu, Rohini, Nizhalgal Ravi, Manorama making up the long list of people who have 'appeared' on screen at some point in the movie. Special mention is to be made of the hero Vishal. Apparently, someone forgot to tell him that playing a hero is not just about doing well in action & dance routines but also about 'acting'. Please pay particular attention to the climax scene (Assuming you are still alive & sane) where he plays kabbadi exceptionally well. If he had been in the Tamilnadu Kabbadi team, we would have won a gold medal in the just concluded Asian games. Alas! What a waste of talent as Vishal has chosen to do something that he is so inept at doing.

Other aspects: During the times that I remained calm and in my senses, two of the songs sounded decent. Just decent & nothing great. One another song was a blatant lift of the tune of the popular Amman song "Karpura Nayagiye". SHAME ON YOU, YUVAN. The background score was decent & showed Yuvan's growth as a music director. If the BGM's were one step forward in his musical career, the blatant lift is a 5 step fall. The camera & editing were pretty decent considering how lousy the movie turned out to be.

Positives: Thankfully, I am just an amateur movie reviewer. If only I had been a full-time reviewer, I would have resigned my job & gone to the Himalayas for doing penance for being asked to view & review such horrendous & stupid movies.

Final Cut: Do not even venture anywhere near the theaters screening this movie.

Rating: 3/10

Guru (Hindi) -- Movie Review

Introduction: Whenever Tendulkar descends on the field to bat, people expect him to score a century. Anything less than a century does not satiate the audience. Same is the case with the ace director Manirathnam. He is not judged by the general standards that is applicable for the other directors but is judged by the standard that he set for himself in his last venture. Overcoming a benchmark set by your own work is a daunting task for most of the people but Mani is one person who has shown consistently that he can live up to that task exceptionally well. With the 'Guru' movie, did Mani raise the bar once again for himself?

Story: Rumored to be the biopic of Dhirubhai Ambani, the movie is about a young man from Gujarat called Guru(Abhishek Bachan) who has high & lofty business plans. After spending some time earning money in Istanbul, he returns to India to start his own business. With no support forthcoming from his father, he decides to marry Sujatha(Aishwarya Rai) so that he can use the money that Sujatha's father has saved for her. He comes to Bombay with his brother-in-law as the partner & finds a system that is not very conducive for the smooth conducting of business. Nanaji(Mithun Chakravarthi), the editor of the newspaper 'The Independent', takes an instant liking to Guru because of the drive & fire that he exhibits. The story revolves around how Gurubhai becomes a successful industrialist and the problems that he faces during his ascent to the top.

Performances: As Guru, Abhishek Bachan proves that he is indeed a "chip of the old block". Be it showing the anger at not being able to achieve what he wants to do, the subtle but yet deep love that he shows for his wife, the affection that he showers on Vidya Balan (She plays the grand daughter of Nanaji), he elevates himself to be considered as a 'Top Class' actor. Mithun as Nanaji proves why he is so highly rated as an actor. Do watch out for the scene where he lashes out at his employees for printing 'fabricated' news. As is the case with any Mani movie, every character has a well-defined role & they play it out to perfection. Madhavan (as a journalist) and Vidya Balan are two notable performers who get to exhibit their histrionic skills. Also of worthy mention is the person who plays the role of Gurubhai's father. Aishwarya Rai's performance could be considered as the weakest link of all the commendable performances in the movie. It is not that she doesn't act well but it is just that she fails to do justice to such an important role.

Other aspects: The music director, A.R.Rahman, does what he is known to do well to perfection. Be it the lovely "Tere Bina" or the sweet "Barso Re" or the haunting "Jaage Hein", Rahman shows he is a great 'song' composer. Sadly, that is what he proves out to be in this movie as the background music is mesmerizing at places and pathetic at others. The repeated use of the "Tere Bina" tune whenever Aishwarya & Abhishek come together on screen or the use of the "Jaage Hein" tune for any emotion packed scene starts to soon get to your nerves. The BGM in the climax was one place where I was left desiring for a better score.

Rajiv Menon, the noted Ad films maker & the director of two movies, wields the camera with so much panache that you are left spell-bound at his 'creations'. The fields & mountains of Gujarat, the mosques of Istanbul, the streets of Bombay come alive in his camera. The art direction (Not sure on who the art director is) is also a noteworthy aspect of the movie. Vividly creating the India of the 1970's through his art work, the art director plays a hidden but an all important role in making the movie look authentic. The editing by Sreekar Prasad is adequate as the story & screenplay does not offer much scope for the use of the latest editing techniques.

Final Cut: Manirathnam raises the benchmark for himself once again with this movie. An absolute "Must Watch" for any lover of good & 'meaningful' cinema.

Rating: 8/10

Thiruvilayadal Aarambam -- Movie Review

Introduction: I am not known for watching movies that doesn't have a well known director or a star cast on which you can put your hard earned money. 'Thiruvilayadal Aarambam' was an exception for the simple reason that I was hearing some good reviews and Dhanush & Prakash Raj are good actors who can be relied upon to give a decent performance. Did the movie meet my expectations?

Story: Thiru (Dhanush) is a young guy who is in search of a job. He is interested in starting his business for which he seeks the help of his father (played by Mouli). During this time, he falls in love with Guru's (Prakash Raj) sister (Shreya). As is the 'normal' trend, Guru is a rich guy & he doesn't want to marry his sister to a poor guy like Thiru. Whether Thiru is able to win the acceptance of Guru & take his sister's hand with his permission forms the rest of the story.

First Cut: This is 'supposed' to be a comedy movie and it does satisfy that tag to an extent. But, only to an extent. One of its major shortcomings is the lack of a good screenplay. Comedy movies can have the most craziest of stories or even lack a story and still could make for interesting viewing if the screenplay is interesting & fast-paced. This is one area where the director leaves us longing for more. The director seems to have decided in the beginning itself on where the climax should take place and the dialogue for each of the character. When he could not do that with his originally decided story, he invents new situations and adjusts the screenplay to match those situations. This proves to be the undoing for this movie. There are indeed a lot of scenes where the director is able to bring instant laughter with his witty dialogues. Sadly, witty dialogues here & there does not transform a lousy movie into a good watch.

Performances: Sadly, the acting talents of Dhanush & Prakash Raj have been wasted as the screenplay moves from one scene to the next without building up any scope for these people to show their histrionic capabilities. Shreya does what I expected her to do. Look dumb with sub-zero acting skills & bad dialogue synchronization. Also, the low budget of the movie left Shreya with very little to wear on screen :-) . Mouli & Saranya (She plays the mother of Dhanush) just make up the numbers & have very less to do in terms of acting.

Other aspects: Imaan scores two brilliant melodies in "Vizhigalil vizhigalil" & "Kannukul enno". The remixed song "Ennama kannu" is also decent enough. The blatant use of tunes from songs of other movies(instrumental) could have been avoided for it sticks out like a sour thumb. The "Vizhigalil Vizhigalil" song has been picturized beautifully (Especially note the blue tinge that is present throughout this song). Editing is decent enough but there were a few places where the story seems to jump suddenly as if the editor slept while doing his work.

Final Cut: You would be better off watching the comedy clippings when they show it in the TV channels than going for this movie.

Rating: 4/10

Ohhh....... What a score

Just happened to see the scoreboard of the Mumbai (vs) Baroda ranji trophy semifinal match. What interested me in this news is the fact that the score card read 5-0 during Mumbai's second innings. Anyone who follows cricket would understand that it is normal to have a score of five for no loss at the beginning of an innings. The interesting part is that it is actually zero for five wickets. The top 5 batsmen of Mumbai scored a duck!!!! The other fascinating thing is that Mumbai went on to win this match. Is it that the ranji matches have become so competitive or is it because the standards have fallen so much? Knowledgeable folks, please help me out.

Book Exhibition -- My hauls!!!!

There was this book exhibition in Chennai & I happened to go there with my mother. We had a good haul of books from there. Given below is the photo of the books that we got. A book by Balakumaran is missing from this photo as my grandmother immediately started reading it!!! And yeah, I am not sure on when I would get the time to read all this as my project is entering its final phase............

Essentials: Leadership -- Book review

Introduction: This book caught my attention in the British Council Library immediately for the impressive color of the front cover. And once I completed the book, I found out that it is not just the cover that is colorful. Tom Peter's comes up with a short & succinct book on the qualities that is essential for the 'modern' day leader.

Analysis: Whenever someone proposes something that asks people to throw away all their old paradigms & to create new paradigms, the presentation of that idea becomes a challenge in itself. Tom proposes ideas for the 'Chaotic' new world that are sometimes brilliant & sometimes outrageously arrogant. Some of his ideas that immediately caught my attention:

• Hire people who have been doing weird & yet wonderful stuff. Tom even goes to the extent of asking people to not hire 4.0 GPA's for he feels that they would not have had much time to do anything else other than studying!!!! (This irritated me quite a bit............... Some of my friends can easily tell why)
• Women will rule the world. According to Tom, the chaotic new world requires people who can do many things at the same time and women are inherently capable of doing this. (Sorry guys, I am not 'inventing' this on my own)
• Value-added service is no more an additional service but a necessity. It is something that every company should do for its own survival.
  

Writing Style: The author follows a writing style that is informal, free flowing and simply astounding. The "To do" lists at the end of each chapter beautifully summarizes the way leadership has been thinking presently & the way it should be thinking for the changing world.

Book Design: One of the highlights of this book is the beautiful design of the book. The color combinations and the appropriately placed photographs make this book such an interesting read. The small anecdotes at the sides & bottom of the pages along with interesting statistics is another highlight of this book.

Bottom Line: This is an absolute 'Must-read' for all people aspiring to lead a team at some point of time in their career. Buy a book & keep it in your desk as a quick reference.

Being Freddie - My story so far -- Book Review

Introduction: It is an irony that I get to read the autobiography of Flintoff and his accounts of the 2005 Ashes series triumph when the England team led by him just suffered the ignominy of suffering a white wash in their 2006 Ashes series. Andrew Flintoff (popularly known as 'Freddie') should have been eager to capitalize on the popularity of the ashes triumph and seems to have come up with this book for just that purpose.

Narration Style: At the beginning of the book when Freddie says that things like bowling, batting & playing chess came naturally to him, I felt that he was trying to blow his own trumpets a bit too much. As the book progressed, I understood that he was very candid & the initial statements were more of a direct way of putting things across. The frankness with which he admits some of his mistakes on & off the field make Freddie very endearing. If you weren't a big fan of Freddie already, you would surely become one after reading this book. He gives us accounts of his cricket playing days from the age of six and his phenomenal rise till the ashes series where he won the man-of-the-series award in a lively & humorous manner.

Negatives: One of the major problems of the book is the lack of a personal touch. The book, at best, appears to be a tour diary than an autobiography. Freddie never deals with the emotional turmoils that he has surmounted during his off-days & also during the emotionally draining ashes series. I can understand when he doesn't talk about his family to a great extent but what beats me is the lack of description of the inner battles that he has won during his rise to the stature of a superstar in England. His openness and some interesting anecdotes prevent the book from becoming an absolute waste of time.

Bottomline: You would probably be better of reading various cricket news in the net & in the paper than reading this book. They would give you as much or maybe more information about cricket at the highest level than this book.

Trivia: Do not miss out on what Freddie has to say about Ganguly. You can read about it here.

Flintoff on Ganguly

Just completed the book "Being Freddie -- by Andrew Flintoff" and he has some really harsh comments on Ganguly. The exact text on how Flintoff feels about Ganguly is given below. (I have removed stuff that were more of a general observation & just quoted the lines pertaining to Ganguly)

After that one day series I returned to Lancashire where it was clear Ganguly was not settling in at Old Trafford....... Ganguly just didn't work out at all. You can accept a player not playing well, because we all have our ups & downs in our career, but he just didn't want to get involved. He wasn't interested in the other players and it became a situation where it was ten players & Ganguly in the team. He turned up as if he was royalty - it was like having Prince Charles on your side. There were rumors he was asking people to carry his coffin (The cricket kit) for him, although he never asked me...........

His first game was at Kent and he got out first ball lbw to Mark Ealham. He came in not looking that bothered and we heard that Paul Nixon, the Kent wicket-keeper, had said something to him along the lines of 'hard luck, first ball and all that'. Ganguly turned around and told him, 'I'm not going to waste my runs on these games. I'll save them for when it matters'. That's fine if he wants to be like that, but then why bother coming to Lancashire - he doesn't need the money......... I don't dislike the bloke, but it's a struggle with him.

The rather surprising thing for me is that "The Hindu" has this article but has blissfully ignored the comments made by Ganguly to Ealham probably for the fear of inciting the public.

To be fair to Ganguly, here is an article saying the exact opposite of what Flintoff had to say. I guess it is up to each one of us to believe what we 'want' to believe!!!

Music all way.........

The new year couldn't have begun in a much better way. I have got back the interest to do some thing that I used to do so frequently some time back. Before you let your imagination go WILD, let me stop it and tell you what it is. It is about downloading(Oops..... I still continue doing this 'abominable' thing) & listening to the latest movie songs. One another good thing that has happened in this year is that a couple of good songs have got released & the year promises to only get better as it goes on. Some of the albums that have excited me are :

• Unnale Unnale by Harris Jeyaraj
• Deepavali by Yuvan
• Periyar by Vidyasagar (Check out the lyrics of this movie. Vairamuthu shows why he is so highly rated)
• Pori by Dheena (One song had good lyrics & decent singing)
• Oram Po by G.V.Prakash Kumar (Not yet listened to this. Hoping to do it sometime this weekend)

Photos -- At home

Photo: 1

Photo #1: I was too bored today evening & went about taking some photos. The only thing that I did with this photo is to crop it a little bit to remove the background building from it

Photo: 2

Photo #2: This is the photo of the house opposite to mine. I especially liked this photo for the varied colors that it has in it.

Photo: 3

Photo #3: A closeup of the coconut tree in full bloom. I must have taken close to a 20 photos before I got what I wanted.......... (The best thing about Digital photography :-) )

Photo :4

Photo #4: This is the lamp post just beside my house. It has some creeper surrounding it & when taken with the natural light, this is how it looked. Again, the color & the lighting are something that I really liked about this photo.

Ganguly Revisited

Ohh well............ Eating my own words is not something that I really fancy doing but I am left with no other choice. With Ganguly turning out to be the 'Highest' run getter and proving his worth (On his commitment, the jury is still out), I am forced to take back my previous comments on his inclusion to the test side.


The debate would invariably now start on having Ganguly for the one-dayers & especially for the world cup. At the risk of having to eat my own words at a later point of time, I do not want him in the side. Assuming that Yuvraj singh would be back in the squad & Kaif also 'Re-discovering' his form soon, I am not able to fit Ganguly in the scheme of things for the world cup & beyond.

I have one another reason for not having him in the side for the world cup. It is the rather sad fact that India doesn't have a realistic chance of winning the coveted trophy this time around. I would be happily surprised if we even make it to the semifinals. Having said that, it would be wise on the part of the selectors to start grooming the side for the future. With the future world cup's in mind, the selectors can start picking up people who can make use of this world cup as a learning experience.

India, Way to GO.................

Thank God. I was following the cricket score on cricinfo & luckily was not watching the match in TV. Irrespective of whether we win the 3rd test or not against South Africa, there are quite a few points that did leave me wondering whether we are good enough to win this series (Whether SA is good enough is another story altogether!!!)

1. The rationale behind sending Sehwag to open the innings with Jaffer. If Dravid & Co. thought that Sehwag had regained his 'form' because of his first innings score, how mistaken they were. It shouldn't be forgotten that when Sehwag was batting, the ball was not new & he could easily score his runs
2. If the rationale for the above was that of playing 'Positive' cricket, what was it all about with Dravid & Sachin playing as though they were playing to save the side from a irrecoverable defeat. Beats my thinking
3. Run-out in a test match is considered a crime. And 2 run-outs in an innings is simply blasphemous
   

Here is someone who has captured my 'feelings' in a much much better way. And yeah, I still hope that 'Jumbo' Kumble would come up with 'The' spell of his lifetime and take India to an improbable victory. So much for my 'Positive' attitude.

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!!!!!