http://woohhaa.blogspot.com/

Came across this blog recently. Not sure how standard the reviews are. U can get reviews for almost all latest Tamil movies and few other language movies.

What punishments these devils deserve?

Just now I saw the movie Kalloori - directed by Balaji Sakthivel of Kathal fame. This movie disturbed me a lot and that's why I started to blog at this midnight, immd after watching this movie. The story was about a group of students belonging to a Govt Arts College in a village in southern Tamilnadu. Balaji has made the film quite lifelike and all the characters were well portrayed. Until the climax of the movie, I didn't find any unusual feel in me. The movie went well with a blend of friendship and love in a realistic way. I already knew that climax is about the Dharmapuri Bus burning incident. Even then I went ahead and saw it. It is good that director did not make the scene that much gory. I could not resist myself from thinking about the Dharmapuri incident while watching the scene in which the stupid party men set fire to the bus and burnt three lovely friends alive. I didn't find much difference between a bomb blast and this incident. The real incident happened when Jayalalitha was convicted in the Kodaikanal Pleasant Stay Hotel case.

Won't those irrational people think for a second before setting the fire? What if their sister or daughter were one among those students? What do these students had to do with JJ's conviction? (so many bad words flashing in my mind... :-| ) I wonder whether they stayed there for sometime and heard the hapless girls screaming inside the bus or not. I really pity those girls and their friends who happened to see their friends burning alive. Should they(party workers) be a human being, they should have tried to rescue the students at least after hearing their cries. After all, they are devils. :-(

I am just thinking about the extent to which the parents and friends of the casualties would have affected by this and cursed the people who set fire. I personally feel their prayers and curses were not answered though the Salem court issued death sentence to the three main accused and 7 years imprisonment to their accomplices. Nevertheless they deserve a more cruel punishment than death sentence which would serve as a warning to others also.

At the end of the movie, I shed some tears without my knowledge. Though it was after watching this movie, I hope my tear drops would reach the souls of the lifeless girls.



http://www.hindu.com/2007/02/17/stories/2007021713860100.htm - for more info.

photos from Nat Geo

few snaps from nat geo contest...

1. having Momo with fruit beer in a nagaland hotel at Delhi haat ..
sitting from left, Debojyoti from IBM, Kolkata .. me .. Hemand from Indo-German, Mumbai .. Shirish from OCPL, Chennai ..

2. a Hanuman statue at Karol bagh

3. at paalika bazaar,


4. Siva statue in a studio at Noida Film City


5. Nat Geo Studio set .. shot in my mobile ..

Nat Geo Genius - my gud luck :)

Back to blogging after a month long work on MS applications & other stuff. Reco letters, transcripts, innum ithara pala documents nu ovvoru university kum anupangati pothum pothum aiduchu .. still need to send three more apps .. Fortunately, this Nat Geo Genius contest came as a relief in the middle. Its a quiz competition conducted by National Geographic Channel. I myself know I don't deserve a place in this contest as my GK is very low when compared to my peers. yetho konjam knowledge + more luck nala i got the chance to participate in this nationwide event. The winner of this contest will get a week long all expenses paid trip to any destination in the world, sponsored by Lufthansa.

I was at Delhi from Dec 3rd to 6th for the shoot of this contest. Everyday was a new experience to me. I stayed along with 10 ppl from different corporate sectors from different state. All of them are 30+ and working as Managers or Senior Officials having more experience than me. They had been to many different countries, aana naama ippa than south india thandiye varom. Sadly, I was the only one who don't speak Hindi. :-( .. but since I was able to understand hindi, i didn't find it so tough to manage. This contest has 54 contestants, out of which only 12 are from corporates like me and rest are all professional quizzers selected by auditions. One common thing among the 12 corporates is, yaarume quiz la puli illa ... ellarum enna pola select aanavanga than.

My shoot was supposed to happen by 5th Dec morning. But due to poor planning, it got postponed twice and finally it happened at 6th Dec evening. The program was shot in a studio at Noida Film City. Before the start of my episode, make-up lam potanga. enakey enna parka comedy ah irunthuchu .. :) .. when I went to the floor (they call the shooting set as floor), it was very cold. Room temp was kept at bare minimum to compensate the heat generated by lights there. I was wearing a micro-checked shirt that time. Antha mathiri design iruntha camera move aagum pothu waves mathiri varumam. so i was asked to wear a coat. enaku udane 'Kalaka povathu yaaru' program than gyabagam vanthuchu. enga stage la poi joke or mimicry panna solliduvangalo nu bayanthuten. ;-) ..

then the shoot went on for nearly 2 hours. there were 3 contestants (incl me) and 4 rounds. one guy was eliminated in third round and I lost in the last round to a professional quizzer from Mumbai. Luck evlo thooram than kooda varum!! One more thing. set la audience um irunthanga .. . but all of them were paid audiences. Whenever a clap sound is needed, director will lift his hand then every body will clap. orey comedy ah irunthuchu .. :) It would be better if this program is called as 'Nat Geo Luckiest' rather than 'Nat Geo Genius'. Coz, each and every question is given two choices. So, even if we don't know the answer we can rely on our luck. The shoot was over by 6.30 pm and at last I reached airport at 8 p.m for 8.10 flight to Bangalore. Luckily flight was delayed due to traffic congestion in the airport and I reached Bangalore by midnight.

This program will be telecasted in NGC every Saturday 9-9.30 PM. As of now, it is tentatively scheduled to start from 19th of Jan'08. Not sure when my episode will come. Waiting eagerly to watch that comedy !!!

few haiku

I had a habit of collecting haikus and small poems in my boyhood. Most of them were from greeting cards and tamil weeklies. I was doing that till my first year. After that, somehow I got bored of it and stopped collecting it. May be enga college la kavithai pondra figures irunthathalo ennavo !! ( saying this against my conscience :-) ) .

few haiku from my collection...

rojavin arugil mutkal
aam ! ennavalin arugil
avalin boy friends !!!

puraiyerium
thalai thatti kollavillai
ninaipathu aval !!!

She came into my life
with a rose in her hand ...
And left me with a
thorn in my hand !!!

Born with STYLE ...

Last week, I got a chance to watch Ilamai Oonjaladugirathu starring the two legends of Tamil Cinema, Super star and Ulaga Nayagan. Being a fan of Rajini (and Kamal of course), I felt his style in this movie has outperformed his recent movies. I think his style was more acknowledged only in later half of his career. Especially his last few movies has further boosted his popularity outside Tamil Nadu in India and other parts of the world. And now, undoubtedly he is the Style Icon of South India, probably India.

But it looks to me that his style and mannerism in his recent films seems somewhat cinematic and artificial when compared to his old films like Ilamai Oonjal.... May be I can differentiate his style as intentional and unintentional. In his earlier films, he did things in his own fashion which looked stylish . But, later he did it intentionally to make it stylish because that is what people expect from him. From his recent movies, I could pick out Padayappa and Baadsha which showcased his natural style though it was quite intentional. When thinking about all these, a noted dialogue from Padayappa comes to my mind. "Koodavey poranthathu.. ennaikum pogathu" . Absolutely true!! Born with Silver spoon pola Born with Style.

Few clippings from this movie:



This clip has first few scenes of the movie. However, you can't find the usual build-ups and the larger than life image when Super star is introduced. But, thaliavar pesurathey scene ah irukum. In one part of this scene he has to sign in some papers. Athula kooda oru style .. :-)


In this clipping also, i liked his dialogue delivery very much. Missing this Rajini these days. :-(



This is one of my most favorite in this movie. Thalaivar's style combined with great BGM (sema guitar) by Raja was simply awesome.

Even in this film, he has a mannerism. He always chew Chicklet and at times he offers to others also. The movie also ends with this mannerism. You can see it 1st and 3rd clip. Wondering whether all these style has been innovated by him or by his directors. May be he is gifted and all happened by itself. Vivek solra mathiri 'athuva varuthu da'.


On the whole, its a decent movie and doesn't bore you. It was titled very aptly. I could not think of better title than this. Though screenplay and direction is by Sridhar, in one way, the story gives you a feel of a Balachandar movie. (hope u know Balachandar style of story ;) ). After watching this film, I am longing to see other movies of young age Rajini. Hope I will see one such film soon. Any suggestions for such movies?

Are we devoted ??

Are we really devoted? I have seen many people who circle temple premises or swami sanithi and especially Navagraha. Even I also do that. The count differs from person to person. Usually people circle it thrice. Might be nine times for navagraha. I believe people go to temple to seek peace of mind, to pray or simply because of their devotion to god. All of them fundamentally need concentration on our divine god. If one counts the rounds while praying, what he will pray for and what he will get out of that?

'sutrukalai ennuvathilaye nam manathu sutri kondal,'
'ethai vendi ethai peruvathu?? '

mokkai

came across this in Joovi ..
enga pasanga podra mokka mathiriye irunthuchu .. :-)

In a roadside hotel,

"நாலு இட்லி குடுங்க .. "

"சாப்பிடவா ... இல்ல பார்சலா ?? "

"சாப்பிடத்தான்   ... அதை பார்சல்ல குடுங்க .. ! "

( read this in Lollu sabha Manohar style for more fun.. :) )

Neha Bhasin

Neha Bhasin. She only has sung the 'Pesukiren' song which I posted some time back. She is one among the Viva girls group. But now the group was split for some reasons. Anushka of 'Theepidika Theepidika' fame is also a part of this group. After a long time, I could see a good singer cum good figure. :-)

So sad :-(

I used to hear songs of all genres, right from golden melodies of 1960s and 70s to the latest foot tapping music of Harris and ARR. One thing which I dislike myself is I generally listen to Tamil songs most of my time and seldom listen to other language songs, either English or Hindi. ( I have been trying a lot to listen to other songs. hmm hmm . kashtam .. :) still trying.. at least better than before now.. ) But I listen to sundry genres of Tamil songs. Songs of MSV, Ilayaraja, ARR and Yuvan classics, kuthu specials of Deva, ... list goes on like this. Of all these, I have some inclination towards sad songs. It doesn't mean that I hear sad songs most of the time. I prefer them because most of the sad songs will be void of high sounding instruments, pleasing and have a soothing effect on my mind especially when I am distressed. Sometimes, even If I am at the height of joy I listen to such songs. Looks strange uh !!! :-) Few sad songs which always make it to my playlist are:

Unnai nenachen - Aboorva Sagotharargal
Poongodi than - Idhayam
Nalam vazha - Marupadium
Sola pasungiliye - En rasavin manasile
Chinna thayaval - Thalapathi
Thenkizhaku - Kizhaku Cheemaiyale
Ninaithu ninaithu parthal - 7/G
Natpinile - Kathal Konden
En Kadhale - Duet
Kadhal rojave - Roja
Ninaivugal nenjinil - Autograph
Unakena irupen - Kadhal
Vennilave (sad version) - Minsara Kanavu

Few years back I shed tears when I was listening to Sola pasungilye (sung by Raja himself) and Ninaithu ninaithu from 7/G later on. I was neither in a happy mood nor distressed in both the instances. I was alone in my room during that time and was listening them using headphone. I guess that made me emotional over these songs. So far I have shed tears rarely while watching movies which is quite common for many people. But ever in my life, those were the only two instances when I went a bit tearful on hearing a song. Have anyone had similar experience in your life??

p.s. If any body find mp3 form of sad version of Vennilave anywhere, pls do let me know. I have been searching for a long time, but couldn't get it yet.

Pesukiren

I have a strange (may be) habit of sticking to few selected songs for a particular period. The period would usually be a fortnight and seldom extend to a month. One such song which recently added to this list is 'Pesukiren' from Satham Podathey. I heard all five songs of this movie once when I downloaded them two months back. Only two of them were appealing to me that time and I always used to enqueue only those two songs from this movie to my playlist. After the movie has been released, I came across few clips of this song 'Pesukiren' on Sun Music. I felt something is catchy in that song. Few days later, I heard this song again in my laptop. Really a great and haunting number from Yuvan. Don't know how I missed it initially. It happens :-). Though there is nothing so new in its lines, but it is meaningful on the whole. The most catchy aspect is the magical voice rendered by Viva Girls.
Awesome rendition!!! Song picturization is also equally good. Not sure whether the movie is good or not . Yet to watch it.

Click on the below links to hear this song.

http://www.raaga.com/getclip.asp?id=999999054940

http://www.raaga.com/channels/tamil/movie/T0001192.html

Click !!!

Shot this in my mobile when I was strolling leisurely on a pleasant evening.

Thought

Great minds discuss ideas...
Average minds discuss events...
Small minds discuss people...
- Eleanor Roosevelt

A good saying I had come across in recent times. Hope I will fit into average minds. If I say I am a part of great minds, that itself will push me into small minds. :-)
So, which part you are??

Thank God

Just wondering how I am alive today. What I said in my last post could have become somewhat true to me. hmmm.. enakum paalu oothi rendu naal aagi irukum :-) Two days back, when I was returning from office I crossed a T-junction. I have always been cautious while crossing that junction as traffic is less dense in that road and people always used to drive fast. I have to take right in that junction so looked for vehicles coming from that direction and couldn't look for vehicles coming from opposite direction as there was a Innova hiding my view. I went ahead and crossed the junction. I was dumbfounded and it took me few seconds to realize what was going on when I heard the screeching sound of a car in front of me. Yeah! I failed to see a Maruti Zen coming at a great speed from the opposite side. Thank God! The driver of that zen controlled by hook or by crook and saved me. Of course, his life too. Otherwise he would have dashed the roadside tree. Fortunately, he didn't stop his car and didn't even yell at me. But then I got few scoldings from the driver of a Qualis, which followed that Zen. ;-). I felt stupid of my negligence then.

Was it my bad time? or good time coz i escaped? ah .. it's a mixed blessing. :-). At that moment, I felt that driver as my God. I thought to follow that car to express sorry and thank him. But then I was little apprehensive and don't want to invite troubles myself. Anyways, thank you Mr.X .. thank god !!

Thathuvam

innaiku setha naalaiku paalu !!!
aavin vandila adi patta annaikey paalu !!!

-- excerpted it from one of Parthiban's kavithai written for Vijay's ATM.

poverty !!!

பேருந்தில் கைக்குட்டை விற்கும் சிறுவனிடம் ஒன்று
வாங்கி துடைத்து பார்
நீ துடைப்பது உன் வியர்வையை மட்டும் அல்ல
அவனது வறுமையும் தான் !!!

kadhal !!!

came across this saying in one of Leoni's pattimandram.

அழகான பெண்தான் தான் காதலிக்கபடுகிறாள்
என்று எண்னாதீர்கள் ...
காதலிக்கபடும் ஒவ்வொரு பெண்ணும் அழகானவள் தானே !!!

Anbe Sivam

Anbe Sivam - one of the most meaningful movie I have ever seen. I saw this movie for first time four years back when I was in college. I really regret for not watching this movie in theater, at least once. Though i felt that it was a good movie, i did not get the exact crux of the movie when i watched it for first time. Recently, i saw this movie again in one of the local television channel. I could not find enough words to praise this movie. In a scene where Madhavan donates his blood to save a small boy's life and later he dies, I was totally engrossed in the movie and it made me to give a second thought on existence of god. But then, I am still a believer of god... may be coz I was inculcated like that... :-)

At some places during the second part of the movie, Kamal used to refer many people as God. On all such scenes, he reasons his sayings based on LOVE; on which the entire movie is based on. This movie showed me various dimensions of LOVE- including the conventional, quite cinematic love between Kamal and Kiran:-). In particular, I loved the love between Venkadesh and Uma Riyas - quite realistic, male bonding between Kamal and Madhavan at the end and last but not the least, the love between Kamal and Sangu, his dog.

At the end of the movie, it somehow convinces the viewers to believe LOVE is GOD and GOD is love. It is up to them how they take it in their part.

A memorable line from the title song .. " manathin neelam ethuvo athuvey vazhvin neelamada" .. Don't confine love. Let our love stretch out infinitely to all others. When our love madai thiranthu thavum pothu, our varum kalam will be, vasantha kalam .. naalum mangalam ..

p.s: it is pathetic that this movie was a flop and did not fetch a national award even though it greatly deserves so. :(.. enna kodumai sir ithu !!!

Muthan Muthalai

first time blog ezhuthuren ... just thinking of what to write .. my personal experiences?? any reviews abt movies, music, books?? any hot topics?? interesting mokkais?? blah, blah, blah .. ennamo onnunga ... as my blog address says, en manasula thondratha appapa kirukaren...

who knows .. PARTHIBANin Kirukalgal pola nalaiku DEEPANin Kirukalgal nu oru novel varalamla .. enna kodumai sir ithu nu nenaikareengala .. :) .. puriyuthu ..

ippo ess aagaren ..

next meet panren ..