Well, for want of a better title I chose this !
Gajabhuja in Sanskrit means the trunk of an elephant !
So, in short, the title means big/huge fundas !! :-)
29 June 2007
Hype ?
I still do not understand why people think that some are crazy to stand in long queues to get tickets for the first day first show of any movie.
I have always thought that the saying "Rich are getting richer, poor are getting poorer " is always a short term malady.
Think of it, when the rich get richer, where will the money they have be ? They have to spend it and it has to come back to the economy right ? (I am taking into account all the money hoarding that they would do and then spend whatever remains ;-)).
Isn't this quite similar to the situation that, when high tide occurs, a boat moored on the pier does not sink, but in fact, rises with the tide ? Of course, the boat rising with the tide is a slow, but a sure process.
"Panniga dhaan kootama varum", "singam da - singleaa thaan varum"
(Only pigs go in groups, a lion always braves it out alone)
But, a pity that he does not understand Tamil. Forget that, he is not even an Indian.
Heck, even Indians (North Indian, to be more specific) have just now seem to have dragged themselves from the rocks under which they were hiding, to see that there is someone who rocks the box-office much better than Amitabh ;-)
Late-a vandhalum I hope this review will be latest ;-)
Okay, first and foremost, if you go to this movie expecting something, nay anything, similar to Shankar's earlier decent works, you are rudely mistaken. In fact, you would end up disappointed !
I always have a simple formula for watching formula movies. Go with null expectations. Just go to the movie hall to get entertained and you can actually enjoy watching these formula movies.
If you are a Rajinikanth fan, well, like myself and so many others, you will have sore lips and hoarse throat from whistling and yelling and catcalling. Well, I am not a Rajinikanth fan or whatsoever, but I kind of like to revel in that festival atmosphere.
Having set that clear, I guess there is no point in me telling the story or whatsoever. The movie is a clean entertainer. It is just that Shankar has wasted a golden opportunity here. He could have made the screenplay a bit more tighter and added some more meat into it. I mean he could have actually added some more logic into the story too !
Rajinikanth carries the movie through. There were however some scenes where I felt that they could have avoided the closeup shots. Shirya looks cute and pretty and in fact, shows her talent for comedy too !
The icing on the cake is actually vivek. He revels in his role with amazing timing and in fact, this should rank high up on his good roles and should go a long way in resuscitating his flagging career.
All the supporting actors have played their part effectively and nicely. However menacing Suman looks, he actually falters when he says "I am very sensitive". What in the world was that ?
The biggest let down of the movie, needless to say, is actually Shankar.
A hype around anything is created when people expect something from it. In shivaji's case, the hype around Shankar is totally unjustified. Rajinikanth and Rahman, the two other factors for the hype, have actually done more than the hype they deserve.
My Verdict: A decent and a clean entertainer. However, I think my prediction about this movie would be true !
Note the background when the swing is pulled down. Rahman definitely delivers the punch. As Ramya Krishnan says "Style innum pogala".
Well, the point here is that Style will meet Style in a few hours from now. I will be traveling in style, or rather motor-biking to Houston from Monterrey (A distance of roughly 800kms) in this:
to catch the First day show of Shivaji. No, not the premier :-(
I am grateful that you are uploading the "King Illayaraja's" songs to youtube. No, I really am. But, please use a single tag to upload them. Preferably Illayaraja. Not so many like Ilaiyaraaja, Illayaraaja, Ilayaraja, Ilaiyaraja, e.t.c, okay ?
Thank you.
Having said that, this is another gem from the King. Note the usage of guitar throughout the song, at the start of the first charanam, during the whistling tone in the second, a real masterpiece all along !
Continuing on my list of Mauled songs (Songs which are brilliant to listen to, but the video is, shall we say, simply avoidable ?), here is one more to the list.
This is a brilliant song to listen to. I had written about this song previously here. But, the video is, to say the least, absurd and silly. Of course, the Heroine is good ;-)
Some movie directors need a long way to go before they get some aesthetic sense and taste in creating videos for songs.
Since the entire media world is abuzz with Sivaji news, I think it is time to make a prediction. The movie, by Rajini's standards, will be a flop. Which means, it will make a profit of 30 or so crores. If you rewind back in time, Baba was a flop, as it made a profit of just 20 crores.
CNN-IBN, I understand that you need something to fill up those spaces. But, please stop Sivaji news. Thaangala ! And while you are at it, please try to put up articles with some kind of content that matches the title you give. Not these ones, but maybe these ones.
I think that the initiative started by a few people (which Kribs mentioned to me when we started our practice for Madras Marathon in 2005) has grown really well.
Sadly, I am yet to run with them ;-) I will do so once I get back home.
Who said that actors get fair deal ? Check out the female Pooja. She can speak Tamil (She is from Bangalore, BTW), looks very very pretty and yet, she has acted in just a handful of movies. Whoever said that actors get a fair deal. Now, please do not talk about acting skills and stuff. Who said that heroines need acting skills ?
This is from the latest movie "Pori". A nice song actually ! And needless to say, she definitely looks pretty in a Saree.
This is from the movie "Attagasam". Again, she looks quite pretty in a Saree. It is no wonder that Saree is considered the most sensuous dress of all !!
If you were the regular reader of this blog who does not use RSS (bloglines, google reader and the like) to read this blog, you would have noticed that I have removed the blogrolling link from my blog.
The idea is this. Blogrolling helped me to track those blogs which are being updated, so that I need not visit those blogs everyday.
But, now that RSS readers have become fairly popular (Heck, Google bought over Feedburner !), I have decided to remove that link. It is not that it would matter much, but for those folks who still read my blog without RSS, the page should load up a bit faster.
Please continue reading ;-) It feels nice to know that people read the crap you dish out.
More often than not, the proponents of vegetarianism say that one should not eat meat because it amounts to killing something.
I have always wondered about this. We cultivate plants for food. We harvest it. Now, we say that it does not amount to killing that plant. What would we do for food, if the same plant looks at you with pleading eyes and stuff ? So, is it that we eat plants just because they do not have the gift of voice and eyes ? Is it that easy to brush aside plants as things that do not "live" ?
So, that being the case, why do people, especially the proponents of vegetarianism, create all hype and furor about those who eat meat ?
Isn't it pragmatic to think that everything that is there in this planet has a purpose ? If the purpose of some animals or plants is to land up in the dining table, what can man do ?
It is not that man alone eats meat. A lot of animals out there in the jungle eat meat. Now, if someone says that man should be civilized and not lead a jungle-like life, after all, isn't man just another monkey ?
Some argue that man disturbs the food chain by eating meat and breeding animals just for the sole purpose of feeding him. Now, the same argument can be put forth that, when he expands his cities, he cuts down many forests thereby eliminating the green cover and hence, disturbing the food chain.
Disturbing questions and no conclusive answers.
Let the debate rage on !
Update: I am having a rather interesting discussion with my ex co-goon from here. As always, he is coming up with some very interesting points ! Let me see where that discussion leads to.
PS: Please do not bring up things like body not suited for eating meat and such stuff. All those studies have remained inconclusive and have ended up making a safe conclusion that man is an omnivore !
Ever wondered why a lot of Afro-Americans are acting stereotypically ? I mean, they wear their jeans/whatever as low as possible, that it will anytime fall of from their legs, make sure they have chains on their necks that would weigh atleast a few kilos, and so on and so forth ?
Well, I got the nerve to ask one of guys I met over the weekend. And he simply says that it makes him look cool ? Cool ? Dude, you are being totally stupid here. And you look like a complete idiot when you run to catch that bus with one hand firmly on your waist grasping your jeans/whatever ! So, please come out of that silly stereotyping and try to get an identity for yourself okay ?
The flag of Chennai Runners was hoisted on June 3rd in the San Diego Rock'n' Roll marathon.
It was a cloudy day, with the temperature of 15 degrees or so. Perfect weather for running. I was better prepared this time. I had done a few half marathons for practice and had also done a 30km once. I wanted to hunt this marathon down in 4.5hrs. The previous day, when I had gone to collect the running bib, I had enlisted for being a pacer for the 4.5hrs team. The pacer team was either sponsored, or was composed of people from Southwest Airlines.
When the race started, my body was responding beautifully. The strides were smooth, and yes, I was looking forward to complete the run in 4.5hrs. I stayed as close as possible to the lead pacer. I even managed a toilet break in the nearby bushes and still managed to catch up with my pacer team.
At around the first hour mark, we had completed 6 miles which was perfect pace. At the 7th mile, the current lead pacer, with whom I had got myself introduced the earlier day, started having some problems with his legs and he asked me to take over. And I did. Till the 12th mile or so I was running nicely. The legs were falling in place quite well. I was not panting. Since the weather was quite cool, there was no sweating too.
Once I reached 12.5 mile, I sped up a bit ahead of other. I sensed that my bowels were about to give away and I had to empty them. If I had to empty them and still pace others, I needed a head start. Once I reached the mobile restrooms, I saw that there was a fairly long queue. I did see a Carl's Jr outlet a few meters ahead of me and I decided to use that.
And then disaster struck. Just as I turned back to join the race, one of the runners who was coming to join the race collided against me. We both went sprawling, luckily, on the grass. I fell down completely and my right leg twisted at the ankle and struck a stone. The pain was bad. I was initially thinking that it does not look all that bad that I have to abandon my run. I trotted gently to Carl's Jr and emptied my bowels. After I came out was when all the fun started. Every step was becoming a pain. I decided to mix walking and running, and if necessary, crawling, to get to the finishing line. After all, I had traveled to San Diego all the way from Monterrey and there was no way I was going back without the finishers medal.
And so after a laborious 3.5 hours after my fall, I pulled myself to the finishing line. The finishers medal never felt so good around my neck as it did that day.
iPhone
Economics
Sivaji, 
Punch Dialogue
Shivaji
Illayaraja
Whales, 
Gerontology
Chennai Runners, 
Running
Fair Deal
Blogrolling
Vegetarianism, 
Non-Vegetarian
Rock N Roll Marathon