Quo Vadis?

If you missed out the trolling of a journalist by fans of actor Vijay simply because she commented that she did not  like a film made over 7 years ago, then take my word, you are better off not watching any more of actor Vijay’s movies. The movie in question Suraa (meaning shark) is abysmal and the general consensus among people I know is that that it is so bad that watching it will give those without a migraine one and those who have migraine the agony of watching it relief from their migraine. What makes a terrible movie? Many things but this movie will be on the heap of other similar movies made by movie makers who wanted simply to milk the star value of the actor. Another movie from back then called Pudhiya Geethai also would give similar migraine effects to those brave enough to watch it, but for now let me say that there are movies and there are bad movies and every actor has his share of bad movies and it is part of their professional life. Suraa had everyth...

Romeo & Juliet, the classic tragedy by Shakespeare, reimagined and adapted to the music of AR Rahman, presented by a Dance Company. The show was produced by an actress / dancer with a film back ground that should ensure good production values in addition to good media coverage. The sum of it all seemed to be a Sunday evening well spent when I bought the tickets for yesterday’s performance. The show started half an hour late which was a good thing considering the parking challenges and the traffic, the sparse crowd in the balcony also gave us a choice of seats in the free seating Music Academy.  The opening credits started with the National Award winning “Chinna Chinna Aasai” that made me feel warm inside and look forward to the evening ahead. The stage had very basic props with one gazebo hardly being used and seemed to be taking up unnecessary space, the famous Juliet’s Balcony however on the other end of the stage was used more and despite the lack of height it s...

If a picture is worth a thousand words, this picture should merit at least a hundred. Hand drawn by 5 enterprising youth as the décor for their new themed café, this was one of the many pictures that brought me many happy memories when I was there. This was a 90’s themed café and this picture brought many memories of school days. Those were the days of simple joys, restricted television time, board games, comic books,  outdoor games that went required no equipment but had enough space to play, softy ice creams that could be licked off a cone, bicycles  that came up with the glamorous name of Street Cat, PTC was the preferred mode of travel with tickets under a Rupee, picnics in school was a trip to Guindy park or Golden Beach. Ah!!! Those were the simple days. From the large line of cartoons, two stand out for me: He Man and the masters of the universe: The goose bumps that I felt in the moment when Prince Adam says “By the power of gray skull…” the transformati...

Went for a movie after some time. I am very selective of the movies I watch. I watch a movie where I can relax, suspend reality, have a good time, laugh a lot & forget the movie in a few days. I would like to watch Micheal Madan Kama Rajan over Nayagan any day so even I sound brain dead it is my personal choice. Despite a title that gives you different ideas Andavan Kattalai is a simple film that would have worked well with any name and maybe it was the Director cocking a snook at conventional naming tradition. There was a worrying disclaimer at the start and the titles itself reminded you of an old 70's/80's movie, after the initial doubts you settle down. I was pleasantly surprised by the rapturous welcome for the hero Vijay Sethupathi who is now a confirmed, bankable star. The surprise increased when the audience hooted in delight for the name of Ritika Singh, apparently her debut movie has left a mark. When you watch this movie you need to be alert unlike othe...

Dear Airtel, I really think that my daughter just has to ask me if she wants a better mobile plan instead of pulling these cheap scams. From your ad I doubt I will get her your plan, thank you for trying. There are crappy ads and there are crappy ads. The airtel ad would be somewhere in between the potty and the drain, so horrible it is. I am not sure if family values have sunk to such levels and the fact that this ad is part of a series tells you the kind of value systems that drives the leading mobile operator of the country. I would not be surprised if they are scamming their clients away merrily with such stunts of keeping them happy while inflating bills or usage. How much do we check anyway? Parenting is an art, it is a science, it is everything at once and nothing at the same time. Some of the parenting techniques can be learnt, though most of it comes from within. It is a secret handed down from one generation to another and so “defective products must be blamed...

I agreed to go for the Uttama Villain show with some trepidation. I am not a big fan of the serious, cerebral movies of Kamal Hassan no matter how good they may be. I would rather settle down and enjoy a mind numbing comedy by him any day, so the name of the movie and the promotional shots made me a little uncomfortable for Kamal in my opinion tends to crowd the screen with him and there will be a lot of self-indulgence on screen. By the interval I had relaxed and the reasons for the same will follow in the lines below. Uthama Villain (UV) is the story of a dying star making an attempt to achieve immortality by doing something what he does best, that is being a star. I will avoid sharing the plot of the movie for it will not do justice to some sparkling writing by Kamal. His intelligence and wit shines right through and sometimes if you do not pay attention you will miss it. The wordplay and the choice of names for the various characters are enjoyable. The characters (there are ...

Yennai Arinthal, by now the reviews are out and it appears to be a hit already. Having watched the movie on the second day here are my views, for reviews you can search online.   Yes you would know by all the publicity that this is the final of the cop trilogy and at the end of the movie you feel that this is a mix and match of the first two movies, which is a good thing since both the earlier movies were hits, the chances of going wrong are less   There is a lot of familiarity in the movie that you can almost guess what is going to happen and that somehow hinders the movie   The female leads have been etched well and they add value to the movie and in GVM style they are the modern women who are far removed from the usual “blonde type” heroines   The entry of the female leads become the Achilles heel of the so far fearless hero and similar to the earlier movies the loss of the lady love is a crucial part of the movie   The father & adopted d...

Driving past the Stella Maris College while always pleasant is even better these days. The beauties outside the campus make you slow down for a second look and are potential traffic hazards. A thing of beauty always warrants a second look and when you have so many of them in one place you can be forgiven if you stop and stare. You move on feeling extremely annoyed and angry with this government for whitewashing the walls of the YMCA and other public buildings. Improper use or lack of grammar annoyed me no end. These days grammar has been reinvented along with the language being spoken. Among the many Tamizh dialects is Tanglish a forced marriage of Tamizh and English which has become the language most commonly used and understood by the common man in Chennai. Earlier we used to “fying” everything to make the English cousin of a Tamizh word, remember “suttufying” which sounds like shooting but means looting. The latest Idea ad in Tamizh, rather Tanglish is Poo Soothing! Looks lik...

The security detail provided to some people who fall under various categories seems to be a cruel joke. A joke because the public are subjected to great hardships while the public servant is protected from potential threats which history would tell you never happened. It is simply incomprehensible that so much on man, machinery and time is spent on safeguarding one person without realistically assessing the risk that is attributed to this person. I have been one of many who have groaned, fumed and vented ire on a Very Very Important Person rushing around in a huge convoy of vehicles while Very Very ordinary persons like me are barricaded away or forced to make detours. It is even more disheartening to know that I have contributed to this gross waste of public money by paying my taxes on time. After all death is inevitable for all, what is the point of denying this? I do not have statistics but the number of VVIP dying from external causes read it as terrorist attack or a...

Happy Deepavali to everyone!   May the festival of lights spread love, joy, peace & prosperity in your lives. One experience that repeats itself every Deepavali is when you try to light a flower pot or an atom bomb gingerly, very gingerly and as you move away seeing the sputtering flame you wait eagerly for the fountain of sparks or a loud bank but then you get a fizzle, also called as a “boossu”.   Azhaguraja the Deepavali release starring Karthi with Santhanam and directed by Rajesh (with an impressive pedigree) is a big fizzle. A movie with the family especially with lots of kids in a drive in should have ensured a lot of fun and the premise of a Rajesh movie who with Santhanam had given two recent hits would have been the icing on the cake, unfortunately this cake ended up on our faces and told us that reputation does not matter much and past performance at the box office must be discounted before every movie. For a long time we were left scratching o...

I am not a movie critic and for a movie review I suggest you visit this by one of my favourite reviewers . If you want to know if this movie is worth a watch and you share my sensibilities read on. If you are wondering what is “my sensibilities”? Simple, I watch movies for fun, I am willing to suspend disbelief and rationale for the few hours in the movie hall and let myself be transported away from brain work and ensure that I get the best exercise in life in large measures. If these boxes are ticked then I recommend a movie. The classics are for other days. So while I love Nayagan, Micheal Madana Kama Rajan will be ranked higher because I can watch it any number of times and still enjoy it. After a long introduction if you are still with me and know what to expect from this let me proceed. Coming among a stream of similar dark comedy movies this is another effort from many new comers and is based on the events of one night. Four men meet up in a police station due to...