Future Perfect, A new voyage!

After a long gap, a movie that I wanted to say something about....actually 2 movies in a gap of 4 days.

Rarely do you enter a movie hall wanting the movie to be good and coming out feeling "Boy was it good!!" That was the feeling after watching Star Trek. What a movie! The story was neat, the script was terrific. It was an inclusive script that had all the star trek newbies engrossed. Enough for the vetrans (at least those who think they are) engrossed. It was all about how the first Enterprise team came together in a new future created by Nero, an old villain. So you really dont know whether that was the way they came together, but at least from this point on, it is the only way!!! Having the old Spock in the movie was a neat touch. The final voice over by Spock was a neat touch...I want more of this Trek...Hope it lives long and prospers!!!

One line on Angles and Demons....Much Much Much better than Da Vinci Code the movie.

Now I am dreading the Hindi Movie Release Overload...we are going to be held hostage again...sigh!!!

Dil e 6

For brief flashes, I felt like I was watching the old serial of the single channel DD days Nukkad. There was that kind of synthetic, real feel to the movie. It seemed that all of today's headlines were captured in a small microcosm and played out in the background of Delhi-6. The surprising thing was that I did not feel that Abhishek was the hero during the whole movie. He had a role to play but so did a whole bunch of others. And they did a great job. Every actor played the part to the T.

Songs were used well and in passing. Scenes did not seem to be made for the songs. I actually liked that. Though I did want to see a few songs in full :-(

The whole movie over all was interesting, but somehow and somewhere the Nukkad feel did not go away. While the intentions were noble, there was something synthetic about it!

Music Season 2008 - Micro Session

I was visiting Chennai for a conference and tried to squeeze a concert in this time. Managed to see one Aruna Sairam Concert in Parthsarathi Swami Sabha. And what a concert it was!

Aruna is one of my favorite performers. And she did not disappoint this time. With the aid of the web, a complete novice like me could identify songs by surfing the web. So the concert was more pleasurable. 

It was 3 hours of high energy performance. The highlights of the concert were the enjoyable Thani session where the Ganjira player decided to do Kunnakol instead. Made a huge difference and prevented the maamas and maamis going toward the cafeteria for some mammu!

Towards the end of the concert, Aruna rendered her favorite Maadu Meikkum Kaana and like in a rock concert she encouraged the crowd to sing along! And guess what the crowd did! I did not expect that from the staid Mama(i)s! 

Sensational end to a spectacular evening.

Rock on!

Rub All-Tear Egos!

Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi! Or so we are told ever so often with a photo or representation of a suitable Rab.

I went in to the movie with very little expectations. When I came out I thanked the Rab above that he had given me very little expectations! The story is out now. Man marries woman she did not like (No it is not Mouna Ragam!). Man tries to get her what she wants (Again, it is not Mouna Ragam). He becomes someone else, another self who is hep and happening (No it is not Anniyan!). He captures his wife's heart as Rab shows her who she actually should love (by the 15th reel of the movie!). I would have liked it if Rab had done that at least a couple of reels earlier.

 

The highlights of the movie is clearly the opening sequence and Sharukh as Surinder, the common man! He was very good and I wish he really does movies where can indeed act more. Anushka Sharma, me liked. She seemed like a good dancer and some fresh air. I did not like Vinay Pathak's role/character. There was really no one else in the movie. One of the limited expectations I had was that this was a movie with lot of dance. But they kept the dances as simple as possible so that it is accessible to the common man! Good for me! Bad for my kids!

This movie lies on a very fragile story whose fragility would not have been exposed if they had kept it 30 min short. But since that would be against the laws of simple movie making, we have the same point being driven in again and again and again...what the hell...and again! 

When will Rab make good movies?

Flights of Fantasy with Aruna Sairam as the pilot

There are some days when you know the luck is on your side. Today was definitely one of them for me. How often can you go to a ticketless concert without a pass and enter Chowdiah hall and find a seat right in the middle, 9 rows from the stage? The answer is once and for me it was today. 

Heard Aruna Sairam and like the other 1000 odd folks who were overflowing and filled the stage as well was mesmerised. Aruna Sairam has the potential to create a rock concert with all the ages (from the late 70's to the early 10's) participating with equal gusto. It was a spectacular concert. And the best thing this time was that I did not have to ask the maama or maami sitting next to me as to what raga was being sung. I just used my mobile and google instead. Guess they never thought of that when they made Google. With information at my finger tips, I actually understood the raagas being sung as they were sung!

She sang about 15 songs for a full 3 hours. The main piece was the RTP in Madhyamavathi with the Pallavi beckoning all the 8 Lakshmis. Each Lakshmi had her own Raga to welcome her, of course! The concert had everything...the Abhangs, the thillanas, the oothukaadu songs. Aruna had all of us eating out of her hands! Always a pleasure to be a part of such an event even if our role is to just listen and walk away.

PS: As in a Oothukaadu song that I heard Aruna Sairam render, there is a small note from the Adiyaarkku Adiyaarku Adiyaar! I felt that the usual smoothness was just a little lacking. Flights of Fantasy series by Ganjam was referred by her as Flight of Fancy about 3 times! And in one of the viruttams calling Thiruthani Muruga, she Thiruthini Muruga...slight jarring from an ever perfect performer.

Closet Matters

Since we are on a roll this weekend, I did the second movie of the weekend...Dostana. Hearing the hype engines work their magic, one would have imagined this is the next best thing to sliced bread. 

By now we all know how mainstream Bollywood has decided to include them as part of mainsteam cinema in this movie. So I left my mind in the car and went in to enjoy the movie.

My verdict So-So! There were some funny moments but overall it was not a 'wow what a movie!' experience. Abhishek is best with his timing, Kiron Kher is over the top, and poor Boman is reduced to a sterotype. This movie is just being funny for the sake of being funny. And so you enjoy some moments. But everything was very surface...no depth. I guess they did not plan it that way. It as a laugh and leave comedy...so I laughed in the theatre and left!

Elephant song

When one is on a cruise boat, you are expected to sit down and enjoy what you see. Some of what you see you may like and some you may not, but sit you must. If you like the trip, you can come back again. If not, the cruise boat does not give a damn and so wont you. That was what I thought when I watched Vaaranam Aayiram. Gautam Menon, one of the few directors, to whose cinematic language I can relate best these days has presented a photo album, or coffee table book that you can flip through. The only catch being you cannot turn the pages, only he can and at his speed. Hence I write these as observations and reflections as I really am not supposed to interpret anything.

You really go through the adult life of a young man whose father provided the right kind of support or direction at the right time. A good father can be the pillar that can make a child to a fine young adult. Coming to what we saw in the journey, there were three love stories. A lot of ups and some deep downs. And how the father is there for the son in the downs. In some sense, I would have liked to see more multidimensional aspects of the relationships. I enjoyed that in Cheran's Thavamaai Thavamirundu. My interest was held during most parts of the movie. I thought the end could have been done better because I felt that it would never end! The other aspects of the movie were standard Gautam Menon fare. There were some rough edges where it felt that the whole family is enacting its love story for us. The coolness quotient for me though was the fact that Surya lives through the same college period as I did. While I clearly did not have the romantic tracks and hence the music tracks he had, I could at least sing along (thamilla sonna othhu oootharathu!!)

In terms of performances, Surya was excellent and Krishnan was awesome! So glad to see Simran back! Sameera is sweet but she has an one dimensional smile...What a smile...sigh!. Ramya or Divya Spandana was cute. All the others were in the shadows. Music is excellent, Harris Jayraj at his best. Camera work was nice with lot of shots reiterating the 1st person narrative! 

This movie is a love story made by a director for a father and for an actor he adores. The actor really nails this one! I wish the father was just a tad crisper and not without the flab! Coming to the question, will I get on the ride again...I doubt it but would definitely look at excerpts if someone were to show it to me!