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!

The Frame and the Painting - Beautiful Picture

Here are two guys who went to the same school who kept in touch and as their professional careers matured, thought they can take the best of their worlds and create something nice or nicer. I am referring to Anil Srinivasan and Sikkil Gurucharan after I listened to their concert (can you believe it was free!!!) called Madhirakshi today. 

Easily one of the best musical experiences that I have been to in a long time. 

The thing that gets to you is the voice of Gurucharan that was enhanced by the Piano of Anil and the Ganjira of Purushottam.  Suttum Vizhicudar thaan, then an ashtapadi followed by Ksheerasagara....It went on. One amazing song after an another. They covered Sanskrit, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, and Hindi with ease. Language, obviously, did not matter. Music Did!

There was a piece where they allowed the Ganjira to have a solo play. It was the piece written by Kalki about a lady waiting for Muruga. She goes on to say that after she has seen her love, how she finds happiness in solitude. This was the portion of the song that they played. It did strike me odd that the thani piece was tagged to this song! A friend with whom I was discussing this suggested that may be the Kanjira was being played alone to reflect the solitude! I thought that it was an interesting take to the whole positioning of the thani piece in the concert.

After the vote of thanks they did an encore piece, Omana Thinkal. The audience was transfixed as if the lullaby was for them.

Amazing experience! Worth doing it again. Sikkil is part of my December must hear list!

PS: The Frame is what Anil referred to his Piano and the Painting is what he referred to Gurucharan's voice

Drum Beats!

I am writing this after 16 shows of Magic Drum, including a 3 show Sunday! There were those in the team that actually did all the 16 shows! Can you believe that? I managed to do 9 I think!

Here is an anwer to the question I had earlier...yes there is a GOD! Oh Yeah! What was a disaster of a rehearsal metamorphosised and grew into an amazing show. As the days went the performance levels went up and up. Towards the end we actually were confident that we could pull it off. 

There were several crowd favorite moments. But there were some total cast favorite moments which the whole cast was rooting for. My favorites were a few. One was the barber in Good Luck Gopal. It was one scene that always had me in splits. The other one that I loved were the Old Lady in the white crow. It was a guy doing the role of a Grand Ma and it was just too funny! I loved the Gujju accented postman in a village in Karnataka in the Last Laddoo! We had a blast with some wardrobe malfunctions where for a brief moment (pun uninteded) we saw what no audience ever wanted to see :-).

I think the coolest part is that an organization was able to generate funds for their noble cause and it was not inspite of us putting a bad show! People did walk away happy that they saw something worth their time and we were happy that the money that they paid went to something worth our time!

The Fear of God

After an absolutely nightmarish rehearsal yesterday, possibly the worst that I have had so far EVER in doing plays, I believe in GOD.

Seriously, this play has been one of the toughest. I started doing this play only to find out that I may not be able to do it. I had an important (?) wedding to attend right in the middle of the play dates. So I pulled out. Then as luck would have it they postponed the play performance dates. And yours truly was back in. And even then I had only a teeny role as I was doing back-up to another dude. His work got the better of him and he dropped out. There I was right in the thick of it without even realizing it. At about the same time, my work caught up with me with travels ever so often. If it was not work then there is always Bangalore traffic. What would have taken a crow 35 mins to travel, takes me 2 hours. Being in Bangalore traffic is akin to constipation. You want to go, but it is just not going!! I can literally let loose on the road for the last 30 sec of my travel to rehearsal.

After all this we found ourselves doing rehearsal yesterday with the knowledge sinking in that next week is the performance. We are doing it in partnership with Dream a Dream. There are 2 more days and our performance is no where near where it should be. I have begun my prayers...

Rock On - A Ballad?

You know the end of the movie in the beginning. So there is no edge of the seat suspense.
You know all the turns and twists...there were some interesting twists. But nothing out of the ordinary. So no shocks there
You have heard the music, nothing new there.
In some sense you do know the people! I guess that is what makes this work.

The movie was really unhurried in its pace. It kind of took its time to move towards the end. The end was naive but you really could not have had any other end. The strength of the movie was really the performance of all the actors and how they appeared believable! While I lack the depth to comment on the technicalities etc or argue with the story teller on how well he could have made it, I judge my liking of a movie by whether I had a good feeling when I left the theatre. The answer is I did!

Once in a while you do need these kind of movies. Something to take you back to those days, put up your feet and smile!!

What defines decent?

I was watching this program on Vijay TV. One of the many reality dance shows. The judges got carried away and asked the daughter of one of the participants to dance.

This was an enthusiastic 7 year old who danced her heart out for Mukabala song from Kadalan. The kid danced with a lot of gusto. But then in the middle she went into a lot of gyrating suggestive movements. Agreed it was just a dance. But is it okay for a 7 year old to go into a lot of these poses. I felt that I will be uncomfortable to see my kid do the same. Of course, no one in show really minded all these movements and this was a family show.

But there was this little niggle...Are these the new boundaries for decency? Has the age of innocence dropped from the teens to the single digit ages? Or am I being prude?

Screw the Conductor - Cut the Barber

How to talk about a movie that you did not like,
Write in bad verse and rhyme like with hike!

Kuselan was a remake they said of a mallu classic in recent time,
P Vasu laid his hands on a story and made it like a worthless dime.

Instead of friendship with a barber, they focused on the super star
Even the 'real' scenes looked fake, not worth a retake!

Crass Comedy of Vaigai Puyal, and close up shots of Nayantara's navel
Titillate the audience with a lot of show and not much tell!

Needless computer graphics to boot,
A waterfall in a dry cliff was a hoot
they have dolphins jumping out in this mythical bay
Making night from an obvious day.

I am thankful I spent on only Rs 70,
Instead of the usual 250
The remaining 180 on something better,
May be dosa with a real buddy and a lot of butter!!!

Kung Fu - I want that - Panda!

It is not often that you can catch me cursing and hurrying people up on a Sunday Morning. Had breakfast with the parents and the kids at Janata Hotel. 30 minutes to go! I come home and find out that we are not ready yet. Debate on whether I should shower or not. Figured out that a deodorant will cause the illusion. Hence decide to move on. Since no one gets up in Bangalore on a Sunday morning except to go for breakfast at CTR, Janata Hotel, Veena stores or MTR, we made it to the theater in good time. I actually parked on Cunningham road!!! I looked at my watch, 2 more minutes to Kung Fu. This is the movie that my four year old and I had conspired together to go. I let her do all the convincing and she did make papa proud! Can you believe it that she and her sis were up at 7 AM and the first thing she said was Kung Fu Panda!

Anywayz, here we were, to watch a cartoon movie (I guess we should call these animation movies, coz they are soooo not cartoons anymore!). The tale is rather simple, that of a Panda believing inspite of its weight and craving for food, if it believes in itself it can achieve its dreams. Without a doubt the visuals were amazing and believable. I was actually telling my 6 year old that the villian was a tiger (0r a snow leopard as pointed out by a friend of mine) !!! I was quite shocked when I said that but realized that I was sucked in as well. The next 90 minutes was a riot. It was just hilarious!! I honestly did not feel I was in a kid flick. The picture completely engulfed me. Here I was empathazing with the Panda and actually saying you go Po! The best thing that these animation pictures do is that they most probably tape the lines before they animate. Consequently the expressions are spot on. I hope the Desis do something like this.

Kung Fu Panda Rockz...Must see!!

Equs Maximus - Jaane Tu, a tale of two

Watched Jaane Tu today. Saw it without the pressure of being a reviewer or a critic. The best thing about the movie was that it did not take itself too seriously. Never! You do leave the theater with a spring in your step, even if you can't dance sala!

Almost everyone in the movie has a done a terrific job. The best thing about the movie is that it is a director's movie and not someone's launch vehicle. It just happens to be that. Not only was every role wisely chosen, but the cameos clinched it for me. Be it Naseer and Ratna Shah, Kitu Gidwani and Rajat Kapoor, Jayant Kriplani and Anuradha Patel (she is still SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO gorgeous!), Paresh Rawal or the Khan brothers. Carefully chosen and well executed. Much has been talked about in the papers on Imran and Genelia. They along with their believable friends do a cracker of a job. So I will not talk about them.

The director did a neat job to execute a simple story. I guess the story is as old as it gets but it is the story telling. Any successful movie or play is always about the story telling. Most of us are craving for something smart and something that we can associate with. This movie did that for me. It had to communicate all things about youth and it did it so well. It really did also remind me of those care-free days and that is probably where I was sold. I loved the directors love affair with the horse. It was there in the dreams and in critical episodes, there will always be a horse running around! He has used that element so well. He has a smart script, great music and controlled the pace of the story very well. The icing on the cake was the last shot. An Intelligent Homage!! May you always be treaded well, Mr Tyrewalla. May you have many more movies in your kitty! God Speed!

Fumes!!!

Yes I am back...Still fuming! I was watching this Kaapi with Anu where Crazy Mohan (I really hope he was joking) was saying that Kamal will get Oscar for Bussavatharam! I just lost it. I did what any sane person would do...muted the tv! I was wondering for what Kamal would be getting the Oscar...for the best comedy (may be). May be the Democratic party will invite him to do his imitation of George Bush, just to ensure that the Republicans lose!

And then there was this mail forwarded by a well wisher (after reading the mail, I was really wondering on the well part) on some other fan's ravings on Kamal and Buss! Apparently this movie is based on Chaos Theory and Butterfly Effect. And they had try to make a science theory by attaching a wiki link! The only chaos in that movie was the story line! And the butterfly was really a bad special effect!

To undo the bad effects of this movie I have decided to watch 10 where Kamal has done only one role!!!

Dashed Avataars

I woke up early in the morning two days ago to ensure that I could book tickets for Dasavatharam. Left early from work, beat the traffic, picked up the family and ran to ensure that I could see Dasavatharm in full. I did see it in full and in this case as far as I am concerned it was a case of a glass half empty.

As we often justify something we make locally...Amazing quality for a tamil movie, great action for an Indian movie, did you see the 20 roles that actor did, Isn't he amazing! But if you really do think about it, these are justifications for our own limitations or incompetence. Any actor is supposed to act and play the roles. Be it one role, 10 roles in one movie or 200 roles in the same movie. Expecting an actor to act is an entitlement. In that case, was the acting adequate in this movie. Yes to nearly all the Indian characters played by Kamal. The grand-ma was really Avvai Shanmukhi after 20 years. The tall guy clearly fit the minority quota. Avtaar singh was there for the sake of satisfying the north indian quota. Two performances that stood out were that of the Son of the soil, and Naidu, the RAW agent. Was as close to Kamal as I always want to see him...someone who trusts his acting skills the most and uses make-up to just make-it up a little. The Americans (2) and Japanese were more of the fancy elements. If we were to consider Kamal to be someone who grew up in Paramakudi till yesterday and spoke like an American today, I accept that this movie is a significant achievement. But that was not the case here.

When Ulaga Nayagan takes over, you expect global standards. Here you see make-up that was similar to what the Jim Carrey had in Mask, after he wore the mask! The president character, the CIA character, the Japanese character stuck out like sore thumbs. Will appeal to the jingoist to proudly beat his chest and say "Namma aalu nalla pannirukkan".

Tell me something! Why do all people who learn fighting in India in the movies have to move their head the same damn way before they make a strike...you know the way they release the stress in their head and put sodukku in their hands. In this case it was funny to see the Japanese Kamal and the American Kamal do it. And I thought the Hiroshima and Pearl Harbor dialogs were extremely primitive in style. We need some classy lines please like the discussions that happened in the train and in the river bed and on the Tsumami shores on God, Science, Environment.

Just because we have Computer Graphics people sitting on bench in India they should not have run riot on the screen. And while these are amazing graphics for a tamil movie, it was such a let down. Why the hell do you need graphics in the Railway train, Why do you need the camera to move in all those wierd angles in the opening sequences...the main problem was that the computer graphics were never subtle. They were announcing their presence all the time!

Sujatha, the writer, used to say that the beginning and the end need to be good for a powerful story. The end of the movie is based on a recent calamity. Interesting thought! The opening was based on an absorbing century episode, which was really needless but what the hell, it was good. But it is the middle that sags. The story really tracks a vial. The US part was poorly acted and directed. I really hate it when Japanese want to talk tamil. Kudos to Gowtham in Vettayaadu where he had everyone talk in English in the US. Where Kamal the story writer does injustice to an interesting beginning and a novel end is when he bends the story (actually stretches it) to introduce other characters and satisfy his ego. Would these characters be there if it was not Dasavatharam but Panchamukam? We lose all the interesting discussions on God and science and they just go by! When the ego interferes the story goes for a six and gets my thumbs down vote.

One word on the music...the songs...Hopeless!

Thus in the same way that Nambi resolutely holds on to the Ashtaacksharam even when he faces death, and as Nakkeerar famously said to the Pachaakshara , I hold on to my opinion, this movie fails. I do write this with sadness since you really know that Kamal could have done such a good job.

Nallathor veenai seithe....

The First Leaf - A Children's Play for Adults

First the good things....
It was very commendable for AHA, the Ranga Shankara Group to come to North Bangalore saving us a few miles and many hours of journey across the magic box-ridden, silicon-laden mini streets of Bangalore to go to Ranga Shankara. They did a neat little job in Seva Sadan, a neat little auditorium safely tucked in 14th cross Malleswaram.

The play that they presented today was called the First Leaf and it was billed as a play for children. It was a play on how a group of kids along with well wishers convince a stubborn man and the stubborn people in the community general to grow trees and save the environment. Was it a play for 5 and above...sure if all the 5 year old were PhDs!!! Was it a laudable attempt? You bet. I felt that the core theme of the play was may be a little bit of OHT (over head transmission as we used to say in our college days!!) for kids. I would know because I had two kids (6.5 and 4.5) with me. What held them and had them glued was the slapstick humor. That was the disappointment for me, as I slide into the whine segment.

Too much of stereotyping..the fat bad guy part especially. I know it gets the laughs, but it is too much of a stereotype. There were glitches as was accepted by the director, but it is how the group manages the truth of the moment that makes theater fun. I don't think this team was ready for that. The adults who played the kids could have done better if they had watched real kids in action. They were, I thought, playing adults playing kids. But that was okay, they got the energy part right.

I would have loved if the team had made an attempt to sing the song that was in the play on stage and not have a playback...it was kind of cheesy. Also I felt the cast was not used to the stage. It would have been wonderful if they had gotten used to the stage.

I am sure they will take care of the obvious glitches in the shows to come. The icing on the cake for me was the awe that my kids had looking at the stage and the lights during the play. They went to see the stage after the play was over. It was enjoyable to watch the awe and excitement in their little faces when they climbed the stage and touched the tree. They were touched by the magic of theater!! And for that two thumbs up to AHA!!

Fearless!!!

After a long time, I got to watch a movie where I was feeling miserable to hit the pause button. May be the fact that I watched some ordinary movies this weekend helped. But this one was special. The movie is Anjaathey...Wiser men have discussed this a lot.

There have been comments on what the Director did in excess and how he should have cut it short, yaada yaada yaada. The way I looked at it was that as a Director, Mysskin, gave us a story. Did I like it? Absolutely, resoundingly yes.

I loved the story telling, I loved the way many things were set up. There were some predictable moments, some over the top...The good part was I was going along with the director over the top as well! While on stage, it is the actor who has to respond to the truth of the moment, this movie demonstrates that Cinema is always the directors baby. He has good performances from all of the actors. It is refreshing to see a chocolate boy hero like Prasanna do a role that people would not touch with a barge pole. The only good shot of him you get to see is a photograph that comes thorugh a fax machine! He is in the dark all the time. But he makes an impact. Naren makes a good impact as well. Excellent modulation and wonderful delivery in many places. Pandiarajan was a revealation. He can act! Music was good and to the point. I can go on and on, but it is safe to say this is one of the better 3 hours that I have spent in the recent past.

Fearless...way to go!!!

Sujatha - We will miss you

My college days were made immeasurably better because of the tryst with Sujatha, the writer. Semester after semester, we would read his stories and do his plays. He was one of the few writers who wrote good and contemporary Tamil drama. We had privilege of staging it every semester in college. When we gobbled his plays quicker than this writing would allow, we went to his stories and made them into plays! And what amazing hits they were with the crowd.

This man had a day job in the Garden City, designing electronic voting machines among other things and still managed to churn out a wonderful of stories and plays. After he retired he started writing screenplays and memorable scripts for movies. Full of fun in one side and full of thought in the other.

I loved the plays he wrote and the lines I had the privilege to speak.

The first was Adimaigal - The story of a dominating Periappa. I had the chance to play an advocate who read out "The last will and testament of...."

The second was Dr. Narendranin Vinodha Vazhakku - The story about a doctor who becomes a victim of the system and still does not lose his dignity. I played Dr. Narendran and who saves the politician because he suspected "massive myocardial symptoms"

The third was Kadavul Vandhirundhaar - one of my favorites - Science fiction in a middle class retired brahmin family! I played the brahmin who meets Jo, the person from future. Some absolutely fabulous lines that had the cast and crew in splits. Every rehearsal was a treat. We had a space ship land on stage! You had to have been there!

The fourth was Oonjal - one of the toughest - Inspired by Death of a Salesman - Most difficult and depressing roles as a yesteryear successful industrialist. Very demanding play, moving. To see how a man can falter

The fifth was Oru Kolai, Oru Prayanam - Two plays in one. The first was a journey on a train (Imagine we had all the effects of a train in stage). I got to be a pompous dude who yoddled for his love with a guitar...smoked my first cigarette on stage! The other play was one heck of an anticlimax which literally pissed the audience. They did a huge walk out.

The sixth was Naan Avanillai - The play that I did not act. Incredible story of a man whose mind had been manipulated. Exciting stuff for the college days. I did the sounds for that one

The seventh was Pirivom Sandhippom - We scripted Sujatha's famous novel into a play. I played a character that had two lines in the original story. But since we were writing the script, managed a quite a bit more. Played the hero's father.

The eighth was Padavikkaaga - This was the magnum opus of our college times which I partly scripted and directed. Cast and crew of over 50 people. Amazing political play...nay movie! Each line in that play and each character was so well received.

It was a privilege to have had the association with the man that I never had met. He inspired a legion of us to do theater and have fun doing it. End of the day we all connected with his scripts may be because he was an engineer too!

One line as I sign off from Kadavul Vandhirundhar would be most apt. The last line in the play when the character who transforms from a retiree to a God Man says to the audience, "Naan konja neram kadavula irundhuttu varen"....Let me be God for sometime! Is that what you have done sire?