English Vinglish- Every mother, wife, woman's Diary Viary

ENGLISH VINGLISH


Next up on the reviews is ENGLISH VINGLISH. Now, why did I want to watch this movie at first?
Yes, it was the 80's diva, namma mayilu Sridevi's comeback. But moreover it had my first and long term crush the angelic Priya Waj Anand in it!

But hang on, it was very soon that I realized that this movie was something not very different, but very close to every person. Infact the first thing I did after coming back home was, hug my mom and say 'Sorry'. So here goes,

This is an engrossing lighted hearted story about Shashi (Sridevi Kapoor), and the daily humiliations she faces from her kids and husband for her being naive and not able to converse in English. Things change for the better once she embarks on trip to Newyork/Manhattan for her niece's wedding.

 Sridevi as Shashi

Well, Sridevi proves that she doesn't need any warm up to give a neat and brilliant performance even after 15 long years in the hiatus. Right from the start where she gets mocked by her daughter and husband for pronouncing jazz as jaas till the very end where she gives her speech there was no stopping her, living the character Shashi effortlessly. When she asks for "Nendaram" from her daughter's class teacher, it shows how naive Shashi is and on the scene where she resist's Laurent's romance, it she shows the moral values of a middle class Indian housewife (Though Shashi is an entreprenuer)
"Class is permanent!"

Adil Hussian as Satish

As Shashi's loving yet ignorant husband Adil has played the character subtly and effortlessly, though his looks are of a villain.

"A woman does not need a gift every fortnight from a her husband, but his shoulders to weep on!"

Mehdi Nebbou as Laurent

The French actor remembered for his role in the Speilberg blockbuster Munich, plays a love-struck soulmate of  Shashi. Both of them converse in languages unknown to each other, yet one understands the others feelings through the emotions.

"Some relationships are beyond friendship,love, or language"

Priya Anand as Radha

The co-incidence in this character is that Priya's mother's name in real life is Radha too. She appears to have changed by leaps and bounds in terms of her acting from her first film Pugaipadam (Tamil).Her character is so strikingly similar to that of her real persona. She will make anyone fall her with her charm and bubbliness. She comes across as the same girl whom I met in Kodaikanal 4-5 years back!

"Charm, energy,chirpiness, and a beautiful heart"

The rest of the cast were also perfectly suited for their characters right from Rama to Sagar. Everyone did a neat job. 

"Perfect recipe for a wholesome meal!"

Gauri Shinde- The Director

Now Mr. Balki has some stiff competition from his own household. Gauri has made sensational debut with English Vinglish. The films takes us through how we forget ours mothers/wife's sacrifices and their dedication towards the family. In the course of time they ignore their own needs and care only about their family.

Amit Trivedi- Music Director

The music is fresh, and the songs are refreshing like a can of soft drink. They are not loud and crass but still trendy and peppy. The BGM too has been well handled.

 "Fresh as the spring water!"

Apart from it, the cinematographer, editor and others do precisely what the screenplay demands.

Last but not the least,

How can I forget the cameo by our THALA, he appears on screen for couple of minutes as a co-passenger on Shashi's flight to New York. During his entire appearance there was this non stop roar from the audience, and that proves his star power down south.  

Bottomline: (4/5)

A must watch for everyone, realise the importance and sacrifice of every woman in your family. Do not degrade her for her flaws, as no one is flawless. And in most cases it because of her commitment towards the family that she ignores them. In all a very enjoyable experience not a commercial potbolier nor an off-beat art house film

“Religion is preserved by wealth; knowledge by diligent practice; a king by conciliatory words; and a home by a dutiful housewife" -Chanakya

Friendship never ends! - And This one's for you buddy

Dear friends ,
Whoever knew Nivas, would know what a person he was and what he meant to me... I just wanted to share this note which I have been writing every year to you. Hope you guys still remember him. And please spare a couple of minutes today to think about those precious moments you spent with him as its his 21st birth anniversary today (15-12-2011)

R. Srinivas (15-12-1990 to 05-04-2005)


Never Would I have ever thought I would end up remembering someone on his birth anniversary almost 7 years after his death. We were neither born to the same parents nor did we have any relationship apart from living in the same town before we met.

The moment I saw you I never knew that you would have a great influence on my life, I thought you were a weirdo and once you had told me that you had thought I had loads of attitude. We never really had much in common, until one day . I remember you and I being sent out of the class for something we didn't do, and ever since we did every single thing together. Yes Nivas, I am talking about you.

I remember the packs of Lays we ate together and the half bottle of left over Pepsi we shared...!! We started everything together, good or bad we stood  by each other. Never did I imagine you would leave me by myself and disappear to the heavens above all of a sudden. Maybe you wanted me to learn life the hard way and be independent. This very day you would have been you would have been 21 years old had you seen through that horrible morning which took you away from me and you would have been a exactly a year, a month and a day older to me! People say its weird that we never took a picture together but I think that its just destiny as it turns out to be your engraved in my heart which is im-materialistic and can never be destroyed.

Maybe you did not want to say goodbye and thats why your final SMS was to me and it read "Flowers say touch me not and I say forget me not"
 I know that you take care of me like a guardian angel as I know every time I look towards the skies above before every race, match and test you smile at me and I come out triumphant.

You will live forever in my heart and I will meet you some day up there in the heaven . finally a very happy birthday buddy.! I love you.. <3  


Yours lovingly forever,
Adhi

The Dreamer

Mayakkam Enna-A Blissful Blessing!!!

Well am up with my 2nd review. And again its a very positive one. Mayakkam Enna!

Mayakkam Enna is purely a very different movie but with SELVARAGHAVAN stamped all over it. Karthik Swaminathan (Dhanush) is called "Genius" by his friends. But he isnt the only genius in it. Full marks to the Captain of Geniuses Selvaraghavan.


Cast & Crew :

Dhanush (Karthik Swaminathan) - As usual a brilliant performance.

Richa Gangopadhayay (Yamini) - Every man's dream. And every director's dream actress. Again a briliant performance.

G.V Prakash (Music Director)  - Haunting, soulful music . BGM is brilliant.

Ramji          (Cinematographer) - Brilliant visuals. Brings the entire movie to life.

Selvaraghavan  (Director)         - Genius.

At first the gorgeous Bong beauty making her debut in Tamil , Richa Gangapadhayay comes across as a beauty with brains and a few a add-ons like great acting skills, dialogue delivery, expressions. Yamini comes across like slut in the begining but towards the end you would start worshipping and respecting women as every man would want a wife like her.


Next is the maestro in the making, GVP. His music is haunting as ever. Especially the BGM sinks in you and takes you into the story. No comments about the songs as they are already chartbusters.


 The man through whose eyes we travelled into the journey, Ramji. I think he is being under-credited by the audience and critics. He brought life and the mood to the film. Sheer Brilliance. The Tone, Frames, Angles, lighting etc was simply amazing.


The national Award winner! He reconfirms that he thoroughly deserves it. I never saw the actor Dhanush in it. I saw just Karthik Swaminathan and no one else.


The REAL GENIUS -Selvaraghavan! Amazing, mind blowing, awesome Screenplay and direction . I felt the same kind of feeling as I get while watching a Manirathnam film. Usually with such a talented team , a project might lose its  sheen midway due to overdose of it. But Selva's handling of everyone is clearly visible in this near perfect magic.

Last but not the least the support cast and crew. Sunder played the character very naturally . And Padmini (Pooja balu) a special mention as I knew her during our Tamilnadu rowing days. She has not acted in it. But played herself as a cute, bubbly, chirpy hyper active girl. If she conitnues her acting sojourn she is sure to make hearts swoon just as she did to the boys in the national rowing circuit. Apart from them you can see all the hard work of the cast and crew as a team together


The film as a whole is a bliss . A brilliant teamwork with a talented team and a Maverick Genius Selvaraghavan.

Oh! Almost forgot. A special thanks to Gitanjali Selvaraghavan .Because I think thats made his heart very light and Selva has found true love in her and thats reason for the happy ending.
And If I had a chance I would like to ask Selva "Athu yen eppoluthum unga padathula hero Konjam crackve irukaru?"

Verdict : 4/5 . Watch it if you are a fan of GOOD cinema and bored of the commercial potboilers. Come out of the theatre and you will feel like waking up from a beautiful dream. A brilliant film, entertaining as well with a social message. "Follow your heart"!








The Dreamer

Rockstar- Up,kicking and ROCKING!!!!

Well its time for my first post about what I love the most CINEMA, my love and passion! Hmmmm... Now I think "Rockstar" is a perfect movie to start off with. Behold! I am no Taran Adarsh, Madan, Nikhat Kazmi, Rajeev Masand or any other big film critic. I am just an ordinary film buff and an aspiring film maker. So in this blog page all reviews are to be read as my personal opinion and not public opinion..


Okay now moving on to the review...
 A truely heart winning screenplay, starting off like a slow forest fire ignited, cathces up like a bullet train. About a musician his love, heart break, music and success. 


Verdict- Will be a landmark and Classic in a few years time- But Watch it at your own risk. Recommended for lovers of dark,romances, romantic musicals, tragedies, and good music.And! And! And! If you have lots of time and patience.I Loved it! 


Rating : 4.5/5 (-0.5 for the length and poor editing)


CAST

• Janardhan Jakhar/J.J/Jordan - Ranbir Kapoor
• Heer - Nargis Fakhri
• Kattana Bhai - Kumud Mishra
• Ustad- Shammi Kapoor

Crew

• Director - Imitiaz Ali
• Music - A.R Rahman
• Cinematography - Anil Mehta
• Editor- Aarti Bajaj

Highs

•  Ranbir all the way. Mind blowing performance. A perfect answer to shut the big fat mouths who are more interested in who he dating rather than his professional life.
• Imitiaz Ali - He has already proved he's a genius in the making and with "Rockstar" he re-iterates that.
• Screenplay
• Characterisation 
• Nargis Fakhri - Every man would want a girl like her. Talks are on saying that she's taking over Katrina's place very soon (Not sure about that). But she brought Heer alive . Though she looks 'horny' at times. All said way too impressive for a debutante.
• Fabulous cinematography by Anil Mehta. Brings Pragu, Delhi, And Kashmir alive.
• And finally the Mozart- ARR. Fabulous music. Sadda Haq Aithe Raq! to Lingalinga ling ling every song is pure joy.        

LOWS

• Length - Makes you restless at times. Might get frustrated.
• Editing
• Too many twist and turns. 

Story (I recommend you dont read it unless you want to know about the movie before watching it.)
To start of with, Why the title "Rockstar"? Wasn't there a Jennifer Anniston movie of the same name? Is it "inspired" by it?


The answer the NO, not at all not even a single frame. Its just because the movie is sure to be a Rockstar, and yeah Ranbir is the true "Rockstar" of the movie apart from our very own Genius ARR.


The movie starts off with Ranbir getting bashed up by a few cops. And from there the wonderful journey starts and we start asking ourselves "Why is a International Artiste getting bashed up in public?".   

    So as the story goes back Ranbir comes across as a fit for nothing, geeky, (Pic above) boy next door youth from a a extra large Punjabi "Kaandan" whose "pariwar" always tells him to join their family business. But Janardhan Jakhar (or joker?!) a.k.a JJ (Ranbir) has just one goal becoming  Jim Morris. He goes around with his guitar from one audition to another, and obviously goofs up big time. His only confidante is "Kattana bhai" (Kumud Mishra) the college canteen owner. 


    After a failed audition Kattana bhai tells him that great people have had heart breaks, life threatening disease, abusive parents etc. So JJ takes Kattana's words seriously and decide to get his heart broken by falling in love with the gorgeous Heer (Nargis Fakhri).

   And she rejects him for obvious reasons, but later on she falls for his innocence and then the wild (Junglee jawani ) journey starts... They do everything from watching porn at a local theatre, to drinking cheap liqour. The Funny thing is Ranbir embarks on the fun ride with her knowing that she's getting married very soon. But still its poor bliss watching the two together. Hearts will swoon and swell for those who are or have been in love. Nargis Fakhri inspite of her over acting at times is a joy to watch making guys go crazy .

   One fine day after Heer's marriage , JJ's get kicked out of his house for allegedly stealing money and seeks asylum at a mosque where he joins the choir and gets noticed by Ustad ji (The Great Shammi Kapoor). You still get goosebumps seeing Shammi ji on screen though he comes in wheel chair.
  JJ rechristened as Jordan starts climbing up the ladder as a musician. It then he gets himself into the Eurojam tour to Prague, just to go see his sweetheart Heer, and then it starts all over again they fall for each other, Heer protests, Heer's husband finds out and Heer falls sick with Bone marrow Apalaysia (A new disease that join's the List of Paa , Ghajni, My name is khan). 

  
In the meantime , Jordan is already a big star filled with controversies and law suits just like his idol Jim Morrison. After 2 long years, super success and high depression Jordan meets Heer again in death bed, and Heer finally starts to recover (Power of love). The story starts again both falling in love again and again. I thought this was way too much . Repetitive! And Heer falls sick again dies, and with that the movie comes back to the start (Jordan getting bashed up), and at the end of his live concert Heer comes back to him as an Angel. 
   In all a very romantic,hard hitting,dark movie which people like me will love watching! But it was way too long, running for more than 3 hours thought it could have ended in around 2 hours to 2 hours and 15 mins. 

The Dreamer

நரகத்தின் வாயிழில் !!! - A take on today's society

Friends, this blog is written in my mother tongue THAMIZH. Its my take on the modern society. It tells the plight of an ordinary living being who wants to see humans around him rather than vultures. 

If anyone would like a English version please feel free to ask, I would be more than happy to do so though i can not give a word by word translation.

கடவுள் எங்கே என்று தேடிய நாட்கள் கடந்துவிட்டன ,

மனிதன் எங்கே என்று தேடும் காலம் வந்துவிட்டது ,

மனிதன் மனிதனை கொன்று  பணம் என்னும் பிணத்தை தின்று ,

மிருகமாய் மருகின்றனே ,

எங்கேயடா செல்கின்றது  என் பாரத பூமி ;

மகான்கள் பிறந்த இந்த புண்ணிய பூமி ?

சாத்தான்கள் ஆடும் நரகமாய் மாறுகிறதே !!! ஐயஹோ !!!

எங்கேயடா செல்கிறது இந்த பாதை ?

காலம் மட்டுமே பதிலளிக்கும்

                         

                                -மனிதனாய்  வழ ஆசைபடும் ஓர் உயிர் 

The Dreamer

City streets

Hi netizens,
Here I am with my second post...

Warning! : Please dont stare at the Picture for more than 5 seconds- It causes a headache and u might feel dizzy as well Just as I did.

Preface:
City streets is a poem which i wrote around 3 years ago. I was a small town guy, moving into a big metro, and this poem illustrates my astonishments and disappointments of my initial few weeks in the big bad city. so her we go...

                                                         

Towering into the skies like Jack's bean stock,
The city's street lights;
                 Never can I see the moon smile,
Aisles filled with trash ,
                 Never can I see fresh earth,
High sky scrappers scrapping through the clouds above,
                 Never letting rain drops kiss earth...
   
  Noisy streets, loud beeps;
                 Never can I hear the birds and breeze sing in tandom.
Flooded are the streets with swarming people in search for of peace,
                Never have they found it, nor can I take a lonely walk down the streets.
                Never have I ever felt at home;
Just as what Taarzan would have felt moving into NYC.




Where are those heavenly metros I remember seeing in those retros?!

-The Dreamer

A city is a large community where people are lonesome together. Herbert Prochnow

Life Goes Insane.....!!!

Hi readers,
This is just a test article . My first post on this bog. Dont know if its that good but just to start of with.. Everything must have a begining.....
And every post of mine in this blog will have a picture with it just to add some fizz.

Now "Life goes Insane " is a poem written by me about 4-5 years back when I was in school. Its reflection on how innocent we were born and how life's twists and turns change us... So here we go...!!!

I was born plain with no dream nor no shame,
Neither did I have any name then,


      But as I grew.....
Thy world made me dream of fame,
      And it drove me insane!
     
Thy life a boon or bane?!
     Thy mystery lies within thy Life...

                                                           -The Dreamer


              “The perfect normal person is rare in our civilization” – Karen Horney