Ranking: 2/5
Cast: Dhanush, Meera Jasmine, Archana, Nazar
Director: Suresh Krishna
Music: Gurukiran
This is a real miserable, boring and sad story. What was the purpose or idea behind making this movie? Entertainment? I don't think so. Education? No way...Then what is the real purpose of this movie? To give everyone watching it a head ache. Ya that's it. I don't see any other point in making this violent movie. Sometimes filmmakers get carried away trying to make realistic movies.
The story is about Azhagusundaram (Dhanush), a village lad who moves to Chennai to earn some money without informing his recently widowed mother (Archana). Azhagusundaram and his parents are really close and loosing his father suddenly comes as a blow to him and his mother.
His mother also soon followes Azhagu to Chennai but with no information regarding his whereabouts. She comes in contact with Shwetha (Meera Jasmine) a journalism student. Shwetha takes care of Azhagu's mother and tries to help locate Azhagu in the big city of Chennai.
In the meanwhile Azhagu has been rechristened as Paratai and has secured a job with Khader Bhai (Nazar), a small tea shop owner. After Paratai saves enough money he plans to return to his village to meet his mother but on that fateful day he lands up murdering a local goon after being provoked to do so. Paratai gets arrested and comes out on bail. He tries to resume his normal life but goons from all over the city are either trying to hunt him down or try and make him a part of their gang.
Paratai also hears from the village postman that his mother is in Chennai looking for him. So Paratai begins his hunt for her too...Do the loving mom and son meet? What happens of Paratai forms the rest of the story.
Like I said in the beginning, if you don't have to then taking a miss on this one might not be a bad idea unless you are a die hard fan of Dhanush.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Cheeni Kum (2007) - Hindi Movie Review
Ranking: 3/5
Cast: Amitabh, Tabu, Paresh Rawal
Director: Balkrishnan
Music: Illayaraja
The trailer pretty much gives the entire premise of this movie. It is about a 64 year old man falling in love with a 34 year old lady and the opposition the lady receives from her dad who is only 60.
Amitabh plays Buddadeb Gupta a Chef and owner of a popular Indian restaurant in London. He prides himself on the culinary excellence his restaurant has maintained over the years and gets offended when one of his customers returns a plate of food as it did not taste authentic. Budha storms out and unforgivingly yells at Nina (Tabu) who promptly leaves the premises. Later on when Buddha checks with his chefs he realizes that a mistake has been made. His ego does not allow him to directly apologize to her but instead they become friends on his insistence. Nina is on vacation to London to visit her friend and she happens to live close to Budha's restaurant.
With loads of corny and cheesy dialogues written to evoke laughter their romance carries on without a name for a long time till they both realize what they have for each other. At the same time Nina gets a call that her father in India is sick and she has to get back immediately. Nina leaves and of course Budha follows her to India.
In India Budha faces his biggest hurdle of convincing Nina's dad Omprakash (Paresh Rawal). Om does not imagine Budha to be the boyfriend of her daughter and talks to him like someone of his same age until one day it is revealed. Of course you know what happens next...
The music by Illayaraja though rehashed from his previous hits in South is still refreshing to hear in the movie. The direction is smooth and simple but could have been done without the character of Sexy, Budha neighbor's daughter who is suffering from a terminal illness. Such kids maybe cute but they DO NOT act as a catalyst in the movie.
The first half of the movie is fast paced and quick witted too but the minute Paresh Rawal's character is introduced the pace of the movie slows down to a drag. The age jokes get a little boring after the first few are thrown at you and the Gandhian principles are not very well used in this movie either.
You can definitely watch the movie once if you are a sucker for romance/romantic movie else you can safely take a miss on this one.
Cast: Amitabh, Tabu, Paresh Rawal
Director: Balkrishnan
Music: Illayaraja
The trailer pretty much gives the entire premise of this movie. It is about a 64 year old man falling in love with a 34 year old lady and the opposition the lady receives from her dad who is only 60.
Amitabh plays Buddadeb Gupta a Chef and owner of a popular Indian restaurant in London. He prides himself on the culinary excellence his restaurant has maintained over the years and gets offended when one of his customers returns a plate of food as it did not taste authentic. Budha storms out and unforgivingly yells at Nina (Tabu) who promptly leaves the premises. Later on when Buddha checks with his chefs he realizes that a mistake has been made. His ego does not allow him to directly apologize to her but instead they become friends on his insistence. Nina is on vacation to London to visit her friend and she happens to live close to Budha's restaurant.
With loads of corny and cheesy dialogues written to evoke laughter their romance carries on without a name for a long time till they both realize what they have for each other. At the same time Nina gets a call that her father in India is sick and she has to get back immediately. Nina leaves and of course Budha follows her to India.
In India Budha faces his biggest hurdle of convincing Nina's dad Omprakash (Paresh Rawal). Om does not imagine Budha to be the boyfriend of her daughter and talks to him like someone of his same age until one day it is revealed. Of course you know what happens next...
The music by Illayaraja though rehashed from his previous hits in South is still refreshing to hear in the movie. The direction is smooth and simple but could have been done without the character of Sexy, Budha neighbor's daughter who is suffering from a terminal illness. Such kids maybe cute but they DO NOT act as a catalyst in the movie.
The first half of the movie is fast paced and quick witted too but the minute Paresh Rawal's character is introduced the pace of the movie slows down to a drag. The age jokes get a little boring after the first few are thrown at you and the Gandhian principles are not very well used in this movie either.
You can definitely watch the movie once if you are a sucker for romance/romantic movie else you can safely take a miss on this one.
Periyar (2007) - Tamil Movie Review
Ranking: 4/5
Cast: Sathyaraj, Kusboo, Jyothirmayi
Director: Gnanarajasekaran
Music: Vidyasagar
The movie is a biography on the life of Dravida Kazhagam's founder and leader E V Ramaswamy (Naicker) aka Periyar and his impact on India we have today.
Sathyaraj has acted as a villain, a hero, a comedian, and a few serious roles but this one surely stands apart as he dons the role of Periyar. When you look at him you think you are looking at the real Periyar. The makeup, body language and his acting skills convince you so.
Periyar fought to banish caste system in India. He worked hard and joined politics hoping it will help eradicate the main problem that dominated (and continues to dominate) India. But all his hopes were turned down when he realized that most politicians enjoyed the privileges that caste system provided them with.
Disheartened he started his own political party in South called DK and began his own political propaganda against caste system. He was the first to fight for reservation for the lower caste people. He disowned his religion and got rid of his caste name which was a part of his name and had many others do so too.
On the whole he was a very powerful and moving person with a independent reasoning that thought for the benefit of others in the society. A selfless person who lived and died never holding or competing for any political power...
A brilliant chronicle of his life and a must watch. It will surely make you learn a few things about your country that you did not know before. The music is suited to the era and has powerful messages in them.
Notes: Caste has always been an issue in India. By fighting and providing reservation did we really eradicate the caste issues?
Cast: Sathyaraj, Kusboo, Jyothirmayi
Director: Gnanarajasekaran
Music: Vidyasagar
The movie is a biography on the life of Dravida Kazhagam's founder and leader E V Ramaswamy (Naicker) aka Periyar and his impact on India we have today.
Sathyaraj has acted as a villain, a hero, a comedian, and a few serious roles but this one surely stands apart as he dons the role of Periyar. When you look at him you think you are looking at the real Periyar. The makeup, body language and his acting skills convince you so.
Periyar fought to banish caste system in India. He worked hard and joined politics hoping it will help eradicate the main problem that dominated (and continues to dominate) India. But all his hopes were turned down when he realized that most politicians enjoyed the privileges that caste system provided them with.
Disheartened he started his own political party in South called DK and began his own political propaganda against caste system. He was the first to fight for reservation for the lower caste people. He disowned his religion and got rid of his caste name which was a part of his name and had many others do so too.
On the whole he was a very powerful and moving person with a independent reasoning that thought for the benefit of others in the society. A selfless person who lived and died never holding or competing for any political power...
A brilliant chronicle of his life and a must watch. It will surely make you learn a few things about your country that you did not know before. The music is suited to the era and has powerful messages in them.
Notes: Caste has always been an issue in India. By fighting and providing reservation did we really eradicate the caste issues?
Mayabazaar (2006) - Telugu Movie Review
Ranking: 3/5
Cast: Raja, Bhoomika Chawla, SPB
Director: Mohanakrishna Indraganti
Music: KM Radhakrishna
Cast: Raja, Bhoomika Chawla, SPB
Director: Mohanakrishna Indraganti
Music: KM Radhakrishna
Raja, a do-gooder to the society is challenged with poverty from his very childhood days. He vows to become rich to help the poor and under privileged in the society. Raja grows up to become a car driver for a rich man with a kind heart. But Raja gets nothing for free. While at work dropping off his boss at the airport Raja meets a little girl who has been abandoned by her father. He adopts her as his own and together with his friend and roommate, Raja raises the girl. As fate would have it, the girl is inflicted with a deadly disease which if not treated on time may become terminal. For this he needs money and he tries his best to secure it.
Upon insistence from the girl Raja takes a trip to Tirupathi where he has a divine encounter with none other than Kubera, the lord of wealth. As the myth goes, Kubera after having given a lot of money to Venkatachalapathi to help in his wedding is still collecting the interest from the lord and travels back and forth from heaven every week carrying the load of the money on his shoulders. To get rid of this burden Kubera has to help a mortal with daily work till the demise of the person he chooses. He should also be careful to choose the best of the best mortal to help for. Obviously our hero Raja fit the bill in all the categories and he gets a visit from Kubera while he is standing complaining to God about not getting any help for the little girl.
Loaded with cash Raja gets the girl’s health taken care of first and then starts a small business which becomes a big hit and in turn he starts raking money that he spends for all the right reasons. At first Kubera is ok with the turn of events but later he gets bored doing the daily chores for Raja’s household. The only way he can end the misery would to be to ask Raja for his life in return for the favor he received from Kubera and Kubera does just that…what happens next? See the movie for an ending filled with more mythological characters.
Ofcourse there is a heroine in this movie…Bhoomika Chawla, she plays Raja’s love interest that follows him around videotaping all his good deeds and eventually joins Raja’s company as his personal secretary only to eventually fall in love with him and create the extra bit of drama.
The story is simple, it is actually not even a great movie but its clean and clear presentation makes it watchable. Of course, I like Raja which might bias my opinion, nevertheless it is good to watch when you are craving for a feel good movie. Everyone has done their role well though the directing techniques seem a bit archaic and the music is certainly forgetful. Let me know if you have seen this movie and think otherwise.
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
It is twenty-two weeks today (June 12, 2007). I am becoming visibly big...my stomach juts out of most of my clothing unless I can hide it smartly. I gaining weight by the day (my doctor is not very happy about it) and eating a lot more than I ever did. But none of this matters as I am learning more and more about the whole baby thing.
I still cannot believe that the little movements inside my stomach is really a live human being in the making. It is inside a workshop where it is getting designed and fabricated as I type this. I cannot tell you how expectant I am to see the darling...all this is so magical and maybe this is what God is all about...Creation...and being a part of it makes me feel special too.
I hurt my left feet last week and now I am unable to do my regular excercise of walking and have been lazing around the house a bit too much. At the same time I am trying to get things organized for the baby. This week I hope to have the baby registry started and also decide on what kind of crib and bedroom furniture we want to buy.
The whole process is way too taxing only because of the wide choices we need to make...trust me there are way more options that what I really want. There are like 30 types of strollers, 40 types of cribs...the general way I like to choose things are by cost but then all of them are in similar price range too...so BITE ME! I am confused and sometimes feel too much under pressure. While all the baby-product companies are trying to reduce the pressure on the mom by providing her choices, they are actually doing the opposite....
Anyways...I saw this cute picture of how the baby might be looking at this time and I am so amazed how much he/she has grown in the last few months! Girish also felt the baby move/kick two nights ago for the first time. He was so excited...unfortunately everytime he puts his hand on my tummy the darling stops to move...he feels so bad and gives up after holding his hand still for 10 mins. I guess somethings are only for mom's pleasure just as somethings will be only for mom's displeasure in the future ;)
Signing off now but will write back more things soon and will also get a pic of my sonogram on here...
Love
Anu
(mommy-to-be)
I still cannot believe that the little movements inside my stomach is really a live human being in the making. It is inside a workshop where it is getting designed and fabricated as I type this. I cannot tell you how expectant I am to see the darling...all this is so magical and maybe this is what God is all about...Creation...and being a part of it makes me feel special too.
I hurt my left feet last week and now I am unable to do my regular excercise of walking and have been lazing around the house a bit too much. At the same time I am trying to get things organized for the baby. This week I hope to have the baby registry started and also decide on what kind of crib and bedroom furniture we want to buy.
The whole process is way too taxing only because of the wide choices we need to make...trust me there are way more options that what I really want. There are like 30 types of strollers, 40 types of cribs...the general way I like to choose things are by cost but then all of them are in similar price range too...so BITE ME! I am confused and sometimes feel too much under pressure. While all the baby-product companies are trying to reduce the pressure on the mom by providing her choices, they are actually doing the opposite....
Anyways...I saw this cute picture of how the baby might be looking at this time and I am so amazed how much he/she has grown in the last few months! Girish also felt the baby move/kick two nights ago for the first time. He was so excited...unfortunately everytime he puts his hand on my tummy the darling stops to move...he feels so bad and gives up after holding his hand still for 10 mins. I guess somethings are only for mom's pleasure just as somethings will be only for mom's displeasure in the future ;)
Signing off now but will write back more things soon and will also get a pic of my sonogram on here...
Love
Anu
(mommy-to-be)
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