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Showing posts with the label Chennai

The cult of Chandramukhi

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The distance from Koramangala to RT Nagar in Bangalore is around 14 Kms over 25 mins at that time of the day, rather night. But the bike ride felt eternal. My skin under the full sleeves’ shirt was shivering like never before. My closest experience to something similar was during the early 1980s when I watched “My Dear Kuttichathan” at Devi Theatre in Chennai. Be it a graphically shot snake coming out of a chandelier or the evil-filled Raja Vettaiyan walking with his sticks screaming “Laka Laka Laka” or the Rajapalayam Dogs barking fiercely and of course the extraordinary eye movements of the ecstatic Chandramukhi showing off her jewels, the entire movie was a bit on the edge when I watched it for the first time on this day, 15 years back. I feel the same every time I watch this film till now – around 50+ times during the past 180 months. The scary ride was because I was returning back from PVR at Forum Mall after watching First Day Night Show and Bangalore’s lonely roads were infamous

Kaala - Film Review

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By now, most people who have been following the film and haven’t watched already know the storyline – Kaala alias Karikaalan is a migrant from South Tamil Nadu who settled in Mumbai a few decades back and helps scores of people settle and survive the tides of the mega city under the supposedly largest slum of Asia, at Dharavi. He is a Robinhood and savior for his people and the life story of the protagonist has its ups and downs. The storyline is just this without any overdose or complication. Previously, a few Tamil films have been made with the “Dharavi” area in the background, notable ones being Mani Ratnam’s Nayagan feat. Kamal Hassan (loosely based on the Western classic “Godfather”) and most recently, Thalaiva feat. Actor Vijay Joseph (Sathyaraj plays Vijay’s father who is also a Don). Kaala is an out and out Pa. Ranjith Film, the lucky Director who gets to work the second time with the Indian Superstar. Their previous outing Kabali in 2016 had a mixed result and a fair

Amethyst - By the elite, Of the Elite, For the elite

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It was my second visit to Amethyst and first with my wife. Wanted to show her how wonderful the place is. The previous time I had been there a few weeks back, service was awfully poor. The waiter couldn’t care less that I was seated and ignored me quite a few times until I asked him to serve me my coffee. After I was done, I offered to pay my bill using a credit card and the guy declined saying that the credit card would be accepted for bills above Rs. 200 only. I was shocked and protested after which he agreed to accept the card. Despite this I visited the place again because I really liked the place. And the food too. So my wife and I settled in at the cafe around 1pm. For the first 8-9 mins, no one turned up. Thereafter, the waiter walked in and asked what would we like to order. I suggested that basic courtesy calls for water to be served as soon as the guest arrives. The guy fashionably brings two bottles of water, one warm and one cold. I replied that we would prefer norm

Celebrating Brand Rajinikanth

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The day of Holi festival is very special to Superstar Rajinikanth, for it was on this day in the year 1975 that he was named so by his guru and ace director Late Shri K. Balachandar. Shivaji Rao Gaekwad was a young lad from suburban Bangalore with high spirits in heart and a hardworking nature. His mother passed away at an early age and his father and elder brother ran the household. He ran errands for people, worked as a coolie, a bus conductor among many things to sustain himself. He had his own vices and needed money for all that. Shivaji also had a deep inclination towards spirituality even when he was young, thanks to his upbringing from Ramakrishna Mission. He performed skits and plays in the neighborhood and that prompted his friends to encourage him to join Cinema – Kannada Actor Rajkumar who was in his prime during the early 70s was a great inspiration for Shivaji. With some money in hand given by his friends, he boarded a bus to reach the erstwhile Madras and join the Film

Know your Filter Kapi better!

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Came across this interesting note about the origin of Filter Kapi - by Mr. Elangkumaran Jayabharathi and wanted to share with our readers...  T here are multiple speculations as to why its called "degree" coffee: The most plausible explanation is that it's not "degree" coffee. It's Chicory  which came to be pronounced as  tikeri  and eventually became degree . Chicory helps extract more flavour from the coffee beans. Milk certified as pure with was called  degree milk  owing to a mistaken association with the thermometer. It is claimed that coffee prepared with degree milk  became known as  degree coffee. The first  decoction  is sometimes called the  first degree, thus leading to the  name  degree coffee South Indian coffee (a.k.a  filter coffee ) is a milk coffee (perfect example of South Indians' affinity for dairy products). Most of the beans are grown in India (Arabica and Robusta varieties are grown in Tamil Nadu primarily at

Deepawali 2014 Movies on Tv

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Big news coming our way... Kochadaiiyaan featuring Superstar Rajinikanth and Deepika Padukone, which is created using Motion Capture Technology for the first time in the history of Indian Cinema, is expected to be telecast on Jaya TV coming Deepawali. The film was directed by Soundarya Rajnikanth Ashwin, the younger daughter of Superstar and the Direction was overseen by ace Director KS Ravikumar. The film created a huge buzz with the kind of technology it had used but hardcore Thalaivar fans were a tad disappointed since they couldn't see their matinee idol in flesh and blood. All the seven songs, composed by Oscar Winner Isaipuyal AR Rahman were chartbusters and still remain favourites among music afficianados which was release at a Sathyam Cinemas in which Shah Rukh Khan was the Chief Guest. The film had a huge star cast including Nasser, Jackie Shroff among others and had a special role of actor Late "Nagesh", mimicked and performed by a comedian. It is expe

Poojai - Music Review

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Poojai is Tamil film featuring Vishal and Shruti Hassan, elder daughter of Actor Kamal Hassan. Vishal has maintained his position among the top 5 young heroes in the Tamil Film Industry and most of his films have been hits. This film is being produced by Vishal himself like some of his earlier movies and is directed by Hari who has earlier given super commercial hits like Vengai. Hari's scripts are usually racy and fast, and adopts a surprise twist and turn in most of the critical sequences. Vishal  had a good box office release with his recent release "Naan Sigappu Manithan" and the expectations from him are quite high from this film too. Shruti is back in Tamil Cinema after a long hiatus, almost after three years. She has been choosing her projects carefully and wish her to do well. Sarathraj sports a bald look in the film and is suppsoed to have a critical role and is supported by Radhika who now moves to Cinema after her successful TV serial Vani Rani. Kausalya and

Lingaa - First Look

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The much awaited first look of Lingaa feat Superstar Rajinikanth was released on the auspicious occasion of Ganesha Chathurthi on Friday, 29 Aug. 2014. Here is how the movie poster looks like. The film is directed by KS Ravikumar who has earlier worked with Thalaivar in films like Muthu and Padayappa during late 1990s. This film is expected to be a mass commercial entertainer coming from the successful duo of KSR - Superstar and would release simultaneously in Tamil and Telugu and may be dubbed in other languages such as Hindi, Malayalam and Kannada. The film would have two heroines, Sonakshi Sinha and Anushka. A Rajini film featuring two heroines releases after 20 years precisely - the last one was in 1994, a commercial entertainer by the name Veera. While there is no confirmation on the release date, it is highly speculated that the movie may be up in the screens on 12-12-14, which happens to be Thalaivar's 62nd Birthday! Once again, AR Rahman composes music for Ling

Masala Dosa at Hotel Palmgrove

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Being the first column here, I was wondering what should I be writing about. And I couldn't think of a more fitting tribute than to give the accolades to Hotel Palmgrove. This hotel is a part of the Ballal Group which hails from the southern state of Karnataka. Started in the year 1973, Hotel Palmgrove is located in the busy commercial hub of Nungambakkam in Central Chennai. It has over 80 rooms and 9 cottages spread over an area of two acres. Palmgrove serves pure 100% vegetarian cuisine and has been a landmark location of Chennai over the past four decades, be it for a grand wedding celebration or a simple meal. I visited this place a few days back and was surprised with the variety and fare that continues as part of its tradition. We ordered Sambar Vadai, Rasa Vadai, Poori, Masala Dosas and Ice-Cream. Of boy! That was a very heavy meal. While the pricing is a bit on the higher side, it is well compensated by the rich quality of ingredients, the friendly service and the per

Change is the only constant

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Change is the only constant. We have heard this before in our lives, from parents to elders to mentors to well wishers. But to convey it to the general public through a mass medium such as music and cinema is not only innovative but also a great attempt to get the point to the world at large. And this was very well done in the song "Maatram Ondrudaan" from the film Kochadaiiyaan. Penned by lyricist Vairamuthu, composed by  and sung by Haricharan, Superstar Rajinikanth has immortalized the number in the film. In fact, he has also read out a few lines which makes the song one of its kind ever. Positioned as a philosophical poem uttered by the warrior commander of the King's mighty army, the song can be related to our daily lives as well. Click on the picture to see the video. Summary; "Change is the only Constant". In the form of Kochadaiiyaan, Superstar Rajinikanth advises youngsters to be ready to face change. Here is a summary; Kochadaiiyaan asks y