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Showing posts with the label Mani Ratnam

Romancing Love - The Sid Sriram way!

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Many wondered who this young lad was, from where and how did he land up in the Tamil film music scene and whether he would be a one-film wonder with his unique voice modulations and rendering effortlessly some tricky tunes, after his first number released 6 years back in the film Kadal, which was directed by ace Director Mani Ratnam and music composed by his protégé and confidante AR Rahman, whom he introduced 25 years back in his film Roja. The number “Adiye” was not only an instant hit with great top of mind recall but has also endeared the singer’s successive songs. In fact in the first half of 2019, there was a new song of Sid which was released online every 15 days or so, taking his total count of songs sung now to around 50 in three languages, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam. Personally, I have loved his songs all along and have attended a few of his Live concerts as well during which he exudes so much energy that the audience seem to enjoy – while many croon along with him ...

Chekka Chivantha Vaanam - Film Review

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I have been a fan of Mani Ratnam movie for over 30 years, I must confess. This is not the first time Mani is handling a multi-starrer. Exactly 30 years back, his much acclaimed Agni Natchathiram released which had two young heroes Karthik & Prabhu in the lead with a fantastic role by Vijaya Kumar. In 1991, he pulled off Thalapathi featuring Superstar Rajinikanth & Mammooty. In 2004, we saw Ayutha Exhuthu with Surya, Madhavan and Siddharth in the leads. From controversial political overtones in films like Mumbai, Dil Se and Guru to extreme romance-led subjects like Alaipayuthe, Raavan, OKK and most recently Katru Veliyidai, he has tried his hands on every genre perhaps. Having produced most of his films by himself, he never had the need to worry about critical acclaim or Box-Office collections. Add to that, he has to his credit portraying young heroes in their early career as strong protagonists - Prashanth, Arvindawamy, Madhavan, Shah Rukh Khan all the way up to Dulqeer Salma...

Contemporary music of current times!

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Have always felt that I was lucky to have lived through the times of Illayaraja & AR Rahman, two musicians whom we have grown listening through the 80s, 90s and the Millenium. Both the composers have a very unique style of music creation that hasn’t been able to be challenged by the new crop of composers. Raja & Rahman are very niche in their own ways and no one can occupy their positions in Indian Music history that has seen thousands of musicians come & go. While Raja is considered as “God” of Music by his ardent fans spanning across age groups, Rahman’s music is very contemporary and he has been able to hold on to the interest levels of fans for 25 years from Roja to Kaatru Veliyidai (interestingly both are Mani Ratnam films!). I have been listening to music from a very young age and am also trained in classical music, Mridangam to be precise during my school days. Till date, I wake up in the morning listening to music and go to sleep doing the same -  ...

Kaatru Veliyidai - Alaipayuthe Part 2

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So, I got the opportunity to see the First day First show yet again for another film, this time at Abirami Cinemas, Chennai. It was a full house as expected. Most of the fans who were cheering and whistling when Mani Ratnam, AR Rahman, Karthi and Aditi’s names appeared on the screen must have been in liquid form when Alaipayuthe was released. I compare Kaatru Veliyidai to Alaipayuthe because in a way, this film is a sequel, if I may say. Mani once again delves on his most favourite subject Marriage & Relationship, which I had written in a previous article which you can read here . Having seen Alaipayuthe during my college days, I could relate to this movie and see why the Millenials cheered all through the movie especially during certain scenes and dialogues. The film is shot in and around Srinagar in bits and a majority are sets recreated and the backdrop of the film is another Mani Ratnam favourite – War. This time it is the one India fought & won at Kargil. The who...

3M - Mani, Movies & Marriage

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It is coincidental that I am writing this blog on the eve of Valentine's Day. Just that I found time for this only now. V-Day has been a rage in India for over two decades now. I have never lived in the West, so I don't know what kind of a fad it is there, but here, guys and girls take the event seriously. Some take it too seriously resulting in attempted suicides in the following week, which is very sad. For me, the essence of a relationship has clearly been marriage - I have been married for a decade now and we have had our share of best moments and some not-so-worthy-to-mention too. But, its all in the game. Being a sucker for commercial cinema, I have always been enthralled over the fact how movies capture the essence of marriage, starting from boy seeing the girl to proposing, dating, running around, getting married and fighting thereafter - only to live a few days or months or weeks or years together and everytime a fight occurs, either of them choose to hang on and mak...