Cinema, Karam, Kapi

After a week of release, finally found time to watch 24 The Movie. I had consciously avoided reading reviews about the movie or talking about it to friends so I could save the suspense factor to myself. It was a Saturday morning show on the 9 th day of release at Inox Citi Centre. Sadly, there were not more than 40 people out of the 100 seater screen. That made me think, if the film was a blockbuster or not, contrary to what the producer and the film crew have been advertising on social media. Actor Surya, during the music release function told his fans outright to reject the film if it was not good, or rather good enough. He was honest when he said that though with much conviction - I watched the program which was telecast on Tv a week later after the function was held. So I went with limited hope. And thankfully, I was not at all disappointed. The movie is a class apart. On screenplay and direction, I would give a thumbs-up and a 8 rating on 10. The casting could have be

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

My wife is currently out of town and I had to find a way to keep my two little kids engaged on a Sunday. Checked out my library and found the movie Pasanga 2, which we all wanted to watch for a very long time. The movie revolves around two little kids, who parents are busy workaholics. Te two kids include a boy and a girl who study in different schools but have one thing in common - they are a menace at school and their parents have to change their school every year for the past 4 years. Their tantrums at home are so much that the same gets reflected in their schools as well. The parents take them to different doctors including Paediatricians and Psychologists and the unanimous response is they are ADHD affected.  Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a brain disorder marked by an ongoing pattern of inattention and/or hyperactivity-impulsivity that interferes with functioning or development. Inattention  means a person wanders off task, lacks persistence, has diffi

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

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

I have seen Ajith grow from a boy next door in films like Pavithra and Ullasam to a mature actor in films such as Vaali and Godfather to majestic successes such as Veeram and Aarambam. That the Billa series gave him an undisputed position in the top 3 among next-gen actors of Tamil Cinema is no surprise. What I like about Ajith is that he chooses purely commercial, tried and tested formulas and has been on a winning streak for a long time now. While he experiments with his looks like Kamal Hassan, he sticks to his "Thala" image and larger than life persona created by his ardent fans, many of whom happen to be Superstar Rajnikanth's fans as well. He is also a simple man, as admonished by many people within the industry and outside. There was a video clip of him visiting Tirumala Tirupati temple with just two people around, right before his latest film Vedalam's release. It showed his simplicity and reach among the common people, who were taken by surprise. So, I

Disclaimer: I am an ardent fan of Kamal Hassan, the actor. However, I don’t endorse most of his personal views, especially on religion. Kamal and I are Scorpios, a day apart rather and have so many commonalities in life. I was all excited to see Uttama Villain. His last few movies haven’t been like the ones he has given in the 80s and 90s which was probably his golden period. Uttama Villain, seemed to be a movie about a movie star, one who has achieved superstardom rather. From the trailer and hearsay, I was expecting to see how an aged actor reinvents himself touching upon his Professional Guru while also embracing a first time Director and a 20-something Music Director. Who else, other than Kamal Hassan has the guts to test new talent in today’s age, especially given the fact that big budget movies and the expected results are projected to be a big hype. The star cast looked impressive too – Pooja Kumar, Andrea, Urvasi, Jayaram, MS Bhaskar, K Vishwanath and the legendary Late K Bala