Kireedom

The Original Kireedom featuring mohanlal had this classic song that has always given me the lump in the throat moment. The original movie was also a blockbuster that cannot be generally described in words. Not sure if it was the acting, the story’s obvious drama or the feel of the 80s – but remained unbeatable. Ajith’s tamil version didnt make it look bad – but was just good enough.

This song was back to my current playlist because of its polished version.

Kanneer Poovinte – Original

Kanneer Poovinte – New

Lyrics
Kanner poovinte kavilil thalodi..eeenam muzhangum pazham paattil mungi
Maruvaakku kelkkaan kaatthu nilkkathe..poothumbiyende maranju
Ende pullorkkudam pole thengi!! ( Kannerppovinte)

Unnikkidavinnu nalkaan amma nenjil paalazhiyenthi
Aaayiram kaineetti ninnu soorya thaapamay thaathante shokham
Vida chollave nimishangalil jalarekhakhal veenalinju
Kadhanangalil thunayaakuvaan veruthe orungunna mounam
(Kanivekumee venmeghavum mizhineerkkinavaay maranju) – original
Doore pullorkkudam (kenurangi)pole thengi.. ( Kannerppovinte)

Oru kunju paattay vithumbee manju pooncholayentho thiranju
Aareyo thedippidanju kaattumorupaadu naalayalanju
poonthennalil ponnOLamaay oru pazhkkireeTam maRanjnu
Kanivekumee venmeghavum mizhineerkkinavaay maranju
(Kadhanangalil thunayaakuvaan veruthe orungunna mounam) – original
Enthe pullorkkudam pole vingi( Kannerppovinte)

He

Its tough being a celebrity. The changes that name and fame can bring you is overwhelming. Take a case where you are regarded as the to-go person at work and being appreciated every single moment. You know how that messes your head. Imagine what 2 Grammy Awards, 2 Academy awards, 4 National Awards, 1 Golden Globe and 1 Bafta – the perfect 10 – among many others, does to you. Nothing, apparently. He just smiles and says there is another powerful being guiding him.

Make no mistake, its equally tough being his fan. If he brings in quality to his work and lifestyle – he demands the same from his fan. You are morally not allowed to be harsh, arguing or hate anything among others like Appreciate others work, give credit to your team, be humble and such. One often finds themselves being invited to debate/argue or even provide an opinion citing a so called failure of his – a perspective. Ability to resist and keep smiling – in his words “choose love” defines his quality fans. Yes, Quality and we all try. Show me atleast one who hasnt changed because of him – love or hate.

Questioning his capabilities on his music have long been put to rest, comparison with other music directors is out of question, predicting the end of a career seems silly these days. So where does this man go? More hearts.

I was once challenged on the fact if he is a Composer or a Mere Arranger. I said, Whatever – i enjoy his music, makes peace in my heart. As his worldspace ads often quote – “There is so much to hear”. He made me appreciate Ilaiyaraja. Otherwise i wouldnt know to recognize a Bass Slap that accompanies a flute in VaVa Va Kanna Va – Velaikaran before the charanam or the Multiple arrangements in Thendral Vandhu Ennai Thodum. For that Matter, even MS Viswanathan’s music. So much so that I even realized Rahman has a good number of Sahana compositions to his credit – i’m in love with that raaga. Things originated from there -in reverse.

Tell me if it isnt impressive that a musician not only makes you like his music but every other music out there – because there is no good or bad. Its just what you can tune your ears to and what you cannot. He tuned your ears.

I’ve long confessed that had this man not lived during our times – i may have been a different person. Its a gift that every generation gets to see an example rise above the rest and impact our lives in the most simplest form. Like it or not, Hate him or criticize him – he not only changed Indian music and its impact for ever. He changed(s) hearts, lives and thoughts.

A dream for every director, a wonder for every accomplished musician, an enviable asset for every accomplished composer, a thalaivar for every fan, a perfect father for his kids, an amazing husband for his wife and a good kid for his mom – on this day, we pray may he have a strong back to climb the mountain.

Piranthanaal Vazhthukkal, a r rahman !

Kannadasan

I’ve always loved good poetry. I also believed that poetry cannot always become the lyric for a song. This song has been in my mind for sometime and found the time only couple of weeks back to dig deep. What a way to play with words !

(TMS)பார்த்தேன் சிரித்தேன் பக்கத்தில் அழைத்தேன்
அன்று உன்னை தேன் என நான் நினைத்தேன்
அந்த மலை தேன் இதுவென மலைத்தேன் .

(PS)பார்த்தேன் சிரித்தேன் பக்கம் வர துடித்தேன்
அன்று உனை தேன் என நான் நினைத்தேன்
அந்த மலை தேன் இவரென மலைத்தேன் .

(TMS)கொடித்தேன் இனியங்கள் குடித்தேன் – என
ஒரு படி தேன் பார்வையில் குடித்தேன்
துளிர் தேன் சிந்தாமல் களித்தேன்
ஒரு துளிர் தேன் சிந்தாமல் களித்தேன்
கைகளில் அணைத்தேன் அழகினை ரசித்தேன்

(PS)மலர் தென் போல் நானும் மலர்ந்தேன்
உனக்கென வளர்ந்தேன் பருவத்தில் மணந்தேன்
எடுத்தேன் கொடுத்தேன் சுவைத்தேன்
இனி தேன் இல்லாதபடி கதை முடித்தேன்

(TMS) நிலவுக்கு நிலவு சுகம் பெற நினைந்தேன்
உலகத்தை நான் இன்று மறந்தேன்

(PS) உலகத்தை மறந்தேன்
உறக்கத்தை மறந்தேன்
உன்னுடன் நான் ஒன்று கலந்தேன்

Non, je ne regrette rien

Eames: Did they come here to sleep?
Thin Man: No, They come here to be woken up. Dream has become their reality! Who are you to say, otherwise?

Found this song sometime back – and now this is the one I wake up to.

French
Non, rien de rien
Non, je ne regrette rien
Ni le bien qu’on m’a fait
Ni le mal, tout ça m’est bien égal
Non, rien de rien
Non, je ne regrette rien
C’est payé, balayé, oublié
Je me fous du passé

Avec mes souvenirs, j’ai allumé le feu
Mes chagrins, mes plaisirs, je n’ai plus besoin d’eux
Balayées les amours, avec leurs trémolos
Balayées pour toujours, je repars à zéro

Non, rien de rien
Non, je ne regrette rien
Ni le bien qu’on m’a fait
Ni le mal, tout ça m’est bien égal
Non, rien de rien
Non, je ne regrette rien
Car ma vie car mes joies
Aujourd’hui, ça commence avec toi

English
“No, nothing at all
I do not regret anything at all (x2)
Either the good that has been done to me
or the evil
everything is equal to me
no, nothing at all, no…
everything is paid, swept away, forgotten
I don’t care about the past!
With my memories I lit the fire
My pains, my pleasures,
I don’t need them anymore
My love stories are swept away
with their tremolos (the repetition of a single or double tone rapidly)
swept away for ever
I’m starting on new bases
no, nothing at all etc…
Because my life, my happiness, today everything begins with you!”

Shoot the Messenger.

It’s not often that you come across a journalist being nailed. This time the ironical part however is that this journalist is being nailed by the same internet community that she uses to nail [she claims so] anybody else. Now, how would you categorize her? Thamizh has an answer for all these type of people. Adhigaprasingi – A term that aggregates egoism, a loud mouth, hyper excited and the un thoughtful. She is a part of this elite list along with Arundhathi Roy, Sagarikha Gosh, Suhasini, Rajdeep Sardesai, Ramadoss… How are these elements of the society ever treated. They obviously cannot be eliminated so, how are they controlled? Bring in people like Ram Jethmalani, Ravi Shankar Prasad and foot in the tongue situations. It works at times. But, Bharkha Dutt for a difference, gets it from people. Popular opinion and the proofs rightly points out that she was a part of this whole drama, unnecessarily involving herself in a situation where she is supposed to have Observed – Report and not lobby.

To say she never lobbied is like hiding a pumpkin in a platter of rice when you listen to the tapes. You are caught !!

So what does a monkey do when it eats ginger?* It writes an essay.

Prabhu Krishnamurthy tweets “Her explanation is like what Plaha did after the racism controversy. I didn’t say monkey. Only teri maa ki. Same difference.” -

Bharkha boldly writes an essay which my High school English teacher or say like Al Pacino in ‘Scent of a women” – would tear it apart and say – “Bull Shit”. [My english teacher would just be disappointed - for the record].

Notice this sentence below from this decently written high school essay. It very much establishes what Prabhu Krishnamurthy finely compared it to.

[Excerpt 1]The excerpt, “What should I tell them,” was in response to her repeatedly saying to me over several different phone calls, that if I happened to talk to anyone in the Congress, I should ask them to talk the DMK chief directly.

The reader is left to judge the question “What should I tell them”. So right after this there is a Bolded text that reads.

[Excerpt 2]AT NO STAGE WAS I EVER ASKED TO PASS ON ANY MESSAGE TO INTERCEDE ON BEHALF OF A PARTICULAR MINISTER OR PORTFOLIO.

Keep this Part in mind too

[Excerpt 3]In this instance, Nira Radia, was clearly plugged into the inner workings of the DMK, a fact we only discovered when she rang up to tell me that the news flashes running on different news channels were incorrect; the stalemate between the DMK and the Congress had not yet been resolved. She corroborated her claim by saying she was in direct contact with the DMK chief and was in fact with his daughter, Kanimozhi.

Now, this average mind asks some silly questions.

1. So Nira Radia talks to Raja/Kanimozhi and asks Bharkha Dutt to pass on information to Congress – [established in excerpt 1] whenever she talks to ‘them’. Isn’t that indirect lobbying for Nira Radia and thus for a Man you never met? [For the faint minds, A=B and B= C thus A=C]

Comedy Track: As SanthanaBharathi in Panchathanthiram says “Munna Pinna Theriyadhavanodeye va?” when he catches Kovai Sarala in bed with Kamal Hassan.

2. [Based on excerpt 1] Why do you agree to convey something to congress – when you are just soliciting information? You did or did not pass information is a different subject. But why ask?

So she ends it by saying she “learns” from this. Isn’t she as guilty in the media [forget legally or ethically] as guilty as she charges every one with it? A journalist capable of steering public opinion is as culpable as a politician’s decision that steers the same?

Questions can be asked – she will escape with the same loophole that a politician escapes. Time.

Now, I wrote this and waited for the Great Mind – Arun Shourie to respond. He just never fails to impress me. As stunning and candid as he can ever get – he does it again.

* No, I am not calling any one Monkey -its a Thamizh phrase. Inji Thinna Kurangu. Some one caught doing deeds they weren’t supposed to.

Va

Oram Po is a classic to me. It elevated the style of drama to a new level. Gayatri Pushkar very clearly stayed away from cliches [yeah, i couldnt help] or escapes the second movie syndrome and brings us this yet another must-have-dvd movie Va Quarter Cutting. At the very least, this is Tamil Nadu’s best Harold and Kumar style movie. Make no mistakes, the idea of 2 people trying to do a silly thing and ending up in problem is all you can think of as similarity but the movie has got its moments. Fantastic Cinematography by Nirav Shah, that you almost wish the colors were real and your brain contains a photoshop program that can automatically change the view of the world, that colorful.

Heard of  a S.Ve. Classic “Vanaja oda katha oru soga katha. Vanaja inga irukka, ava purushan Dubai la irukkan, Avalavuthaan katha”. Thats about it !

What makes the movie click are the characters and its characterization. Before you castigate me for sounding like Raja Sen or this Rajeev Masand, let me tell you – its true. Take for example “Stupid Saro”. This is a person who failed 12th that she is worried she’d never progress in life if she cannot complete her school. Her concern and point of any interest, any time is centered around her necessity to pass 12th or study more. So much so that she enters a disco walks upto a DJ and asks if she had to study or complete 12th to do such cool stuff. Same is the case with Ice Kuchi guy [Better version of Ice Cream]  who sells liquor in the black market. She tries to drum up her confidence after attempting [and saved, obviously] to commit what they call the “Self Suicide”.

That brings me to the dialogues. Intended to sound “Mokka” [for the lack of real equivalent in English] and yet not irritate you. Somewhere Gayatri Pushkar show brilliance and slap it with Shiva’s voice/acting – you get “Deiyva Mokka” but funny. There is a scene where Lekha walks up to Shiva and asks “Ey, Dubai pogarthukku badhila enna kalyanam pannikariya” to which Shiva responds “Ey, Abhasagunama paesadhey”. Sheer brilliance, I say. Wonder what Kumararaja [Dialogues Oram Po and Director Aaranya Kandam] would have come up for this.

Finally the actors: S P Charan, Shiva, Lekha Washington, John Vijay. They all understand Va Quarter Cutting so well that they form the pivot and soul of the movie. I am almost sure that I wouldnt want anybody in those roles but these. So much so that “Super Saro” with Lekha washington becomes my Desktop Wallpaper.

Go watch VA. Its just how 3 people roam around and spend time in the city doing nothing. Just like the days you used to with your friends.

PS: Thediye Thediya was a lift from Lenka’s The Show – [@Lavsmohan]. But the picturization is something I’ve never seen. Beautiful !

PS2: Title Credits are something to watch out. Very well done.

PS3: I think SI Singari is HOT !

Adhigaprasingi

Adhigaprasingithanam is prevelant in the society. Especially these “ayyam the modern woman of India” types. But somewhere they stay within limits of insanity – which is the reason for the other half tolerating these and allowing them to be part of normal life. All you needed was a Rajnikanth Punch dialogue. Be it Mannan or Padayappa, he took the right stance. We just went along and agreed. Yeah !

For the first time in recent past this has been over stepped. As the saying goes, Mulla Mullala thaan edukkanum [Remove a Thorn with a Thorn], we need another Adhigaprasingi to counter this Irresponsible adhigaprsingi.

The Average West Mambalam mind now wants to hire such people – say, Medha Patkar to protest against Arundhati Roy. But he also now has an example to tell people why adhigaprasingithanam leads to irresponsible behaviour and words.

Speak – You are obviously allowed to, but dont be irresponsible. Everything that is Free has its own Quality problems. Including Free Speech.

PS: By commenting on her and making little sense out of it, I am either worthy of a Booker Prize or she is unworthy of such honors.

Endhiran

It’s easy to make a Sci Fi these days. It is not a big deal that we are equipped enough to use good graphics. Almost everyone does it. But to plug in the Rajnikanth phenomenon is tough. Shankar does it. The industry that gave Man Vasanai and Malayoor Mambattiyan brings a Sci Fi – that talks about neural schema, Andro Humanoid, Vision Bleach, Robo Sapiens, Robotic formation and what not. Bharathiraaja may have cringed and called it the western influence on Indian Culture, just like Ilaiyaraja did when Rahman came up with Roja. Fact is he won Oscars, Grammy and Golden Globe. Shankar’s Endhiran isnt Oscar worthy. It isnt even good enough to be called the Original – Path breaking Sci Fi. But as Rajnikanth puts it, more movies may come, you have more movies in the past – but its the first of its kind in Indian cinema, done convincingly and that too with the Rajnikanth experience.

The other Bachan may have rejected a Villain Role in this movie fearing his popularity as a Villain. Rajnikanth feasts on it. To an average mind with absolutely no science know-how, this still caters. Albert theatre will go wild on seeing the Chellatha Scene and when Rajnikanth finds the Black sheep. The urban sense-making-middle-class will appreciate the reality  when Vaseegaran runs away from a fight and give credits to the Robot doing the ‘Original Rajni’ stunts because it is explained scientifically.

One fails to imagine how this movie would have made sense if Kamal had agreed and prays to thank the Chellaatha that Shahrukh never agreed to this.

For someone who grew up watching Rajnikanth movie and considers Thalapthi to be Rajnikanth’s best till date - this movie still demands repeat audience for it is more enjoyable the second time.

Even if Marans benefitted from the Yellow Shawl cover he somewhere emerges to be one of those prides of TN just because he invested a couple of hundred cr. to showcase the Sci-Fi Rajni. He now enjoys the privilege Panchu Arunachalam or K Balachander enjoys in the name of Rajnikanth. One wonders what AVM Saravanan is thinking now.

At the end of the day, even if the Fly Over fight and few other moments dragged the movie – one is happy that the movie is a feast which had a paavakka kootu as well. Feast because of Rajni, Rathnavelu, A R Rahman, StanWinston, Shankar to name a few.

But the same person is also disappointed that there was no separate ‘tribute’ slide for Sujatha Rangarajan – the ‘Rangusky’ – when the movie started.

Nevertheless, this movie will stay in the hearts of an Average Thamizhan as Engal Iniya Endhira.

Thoughts on Google Instant

Disclaimer: Total Technology or Geek Stuff !

Google today overhauled the search scene by including something really insane interms of implementation. Idea is fairly simple or probably would be simpler than the implementation. To a tiny mind like mine, the logic was to take a cue from user’s start letter of search, use the existing Google Suggest results and keep streaming the result page until you stopped typing or selected a search. If they had a more complex way of doing it, then what was just mentioned is the simplest or oversimplified version. But to implement even such a simple idea like this, you had to invest billions. The infrastructure required to handle such requests a day is insanely unfathomable [I know, just trying to use superlatives].

So is this Good or Bad? Answer is Both. Yes, that means its a bad question to ask.

The best part is until today the search was sequential. Google waits for you to complete thinking a query and hit a button to cue its servers to look for something on it. Of course, with Google Suggest, it kind of lists some queries already known. It just enables you to go directly to that search result without having to complete the query if Google has already seen it. But with Instant search, Google no more waits to show you some answers. It just starts to show answers as soon as you start typing – and as I previously pointed out, its no different in order w.r.to the Suggest list that already existed. And as you type, you’ll notice that results keep changing as you continue with keywords. You’ll also notice that you have stopped typing the moment you know your results are going in the wrong direction – and not wait for the sequence of type-submit-fetch-optimize  happens. What took me 3 seconds earlier is now 1 second which is like insanely fast.

If you are a Mac user using Spotlight or search on iphone or Windows Start search – and say you type Fi – you already know the first result is Firefox[Not on Iphone, I know]. Sometimes I do that much faster than clicking an icon. Google just accomplished that on the Web.

What’s Bad: Distraction. People who dont like some one second guessing them or hate the concept of speaking out of turn would instantly hate this, just like a friend of mine. Also, this changes the way people look at search – leading to a very confused Search Engine Optimization companies. This means SEOc’s now have to look for the Suggest, predict where people may stop searching to pick a result. A page of result shown in between and the chances of customer choosing it over the ‘intended search thought’ is a tough prediction which has not been accomplished by Google themselves. Duh !

Say, I was planning on visiting San Jose and I start typing ‘Places of interest in San’. My first option is going to be San Francisco. I may change my mind to find an ad about a tour in San Francisco that caught my eye even before the San Jose tour ad came up because of Google Instant. Earlier, I’d end up with San Jose, check the tour and if I liked it I’d go for it. If I don’t, I’d come back to San Francisco. The San Jose tour company obviously cannot invest money to make San Jose show up first, as San Francisco always takes the cake. He just has to hope the customer gets to San Jose even if San Francisco came up first. [Why would some one go to San Jose over San Francisco is a different question, but still !]

Another case is where you are presented with pages of results when you know for sure they all are wrong. For example, I tried searching a new movie ‘Va Quarter Cutting’ on Google. Google presents me with some pages before it arrives at a conclusion that I was searching for the tamil movie and not VA jobs’ qualifications. I’d also stop every time I type to find if I got my results. My search was faster without Google Instant here.

Now, Google spends X amount of time serving Y requests when my results come only at Y+1. On a restricted Data Plan, I’d be downloading X Pages of Z (=X*n KB per page) KB when I wasnt supposed to be shown on the first page. Sure, thats a tiny portion – but with amount of search – it does seem to me as an information overload – when I don’t need it. You may argue – I have to disable instant search on such plans and I request you not to be that smart !

Its like a Dictionary that makes me glance pages of words that I am not looking for – before finding the right page. Returning back to the Old age, eh?

What could they do otherwise?

• Increase the quality of Suggest options – as in Categorize Suggestions into a bigger rectangular box. Say, I type Glasses – the suggest can fetch from different category such as – Electronics, Optics, Labs, Automobile where glasses can be used and suggest queries within them. That will make me resolve my query faster or meaningful.
• Provide more meaningful information using content from contributed space. Say, I write a review on Yelp about a restaurant. My search result must show content  or part of it the review actually. If i search for a review, give me a review and a link to that original page. I’ll chose which review to read.
• UI changes.

> Pages of Search is no more useful. How many people go to the 10th page of search and not re do their query if they dont find it on the 2nd page. Load it – On scroll, just like google images.

> Categorize Search results. Dont give me 100 links. Make it useful by categorizing it. Say, i search for Canon Rebel Xsi, give me sections of Product and the reviews, Troubleshooting, Tips, Forums, Discussions. That is meaningful.

Obviously, these are probably not greatest of ideas – and precisely the reason why I am not working in Google, but there is  atleast something more to just stream bucket load of data that are worth only making videos at this point of time.

The Last Fall

You are about to fall off a cliff. You are hoping that she will lend a hand to save you. She points to a rope, just in case. Do you try the rope or wait for the hand?

Who breaks the trust first? She thinks the rope seems a better option. Would you be then thinking why she let you go or do you not care, reach for the rope and break the trust?

It doesn’t matter, does it?

You are falling ..

Will I die falling or will I be able to reach the rope just in time? The hand seems far off, nearly impossible to hold on.

I take a look down and find that the depth seems less killing than wondering why she’d let me go. I grant her last wish – I’d rather fall watching her try than to cling on the rope to watch her, watch me attempt.

Inhaling one of the last breath, the last few beats – that my ear seem to listen to exclusively, picturing her one last time, I let myself go. The silence seems great – finally my heart is at peace.

Strange !

I fell, hoping this to be the last time.