The top five albums of Tamil Cinema for the year 2010 in my book would be
1. Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaya
2. Nandhala
3. Paiyaa
4. Madrasapattinam
5. Engeyum Kaadhal
Engeyum kaadhal came at the end of the year and the only Harris sir album that got released this Year. The title track tops the charts which was fresh and had a great mix from the master. Dhimu Dhimu another song sung by Karthik became a charbuster once the tracks were released. Harris Sir who has become very choosy to sign projects is busy working on the soundtracks of Ezhaam Arivu and Ko. We can expect both the soundtracks to be released early 2011 along with another Prabhu deva film as well as K.V. Anand film other than Ko with Suriya.
G.V. Prakash has indeed had a great Year with five releases. His Ayirathil oruvan had around 10 songs including the remix and the club versions. The soundtrack was heavily plagarised from Mettalica and several other english rock albums. Songs like maalai neram, Thaai thindra Manne was a different experience even though it was plagiarized. His Madrasapattinam was another period film set in 1940's. Pookal Pookum stood out of the film because of the arrangements and the fantastic visuals shot by Nirav Shah. Madrasapattinam had a wonderful score to compliment the visuals and the songs. During the end of the year the soundtrack of the much hyped aadukalam was released. Aadulakam proved to be another version of veyyil with a wonderful mix of melody and rock. Ayyao and Yathe topped the charts! G V also was part of albums like Angadi theru and VA Quarter cutting. G.V had a rather successful year with his works. G.V has a interesting line up of films for 2011. Director Vijay's next film with Vikram, Selvaraghavan's next film with Dhanush and he has been signed by anurag kashyap for a 2 film deal in hindi cinema.
Yuvan has almost a dozen soundtracks to his credit this year. Starting from Paiyya in Jan till the Vaanam single that released the year end. Naan mahan alla had the wonderful Iragai Pole, Boss engira baskaran had Yaar intha pen dhaan and the Boss- title song. He was also part of the rural, rare low budget album Kungama Poovum Konji puraavum which had fresh tunes in the form of chinna siru. Paiyaa topped the charts for a long time till mid 2010 with wonderful simple and catchy tunes. The songs were superbly visualized by Mathi sir's cinematography which ensured the film had a success even though the plot wasnt good. Yuvan was also part of Goa, his brother Venkat prabhu's film and Ajith's Aegan. Come 2011 we have Vaanam, Mankatha, Thanga Meen, Vishnuvardhan's next film, Aadhi bagawan, Vettai and Avan Ivan to name a few. I am anxiously awaiting all these albums since the albums are from the best film makers of south india. Ameer, Bala, Ram subbu, Vishnuvardhan and Venkat prabhu.
Illayaraja Sir's Nandhala was exceptional. The soundtrack of the film helped the film achieve the cult status that has achieved. This is one of the best soundtracks that has come from Raja sir's label after quite 2-3 years. In 2011 we have Azhagar saami kudhirai by sussendran, Ameer's Kannabhiran to look forward to.
Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaya was the kind of album which will be in you playist for years to come. Gautham Menon's visuals created breath taking visuals and released the audio at an event in BAFTA, United Kingdom. VTV turned out to be one of the best love story's of the year. A R rahman and Gautham worked together for the first time to create magic. Starting from Vinnai Thandi varuvaya sung by karthik till the Blues feel of Aaromale sung by alphonse. I feel this is the best soundtrack to come out from AR Rahman in the last two years till date. In the end of the year The bonus songs were released as an album called collectors edition which had the opening Humming of the film, Aaromale female version , the Aalap sung by shreya ghosal. The album also had regular ARR brand songs like Hosanna, Omana penne and Manipayya the love duet. ARR also had shankar's magnum opus Enthiran which had the techno feel. Kathal Anukkal and Arima Arima had the brand ARR. I would say Enthiran was a huge disappointment considering the expectations. Mani Ratnam's Raavan in my book was one of the difficult Albums and score that Rahaman has ever worked on. The film bombed at the box office but the album had sounds close to nature. Raavan would always be one of my favourite Rahman Albums. He has swept everyone with VTV and we can expect a lot of awards for that.
A few other interesting albums this year has been Imman's comeback film 'Mynaa'. Gv and Vijay anthony's Angadi theru, Kalavaani. Devi Sri Prasad gave good commercial tunes for Singam and Kamalahassan's Manmadan Ambu. Neela Vaanam sing by Kamal haasan was a little gem of a song from Devi Sri Prasad.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Away from chennai
Last weekend i packed my bags rather carefully to make sure i am not short of any stuff for my trip away from Chennai. I went for Palakkad/Coimbatore for two days. The whole idea behind this trip is to get away from Chennai and this boring monotonous daily chores.
I started my trip on 19/11/2010 a rather freakish Friday. Freakish because of two reasons, A. fact that i left my train tickets at the office and came home. I had to travel all the way to ascendas, the place where i work to get those printouts. B. I had an eye allergy that week which made me skip work for three days. I boarded the cheran express around 10:10 Pm on Friday. I Started reading 'The Kite runner' in the side upper birth allotted to me. A tall, Beautiful girl dressed in T shirts and Jeans was reading Paul Coehlo's alchemist in the Upper Birth opposite to me. Our eyes rolled over and met for a few moments. It was 07:00 AM the next morning one hour late than the scheduled arrival time, thinking it was Coimbatore Junction. I tried to get down to see Erode junction. The train was three Hours late.
Day 1 :- I got a single room in vignesh lodge, opposite to the railway station. I would rather consider it great cause its so close to the railway station and the room ended before it begins. I do not want to describe about the attached bathroom facilities in that room, Leaving it unsaid the better.
I called my girl , to get suggestions about the places near palakkad which I could visit. Surprisingly she text ed me a whole lot of places in an around Palakkad. She is Malayalee girl born and brought up at Chennai, but she had wonderful knowledge about Palghat. I started my train journey to Palakkad with a 9 Rupees ticket from CBE. It was a CBE-Palghat passenger that set the day rolling. Interesting it was 9 rupees, the ticket from chengalpet to Beach station in Chennai cost more than 9 rupees. I felt like southern railways is damn good. Southern railways in partnership with Irctc are doing good work.
In Palghat i first went to a bakery named Top Notch they specialize in Nendram(a variety of Banana fruit) chips. They have two flavours of the same chips namely thrissur and Palghat flavours. Both the flavours taste differently. I took an Auto for Kapilavasathu restaurant to have lunch. The hotel recommended by my girl. They served wonderful lunch, though i wanted to have kerala rice. I took a long walk to Vaatika gardens and Tippu sultan fort both of them in the same compound. The tippu sultan fort was built in the 17th century and one of the important archaeological sites under Indian archeology department. The entire fort looked like one fortress, the amount of skill, labour, man management required to build something of that greater magnitude without any technology. It had a those huge walls( both in length, width and height) built of granite stone with the green Algae in it. A form of canal water running around it. I also had a look at the Jail/prison used during those days. I walked along the place which might have been 4 Square Kms overall. During the end of the Wall i had two huge glasses of Tea, the special Kerala tea from a good looking girl who was working in the canteen of the fort. I also went to the Kalpathi bagawathy amman temple inside Palakkad surrounded by ponds from all sides. It was a beautiful place to visit.
Another recommendation was the Malampuzha dam located outside Palakkad. This recommendation came from a guy named mukesh who travelled with me in the train as well as my girl. The dam looked beautiful during the night in the lights. The best part is the bridge constructed out of wood from where we view the dam. I took the express train back to CBE from Palakkad.
More than all the fun and travelling, I was able to understand more about my girl. I didn't expect her to help me out this way. Whatever she recommended was correct and found out that she much more understanding and caring more than i thought. I found a sense of understanding and a deeper inner meaning in our relationship. I am not coming to this conclusion based on the above incident. It's also based on the past 4 months. In someways she out thinks me and she is rooted to her culture and morals. We even had a conversation about some issues, I was really amazed about a facet of her understanding what this relationship means to her and to me.
Day 2 :- I got a surprise call from my school buddy named Vasanth Kumar. Vasanth a mech engineer and an IIM Mba grad working in nerolac paints CBE. We met for lunch at Adyar Anandha bhavan. The first line he spoke was about him putting his papers(resignation) even without having a backup plan. The idea of putting your papers and then searching a new job is kind of quite common nowadays. We had a great time driving around amrita college located in ettimadai a village in the outskirts of cbe. It has a small railway station, where the passenger train stops propably twice a day. The station is actually located inside the college campus. To test our stamina we climbed a rather uneven hill. The top of the hill was a rather small sivan temple called Uttama Lingeshwarar temple. It was a quite a difficult one considering i havent climbed anything in the last three years. It was nice meeting vasanth after a long time. Finally the event for which i came to CBE unfolded, The wedding. It was for the wedding of Charlie Jeba, a colleague of mine working with me. Rushed through the wedding and left for the night train back to chennai. I was taken by the surprise about the rather good nature of the TTR who re-embassed the cost of the ticket of my friend who pulled out of the journey in the last moment.
More than the journey away from home and the feeling of going of alone to some unknown place. It was the experience. the whole idea behind understanding travelling, getting to know about different people, different cultures and mainly about myself. I rather must not forget those moments, thats why i wrote this blog.
I started my trip on 19/11/2010 a rather freakish Friday. Freakish because of two reasons, A. fact that i left my train tickets at the office and came home. I had to travel all the way to ascendas, the place where i work to get those printouts. B. I had an eye allergy that week which made me skip work for three days. I boarded the cheran express around 10:10 Pm on Friday. I Started reading 'The Kite runner' in the side upper birth allotted to me. A tall, Beautiful girl dressed in T shirts and Jeans was reading Paul Coehlo's alchemist in the Upper Birth opposite to me. Our eyes rolled over and met for a few moments. It was 07:00 AM the next morning one hour late than the scheduled arrival time, thinking it was Coimbatore Junction. I tried to get down to see Erode junction. The train was three Hours late.
Day 1 :- I got a single room in vignesh lodge, opposite to the railway station. I would rather consider it great cause its so close to the railway station and the room ended before it begins. I do not want to describe about the attached bathroom facilities in that room, Leaving it unsaid the better.
I called my girl , to get suggestions about the places near palakkad which I could visit. Surprisingly she text ed me a whole lot of places in an around Palakkad. She is Malayalee girl born and brought up at Chennai, but she had wonderful knowledge about Palghat. I started my train journey to Palakkad with a 9 Rupees ticket from CBE. It was a CBE-Palghat passenger that set the day rolling. Interesting it was 9 rupees, the ticket from chengalpet to Beach station in Chennai cost more than 9 rupees. I felt like southern railways is damn good. Southern railways in partnership with Irctc are doing good work.
In Palghat i first went to a bakery named Top Notch they specialize in Nendram(a variety of Banana fruit) chips. They have two flavours of the same chips namely thrissur and Palghat flavours. Both the flavours taste differently. I took an Auto for Kapilavasathu restaurant to have lunch. The hotel recommended by my girl. They served wonderful lunch, though i wanted to have kerala rice. I took a long walk to Vaatika gardens and Tippu sultan fort both of them in the same compound. The tippu sultan fort was built in the 17th century and one of the important archaeological sites under Indian archeology department. The entire fort looked like one fortress, the amount of skill, labour, man management required to build something of that greater magnitude without any technology. It had a those huge walls( both in length, width and height) built of granite stone with the green Algae in it. A form of canal water running around it. I also had a look at the Jail/prison used during those days. I walked along the place which might have been 4 Square Kms overall. During the end of the Wall i had two huge glasses of Tea, the special Kerala tea from a good looking girl who was working in the canteen of the fort. I also went to the Kalpathi bagawathy amman temple inside Palakkad surrounded by ponds from all sides. It was a beautiful place to visit.
Another recommendation was the Malampuzha dam located outside Palakkad. This recommendation came from a guy named mukesh who travelled with me in the train as well as my girl. The dam looked beautiful during the night in the lights. The best part is the bridge constructed out of wood from where we view the dam. I took the express train back to CBE from Palakkad.
More than all the fun and travelling, I was able to understand more about my girl. I didn't expect her to help me out this way. Whatever she recommended was correct and found out that she much more understanding and caring more than i thought. I found a sense of understanding and a deeper inner meaning in our relationship. I am not coming to this conclusion based on the above incident. It's also based on the past 4 months. In someways she out thinks me and she is rooted to her culture and morals. We even had a conversation about some issues, I was really amazed about a facet of her understanding what this relationship means to her and to me.
Day 2 :- I got a surprise call from my school buddy named Vasanth Kumar. Vasanth a mech engineer and an IIM Mba grad working in nerolac paints CBE. We met for lunch at Adyar Anandha bhavan. The first line he spoke was about him putting his papers(resignation) even without having a backup plan. The idea of putting your papers and then searching a new job is kind of quite common nowadays. We had a great time driving around amrita college located in ettimadai a village in the outskirts of cbe. It has a small railway station, where the passenger train stops propably twice a day. The station is actually located inside the college campus. To test our stamina we climbed a rather uneven hill. The top of the hill was a rather small sivan temple called Uttama Lingeshwarar temple. It was a quite a difficult one considering i havent climbed anything in the last three years. It was nice meeting vasanth after a long time. Finally the event for which i came to CBE unfolded, The wedding. It was for the wedding of Charlie Jeba, a colleague of mine working with me. Rushed through the wedding and left for the night train back to chennai. I was taken by the surprise about the rather good nature of the TTR who re-embassed the cost of the ticket of my friend who pulled out of the journey in the last moment.
More than the journey away from home and the feeling of going of alone to some unknown place. It was the experience. the whole idea behind understanding travelling, getting to know about different people, different cultures and mainly about myself. I rather must not forget those moments, thats why i wrote this blog.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Mynaa - Another Poignant tale of love
Last week i saw Mynaa, which is touted to be the best film that has been released this diwali. I went to a theatre which was located near my home for a fifty rupees ticket. After watching the film I would say the film was worth even 100 Bucks.
Tamil Cinema has been growing leaps and bounds over the past few years. Artistic excellence, brilliant screenplays and good storylines have emerged. Prabhu solomon the guy who directed King, Lee, Laadam and Kokki. All these films barring the Item numbers and C centric music has been movies that doesnt disaapoint you, not at all bad films. With Mynaa i would say he has raised himself into a different league. Prabhu solomon seems to be a director who works with actors and technicians who are new to the industry and extracts decent work. He worked with Vikram in King, another wonderful actor Karan in Kokki, Literally changed Sibi in Lee.
Prabhu Solomon does films in a kind of a framework , minimal budgets, low key cinematography, Lesser known actors and technicians. Cinematographer Sukumar who has worked with him in laadam has done a wonderful job of shooting the film with minimal lights mostly in natural light. Casting is one of the toughest decisions to be taken in Pre Production. Prabhu Solomon has done a commendable effort towards it. He has intelligently opened the film with a conversation which seems like it didnt connect with the story, but it surely did near the end.
I dont want to review this film and create spoilers. Actors have done a great job specially Viddarth and Amala Paul(The lead). Imman has rediscovered himself through this film. The songs are full of heart and soul. I couldnt hear the Background score in the film, it never dominated the visuals. Go watch this movie, in my book this is the best Tamil film of the year till date, standing next is Kalavani,Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaya and Raavanan.
I would like to count the list of tamil films that have gory, brutal or negative endings in the last few years. I figure it all started with Balaji Sakthivel's Kaadhal and Bala's Sethu. Came Nandha, Kallori, Bala's pithamagan, Ameer's Paruthi Veeran and Raam, Vasantha Balan's Angadi theru and Veyyil. Bala's very own Naan Kadavul, Ram's Katradhu Tamizh, Kunguma Poovum Konji Puraavum. Gautham Menon's Kakkhaa Kakkha and Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaya. Has it become a norm that ending a film on a sad not and making the audience speechless makes the film work or do wonders at the box office? . Ending a film in a certain way depends upon the idea or the message you want to convey to the audience. Have a great week at the movies. You have good movies running in cinema Halls near your place and also awaiting for release.
Send your comments to rajivvikaas@gmail.com.
Tamil Cinema has been growing leaps and bounds over the past few years. Artistic excellence, brilliant screenplays and good storylines have emerged. Prabhu solomon the guy who directed King, Lee, Laadam and Kokki. All these films barring the Item numbers and C centric music has been movies that doesnt disaapoint you, not at all bad films. With Mynaa i would say he has raised himself into a different league. Prabhu solomon seems to be a director who works with actors and technicians who are new to the industry and extracts decent work. He worked with Vikram in King, another wonderful actor Karan in Kokki, Literally changed Sibi in Lee.
Prabhu Solomon does films in a kind of a framework , minimal budgets, low key cinematography, Lesser known actors and technicians. Cinematographer Sukumar who has worked with him in laadam has done a wonderful job of shooting the film with minimal lights mostly in natural light. Casting is one of the toughest decisions to be taken in Pre Production. Prabhu Solomon has done a commendable effort towards it. He has intelligently opened the film with a conversation which seems like it didnt connect with the story, but it surely did near the end.
I dont want to review this film and create spoilers. Actors have done a great job specially Viddarth and Amala Paul(The lead). Imman has rediscovered himself through this film. The songs are full of heart and soul. I couldnt hear the Background score in the film, it never dominated the visuals. Go watch this movie, in my book this is the best Tamil film of the year till date, standing next is Kalavani,Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaya and Raavanan.
I would like to count the list of tamil films that have gory, brutal or negative endings in the last few years. I figure it all started with Balaji Sakthivel's Kaadhal and Bala's Sethu. Came Nandha, Kallori, Bala's pithamagan, Ameer's Paruthi Veeran and Raam, Vasantha Balan's Angadi theru and Veyyil. Bala's very own Naan Kadavul, Ram's Katradhu Tamizh, Kunguma Poovum Konji Puraavum. Gautham Menon's Kakkhaa Kakkha and Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaya. Has it become a norm that ending a film on a sad not and making the audience speechless makes the film work or do wonders at the box office? . Ending a film in a certain way depends upon the idea or the message you want to convey to the audience. Have a great week at the movies. You have good movies running in cinema Halls near your place and also awaiting for release.
Send your comments to rajivvikaas@gmail.com.
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Invictus
Film appreciation is a term that seems to be very easy to understand.If you put it bluntly, it would be appreciating films. when i Google it i got a few different theories that seemed a little sensible and wierd too. We are here to talk, understand and promote good cinema. Lets get started by discussing a film which i very recently saw clint eastwood's Invictus.
Invictus is a film about president Nelson Mandela, during his tenure as the president of south africa after serving 30 years in Jail inspires the southafrican rugby team to win the rugby world cup. The president played by Morgan Freeman and Matt damon plays the rugby team captain. He was convicted for crime by his own fellow southafricans, the whites for thirty years.
Imagine the morale of the person serving 30 years of jail, where he lived inside a single cell(seen in the film), comes out gets elected as a president employs personal security officers, the white southafricans and inspiring the rugby team that is mostly comprised of white people. Matt damon sensibly plays the supporting role with conviction and pulls it off with aplomb.
In most of the good movies that you see we will remember some of the key sequences for some time. Invictus had a key sequence before the day of the final of the world cup when matt damon tells to his girl friend about the president's desire to lift his country after all the problems south africa has faced. That shot was there for about 30 seconds, but it was emotionally touching. The director Clint eastwood and screenplay writer Anthony Peckham has rather intelligently established another key sequence before in the film where Matt damon visits the Jail and Sir nelson mandela's small cell. Creating that sequence perfectly establishes the required emotional connect for the previous scene that we discussed.
During the finale cinematographer Tom Stern and director clint eastwood has used ultra slow motion cameras to film the world cup final.Interestingly most of the films where the 'finale' is a sports game has used slow motion sequences. Martin scorsese's 'raging Bull' , Guy ritchie's 'Snatch', Venkat Prabhu's 'chennai 28' , '300'.
The president has understood way before that inspiring a team to win world cup would make sure, the win would be a tool that will bring together whites and blacks. The idea has been brilliantly executed by the director by showing a young Black guy celebrating the victory with a group of white men. People cheering and chanting together while watching the match in the Bars or office television sets. When you see a film alone and if u stand up and clap during the start of the end credits
you know you have more than liked the film. I had the same feeling after watching the movie. Morgan freeman is the best person to play the president and also the executive producer of the film. He has lived the role and its the role of a lifetime. The
promotional poster of the film had Matt damon in the front and Morgan freeman looming large over him the background. This poster essentially says the perspective of americans about nelson mandela. For the film to sell, Matt damon ,the current heartthrob after the hugely successful 'bourne franchise', 'the departed' and the lesser known gem 'the informant' is the trump card.
Clint eastwood, 80, still makes movies and makes them as one of the best movies of the year. I dont think a filmmaker at this age would make movies for money, it must be hugely personal satisfaction. All these years he has amazed us by his movies across different genres. This one is also very special like the 'mystic river' , 'changeling' , and 'the unforgiven'.
I am Rajiv Muralidharan, you can view my blog at rajiv-muralidharan@blogspot.com. You can discuss about the film at my blog or even send your comments to rajivvikaas@gmail.com
Invictus is a film about president Nelson Mandela, during his tenure as the president of south africa after serving 30 years in Jail inspires the southafrican rugby team to win the rugby world cup. The president played by Morgan Freeman and Matt damon plays the rugby team captain. He was convicted for crime by his own fellow southafricans, the whites for thirty years.
Imagine the morale of the person serving 30 years of jail, where he lived inside a single cell(seen in the film), comes out gets elected as a president employs personal security officers, the white southafricans and inspiring the rugby team that is mostly comprised of white people. Matt damon sensibly plays the supporting role with conviction and pulls it off with aplomb.
In most of the good movies that you see we will remember some of the key sequences for some time. Invictus had a key sequence before the day of the final of the world cup when matt damon tells to his girl friend about the president's desire to lift his country after all the problems south africa has faced. That shot was there for about 30 seconds, but it was emotionally touching. The director Clint eastwood and screenplay writer Anthony Peckham has rather intelligently established another key sequence before in the film where Matt damon visits the Jail and Sir nelson mandela's small cell. Creating that sequence perfectly establishes the required emotional connect for the previous scene that we discussed.
During the finale cinematographer Tom Stern and director clint eastwood has used ultra slow motion cameras to film the world cup final.Interestingly most of the films where the 'finale' is a sports game has used slow motion sequences. Martin scorsese's 'raging Bull' , Guy ritchie's 'Snatch', Venkat Prabhu's 'chennai 28' , '300'.
The president has understood way before that inspiring a team to win world cup would make sure, the win would be a tool that will bring together whites and blacks. The idea has been brilliantly executed by the director by showing a young Black guy celebrating the victory with a group of white men. People cheering and chanting together while watching the match in the Bars or office television sets. When you see a film alone and if u stand up and clap during the start of the end credits
you know you have more than liked the film. I had the same feeling after watching the movie. Morgan freeman is the best person to play the president and also the executive producer of the film. He has lived the role and its the role of a lifetime. The
promotional poster of the film had Matt damon in the front and Morgan freeman looming large over him the background. This poster essentially says the perspective of americans about nelson mandela. For the film to sell, Matt damon ,the current heartthrob after the hugely successful 'bourne franchise', 'the departed' and the lesser known gem 'the informant' is the trump card.
Clint eastwood, 80, still makes movies and makes them as one of the best movies of the year. I dont think a filmmaker at this age would make movies for money, it must be hugely personal satisfaction. All these years he has amazed us by his movies across different genres. This one is also very special like the 'mystic river' , 'changeling' , and 'the unforgiven'.
I am Rajiv Muralidharan, you can view my blog at rajiv-muralidharan@blogspot.com. You can discuss about the film at my blog or even send your comments to rajivvikaas@gmail.com
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
notes of silence - A short film!
Notes of silence , the debut short from Mrinalini D.S is about a speech and a hearing impaired girl trying to learn guitar. The film touches chord in the way that it portrays disability in a more genuine and unsympathetic way. Always there are ways to do whatever you desire hope you have the passion to do it. The girl, with limitations somehow unassumingly convinces his brother/friend to make her learn guitar. The guy short tempered, 'pain in the Ass' kind of a person gets convinced to teach her in some way. This screenplay is interesting for two major reasons, one would be the wind chimes sequence. There used to be a shot in the middle of the film, where the girl touches the chimes and she was not able to hear the sound. (The sound design is blank). The last shot of the film would be an interpreatation of her hearing the sound. How beautifully those two shots convey the story. This is a metaphorical film. Second would be the simple narrative structure, its very uncommon now a days to have simple narratives. The finale doesnt have the usual excitement which we usually see, the cliches. This film offers a finale of 3-4 shots that just shows the resolution is achieved in a more beautiful way.
Technically this film is nothing short of wonderful. Special mention for sound design, cinematography and music. I somehow felt that this film wouldnt be connected with our Indian audience. There is one full montage sequence which could have worked better with a slight trimming in the final cut. Mrinalini you have given a good film , now you cant do trash here after! You have to give something better!' Life would be Beautiful , if there are Many sophie's - (The girl) in the film , even with their physical issues try to dream big and achieve what they dreamed' .
Technically this film is nothing short of wonderful. Special mention for sound design, cinematography and music. I somehow felt that this film wouldnt be connected with our Indian audience. There is one full montage sequence which could have worked better with a slight trimming in the final cut. Mrinalini you have given a good film , now you cant do trash here after! You have to give something better!' Life would be Beautiful , if there are Many sophie's - (The girl) in the film , even with their physical issues try to dream big and achieve what they dreamed' .
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Plastic Bag
Ramin Bahrani, one of the best independent filmmakers of america has written and directed a short film called plastic bag. Ramin bahrani known for his simple themes has earned critical acclaim from film critic roger ebert as the 'one of the best independent film makers of the decade'
You can have a look at the teaser as well as the full film in the below website
NORUZ FILMS - which has produced a list of independent mainly Rahin Bahrani's award winning films like goodbye solo, chop shop, Man pushes cart and plastic bag.
Website :- http://www.noruzfilms.com/media.html
You can have a look at the teaser as well as the full film in the below website
NORUZ FILMS - which has produced a list of independent mainly Rahin Bahrani's award winning films like goodbye solo, chop shop, Man pushes cart and plastic bag.
Website :- http://www.noruzfilms.com/media.html
Sunday, August 8, 2010
All about martin scorsese
Guys , Found a few links about Martin scorsese , The below link video discussed about his films
Take a look!
Have anyone seen Martin scorsese's short film The big shave, Please find the link below!
Friday, August 6, 2010
The girl in the yellow boots - a film by anurag kashyap
Anurag Kashyap, the highly critically acclaimed director of Black friday, Gulaal, No Smoking, Paanch and Dev-D is back with the girl in the yellow boots. The film is premiered at Venice film fest and later in Toronto film fest.
Official Plot synopsis
That Girl in Yellow Boots is a thriller tracing Ruth’s (Kalki Koechlin) search for her father – a man she hardly knew but cannot forget. Desperation drives her to work without a permit, at a massage parlour. Torn between several schisms, Mumbai becomes the alien but yet strangely familiar backdrop for Ruth’s quest. She struggles to find her independence and space even as she is sucked deeper into the labyrinthine politics of the city’s underbelly. A city that feeds on her misery, a love that eludes her and above all, a devastating truth that she must encounter. And everyone wants a piece of her.
The film is written by anurag kashyap and Kalki kochelin the french beauty who has worked in Dev-D as well as in yet to be released Zindagi milega do baara with Zoya akthar. Cinematography by Rajeev Ravi, anurag's constant. The music of the film is done by naren chadra.
The movie stars Kalki Koechlin (as Ruth) alongwith Naseeruddin Shah, Prashant Prakash, Gulshan Devaiya, Shivkumar Subramaniam, Divya Jagdale, Kumud Mishra and Kartik Krishnan amongst others.
Please find the trailer of the film below.
Please share your comments
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Doodle bug- the short and all about inception.
Everybody knew Christopher Nolan's first feature is The Following. Following shot with a shoe string budget and non professional actors was edited, photographed, produced and directed by Chris Nolan. Even before Following, Chris Nolan made a short called Doodle bug.
Please see the film below and write your comments.
Chris Nolan's latest offering inception has opened with tremendous critical acclaim. Kindly see below an interesting piece of information about the film. Chris Nolan has actually ripped off/ inspired a few scenes and thought process about the film from a comic book series. Check the article
The comic book is also available for download from the above link.
Another interesting thing about inception. Through a friend of mine, i came across a Japanese animation film called Paprika. Please check the plot points of the film in IMDB .
Send your feedback comments!
Monday, August 2, 2010
INCEPTION premiere
Find the link for the inception premiere below.
Inception premiere - A live footage has been taken from the premiere of inception and released in the internet. We have live feeds from all the actors including dicaprio , ellen page, marion cottilard as well as musician hans zimmer and of course nolan the GOD of making cinema!
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Good & Bad films
There are always two kind of films Good films & Bad films. Its doesnt matter if its a short , docu or a feature. It also doesnt matter if its commerical or Art. I watched Hari's singam and Juan Antonio Bardem's the death of a cyclist at the same day within a space of 8 hours. The death of a cyclist is a key film in spanish film making history as it had a story that worked for me on several layers. Each and every cinema must have a great setup in the first five minutes and a dramatic ending according to syd field, the GOD in screenplays. Death of a cyclist exactly had the same combined with an excellent multi layered script and inspiring performances specially from the female lead. The unexpected suspense happens once everything gets solved. The beauty of this film in its last twenty minutes. Do watch it if you have a copy or download one. Dont even try buying one, you cant find it. :(
Coming to singam, Like all Hari films its built around 50 characters with one big band of villians. This is Suirya at his best. Suirya is the numero Uno in my book. He does everything comfortably well. It's pure commercialism with interesting scenes. Leave alone the editing and Music and cinematography the film looks like a decent outing. It also proves that no matter whatever the content is , It also doesnt matter if its beleivable or not, a good packing will work at the box office.
I watched Life in a metro recently for the upteenth time, still i am falling in love with the film even though one part of it is lifted from the Hollywood classic The Apartment. All the characters have done
a wonderful job and made the performances look effortless.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
darren afnosky
A film can be well made with a shoe string budget of 60,000$ , a finest example is darren afnosky's Pi.
This film is basically about a mathematician trying to find a relation with Pi. Its a process of discovery and self discovery. Shot in Black and white with a pixellite kind
of a look. Its really fascinating to find out how Afnosky's mind works. He goes for a debut with a bizzare kind of a script seasoned with a noirish look and excellent performances.
I have'nt seen any film noir shot this beautifully off late. The music is heavy and metal with uncharacteristic sounds throughout the film. I was also struck by the use of Voice Overs, I meant the visual was aesthetic to the voice overs. Fade to white was also used liberally in the movie. After an inspiring debut, he came with a cult film Requim for a dream, another sensational film, truly one of the films that blew my mind starring jared leto and jennifer connely . Its all about drugs, drugs and drugs alone. Great Soundtrack , Great performances, low key lighting, fast cuts and one excellent script combined to form requim for a dream under the master's vision .
Watch out this space for more :)
This film is basically about a mathematician trying to find a relation with Pi. Its a process of discovery and self discovery. Shot in Black and white with a pixellite kind
of a look. Its really fascinating to find out how Afnosky's mind works. He goes for a debut with a bizzare kind of a script seasoned with a noirish look and excellent performances.
I have'nt seen any film noir shot this beautifully off late. The music is heavy and metal with uncharacteristic sounds throughout the film. I was also struck by the use of Voice Overs, I meant the visual was aesthetic to the voice overs. Fade to white was also used liberally in the movie. After an inspiring debut, he came with a cult film Requim for a dream, another sensational film, truly one of the films that blew my mind starring jared leto and jennifer connely . Its all about drugs, drugs and drugs alone. Great Soundtrack , Great performances, low key lighting, fast cuts and one excellent script combined to form requim for a dream under the master's vision .
Watch out this space for more :)
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Its rather sedate
I feel kind of sedated and rejuvenated after a small hiatus that was required for me. I am working towards my next short, you can call it a PSA(Public service Add) about a socially relevant concept :). Being stupid is coming towards a close very soon. I also did a small corporate film which is expected to be out very soon. Time is going thick and fast and planning to catch up with it. I had time to watch a few movies in HD. Forrest gump, curious case of benjamin button and zodiac. Catching up with friends and having a ball of the time. Office is calling me from tomorrow. Its all crap :( over there!. Will keep you posted guys :)
Saturday, March 13, 2010
VTV - The Review
Vinnai Thandi Varuvaya ( The verses of the song Vennilave vennilave taken from the Rajiv Menon movie Minsara Kanavu) hyped to be the best love story after Mani Sir's alaipayuthey and gautham's very own debut feature Minnale and has already created a huge fan following in facebook. One in every three profiles i have visited in facebook have become a fan of the movie. Status messages in facebook are like
' After a long time if i have cried in a film that's VTV'
'This Gautham film has made me smile and cry at the same time'
' Rahman has given us a great RR as well as Songs'
' Simbhu's career has two phases, Pre and Post VTV'
To top it all K.Balachander sir has written a letter to gautham appreciating the film.
VTV is a one line story about a guy and a girl falling in love. This has been the one line for 1000+ films in Indian history. Gautham has chosen actors, changed them to the setup and got a respectable performance from them. ARR is the background of the film and has given mind blowing tracks and an Ok kind of a heavy Background score. I found a few sequences where BGM's where dominating the story. VTV is an A R Rahman Musical agreed, not at the heights of dominating the film. The sequence where Mannipaya song comes in the movie sung by Shreya Ghosal and the legend himself needs applauds. Hosaana and Omana Penne is already an anthem among youth,
VTV is a well written film. The high points of VTV is the interval block and the Climax. Few people did not understand the climax still they liked the film.
The story starts from the interval block and comes to the interval block during the end of first half. Gautham needs to be applauded for keeping the climax of most of the film's in the interval block and carrying forward the film in the second half. The film has an interesting finale that takes a minute to realize. If you could turn around and see a girl near you, she would be Jessy(Trisha) for you. Her character exactly depicts the urban girl's mind set. Her character is the antagonist in the film. Even though the story required a lag, the second half was very lagging. Manoj Paramahamsa has given beautiful visuals for the film as well as Antony's edit.
Varanam Ayiram is Gautham's best work till date and it is. VTV is not a different love story, its a very common love story that happens for everyone of you and that's why it makes you laugh and cry. Karthik( Simbhu) does not look like an Assistant director there is no modulation with the voice. Simbhu the actor and Hero is what we see in the movie. His looks, performance have all changed a bit.
Coming to the Gossips. This film resembles more of the Ajith-Tabu part of Kandukonden Kandukoden, Rajeev Menon's second film might have been inspired from Gautham's story. It was Gautham who assisted Rajiv in the film.
Initially a new lead was supposed to act in the film, later the part went to Simbhu. Hence, the image make over of sorts worked. The film works great in the interval block , songs and the finale. We have got a good love story from Gautham Menon but is that what we wanted for a director of his calibre?
' After a long time if i have cried in a film that's VTV'
'This Gautham film has made me smile and cry at the same time'
' Rahman has given us a great RR as well as Songs'
' Simbhu's career has two phases, Pre and Post VTV'
To top it all K.Balachander sir has written a letter to gautham appreciating the film.
VTV is a one line story about a guy and a girl falling in love. This has been the one line for 1000+ films in Indian history. Gautham has chosen actors, changed them to the setup and got a respectable performance from them. ARR is the background of the film and has given mind blowing tracks and an Ok kind of a heavy Background score. I found a few sequences where BGM's where dominating the story. VTV is an A R Rahman Musical agreed, not at the heights of dominating the film. The sequence where Mannipaya song comes in the movie sung by Shreya Ghosal and the legend himself needs applauds. Hosaana and Omana Penne is already an anthem among youth,
VTV is a well written film. The high points of VTV is the interval block and the Climax. Few people did not understand the climax still they liked the film.
The story starts from the interval block and comes to the interval block during the end of first half. Gautham needs to be applauded for keeping the climax of most of the film's in the interval block and carrying forward the film in the second half. The film has an interesting finale that takes a minute to realize. If you could turn around and see a girl near you, she would be Jessy(Trisha) for you. Her character exactly depicts the urban girl's mind set. Her character is the antagonist in the film. Even though the story required a lag, the second half was very lagging. Manoj Paramahamsa has given beautiful visuals for the film as well as Antony's edit.
Varanam Ayiram is Gautham's best work till date and it is. VTV is not a different love story, its a very common love story that happens for everyone of you and that's why it makes you laugh and cry. Karthik( Simbhu) does not look like an Assistant director there is no modulation with the voice. Simbhu the actor and Hero is what we see in the movie. His looks, performance have all changed a bit.
Coming to the Gossips. This film resembles more of the Ajith-Tabu part of Kandukonden Kandukoden, Rajeev Menon's second film might have been inspired from Gautham's story. It was Gautham who assisted Rajiv in the film.
Initially a new lead was supposed to act in the film, later the part went to Simbhu. Hence, the image make over of sorts worked. The film works great in the interval block , songs and the finale. We have got a good love story from Gautham Menon but is that what we wanted for a director of his calibre?
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Saturday, February 27, 2010
pudupettai - survivial of the fittest
PUDUPETTAI - The Tagline "the survival of the fittest" is a gangster movie written and directed by selvaraghavan. The film is heavily inspired from Scarface and city of god, is considered to be one of the best films of the decade in Indian cinema. Its been five years since the release of the film and still its one of the masterpieces of Indian cinema. This update is not about the story of the film as many you would have seen it numerous times.
Selvaraghavan uses two key guys in his technical crew Yuvan and Arvind Krishna. The Soundtrack of the film released five months before the release of the film, like all the Selvaraghavan films that has come out. The soundtrack covered 10 tracks overall with 6 songs and 4 instrumentals. The entire music which includes the Re-Recording has been composed at Chapraya symphony orchestra in Bangkok. People inside the industry are literally convinced that its Yuvan's and Selva's best work till date. Kamal Hassan Sir has sung Neruppu vayinil song for the film, with the visuals inspired from the song in Scarface where Al Pacino fights criminals. Oru naalil (It All comes down to this) composed and sung by Yuvan himself was the song of the year. Lyrics were written by Na. Muthukumar was very much inspiring. This is one of the different, underrated and exceptional mix and mastering of tracks that we have heard after a long time. Try to hear it with an I-Pod once to understand the feel.
Pudhupettai is the first Tamil film shot in Super 35mm format. Super 35-mm packs more details in a frame, wherein the frame is somewhat big than any other normal film. This kind of format, goes in with more detailing with a larger image area. Its a very different visual experience with matt based color correction and different color tones for different moods. If you could have a look, Scenes of dhanush in the jail will have a greener, reddish tones whereas in the scenes like selling dope would have a yellowish look. This is considered to Arvind Krishna's best works along with 7/g rainbow colony , pachai Kili Muthu charam, and kuselan. Arvind Sir has used low key lighting and understandably flat lighting in most of his movies till date.
The film was shot twice with different story lines. First one was inspired from city of god which had dhanush very little screen time than the present one. Due to in differences, the film was re shot again, this time heavily inspired from Brain de Palma's scarface. Most of the sequences have the same kind of a look and making. This film is a magical kind of an experience and won various accolades at film festivals. Pudhupettai was Sneha's and Dhanush's best work till date. Dhanush's best without a doubt. Selva Creates those strong characters that leaves a deep impact of you. The film is criticized for its violence and blood gore and the intense graphical detail of the goons in chennai. This is deserved to be in your DVD library for a long time to come. Please do not miss the DVD, heavily recommended.
Selvaraghavan uses two key guys in his technical crew Yuvan and Arvind Krishna. The Soundtrack of the film released five months before the release of the film, like all the Selvaraghavan films that has come out. The soundtrack covered 10 tracks overall with 6 songs and 4 instrumentals. The entire music which includes the Re-Recording has been composed at Chapraya symphony orchestra in Bangkok. People inside the industry are literally convinced that its Yuvan's and Selva's best work till date. Kamal Hassan Sir has sung Neruppu vayinil song for the film, with the visuals inspired from the song in Scarface where Al Pacino fights criminals. Oru naalil (It All comes down to this) composed and sung by Yuvan himself was the song of the year. Lyrics were written by Na. Muthukumar was very much inspiring. This is one of the different, underrated and exceptional mix and mastering of tracks that we have heard after a long time. Try to hear it with an I-Pod once to understand the feel.
Pudhupettai is the first Tamil film shot in Super 35mm format. Super 35-mm packs more details in a frame, wherein the frame is somewhat big than any other normal film. This kind of format, goes in with more detailing with a larger image area. Its a very different visual experience with matt based color correction and different color tones for different moods. If you could have a look, Scenes of dhanush in the jail will have a greener, reddish tones whereas in the scenes like selling dope would have a yellowish look. This is considered to Arvind Krishna's best works along with 7/g rainbow colony , pachai Kili Muthu charam, and kuselan. Arvind Sir has used low key lighting and understandably flat lighting in most of his movies till date.
The film was shot twice with different story lines. First one was inspired from city of god which had dhanush very little screen time than the present one. Due to in differences, the film was re shot again, this time heavily inspired from Brain de Palma's scarface. Most of the sequences have the same kind of a look and making. This film is a magical kind of an experience and won various accolades at film festivals. Pudhupettai was Sneha's and Dhanush's best work till date. Dhanush's best without a doubt. Selva Creates those strong characters that leaves a deep impact of you. The film is criticized for its violence and blood gore and the intense graphical detail of the goons in chennai. This is deserved to be in your DVD library for a long time to come. Please do not miss the DVD, heavily recommended.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Tamil Eelam issue & films!
Kannathil Muthamittal ( A peck on the cheek) and theeviravadi( Terrorist ) are the two films that brought the Tamil Eelam war onto celluloid beautifully. The former was directed by our own Master film maker Mani Ratnam and the latter by Mani Ratnam's favourite cinematographer , the master lensman Santosh sivan. Mani Ratnam once quoted saying to a producer that " Why should the cinematographer be changed, can we change the lead actor rajini in the film instead " ? . This happened during the pre-production of Thalapathi which was the start of the Santosh Sivan & Mani Ratnam's association. The Duo later went to work a list of critically acclaimed films like Roja, Iruvar, Dil Se and Raavan.
This post just shows light upon both the films and the way it was made. Both the films are critically acclaimed and got many awards from film festivals world wide. Kannathil Muthamittal is a poignant tale about a young girl's search for her biological mother in the backdrop of the Tamil Eelam/ srilankan Civil war. Mani Ratnam has given us a beautiful tale about love and seperation with a rich palette of characters in the backdrop of a civil war. One wonders how he comes up with such bold, brave themes one after the other. Starting from the Kashmir problem or the satyavan savithri story of Roja, hindi-muslim riots of Bombay , MGR-Kalaignar friendship in Iruvar, Terrorism in Dil se. All the stories are about a tale of friendship and love in the background of war.
Kannathil Muthamittal captured how a family suffers in srilanka to find the Kid's biological mother with the growing tension of war. This is essentially about the J.D. Chakravarthy - Nandita das story in srilanka as well as the Madhavan- Simran story in chennai. The growth of both the couple's life in a time span of 15 Years. There are a few sequences in the movie that will stay in your heart for a long time, Keerthana the lead girl, finding girl's at her age having a pistol at her hands fighting war, The vidai kodu engal naade song sung by MS Vishwanathan sir when the srilankan army literally demolishes the entire village of maankulam, the climax confrontation between the mother and the child, visuals of the Vellai Pookal song sung by the A R Rahman himself, A srilankan tamil speaking guy giving his life by running himself into an army brigade. Its those sequences that shows light on the tamil eelam war and the human's affected by it. Its a strong moral based theme that touches a chord and sparks a tear from your eyes.
The genius of Mani sir lies in his choice of actors and the production of the film. Have you imagined madhavan playing a dad of three children with glasses on? . It is Simran's best performance we all agree. She has given a very subtle performance that deserves credits. The show stealer has been indeed Keerthana, Parthiban's daugther who has got the best debut and acknowledged rightly so with a national award. A few questions arise in the subconscious mind on how both madhavan and simran convinced themselve to tell the child the truth. How come keerthana understands the complexity of the issue and searches for her mother. Its a visual spectacle and stays in our hearts as one of the best we would have seen.
The film was a brave attempt from a director of commercial main stream cinema. It was very much a significant piece of art aesthetically and culturally. The film itself was an inspiration from sujatha's life. Sujatha was played by Madhavan a real life inspiration from Mani sir. It has been rumoured that, the screenplay and story was written by Sujatha. This is a visually brilliant work handled by Ravi K chandran, edited by Sreekar Prasad and composed by A R Rahman. Ravi K chandran, Sreekar Prasad, AR Rahman, Sound designer A S laxmi Narayan, lyricist vairmuthu and Mani Ratnam got six well deserved national awards for their product. Leave alone the national awards. The film was India's offical entry onto the 2004's cannes film fest and won best film at the los angeles film fest, jerusalem film fest.
Coming to the best part, the film's sound track. Its an A R Rahman's master piece for a Mani Ratnam film and the rest is history. This is a hugely diverse album having 7 songs composed by AR Rahman and recorded at his very own panchatan studios. Vellai Pookal one of AR Rahman's best composition and has also introduced our very own chinmayi with this album. She has sung the title track for the movie, oru deivam thanda poove. The album also features vidai kodu engal naade sung by M.S.V sir. Interesting that AR Rahman has used silence effectively in the Background score.
Hats off Mani Sir :)
This post just shows light upon both the films and the way it was made. Both the films are critically acclaimed and got many awards from film festivals world wide. Kannathil Muthamittal is a poignant tale about a young girl's search for her biological mother in the backdrop of the Tamil Eelam/ srilankan Civil war. Mani Ratnam has given us a beautiful tale about love and seperation with a rich palette of characters in the backdrop of a civil war. One wonders how he comes up with such bold, brave themes one after the other. Starting from the Kashmir problem or the satyavan savithri story of Roja, hindi-muslim riots of Bombay , MGR-Kalaignar friendship in Iruvar, Terrorism in Dil se. All the stories are about a tale of friendship and love in the background of war.
Kannathil Muthamittal captured how a family suffers in srilanka to find the Kid's biological mother with the growing tension of war. This is essentially about the J.D. Chakravarthy - Nandita das story in srilanka as well as the Madhavan- Simran story in chennai. The growth of both the couple's life in a time span of 15 Years. There are a few sequences in the movie that will stay in your heart for a long time, Keerthana the lead girl, finding girl's at her age having a pistol at her hands fighting war, The vidai kodu engal naade song sung by MS Vishwanathan sir when the srilankan army literally demolishes the entire village of maankulam, the climax confrontation between the mother and the child, visuals of the Vellai Pookal song sung by the A R Rahman himself, A srilankan tamil speaking guy giving his life by running himself into an army brigade. Its those sequences that shows light on the tamil eelam war and the human's affected by it. Its a strong moral based theme that touches a chord and sparks a tear from your eyes.
The genius of Mani sir lies in his choice of actors and the production of the film. Have you imagined madhavan playing a dad of three children with glasses on? . It is Simran's best performance we all agree. She has given a very subtle performance that deserves credits. The show stealer has been indeed Keerthana, Parthiban's daugther who has got the best debut and acknowledged rightly so with a national award. A few questions arise in the subconscious mind on how both madhavan and simran convinced themselve to tell the child the truth. How come keerthana understands the complexity of the issue and searches for her mother. Its a visual spectacle and stays in our hearts as one of the best we would have seen.
The film was a brave attempt from a director of commercial main stream cinema. It was very much a significant piece of art aesthetically and culturally. The film itself was an inspiration from sujatha's life. Sujatha was played by Madhavan a real life inspiration from Mani sir. It has been rumoured that, the screenplay and story was written by Sujatha. This is a visually brilliant work handled by Ravi K chandran, edited by Sreekar Prasad and composed by A R Rahman. Ravi K chandran, Sreekar Prasad, AR Rahman, Sound designer A S laxmi Narayan, lyricist vairmuthu and Mani Ratnam got six well deserved national awards for their product. Leave alone the national awards. The film was India's offical entry onto the 2004's cannes film fest and won best film at the los angeles film fest, jerusalem film fest.
Coming to the best part, the film's sound track. Its an A R Rahman's master piece for a Mani Ratnam film and the rest is history. This is a hugely diverse album having 7 songs composed by AR Rahman and recorded at his very own panchatan studios. Vellai Pookal one of AR Rahman's best composition and has also introduced our very own chinmayi with this album. She has sung the title track for the movie, oru deivam thanda poove. The album also features vidai kodu engal naade sung by M.S.V sir. Interesting that AR Rahman has used silence effectively in the Background score.
Hats off Mani Sir :)
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Ishqiya
I am very much happy write about a few positive things happening in the professional front. I had written lyrics for an album that had 6 songs, for which i was part of one song. The album is getting released this saturday at kamaraj
hall nandanam. The music was done by three music composers and mixed by Vishal, who is a composer himself. I have been working on the script of saranalayam for a long time and we are planning to take it to the next level by finding the producers. Saranalayam has been a dream project for me, the editor Prasanna, the composer Vishal and the DOP george. Story boarding will happen for the project soon.
This week i saw ishqiya, i cant really comment about the story, as i dont understand a few dialogues. It has a combination of hindi and urdu. The real punjabi slang attached to it. Vidya Balan mesmerizes on screen and proves that, she can single handedly take a film on her shoulders. Everyone have given great performances specially vidya & Arshad warsi. I do not have any guts to comment about the performance of an actor above par like nasserudin sir. If you do not know proper hindi, its not possible to understand the film. Please do watch the film & hear the soundtrack of ishqiya for vishal B's awesome composition's. If there are some soundtracks which you cannot ignore then it's got to be Ishqiya and Striker. See you soon. Lets discuss the rest later! :)
hall nandanam. The music was done by three music composers and mixed by Vishal, who is a composer himself. I have been working on the script of saranalayam for a long time and we are planning to take it to the next level by finding the producers. Saranalayam has been a dream project for me, the editor Prasanna, the composer Vishal and the DOP george. Story boarding will happen for the project soon.
This week i saw ishqiya, i cant really comment about the story, as i dont understand a few dialogues. It has a combination of hindi and urdu. The real punjabi slang attached to it. Vidya Balan mesmerizes on screen and proves that, she can single handedly take a film on her shoulders. Everyone have given great performances specially vidya & Arshad warsi. I do not have any guts to comment about the performance of an actor above par like nasserudin sir. If you do not know proper hindi, its not possible to understand the film. Please do watch the film & hear the soundtrack of ishqiya for vishal B's awesome composition's. If there are some soundtracks which you cannot ignore then it's got to be Ishqiya and Striker. See you soon. Lets discuss the rest later! :)
Monday, February 8, 2010
Striker - an amateur's film review
After four years of hibernation from the hindi film industry, Sidarth is back with the film Striker, set in the ghetto's of Malvani a slum in Mumbai. His previous outing has been the Cult film Rang De Basanthi & the character Karan Singhania inspired everyone to wear Jean Jackets and Ray-Ban Eye Gears. Striker is an off beat attempt from chandan Arora, the director, deals with the life of a carrom player during the 70's & 80's to the early 90's.
The story is about SuryaKanth(Sidarth) finding his life as a carrom player in the slum dwelling of Malvani. The film traces his struggles to support his family , his fate under the hands of Jalell the local Don played by aditya Panscholi. He chooses carrom as his profession without any choice due to the circumstances he is in. Its Surya's search on what life has to offer for him, forms the rest of the film.
The best part of the film is the casting. The film has a great cast in the form of sidarth, Ankur Vikal, aditya pancholi, Anupham Kher, Seema Biswas, Vidya Malvade & Padma Priya. Everyone has worked their heart out for the film. The soundtrack consists of 8 songs composed by six music directors. Cham Cham, Pia Saanvara, Yun Hua and Bombay Bombay are worth hearing to repeatedly. You cant miss the soundtrack. A lot of effort has been put to make the soundtrack look fresh. The soundtrack has songs composed by Amit Trivedi who gave Dev-d and Iktara from Wake up sid, Blaaze has rapped for two songs, Yuvan makes his bollywood debut with Striker. Lyricist swanand Kirkire & Vishal Baratwaj has given a track each. The pick of the lot has been Shailendra Barve with his two mindblowing tracks. Soundtrack of striker would be the best soundtrack you would hear for a long time.
Art direction and cinematography has gone hand in hand. The work of re-creating the ghetto's and capturing the frames requires a lot of skill. Both the Art director & the D.O.P delivers. Since the film is inspired from real life accounts, the writer-director have planned to show it as realistic as possible. The detailing of the film requires a special mention. Film Maker chandan has opted to use flashbacks considering the film is a Neo-Noir film.
This have paid bad dividents. Using a straight screenplay approach would have been more appropriate for the film. The Hindi-Muslim riots that happens in the end of the film, comes out of the blues. Writing a story & making the audience believe the story is more important. A Taut Screenplay would have made Striker a much more better film. Considering the state of hindi cinema, We must accept small films like striker.
The story is about SuryaKanth(Sidarth) finding his life as a carrom player in the slum dwelling of Malvani. The film traces his struggles to support his family , his fate under the hands of Jalell the local Don played by aditya Panscholi. He chooses carrom as his profession without any choice due to the circumstances he is in. Its Surya's search on what life has to offer for him, forms the rest of the film.
The best part of the film is the casting. The film has a great cast in the form of sidarth, Ankur Vikal, aditya pancholi, Anupham Kher, Seema Biswas, Vidya Malvade & Padma Priya. Everyone has worked their heart out for the film. The soundtrack consists of 8 songs composed by six music directors. Cham Cham, Pia Saanvara, Yun Hua and Bombay Bombay are worth hearing to repeatedly. You cant miss the soundtrack. A lot of effort has been put to make the soundtrack look fresh. The soundtrack has songs composed by Amit Trivedi who gave Dev-d and Iktara from Wake up sid, Blaaze has rapped for two songs, Yuvan makes his bollywood debut with Striker. Lyricist swanand Kirkire & Vishal Baratwaj has given a track each. The pick of the lot has been Shailendra Barve with his two mindblowing tracks. Soundtrack of striker would be the best soundtrack you would hear for a long time.
Art direction and cinematography has gone hand in hand. The work of re-creating the ghetto's and capturing the frames requires a lot of skill. Both the Art director & the D.O.P delivers. Since the film is inspired from real life accounts, the writer-director have planned to show it as realistic as possible. The detailing of the film requires a special mention. Film Maker chandan has opted to use flashbacks considering the film is a Neo-Noir film.
This have paid bad dividents. Using a straight screenplay approach would have been more appropriate for the film. The Hindi-Muslim riots that happens in the end of the film, comes out of the blues. Writing a story & making the audience believe the story is more important. A Taut Screenplay would have made Striker a much more better film. Considering the state of hindi cinema, We must accept small films like striker.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
A Week full of movvys
This week has been a week full of movies. It started from Goa @ Sathyam on tuesday, Tamil Padam @ Kamala on wednesday, Striker @ Sathyam on Friday and Asal @ Kamala on saturday. Goa is totally Fun. its a combination of spoof and mindless comedy. Tamil Padam is total spoof without any solid storyline. If you ask me , go for Goa than tamil padam. Yesterday I had a look at the trailer of Kites, starring Hrithik , Barbara Mori & Kangna Ranaut. The trailer
was of international class & blew my mind. Seems like a Romantic thriller. Barbara mori is uber cool speaking Spanish. The film is written and directed by anurag Basu, who gave us two gems , life in a metro and Gangster.
Asal Ajith's next offering is releasing this Friday. Expectations are big, this time as the trailer's look promising. Sidarth is back in Hindi film industry after a two year hiatus in a film called Striker. The film is set in the ghetto's of Bombay is about a carrom Player. The soundtrack looks very promising with 8 songs composed by several music directors. Sidarth has sung two songs in that album. Cham Cham a sufi number is the best of the lot. As the Oscar fever is catching up, I have not seen most of the films that are nominated for Oscars. I have seen only avatar and inglorious basterd's, so its tough to predict anything. Best thing is to catch up the Oscar night from TV. :) Chalo PPl. talk to you laterz :)
was of international class & blew my mind. Seems like a Romantic thriller. Barbara mori is uber cool speaking Spanish. The film is written and directed by anurag Basu, who gave us two gems , life in a metro and Gangster.
Asal Ajith's next offering is releasing this Friday. Expectations are big, this time as the trailer's look promising. Sidarth is back in Hindi film industry after a two year hiatus in a film called Striker. The film is set in the ghetto's of Bombay is about a carrom Player. The soundtrack looks very promising with 8 songs composed by several music directors. Sidarth has sung two songs in that album. Cham Cham a sufi number is the best of the lot. As the Oscar fever is catching up, I have not seen most of the films that are nominated for Oscars. I have seen only avatar and inglorious basterd's, so its tough to predict anything. Best thing is to catch up the Oscar night from TV. :) Chalo PPl. talk to you laterz :)
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Goa* - A venkat Prabhu holiday- Conditions Apply *
Call it spoof, Call it madness, Call it fun, Call it Goa. Goa is a non-stop fun film that will make you laugh all the time. This is Mr Venkat prabhu's third offering after the Cult film chennai-28 and the comedy thriller saroja. Venkat has created a set of character's based upon current generation of youngsters and made it look simple. He has kept the plot simple. Four individuals in Goa, finding their love life and understand relationship's. He has taken the bunch of guys from his well known cast & asked them to chill out at Goa, as if they are on a holiday. Believe it or not, they have done exactly that and delivered big time. Venkat keeps it simple and straight when it comes the screenplay as well as the character sketches. It sinks effortlessly in the screenplay of the film.
Jai, Vaibhav and Premji are from the same village, where the traditions and customs are still like the 1980's ramarajan/ Gangai amaren films. They get tired of answering questions in the town panchayat & leave the village. Jai meets his friend at a wedding to know that, he has married a foriegn girl from Goa. The three friends flee to Goa in search of their love and the way they find their love has been portrayed hilariously.
Jai- Pia's love story is the best of all. Jai finds what he wants in Pia, but refuses to accept her because of the stupid reason that he wants to marry a foriegner. Pia has fallen for Jai on the first meeting. The scene where Pia takes Jai to an empty theater for listening her sing was a beautifully constructed sequence. At last Jai accepts Pia as she is even after knowing that she had an affair with Vaibhav( Jai doesnt know vaibhav lied). That's the way it is today. This generation does not care about the past. This is venkat prabhu's take. Pia has a certain charm in her & she looks good with those curls and outfits even though she is short.
Vaibhav-Sneha 's story is about two concepts that prevails in this generation's men-women. Vaibhav badly wants to be in a relationship and have sex, for that he chooses sneha. Sneha is full of attitude and chauvinism. They both get married and divorced. Vaibhav accepts to sneha that he was never in love with her and it does not work out for hm. Vaibhav and sneha both have come out with a solid performance.
Premji-Melanie - This will bring the roof's down as well as make some sob at the end. It takes guts to portray a love story between a guy from a village and a foriegner. Melanie is beautiful and refreshing to see in the screen. She has done her part well, except for the dialogues in tamil. Premji has spoofed a lot in the past two films and has continued the same way in the third.
The fourth one is a gay relationship between Aravind Akash & Sampath. Sampath has given a mind blowing performance. He has made people believe that they are a gay couple. Aravind Akash has hit gym & put a six pack abb's, Both him & the six pack Abb's shines throughout the film.
There were a few drags, a very few dull moments that could have been taken care in the edit of the film. This film has the potential to acheive cult status. Our audience are very different these days, no one is not sure what to accept ?. Applause for the bravery of Soundarya Rajnikanth and venkat Prabhu to make a film like Goa. They have succeeded in reaching the films to the hearts of A center audience. I believe venkat will not continue with the same kind of films, which he has made till now in his next offering.
Jai, Vaibhav and Premji are from the same village, where the traditions and customs are still like the 1980's ramarajan/ Gangai amaren films. They get tired of answering questions in the town panchayat & leave the village. Jai meets his friend at a wedding to know that, he has married a foriegn girl from Goa. The three friends flee to Goa in search of their love and the way they find their love has been portrayed hilariously.
Jai- Pia's love story is the best of all. Jai finds what he wants in Pia, but refuses to accept her because of the stupid reason that he wants to marry a foriegner. Pia has fallen for Jai on the first meeting. The scene where Pia takes Jai to an empty theater for listening her sing was a beautifully constructed sequence. At last Jai accepts Pia as she is even after knowing that she had an affair with Vaibhav( Jai doesnt know vaibhav lied). That's the way it is today. This generation does not care about the past. This is venkat prabhu's take. Pia has a certain charm in her & she looks good with those curls and outfits even though she is short.
Vaibhav-Sneha 's story is about two concepts that prevails in this generation's men-women. Vaibhav badly wants to be in a relationship and have sex, for that he chooses sneha. Sneha is full of attitude and chauvinism. They both get married and divorced. Vaibhav accepts to sneha that he was never in love with her and it does not work out for hm. Vaibhav and sneha both have come out with a solid performance.
Premji-Melanie - This will bring the roof's down as well as make some sob at the end. It takes guts to portray a love story between a guy from a village and a foriegner. Melanie is beautiful and refreshing to see in the screen. She has done her part well, except for the dialogues in tamil. Premji has spoofed a lot in the past two films and has continued the same way in the third.
The fourth one is a gay relationship between Aravind Akash & Sampath. Sampath has given a mind blowing performance. He has made people believe that they are a gay couple. Aravind Akash has hit gym & put a six pack abb's, Both him & the six pack Abb's shines throughout the film.
There were a few drags, a very few dull moments that could have been taken care in the edit of the film. This film has the potential to acheive cult status. Our audience are very different these days, no one is not sure what to accept ?. Applause for the bravery of Soundarya Rajnikanth and venkat Prabhu to make a film like Goa. They have succeeded in reaching the films to the hearts of A center audience. I believe venkat will not continue with the same kind of films, which he has made till now in his next offering.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Wake up sid & Rocket singh
I wanted to write this update, after watching two back to back movies starring ranbir kapoor. I bought the dvd of wake up sid in landmark. This one is really good, i mean the features inside the disc. This comes with the making of
the songs, the making of wake up sid, deleted scenes. If you love the film, go get one soon. If you have thought that wake up sid is Ranbir's best performance, then comes Rocket singh. Rocket singh is a film that will stay with you for a long time, if your are looking for realistic cinema, I feel bad that i did not see it in theatres. Rocket singh written by Jaideep Sahni has also taken care of dialogues. Set in a small office, which does computer sales. Jaideep has etched out a wonderful set of characters, who has done an amazing performance given rocket singh as their debut. In fact except ranbir, most of them are new to cinema. The film is directed by Shimit Amin who gave us Chak de India. Bloggers spend some time watching this small ode of a film. ;). Both Wake up sid and Rocket singh, has been coming of age kind of a film, for Ranbir as well to bollywood. It was in the best film's list of many indian critics for the year 2009.
On the professional front, I have just started to work on a screenplay for a new project on Srilankan-Tamil problem, called the Eelam, researching is on for that script. I am reading a book called screenplay by Syd Field, so far so good. Tweaking the minor mistakes and corrections for saranalayam script before it goes to the producers hand. Saranalayam is kind of special for the whole team. Sarath-Actor , George C williams - Director of Photography, Prasanna G.K.- Editor ( It is a highly personal film for him) as well for vishal because it is a musical. I can tell you that, this is the best script or screenplay i have written till date. I am also working on the dialogues for my friend Kaushik's film.
CONGRATS ARR Sir for getting the Grammy awards :) . We all love your music & You as a person :)
the songs, the making of wake up sid, deleted scenes. If you love the film, go get one soon. If you have thought that wake up sid is Ranbir's best performance, then comes Rocket singh. Rocket singh is a film that will stay with you for a long time, if your are looking for realistic cinema, I feel bad that i did not see it in theatres. Rocket singh written by Jaideep Sahni has also taken care of dialogues. Set in a small office, which does computer sales. Jaideep has etched out a wonderful set of characters, who has done an amazing performance given rocket singh as their debut. In fact except ranbir, most of them are new to cinema. The film is directed by Shimit Amin who gave us Chak de India. Bloggers spend some time watching this small ode of a film. ;). Both Wake up sid and Rocket singh, has been coming of age kind of a film, for Ranbir as well to bollywood. It was in the best film's list of many indian critics for the year 2009.
On the professional front, I have just started to work on a screenplay for a new project on Srilankan-Tamil problem, called the Eelam, researching is on for that script. I am reading a book called screenplay by Syd Field, so far so good. Tweaking the minor mistakes and corrections for saranalayam script before it goes to the producers hand. Saranalayam is kind of special for the whole team. Sarath-Actor , George C williams - Director of Photography, Prasanna G.K.- Editor ( It is a highly personal film for him) as well for vishal because it is a musical. I can tell you that, this is the best script or screenplay i have written till date. I am also working on the dialogues for my friend Kaushik's film.
CONGRATS ARR Sir for getting the Grammy awards :) . We all love your music & You as a person :)
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Ayirathil oruvan - A Flawed film, but a visual experience
Ayirathil Oruvan, believed to be selvaraghavan's magnum opus, which has been in the making for three years has had a grand opening at the box office hugely because of the pre-release hype and the publicity for the film. As two week's has passed by, two versions of the film are out. The first version of the film which has been 3 hours long and there is a trimmed version that is twenty minutes shorter than the first one which was in the theatres from the fifth day of the release.
The film travels through the journey of two archaeologists (Andrea jeremiah & Reema Sen) to East-Asia in search of the ancient tamil ruler's chola's kingdom along with military base headed by Azhagu perumal and Local workers headed by Karthi sivakumar. The events and sequences that unfolds throughout the travel forms the first half of the film. The second half is an entirely different genre, that explores the civilizations of the Chola Kingdom.
Ayirathil Oruvan is of a fantasy genre, where a few minor logical error's can be kept aside. Watching this film in the huge screen has been an amazing visual experience. Its a visual treat, with Ramji's camera work that deserves special a mention. When it comes to film making its an visual experience, there should not be a difference between camera work and CG work. In this film we could clearly differentiate the sequences shot & the CG's used. It requires more time and techinical finesse to make the CG portions of ayirathil oruvan to look more realistic and authentic.
The script is not a fresh script, with selvaraghavan drawing inspirations from Mckena's Gold( The Nataraja - Stone Henge sequence) , 300 (War and stunt sequences) , The Lord of the rings Trilogy and Indiana Jones series. He has done enough research for the tamil dialect, the chola's lifestyle and the costumes. The research work has been
indeed wonderful. The screenplay has a lot of loose knots, which has not been taken care even in the edit. There would be a sequence where Karthik, Reema and Andrea escape from the fourth form of danger the snakes. They would escape through the river after that there is a sequence of loosely interconnected shots that does not even relate to each other, and finally we find them in the middle of the forest.
We agree that the script is a fantasy, where a few logical errors can be neglected. There were more big blunders in the screenplay that is hard to believe. Before the beginning of an military journey, the equipments and machinery would be properly planned for the whole trip. In the final sequences of the film when Karthik and the boy escapes from the militants, its hard to believe that they easily escaped in front of so many militants with weapons. The casting of the militants is not commendable, I meant they must look like a person working for the Indian military. whereas the casting of the people living in the Chola civilization is especially with the black make-up.
When it comes to the performance's Parthiban has done a mindblowing work. Karthik shines effortlessly in the comic sequences than the serious scenes. In the first of Half, Karthik has started from where he left off in paruthi veeran. Reema Sen has done a brilliant portrayal as the girl from the pandiya kingdom. Both Andrea and Azhagu perumal does not have enough scope to perform.
The soundtrack of the film is commendable for the songs, specially in the second half. The Theme's A celebration of life and The King arrives were really top notch from a young music composer like G V Prakash. The Background scores were heavily inspired from the tracks of Metallica. Different ancient instruments has been used for the soundtrack to provide the ancient historic era feel.
Set design and the art work for the film, specially the second half meets expectations. Costumes are designed by Erum Ali deserves a special mention, considering the magnitude and the junior artists of the film.
Selvaraghavan has the gifted potential to create those unforgettable moments in a film, fails to perfectly execute his visualization. The effort that has been put into this project is truly huge and has opened avenues that Indian cinema's got to explore upon. If the detailing of the first half as well as the screenplay had been slick, it would have been better.Watch it in a big screen once for the experience.
Crazy week - end of Jan 2010
This week is sort of huge in terms of profession as well personal issues. There is enough madness, to kickstart the week by a huge setback for my next production. I have been looking out to make the movie, materialise it soon. I am planning to approach a few producers. At work , @ Inautix there has been a big production move
this weekend, All the efforts spent for the last 5 months comes to a close today, something like a judgement day. Fine moving on, I had a dilemma whether i got to switch over to media. I asked my friend venkat for a suggestion, he replied just think whether you are worth there? as if i am worth here in IT :) i laughed my heart out when he said that!
Coming to the Soundtrack of VTV, ARR's new offering after the academy award. ARR-Gautham Combo is fresh as well the songs. Lots of western instruments as well as orchestration. Indian music lovers takes time to like it. A week ago, a colleague of mine and I had an argument over aaromale song. Thats the pick of the album sung by malayalee music director alphonse. Its really refreshing to hear Kalyani menon sing, Omana penne with malayalam lyrics. For starters, Kalyani menon is Cinematographer-Director Rajeev Menon's Mom. Her voice sound's like a teenager. Songs like Anbil Avan does not even stay with the rhytm, seems like a deliberate attempt from rahman Ji. We are loving it ARR. No one except you in this indian industry sets standards and achieve it slowly. Its Chinmayi who has sung it with devan ekambaram. Her choce of songs, Oru deivam for kannathil muthamittal, Mayya Mayya from guru, Anbil Avan from VTV. She has carved a niche for
herself in the industry.
As sun sets in chennai on a long friday evening, the weekend madness starts, Saw Ayirathil oruvan selvaragahvan's so called Magnum Opus. Will write a detailed review of that soon. Got to catch up Goa, Tamizh Padam and also Ishqiya. Heard Ishqiya is a must watch, set in the suburbs of INDIA and is a battle between Love and Lust.
this weekend, All the efforts spent for the last 5 months comes to a close today, something like a judgement day. Fine moving on, I had a dilemma whether i got to switch over to media. I asked my friend venkat for a suggestion, he replied just think whether you are worth there? as if i am worth here in IT :) i laughed my heart out when he said that!
Coming to the Soundtrack of VTV, ARR's new offering after the academy award. ARR-Gautham Combo is fresh as well the songs. Lots of western instruments as well as orchestration. Indian music lovers takes time to like it. A week ago, a colleague of mine and I had an argument over aaromale song. Thats the pick of the album sung by malayalee music director alphonse. Its really refreshing to hear Kalyani menon sing, Omana penne with malayalam lyrics. For starters, Kalyani menon is Cinematographer-Director Rajeev Menon's Mom. Her voice sound's like a teenager. Songs like Anbil Avan does not even stay with the rhytm, seems like a deliberate attempt from rahman Ji. We are loving it ARR. No one except you in this indian industry sets standards and achieve it slowly. Its Chinmayi who has sung it with devan ekambaram. Her choce of songs, Oru deivam for kannathil muthamittal, Mayya Mayya from guru, Anbil Avan from VTV. She has carved a niche for
herself in the industry.
As sun sets in chennai on a long friday evening, the weekend madness starts, Saw Ayirathil oruvan selvaragahvan's so called Magnum Opus. Will write a detailed review of that soon. Got to catch up Goa, Tamizh Padam and also Ishqiya. Heard Ishqiya is a must watch, set in the suburbs of INDIA and is a battle between Love and Lust.
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