memories
Babu Moshai...Adieu-A Tribute to Hrishida
Hrishikesh Mukherjee, was one of the few directors in India whose movies were sans violence and vulgarity. A longtime assistant of the great Bimal Roy. his movies touched a chord with the hearts and minds of the Indian middle-class family. He portrayed the father-daughter relationship poignantly in Anupama. The platonic friendship in Anand and Namak Haram and cemented Amitabh's career.
Movies like Golmaal, Chupke Chupke, Khoobsurat, Bawarchi were clean comedies that provided wholesome comedies. Today's bawdy comedies stand nowhere in comparison with Hrishida's works.
He will be missed by all cinema lovers.
Good Bye Babu Moshai, regale your audiences in heaven.
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Monday, August 28, 2006
Cinema, You and I
Vetayaadu Vilayaadu-Hunt and Play-Movie Review
"Another episode in a police officer's life"
Post Kakha Kakha, Gautam returns witha bang and presents VV. The movie was embroiled in one controversy after another since its inception. A suicide attempt, debts, ego-conflicts, bouncing of cheques; all this can be a plot for another movie.
The movie has been shot slickly and Ravi Verman's camera work is top-notch. I do not want to reveal too many details about the movie, but that is the movie reviewer's problem to balance the details while reviewing a movie. Kamal is Raghavan a cop, who investigates the murder of his colleague's daughter.(The girl is very beautiful, never seen her before, and has potential to be the next cute little thing). Raghavan investigates and the perpetrators of the crime cannot be discovered. Arokyaraj (played by Prakashraj) and his wife are haunted by the memories of their dead daughter and decide to settle in America. Six months later the couple are found brutally killed.
Raghavan is intrigued and he leaves foe New York to hunt the killers. On the flight to NY, scenes of Raghavan's past flash- his first wife(Kamalinee Mukherjee; another beauty bitten by the cinema bug), their romance and her death caused by the underworld.
In NY, Raghavan is helped by Anderson, investigations reveal four corpses in a forest like area, Raghavan beats the American police and details emerge. In between investigations Raghavan saves Aradhana(Jo) from commiting suicide and they find solace in each other.
Anderson pulls one for Uncle Sam and discovers a link, a finger tied to a lemon and chillies, similar to the one found in Prakashraj's daughter's murder.
Who are the killers? Are the American killings and the killing in Tamil Nadu linked? Do Kamal and Aradhana get married? Are the killers caught?
Watch the movie for the answers.
The movie has excellent music by Harris Jayraj and "Paartha Mudhal Naalae" is the best of the lot. "Karka Karka" Kamal's entry song is tastefully done. The big minus is the amount of bloodshed and the graphic violence shown on screen.
All said and done, the movie is definitely worth watching.
Mahesh's Rate-o-Meter- 3.5/5.
Vetayaadu Vilayaadu-Hunt and Play-Movie Review
"Another episode in a police officer's life"
Post Kakha Kakha, Gautam returns witha bang and presents VV. The movie was embroiled in one controversy after another since its inception. A suicide attempt, debts, ego-conflicts, bouncing of cheques; all this can be a plot for another movie.
The movie has been shot slickly and Ravi Verman's camera work is top-notch. I do not want to reveal too many details about the movie, but that is the movie reviewer's problem to balance the details while reviewing a movie. Kamal is Raghavan a cop, who investigates the murder of his colleague's daughter.(The girl is very beautiful, never seen her before, and has potential to be the next cute little thing). Raghavan investigates and the perpetrators of the crime cannot be discovered. Arokyaraj (played by Prakashraj) and his wife are haunted by the memories of their dead daughter and decide to settle in America. Six months later the couple are found brutally killed.
Raghavan is intrigued and he leaves foe New York to hunt the killers. On the flight to NY, scenes of Raghavan's past flash- his first wife(Kamalinee Mukherjee; another beauty bitten by the cinema bug), their romance and her death caused by the underworld.
In NY, Raghavan is helped by Anderson, investigations reveal four corpses in a forest like area, Raghavan beats the American police and details emerge. In between investigations Raghavan saves Aradhana(Jo) from commiting suicide and they find solace in each other.
Anderson pulls one for Uncle Sam and discovers a link, a finger tied to a lemon and chillies, similar to the one found in Prakashraj's daughter's murder.
Who are the killers? Are the American killings and the killing in Tamil Nadu linked? Do Kamal and Aradhana get married? Are the killers caught?
Watch the movie for the answers.
The movie has excellent music by Harris Jayraj and "Paartha Mudhal Naalae" is the best of the lot. "Karka Karka" Kamal's entry song is tastefully done. The big minus is the amount of bloodshed and the graphic violence shown on screen.
All said and done, the movie is definitely worth watching.
Mahesh's Rate-o-Meter- 3.5/5.
Monday, August 21, 2006
memories#comments
Shehnai Ke Shahenshah-The Emperor of the Shehnai-Ustad Bismillah Khan
Shehnai maestro Ustad Bismillah Khan died of cardiac arrest in the wee hours of Monday morning. Khan was born on March 21, 1916 into a family of court musicians and later trained under his uncle, the late Ali Bux 'Vilayatu', a shehnai player at Varanasi's Vishwanath temple.
He enthralled audiences across the world with his refreshing blend of music, infact he resurrected the shehnai from the obscurity of being an accompanying instrument to an independent instrument.
He was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award. He was a man of simple tastes and led a Puritan lifestyle. He has now left our world and is perhaps enthralling the gods in heaven with his sweet melodies.
Shehnai Ke Shahenshah-The Emperor of the Shehnai-Ustad Bismillah Khan
Shehnai maestro Ustad Bismillah Khan died of cardiac arrest in the wee hours of Monday morning. Khan was born on March 21, 1916 into a family of court musicians and later trained under his uncle, the late Ali Bux 'Vilayatu', a shehnai player at Varanasi's Vishwanath temple.
He enthralled audiences across the world with his refreshing blend of music, infact he resurrected the shehnai from the obscurity of being an accompanying instrument to an independent instrument.
He was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award. He was a man of simple tastes and led a Puritan lifestyle. He has now left our world and is perhaps enthralling the gods in heaven with his sweet melodies.
memories
Remembering Ammama-My Grandmother
It is almost 16 years since my grandma passed away, I don't know why, but yesterday I was going through our family photo albums when I saw a photograph of my grandparents posing for their thirty-fifth wedding anniversary. Both of them were simple people, my grandpa was a cook and my grand ma ran a small store in our native village in Kerala. They had four children two boys and two girls . My mother was their third child. All the children were raised with great care and love even though they were financially poor.
My two uncles came to the erstwhile Calcutta to make a living , they prospered and in five years time saved money to bring the family from Kerala to Calcutta.
My father was on a contract job in the Middle-East and both me and my sister were brought up by our mother in our uncle's house. My sister was very close to grandpa, while I was the centre of affection of my grandma. Grandma used to narrate fairy-tales and prepare delicious savouries and sweets during festivals.
When grandpa died, she was totally heart-broken and was never able to recover from the personal tragedy. She died three years later.
When I am alone I recollect the days I spent in her laps listening to her fairy-tales and falling asleep. Some things in life are priceless and I wish my grandma were alive to see me, her grandson working and earning his living.
I know that she is a star in the skies watching my progress and showering her blessings on me.
Remembering Ammama-My Grandmother
It is almost 16 years since my grandma passed away, I don't know why, but yesterday I was going through our family photo albums when I saw a photograph of my grandparents posing for their thirty-fifth wedding anniversary. Both of them were simple people, my grandpa was a cook and my grand ma ran a small store in our native village in Kerala. They had four children two boys and two girls . My mother was their third child. All the children were raised with great care and love even though they were financially poor.
My two uncles came to the erstwhile Calcutta to make a living , they prospered and in five years time saved money to bring the family from Kerala to Calcutta.
My father was on a contract job in the Middle-East and both me and my sister were brought up by our mother in our uncle's house. My sister was very close to grandpa, while I was the centre of affection of my grandma. Grandma used to narrate fairy-tales and prepare delicious savouries and sweets during festivals.
When grandpa died, she was totally heart-broken and was never able to recover from the personal tragedy. She died three years later.
When I am alone I recollect the days I spent in her laps listening to her fairy-tales and falling asleep. Some things in life are priceless and I wish my grandma were alive to see me, her grandson working and earning his living.
I know that she is a star in the skies watching my progress and showering her blessings on me.
Thursday, August 03, 2006
memories
A Different Charm
Chennai or Madras, I prefer the latter so I will stick to it, is a city of contradictions, like most Indian cities. On one side you have elite five-star hotels where the rich and famous wine and dine, and on the other you have the road side "thattukadas," dishing their fare to the poor man. We have super structures made of steel and glass harbouring international software companies and we also have small two room sheds in industrial estates making spare parts for machines. The point I am trying to make there is something or the other for everyone according to their tastes and budget.
Madras is a treasure-trove for book lovers like me. The footpath on Pycrofts Road off Marina Beach and the Lily Pond Complex at Moore Market near the Central Railway Station are good places to hunt for rare and used books. Then we have our own legend, Luz Thata an old man who has been selling books for more than fifty years at Luz, near Mylapore, opposite the Kamadhenu Theatre.
There is a strange charm that second-hand book shops exude, the dark rooms with shelves full of books on various topics in different languages, and the smell of old paper and bound leather. One gets transported in time when we leaf through some old novel belonging to a Raju or a Rita dated January12, 1964 or April 2, 1974. We wonder what the original owner might be doing now or the occassion when he or she would have received the book.
Unfortunately the second-book shops are dying out because of the competetive discounts offered by big shops. Another alarming fact as narrated by Chandran a book-seller is-" People have no time to read good fiction, everyone is busy preparing for competetive exams and studying engineering, computers or medicine. Few people come to us asking for old novels. All people ask for is Harry Potter, Sidney Sheldon and Da Vinci Code."
This has led to the rise in book piracy. Now even these sellers have to stock copies of pirated books which are sold at a third of the price of the original to survive. I personally feel that book piracy is less harmful than video piracy. Atleast people will be reading something and gain some information and may actually be tempted to read the works of masters like Dickens or Verne.
So if you guys are in Chennai, you now know where to get a good bargain on your books.
A Different Charm
Chennai or Madras, I prefer the latter so I will stick to it, is a city of contradictions, like most Indian cities. On one side you have elite five-star hotels where the rich and famous wine and dine, and on the other you have the road side "thattukadas," dishing their fare to the poor man. We have super structures made of steel and glass harbouring international software companies and we also have small two room sheds in industrial estates making spare parts for machines. The point I am trying to make there is something or the other for everyone according to their tastes and budget.
Madras is a treasure-trove for book lovers like me. The footpath on Pycrofts Road off Marina Beach and the Lily Pond Complex at Moore Market near the Central Railway Station are good places to hunt for rare and used books. Then we have our own legend, Luz Thata an old man who has been selling books for more than fifty years at Luz, near Mylapore, opposite the Kamadhenu Theatre.
There is a strange charm that second-hand book shops exude, the dark rooms with shelves full of books on various topics in different languages, and the smell of old paper and bound leather. One gets transported in time when we leaf through some old novel belonging to a Raju or a Rita dated January12, 1964 or April 2, 1974. We wonder what the original owner might be doing now or the occassion when he or she would have received the book.
Unfortunately the second-book shops are dying out because of the competetive discounts offered by big shops. Another alarming fact as narrated by Chandran a book-seller is-" People have no time to read good fiction, everyone is busy preparing for competetive exams and studying engineering, computers or medicine. Few people come to us asking for old novels. All people ask for is Harry Potter, Sidney Sheldon and Da Vinci Code."
This has led to the rise in book piracy. Now even these sellers have to stock copies of pirated books which are sold at a third of the price of the original to survive. I personally feel that book piracy is less harmful than video piracy. Atleast people will be reading something and gain some information and may actually be tempted to read the works of masters like Dickens or Verne.
So if you guys are in Chennai, you now know where to get a good bargain on your books.
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