It was a lazy Sunday morning in Bangalore and we (me,Sana and Ananth) took a budget hotel room in Cottonpet road to refresh, get ready etc… We were unaware of the last night news and turned on the TV to find the Pune Blast, which killed 9 people. The distress dawned upon us and we were cursing the terrorists and went in to the analysis of who would have did it. After few moments I cried “Should look at the history of German Bakery? Does it have any cultural importance like leopold cafe?”

Ananth “Come on man, can’t you see it as a news? You already jumped in to the trivia mode. That’s what Yaggy (fellow Quizzer and friend) said that life’s a trivia for quizzers”

Although my heart went to those young people who lost their life in the blast, my quizzers mind was already thiniking about something else. I went in to a deep thought process and started thinking whether Yaggy’s statement is true. I was interested in quizzing from school days but the chances were less in those times as I was in a small town and maximized my talent in the few chances I got. The college time was even worse. I started real quizzing only in my MBA days and it took sometime to digest the quizzing scene in Chennai. I realised I am a kindergarten baby among the behemoths of quizzing here. I understood the fact that you got to specialize in topics… As I was comfortable with business, I started knowledge mongering in business topics.

Everything became a question for me. From the business of child trolleys to god channel, from sanctity to shit (sulabh??), everything had a quizzing importance for me. Few of my friends used to tease me on the peculiar habit of analysing the manufacture labels of the products we buy. A few used to get angry at the insane trivia I come up with some brands, although it’s for my own good to reiterate stuff and a few have asked me to get a life. Don’t you think I need to get a life, when I went to a quiz on a valentine’s day?

May be we quizzers take life as a trivia. But the passion which runs in the quizzing fraternity equals the passion of Sachin when he plays cricket, passion of Brazilian when he plays football,passion of Kamal Hassan when he acts, passion of ilaiyaraja or Rahman when they make music because for almost all of us quiz is something similar…

The sparkle of eyes, the thump on the thighs, a hi-five with the team mate and applause of the audience is worth to take life as a trivia ( and of course the sweet money… Is that not?

– Post From My iPhone

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This blog post will be the start for the annual round up blog posts from my side. The music of 2009 was intriguing rather than interesting when it came Tamil movie world. Harris Jayaraj with his own set repeated jingles catered to the masses whereas Rahman settled for nil direct release in Tamil this year. Ilaiyaraja had very few and Yuvan was impressive only in parts. This year really belongs to the new bees – Thaman of Boys fame scintillated the audience with Eeram and Sundar C.Babu, son of yesteryear violinist Chitti Babu raised the rate of heart beats with Sambho Siva Sambho in Nadodigal.

The quality of songs and music have drastically come down in Tamil Cinema in the recent years. The songs are skewed towards hip hops and kuthu paatus rather than melodies. What’s worse is the amount of copycats and inspirations from different parts of the world. Harris Jayaraj is gaining prominence like Deva and Anu malik of the 90s…

Now for our Top 5 list. Click the title of the song to watch it in Youtube

5. Sambho Siva Sambho from Nadodigal – a heart thumping and fast paced number which runs like the vein of the movie.

4. Nila Nee Vanam Kaatru from Pokkisham – I wrote a detailed review on the song when the movie was released. It stuck to my heart. A titillating melody..

3. Om Shiva Om from Naan Kadavul – This one is a haunting piece from Maestro Ilaiyaraja and it sounds really eerie with the Sanskrit lyric sung by Vijay Prakash

2. Neethane from Sarvam – Hear out the scintillating prelude and the music arrangements. More than any other, this one is the best picturized song of the year

1.   Mazhaiye Mazhaiye from Eeram – The top slot goes to Thaman’s Mazhaiye Mazhaiye from Eeram. A riveting entry to youngster as a musician. I could not explain the song but hear it out when you walk or see the rain.. You will cherish the experience

The Hindi Music was dominated by the brilliance of AR Rahman in the first part and the second half was distributed to Shankar Ehsan Loy trio, Pritam and Maestro Ilaiyaraja. Pritam hasn’t stopped copying, Himesh hasn’t stopped shouting at his low pitch and Music directors never stopped producing mediocre albums. And more importantly the marketing has gone to the TVs where the singers and music directors promote their songs in music reality shows. If anyone hears a crap song for 10 times, he would start liking it. I mean i dunno where Hindi Film music is heading too… We had some great albums like Yuvraaj ( the movie was bad, of course) Bachna He Haseeno, Tum Mile but otherwise the music albums were more predictable and boring

Here are the Top 5 for the Year

5. Iktara from Wake Up Sid : Although i hated the movie, this song has that long lorn sad feeling to it and if you miss some one you will love it. The lyrics and the music are simple with amazing interludes.

4. Pehli Baar Mohabbat from Kaminey: Just one question – Why does Vishal Bharadwaj make so less music albums?

Next 3 are equally best from the best

3. Emosional Athyachar from Dev D: Amit Trivedi is the real hero of this movie which gives a practical dark take on Devdas. This musical piece has that tangy tune with meaningful lyric.

2. Mudhi Mudhi from Paa ( All versions): Maestro at his best. Few had a feeling it’s a rework of Ninnukori Varnam from Agni Natchathiram. But it has a far fetched resemblance to it. Simple situational lyrics make all the 3 versions masterpieces. Shaan or Sunitha Rao?

1. Rehna Tu from Delhi 6 : This album is one of the best from AR Rahman. I would even rate it well and above oscar winning Slumdog Millionaire. When AR Rahman is given the freedom in doing music, he gives you the best. I still rate Duet, Kaadhal Virus as one of his best rather than Mudhalvan and Indian.

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The year end lists are always interesting to read. The IMDB’s best movie list, Time person of the year and Amazon’s top books list are eclectic to read… So I thought why not my list of best things of 2009 and what to look for 2010

First up my most favorite – movies

5 Kollywood Movies to watch in 2010

5. Irumbu Kottai Murattu Singam

He made a fantabulous political satire after almost 30 years in Tamil Cinema – Imsai Arasan 23m Pulikesi and his second venture ” Arai yen 305vil Kadavul” was an “Bruce Almighty” experiment but it was different too. Now Simbudevan is all set to bring cowboy movies back to Tamil Cinema after36 years – the last one was “Ganga” starring Jai Shanker. The cast of IKMS includes Raghava Lawrence, Sandhya, Padma Priya, Lakshmi Rai, Ramesh Kanna, Mouli and produced by Kalpathi S. Aghoram.  With an impressive cast and a creative film maker, a movie to look forward to.

4. Aayirathil Oruvan

Don’t worry the MGR Blockbuster is not re-releasing but this one is the magnum opus from Selvaraghavan. Made at a whopping budget of Rs.32 Crores, this has Karthi, Reema Sen, Andrea and Parthiban in the lead. The trailers and the songs indicate a mythical adventure kind of a story.  It can also have a Chozha connection, which increased my expectations manifold. Will it be the start of Indiana Jones of Tamil Movies?

Watch the trailer

3. Asal

Saran and Ajith combination have always been a runaway success. From Kaadhal Mannan to Attagasam, they never failed to entertain. In fact, Ajith met his wife Shalini in Amarkalam, a movie directed by Saran.  The deadly duo is back with a bang tagged with an impressive star cast of Bhavana, Sameera Reddy, Prabhu and Suresh ( Yes, the yesteryear lover boy is making a comeback of sorts as a villain). The story is under wraps and seems to be stylish crime-mafia thriller. Will Ajith get his next hit after almost one and half years?

2. Ashokavanam

According to me, he is the best director living in India. Who else other than Maniratnam can claim that title? Ashokavanam is the modern day adaptation of Ramayan from the master director. Prithiviraj as Ram, Aishwarya Rai as Seeta, Vikram as Ravanan and more importantly Karthik will be back as Hanuman. Ok they are not going to look in mythical costumes so don’t worry about it. With AR Rahman scoring the music and Santosh Sivan wielding the camera (after Roja and Dil Se), would you even think to miss this movie?

1. Endhiran

There is only one Super star and he reigns the number one spot here too. Writer Sujatha’s idea taking shape in the mind of Director Shankar with the music of AR Rahman and with Super Star is the best you can think of. Made at a paltry 120 Cr ( Pun intended) budget, this movie is produced by Sun Pictures. As usual, the production is under wraps and the whole of Tamil community is waiting for this one movie. A sure shot blockbuster in the making.

5 Bollywood Movies to watch in 2010

5. Rann and Koochie Koochie Hota Hain

Ramgopal Varma is the most misunderstood director in bollywood. He hits, he misses but he never stopped trying different things. In fact the different facets of Amitabh’s acting were brought well only in his movies. He comes back with Amitabh as a Harvard educated media baron who starts India’s first private news channel India 24×7 (Prannoy Roy). The star cast includes Ritesh Deshmukh, Gul Panag, Suchitra Krishnamurthy ( yes she is back) and Paresh Rawal. Ram Gopal Varma without controversies – that would be impossible – the promos aired had “Jana Gana Mana Rann” – a modified national anthem. How is that?

Watch the controversial song here…

Rahul and Anjali are back but with 4 legs… Confused? 2010 marks the 10th anniversary of Kuch Kuch Hota Hain, a landmark movie which marked the entry of Karan Johar and sealed the place of Sharukh as the super star.
So how do you celebrate the anniversary? Make an animated movie with big stars lending voices to the love story of dogs… Sharukh, Kajol, Rani Mukherjee and Sanjay Dutt will lend their voices to animated characters directed by Tarun Mansukhani and produced by Karan Johar. A different attempt indeed…

4. Kites

After watching Life in a Metro, I started following Anurag Basu. Although his previous ventures were crap copies of Hollywood blockbusters, Metro was excellent. So here comes the long awaited ” Kites” with Hrithik Roshan ( when did we last saw him- yeah Jodha Akbar), Kangana Ranaut and Latina girl Barbara Mori ( isn’t she hot?). A love story between a Hindi speaking Indian and a Latino girl- interesting. This movie had it’s own set of controversies linking Barbara and Hrithik… Hmm Let’s wait for this …

3. Ishqiya

Whenever Vishal Bharadwaj makes a movie, you are in for a surprise. It’s like “Dan tan Dan” (Kaminey) and this time he has written the script with the first time director Abhishek Chaubey who will be wielding the megaphone for this movie. Music by Vishal himself ( he is a better music director than lot others. Chappa Chappa- unforgettable ). The star cast is the most interesting part Naserruddin Shah, Arshad Warsi and Vidya Balan. Two thieves escaping from their boss take refuge with a widow. They fall in love with her and eventual brawl follows. Guess who plays the baddie? You are in for a surprise there too …
Watch the trailer here

2. Raavan

Nothing to say more. The Hindi version of Ashokavanam with Abhishek Bacchan as Ram, Aishwarya as Seetha Vikram makes his Hindi debut as Raavan and Govinda most probably as Hanuman.

1. My Name is Khan

Karan Johar was always criticized for his rosy sugar coated feel good movies which always showed the brighter side of life. When he changed paths in Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna, he was criticized for that too. He is someone who can’t be ignored. He is bringing Raj and Simran back but they are not Raj and Simran any more…
Sharukh as an Aspergus Syndrome patient and a Muslim in US falls in love with a single mother – Kajol… In the wake of 9/11, how their life changes is the story line. With Fox Star pictures buying the rights for the movie at 100 Cr, this movie has become the talk of the town. Will it be another scorcher of a hit from Karan- SRK – Kajol ?

Watch the promo here

5 Hollywood movies to watch in 2010

5. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows – Part 1

Although I don’t like it, this one is going to be one of the most awaited movies of 2010. Although I don’t like it, this movie will be one of the top grossers in2010. Although I don’t like it, this movie is going to be a blockbuster. The Harry Potter trio will be back in the first part of the last book. Directed by David Yates, who directed the previous two Harry Potter movies

4. Toy Story 3

15 Years back when Steve Jobs was in Pixar, he ventured and succeeded in producing the most advanced animation movie of that time. It grossed a fortune and was marveled for the technical innovation. Pixar over the years has grown and made innovations which people can’t imagine. Ratatouille and Wall E were awe-inspiring.
2010 will see the return of Woody and Buzz in the voices of Tom Hanks and Tim Allen. And they will come in 3D. Directed by Lee Unkrich (co-director of Finding Nemo, Monster’s Inc) and Darla Anderson (original maker of Toy Story), the movie will be produced by Pixar and distributed by Walt Disney. Can’t wait for Woody, my most favorite film cartoon character.

Watch the absolutely awesome promo…

3. The Expendables

Ok tell me this how about an action movie with Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Bruce Willis, Jet Li, Mickey Rourke, Dolph Laudgren and a cameo by Arnold Schwarzenegger. Dream come true? Yes it will be true in 2010. The movie will be directed by Sylvester Stallone himself and produced by Lions Gate films. The movie will be a tribute to all the action movies of the 90s which we grew along with. Don’t we miss it now?

2. Robin Hood

Although Blade Runner impressed the movie world, it was the Apple 1984 commercial that made Ridley Scott a star director. Then came a string of master pieces – Black Rain, Thelma & Louise, Gladiator (where he joined with Russell Crowe), Black Hawk Down, A Good Year, American Gangster and Body of Lies. Russell Crowe has been his most favorite actor. Russell Crowe will dawn the role of Robin Hood and Cate Blanchett will play Lady Marion. Needless to say about the story as it’s legendary, the treatment is expected to be different.

Watch the scintillating trailer here

1. The Inception

The last 3 films of this guy are blockbusters and in fact the last one is one of the highest grossers ever. The Inception is a sci-fi thriller from Christopher Nolan ( the director of Dark Knight) starring Leonardo Di Caprio, Ken Watanabe ( the last samurai), Marion Cotillard and Ellen Page. Why it’s the most awaited movie? Just because it’s from Christopher Nolan after The Dark Knight.

Next up will be “5 Books to Read in 2010″

– Post From My iPhone

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It irks me when I see so many music composers claim that they are the best in music when their total number of movies doesn’t even cross the number of movies made by Ilaiyaraja in a year

Whenever some one speaks about Ilaiyaraja’s music, they start up their discussion with Mouna Raagam, Payanangal Mudivathillai, Agni Natchathiram or about his Thiruvasagam. Most of his famous songs are often repeated in FM stations and it has become so stereotypical. The genius of that man cannot be curtailed in to few famous albums. This series from me is to unearth some musical gems from not so famous albums of Ilaiyaraja but those which keeps running over and over in my iPhone.

Disclaimers:

1. I am not a music person. I dunno how the ragas are made, how western notes play, I am clueless about C sharps… So don’t expect me to diagnose the music in to raagas and notes. I would write what I love in that song. I always believe that the success of the song relies on the feeling it gives you when you hear it. If you like to know more about the musical genius of the man, visit his official fans group in Yahoo – I bet you are in for a treat if you understand music.

2. All the songs chosen here are my personal favorites. So it’s absolutely biased and i hope you feel the same.

The Unknown Gem – 1

Parthiban is one of the most intelligent film makers I have ever seen. But he sometimes wades of his usual ways to make movies like Ullae Veliye etc. Only he knows why. He is a ardent fan ( fan is a understatement, devotee is a better word) of Ilaiyaraja. He once famously put in a title card like this “Music Alias Ilaiyaraja”.

Incidentally his first movie’s (Pudhiya Paadhai) music was not by Maestro but he joined hands for the second movie “Pondatti Thevai”. One of the most beautiful songs from that movie is going to be our first song.

To understand the beauty of the song, you should understand the situation. The hero (Parthiban) is a bus conductor , an orphan falls in love with a Brahmin girl who travels regularly in his ladies special bus. He loves his mother but he doesn’t have a picture of her to see. He even tries to take a picture of his mother in her death-bed but she dies. So he always yearns for a motherly love and he expects his wife to be his second mother ( most of us do) . Once his lady love comes to his house, tries to cook non-veg for him etc. He gives her the saree his mother had bought for her daughter in law. She sings this song as he asks for it.

The song starts with a female hum and a simple piano rendering. And it moves on to the flute and the Pallavi follows. The song continues with a usual Tabla base entwined with piano and violin intersperses. Both the interludes are made of delightful interactions between violin, piano and flute. The whole song has a lullaby effect attached to it. Ilayaragam, the geocities page of Ilaiyaraja says that song was made in Natabhairavi Raaga. It is said to be a raaga of grandeur and pomp. A lullaby in that raaga – only Raaja can do it.

The lyrics forms a very integral part of the song. The first half the lover says why she will not equal his mother and explains her love with a sweet tinge of desire.

In the second half, the guy says what he wants from her and shows his love with the usual metaphorical words attached with poetry.

The song was sung by Chitra and Arun Mozhi (who is also flautist in Ilaiyaraja’s orchestra). The lyric was written by Vaali.

Why I love this song?

Have you ever spent a day with your love in your home alone, with none around, distancing yourself from the outside world? Just cook together, eat together even though you are not hungry, with sweet kisses… Have you ever slept in her bosom like you sleep in your mother’s? You will understand the real beauty of this song when you experience it…

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I was too tired to go to office today. But I eventually did as I had a whole lot of work to do. Prakash was missing today and Ashish from old lunch gang joined. Ok I got to introduce Ashish and Sreelesh here. Ashish and Sreelesh are my juniors in MBA and that’s how I joined this lunch gang initially. In the span of 1 and half years, they both got caught in wedlock and had their lunches with their wives in the afternoon. Sometimes, when the ladies are out of town, they join us in the lunch table.

Although this topic was partially discussed before because of Thomas, Joe came up with this question. “I am seeing so many people who earn a fortune, invested lots in land, assets but they tend to make more and more money out of what they earn rather than enjoying atleast a part of it. Don’t they have passion of doing something different? May be a world tour, a fast car or gadgets – whatever. Are they missing the finer things in life? “

Ashish’s point of view was “if people like them do not make money and save, how can people like me enjoy life.” He said that his father is self-sustained and he doesn’t look at Ashish for money. They always save money and invest for the latter part of life, which doesn’t seem to be the way of younger generation

Thomas was saying that making money is their passion and it’s their interest in life. Making 10 from 1, 100 from 10, 1000s from 100s etc.. As he said it may be the case but a guy who makes money would like to enjoy the good things which come out of it.

My thought was “People don’t live for themselves. They live for their children. They save,invest and work for their off-springs. But the only problem is that they don’t prepare their children for the worse. What if the money goes one day”.

We ended the discussion without a solution but my thoughts are still lingering. Is this life so stereotypical? Should we marry, make children, raise them, pamper them, love them, live for them, earn for them and eventually die for them?

How many of you have thought of living for yourself for a day? To pursue the passion you nurtured from childhood, to fulfill a desire which you could not , to enjoy the finer things on life? Are we becoming zombies who do repeated jobs just for the sake of survival? Slog like a buffalo for 5 or 6 days a week, watch a meaningless movie in the weekend, merry with some cuisine, a occasional trip to hometown or a hill station and fulfill the physical expectations. Are these only things in life? Aren’t we wasting the most precious time of our lives? Or are we really living!!!!

Ok that’s the end of the post, I got to send mailers for next week’s webinar. My appraisal is due for next month. I can’t screw it up

Realities of life???!!!

– Post From My iPhone

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The loss of Ashes for Australian Cricket Team coincided with the infamous ousting of Jaswant Singh from BJP, the second largest national party in India. Jaswant Singh was ousted because of writing a book about Mohammed Ali Jinnah.

The problems in Australian cricket team ( was the best cricket team in the world till Sunday) and BJP ( one of the most disciplined parties in India) are strikingly similar and shockingly it seems the problems will get worse.

As I see there are 3 major problems in both..
1. Replacement Crisis
2. Identity Crisis
3. Leadership Crisis

Replacement Crisis

Australian Cricket Team had the most formidable team till 2007. The best opening pair in the world, absolutely magnificent middle order, the best wicket keeper the cricket world would ever see and the most feared bowling attack. Post Ashes 2007, the chunk of this team retired from world cricket and suddenly there were no one to replace the best or the so called relacements could not even do 10% of what the greats were doing. I did not expect Cricket Australia to do such a blunder and there were one of the better managed sports bodies in the world.

BJP on the other hand were in power till 2004 with AB Vajpayee ( one of the better leaders) and was thrown off mainly because of the self-boasting India Shining campaign and Sonia Factor. The loss coincided with physical ailment of Vajpayee, which led to the ascent of LK Advani, who was perceived as hard core Hindu Nationalist. And 2009 elections clearly depicted the mind set of Indian People, which led LK Advani contemplating retirement. This inturn led to the replacement crisis which is burning in BJP now. The moderates like Arun Jaitley, Arun Shourie and Jaswant Singh critcising the leadership and the hard boiled extremists fighting for the leadership. We even saw Arun Jaitley watching IPL in SA rather participating in the central committee meeting of the party

Identity Crisis

The Australian team has always been perceived as arrogant professionals in playing cricket lately they have become naive childish unprofessional attitude which was evident in the IndiaSeries and Ashes. They have lost the arrogance and even they looked like small children when they tried to sledge.

BJP although an offshoot of RSS was looked as a party which pushes through development rather conservative during their regime. But during the 2009 Lok Sabha elections they took a step backwards by supporting Varun Gandhi’s stance and projecting Modi as a possible PM candidate. Although Modi has developed Gujarat, he is still looked as a Hindu extremist. BJP were in utter chaos because they didn’t know what they stand for.

Leadership Crisis

When a leader fails he takes the whole team down in the drain. Ricky Ponting till 2007 enjoyed the luxury of having the best team in hand and when he lost all of them his captaincy flaws were exposed. The strategic mistakes like bowling a part time spinner for England’s last pair in Cardiff and leaving out the spinner in the last test at oval were proved fatal. The bowling changes, team selections and fielding setups were awful which eventually led to their loss. I think it’s time to bring some young captain like Michael Clarke like what South Africa did a few years back. Although initially Graeme Smith lost string of matches, the team he has built looks like the Steve Waugh’s Australia in the making

BJP on the other hand were confused in their leadership projections during the 2009 elections. Even Advani’s comments during 26/11 crisis, personal attacks on Sonia and Manmohan left a bad taste. BJP never projected a single PM candidate and it proved fatal. Congress had the same problem after 1998. Sonia Gandhi taking the leadership, making Manmohan as PM ( thanks to APJ), infusing the youth in to the party, taking the elections with a single agenda of development – I think dynasty politics has helped both the party and the country.

Both Australia and BJP need to find a young leader who can put together the team back in to track. It will take a lot of failures, trial and errors but sticking to the old leadership will prove the ultimate decline of both. Australia should come back because they will provide the much needed spectacularity to cricket. BJP should come back in order to shun the rise of regional parties and communist parties, who are against the development of India.

– Post From My iPhone

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The early Tamil movies had a right mix of movies. There were masala action as there were socio-political movies, there were fairy tales as there were historical fictions. I think one of the most entertaining of all were the stories based on Hindu Gods and mythical characters. Don’t rate the yesteryear mythical classics with the new age graphical so called “Godly” movies. The way the modern movie directors showing Gods is something they should be ashamed of.

Thiruvilayadal (1965)

The first movie that comes to any one’s mind when thinking about mythical movies is Thiruvilayadal. Thiruvilayadal is an excerpt of 4 stories from the 64 stories, which tells the greatness of the Hindu God Shiva. Lord Shiva according to South Indian beliefs has two sons, Vinayagar ( Ganesh in North India) and Muruga (lesser known in the North with the name Karthik). Murugan fights with his parents as they give the divine fruit to the clever elder son and Murugan goes to the Palani Hills relinquishing all his virtues and luxuries. Different people try to convince him and atlast his mother Parvathy explains the various godly miracles of his father Lord Shiva.

The four episodes include the encounter with Nakkeeran, the poet in the Pandya Kingdom, the rift between Patvathi and Sivan – Parvathi being born as a fisher woman. The story of the over-proud singer and Sivan teaching him a lesson as a wood cutter.

Sivaji Ganesan, Savithri, Muthuraman, Nagesh, Manorama, TS Balaiah were few of the huge star cast it had. The music was composed by the legendary KV Mahadevan and the movie was directed by AP Nagarajan.

Why it’s so special?

I think this is the best mythical movie ever to be made in Tamil. I don’t think somebody could make a better one than this. Even AP Nagarajan tried to emulate it and never succeeded in the process.

The movie had everything to make it as the best myth movie. The grandeur, scintillating music, perfect portrayals of actors (right casting) and the choice of the episodes.

The dharumi character of Nagesh, his encounter with Sivaji Ganesan as Lord Shiva is arguably one of the best comic scenes to be made in Tamil Cinema. I never understood the fact of how all the mythical characters and historical characters suit Sivaji so well. He fits in to the role of Lord Siva lika a perfect T.

The most important reason for the success of the movie was the music. Pazham Neeyappa by KB Sundarambal, Oru Naal Pothuma by Balamurali Krishna, Isai Tamil nee Seitha Arut Sadanai and Paatum Naane by TM Soundarajan are fantastic renderings still ringing in the ears of music buffs. The flawless screen play by AP Nagarajan makes this movie a must watch.

Why it makes to the list?

1.Myth is the part and parcel of life in India. Movies are not an exception. I could not think a better movie than this to list in this genre.

2.Do I need one more reason?

Trivia

1. The Dharumi character was not present in the movie originally. Nagesh was so very popular in those years that it was a crime not having in the movie. The director had to create a character to accomodate Nagesh in to the movie. It was said that the Dharumi character was based on a person called Krishnaswamy iyer.  It seems he was found in the banks of Mylapore Tank repenting about his poverty.

2. Krishnangoyal Venkatachalam Bhagavathar Mahadevan aka KV Mahadevan was born in Nagarcoil in 1917. He was working with HMV for few years and later turned towards music composing. His first movie was Avan Amaran and he was one of the most sought after music directors in his prime. His famous hits include Sankarabharanam, Konjum Salangai, Vasantha Maligai along with Thiruvilayadal. He had composed more than 600 movies in different Indian. A legendary music director. How can we forget Singaravelane Vaarai and Yaarukaga…

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The world knows Indian movies as wholesome entertainers with songs, dance, action sequences, sentiments and comedy packages. The trend of such entertainment packages or masalas as it is rightly called was originally started by a spectacular production company called ” Modern Theatres”.

Modern Theatres, a big wig production company from small town, Salem owned by TR Sundaram had only one aim – wholesome entertainment with the right dose of action, comedy, cheap thrills and glamour.

Vaduvur Duraisamy Iyengar is the first pulp fiction novelist in Tamil. Karunguil kundrathur Kolai was the first pulp fiction novel. He created a sage detective, who solves crimes through his innovative ways. He used this detective in a series of novels.

So what happens when a big wig movie production house and a pulp fiction author join hands, you get an absolute masala movie which became a fore runner to many such masala movies of the future.

Digambara Saamiyar (1950)

The story is about a evil lawyer, Sattanadha Pillai, who tries to get his usless brother, Masilamani married to a poor lady, Vadivambal. The evil lawyer is corrupt and does all his crimes partnering with a sub-judge by the name iyer. Vadivambal is in love with Kannappa.The lawyer who is a master in wily ways finds his foe in a saintly sage “Digambara Saamiyar”, who dons different disguises to expose the lawyer. After a lots of twists and turns, the sage triumphs against the evil.
The cast included D.Balasubramaniam as the evil lawyer, P. V. Narasimha Bharathi as his brother, Draupathi as Vadivambal and the talented M. N. Nambiar as Digambara Saamiyar. The movie was directed and produced by TR Sundaram for his Modern Theatres. The music was composed by
G. Ramanathan-S. M. Subbaiah Naidu with lyrics by Marudhakasi-Ka. Mu. Sherif- K. P. Kamakshi-Thanjai Ramaiah Das, and a relatively a newcomer by the name Kannadasan. The music was a run away hit although most of them were lift offs from Hindii movies ( I hope it rings some bell in your mind)

Why it’s so special?

1. Sivaji’s Navarathri act (9 Roles) and even Kamal’s Dasavatharam (10 Roles) are spoken as acting master pieces, what about MN Nambiar’s 9 roles in Dogambara Saamiyar. The only difference being all 9 are the same person and they are different people in the other two. But the 9 different roles of MN Nambiar are nothing short of greatness and he did them with such a panache, that he was equal to the other two if not better.

The 9 roles include a deaf magician, Arab businessman, saunf trader, nadaswara musician, a wealthy landlord, postman etc.,

2. TR Sundaram didn’t take a run of the mill masala movie without any logic. The whole movie was based on a investigation technique widely used – keeping a person sleepless for 3 days will make him confess all the truth ( remember the opening scene of “the lives of others”. Lalitha-Padmini duo’s dance sequence was used to keep Sattanadha sleepless for 3 days in the movie.

3. The movie was a complete package with rehashed songs, excellent star cast, deft screenplay, wonderful acting which made it as a complete entertainer.

Why it’s in the list?

1. Although there were a lot of pulp fiction movies, which made it to the silver screen, it was Digambara Saamiyar, which created the right space for such movies. It went on to become a fore runner to all those masala movies. The only problem is most of then have forgotten what TR Sundaram was well aware of “Entertainment Quotient”.

2. For MN Nambiar, known only for his villainy, he has not been given the right place as an actor. If you get a chance to watch this movie, you will know what I am speaking about. ( You may get a chance to watch it in Podhigai channel if you have luck)

Trivia

1. A graduate from London, smitten by the cinema bug TR Sundaram entered filmdom in 1933. He was a partner in Angel Film Company, Salem and produced 2 movies. In 1937, he started the Modern Theatres with the sole aim of entertaining people. The first movie was Sadhi Agalya. He was the first one to bring actresses from abroad and even made promotions with swimsuits as early as 1937. Modern Theatres became one of the prime movie production companies in Tamil. They brought in the professionalism in to movie production. Monthly Salaries, equality for actors with respect to treatment,high production values etc. Some of the famous movies include 1000 Thalai Vangiya Aboorva Chinrhamani, Alibabavum 40 Thirudargalum, Vallavanaku Vallavan, CID Shankar ( a series of movies with Jai Shankar)

To know more about Modern Theatres, Check this link from The Hindu, A wonderful article by Randor Guy

2. MN Nambiar started his acting career in Nawab Rajamanickam’s Troupe at the age of 13. He became famous through his villainy portrayals opposite MG Ramachandran. His unique dialogue delivery has been his secret of success. A complete health conscious person,  i have heard him saying that he has never even taken a cup of milk in his life. He was a staunch Iyyappan follower and he made it to the temple for 65 consecutive years, hence he is called the “Maha Guruswamy”

3. I think Digambara Samiyar is a sect in Saivism. If anybody can more info on that, it would be great.

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The definition of Anti-Heroism has been misinterpreted in many places referring it to those lead characters which have some Grey shades too. But according to me and even movie analysts, anti-hero is the one differs from the normal notions of an hero. A hero in Tamil movies is usually physically smart, has sharp features, strong, intelligent, suave, stylish, compassionate, girls fall for him naturally and he never does a mistake. The norms were never broken and actors like MGR were very successful proponents of this model.

But every one of these norms were broken in to pieces when a great actor entered this movie world. His name was Nagesh and the movie was Server Sundaram.

Server Sundaram (1964)

Server Sundaram was only the 5th movie of Nagesh. He was just a budding actor with only one hit in Nenjil Oru Aalayam and that too as a comedian. Server Sundaram is an adaptation of the play by the same name written by K.Balachander ( he is going to come again and again in this list), produced by AVM Pictures with music by MS Viswanathan – Ramamoorthy and directed by Krishnan – Panju.

The story is about a young wanna be actor (Sundaram) who comes to Madras to make it big in movies and ends up in a restaurant as a waiter. He meets his friend in the same hotel and his friend paves a way for him to get a big break in movies. In between Sundaram falls in love with the daughter of the restaurant owner, he works for without knowing that she is the bride to be of his friend. Sundaram becomes a star believing that making himself rich and famous will help him to get her. But eventually comes to know about his friend’s love and sacrifices his love for his friend’s sake. Finally, his mother’s demise teaches him the reality of life.

The movie is said to be semi-autobiographical of Nagesh as it traces the life of an actor, his rise and fall.

What’s so special about it?

1. If there are 100 reasons for this movie to be special, all the 100 reasons would be Nagesh. He makes you to laugh, cry, sad, think, retrospect and share the character’s emotions. I have not known any other movie which can make a normal person to relate to a character so much. In one scene where he goes to the heroine to express his love with a bouquet and she rejects his proposal. He asks for a gift from her. She asks “what you want?” He says ” Nothing much, I just want the dust bin you have. Because my heart would pain if you throw my bouquet in to the dust bin”… Nagesh gives an helpless expression at that moment which no actor would have matched. He was special…

2. The perfect supporting cast with Muthuraman as his friend Raghavan and KR Vijaya. Major Sunder Rajan as his restaurant owner and above all SN Lakshmi as Nagesh’ mother made to look the mother-son relationship so believable.

3. The witty one line dialogues which were KB’s trademark made it’s way to the big screen. I think Krishnan-Panju would have made a record being the only directors to be part of a film which had longest monologues and also be a part of movie which had short oneliners ( I can’t say shortest because later came Mani Ratnam, whose dialogues were mostly single words)

4. The movie has scenes which gave the inside view of the cinema world. How do they make sets, rain sequences etc. It was said that few producers showed their concerns for showing the cinema secrets to AVM. But AVM went on to make these sequences, which gave great impetus to the success of the movie.

5. The songs and music composition were at it’s best. Kannadasan and MSV were at their peak form. Songs like Avalukku Yenna (it even shows the live recording of the song) are still considered to be classics.. People never knew Nagesh could dance so well.

Why it makes to the list?

1. The critics, some directors and movie buffs are talking about movies which depict the reality of life. But I think Server Sundaram started it all. It broke the norms of Tamil Movies. I bet there would be no producer to take such a movie at this moment and that too with a 4 movie old comedian in the lead.

2. It also paved the way for demise of long monologues (it made a comeback with actors like Vijayakanth !!). Short, witty, powerful one -liners became the order of the day.

3. It brought two of the greats in Tamil Cinema in forefront, KB & Nagesh. They went to make a lot of meaningful movies together. Nagesh was casted in almost all the movies after 1964. He became a must have in a movie. There were times were directors were forced to include characters which will suit Nagesh. KB of course became one of the prolific film makers of Tamil and introduced the 2 Superstars – Rajini & Kamal.

4. It gave the concept of Anti -Heroism to Tamil Cinema. It changed the way people look at heroes. They started to relate to Sundaram like characters more because he was like just another person on the road.

5. It’s a complete package of a movie with the right doses of romance, comedy, sentiments with excellent music and classic acting.

Trivia

1. Although the play was directed by KB, the producers AVM opted for their successful director duo Krishnan-Panju. KB later made couple of successful movies for AVM.

2. The sequences were Nagesh does mono acting with a coin on the road and pining for his lady love were influenced by Chaplin’s City Lights.

3. Krishnan – Panju the ever successful director duo made 55 Movies together which include blockbuster hits like Rattha Kaneer, Parasakthi, Kuzhandhiyum Deivamum, Uyarntha Manithan and of course Server Sundaram.

4. Server Sundaram was remade in Hindi with Mehmood in the lead by the same directors and AVM as Main Sundar Hoon in 1970. Although it was not a blockbuster hit, it was a decent hit in Hindi.

5. The first picture in this article was taken originally as a promo pic but there was no such scene in the original movie. After seeing the first copy, AV Meyyappa Chettiar insisted on such a scene to make the promo shots authentic. He was vehemently against making fake promo shots without having it in the movie. But this picture eventually became a classic  photo for Nagesh

PS 2: I wrote a Tribute to Nagesh on his demise earlier this year.. Someone who i admired, loved and shared few coincidents..

PS3: In final moment of the scene which i have posted above, Sundaram says  “Love is a game of chance, I lost it in the finals” ( Hail KB for the Dialogue) – I lost one in finals too…

– Post From My iPhone.

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If I was Collingwood, I would want to shoot down the Indian media, come on guys give some credit to the England Team, they played good cricket and exposed the ’short’ comings of the Indian Cricket Team.

I am happy that this reality check came in for the Indian Team in T20 and not in a important ODI or Test Series.

Dhoni was riding on the team built by Ganguly and Dravid over the years. He was given the best Indian team in a platter (the same as Australian Team – given by Steve Waugh to Ponting). I am speaking only about ODI and Test Matches. This will continue for even some more years because the cricketing greats of India (Sachin, Dravid and Laxman) have some years of cricket left in them.

The T20 format was different. Initially it was seen as mad hitting format and slowly after few tournaments the madness has paved way for some good strategic batting and bowling. I would say IPL 2.0 has changed the way T20 dramatically because it had showed the success of more experienced cricketers like Kallis, Gilchrist, Hayden and Dravid. The pitches were slow and bumpy which led to the failures of some of the young Indian cricketers (who according to me or technically flawed)

Let’s analyse the T20 world cup… The practice matches and the group stages were cake walks except NZ match ( blame it on ICC, they wanted good TRPs and they will get only from Indian Matches). Cometh the super 8s and the technical flaws of Indian Team were exposed.

1. Let’s face it. The Indian batsmen have become extremely bad players of short balls. It’s England and it’s winter, you will have balls bouncing and seaming. I dunno how they thought they can hit cross batted slogs to counter short balls. Don’t they know there are shots like pull, hook and upper cuts (mastered by Sachin in recent times) ? Where were the practice matches? Both Windies and English bowlers used the conditions to the fullest extent…

2. If this is the team which is going to replace the current test greats, you would see Indian team murdered in Lords, Oval, Perth, Durban etc.,

3. Tactical mistakes – leaving out Irfan who was swinging the ball better than others and Ojha, who was successful in taking wickets. But it’s the decision of the captain to choose his best team.

4. Merry go around shopping trip of Indian Team ahead of the crucial match. I would have seen Sachin and Dravid practicing the short pitched balls in the nets if they had perished in the previous match. We have heard stories about Sachin who practiced continuous 5 hrs to tackle Giles’ negative line bowling. They are greats because they diligently practiced.

4. The pathetic piece of trash from Indian media trying to poke Dhoni in every press conference. If he doesn’t want anybody in Team, it’s his decision. Give him the team he wants and if you think you are better of in that, why can’t you guys take the captaincy of Indian Team ? Let Boria Majumdar and that piece of trash from Headlines Today take up the captaincy and win it for India. Already these people want Dhoni out of captaincy. Who gave you the right to arrive at that decision first? They did it to Sachin when he was a captain now they are doing it for Dhoni.

What’s the way ahead?

As I said, I am happy that this reality check happened in the right time and it was a T20 tournament. It’s right time to get back to the basics of cricket. Start playing some good cricket rather cross bat hits, go back to proper net practices and make the most of the time given to you before the tough series of West Indies ( not because of the team but because of the conditions).

Dhoni will be our captain and we will back the team in whatever situation they are in. This is the most important time that we should back them up. They are world beaters and they have the potential to become No.1… Just a small short coming and they will come overcome it…after all Cricket is not a sport for us it’s a way of living.

PS: To all those useless Indian media ” Shut up or we would shut you up”

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