I never like to cry. In fact I hate crying because I feel it shows your weakness but sometimes tears are more meaningful than words. I dunno how many of you saw “Nadodigal”, a Tamil movie which came in 2009. The movie was directed by Samudrakani with Sasikumar in the lead. It’s about 3 friends who help another friend to succeed in love and how it affects their own life. One lady in the movie by the name Abhinaya, who acted as Sasikumar’s sister got rave reviews for her portrayal. She recently won her First award for Best Supporting Actress in the annual Vijay Awards conducted by Vijay TV….When i saw the video, tears rolled down from my eyes instantly… Do you want to know why?

Check the video

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Thursday morning and I was little bit down with tiredness due to the lack of sleep for the past few days. One of my friends has posted this in Facebook and I could not help but to admire this. It brought a hearty smile to my face.

The video credit goes to some one called Shyam… Wonderful work dude.

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I don’t remember the last intense romantic movie that I saw in Tamil. I found the fact funny at the start of the review but that’s what the plight of Tamil Movies in the recent past. Get this right, Vinnai Thandi Varuvayava is not a classic but a honest and intense romance which has it’s heart at the right place.

The movie starts with one unanswerable question “of all the girls in the world, why did I fell in love with Jessie?” – a pertinent question asked by all the lead characters in the movie to the protoganist (Any guy in love would have asked this question atleast once in his life time). Karthik (Simbu), a mechanical engineer pass out and an aspiring director falls in love with a Malayali Christian girl Jessie ( Trisha), whose house their family stay as a tenant. A love at first sight, Karthik tries to woo Jessie with encouragement from his cameraman friend Ganesh(Ganesh, co-producer of the movie). Although initially the age factor of one year difference (Karthik is younger than Jessie) comes in to fray, the main reason for Jessie not accepting Karthik is the religion. Jessie’s Father ( Babu Antony) a staunch Christian would never accept for it. Jessie even stops her marriage at the altar as she could not decide about Karthik. She accepts his love as she couldn’t resist it. What happens next is shown in a more realistic way (I would not say different as other reviewers claim it)

The chemistry between Simbu and Trisha equals the chemistry of Sharukh and Kajol in DDLJ. It may be an exaggeration but the chemistry between the lead pair levitates the movie to unimaginable levels. An underplayed performance from Simbu speaks lot about his talent and how he has been wasting it so far in craps. Trisha looks like a poem. Gautham has this style where he makes you eventually fall in love with the heroine of his movies. Trisha’s character resembles Madhu of Sujatha’s Pirivom Sandippom a lot. But Gautham hasn’t dealt with the character deeply enough. It’s always tough to understand a girl’s decision when it comes to marriage and a shallow portrayal remains the biggest flaw of the movie.

Ganesh is a casting coup. A very normal but unmatchable dialogue delivery makes the character admirable. Babu Antony and Kitty have helped the movie to move forward. KSR’s cameo is not wasted. The real heroes of the movie are 3 people who were behind the scenes. AR Rahman – I have always been a critic of his background scores but he has graduated to a new level with Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaya. The violin piece in the intro scene of Trisha and the wise use of Aaromale in apt places bears testimony to the brilliance of Rahman. The non-linear musical experimentation in the songs with Thamarai’s lyrics is well received by the audience. Hosanna, Mannippaya and Kannukul are a rage in theatres.

The next hero is Manoj Paramhasa, the cinematographer. The color tones, right use of natural lighting and interesting angles is unbelievable for a new comer. Antony hasn’t hampered the movie with his fast multi frame cuts. The third hero is ofcourse Gautham Menon for giving a feel good romance after a long time. He knows where and when to touch the right chords of the viewer. Wonderful one liners and a well written climax dialogue explains the talent of the man.

The biggest and the only flaw I saw in the movie was the shallow portrayal of Jessie’s Character. A girl’s decision on marriage and love depends on innumerable reasons and her character craves for a better treatment. The movie takes a leaf out a lot of real life stories and don’t you know Gautham a girl’s heart is more deeper than what you have shown in Jessie.

What could have been the next Mouna Raagam or the next Kadhalukku Mariyathai, just stays as yet another nice movie

Vinnai Thandi Varuvaya – Watch it for the Chemisty, AR Rahman and Gautham – 3.5/5

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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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