The Mundane Times (or) Bits and Bobs, though I suspect I have used this post header once in the past

A day out at the movies

So, I've seen Gravity and yes, it was completely worth the hype. Now, let me go out on a limb and say that it could well figure in my all-time Top 10 list. Yes, it was THAT G-O-O-D. Whoever thought Sandra Bullock could emote so well but the real star of the movie was the special effects. The 3D is completely immersive and non-gimmicky (if you ignore the debris that flies out at you for a few seconds in the 2nd half ) and at 90 odd minutes, the film just about manages to ensure that you don't suffer from a migraine on using the 3D glasses. The first 20 mts of the movie are sheer cinematic magic and IMO, even better than Avatar. Planning to catch it again on IMAX 3D - only hiccup being tickets are priced at 580 apiece. Gulp.

Also managed to watch Captain Phillips over the weekend and coming after the disappointment of Prometheus, it is safe to say that Ridley Scott is back in form. Even though the movie is 2hrs+, the pacing is relentless and after a certain point, I almost felt sea-sick and couldn't wait to see land. Tom Hanks is his usual capable self but the real revelation were the 4 actors who played the Somali pirates in the movie. I understand most of them have little to no acting experience and Barkhad Abdi as Muse was mind-blowing. The movie's biggest triumph is the fact that it went deep down to show the Somalis also as humans living in terrible conditions whose only hope of survival and stability is piracy. I'm a big fan of Paul Greengrass and though I've seen comparisons with the Bourne movies he directed in terms of style, I found this movie more comparable with his brilliant but under-rated United 93.

What's on Telly (not technically in Indian airs)

Breaking Bad has been making waves in the US for the last 5 years but all this time, I was blissfully unaware of it. When it comes to the Emmy's or the Golden Globe, I've tended to look more at Comedy, staying away from Drama (unless I see THAT name - Aaron Sorkin) and so it was till about 6 months ago... when I first heard about this show from my cousin. He's a big fan and watches the episodes streamed directly from the net which, I've got to admit, was something I'd never considered. Here I was, always looking for the nicest (read: good resolution small sized files) downloads from the internet when there was a completely easier option staring at my face... but I digress. Since then I've managed to complete Season 1 in one long day of binge watching and I must confess that the show sure sucked me into its world. Bryan Cranston is unbelievable as Walter White but I'm more a fan of Aaron Paul's Jesse Pinkman (his voice mail message is a riot). I can't wait to get started on Season 2 and 3 which are already safely down to my HDD.

Meanwhile, I've also got the whole of Season 1 of Veep lined up for a weekend and I'm also downloading The Americans whose Season 1 pilot was quite an entertaining watch.

So much to watch, so little time.

Page turners

William Boyd's SOLO is an interesting novel. For one, it is the official follow-up to Ian Fleming's James Bond novels and the author was handpicked by Fleming's estate to take the series fwd.... of more interest to me was the decision to not set it in a contemporary context it like they have done with the movies but to set it up in the late 1960s in the Cold War days without the cars, cocktails and women :( I'm only 50-60 pages in but its been an interesting read so far. More on it later.

Also have Lee Child's Never Go Back waiting for my time and attention. I was never a fan of the Jack Reacher books and last year's movie did nothing to change my mind. However, there's been a lot of hype around this book and I just wanted to give it one last shot - hope I do not feel the same way as the title.

What else is cooking

Work, work and more work. Not been an easy couple of quarters with pressure at office building up to boiling levels but the holiday season will soon be upon us and with that, there will be a 3-4 week lull with hopes of a brighter tomorrow post the restart. 2014 can't come soon enough.

Talking on the phone to the other half takes a LOT of my time these days. Since Dee is growing up and does enough to entertain herself, the OH seems to have more time on her hands which isn't always a fun thing. Everything in her mind - from redoing our house to make it baby-proof, prepaying our housing loan, immunisation schedules, car servicing - gets discussed in detail and I yearn for the days of peace and quiet when the phone NEVER rang at home :-)

On the contrary, technology enabling greater connectivity does have its plusses too -  I don't really miss Dee growing up as everything she does gets captured on video and uploaded on Youtube or I catch it live on Skype. Cheers, I say. 

Dealing with loss

When you lose someone dear, it is always a very painful blow to take. The usual platitudes of "he's lived a long and fulfilling life" "It's always better to die peacefully than in pain" "The Lord gives and the Lord takes away" all seem (to ME atleast) tired cliches or trite, meaningless statements...so much so that I just switch off.

My default first reaction seems to be one of shock/despair/feeling of emptyness or hollowness and it usually takes me quite sometime to even accept that the loss is permanent. I then seem to always fall into a shell and look back fondly at all the pleasant memories that defined my relationship with the person which invariably ends with me ruing the fact that it will never happen again....and then, the strangest thing happens to me. I rarely cry. I go into full denial mode and become an ostrich - I distract myself with reading, writing, cleaning, walking, anything that will take my mind off the situation at hand for a good 2-3 days. Sometimes, I worry about even this approach. I guess we all have our ways of coping with loss.

Anyway, I'll miss you Maama - outside of immediate family, I think you were one of the few people who was ALWAYS hoping and wishing the best for me and I really valued and cherished that. 

The safest/coolest/best job in India has its greatest day EVER

If you work in the Indian Meteorological Department, YESTERDAY was the best/greatest day you ever had or ever could have. You finally got S-O-M-E-T-H-I-N-G right and what's more important, others (read:: foreign forecasters who slaughtered you on your failure to predict the 2004 Tsunami) got it WRONG. Mr. L.S. Rathore could not have been more smug even if he wanted to.

Woooooooooooooohooooooooooooooooooooo !!!

Let history remember this day - 13th September, 2013 - as the day we Indians showed we could show the middle finger to Western superpowers !!!

Where are all the critics???

For more fun read here 

Vanakkam Chennai - a vanity project in vain

KU:           “I’m tired of sitting at home and playing socialite wife while you have all the fun”

US:          “What fun???? It’s tough work having to act like a wooden spoon and make Hansika perform like she’s Amy Adams”

KU:         “I don’t care. I want to do masti too.”

US:         “Shall I ask Dad and get you a Lok Sabha seat? If we win and it is hung parliament, you could even become minister like Chiranjevi-gaaru”

KU:         “Naaah, politics bores me. Besides, there is a chance I might actually end up in jail”

US:         “What do you have in mind then?”

KU:         “I wanna be your heroine in your next movie.”

US:         “What !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No da kanne, you’re my real life heroine. Let’s not mix real and reel - they are bad bed-fellows *nudge nudge wink wink* ”

KU:         “So what do you suggest?”

US:         “How about me producing a movie and you can direct it with anyone as hero? Even Rajinikant  !!”

KU:         “Woohooo…thank you…. I loooooooooove that Radio Mirchi Shiva, his mokkai jokes are so so funny… him and Santhanam will be awesome, illa chellam?

…and that, ladies and gentlemen, was how “Vanakkam Chennai” was conceived.  An expensive vanity project, funded by an exasperated husband  for his bored-as-hell, lazy wife.  Sounds familiar – someday we will talk about 3 J

What works:

·         Priya Anand – I have tracked her from her Vaamanan days and she was the best thing in 180 too (besides Sharreth’s music, of course). She’s gone from strength to strength with English Vinglish, Ethir Neechal and now VC and she strikes me as someone with huge amount of potential, almost Vidya Balan-like.  She also happens to be one of the few Tamil heroines I would specifically write a script for (more on that later)

·         Hmmmmm….the gorgeous music but then I already had the songs on repeat mode in my iPad

What doesn’t:

·         Almost everything else

o   I am a sucker for a good rom-com but it’s been ages since I genuinely enjoyed a “routine” film in this genre – I have no problems with the boy-meets-girl, boy-loses-girl, boy-gets-girl-back storylines except the least I expect is atleast some excitement in the meet-cutes and the making-up process. Here, there is NOTHING. NADA.

o   The story is as old as the hills and it’s probably funny that even this was plagiarized but there is absolutely no excuse for the lack of novelty in story-telling.

o   In VC, the characterizations are stereotyped and weak, the comedy is flat, the song picturisation lacks imagination and goddamnit, the hero looks overweight and the cameraman couldn’t be bothered to hide it – Overall, the entire movie-making crew’s effort seems lazy and I am being very charitable here.

Recommendation:  Watch it at leisure from the comforts of a giant LED TV in your house when it is screened soon on some satellite channel and you might actually not feel bad about the 2.5 hrs gone

Raja Rani - a royal train wreck

Raja Rani has come and gone and also supposedly conquered a lot of hearts (and set the box office ringing) but my experience with the movie was very mixed. Actually, I went through 3 distinctly different phases and what I’ve shared below is not a formal review but more of a tracing my journey with the film.

Part 1: Pre-release

The promos had generated a fair bit of curiosity – firstly, RR boasted of the return of the hit pairing of Arya and Nayantara post BEB (*puke*)  and then there was the whole wedding invitation advertisement. Post audio release, the chart busting music added to the buzz and there was also talk about the movie being this generation’s Mouna Ragam with the Kollywood fraternity unanimous in proclaiming the arrival of the next big thing Atlee Kumar.  After all, he was Shankar’s assistant in Enthiran/Nanban and at 26, he’d managed to get Fox Studios and AR Murugadoss to fund his debut venture.

Not so surprisingly, the first few reviews of the movie held sharply contrasting views ranging from calling it a cult-classic to labeling it utter tripe. I was bemused by the hostility and angst displayed in social media about the young film-maker and how people seemed to delight in his “failure”. The reactions seemed extreme and even reeked of jealousy but the more balanced commentators also pointed out that Atlee had got so caught up in his own hype that he had got a lot of the basics wrong.  With all this running in the background, it was with a strange curious fear that I finally caught up with the movie.

Part 2: Post release and Week 1

Straight off the bat, let me set the record straight. This is no Mouna Ragam, hell, it doesn’t even come close. Yes, it deals with relationships but in a very clumsy, amateur way that had me wanting to wring the writer’s neck in frustration but more on that later……

What works

·         Nayantara – she brings a quiet calm and dignity to most of her roles and Raja Rani is another feather in her cap so much so that I actually realized how much we’d missed her when she took that break from movies during her dalliance with PD.

·         Shooting most of the songs in montages clearly was an inspired decision – “Hey Baby” was nicely done and its evident that Atlee has learnt well from Shankar

…..hmmm……its really bare pickings if I have to think hard of 3 nice things to say

·         BGM, though melodramatic and a little over-the-top during the emotional scenes, fits well into the mood of the film and GV deserves some credit for that.

What doesn’t work

·         The characters are deeply flawed but not in a real-world kind of way. I just didn’t get why two adults who’re joined together by fate but who’ve both gone through similar tragedies in life couldn’t get down and talk about it. The more I think about Raja Rani, the more Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya starts looking better… and that can never be a good thing. 

·         The dialogues are downright silly – for a supposedly class/multiplex movie, they are clearly aimed at the LCDs (Lowest Common Denominator) sitting in the front benches.  Many of the characters regularly deliver love sermons and spout supposedly thought-provoking life lessons but if you really let the words sink in, they make absolutely no sense.

·         The film is unable to settle down consistently to one tone – I was constantly left confused as to whether it was an emotional drama with lighter moments or was it a fun filled comedy film with a few heavy scenes.

·         The casting for the leads is ultimately one of the film’s greatest weaknesses – Arya just does not have the gravitas to pull off emotional scenes. I half expected him to launch into a self-deprecatory joke in almost every scene that required him to showcase serious acting. A Jeeva (not the SMS wala but the NEP wala) might have honestly done better. Jai’s soft but weak simpleton is sort of similar to the one he played in Engeyum Eppodhum but he is seriously out of form in this film. The other stars clearly had no need/time to prepare for the movie - Santhanam comes in and does what he does (I can’t get myself to call it comedy) in every other movie these days without giving us 1 reason to remember that he even figured in the movie 24 hrs later and Nazriya’s role requires her to be just cute and bubbly and she does that as well as any other 18 year old in India with any acting experience.  Satyaraj tries hard to get into the skin of a dad-with-a-difference but the effort shows and reminded me so much of that genius Raghuvaran who managed to do exactly the same with consummate ease in Yaaradi Nee Mohini.

·         I could quibble on a million other details but the single most glaring flaw in the movie is the message it wants its “followers” to take back – if there is life after love failure and if there is actually love itself after love failure, what on earth is that last scene in the airport with Jai and his ring all about? WHAT THE HECKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK !!!!!!!!!!

Part 3 - Post movie watching experience and Week 3 onwards

I’ve spoken to a lot of people and heard a cross-section of views and looks like the movie does indeed have its devotees. Every time I’ve shared my concerns/issues, I have been roundly dismissed as being too critical. The film has already made a lot of money and seems to be drawing a hardcore crowd of lovelorn, lost/confused teenagers (read: vayasu kolaaru pasanga) over and over again.  In short, it has found its audience and is being celebrated as a grand success.  I only hope and pray that it does not spawn off a series of such terrible “love message” movies.

Why can’t young & aspiring directors aim high instead of just focusing on what will work at the box office?

Naiyandi - a film that HAD to be made

It's unfair to judge Naiyandi for its artistic/creative merits. I, for one, clearly think that the movie was made for a lot of reasons and "satisfying/entertaining the audience" was NOT very high in the priority list of the makers. Shocked? Yes, I mean it.

So who is to blame? Where do we start?

Dhanush has had an interesting 2012/2013 (by chance or by choice I'm not sure). I'm guessing he was aware when he signed on, that movies like 3 and Mariyan (whilst challenging the actor in him) would not set the cash registers going and would probably set him back a little in the box office rat race. Mixing his commercial outings with the odd art-house effort has always been Dhanush's idea of  striking balance in his body of work but the timing of shoots/releases was what led to the problem of him having to do a Naiyandi. Whilst 3 and Mariyan left the business value chain (promoters, distributors, exhibitors, TV channels) with heavy losses, Ranjhanaa's success did not benefit the same stakeholders. (Not sure how commercially successful Ambikapathy was)

As a result, I suspect, what Dhanush needed whilst he waited for KV Anand (*groan*) to finish this script was to do a low budget quickie with a well-established director which would be an above average grosser and win him favour back with the Kollywood eco-system.

5 star films Kathiresan who had earlier produced memorable films like Aadukalam and Polladhavan for Dhanush was roped in. Not wanting to get into the bad books of the star and keeping in mind their past successful track record, I am sure he green lighted this project - breaking even was the aim and anything better would have been good as it would have only got his more friends in the value chain.

The next task was to find a competent, on-his-way-up director who was looking to move up to the elite league and would be glad for a chance to work with a "star" despite the other pitfalls. Enter Sargunam who had already created hits out of simple, rural stories like Vaagai Sooda Va and Kalavani. Sargunam, like Suseenthiran before, grabbed the opportunity and even agreed to work off an existing script (loosely basing the story on the Malayalam movie Meleparambil Aanveedu) and another piece of the puzzle had fallen in place.

A new music director in Ghibran with the clear mandate to create a couple of hummable tunes and Nazriya, the fast rising star from Malayalam, was chosen as the fresh lead for the "Maapillai".

A supporting case with some familiar faces like Sriman, Saranya Ponvannan, Pyramid Natarajan was added to give it the family appeal that is needed to crack the B/C centers and the usual suspects like Sathyan, Singampuli and Sathish were lined up to provide the laughs.

A couple of songs were shot in foreign locations, the film was sold in various areas for a reasonable price to ensure that everyone won, the usual PR overdrive happened and there was even a completely fake controversy created in the last few days prior to release to ensure that no stops were pulled to create the right buzz prior to release.

So what happened then?

The movie seems to have crashed and here's why I think it failed.

Someone forgot to tell the team that having all the right ingredients in place does not assure you that the final end product will be perfectly tasty for consumption.

1. The story was lame.
2. The screenplay had nothing interesting.
3. The music did not catch on.
4. The comedy fell flat.
5. The production looked tacky.
6. The Inikka Inikka song (where is her navel??) was butchered.
7. The hero had no redeeming traits.
8. The heroine was dull and plain boring.
9. The villain had a blink-and-you-miss role.
10. (Even) the climax fight was mokkai. 

I could go on and on. Yes, the film was a massive disappointment but it wasn't horrible as most of the reviews have made it out to be. It was uninspiring. Period.

As we speak, I am not sure how the film has turned out commercially. It will not create records but if it turns profitable to all concerned, then mission accomplished.

Wait... so where does it leave us, the money-paying theatre-going public? Yes, we were taken for a ride and if there is someone who has lost, it is us.....But I was willingly conned knowing that the film was NOT going to be good simply coz this gives Dhanush the license/leeway to do a Mariyan which is what I want to see him do.

PS:  In the middle of some decent films, I remember Vikram also giving us monstrosities like King, Majaa, Bheema etc and I don't think he copped as much flak as Dhanush is getting for Naiyandi. Double standards?

Varutha Padatha Valibar Sangam:: How to be Happy-go-lucky (till the cookie crumbles)

OK, it’s time to confess.

I was not a big fan of Siva Karthikeyan (SK) even from his Vijay TV days but when someone from your town, and your school, makes it B-I-G in Kollywood, you just shove your biases/opinions aside and join in line to fete the underdog’s success.  Yes, he’s from Campion and he’s a CHAMPION, I say.  Proud of you Siva. Enjoy your dream run (while it lasts), my friend.

He was good in Marina and no one can deny that what saved 3 from a colossal disaster was the light, first half where Siva was a joy to watch as he teamed up with Dhanush. There are some things in life where MORE is good - like an Edberg backhand volley, a Ganguly cover drive or even a Tirupati Laddoo  - but Siva Karthikeyan playing boy next door yet again is NOT one of them….. but still our Kollywood producers seems to know what’s best and therefore, we’ve had to endure Manam Kothi Paravai, Kedi Billa Killadi Ranga and Ethir Neechal.

Varutha Padatha Valibar Sangam is the next product from SK’s assembly line. The film boasts of a story line that will struggle to utilize all of Twitter’s 140 characters and is replete with inane, mind-numbing one liner funnies delivered with annoying sincerity by SK and Parotta Suri.  Satyaraj is yet again wasted in a paycheck role and director Ponram, who credits his mentor Rajesh for teaching him the craft of making movies, shows us why bad teachers can be dangerous for the world. 

On the positives, it was nice to hear nasal Hariharasudhan sing this, the heroine Sri Divya has a pretty / expressive face and there is a nice director’s touch of using Bindhu Madhavi,  a regular in these B centre comedies (*groan*), in a cameo role to remind viewers exactly of what kind of movie this is. Besides that, there are absolutely no other redeeming factors but still……

Recommendation:  Must watch in theatres or by buying an original DVD (SK is married and has a family to support and if this current run continues, he will soon be jobless so needs to make as much hay while the sun shines)

Movie genres and much ooooohing & aaaaahing about the latest Indie film/book adaptation

Everyone of us have our favorite genres of film-making. I know exactly the kind of films I'm a sucker for but my choices are very difficult to classify or force-fit into an established genre. Rom-com would probably be what you'd think they are but what I really dig are stories with weird, whacko, off-beat elements worked around the usual premises of friendship, love, teenage angst and growing up. Let me clarify so that you get it absolutely right - if I made a list of top 10 movies I wouldn't mind watching over & over again, (500) Days of Summer and Juno would figure very high in that list. The former, as regular readers of my blog would know, is a movie that gets me gushing every time I talk about it....and so, I keep searching and searching for the next "big" (for me, nondescript for the world)  indie film that will get me all goey and till now, I've traveled a road littered with disappointment. Yes, there have been some honorable mentions like The Perks of Being a Wallflower and even Silver linings playbook (where I enjoyed the book more) but none that deserve a star in my wall....until....I think...THIS ONE.

Whoaaaaaaaaaaaaa...so after a long time, Sundance finally produces something worthy of our attention this year. The Spectacular Now has been getting rave reviews and it isn't incidental that it is written by  Scott Neustadter and Michael Webber who collaborated for (500) Days of Summer. While it is extremely unlikely to ever show up in India, looks like it will have a limited release for now even in the US and could expand into more cities/theatres depending on the audience reaction. I've gone through the to***nt sites and haven't seen anything yet and so being the impatient one, I ended up settling for Tim Tharp's eponymous 2008 novel.

Half-way into the book, I can say with conviction that the male protagonist Sutter Keely is unlike anyone I've ever seen/met or will ever do. He is unique. He is different. He is spectacularly amazing. He is eerily scary. He is totally mad. He is deeply flawed. He is unbelievable fun. He is downright stupid. He is insanely brilliant. He is everything you wish you could be but also don't want to. (doesn't make sense?? read the book). I'm quite tempted to compare him to Holden Caulfield but that would not be fair to Sutter.

Tim Tharp's rapier-sharp humour succeed to a large extent in masking the underlying dark themes - be warned though, the story is not for the faint-at-heart and holds no hope (for now) of being uplifting towards the end. What it does brilliantly, though, is leave you with a haunting & lasting impression of Sutter's voice. One that is truly different. There, I said it again.

Now for the last 100 pages.

PS: I know one person who will/should absolutely love this book - The-Man-With-No-Name ;)

4 duds and a classic

I've not been to a cinema-hall for a long time but these last 2 weekends have been a little easy on the work front so managed to catch up with all the recent "hits" and I must admit that I felt a little let-down. If I had to make a straight choice between like and dislike, I "liked" just 1 and "disliked" 4 - 20% just means I don't seem to be missing much.

Ethir Neechal
When a director zeroes on the name of the hero as the premise of his film, you know fully well that the movie has no lofty ambition. All they hope to do is provide a few laughs and pray that the audience does not feel cheated of the Rs 100 and 2.5 hrs they have just spent. Ethir Neechal just about manages this but what made me double up with laughter more than Siva Karthikeyan's character's name or even him winning the marathon against the Africans (has that ever happened anywhere in the world?) was the way Anirudh's sound track was worked into the film. It just did not fit - there is such a thing as mood and setting - and the less said about Poetu Dhanish, the better.

Thillu Mullu 2
A pale imitation when compared to the original. I will not even get into comparisons with Rajinikant but suffice to say that Shiva is passable and he is the best thing about the movie. The rest of the starcast is very weak - I personally prefer watching Prakash Raj doing his millionth typecast villain role like in Singham (Tamil, Hindi and Tulu versions) as compared to his Vasoolraja or Thillu Mullu 2 type of roles. Kovai Sarala is a shocking bit of casting which has now opened my eyes to that under-stated genius called Sowkar Janaki and Isha Talwar is not fit to be Madhavi's make-up girl. Changing the setting from football to IPL was a master stroke but the idea's potential was somehow lost in execution. YSRs music was *puke*

Theeya Velai Seyyanum Kumaru
A message to Siddharth - please stop giving/trying to give us that "I am so Paavum" look. It so resembles the "I have cancer and I am so anguished" look you so unsuccessfully tried in 180 and the two are VERY DIFFERENT EMOTIONS.... and you suck at them anyway. Sundar C returns to doing what he is best at - making extremely unfunny comedies. If there was an Oscar category for Best Facial Contortion, we can declare Hansika STR (Sorry, Hansike Motwani) the de facto winner till people FINALLY realise Kushbu could actually act and this one is not a patch on the previous version. We Tamilians are not stupid to build temples for just a pretty face. SANTHANAM - TAKE A BREAK, MAN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Singam - 2
My intelligence was insulted and my ear-drums assaulted by this horrible monstrosity of a summer blockbuster. What Karthi with Siruthai + Saguni and Surya With 7 Aum Arivu + Maatraan + this sorry excuse of an entertainer have done is to erode all the currency and goodwill that I had for the Sivakumar family. Enough is enough - no more movies of this duo for the next 18 months till they learn their lessons and dish out decent fare. Having watched Singam 1 in telly a few times, when I look back now, even the original wasn't that great. Of course, I loved the movie when it was released but am beginning to suspect it was more the company with whom I saw it. sigh. How I miss those days.

PS: Since when did Surya's family entertainers have so much vulgarity and crass jokes? Double thumbs down.

Lootera
Finally a movie I wished I had spent Rs 180 (gulpp) and watched at the theatre. Sheer poetry. Golly, who thought Sonakshi Sinha could actually act? Anyway, I could never see beyond her forehead so maybe I need to go back and revisit Dabangg 2 and Rowdy Rathore... or, maybe not :-) Ranveer Singh proved to the world what I knew all along - that he could get out of his loutish, playboy image and actually rein himself in to play a soft, subtle character....and he is fast raking up a reputation for some awesome onscreen kissing :-) Yes, the O Henry ending is gimmicky and the thotha analogy literally had me in splits but this is a movie well worth spending 2 hrs of your time....and I don't want to sound orgasmic (again) but Amit Trivedi's background score and sound track are just mindblowing - the Album of the year for me so far. Highly recommended.

Coming soon: Maryan, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, Pacific Rim and the masala film of the year.....wait......wait..... not Chennai Express........no........ Thalaivaaaaaaaa

The sorry state of Summer sales

I am just back from my 2nd (and hopefully last) visit to the Summer sales and I have to admit that I've been very disappointed this season. There are very few "great deals" to be had and some of the sneaky tactics I've seen retailers employ clearly tell me that they are desperate and will stop at NOTHING to show both top-line growth and profitability.  Majority of the half page ads with FLAT 50% off are downright misleading since most of them are valid only on MULTI-BUY (Buy 3, get 50% off) and then there is always the 5% VAT to add :( Also, some of the sales had stock as old as Manufactured in Dec 2011 which leads me to believe that we, in India, are probably also going through a phase of cautious consumer spending. Considering I have sworn NEVER to pay full price for clothes in India, I still left with enough to last me till January or even next July so can't really complain, can I? :(

Crossword bookstores was the final pit-stop for today and I was bemused to see them advertise 15% off on books as "Massive savings". That's the bare minimum available on the net, even at places like Flipkart (who have completely lost the plot btw), so unless you don't have an internet connection at home or simply have loads of loose change  to blow, there is no reason/excuse to buy at the store. Yes, Crossword have woken upto this trend and their store's real estate has dramatically shifted to 30-40% books, 10-20% music & movies and the remaining is now all Toys and Games - yet, I saw a typical DICW1CBA1LAB buy books worth INR 6000 odd during their short 20 mt detour into the shop. There was none of the opening the book, flipping through the pages, reading some stuff, liking it and dwelling on the "to buy or not to buy" idea.... It was just like a department store - they came, they saw (the cover, and recognised a few authors), they picked and they paid. Whew !!!!

The saving grace of the whole outing was eating pani-puri (or golgappas as my Northy friends would call 'em) outside the mall despite the slight drizzle. They were so yummmmmm... and they cost me just 10 bucks for 7 pieces. Now, that's a deal that I get all year around  :-)

PS: DICW1CBA1LAB - Double Income Couple With 1 Cute Baby and 1 Loud, Annoying Brat

PS1: There was 1 awesome deal in the DVDs sales section. The Master was available at 50% off - I deliberated a lot but finally ended up not buying it. Much as I really like Paul Thomas Anderson (and you SHOULD see Punch Drunk Love) and have a crush on the gorgeous Amy Adams, Philip-Seymour Hoffman in a serious movie is an absolute no-no. Remember DOUBT !

H2 CY 2013 - Kollywood wish list

Today is a light day at work so while I wait to get back home and download MARYAN and listen to the songs, I was thinking of 10 things I could do less with in Kollywood this year and then this list quickly flashed through my mind. Wonder how many people will agree with me on this.

1. "Poetu" Dhanush
2. "Singer" Yuvan Shankar Raja
3. "Villain" Prakash Raja
4. "Hero" Cheran
5. "Comedy king" Udhayanidhi
6. "Director" Vikraman/Vasanth
7. "Producer" Action King Arjun
8. Superhit remakes from Malayalam
9. Gaana songs like Ora Kannaale
10. Politics in controversies like Viswaroopam and Kadal

Why on earth do we need FACEBOOK?

This is a rant and will be a long one at that too. If you're an unabashed fan of social networks (and by that I mostly mean you "FACEBOOK" in CAPS, BOLD, TIMES NEW ROMAN, 42 font), then you’re either going to hate me because you just don’t agree with me (or) you’re gonna hate my guts for exactly saying things that you know to be true but wouldn’t dare acknowledge in public. Either way you’re gonna hate me so here we go.

Who am I connected to in Facebook?

Mostly friends & acquaintances from school and college, a few well-wishers & contacts from childhood, some associates & colleagues from work and of course, distant and close relatives.

How did I get connected with them?

Very few people by choice, a few by chance, many others by a harmless mistake of assuming they were the same people that I “knew” from the past, some by emotional blackmail and the remaining by social compulsion.

What do these people typically post?

Across all categories of people – those I have known from the 80s to the people I’ve had the “privilege” of knowing only from last week - the posting behaviors are similar.

40% of the time, these folks post insanely boring, mundane slices of their life - stuff that used to be just random thoughts inside people's minds pre Feb-2004

The ones that "amused" me most

·         Mmm... The molagu rasam I made today smells good. Here is the recipe (36 Likes, 17 comments)

·         Bored at home. Tried my hand at Pulli Kolam & Neli Kolam. See picture below (145 Likes, 104 NRI comments, 3 Resident Indian comments)

·         Found this nice library near home with lots of books on how to solve Level 5 Sudoku puzzles (16 likes and 3 comments)

30% of the time, content revolves around personal stuff that would never have found a way into public domain before Mark Zuckerberg got drunk one night

Here are some best of the worst

·         Rahul enters 3rd round of Squash tournament in school (18 Likes and 35 Congrats comments)

Incidentally, Rahul is 8 yrs old and his 1st rd was a bye and his 2nd rd opponent gave a walk-over due to suspected dysentery. NO KIDDING.

·         Pictures from our daughter's Birthday party - Meira turns 6 (0 Likes and 0 comments)

...where participation was ensured by publicising in advance that return gifts for kids would be an Ipod, all lovingly captured by the photo-crazy but not so popular parents.

·         Honeymoon snaps from Peru posted 16th Feb (255 Likes and 201 drooling comments)

...oh yes, the marriage was on 14th February and ALMOST all snaps have only the newly wed bride in them and she is the one posting on Facebook.

·         Skiing in the Alps with Manas and Robert  (1 like and 1 comment)

Sent to ALL the unfortunate 140 in the 'Friends' list including the 138 who don’t know Manas and/or Robert

·         With Sunny Leone at Mumbai airport (11 Likes and 34 comments)

I suspect most of the comments were requests for phone number

20% of the time, I am assaulted with insightful opinions, thought-provoking views and earth-shattering ideas

The winners are

·         Chris Gayle rocks !! (146 likes, 44 comments)

·         I love my iPhone 5 (14 likes, 6 comments)

·         Sharapova & Dimitrov…Tasty (33 likes, 12 comments including a couple of broken heart emoticons)

·         Just saw Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani trailor - Ranbir is soooooooo cute....(733 likes, 10 comments)

The Likes to Comments ratio says it all

·         Happy Republic Day (52 likes, 21 comments)

It's not like its Mother's Day or Father's Day, it’s Republic Day for God’s sake !!!!!!!!!!!

It’s the remaining 10% of content that I really wish I could filter and read. ALAS.

…and if you don’t agree with any of my above observations, here is my last anecdote which hopefully will open a few eyes on what to post / what not to post and more importantly, who to share with.

I was catching up with an old friend of mine from college days and after a few beers were down, my pal opened up and bared his heart out about all his old conquests and the ones that had spurned him.  Logging quickly to FB through his “high-end mobile”, he showed me a picture of one of our old classmates with her two kids and remarked that the little ones could have been his, instead there he was miles away from her and pressing LIKE to all her photographs.

I rest my case. End of rant.

The Alone Times - 1

….and so its Day 1 of my new found Bachelorhood v 2.0.  So far it’s been incident-free but I am not hopeful that this run will continue long. In fact, I’d be surprised if it lasted till dinner time.  Sigh.

*Flash-backs to arbitrary moments from the past 6 years*

J: Damn, its 645 already. Is the geyser on? Have you picked what I should wear today? Coffee ready-a? Can you drop me at the bus stop? Please helppppppppppppppppp.

J: We WILL NOT watch Gautam Vasudev Menon movies ever again. IS THAT UNDERSTOOD?

(2 weeks later) J:Please dee… shall we watch NEPV? Kenji kekkaraen….

J: Should we paint this yellow or blue?

M: Why not green?

J: But isn’t green so *******?

M: Yeah but it depends on the shade you pick? I say yellow

J: …but blue is soooooooo nice.

M: If you want blue, why don’t you just say so?

J

J: Coffee is too light….Coffee romba strong today….Too much sugar….Missing a little sugar……ayyo, way tooooooooo hot….Cheee, aari pochu !!!....why is there so much norai in my kaapi L

J: Why are my jeans ironed along the imaginary pleat? Is he an idiot? Can you please salvage this?

J: I can’t decide which shirt to buy.  This is really nice but way too expensive. This is okie dokie but fits my budget perfectly.

J: I don’t want anything for my birthday.. Nothing… no seriously nothing… except maybe, can we go to the Arsenal Carling Cup game? Woooooooohooooooooooo

(Tring Tring) J: Why don’t you pick the phone? It’s always your relatives

M: I’m cooking - That ring-tone is your aunt’s. Speak to her and ask her about her health.

J:  You’re my better half. My aunt is now your relative – please speak to her and tell her I’m on an important call. It’s the 84^th minute and Stoke are drawing Tottenham.  We need this to finish 4^th. Please.

 

*end of flasback*

Jupe misses M (already).  Count-down begins.

2 Fantastic songs to listen on continuous loop

Poraane Poraane - Vaagai Sooda Vaa (Ghibran)

Mazhai varum - Veppam (Joshu Sridhar)

Turning the clock back: IPL - A Phenomenon

• I always thought there was a huge market for a product like the IPL in a cricket-mad country like India.
• I was also confident that the format would unearth and engage a new set of people including women and family audiences.
• I all foresaw how it would make us a superpower in the cricketing world stage and how the money would bring every star from across the cricket playing fraternity down on his knees wanting to be a part of the annual circus.
• What I was a little apprehensive about was the reaction & response from the purists and the followers of old school cricket (read: Tests) but even this has surprised me.
• What I completely did not expect to happen was for the frenzy to last 6 full seasons and even relegate our other national obsession, movies, completely to the background for these 6-8 weeks.

Wowwwwwwwww.....Really.... Wowwwwwwwwwwwwww

Today, my 9 year old cousin has her favorite franchise and she looks at me perplexed when I tell her I couldn't care less. Of course, I am expected to root for Chennai Super Kings (and heck, I even have a cheap but original Dhoni jersey) but then I have no choice. If there was a TPL (TamilNadu Premier League), I'd rather die than support Chennai but then....

I have been so on-and-off IPL that I realised only last week that Shadab Jakati was not even figuring for "my" CSK. Whatever happened to him? Looks like our new unsung hero / season's flavour is Mohit Sharma.

The other big news is that my junior & buddy from school days Rajagopalan Sathish is (again) struggling to make a mark for himself. Except for the 27 runs he scored during that memorable 130 run partnership with Miller, he's hardly set the stage on fire. Tsk Tsk.

Virat Kohli has to be the most outrageously talented but utterly obnoxious cricketer I have seen in my life. The less said about his on-field nautanki the better.

Rajasthan Royals, everyone's 2nd favourite team (unless you are from Rajasthan itself), have again been a pleasant surprise. It's magical to see a couple of old senior pros like Dravid, Hodge mix with the likes of Ajinkya Rahane, Sid Trivedi, Sanju Samson/Vishwanadh, Dishant Yagnik and conjure up one amazing truimph after another. Way to go RR !!!

The cheerleaders continue to suck, Sidhu and Jadeja are still boring and listening to Gavasakar spout gyaan on T20 still drives me mad.

Btw, I think Preity looks cuter than Shilpa Shetty. Come sue me.