Viswaroopam

• Straight off the bat, Viswaroopam is no classic. It will probably not even figure as one of Kamal's above average efforts but it is watchable in most parts.
• The biggest problem with the movie is that it is wildly inconsistent. On one hand, it is meticulously detailed, in other scenes it is incredibly simplistic. There are times I thought it was Zero Dark Thirty, other times it felt like Ek Tha Tiger.
• Beautfully shot, technically sound are praises you'd read enough already. I concur. The action sequences are very stylishly filmed (including an obvious Guy Ritchie tribute) but somewhere in the middle, the movie loses its heart. The background though a tad loud fit well in the movie. The songs do not hamper the narrative so full marks to Kamal the director.
• Watch out for the dialogues - delightfully insouciant at places.The Pashto and Urdu made no sense beyond a certain point - where's the fun in checking out Tamil sub-titles at the bottom of the screen to understand the fundamentalist mumbo jumbo... There were times I just wished I was sitting through one of those funny Vijaykanth movies of the early 2000s with a Pakistani villain and his side-kicks, all speaking Tamil with a strange accent... 
• Now let's come to the characterisation...Why does Viswanath (Kaml) choose to pose as an effeminate dancer? There is no bloody reason at all. It's there to serve no plot purpose, it's more for Kamal to showcase that he has got Birju Maharaj associated with this project and that he can dance Kathak.....in an embarassingly amusing way for a 59 year old....and the effeminate bit, heck, its just to show off...or probably make audiences squirm. God only knows what goes on inside his mind. Now to the annoying Nirupama (Pooja Kumar) - which Tam Brahm in the 21st century speaks like that? Maybe one from the agraharam shown in Sethu but then she is also supposed to be a nuclear oncologist (who romances/flirts over Faraday Shields...wooooohoooo) living in NY who has no problem speaking with a phoren English accent. Honestly, it was so grating I felt like scratching myself with a nail. Give me the absolutley droolworthy Renu anyday please...
• On the acting front, I quite liked Pooja Kumar & I'm surprised Kamal chose a 36 yr old to play the female lead....no kissing scenes though...and you'd have to wait till almost the end credits for some "action".. Quite surreal that she is the same girl who starred in Kadhal Rojave long loooooooong ago... I really used to like this song....anyway I digress.
• Andrea Jeremiah has screen presence and one wishes to see her more often in front of the cameras. Rahul Bose was comical but Shekar Kapur was a pleasant surprise.
• Why are all the foreign actors in Tamil films so godawful - Dawkins and the FBI investigator couldn't act to save their lives. I do hope they paid to figure in this movie - that way Kamal gets to recover some of the 90 crores he put into this.
• The movie also alternates between "hey-look-I-am-so-smart" and "Look-here-dumbos-you-getting-it?" mode -  funny in the way NYPD, FBI were written in large font + bold and smart in the way it uses pigeons as agents of terror....but if you're a Kamal fan like I am, you've seen it before and you know its bound to rear its ugly head all too soon.
• Overall, Viswaroopam was what I'd call a time-pass one time watch (as long as you're not paying those extortionate Bangalore multiplex rates).

PS: The observant would have noted that my comments above did not mention Islam, Jihad or any of the 'forbidden words'.   All T-H-A-T controversy over this masala pot boiler? Someone's got to tell me what's happening here !!!!! How much money exchanged hands?

How times change

When I was growing up - coming from a middle/upper middle class Brahmin family -  as a male child, one was truly "happening" only if one had participated in a Maths Olympiad, won a couple of Spelling Bees competitions, written the NCERT/NTSE and won a scholarship and at the very least made it to the Extended merit list of IIT-JEE. "Truly arrived" was reserved for only IITM / IITK entrants or for REC B.Tech (Computer Science) kids who ended up in the US with an MS/Phd from the top 20 post grad schools with a job in Microsoft in Seattle.

These days, you are a "minor celebrity" if some local TV/FM channel interviews you, you are "happening" if you have made it past fastest finger and won Rs 5000 in KBC and you have "Truly Arrived" ONLY when 3 lakh SMSs are sent voting for you thereby ensuring that a vastly more talented but poorly networked competitor loses.

Now, there's a first...I could soon become a published author

I was on a roll last weekend. Frustrated at work and wanting to let off steam, I was narrating some of the recent meaningless assignments I had been entrusted with at work NOT by my boss but by arbitrary people who turn to me as a last resort when every other option on Planet Earth has been exhausted.

These assignments vary from the mundane - finding out the alma mater of my CEO (and trust me, it wasn't easy AT ALL to find out) - to the bizarre (facilitating an introduction to a customer CIO based on a random airport meeting/conversation that a very senior colleague of mine had with this CIO's ex-reportee....and my senior colleague could not even remember the full name of afrementioned reportee).

All these assignments invariably have an element of humor (gallows or otherwise) associated so as I was narrating this to people, someone suggested that I should write a book about the nonsense that happens in the corporate world. For a moment I was speechless. Maybe this was my big ticket to fame and riches but reality hit me within a few minutes when I realised Sidin's already been there and done it.

I've not ruled it out yet - there is enough fodder in my head for 3 books but there is such a thing called timing so I'll wait for the right moment.

8 absolutely arbitrary things I learnt over the last few days

1. Never judge a book by its cover they say but truer still is the axiom - never judge a film by its trailor. Classic case in point being David.
2. It doesn't matter whether we are talking of the men's team or the women's team - as a nation, we are incapable of finding any consistency in our cricketing form.
3. Its been 3 years since I scoured the net and read a dozen blogs a day but nothing seems to have changed much. Yesterday was such a non eye-opener. There are still the elitist fools, raving lunatics, sane voices of reason, mokkai kadiyans....the more things change, the more they stay the same
4. Working from home makes you lazy and fat. Working from office makes you ragged, edgy and tense. Why work then?
5. A Rs 3 bajji made of old kadla-maavu and oil that's been re-used for ages is REALLY NOT the cure for constipation.
6. 3 guys and 2 gals, 3 gals and 2 guys, 2 odd ball couples, 5 single straight guys...you could create a story with any of the above gender constituent combinations, add a-laugh-a-minute and I will watch them ALL. What is it with me and American sitcoms?
7. The longer you stay in a company, the tougher it is to move on. The toughest changes aren't the ones that involve new people, policies or culture. The scariest bits invariably involve the office shuttle, the new canteen, the coffee vending machine, the scanner/copier/printer etc....Hmmmmmmm
8. On a related note, updating a resume sucks. Its fun for the first 3 mts when you do the formatting - bold, italics, underline, right justify, choose the bullet type - and then it hits you "Have I done anything, ANYTHING AT ALL, worthwhile that will reflect "well" on my resume?"

  

What I've learnt about blogging

• Write about things that are dear to you, things that you care about or stuff that means something to you. People might agree or disagree, like or dislike the piece but will respect your opinion if it is put forward the right way.

• Do not try to be too politically correct but also do not write to incite or provoke. It's fun to debate but its wisest to avoid starting a gutter fight. Also, tone is as important as content.

• Lastly, but most importantly, do not indulge your audience and pander to their requests. At some point in time, you will be consumed by this overwhelming desire to please them that you lose your identity. What happens then is that you don't realise your own voice 10 years down the road when you revisit what you've written.

RACE you to the exit door....vrooooooooooooom

Anyone who sits through the whole of Race 2 needs to have his head examined. The director duo of Abbas-Mastan have never been known for their realistic style of film-making but Race 2 takes stupidity to absurdly high levels. Leaving aside the amateurish plot, the meaningless twists, the nonsensical and vulgar comedy track, the tacky dialogues, even the guilty pleasures of watching John Abraham trying to act and Deepika Padukone attempting to mouth serious lines is not worth sitting through this 2 hr 10 mt montrosity.

For once, even the reliable Rajeev Masand has been way too generous.

AVOID LIKE THE BEUBONIC PLAGUE !!!!

Airtel Super Singer

Parents are in town and so life in the evenings has changed dramatically. From watching ESPN, Star sports, Star cricket and Star world, I find myself increasingly staring at Vijay TV and listening to young kids/adults trying hard to become the next Airtel super singer.

While I am no fan of reality contests and the million wannabes who want to make it big through these stupid programs, one does get to meet once-in-a-while a real talent. However, what I do find disconcerting is the fact that success in this show seems to immediately take them to the next stratosphere... While Pooja, Sathyaprakash, Sai Charan, Santhosh are good finds, they are nowhere near the finished product or even look like becoming genuine superstars like an SPB or a Chitra. Instead of working their PR engines overtime, I would very much love if they put in a few years of slog, worked their way up the ladder before becoming real stars. More shocking is the news I heard that Super singer junior 3 winner Aajeedh is already singing at school/college fests in Trichy. So sad !!!

Btw, I have seen these music programs for ages and the 2 out-of-the-world singers who have captured my imagination were Sunidhi Chauhan from Meri Awaz Suno days and Alka Ajith.

How awesome is Temple Run 2 !!!!!!!

I am not an avid gamer and I have a tendency to play either language based games like Scrabble, Letterplay, Hangman etc or Sports based games like cricket and tennis. However, Temple Run 2 is just mind-blowing... the graphics are out of the world, the beast is scary and the rest of the obstacles genuinely challenging. The only problem is that I suck at it... but then that is just now. Gimme 3 more months :-)

Aaron Sorkin is God, G-O-D

My first encounter with god was when I was flipping through channels and chanced to settle down for 10 mts with The American President. Rom-com is my favotire movie genre by a mile and when a film headlines with A-listers like Michael Douglas, Annette Bening and Martin Sheen, I had to give it a shot. 10 mts became 30 and soon I was watching it till the end credits. Great, feel-good escapist fare. On googling for Aaron Sorkin, the writer of the film, I landed at his filmography which included A Few Good Men (wow, that climax courtroom scene still gives me goosebumps...who knew Tom Cruise could rock so much) & Charlie Wilson's war (which I enjoyed despite its many faults). A hero was born. Then came the long wait for The Social Network which had Sorkin at his brilliant best and the equally acclaimed Moneyball.

I've had my flirtations with various popular sit-coms like F.R.I.E.D.S, Coupling, The Big Bang theory, How I Met Your Mother, Everybody loves Raymond, Frasier and thoroughly enjoyed other classics like Yes Minister, Band of Brothers etc but nothing has kept me as hooked / enthralled /captivated as much as The West Wing. Politics, Human drama, wit, conspiracy - you name it and it has it all. Most importantly, it is brilliant intellectual fodder and the dialogues are freaking unbelievable. I'd challenge anyone to start watching 5-6 episodes of The West Wing and resist the urge to watch the rest of the 7 seasons (156 in all) over the next 10 days.

Once you discover Sorkin, you just can't have enough of him... and so, I went back and dug up info on his other works and managed to get a DVD of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. Matthew Perry and Bradley Whitford. OMIGAWD. Amanda Peet (ooooooooooooooh)

Now, I'm on a mission to find DVDs of Sports Night and the new series The Newsroom.

Wowieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

AR Rahman - Thai Manne Vanakkam concert ratings

• Thalaivar - ultimate
• Hariharan - sodappal
• Mano - competent
• Benny Dayal - mokkai
• Naresh Iyer - sumaar
• Karthik - effective
• Sid Sriram - thala vedhanai
• Abhay Jodhpurkar - sooooooooooooper (google him and his story)
• Dinesh Kanagaratnam - awesome.... *eats humble pie about Magudi*

• Neeti Mohan - wildly fluctuating
• Chitra - so-so
• Chinmayi - okie dokie
• Shaktisree Gopalan - chooooooo chweeet
• Harini - parava illa

• Ranjit Barot - mindf*&^ingblowing (take a bow sir)
• Naveen on the flute - kalakkal

Gunner times

I swore I wouldn't rant (again) about Arsenal but this is just too much.

17 days into the transfer window and despite shifting Chamakh and Djourou out, Le Professeur has still not strengthened the squad. With Pep moving to Bayern, looking fwd to 2014 when Wenger's contract finally ends is also not an option. Sad times to be an Arsenal fan.

Having said that, might not be a bad idea to be out of Europe for just 1 season. I do understand that it means we might not be able to attract the right talent to the club but nothing could help AFC more than winning a trophy. If we don't finish in the Top 4 this season, which looks increasingly likely, we should send a B team to the Europa Cup and groom the likes of Ignasi Miquel, Frimpong, Coquelin, Ramsey, Joel Campbell and Miyaichi. Target for next season should be winning either the FA Cup or Capital One Cup and building a team with strength in depth to finish 4th and qualify for 2015 Champions League.

Our summer strategy

• Renew contract/Re-sign: Walcott, Sagna
• Get rid of: Bendtner, Denilson, Diaby, Santos, Manone, Arshavin/Squillaci (out of contract anyway)
• Get in: Goalkeeper, Left back, Defensive midfielder, Attacking midfielder, Winger, 2nd striker

Preferences would be

• GK - Benaglia/Vorm
• LB - L Baines/Urby Emanuelson
• DMF - Md Diame/Yanga Mbiwa
• AMF - C Eriksen/Isco
• Winger - J M Vargas
• FWD - Fernando Llorente/R Lewandowski/El Sharaawy

Delhi and the modern India

I have a cousin who used to work as a journalist in Delhi for 3 years and everytime I read horror stories about robbery, rape or murder in the means streets of Delhi, a silent prayer went out for her safety.  That was 2 years ago and she's now moved to Mumbai post marriage but stories like Nirbhaya clearly illustrate why we are still in the Dark Age.

While there is a larger debate raging on the need for death penalty as a deterrent for crimes like rape, what concerns me is the fact that we find it easier to blame the police for lack of speedy action, the judiciary for not deciding fast enough on such cases, the media for sensationalising the stories and our politicians for trying to sweep it all under the carpet. Who out there is asking the hard questions about our own behaviour? What about the callous attitude of various members of the public who saw the 2 victims suffering on the road and did nothing about it. People came, saw, gaped, chatted and moved on. What on earth is wrong with all of us - don't we realise it could happen to any one of us? Why such indifference?

So much to do and so little time

When work consumes 14 hours every day and you can't go by without your darling 8 hrs of sleep, what is left is harldly anything.. A paltry 2 hrs which is way too little to spend quality time with the OH, help around at home, return social phone calls, do your banking, pay the bills, think about a career change etc

...and then, a man's got to do what he's got to do. For me, I've got to play Stick Cricket/Tennis, Mini Golf, Wordpress, Hangman every day on the iPad, catch up with How I met your Mother, Melissa & Joey and random Hindu movies dubbed from Telugu (I just can't do without my daily dose of Ram Charan Tej, NTR Jr etc), read Times of India and Economic Times, browse through Thinkdigit and Engadget, poke around for deals in HUKD and catch up the football transfer gossip at NewsNow.

Whew !!!!! where is the time?

PS: Did I forget to mention my iPad collection of 32 to-read books and 4 must-watch movies :-(

Shell-shocked

The whispers have been going on for a decade and they've been getting louder and louder. It was probably the world's worst kept secret and all will be revealed tomorrow but I still find it impossible to believe that Lance Armstrong is a cheat. If fairy tales like these are debunked, what's the point in having hope?

I still think the work he did through Livestrong is amazing and kudos for still battling cancer and coming out a winner but he has tainted the sport of cycling and things will never be the same again. The Tour de France which is one the most magical sporting events just lost a lot of sheen over the last few weeks.

Oscar musings

Haven't had time on my hands for a while now - since today seems to be a relatively quiet day, decided to finally get down to some serious blogging.

Its the Oscar season again and the nominations are out. As usual, was checking to see how many of these movies I've watched already and the figures are disappointing. Of the 9 best film nominations, I've seen only Argo, Silver linings playbook (more on it later) and Life of Pi. Of course others like Lincoln, Les Miserables and Django Unchained are waiting in the Q for this weekend and hopefully by mid next week, I will have a fair idea of what to expect come awards night.

On the desi front, its been quite a bleak few months on the Hindi front. Post Talaash which I reckon was a solid effort, Matru has been the only film I've seen at the hall and have to admit, really enjoyed it. Arya Babbar was a scream, Pankaj Kapur was brilliant as usual and all Anushka Sharma needs to do is turn up on screen (drooooooooool). Table no: 21 is lined up for weekend viewing and I might consider Inkaar too depending on the reviews.

On the Tamil front, things are awesome. Alex Pandian will most probably tank big time and Karthi will finally wake up. KLTA looks like becoming a super hit and will spawn off sequels - Yo to Santhanam and I can't wait for Feb 1 and Kadal.  After the delicious Pizza and rib tickling NKPK, looks like Tamil audiences are finally warming up to the right kind of films.