Blockbuster Friday

It has been ages since The Maharaja of the moolah, The Hearthrob of the young and old alike ,The Champion of the downtrodden etc....(well to be honest i m running out of titles to confer on him...) came out with a movie (well 2 weeks to be precise).Here our reporters caught up with him inspite of his breathtakingly tight schedule,on the eve of his latest release (well if u are searching for the title ,breathe again is it really relevant to the story huh??).Here's a brief excerpt from the exclusive we struck up with him.
Reporter: hello sir, how u been doing??
Star : ya, m fine dude..
R: so tell us abt ur new movie sir?
S: this is an out an out action movie ,i m doing a different role,lot of scope and efforts have been put into this movie.
R:wat's so spl abt the movie and wat efforts??
S:well u get to see me don a different role from my earlier ones and i have worked on physique.
R: ok.So can u tell something about the story (expecting the answer.)??
S:Oh no i have been strictly instructed by the director not to speak about it..But i can assure my fans they can expect a cracker at the box office.
R:Ok sir,do u have any message for ur fans ?
S : Well i'ld like to thank them,if not for them i wont be what i am.well i am running late for the shooting of next movie.so catcha later.
R:okay good luck sir.hope ur film really lights up "the Crackers" at the box-office.(sliently introspecting if the cracker is a bomb).

2 days later..Movie is released.After sitting through the movie for 3 hours,our reporter got down to rate the movie
TITLE: totally irrelevant to the rest of the movie,hence we are refraining from publishing..
DIRECTOR : a wannabe Martin Scorcese/Mani Ratnam
CAST: a huge ensemble of heavyweight cast ( we are not metaphorical here)including our "Messiah of the Masses".
GENRE: forgot the rules of taxonomy.
PLOT/SYNOPSIS: read on if u are not weak-hearted.The opening scene to this grand-saga has our Hero taking part in a bike race.Sounds familiar huh.Well only to realise that half-way into the race the rear tire is punctured.Hero shows a lot of courage and pulls on with the race and manages to win also( well,Someone did a similar thing in a Car race recently).Hero in his swaggering gait climbs up the podium ,clinches the trophy and flashes thumbs-up sign.Well its time for the hero introduction song.The next scene opens out in a mechanic shed and the hero is seen spending a gala time with his sidekicks.Until a pretty lass crosses the road . There's a brief eye-contact and the next thing we know's a solo dream song . Three scenes later,we get to see the hero propose to the heroine by shouting from atop the LIC building,and the next thing we know is a mind-blowing sequence of dance steps( even Michael Jackson cant dance with 2 left feet..) on Swiss Alps .The background score in worth mentioning here(my drilling machine's not match).The screenplay then meanders and slithers more efficiently than any reptile , you end up seeing the heroine in the baddie's lair just before the intermission.


The second half opens with the hero getting enraged,with the kidnap of the heroine ,simulateneously we witness an item number to entertain the baddie(rather a baldie) ,the lyrics of which would go down well with the front-benches. The hero starts plotting for revenge and what better way other than working on a six-pac abs.A song to depict the transformation.The pumped up hero storms into the hideout of the villains single-handedly and starts bashing up the goons.In the process ,he ends up being caught and tied to a post.The villains try to electrocute him with the help of a transformer,but no avail.The transformer goes up in flames, and a punch dialogue here.The frightened baddies, drag the heroine out with them and flee in a goods-train.The unrelenting hero pursues in a motorbike( well we dont know if there's air in the tyres or petrol in the tank).There's a sudden break in the road as the train comes to a bridge.The hero makes a calculated move , makes a 50m high/long jump and lands on the train-top unscathed.( Well ,What was the last Olympic Record? ).More fight ensures and the villain is down on his knees before the hero.Hero invokes patriotism and preaches mother sentiments for next ten minutes which reforms the baddie and the climax shows the hero marrying the heroine in a temple.Well full kudos to the director for giving us such an entertaining film which kept us on the edge of our seats for over two and half hours( yeah that's right, trying to find out which movie it was inspired from).

Jai Anjaneya

"adyarlan erangu ",shouted the conductor even as he blew the whistle.The ever-crowded metropolitan bus screeched to a halt.An exodus of people rushed inside the bus even as a few hapless co-passengers struggled to find a place to stand inside.To my left was a fat short lady in her fifties presumably,vying to find a seat to herself even as the rest of us barely managed to remain standing ;rather wrangled to prevent a near stampede.Perhaps it may be her poor health or whatever,she demanded a co-passenger,another lady to vacate her seat in vain.For the next few minutes it was an ordeal for the junta in her near vicinity(including me) as she jostled her elbow in every direction.The unrelenting lady,then found her place in a "gents" seat in the bus ,by making a poor young chap to get up from the seat.That quelled the prevailing tension.Well i just wonder what would have been the consequence had a guy done the same by trying to occupy a "ladies" seat???


A few years ago, while i was in high school i remember the CBSE issuing a directive to the affliated schools,to provide free education to all girl students who are "single child" in their family.This move was aimed at preventing gender based educational discrimination against girl child.Well it was quite a noble intention trying to alleviate the gender based discrimination suffered by the so called weaker sex.However such a move would force the schools to either reduce teacher pay or increase fee for boys, which is discrimination against boys.A point to be noted here is that most of the CBSE schools in Tamil nadu atleast if not the country on the whole , are situated in urban areas.Which means, the students are generally from the middle classes and upper-middle classes;in-short the educated classes who are well acquainted in the policy of providing equal educational oppurtunities to boys and girls.


Sir Winston Churchill once said of Russia," It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma".Perhaps that definition can aptly suit the description of a woman's mind.Perhaps it may be the reason some wiseacre branded that women are from a different planet. The Poor dude might have tried to sail in troubled waters, attempting to understand something which can never be understood.A work of fiction ,Digital Fortress by Dan Brown had the author explaining a certain Bergofsky principle( not too sure if its existent!!) which explains that no computer encryption algorithm standard is unbreakable.Perhaps it may nt be totally unfair to extend this as " no woman's mind is completely comprehensible". But who cares really huh..A female befriends a guy and carries on being a "good friend", knowing he is onto her seriously.But she has the choice to deny any such intentions ,knowing clearly she is onto someone else.What would have transpired had a guy done the same thing.Simple ,society has a label waiting to brand him ."womaniser".Well whoever feels its a chauvinistic world should better sit back and read a paperback like Michael Crichton's Disclosure.Its a battle of sexes everywhere and women cry foul,even as they bridge the gap with men.Well still no hard feelings, as we hail, " Jai Anjaneya!!!"

Making a mountain of molehill

" Hurry along nithin", my mom sounded impatiently.I was standing rooted to the spot not knowing what to be done.The street seemed deserted which was not unusual considering it was a sunday and it so happened to be the Boxing day, day after Christmas.I looked at my watch 11:30 am ,December 26 2004..I had been having a quite holiday till that morning when the news of tsunami striking the coast flashed all over the television screens.My mom had asked me to accompany her to foreshore estate, which had been affected by the tsunami.So midway through we had to abandon and return.It was then i caught sight of that man talking over his cell-phone animatedly his voice carrying through in the morning breeze. " Yes ,MRC nagar is flooded,people are scampering for shelter;running helter-skelter"..I was bewildered.What on earth is that guy blabbering about, spreading wrong information???

Nevertheless i moved on to keep pace with my mother heading home. A few days later i was relating this incident to my relatives and we were laughing about it. What a great joke that man would have played on his listener.But what consequence it would have had ? This minced-off information would have changed hands many times and someone residing in some far distant place would have been told " whole chennai is wiped out in the tidal wave".Thankfully such a rumor would be too far-fetched and be rubbished thanks to the awareness created by a "responsible" section of the Visual media .

Imagine living in such a world; no news media no internet.Let us hypothesize,the only way to reach out to others is through a human chain.Now researchers have said that it is possible to associate any 2 persons living across the globe by means of 5 intermediate persons.I would nt want to assess the soundness of this theory.But if this were to be true , then there is a possibility( or probabilty) of the information being skimmed off at every link.Thus the chopped off message would have a high probability of being 100 percent contradictory to what was intended.How outlandish???

I am reminded of a comedy scene from a tamil movie starring vadivelu.He plays the role of a desperate bachelor trying to get himself chained( wedded lol...).He will ask someone for a " chombu( jug) of water".That guy would in-turn inform another that" mappillai chombu kekkararu".This minced off information would be further hashed " mappillai chombu kodutha thaan thaaliya kattuvar" ..What would have eventually transpired is but anyone's imagination.The poor bride groom would again be left in the lurch after receiving a proper thrashing..lol..

Perhaps the best rumor mills which has ever existed till now is the one doing the rounds in the

field of show- biz and the tinsel town.Every now and then we hear of a Tom Cruise jumping the couch on Oprah Winfrey, lambasting at a Brooke Shields or an Aamir Khan writing about his dog named Shah Rukh or Little Superstar Simbu opening on his personal life and Nayanthara.Hardly a day passes before they come up with an explanation or an apology that they have never castigated or that they have been misquoted by some " Sections of the media"...phew...Gossips and Page-3 news sell like hot cakes.what better way to rake in the moolah other than rumor mills which churns out spicy tittle-tattle..

Everything is funny until it happens to us.When stories of mole-hills turning into mountains happen in our personal lives, what eventually stems up is disasterous.Personal relations are strained ,images are shattered and good-will is lost;sometimes forever.A single out of context remark or a misplaced adjective can have a catastrophic effect....How many text messages we would have received alluding to some bull-shit and tall claims with request for subsequent forwards to others.So the next time you receive a dubious SMS , ponder for a while if you are ready to partake in a larger conspiracy(lol ..as i would prefer to label it) before believing and forwarding it to others.....

Under the Arc-lights-1

Like any dreamy, hazy eyed youngster,one of my earlies desires had been to act in a movie.I have grown up watching Superstar Rajinikanth deliver memorable punchlines in movies like Annamalai,Batsha,Padayappa and innumerable flicks that appealed to me as a kid.I reminisce how many times i have worn an over-sized shirt( my dad's) over another(mine) and feigned that i was the superstar mouthing those famous one-liners at an invisible enemy,at bliss that i am invincible.Well now i am a bit too old to attempt the same at home or my parents and younger brother would seriously doubt my sanity and counsel for treatment.

Well this summer i was caught unawares when my friend called me up one fine afternoon, and told me there was a small role for me in a short film which a mutual friend is making.Initially my excitement knew no bounds,and acting seemed like a piece of cake .Be it just a 10 minute short film and a small supporting role;nevertheless the prospect of appearing under the camera looked dazzling.Reaching the shooting spot, the script was narrated and frankly i wasn't enthralled by the depth of the story.I shall come to that later.

My primitive impression on films was very much limited to the end-product that we see on the screen.It all changed in about 15 minutes i spent with the film team, which comprises of only teenagers. The first scene we shot needed about 2 or 3 rehearsals and another 2 retakes after the camera started rolling.I learnt from the director, that a particular scene needs to be taken in different angles ;and retakes results in perfections.It was really funny the way we mouthed our dialogues( which are pretty ordinary considering the story of the film which i shall describe later)..It was at this point of time i realised that screen presence is what determines the value of an actor and a good actor has a natural screen presence.As i contemplate about it now i am filled in awe for those superstars on the silver screen,who inspite of their short-comings are unabated and at ease in doing whatever they attempt.Hats off to them.

The shooting schedule spanned over a period of a week and comprised of out-door shoots as well as indoors.Another lesson i learnt here was that the director faces an ardulous task in getting the retinue into gelling as a cohesive unit.Afterall one needs good on-screen chemistry between the co-artists...Though the project i was involved in was just a 10 minute short film and involved no monetary benefits to the artists, the director( my friend ashok) assumed on himself the onerous responsibility of providing us lunches.Being a fellow student himself, it would have been a burden on him.This provided me an insight into the vicissitudes faced by the production crew of muti-million dollar blockbusters which hit the silverscreens.Small hiccups and minor glitches can compound into serious delays ,which aggravagate the losses faced by the producer considering the scale of investment .Phew!! Perhaps the most important aspect of movie-making is witnessed in the finesse associated with the end-product.So the onus of ensuring a clean, watchable, coherent content lies on the post-production unit spearheaded by the editor.It is he who substantiates and decides which shots are to be included and which are to be discarded.

The shooting part of the film now complete,i was informed that the editing work would be completed in a few weeks time.Well it was a memorable summer fo me learning new things .

Hope when the end product comes i have looked better or atleast on par with thala Sam Anderson....

Deja-vu

Finally the day dawned.It was a morning i wasn't really looking forward to.28 days of non-stop freedom had come to an end. 5:55 as the third of my preset alarms went off from my mobile i finally decided to wake up...Blow it was really irritating trying to stay awake when you really want to sleep tightly...It took me around 10 minutes to shave and shower and another 5 minutes to get ready..Breakfast time..lol it was 6:25 am on the clock and i had difficuilty in pushing it down my throat at this time of the day especially when my day never really kick started at not earlier than 11 in the last one month....Anyways i hit the road at 6:35 and it was a 6 minute walk to my bus-stop..Flashes of memory came back to me..I could see a 10 month younger version of myself walking to the bus-stop..It was august last year and it was Orientation/First day in college...After about a 55 minute ride we reached college..I went inside my department and started scouting for my classroom..I found it and thank -god the last-bench was empty and beckoning me to occupy it...8:10 am , a lecturer entered the room and introduced herself..5 minutes later she was briefing us about the subject syllabus and my eye-lids were oscillating;trying my best not to sleep on the very first day first hour..My hopes for a promising start to a new semester ( by trying to be attentive) came crashing down like a pack of cards as the subsequent periods were no less different.Each and every lecturer started his or her subject immediately;As if the whole semester's result would be altered if one day was free...Anyways no more complaints..I had felt a sensation of deja-vu in the morning before coming to college..But perhaps i was wrong that i felt it resembled the very first day of first year..It was more like resuming from where we left off last year.....

We are like this only

Stealthily i tip-toed my way into the kitchen not quite bothering to turn on the lights..I started hunting the shelves.God i found what i was looking for .There it was lying right under my nose ,being illuminated under the moon-light falling through the open windows.The steel blade was glinting and i clutched the handle and crept back to the living room.Sounds like another rip off from a hollywood flick huh?? lol i have been watching a lot of them recently ..My mom was waiting at the dining table as i silently crept upto her the knife pointed at her.Suddenly she screamed," put the knife down after striking the blade edge on the ground".."Oh mom ,i am not a murderer what's wrong with you ?".." Do what i say if u dont want me to be stabbed by anyone in the near future" she replied in a hushed tone..Confused i was,nevertheless i did what my mom instructed me to.If you have been following me so far,then you will understand what i am ranting about.In case you dont,well its our personal beliefs and superstitions,some of which can evoke instantaneous laughter from a skeptic huh...

Hailing from a conservative south indian family,i am rather very much habituated to these beliefs that questioning its rationale has invited a stern look and twitching of the eyebrows from my elders.Well time and again my row with them have just fallen short of me being branded as a rebel ...lol..I recollect an incident which happened a few years ago ,when my late grandma visited us.It was evening time and i was lazing around sitting on the couch.Suddenly my grandma shouted " Get up from there.dont sit on the pillow.it will bring misfortune to the family" ..Dumbstruck..My 15 year old mind wondered " So am i really sitting on a potential time bomb??"..As if this wasnt enough, there was more to come..A few hour later i asked my younger brother to join me for a game of cards."velakkathenapinna cards game vilayada porela" She asked me in her malayalam accent.I was puzzled." Why i am going to be indoors only???" However my mom intervened and an altercation was prevented.Later i asked my mom the reason and she came up with a hardly-convincing answer "Those days in villages people did blah blah..." .My mind was totally dumbfounded that a simple card game was subject to so much talk..
Speaking of beliefs and superstitions i am reminded of a rib-tickling comdey scene from a tamil movie starring vivek.The scene was framed like this Vivek and his onscreen dad were seated with an empty plate each infront of them .Vivek's mother would stride outdoors with a plate of rice in her hands.Stopping her Vivek would debrief her where she is heading towards.Her reply would be that she is going to feed the crow before serving them.Spontaneously he would retort ," then motta madila kaayapotta vetthala kaakka kotha vantha yen amma thoratharenga????".....

Perhaps the most common superstition one would have encountered is that of a black cat crossing one's path would bring in bad luck in our chore..Now the poor cat,she is hurriedly in
pursuit of her prey or maybe she is scampering for shelter from her predators...God only knows what..Then there is this practise common among many of us to insist that we are not inquired of our destination,when we are ready to hit the road..Some go to the extent of changing their attire and gulp down a tumbler of water before restarting their journey!!!! Now speaking of attire and costumes , there are strict dress-codes for certain family occasions which contend that certain colors be shunned.For instance black color is a strict no-no for certain occasions like the birth of a new year or some puja at home.I have always felt comfortable in a black T-shirt and often reasoned with my parents contending my claim.

Incase you have been scrolling down reading every view of mine under the impression i am a skeptic,then its never too late now to change it.Well i am not.Just like these people i have alluded about, i have had my own share of well yeah stupid beliefs if u may address it that way..I am willing to bet that nearly everyone of us would have at some point of time had this notion of a certain pen being lucky or a attiring a particular shirt could garner good fortune.When questioned about the reason behind our action, the only conscientious answer is that we get a certain level of personal satisfaction by doing this.My lucky blue shirt wont fetch me a job, but attiring it boosts up my confidence.Well i just leave it to you to decide but the bottomline is "WE ARE LIKE THIS ONLY".

Night Life

The wind blew gently whipping against my blue striped t-shirt,i looked up at the sky.Thank goodness there was little cloud-cover and the moon lit street was visible clearly.i flipped open my mobile phone to check the time.11:15 pm..thursday...travel back in time by 90 minutes..
9:45 pm. I was at home, sitting in front of my laptop ,chatting with a couple of friends on Yahoo messenger...I heard a buzz going nearby and absent-mindedly flipped open my mobile phone.I knew it was my friend Vignesh on the line." machan come down , walk down your street ,I shall meet you on the way"..Now dont jump down to any conclusions, i dont want you to be mistaken .Well my friend was calling me for a late night stroll which we are quite used to these days." catch you in 10 minutes da " i flipped my phone shut...I was dressed only in my shorts and was bare-chested.I scrambled to find a loose-fitting blue stripe t-shirt and pulled on my red track suit.Well it doesn quite complement each other.Nevertheless i was just going on a late-night stroll,not a date....I bid goodbye to my friends on Yahoo Messenger with the customary salutations which most of the net savvy youngsters by now would be quite familiar with...gn sd..tc...bbye...ciao...seems neverending huh..

9:51 ..i steped out of my second floor apartment .Climbed down the stairs ,taking two at a time, reached the ground floor in 20 seconds..I pulled open the iron-gate at the entrance , and hit the road..It was not a new-moon day and i was quite thankful ...duh..It is chennai and one cant quite expect the street-lights to be functional..Be grateful if you can spot those lamp-posts in your street..A few vehicles were parked on the street and i was walking alone..I was reminded of the track " I walk a lonely road on the boulevard of broken dreams"..courtesy green day from the album " The american idiot"..Humming it slowly under my breath i started walking at a brisk pace..It took me exactly 7 minutes to reach vignesh's home and i knew it out of practice.But the impatient fellow messaged me" where are you"..Feeling the vibration, i flipped open and replied him...

9:58...I was standing outside the entrance to Vignesh's apartment.He greeted me with a self-effacing look on his face, which by now i knew shouldn't be mistaken for..lol....Attired in a non-descript Tshirt going with a pair of shorts he looked his casual self..Straight-away we hit the road ...Now put rest to your speculations..We are just a bunch of normal teenagers and between us we had not more than 50 rupees and we were heading nowhere in particular.." so machan how was ur day" he startd." nothing much man..vetti all day been online for sometime till you called up"..In case this conversation seems familiar and sterotypical, i cant help it but this is precisely how we most often start a seemingly mundane conversation..

10:10...We have been walking for exactly 12 minutes and we had entered into a by-road leaving behind the main road..Most of the shops had downed their shutters and the remaining ones were entertaining their last few customers of the day..Walking alongside a petrol-bunk i noticed it had been closed for quite sometime and remarked..My friend replied indignantly" It is closed today in-view of the hike in petrol and diesel prices coming into effect from tomorrow"..It didn require any further explanation from him.I understood the reason.Nevertheless we started talking about the price hike and the consequence it would have on our lives....Our pace slowed down quite and our conversation started drifting towards the soaring inflation which the country is currently facing ..Now you might wonder what a couple of youngsters would achieve talking about this..The answer is just self-awarenessl;nothing more.

10:35...We had been walking for nearly 40 minutes and decided to take a drink..We spotted the nearby Mcrenett;the shutters were half pulled down and we were the last customers to walk in.
finishing our drinks, we paid up and started to leave.10:41..We stepped out of the store and slowly started walking towards his apartments on the main road..10:50..we reached the entrance to his apartments,squatted on the compound wall ,continuing our tirade against the present day inflation without any particular political affliation.11:10 we decided to call it a day,when vignesh got an angry remainder from his mother to come upstairs..lol..Bidding goodbye to him i started walking homewards..

11:15..The moon-lit street was clearly visible and i had two more blocks to go further.As expected i covered the distance in 2 minutes..In case you had been scrolling down all the while expecting something drastic or spectacular to happen, you are mistaken,because as i have mentioned earlier i was just out on a late night stroll with my friend..11:29 I finished up my milk and switched on my laptop to sign into orkut.com for the n-th time that day..11:41...After having reassured myself that there was no scrap left to be replied to, i decided to log out and hit the sack....