April 19, 2009 marked the last of my birthday in my 20's. I was pretty sure Mr.V would make it special as always. I am incredibly bad when it comes to my surprises - I try hard and get to know it before hand disappointing the planner to the core possible. So far my success rate has been 100%. This time also I tried to play some usual stunts to get to know Mr.V's plans but he didn't budge. Probably he had learnt a lot from his earlier mistakes!!!
We had a get together planned on the eve of my birthday at a friend's place to catch up on some good food and fun. Both of our friends did thorough justice to keep us entertained and they made up for the rest of my family I always miss during such eventful occasions. As any traditional get together in the US, we also chose to wind up the day with a movie. According to Mr.V the movie was one of my birthday gifts!!
The choice was Thodarum Sambhavam - An Oscar hopeful movie, a thriller that makes people clinging on the edges of the seats, a great cast/crew making the movie undoubtedly a success, a sure shot blockbuster and talk of the town - this was how the male strength at the gathering hyped up the movie "Thodarum Sambhavam" before I took my comfortable position in one of the recliners at my friend's basement in front of the high definition Home theater. I went down well prepared with a can of coke and home baked popcorn as am obssessed with thrillers and wanted to enjoy with my snack and drink!!
The so-called suspenseful story began with a song. Thriller and a song - clear oxymorons - though one part of my occasionally working brain cautioned me that something is not right, I still decided to hold on expecting a twist after the song. The song had a pretty lady dancing on a greenery backdrop. The focus was so much on the green landscape that one could hardly notice her. In the Charanam of the song (for people who are technically challenged in music - Charanam is the 3rd paragraph of the song) we got a good close up of the heroine - to one's awe the lip movement of the heroine and the lyric of the song were clearly out of synch!!
When I was wondering what this mess is all about, my friend comes up with the bombshell - "This is a Malayalam Dub"!!! From the mallu production unit it is fair to expect a low budget movie with beautiful landscape, pretty backwaters with the dangling boats, pump sets, beautiful girls in Mundu, some real good melodious songs, namboodhri's who will fall totally out of place in a movie but thumb rule is every mallu movie has to feature at least one namboodhri opening his eyes wide giving astrological abstracts like have a pumpkin colored green in the East corner of the bathroom for your household to flourish, huge villa type houses built with an aesthetic sense turning to be a good visual treat. But if we expect a high end thriller it’s our absurdity.
Thodarum Sambavam is no exception. It’s a great product mix - mallu original, comical thriller/horror plot, psychotic housemaid, coconut oiled wife, imaginary ex-wife, fool of a husband and the ever obliging father-in-law! We were at the basement watching a movie for 3 hrs but unfortunately am unable to give the story line - not because I don’t want to reveal the plot but simply because I don’t know the actual tale! We ended up watching a completely different movie with friends throwing their expert comments coupled with an incredible sense of humor for each and every frame of the movie - rolled down with laughter, got a mild stomach ache, tears flowing down the cheeks and an ultimate exercise to my face/cheek bones and muscles.
A great evening to cherish and a beautiful start as I stepped into my landmark year!!
Friday, May 29, 2009
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Bhandham......Ultimate Garbage
The title will fetch me a couple of curses and may even think am a cold blooded creep....Well am not talking about the next of kin. This is my 2 cents on the never-ending San Media online's daily soap Bhandham. Ssshhabbbbaaaaaaaaaa....what a story line - the way this serial is progressing is a clear indication that the director is completely lost. He is struggling hard to put all the loose ends that he left in the beginning, together and in the process causing acute damage. The plot of this magnum opus would (not sure though) have been the most gripping plot when my grand mother was schooling - it's completely out of place for the current age packed with science and technology advancements.
An excerpt from the serial....
A psycho is caught for all his misdeeds and is in the prison. How he gets there is another big joke...but let me stay focused. A monk, supposedly his god father/mentor appears in the prison and gives our psycho some weeds (mooligai in Tamil) and when the specimen (psycho) eats it he dies :-). The police department is so shaken by his death that they completely forget to interrogate the death. Logical flaw, but is still tolerable compared to the other atrocities in the serial. All procedures are completed which exclude an autopsy and the body is in the mortuary. When the brilliant police team is awaiting the psycho’s relatives to claim the body, the psycho's preacher makes an entry in the mortuary and squeezes an extract on the corpses face...boom the psycho is back to life………………this is just a glimpse. If one chooses to devote 30 minutes of your precious time everyday between 12 and 12:30 EST you can treat yourself for more of this massacre.
Agreed, all mega serials have to have a lady character as their centre of focus even to be considered for marketing. But this one has surpassed all the other serials on the air. It is too female oriented that sometimes it gives you a feel that the director has added some male characters just to balance a marriage and a household. All males including the cops have been pitiably characterized that none of them have a say in any of the key decisions. They are either insensible/impotent or at best their lady’s servants. Even to consummate his relationship with his wife, the hero is at the mercy of a woman (wife's sister), seeking advice. That’s the state of our guys in this serial!!
The director definitely deserves a pat on his back for having chosen the best cast for all his characters - that’s it. Nothing more than that....All the cast, right from the centre of focus Ms.Rindhiya, Ms.Devi priya, Mr.Afsar, Mrs. Nalini, Mr.Deepak, Ms.Shilpa, Mrs.Yuvashree, Mrs. Shanthi Williams and many more, have an excellent potential and the director has been brilliant in extracting what exactly is required from each of them for the role. No overdose even from his "1 episode wonders"...everyone have been trained to give their best in the right quantity which is a commendable effort. The title song of the serial is stupendous...so soothing and I don’t mind listening to the whole song everyday though it effectively eats up 35% of the serial time!! On a lighter note, the title song is the savior to the half hr torment.
It’s sad to see that this heavy-handed venture has locked up all the great stars and we don’t get to see them doing justice elsewhere. Am curious if the director has any intention of getting his tour de force to a completion in the near future! I have been watching this serial right from day 1 and that is the only reason am still sticking on to this. He started well, half way lost track and it’s all haywire now.
Can something be done at this stage to salvage the situation - The damage done to the action is so irreparable that the worst nightmare would be the director's efforts to recoup the same. Hope he tries and winds up his master piece at the earliest so that we can be relieved of the torture.
An excerpt from the serial....
A psycho is caught for all his misdeeds and is in the prison. How he gets there is another big joke...but let me stay focused. A monk, supposedly his god father/mentor appears in the prison and gives our psycho some weeds (mooligai in Tamil) and when the specimen (psycho) eats it he dies :-). The police department is so shaken by his death that they completely forget to interrogate the death. Logical flaw, but is still tolerable compared to the other atrocities in the serial. All procedures are completed which exclude an autopsy and the body is in the mortuary. When the brilliant police team is awaiting the psycho’s relatives to claim the body, the psycho's preacher makes an entry in the mortuary and squeezes an extract on the corpses face...boom the psycho is back to life………………this is just a glimpse. If one chooses to devote 30 minutes of your precious time everyday between 12 and 12:30 EST you can treat yourself for more of this massacre.
Agreed, all mega serials have to have a lady character as their centre of focus even to be considered for marketing. But this one has surpassed all the other serials on the air. It is too female oriented that sometimes it gives you a feel that the director has added some male characters just to balance a marriage and a household. All males including the cops have been pitiably characterized that none of them have a say in any of the key decisions. They are either insensible/impotent or at best their lady’s servants. Even to consummate his relationship with his wife, the hero is at the mercy of a woman (wife's sister), seeking advice. That’s the state of our guys in this serial!!
The director definitely deserves a pat on his back for having chosen the best cast for all his characters - that’s it. Nothing more than that....All the cast, right from the centre of focus Ms.Rindhiya, Ms.Devi priya, Mr.Afsar, Mrs. Nalini, Mr.Deepak, Ms.Shilpa, Mrs.Yuvashree, Mrs. Shanthi Williams and many more, have an excellent potential and the director has been brilliant in extracting what exactly is required from each of them for the role. No overdose even from his "1 episode wonders"...everyone have been trained to give their best in the right quantity which is a commendable effort. The title song of the serial is stupendous...so soothing and I don’t mind listening to the whole song everyday though it effectively eats up 35% of the serial time!! On a lighter note, the title song is the savior to the half hr torment.
It’s sad to see that this heavy-handed venture has locked up all the great stars and we don’t get to see them doing justice elsewhere. Am curious if the director has any intention of getting his tour de force to a completion in the near future! I have been watching this serial right from day 1 and that is the only reason am still sticking on to this. He started well, half way lost track and it’s all haywire now.
Can something be done at this stage to salvage the situation - The damage done to the action is so irreparable that the worst nightmare would be the director's efforts to recoup the same. Hope he tries and winds up his master piece at the earliest so that we can be relieved of the torture.
Monday, May 18, 2009
All about the "SPOTLIGHT" of my world!
After a serious 3 month contemplation, testing my writing skills on all poor souls around me I decided to extend my trouble to a bigger audience...that’s the birth story of my blogspot!! My first post means a lot to me and hence would love to dedicate it to my most prized possession, the light of my life - my 32 month old toddler, Jayant.
My world is pretty much controlled by my boys....Jay being the master and Mr.V his most obedient servant. “Jay Jay” as he is fondly known in his day care is a task master already - dad's genes probably! The most active organ in his whole body is his mouth - mom's genes beyond doubt!!! With the exception of 12 hrs in a day when he chooses to give himself a little bit of rest, we get blasted by his non-stop yaks.
Jay is not only active but makes sure am also active. He expects me to join him in all his so-called challenging activities which include crawling between the four legs of a chair, showing off one's knowledge of numbers and alphabets standing on the patio, dumping off a complete bundle of toilet paper in the commode and flushing it, bathing and changing diapers for his Barbie doll, relaxing and admiring one's self on the inbuilt webcam of the Mac.....pretty challenging to me.
Jay is a great helper...he is so efficient that we dropped the idea of buying a Roomba for cleaning services!!! Sometimes it works out to my disadvantage that all my unread mails when left unnoticed on the table will also find its place in the trash bin. Jay is such a cleanliness freak that he cannot stand a drop of water on his shirt/pant. The maximum inventory that we have supplied his day care so far are his spare clothes:-) There hasn't been a single day when Jay has come home from the day care with the dresses that he left the house with!! Mr.V keeps complaining that he is tired of doing 3 exclusive loads of Jay's dresses in a week :-)
Jay's favorite activity is "back seat cooking"...the minute he gets back from school, he would take a comfortable position on the kitchen counter and start his cuisine instructions. He is so obsessed with gastronomy that when I asked him "K for" Jay's prompt response was "Kadugu"(mustard seeds in Tamil) mommy!! He is so clued up on the kitchen and its whereabouts that he knows where what is stored (spices/ingredients/utensils/food)...even Mr.V gets lost most of the time!!
My day starts with Jay’s innocent smile and doesn’t get done without listening to his loud laughter. He is my strength, weakness, delight, energy, passion, excitement, sparkle, trouble…the kingpin of the transition in me....I love you Jay!!
My world is pretty much controlled by my boys....Jay being the master and Mr.V his most obedient servant. “Jay Jay” as he is fondly known in his day care is a task master already - dad's genes probably! The most active organ in his whole body is his mouth - mom's genes beyond doubt!!! With the exception of 12 hrs in a day when he chooses to give himself a little bit of rest, we get blasted by his non-stop yaks.
Jay is not only active but makes sure am also active. He expects me to join him in all his so-called challenging activities which include crawling between the four legs of a chair, showing off one's knowledge of numbers and alphabets standing on the patio, dumping off a complete bundle of toilet paper in the commode and flushing it, bathing and changing diapers for his Barbie doll, relaxing and admiring one's self on the inbuilt webcam of the Mac.....pretty challenging to me.
Jay is a great helper...he is so efficient that we dropped the idea of buying a Roomba for cleaning services!!! Sometimes it works out to my disadvantage that all my unread mails when left unnoticed on the table will also find its place in the trash bin. Jay is such a cleanliness freak that he cannot stand a drop of water on his shirt/pant. The maximum inventory that we have supplied his day care so far are his spare clothes:-) There hasn't been a single day when Jay has come home from the day care with the dresses that he left the house with!! Mr.V keeps complaining that he is tired of doing 3 exclusive loads of Jay's dresses in a week :-)
Jay's favorite activity is "back seat cooking"...the minute he gets back from school, he would take a comfortable position on the kitchen counter and start his cuisine instructions. He is so obsessed with gastronomy that when I asked him "K for" Jay's prompt response was "Kadugu"(mustard seeds in Tamil) mommy!! He is so clued up on the kitchen and its whereabouts that he knows where what is stored (spices/ingredients/utensils/food)...even Mr.V gets lost most of the time!!
My day starts with Jay’s innocent smile and doesn’t get done without listening to his loud laughter. He is my strength, weakness, delight, energy, passion, excitement, sparkle, trouble…the kingpin of the transition in me....I love you Jay!!
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