Sunday, March 29, 2015

Last lines from the captains



44 days of sheer pain is over, now people can concentrate in their work, oh wait. IPL is on its way. No, I’m not going to subscribe for it; too much of cricket is not good for health. To wind-up the cricket season, here is an imaginary dialogue given by the captains of the World Cup participating countries. Some are serious, some little funny and some political.


1. Michael Clark (Australia) – We didn’t sledge. Did we?

2. Brendon McCullam (New Zealand) – The final should be played in New Zealand.

3. MS Dhoni (India) – We won’t take it back.

4. AB DeVillers (South Africa) – Rain Rain Go Away

5. Angelo Mathews (Sri Lanka) – We have a mystery bowler, so mystery that we didn’t make him play.

6. Jason Holder (West Indies) – Curtly Ambrose was our bowling coach. Believe it!

7. Misbah-ul-Haq (Pakistan) – Our team is a best fielding side. Rahat Ali you are fired.

8. William Porterifield (Ireland) – We beat West Indies or West Indies lost to us!

9. Eoin Morgan (England) – I’m not from England, I’m from Ireland.

10. Elton Chigambura (Zimbabwe) – Brendon is leaving Zimbabwe, a spot is free, anybody to take?

11. Mohammed Nabi (Afghanistan) – Bullets, Tanks and Cricket Balls

12. Khurram Khan (UAE) – We are World XI

13. Preston Mommsen (Scotland) – Oh! Did we play in this World Cup?

Did we miss someone, yes here he is...

14. Musrafee Morthaza (Bangladesh) – That was a no ball! Right? Please..


Monday, March 23, 2015

Predicting World Cup Semi-finals



The much anticipated and dragging ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 is coming to end this week, with just three matches left to play, could we see a new winner ? Yes, there is a 50% chance, because one of the two finalist will be a sure first time finalist, either South Africa or New Zealand.

So, who is going to play a spoil sport for the new finalists, it will be either Australia, who had licked the ICC World Cup inch-by-inch or two time winner India, who is desperate to get it back again (Looks like they are screaming from the top of the high-rise #wontgiveitback).

What will happen in Eden Park ?

I assume New Zealand has the edge of South Africa. NZ like India is on a continuous winning trout and I’m sure the momentum will swing their way. I was hoping that both the team to meet in the finals, but they are now in Semis. After all the quarterfinals were one-sided, we can expect the semis to tough and close matches. 60% chance for NZ. South African pacers won't trouble NZ batsmen, but Vettori will be always a trump card for NZ bowling. Expecting some firework from ABD.

At MCG ?

This is “the final” before the final. India to take on Australia. 50-50 chances for both the teams. But considering the previous matches, I can give a +5% advantage to India. Australia Vs Pakisthan- Aussies would have lost the match, if the catches were taken. The batting is a weak card for Aussies now. Whereas for India, any weakness haven't been exposed yet. 

Nail biting matches ahead on 24th and 25th March.


Sunday, March 22, 2015

Fifty Shades of Saffron




May 26th 2014- Since the day BJP lead Narendra Modi took office in Lok Sabha, day-in-and-day-out some big mouth politicians or people who perceived as Hindu sympathizers are coming up with innovative ideas and garb-talk to seek or divert people’ attention from actual issues. This has become a trend, every day when you turn the newspaper; some kind of gibberish is said by someone wearing a saffron-outfit. Giving an opportunity to our prime-time news anchors to scream in our TV. 

You might argue, that it is their freedom of speech, so is mine to list them out,

Statue for Godse - This came from the forefathers of BJP, the Hindu Maha Sabha. The perpetrators of MK Gandhi want to glorify the killer. 

Hindu women should have five children – This suggestion was given by a Member of Parliament, Sakshi Maharaj from BJP. 

Ban Cow slaughter in pan-India - Although the President of India approved the 1970’s bill from Maharastra, the central govt. is now considering the ban on cow slaughter throughout India.

Importance to Sanskrit – Central govt. makes a way with plans to revive a dying language (Hardly 10000 people speak Sanskrit), but in the expense of other languages.

Using Hindi in Social Media – Looks like Pon. Radhakrishnan is having hard time in Delhi, since he doesn't know Hindi. Someone should educate our lawmakers that Hindi is not a national language; in fact India doesn't have a national language. 

Remove Gandhi Jayanthi from Goa Holiday calendar – This was later said as typo. There are so many typos in this BJP led government. Government of typos.

All Indians are Hindus – Time and again, someone will garb this statement, starting from a Facebook Hindu fan boy to Subramanian Swamy.

Banning books – No one should speak against religion. If someone writes about it then it will be banned. Even if the book is not published in India, they will make it to publish and ban it. 

Banning movies – There is more than banning movies. In a recent move, CBFC has given a list of objectionable words. The words as like fuck, bastard, asshole, screw, haramzade… 

Christmas - Dec 25th as Good Governance Day – This is a ‘happy birthday’ for AB Vajpajee, so BJP want to celebrate it as Good Governance Day. This is like how Nehru and Ms. Gandhi gave themselves Bharat Ratha!

Mother Theresa Insulted – Insulting people who are already in their grave is a pass time for this saffronies. If her ultimate motive was to spread the religion, so be it, at least she was not spreading the hatred. 

Curbing Internet Freedom – Government might be planning for free wi-fi zones, we should use it only to share our selfies, but we shouldn't voice against the government.

Attack on media – The government will use the media for their propaganda, but if the same media voices an opinion which is not in sync with the saffron principles then they will be attacked. This is almost a norm for all parties, irrespective of who is in the power.

Hindu Rastra. Akanda Bharath – Time and again, these self-motivated groups have this agenda. They keep saying that the land from Afghanistan to Burma constitute of Akanda Bharath. Do these people know that there are national boundaries? The pity is when Kachathevee was given to Sri Lanka, these same group remained mute spectators.

Ghar Wapasi - You convert 1000 people, I convert 2000 people. Re-conversion has to be left to the individual’ decision, but not forcefully (Irrespective of any religion).

Kangaroo Science – Interplanetary Planes were in India before 7000 years. This was said by our own progressive Prime Minister Narendra Modi in this year Indian Science Congress!

Boycott of “Khan” films – Sadhvi Prachi, another “poster person” of these kinds of statements calls the youth to boycott “Khan” films. If she is so concerned, she should say to boycott “mind-less” movies, rather than just to corner “Khans”.

Delhi elections – The low point in any Indian election, the BJP went on with poster war to criticize its opponent by their caste. Direct attack on personality, which was usually seen in regional elections were staged in Delhi by Modi himself.

Increase in Saffron brigades – In Tamil there is a saying “Thadi eduthavan ellam thandal karan”, like wise if one wears a saffron colour cloth, then they are the savior of the Hindu culture. The raise of the fringe group is evident.

Removal of the word “Secular” from Preamble – This was again said as “typo”, when there was an advertisement on Republic Day. Later, even the cabinet ministers started to voice their opinion on removal of the word “secular” from the constitution.

Denigrate Nehru – If you want to attack someone’s principle, then the best thing to do is to make personal attack. Denigrate their personality and rewrite the history. 

Jammu & Kashmir elections – Will do whatever it takes for power. This has been the mantra for all the political parties and BJP is not shy of doing this, but to what extent. Align with someone (PDP), who has almost an opposite ideology. 

The count is not 50, but I believe by end of this year we will get 50 saffronic shades. Again, BJP is not directly responsible for all remarks, but when they are in power the saffronic groups gets a leeway.

**Above Image by the blogger


Saturday, March 14, 2015

Cheran To Home


Has Cheran opened the pandora's box


Getting a brand new non-pirated Tamil film DVD is easy now, it is just a phone call away. C2H, Cinema To home or rather say Cheeran To Home is here. Last week, C2H released there first film "JK Enum Nanbanin Vaazkai".

Network matters

I thought of buying a copy, I went into their website. I sent an email to their enquiry email address rather than calling the distributor. I live in an unusual locality, starting from postal department to gas vendor place my locality into different area, one will say it is in Choolaimedu, one will place it is in Arumbakkam and some in Vadapalani. So, no wonder C2H got confused. I received a reply from C2H, they gave Arumbakam distributor number, when I called them, and he gave Choolimedu distributor. I had to talk to the right distributor to get the DVD. The point here is establishing a network, which is very hard. Looks like C2H has done it. Now, since they had set the platform the others can use (cash on) it.

Number matters

Looks like C2H had already sold 10 - 15 lakhs DVD's. I assume this count includes all south states and overseas sale. I read that in Kerala 7500 copies sold in 2 days. Calculate the math, minimum 10 lakh copies, 50Rs/copy, will be 5 crore. Did I get my math right?.

Jamakalathula filtered fools

In spite of the availability of the original DVD for Rs.50, it's a joke to see people still going for pirated copy and torrents.

Copycats

If one ventures into a new business and succeeds, then it's a norm that others will follow into the same business. So, don't be amused if you find Films2Home, DVD2Home to follow.

Expecting some good Tamil films and if possible some good overseas films (Non-Hollywood) from C2H.

Cinema 2 Home



Thursday, March 12, 2015

Nee Partha Parvaiku Oru Nandri



0:00 – The song starts with the piano, after 7-8 seconds that is at 0:08, the piano fades, here we literally hear that the music itself ends or at least it gives that impression. At 0:11 seconds the music (Piano) picks a little pace, but again stops at 0:13 seconds. We tend to lose track as it breaks unevenly, unsure of what is happening; the piano again picks up to render the famous tune of this song. Starting from 0:20 to 0:40. This 20-seconds tune reverberates throughout the entire song.

Use the below YouTube video (Only Audio) to sync the timings mentioned in this post.




At 0:40, a faint female voice pokes her head out along with a trumpet sound. At 0:46 Secs, the husky and hunting voice of Rani Mukerjee reads the Bengali love song “Akasha Jyotsna”. Unable to get the Bengali meaning, in background a female tone wanders in between Rani Mukerjee’ poem. At 1:16, we hear the 'doubtful' flute, with its quizzing sound. The flute in background continues till 1:29 and a sudden violin takes over with little drum beats. As Rani Mukerjee ends the recital of the poem, at 1:34, she gives a “moaning” sound. Asha Bhosle, at 1:35, gets into her prelude, with the humming of the earlier heard “doubtful flute” tune. At 1: 49, the humming stops, with piano still continuing to make hear us the rest of the tune till 2:07.

The total song length is 4:40 mins, so here almost half the time is over, but still the main course hasn't started. Unusual and it’s not a conventional Tamil song. At 2:08, Illayaraja introduces the verse-1. Asha Bhosle takes over, with her shrilly voice,

Nee partha parvaikkoru nandri, 

Namai sertha iravukkoru nandri,

She then raises her voice here-

Ayaraatha ilamai sollum nandri nandri,

Akalaatha ninaivu sollum nandri nandri,

By now, its 2:31, the “doubtful flute” returns to haunt us, along with a female hum in the background. At 2:43, the song again goes to stand still for a 2-secs!. At 2:45, the piano again returns as if the flower is blossoming again for the second time in its life!. At 2:52, the verse 2 starts,

Naan aendra sol ini vaendamm,

Nee aenbathae ini naanthaan,

Again here she raises her voice, same pattern as the verse 1-

Inimaelum varam kaetka thaevayillai,

Ithupol vaeraengum sorgamillai,

Her voice then completes a circle to end-

Uyirae vaa...

Now, it’s 3:22, once she says “Uyirae vaa..”, we are sure enough to judge that the male voice to be introduced, but, here Illayaraja gives a pause, he continues the make the piano to play for a while till 3:29, this is when Hariharan (Male voice) enters into the song.

Naadagam mudintha pinnum,

Nadippinnum thodarvathu aenaa,

Again the same pattern as verse 1 & 2, the male voice ups his pitch

Oranga vaidam ini podhum pennae,

Uyir pogum mattum unn ninaivae kannae,

Again here he complete the circle to end- 4:00

Uyirae va...

The piano continuing the same tune till 4:08, the female voice starts the opening line again,

Nee partha parvaikkoru nandri,

While still the female is singing the above line, the male voice at 4:11 echo’s the same line. So at 4:08 female starts the verse 1, the male follows her by singing the same verse 1 from 4:11. 

MALE:

Nee partha parvaikkoru nandri,

FEMALE:

Namai saitha iravukkoru nandri,

MALE:

Namai saitha iravukkoru nandri,

FEMALE:

Ayaraatha ilamai sollum nandri nandri,

MALE:

Ayaraatha ilamai sollum nandri nandri,

FEMALE:

Akalaatha ninaivu sollum nandri nandri,

MALE:

Akalaatha ninaivu sollum nandri nandri,

Now we are at the end, the final, the point where both male-female gets into unison and renders, 

Uyirae vaa...

Film- Hey Ram | Music- Illayaraja | Lyrics- Kamalhaasan, Jiboanada Das | Singers- Asha Bhosle, Hariharan & Rani Mukerjee | Year- 2000 | Language- Tamil & Bengali

Lyrics from - http://gotchasdackk.blogspot.in/2009/05/hey-ram-nee-paarvai-song-lyrics.html

Monday, March 9, 2015

Manal Kayaru - Revisiting Tamil Films - 6

Manal Kayaru Tamil Film


Even before the recent Induja matrimonial site started to circulate, I thought of writing about this film. Although, it is not 100% similar, both deals with the Indian matrimony system. Let’s get into the film, leaving IP alone in her quest to search for a suitable boy.

Following in the footsteps of his mentor (K. Balachander), Visu ventured into Tamil film industry with his famous stage-play, Moodi Masthan, to be turned into a film called Manal Kayiru (This was his 2nd film). Visu started a new genre in Tamil cinema. It is hard to coin or label the genre. It was like a family drama cum comedy moves to tragedy ending with all happy faces.

Kittumani, played by S. V. Sekar, is looking for a bride or tries to avoid marriage. He lists eight conditions. His plan is to marry someone (of course a girl) who fits his listed eight conditions. Entire family turns to Naradar Naidu, played by Visu to get a suitable bride. Visu, knowing that no one can find a suitable girl, who fits into the eight ridiculous (some makes sense) conditions starts his game. He advises the bride (Uma) family to tell lies, he goes on to quote a popular Tamil saying “You can do a marriage, by saying 1000 lies and all I’m asking to say is just eight lies”.

If you are eager to know the eight conditions, I suggest to see the film.

Marriage happens, but things go awry, when the cats starts out of the box on the very third day. Kittumani threatens\tries to divorce Uma. The rest of the story is how Naradhar Naidu tries to bring peace between them. No hard guesses, Naidu succeeds.

Visu, is the granddaddy of bringing plethora of actors in his movies or say a least-known ensemble cast. The number of people in the frame will be more than the audience. On top, all will have bunch of dialogues delivering in high-decibels. Visu, went on to make such family drama in 1980’s, created his own brand of audience. In fact, the very next film’ plot was dowry. He went on create some memorable films and then later moved to Tamil Television in pioneering talk-shows.

Back to this film, it has some good performances by Manorama and Kismu (Visu’ younger brother). Comical, yet sensible scenarios. Good songs and score.

The full film is available in YouTube or if you are lucky you can catch it on some TV channel in a lazy afternoon.

Other Tamil films you might be interested to catch from this "Revisiting" series-