Ajeesh enjoys most viewership on my blog

I started blogging about 5 years back but not until I started writing about Airtel Super singer and Ajeesh did my blog receive overwhelming viewership. During my initial days of blogging my views were limited to sports and occasional write-ups about movies but when I started watching Airtel Super Singer in 2008 I decided to write about the same.

Only when I started posting my views on the show I realized that I was not the only one who loved Airtel Super Singer. It’s amazing to see the kind of fan following Ajeesh enjoys after his victory in Airtel super singer 2008. Even after one year since his victory, Ajeesh still enjoys the most viewership on my blog. Any posts related to Ajeesh still enjoy most comments and most views on my blog which is quite extraordinary. His first song in the movie Goa seems to have had a brilliant response by his fans.

I write about Sachin Tendulkar, Roger Federer, Rajinikanth etc, but none of them receive the same sort of response on my blog as Ajeesh does. I wish Ajeesh who happens to be my favorite as well a very bright future.

My Name is Khan was a good effort from Karan Johar

After the hype generated for “My Name is Khan” by the Shiv-Sena threat and SRK himself after he got detained at the Chicago airport for questioning, I thought to myself what could be so different about a Karan Johar movie? But after watching the movie yesterday I was pleasantly surprised. I never liked Karan Johar type of movie making. His movies are monotonous and his hero worship of Shahrukh Khan often gets on my nerves.

This movie though was completely different from his other efforts in the past. The movie is heavily inspired by “The Rain man” where Dustin Hoffman had played the role of a person suffering from Autism brilliantly. Shahrukh has copied the mannerisms of Dustin Hoffman to perfection and also speaks and behaves exactly like Raymond (Name of the character Hoffman plays) of Rain Man. His repeating of some sentences, avoiding eye contact and also the way he walks are heavily inspired by Dustin Hoffman.

Even though MNIK (My Name is Khan) also has a Tom Cruise sort of brother for Shahrukh’s character, but the similarity ends there. This movie is mostly based on the 9/11 tragedy and one man’s endeavor to meet the president of United States to say “My Name is Khan and I am not a terrorist”. So this movie is about an Autistic Muslim man (Shahrukh Khan) who wants starts off in search of the president of USA after his step son’s death.

The movie on its own was very good and the lead actors performance was very nice. Jimmy Shergil as Shahrukh’s brother was absolutely wasted in a role which seems to have been created just to get the protagonist to US. Shahrukh as Rizwan Khan was absolutely brilliant and has carried off his role with élan. Kajol though doing a good job, has played a character which she has done before on numerous occasions in Karan Johar movies.

The others in the movie are just adequate and do their roles as required. Karan Johar as a movie maker has surely made me change my opinion about his capabilities and I hope that this marks a turning point in his career. Shahrukh also has gotten away from his stereotypes and has tried something different which he had not done since Swades. Overall MNIK is a great effort. Even though the movie suffers from certain clichés associated with Indian cinema, the overall message doesn’t get lost in the same.

I never thought I would ever say this about a Karan Johar movie but I definitely liked this one and I hope that this is his foray into meaningful cinema.

AR Rahman bagged couple of Grammys yesterday for his scores in Slumdog Millionaire

A.R.Rahman made India proud again with yet another award in the US yesterday. Rahman bagged two Grammys yesterday at LA for his scores in Slumdog Millionaire. This award is in addition to the OSCAR’s he received last year and also several other awards like the Golden Globe, BAFTA etc. for the same movie.

This award comes in the wake of yet another nomination for Rahman in this year’s OSCAR’s for his score in “Couples Retreat”. The past one year has been brilliant for the musical genius and I hope that he continues his golden run this year too. It’s brilliant to see that the man who is affectionately called as the “Mozart of Madras” to have become one of the most popular Indian musician in the world. Congrats again to one of the most humble and talented Indian musician of our times Allah Rakha Rahman.

Ajeesh sings in Goa for Yuvan Shankar Raja

This article was a long time coming and for some reason it kept missing my radar. Well it has been more than 3 weeks since I listened to Ajeesh pairing up with Andrea for his first song in the movies “Idhuvarai illaadha unarvidhu”. The song was nice and aptly suites his voice. Yuvan seems to have chosen the right song to give Ajeesh the deserved break.

I think everyone by now knows that Ajeesh was the winner of the Airtel Super singer last year and it was promised that the winner would be singing for Yuvan Shankar Raja in his upcoming movie but I never expected it to be so soon. So it was a surprise for me when I heard his voice in the Goa soundtrack. I am happy for Ajeesh as he was in my top 3 favorites in the super singer 2008.

The song itself was very good and Ajeesh has done a brilliant job considering that this was his first in movies. He had little issues while hitting the top notes in the song which was repeatedly pointed out by the judges in the competition but that shouldn’t take anything away from the otherwise great rendering. The other observation I made was his style of singing resembled very much of the great Unnikrishnan (Airtel Super Singer judge), which might have crept in unknowingly. All it all a great beginning to his career behind the microphone and I hope that he scales greater heights in the years to come.

Vijay TV I think is doing a brilliant job in promoting their winners by giving them ample screen time. They have taken these singers to different cities in Tamil Nadu for concerts and have also invited them on their shows to perform like in “Koffee with Anu”. I hope that more singers from the super singer get to sing in movies and make a name in playback singing.

Eeram was one of the better Tamil movies to grace the theaters in recent times

Eeram by S Pictures is one of the better Tamil movies I have seen in recent times. Shankar has always had a knack of picking up good scripts for his production house and he has never gone wrong till now. Eeram had a debutant director Arivazhagan who was Shankar’s assistant in the past. Arivazhagan has done a brilliant job in his very first movie.

Eeram has a gripping storyline, great camera work, fantastic background score and a good star cast. The movie was touted as a thriller but the supernatural angle to it was well concealed before the release of the movie. The movie began brilliantly with a crisp first half. The movie starts with Sindhu Menon drowned in her bath tub. Aadi who is the cop investigating the death is the ex-lover of Sindhu Menon and suspects that this might have been a murder. Nandha is Sindhu Menon’s husband who is in a business meeting in Mumbai.

During the investigation several other deaths happen in the same floor of the building which adds to the suspense. When Aadi finally tracks down the guy who was supposed to be meeting Sindhu often in her apartment the story takes a twist. That was one of the brilliant scenes in the movie and totally unexpected.

As I said earlier the first half was fantastic. The frequent shift between the present and past to show the romance between Aadi and Sindhu was done very well and the pace of the movie was maintained. The movie followed a logical path and investigation by Aadi made the story movie along in an interesting manner. But that’s where the movie changed the course after the interval. Once the movie took the super natural path, it became rather predictable. The movie was also longer by at least 30 minutes.

I guess if you are making a thriller, the ideal length of the movie should be around 2 hrs or little bit more than that but 2 hrs 46 min was little bit too much. The director seemed too confused regarding how he wanted to end the movie and that showed in the climax which was low key. Arivazhagan needs to be applauded to have attempted something different in his debut movie. He could have taken the easy way out by making a masala movie to start his career but I guess he was lucky to have been picked up by S Pictures.

The movie overall was technically brilliant. The camera work was brilliant and the mood of the movie was captured on screen throughout. As the name suggests the movie has water playing an important part in the movie and almost every scene has water somewhere on the screen. The acting was also adequate. Aadi as a cop was very good. Sindhu Menon did a good job and so did Nanda. The music by Thaman was also very good. Both the songs in the movie were nice and the background score was brilliant.

All in all Arivazhagan is a great find for Tamil industry and I hope that he comes back with another good movie as a follow up.

Shahrukh Khan was detained at the US Airport for 2 hrs for interrogation

No news has grabbed the headlines in the past few days more than Shahrukh’s detention at the US airport. Even swine flu had to take a back seat on the Indian media. Was the Indian superstar making a huge deal of the incident to promote his upcoming movie which is based on the same theme? May be, but Shahrukh has denied such claims. Yeah it was bad that Shahrukh was detained at the Airport for couple of hours but it’s not a National disaster. It was funny when a famous Bollywood actress claimed that Shahrukh is a “World” figure and should not have gone through such treatment.

The above statement is all that is wrong in India. If she had said something like any Indian should not be subjected to such treatment based on his religion or race, I would have had more respect for her sentiments but that was not what she meant. There were lots of reactions from Bollywood after the incident which only showed arrogance on their part. I know that there are millions of Indians who go through such hell everyday around the world and none of us complain. Maybe we should, but who will listen? If I had been detained at the Airport for any reason, it would have been difficult for me to even get hold of our Indian consulate.

The VIP, VVIP, VVVVIP etc culture in India is sickening. In know that the Indians are now used to that culture but why do you expect the same treatment in a foreign country. The comparison with Brad Pitt was another dumb statement by yet another Bollywood bigwig. If the Indians treat Hollywood superstars differently then it’s our problem and the US immigration should not be blamed for that. The Indian security check is a joke and lots of Americans (not only Brad Pitt) are let through without even being checked. The problem with this incident is that no one has spoken on behalf of the entire Indian community who undergo such checks and interrogations every other day, it’s all about one superstar detained for 2 hours for the first time in his life.

Since becoming a superstar in Indian cinema, he was made to feel human for the first time which the star did not like. Now the stars should realize the predicament of common Indian who goes through such scrutiny everywhere in the world. If Dr. Abdul Kalam can be stopped at the Airport then why not Shahrukh? Is Shahrukh bigger than our former President? Our defense minister had to go through the same problems, so is our Bollywood superstar bigger than the above two National leaders? No he is not, at least not for me.

Yeah I know that this is not an ideal scenario and discrimination based on caste, Religion and race has to be questioned but why only when a high profile star is detained. What about the common Indian man? I guess it’s okay that our over the top superstar was brought down to earth for couple of hours, I don’t care if that happened. Nothing is going to change here. Even if the US immigration apologizes for their act, Indians are still going to face these checks, so why worry so much. The incident is done and dusted and Bollywood has to realize that this is not India and the immigration officers across the world don’t recognize Shahrukh Khan.

Kandhasamy hits theatres this Friday

Kandhasamy is set to hit the theaters this weekend after lots of postponements. The movie has been in the making for over 2 years now and it has generated lots of hype in the media and also among the public. Vikram’s last movie Bheema which also released after a huge delay in 2008 was a big dud at the box office. This movie is touted as the first super-hero movie in Tamil cinema and hopefully the director has justified the hype associated with the same.

As with lots of movies released in Tamil with big stars, this one also comes in with a huge budget. We just have to look at the money spent in the launch and audio release function to gauge the budget on the actual movie. Director Susi Ganesan has made some decent movies in the past such as Thiruttu Payale and Five Star but none as big as this. For Vikram this is an important movie and so is for Shreya. Even though Vikram is still popular with his fans, this movie can further enhance his status as a superstar in Tamil cinema. Shreya though has had a disaster at the box office since Sivaji as her movies such as ATM and Thoranai have been colossal flops. She would want Kandhasamy to resurrect her career in Kollywood.

The last time I saw such an attempt in Indian cinema was “Krish”. That movie came as a sequel to “Koi Mil Gaya” with Hrithik Roshan in the lead and was a disaster. Even though the movie itself was reasonably successful at the box office, it was a sad example of a super-hero movie. I hope that Kandhasamy doesn’t fall in the same category. Vikram though can be expected to give his all in his movies. By looking at the rushes and the trailers it seems like he has put in a lot of hard work and the production of the movie looks rich.

Kandhasamy is one of the most expected movie in the industry and the biggest one this year. I hope that it doesn’t disappoint the fans.

Prasanna and Sneha in Achamundu Achamundu (Pic courtesy Indiaglitz)

I watched “Achamundu Achamundu” over the weekend and I felt that it was a refreshing way of movie making by Arun Vaidyanathan. The movie deals about a sensitive theme which is rarely touched in Indian films. So it was actually a brave attempt by Arun to take up such a subject and present it in a way which will not make the Indian audience uncomfortable. To be frank I am not a critic and I don’t want be one too. This is the first time I am writing about a movie on my blog.

The reason I wanted to write about this one is because of the close to reality presentation of our life in the US by the director. I was plainly irritated and frustrated by the way Bollywood has been depicting an NRI life on the screen in the past few years and I am happy that Arun Vaidyanathan has stuck close to reality. The interactions between the lead pair, Prasanna and Sneha were sweet and it reminds us of our day today life here in America.

The movie was a short one and except for the last 20 minutes or so there was not much action or any notable twists but the way the director moved the story along keeps us interested. After I finished watching the movie I was wondering how the director manages to make a 1 Hr 40 min movie with such a storyline which could have been a short film at best. The thing that works for Achamundu Achamundu is the realism. As a IT professional muself living in the US for the past 7 years, I could relate to the day to day activities of the lead pair in the movie.

The movie also deals with a subject that is rarely touched upon in Indian cinema. But the unfortunate thing for Arun will be that not many people will actually understand what John Shea’s character in the movie is in India. The educated audience might get the hang of it but I would feel that most of the Tamil audience might assume him to be a kidnapper at the best. Until the movie ends and the paper clippings are shown there might be a small confusion for the common man in India.

But as far as I am concerned the movie was fantastic. It kept me glued for the duration and even though the climax was rushed and finished abruptly the overall effort was commendable. Prasanna and Sneha performed brilliantly and gave a very subtle performance. Prasanna as an IT professional was convincing and so was Sneha as a house wife in the US. Arun couldn’t have picked a more appropriate cast for the movie.

The rest of the caste was adequate. John Shea as a child molester was wooden at most times but was adequate and so was the guy playing Prasanna’s friend. The girl who acted as the lead pair’s daughter was very good as a kid brought up in the US. The way Sneha keeps reminding her kid to talk in Tamil was sweet and reminds me of lots of parents here in the US who want their kids to stay in touch with their roots. The subtle things like that have made this movie different from the other NRI based movies.

All in all it was a wonderful effort and kudos to everyone who were involved in making this movie. I hope that Arun Vaidyanathan goes from strength to strength after this one and gets the right break he so richly deserves. As far as Prasanna and Sneha are concerned, they have once again proved that they are the two most natural actors in Tamil cinema.

It’s a great thing for the super singer fans that the junior version begins just 2-3 weeks after the 2008 competition ended. So this gives us nice filler and also a chance to see the kid talent of Tamil Nadu before the Airtel Super Singer 2009 begins again later this year.

From the next week onwards we are going to see the auditions starting first with Coimbatore. I will be watching it for sure as yesterday I got a glimpse of how the last year’s juniors were. The two kids who sang were brilliant and were really confident on stage. Mahati and Anitha were the judges and we had Ajeesh and Raghini competing yesterday with the two kids. The hosts were Malini and Yugendran as usual.

I am waiting for the main competition to begin as its going to be a fun few months with the best kid talent on view. Vijay TV talent shows are the best and it has become a trendsetter for the other channels to follow.

Airtel Super Singer top 6 (Before the Recall round) Top (From the left): Ranjani, Prasanna and Renu; Bottom (From the left): Rohit, Ajeesh and ravi

Well at last the Airtel Super Singer winner was declared yesterday here in the US after almost a year of the competition. The week began with Prasanna being eliminated and the final three remaining were Renu, Ravi and Ajeesh to compete for the title. It was a really good run for Prasanna and he surely won many hearts with his entertaining performances.

Monday and Tuesday of the competition was basically a tribute to the top 22 contestants and awards were given to best performances in a particular genre. Ironically all the award winners were from the top 10, Santosh, Prasanna, Raghini, Vijay and Ranjani. Even though the others did not win any awards, it was nice to see all of them together in the Airtel super singer set for one last time.

Now coming to the actual finals which happened on Wednesday there were three contestants and it was good that the results were announced on the same day. I unfortunately was not aware of the change in timings and missed the entire performances of the contestants. I just saw the final song sung by Ravi which was from Dasavatharam.
Yuvan Shankar Raja was there along with other celebrity singers such as Chitra, Mahati, Karthik, Krish, Sunitha Sarathy and few others to grace the live event. Finally after few performances from the other super singer contestants the results were announced and Ajeesh was declared as the winner based on the viewer votes. Ravi came second and Renu ended up in the third position.

Personally I would have preferred Ravi to win the competition as he was a better all round singers but Ajeesh wasn’t too far behind. I am not that disappointed with the actual result as Ajeesh also has had a wonderful super singer 2008. Renu for me did not make the cut and I did not expect her to win the crown. I know that I have been really harsh on her in my previous articles but to be frank she did not possess the variety the other two brought to the table. She is a good singer but one dimensional but I think she will be successful in play back singing in the Sujatha mould.

Coming back to Ravi, he is a fantastic talent and has a great range. He has proven his caliber in western as well as folk and classical and would be very successful in the music industry. I wish him all success and hope to hear him sing in the movies.

So the Airtel Super singer 2008 winner was Ajeesh, a fantastic singer with a great voice. Had some issues with the open singing at the beginning of the competition but overcame the same with the help of the voice trainer Ananth I guess. Great future ahead as he is guaranteed a song in Yuvan’s music.

All in all it was an incredible journey which lasted for almost a year. I enjoyed watching the same and I hope that everyone following Airtel super singer had a blast too. I think next we have the super singer juniors and hope it’s also as entertaining as the senior version. Till then this is Giri signing off.