Archive for the ‘Music’ Category
Endhiran was awesome!!
Posted on: October 4, 2010
- In: Bollywood | Chennai | Entertainment | General | General Lunch Time talk | Indian Cities | Kollywood | Movies | Music | Rajinikanth | SciFi | Tamil Movie
- 1 Comment
Super Star Rajinikanth gives one of the most compelling performances in the recent times in Endhiran/Robot
I was able to catch Super Stars Endhiran over the weekend and it was a mind blowing experience. It was fantastic that the movie release in the city I reside as not many Tamil movies make their way to the theatres here. We were anyways prepared to drive couple of hours to watch the movie in Chicago if need be. We reached the theatre about 30 minutes prior to the screening and once we entered the movie hall realized that we were about 20 minutes too late as all the seats were already taken.
We were left with only the front row but fortunately just before the movie began we were able to grab couple of seats in the second row. Thank god for that as the first row seats would have left me and my wife with terrible neck pain. So after that was sorted out, the movie began to a full house with the fans screaming when Thalaivar’s name appeared on the screen. The movie was surrounded with great hype as it was touted as the most expensive movie in India and also brought together Rajinikanth and Aishwarya Rai for the first time on Silver Screen.
The movie totally lived up to its billing and we had a blast watching the same. Our Thalaivar’s performance as the scientist and the “Robot” Chitti was fantastic and the visual effects were stunning to say the least. After a long time Rajini was able to play a character with negative shades in a movie and his performance was simply amazing at that. Aishwarya Rai did her part well and so did the rest of the cast but this movie was all about Rajini and Shankar. Even the Oscar winner A R Rahman had to take a back seat.
First of all Shankar has to be appreciated for attempting something of such a magnitude and for making it work big time. It’s all good to have lots of money to play with but to make it work is completely a different thing. Shankar has achieved the same with flying colors. The last 20-25 minutes of the movie left us all speechless with the special effects. Shankar has definitely pushed the bar as far as Indian movies go. I am not sure if anyone can ever surpass the extravaganza that is Endhiran/Robot.
Well this piece will not be complete without a word on the brilliant performance by Rajinikanth. It takes a huge courage for a super star like Rajini to act in a movie which has the script and the director at the helm. At no point in the movie did you feel that this was a Rajini movie. After a long time we saw Rajini the actor take over Rajini the super star. Rajini for sure has earned himself more fans through this movie. His performance as the Robot was special and his subdued performance as the scientist suited the character brilliantly. All in all brilliant movie and will be a milestone in Super Star’s already glittering career. As the Super Star himself said at the audio launch, “Endhiran is not a movie but a cinematic experience”.
I am not sure how Shankar or Rajinikanth are ever going to surpass this in the future. People are going to expect a huge deal from the director in his future projects and I am not sure how he is going to beat this success. Sivaji was big but Endhiran is bigger and for sure is going to smash all box office records across India. Leaving all the minor negatives aside, this is one Indian movie to be proud of. The criticism that the movie is tad long and is inspired from many Hollywood flicks is something I don’t agree with. Every director while making movies in such a magnitude goes overboard sometimes which is acceptable.
Every ambitious movie made around the world can be accused of being a tad long and there are always few scenes which could have been done without. As far as the claims about the movie lacking logic, it does not hold water in a Sci-Fi fantasy flicks. What can be logical about a movie which begins as an imagination in the first place? What was logical about a matrix or an Avatar for that matter? When you start a movie as a fantasy the directors imagination takes over and his creative instinct drive the movie, so the sudden requirement of logic in a Sci-Fi movie is laughable to say the least.
The there are the claims that we have seen it all in the Hollywood movies already is something again should not be held against the director. Hollywood has been making Sci-Fi genre for over 40 years now, so any movie made in that genre is for sure going to resemble one of them. That should not take away anything from Shankar for making one of the best movies technically from India. Just compare this with other Indian movies and tell me how many directors have ever thought of attempting anything even remotely close? The movie is a brilliant attempt and needs to be encouraged for the excellent vision of the director and for the compelling performance from our own superstar.
- In: Chennai | Entertainment | General | General Lunch Time talk | Indian Cities | Kollywood | Languages and Politics | Movies | Music | Real Life | Reality Show | Tamil Movie | Television
- 1 Comment
“Hands Up” is a talk show on NDTV-Hindu hosted by Journalist and filmmaker Sudhish Kamath. The show’s concept is nothing new as it is another talk show involving famous film personalities from Tamil industry. The show though does it with little more fun and the questions asked by Sudhish Kamath is more interesting than the clichéd interviews we see on other Tamil channels.
Interviews on Tamil television involving film stars is rather boring most of the times as before even watching the show, you can guess what the anchor is going to ask. Koffee with Anu started well but now has become yet another run of the mill talk show. Tamil industry by itself is little conservative so we cannot expect the “in your face” interviews we see on Hindi channels but little bit spice can still be added. Most of the times Tamil channels are so worried about offending our superstars which makes their show pretty dull. The hero worship on such interviews is sometimes really hard to take.
Recently I got to see NDTV-Hands Up and I liked it. The interviews were fun and some questions asked were little bit open than the ones asked in a standard Tamil interview. The one interview I loved was Surya’s before his movie “Singam” hit the theatres. The actor was very open with his answers and also told that they went overboard with masala in his previous venture “Aadhavan”. He said that he had no intentions to carry on as a hero till he was 60 or something and will pick and choose roles which will suit his age.
He said that he is not that impressed with Masala movies but has to do such films due to market pressure. He also said that he has no issues with multi-starrers (Are the directors listening?) and would love to do such movies. So overall it was an interesting insight into the mind of an actor who has always been asked clichéd questions on other interviews. Surya was really modest when he said that he felt his brother was more talented than him and also mentioned that he still has a complex which makes him work that much harder on his movies.
So finally a word on the anchor Sudhish Kamath, he is doing an excellent job and asks questions without hurting the egos of our stars. I hope he continues in this vein and brings in more famous personalities in the future episodes.
Endhiran trailer rocks!!
Posted on: August 2, 2010
- In: Bollywood | Entertainment | General | Kollywood | Movies | Music | Real Life | Tamil Movie
- Leave a Comment
Finally the long awaited Endhiran audio release took place in a grand manner in Malaysia yesterday. Lots of prominent Kollywood stars graced the occasion and the most important part of the evening was that the official Endhiran trailer was screened at the function. The trailer was breathtaking and the visuals in the trailers were amazing. Aishwarya Rai Bachan and Rajini combo was looking cool on screen. Aishwarya was looking much better than in Ravana/Ravanan.
It seems like a movie which will be different to the other Rajini movies and I am very much looking forward to its release. Our Super Star as the scientist was rocking and looks very young. Good news for us fans is that the movie will grace the theaters in September. I am sure that this movie will be a major hit and will be another feather in the cap of Rajini/Shankar/Rahman combination.
- In: Entertainment | General | Hariyudan Naan | Jaya TV | Movies | Music | Reality Show | Television
- 8 Comments
Hariyudan Naan elimination round has gotten me really confused. First of all let me explain the concept of the show from the round before the current elimination round. Hariharan judged the contestants and gave them different coloured badges according to their performance on that day. So according to color, green you were safe, yellow you needed improvement and red you are in the danger zone. So that wasn’t the issue for me as it was a straight forward exercise.
But the confusing part starts in the next round which is called the elimination round where anyone who performs badly on the day gets a red badge and gets eliminated. This happens even if you had green badge from the previous round. So why wasn’t this used as a yardstick in the previous round? I feel that this is really unfair to the contestants who got the green badge in the previous round. This means that people who received the red badge in the previous round get another chance to redeem themselves but the ones who did great in the previous round get eliminated based on just the one performance?
I am not sure who came up with the concept but this has lots of flaws in it. If the producers/organizers of the show decided to eliminate contestants getting the red badge then they should have followed that in the previous round and a natural progression would have been a better method. The concept should have been such that you cannot be eliminated unless you are in the yellow zone. Let me explain it more clearly. The singers who sing brilliantly according to the judges should be given green badge, the ones they think need improvement but were not that bad should get the yellow badge (which almost says that you can be eliminated if you don’t do well in the next round) and finally the people who get the red get eliminated.
So this way you cannot eliminate the people in the green zone just after one bad performance. They would have to get to the yellow zone first, get to prove themselves in one more round and then get eliminated if they don’t pull it off. This will make for much fairer judgment. Currently what the show is doing is ridiculous as they have given people with red another chance and have eliminated green after one bad performance. I hope that the producers take this to note as this does not make any sense to me. You cannot introduce the badge in one round and then change your policy in the next round.
- In: Airtel Super Singer | Entertainment | General | Hariyudan Naan | Jaya TV | Movies | Music | Reality Show | Television
- 2 Comments
Hariyudan Naan - Unique in concept, repetitive in execution
I started watching “Hariyudan Naan – Yaar andha Naan?” about couple of months back and it does come with a unique concept. This is yet another singing competition but with a difference in what the eventual winner or winners would get at the end of it. Hariharan himself would be mentoring the top 5 winners and few of them will be even singing in his album along with him. So the concept is good and is unique compared to the other shows across the country.
The other good thing about the show is Hariharan speaking to the contestants after each performance and giving them tips as to how they can overcome their flaws. That actually is a very good thing as it will be a great learning experience for budding singers from one of the greats of Indian music. Even though the show has lots of good things going for it the execution of the same is still following the dead beat formula. It seems like the aim of every talent hunt show in India is to stretch it as long as possible.
We saw the same with Airtel Super Singer and countless other talent shows on Indian television. It gets irritating for the audience when they are expecting the winners to be announced in a week or two and there props up a recall round or a wild card round thereby increasing the contestants. This show initially is following the same principle. 16 people eliminated from 50 odd contestants and then the eliminated contestants competing again for 5 spots. The reason given for such a decision was childish too. It seems like Hariharan and Jaya TV thought that the 16 eliminated contestants were good but had one off day, so they deserved another chance to get back into the competition.
If they are going to follow the same yardstick throughout the show then I see a lengthy one year competition with numerous recalls and wildcards. The positive aspect of the show is the way Hari Ji has been judging in the past couple of rounds and also the talent pool has been fantastic. If only they can avoid the minor glitches and give us a short and slick competition it has a potential of becoming a trendsetting show. The way Hariharan has been mentoring the kids has been fantastic and is really different from the other shows.
He has been crisp with his comments and has never come of rude with any of his negative comments either. My only disappointment in the earlier rounds of the show has been the judging panel of James Vasanthan, Tippu and Harini. I can understand them being forthright and honest with the contestants but making fun of them and laughing at them is not on. Every contestant there comes with a dream and most of them have never been in front an audience before leave alone the camera and television.
People react differently to pressure and sometimes even the best talents have off days so the judges should be mindful of that fact. You can provide your critique to the contestants without being rude which they can learn from Hari Ji himself. So James the hate mails are not because you have been calling “Spade a Spade” but it’s because the way you have been calling it.
Well that being said the competition has been fierce and the top 40 contestants have been really good. Hariharan taking over the judging has brought a new lease of life for the show as the initial judges were too full of themselves. That’s the reason he is a legend. All in all a great show and I hope that they iron out the few flaws and make this a short and sweet competition.
- In: Airtel Super Singer | Entertainment | General | Movies | Music | Reality Show | Star Vijay | Television
- 1 Comment
Airtel Super Singer season 3 auditions to begin soon
With the Airtel super singer juniors coming to a conclusion very soon, Vijay TV has announced that the Airtel Super Singer 3 would be beginning very shortly. Srinivas and Unnikrishnan made a special appearance on the juniors set couple of weeks back to announce that the auditions will begin soon. This is indeed great news for the Super Singer followers. It has been a year since Ajeesh was crowned as the super singer in 2009 and he has already lent his voice for a Yuvan Shankar Raja composition.
I am very eagerly waiting for the season to begin as I did not follow the Airtel super singer junior at all for the past one year and I feel there isn’t many talent shows as good as the super singer. I hope that we see great talent this year too.
Ajith Kumar's decision to take a break from movies to concentrate on racing is a bold move
Actor Ajith Kumar recently decided to pursue his dream of racing and is currently participating in the Formula two world championship. He declared that he is going to take racing little bit more seriously starting this year. Well to be frank that’s a bold decision. We all know that he tried his hand few years back and met with some success in the same but was back with the movies after that. I was reading some comments by few readers on a popular website who were ridiculing his decision and wishing him a failure in his endeavor. This shows how grown up these people are. It’s easy to sit in front of a computer and type away on your keyboard and criticize someone’s effort to be different.
All of us know that moving out of your comfort zone is not that easy. Ajith Kumar is a super star in Tamil cinema. He has his own fan following and supporters. He is a big name in the industry, so it would have been easier for him just sit back and go through the motions like most of us do in our respective fields. But he has decided to be different and is following his passion for racing. How many of us have the guts to do the same? How many of us have the courage to come out of our cozy jobs to follow our interests and passion? The answer would be a grand zero.
But we will make fun of someone who does, as it’s easier to criticize somebody who dares to be different. We have certain happiness in declaring someone a failure without even appreciating the effort that individual has put in. We have been taught from our childhood that if someone doesn’t win in something he is a failure and we grandly follow that yardstick in every field. As far as I am concerned there are few things which go beyond success and winning.
Harsha Bhogle, one of the best sports presenters in the world was a graduate from the reputed Indian Institute of Management. He did not end up in a stereotypical management job as most of the guys doing MBA end up in; instead he followed his passion with sports journalism and presenting. He loved cricket and he followed his interests.
Not a lot of us get to follow our dreams and interests. We are stuck in a typical 9-5 job, uninterested but keep doing it for the sake of our family. When someone dares to be different, we need not encourage them but can be without ridiculing their efforts. Ajith is just an example I took to drive home the point. Anyone who can leave their comfort zone has to be extremely courageous. Ajith surely is doing that right now.
Congrats to him for following his dream and hope that he has a wonderful season in Formula two this year.
Ajeesh and Airtel Super Singer
Posted on: March 3, 2010
- In: Airtel Super Singer | Cricket | Entertainment | General | General Lunch Time talk | Movies | Music | Real Life | Reality Show | Star Vijay | Television
- 35 Comments
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 is different
Posted on: March 1, 2010
- In: Bollywood | Entertainment | General | General Lunch Time talk | Languages and Politics | Movies | Music | Real Life | Television | Terrorism
- 1 Comment
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.
- In: Entertainment | General | General Lunch Time talk | Music | Real Life | Television
- 1 Comment
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.
girisopinion
My Thoughts 