Raavanan - Dus sar wale

It is Mani Ratnam's modern day reproduction of one of the most epic mythological stories.
Having said that, I was a touch disappointed towards the end but we will come back to it later. For one, I felt Mani Ratnam need not have to so strictly stick to the Ramayan story through out like the nose reference to Surpanaka (Priya mani) and Monkey like behavior of Karthik (reference to Hanuman) At least I was happy seeing a slight deviation towards the end.

Vikram really proved as why he was worth the billing. He was splendid throughout. Even though you feel that the movie might fall apart, you can never stop enjoying watching this guy act. He grunts, he shouts, he howls, he says that 'buck buck buck'. He does everything in this movie to make that character work. I can't wait to watch his performance as Dev in the Hindi version.

Prithivi does a decent enough job as a tough cop. No one seems white/black in this movie. Everyone seem to have a gray shade to their character. Dev is not all-good and Veera is definitely not as bad as Raavanan (from the Mythology). Aishwarya justified her role.

One more disappointment was that few songs were never fully shown. Veera veera was part of the initial credits. Kaatu sirukki only had an old lady humming it once in the movie. I wanted to hear Shankar Mahadevan/Anuradha Sriram's version. Only three songs Kodu poatta, Kedakkari and Kalvare had some screen presence. Usire Poghudey had a couple of dialogues in between.

The big plus of the movie was the Cinematography and the camera work (V. Manikandan and Santosh Sivan) which were ably supported by the splendid background score by Rahman.
I have definitely heard a lot of bad reviews for this movie and know that many people felt cheated and disappointed at Mani's work. As I said earlier, it could have been better. But I guess it works for some and doesn't for the rest. Whatever it is, it was definitely worth a watch for Vikram's acting and the way in which a bright and green rural India was shown through out.

And namma makkal inum thirunthavey illa, do you know who got the loudest cheer in the movie? No, not Vikram, not Prithvi, nor Ash. It was Ranjitha!!

Paranormal Activity - Movie review

There has been a lot of hype for the movie. Tags like "Don't see it alone" "Nightmares are guaranteed" have been generously thrown around.


Well, the movie never gave me nightmares, actually not even made me think about it again.
I read that the movie gave the chills to a director who made one of the best horror movies till date, the Poltergiest.
May be watching it alone might have had some effect. It had a few scary moments and the climax was little disturbing.
Towards the end of the movie, you get a little tired of the lead pairs that you actually want the demon/ghost to thrash them so that at least then they would abandon the house or do something really solid to get rid of that thing.

The ghost psychic who runs away saying that this is the work of a Demon and he is not a demon expert was funny and frustrating. He could have been of a little more help for sure being in the Paranormal business for so long. He says that his presence in the house angers the spirit more and more. They could have very well met somewhere outside and discussed about this. I don't understand why they want to do everything inside the damn house.

Couple of moments were really creepy like when Katie wakes up and keeps staring at Micah for hours together at night.
The movie might not work so well with the Indian audiences as we do not come across such situations frequently. A couple of people all alone in big house. House fully made of wood where you can hear a lot of squeaky noises. And for sure if it happened in India, first thing in your mind would be to vacate the house and go and stay with family with more people around. Not sure how much this would work but at least the demon would have had more people to scare this way.
We really don't know the background history about the pair. Katie's family survived the inferno when she was young and shifted to a new home. I guess there must have been more people out there to support them.
Overall it was a decent movie with few scares. And would work more if you were a couple like that leaving alone in an almost deserted home somewhere in the US.
Watch it alone at night and check if it works for you :-)

Hot, Hotter and Hottest

You guessed it right. It's about the Chennai weather.
Its an irony that am writing this post on a relatively cooler day this summer thanks to Laila. Laila seems to have had a short stint and could last only for a couple of days. But that has definitely brought some respite to the fried Chennai crowd.
Due to the effects of global warming, the summers could get only warmer each year. Can't imagine how life would be some 5 yrs down the lane. May be people would walk around with Air conditioned suits similar to what MJ had.
Everyone of us can do something about this heat.

• Plant more trees.
• Water your plants daily, don't let them dry out.
• Save water as much as you can.
• Whenever you see a leaking tap, take steps to repair it immediately even though it may not be your home.
• Make sure your home has proper rain water harvesting system (one mighty helpful thing that Jayalalitha did during her tenure) Might be helpful if Laila returns or Bandu visits.
• There are more small things than you can do as part of your daily life without spending much time or effort. Awareness is the most important thing.

My Dream Fantasy team - IPL 3

As with the last IPL, here is a composition of my Dream team of 11. It consists of players who have impressed me in one way or the other this season.
First the list of players, then a little about my selection and those who almost made it and then the final line-up.

Batsmen:
The only Orange cap contenders (Sachin and Kallis) throughout the tournament earn their place right at the top of the order. Sachin is the only player to have scored 600+ in a single IPL so far. Well we can always keep talking abt this guy day in n out.
Surprisingly Kallis wont be opening the innings. It will be Sachin's mate Dada who scored nearly 500 this season @ 47 opening for KKR.
Raina, the best ever IPL batsmen earns the call after scoring 520 @ a SR of 140+
Pollard and Symmo have been the pick of the all-rounders this season with Symmo failing in small patches and Pollard being excellent towards the end of the tournament.
Those who almost made it:
M Vijay (huge transition from tests to T20s), Jayawardene and S Tiwary were in close contention. Rohit Sharma and I Pathan were the next best as all-rounders.
Bowling:
Ojha, the Purple cap holder is an automatic choice. Mishra is a tough omission, but Bhaji had the edge with a little help in batting, not to mention his 17 wickets this season @ an economy of 7
Fast bowling is not complete without 'Slinga' Malings these days. The choice of next pacer was very tough. It was a toss-up between Dougie and Harris. Bollinger makes it coz of his better Econ rate (6.6)
That said Kallis, Raina, Pollard and Symmo should be pretty handy with the ball too.
Those who almost made it:
Fast: Harris should have made it. Others were Zaheer, Vinay kumar (a good young talent) and Steyn (little patchy this season).
Spin: Mishra, Kumble and CSK's find of the season Ashwin. He has it in him but just that he has to play more games.
Wicket-Keeper:
Dhoni is the only guy who came to my mind. He doubles up as my Captain too :) (No.. am not being partial here. Seriously considered Sachin/Ganguly for the role. But Dhoni has that lucky charm to lead the sides)
Those who were a bit close were Sangakkara, Gilly and Uthappa (only for his batting)

Here is the batting line-up with the 2 stalwarts opening


It's quite odd that only Raina and Malinga made it to the current team from last year. Biggest disappointments from last year were Yuvi, Hayden, Gilly and ABD
Lets see how the season is, next year with more teams and more players :-)

The Cup of Joy!!

It was The Judgment Day at the IPL season 3 yesterday which decided who is gonna have the last laugh (Ok.. enough of the Clichés)

It's no secret anymore. It was Chennai who came out in flying colors :) CSK entered the finals as the under-dogs given Mumbai's consistent performance through out the tournament. They were the side to beat and hence the pressure of winning was obviously on them and this proved decisive when they had to chase a decent enough score on a tricky pitch.

The eve of the match rendered a slight blow to CSK's camp. The news was that Sachin was fit and will be playing in finals and leading his team to win the ever elusive Championship. It was bad news for Kallis too as his Orange cap was under threat (eventually Sachin scored much more than those 2 runs reqd to pluck the cap out of Jack's head)
Raina's innnings was a cherry topping to his already illustrious carreer at the IPL so far and he along with able support from others made sure Chennai reached a score that was defend'able.
When Mumbai came to bat and were struggling for the 1st half scoring at less than 6 r.p.o, they still had hope in the form of the man of the tournament 'Sachin'. But when he was gone and when MI were busy deciding whether to send Pollard ahead of Malinga or after him, you know the game was done and it was too late even for the big hitter.
CSK's fairytale ending was amazing and I was absolutely speechless and spell-bound after the match. Just think that we had to score 44 runs off 3 overs even to make to the semis exactly a week ago at Dharamsala. The BIG turnaround for CSK was Chennai's (or rather Dhoni's) last over win against Punjab. That set the tone and the rest is history!! :-) It has been a long way from there.
Feel sorry for Sachin.. but he lacks that eeny weeny bit of luck required to grab a big trophy. On the other hand, Mahi has been CSK's lucky charm. Winning both the Championship and the Fair Play Award (We had a perfect 10/10 for all the 14 matches) just goes on to show the kind of hard and fair cricket this team has been playing throughout.
And needless to say Chennai has been the most consistent team across all the IPL seasons. Here are a few numbers to drive home the point.

No.	Teams	IPL '08	IPL '09	IPL '10	Net worth
1	CSK	7	5	8	20
2	DD	5	6	4	15
3	RCB	2	7	6	15
4	DC	1	8	5	14
5	MI	4	2	7	13
6	RR	8	3	2	13
7	KXIP	6	4	1	11
8	KKR	3	1	3	7

The points are allocated as below:
8 pts for the Tournament Winners
7 pts for the Runners-up
6 for the winner of 3rd place play-off or the one higher on the Points Table
5 for the other losing Semi-finalist
4, 3, 2 and 1 for the rest of the teams according to their positions in Points table
The Net Worth will be the summation of points across the IPL seasons

Numbers speak for themselves.. Do I need to say anything?
Hoping for more success for the Lions in the forthcoming seasons too :-) Fingers Xd.