How to name it (III)

Moreover, considering that the "angel" was at that point in time inside the manger's room was a positive as far as PLC was considered. Suddenly he felt in a manner unlike any other he had experienced thus far. Was this what they called "Love"? Will this mean that he would soon one among the many who called up on the dial in shows of music channels daily, to either boast of their relationship or try and put forth the problems in their relationship to a couple of people who didn't look like psychologists but did a fairly decent job or convincing the world they are indeed love experts, if indeed there existed any. Quickly banishing these rather disturbing thoughts he knocked on the manager's door half expecting him to ask him to hang on outside for a while and also hear stifled laughs and giggles from inside.

Distracted by this totally new line of thought that his mind was taking, PLC missed the first time that the manager asked him to come in and it was only when a slightly agitated manager called out to him loud the next time did he look up with a jerk and the fashion of his entry into the room did absolutely nothing to instill any confidence in him. Sheepishly grinning and eyes scanning the room to catch sight of his lady love ( yes, by now at least he had made up his mind about what he thought of her. Her impression of him be damned, at least for now) he made quite a sight and very fortunately for him the manager decided to put it down to the normal bouts of nervousness that any new comer faces on the first day of office. With a pleasant smile on his face the manager made sure that PLC was feeling comfortable and the by now settled look on PLC face seemed to convince him that he had made the correct impact on the young man. Little did he know that the look on PLC's face was more due to his success in catching the attention of the other inhabitant of the room. By now PLC had decided that she would be the guardian angel in his life and would do quite a good job at it (and it is this impression of her on PLC's mind which helps establish her name as Guardian Angel Par Excellence or GAPE in short). His focus was more on how to make a good first impression on her rather than the manager and in this moment PLC represents many of the ordinary people who tend to get their object of focus wrong at critical moments. So while the manager was discussing details of his training, PLC was busy training his eyes to follow every little movement of GAPE.

All of a sudden and with a jerk similar to the one at the door PLC realized that he had missed out on a considerable part of his manager's discourse so far. And just as he was starting to get involved in the conversation the manager decided to wrap things up and asked PLC to make a move on and get himself acquainted with the others in the office room and especially TIC who would be his mentor during his early days at work. Considering that PLC was just taking his baby steps in the organization, he decided he could do with a close friend or two to guide him through this phase. Having no one he knew earlier working here, he was forced to go through the whole process of working towards a close friendship again. Desperate as he was to quicken the process ,he hit on the strategy that had seemingly worked so wonderfully for him earlier. He had always noticed that the more you reveal about yourself and your little secrets to someone the more they seemed to draw closer to you. Deciding that he knew enough of TIC (and more than enough of CCW) for him to begin a close relationship with him. He decided to fast track the process by letting TIC into the details of the happenings in the manger's cabin, seek help in figuring out what the manger could have told him and profess his liking for GAPE. The point that PLC missed was that while it's all well and good revealing your little crushes to someone whom you have known for a while and have built up quite a bit of trust with, it's dangerous to do the same with someone whom you barely know.

Musicals

This is not about the mega budget dance and song extravaganzas which appear from time to time in Hollywood (and strangely is the description given to any Indian, or should I say Bollywood, movie in the western media). This is about the ones which last for barely a minute and appear on TV. Of late there have been quite a few commercials which have depended almost entirely on their music, to succeed. Two such which stand out and I guess this qualifies as success are strangely from the same field, mobile service providers: Airtel and Vodafone.

When, AR Rahman whose initial works include some memorable ad jingles, Leo coffee being one of them, signed up as brand ambassador for Airtel after having refused to enter the ad market till then, it caused a flutter in the industry. The question being raised was whether he was still in touch with the world of commercials to be able to churn out one more hit. He answered it in style with his theme for Airtel which , 3 or 4 years after its introduction, still creates an impact each time its on air. The sheer range of visuals it has accompanied and the perfect changes (though slight) made to the original to suit the mood, and yet not diluting the flavor of the original bears testimony to the brilliance of the composition.

Vodafone, from the Hutch days, though not boasting of a high profile composer ( at least not one I am aware of) has relied on its music to add immense value to its ads and has come out trumps. The "you and I" track remains one of the most hummable ad tunes in recent times , though sadly it is currently "out of circulation". The latest series of ads from Vodafone. on the additional services, are an absolute revelation. Highly imaginative and touching a chord with the common man in terms of the situations portrayed and yet managing to add on such a wonderful comic layer to it, is something not too many ads can boast of, certainly not those without any dialogues. This is where the accompanying music has played an amazing role, in the Art of Living ad more than the rest. The jingles manage to create a humor effect that has never been experienced before in such ads and with stupendous success.

If one were to draw a comparison between the advertisements of these two then one would have to say that while the Airtel jingle adds grandeur to majestic and moving visuals, the Vodafone ones create magic with, and not despite, their simplicity.

Quote uncouth

Following the assassination of Benazir Bhutto the tv channels worked tirelessly, vying with each other towards providing a information hungry nation the latest form the ground in Pakistan as well as trying to increase eyeballs by getting political office bearers past and present to give their views on the dastardly act and its repercussions across the globe and more importantly, on India. The experts with their repetitive views did get boring after a while and it did help that no one was on for a prolonged period of time. Also helping the viewer stay glued were the slip of tongues and the like which the politicos managed.

Topping the charts was Natwar Singh, who in a bid to remain in the news (or at least on the news channels) seemed to have given his assent for an interview to quite a few news channels. So when Barkha Dutt asked him her first question pat came the reply: "May I know who am I talking to". Old age i guess. Retirement plans?

Next in line was former J&K CM and presently out of favor politcal heavyweight Farooq Abdullah. Though excusable his statement on how "Benazir Bhutto, India's former PM" death would affect relationships did nothing to boost the present day politician's image of one who talks, then thinks and finally denies the statement. A point worth noting is that Mr. Abdullah was very quick to correct himself on this.

Not to be left behind was Pranab Mukherjee, who holds the post which Natwar Singh so dearly wants, while reading his statement decided to be very correct and read the statement as"... comma ... ". I am unaware if this is the usual practice and if it is, excuse me. But that does not stop me from wondering why they do not take slightly more effort and make sure that full stops are also carefully noted down.

Adding to the fun were the editors at a couple of rival news channels who decided that since there was nothing much to differentiate in terms of content and the details regarding the assassination the least they could do is to use different weapons of attack, while one channel proclaimed it was a sniper which got Benazir, the other claimed it was an AK 47. In the end I guess it was neither. One only wishes that in their over eagerness to win the race for breaking news they do not bury the fundamental principle of journalism which is to ensure that the information being broadcast is correct. This is the very least that we expect from our media.

Parallelism

Couldn help but wonder at how things have worked pretty similarly over the past year or so for Dravid and Ponting, the stars for India and Australia on India's tour down under. 2007 was the worst year for both with their year average hovering jus below 40, an utter disappointment to their legions of fans not to mention to the two legends themselves. Of considerable intrigue is their scores thus far in this series. Both of them failed to get going in the 1st test and now they have both manged to touch 50, in contrasting styles but with the same measure of luck. If this trend of tracking each other continues then one will have a tough time in picking whether we'd want simultaneous failures or for both of them to shine. Devil or the deep blue sea anyone?

The romance with Boxing day

My connection with Boxing Day started 21 years ago to this date. Since God didn't deem me fit enough to be a Christmas present to the world, he chose the next best day or should I say the next day, to send me in. But as much as it adds significance to the day from a very personal point of view my looking forward to the 26th of December has been due a whole different reason altogether. And its pretty much the same reason why I get up at 5 every boxing day. Those religiously oriented might assume that it's because of my sense of duty towards God and my eagerness to offer my prayers and thanks to Him. Close, my ritual is intended to pay my obeisance to the demi-gods on the cricket field. As the years have gone by, the Boxing Day tests have become occasions to celebrate the spirit of cricket. The overflowing crowds (and beer cans), their tremendous spirit and many memorable performances have gone a long way in making the occasion even grander.

Apparently the year I was born England trounced Australia by an innings and more. But guess that was just my amateurs luck rubbing on to the English team, for since then as much as millions of Brits would have wanted to see it happen again England have only been at the receiving end of such thrashings. Or as they say in many Tamizh films, "inime adhu nadakannumna oruthan porandu daan varanum". I have done my bit and now look forward to someone else sharing that burden.

The memories of the cold morning of 1999 when India were facing the heat down under while I was praying feverishly at the local temple, more for my sake than the Indian teams I should admit. It was also the debut of Brett Lee who ensured, at that point of time that is, that Rahul Dravid's worst record was in Australia and also as a side job just about end Sadagapon Ramesh's test career with a brutal bouncer. One more heart break was due 4 years later when despite a Sehwag blitzkrieg on Boxing Day India managed to perform to perfection the art of losing test matches away from home despite a brilliant start (Sehwag himself has "starred" in two of these defeats, the other one being on debut against South Africa). The tales of the other teams to tour recently are no different and India can look to take heart from the dismal performances of the others in recent times.

As they often say past is past and a new beginning is what was made today under the guiding light of the "Grand Old Warrior (man is too small a term to be used to describe him)" of Indian cricket, Anil Kumble. To say the least he made my day today. It was sheer delight watching him operate today and his celebration which followed each of wickets was similar to that of a rookie earning his first Test wicket. And looking at his celebrations I just couldn't help wonder whether the number next to the age column was just that, a mere number. It is with these thoughts that I look forward to what the future holds for me rather than look back at the 21 years behind me.

Billa 2007 - Fashionable Faux Pax

Its never easy to remake a classic. Don and Billa might not have been classics according to the critics but for millions of fan across the nation (which would exclude me for I have not seen Don or recollect having seen Billa either) those two movies touched a chord and elevated the status of their lead actors from that of stars to super stars. Thus having such a big precedent to follow one should be aware nothing short of excellent cinema would satisfy the cinema goer. As already established I have not watched the earlier movies which though putting me at a disadvantage when attempting to compare the movies or the stars gives me the advantage of a perspective that most of Tamil Nadu wouldn't have.

Watching a movie on the 1st day brings with it two aspects- one positive and the other negative. The atmosphere tends to be pretty charged for you have some of the most ardent fans of the star in attendance but the price you need to be prepared to pay is that you'll not be able to hear much of the dialogues for the first few minutes or maybe more. With the fear of having to maybe miss out on a few dialogues I entered the theatre. The mad scenes that one witnessed while having to force entry to the theatre proved to be a little misleading as once inside there was little noise and whatever little there was of it was only at the start. As the movie progressed the only noise one could hear was tones of discontent.

The start of the movie pretty much set the tone the rest of the movie. Extremely stylishly shot, Ajit at his dashing best and minimal dialogues. In a way the decision to have as less dialogues as possible seems to have either been taken with some foresight or forced upon them by the utter inability to come up with good lines. The strength of any movie lies in its dialogues and more so a movie which relies quite heavily on packing a punch with minimal dialogues and that's the biggest failing of Billa. Only once in a blue moon did that really mood lifting dialogue come by and the one about Lord Subrahmanya was certainly the stand out. Another negative point is that throughout the movie one is unable to feel any emotion towards any of the characters. To portray a character as aloof in nature is one thing but it not even remotely connecting with the audience is another.

It's all fine to say that movie's do not reflect reality and therefore need not always be logical. But Vishnu Vardhan carries it too far as there is absolutely no sense in any part of the movie. Be it the way that Nayanthara, a total stranger is inducted into the group with absolutely no back ground check done (for a gang thats supposedly been chased by police in over 11 countries one would think that its a rather basic thing to do) or the way in which Velu's escape has been depicted, no sequence in the movie is completely logical. As comforting as it is to know that the Malaysian police are as inefficient as our own, as per Tamil cinema i.e, its rather stupid to think that an officer who's been carrying a pen drive with him for days wouldn't have as much sense to copy its contents on to his computer rather than fight about having it hand it over after the above said period. The director has thrown logic to the winds at all points of the movie and this is an insult to the intelligence of the viewer.

In the matter of individual performances there's very little to comment on. Prabhu as DSP Jai tries to utilize his vast acting experience but yet again fails short of delivering that one good performance that we can rightfully expect from him. Raghuman though appearing in very few scenes seems to have understood the limitaions of the role and performed as the scope provided for him has allowed. The less said about the sidekicks of Billa the better for all they seem to do is just stand next to their Don with the the same supposedly serious look on their faces. "Ranjith" is the only one who seems to have gotten a chance to display some acting skills and he doesn't quite make an impact. Santhanam who had put in good performances in a few recent movies totally disappoints.

When you have Nayanthara and Namitha for heroines one expects the competition between them to be pretty hot but at the end of the show its pretty clear who has come up trumps. Though Namitha's role isn't as much a damp squib as it was in Azhagiya Tamizh Magan she'll still be pretty disappointed at the screen time she's managed here though the screen space she occupies is another problem altogether. Nayanthara on the other hand sets the screen on fire each time she enters and its tough trying to split points between Anu Vardhan for the sexy apparel she's chosen (at times bordering on the bold) or Nayanthara who seems to have worked out overtime to fit into those. Scorching every inch of the frame she occupied she gave quite a few fans in the theatre enough reason to believe they had gotten their money's worth. As far as histrionics go both of them are pretty much on even keel with nothing much to show unlike the costumes they sported.

Ajith as Billa and Velu comes up with a credible performance but definitely not soul stirring. Displaying an icy cool that his character Billa demanded Ajit looks at his stylish best but does little more than mouth stupid dialogues and shoot at will. Complete with designer sunglasses this role does nothing to show us Ajith the actor but instead showcases Ajith at his handsome best. On the contrary Velu provides Ajith an opportunity to explore his comic timing and he seems to have got it as wrong as Dinesh Karthik against Pakistan. The line "enna koduma sir idhu" is now more or less guaranteed to invoke laughter or in the least a smile from the viewer but when Ajith utters the line to Prabhu, the man we owe all the fun to, it just falls flat and this more or less epitomises his failure at comedy. Maybe he could do with a lesson or two from the hero of the original Billa and our beloved superstar who has over the years mastered his comic timing. But of the two characters its Velu that endears at least a little to the viewer and this is perhaps the only success that the director and writer Vishnu Vardhan has managed.

The locales in the movie are simply stunning and the camera has captured them splendidly but then one gets the feeling this is more of the Malaysia- Truly Asia campaigns that we have seen so much of on tv. Its all right to pack a movie with stunning visuals but that alone doesn't make the movie. It needs a soul and in this regard Billa has nothing to bare. On the whole Billa seems more the work of a designer who has tried too hard to display all his wares. Thus, in more senses than one Billa is a fashion show gone horribly wrong.

Of Chappels and Declarations

As one of the most ardent fans of Ian Chappel the critic, I lapped up every word of his on the issue of picking Sehwag for the Australian tour. Little did I realize then that there were 5 even more ardent fans of his, who have shown yet again that age isn't proportional to wisdom. If ever there was anything as playin right into the Aussie hands this is it. In a move a la bakra style the selectors have picked Sehwag virtualy out of nowhere. One does agree that the Indian domestic league isn't the best in the world in terms of reflecting the talent of the individual but it doesn help when the men who pick the national sqaud have absolutely no regard for the goings on there. On one hand we have Akash Chopra, a man who didn do too badly in the last Australian tour either, knocking on the door for a deserved call up to the team and Sehwag a man totally out of form. Maybe its the selectors who have suddenly gone out of touch with reality. One would like to them to remeber that only a few weeks back they dropped Rahul Dravid because he had not scored for 10 matches out of the 300 odd he's played and now to pick someone who barely averages double figures in Ranji trophy this season makes one squirm with disgust. Maybe its the selectors who need to be dropped because of lack of consistency. To make matters worse Sehwag has no place in the team. At a time when Dravid is being touted as a make shift opener to ensure Yuvraj finds a place in the team it reeks absolute callousness on the part of selectors to pick Sehwag who at 29 is not the kind who can tell the press about how much of a learning experience it was to be sharing the dressing room with the "seniors".

Next to the issue of the timing of the declaration in the last test against Pakistan onw wonders when these critics would stop asking people to do what they would never have done in their playing careers. It was indeed a refreshing change to see Mohinder Amarnath defending Kumble's decision during the match analysis on Neo. Here was one man who was more tuned to reality. The same critics who are after Kumble now would have lambasted him had Pakistan won. They would have wondered aloud as to why he had to take a chance when he could have done well enough to have sealed a 1-0 verdict. Maybe its all Kumble's doing. Had he not picked up those five wickets no one would have even thought that a victory would have been possible. To draw a small parallel one would be tempted to say that had he declared at lunch or earlier he would have done a Sreesanth, needless aggression, and by declaring when he did he displayed that remarkable facet of his, controlled aggression. And what's all this talk about what Australia would have done in a similar situation? One wonders how many times the Aussies haven't enforced the follow on in recent times just because of that very very special knock from Laxman at the Eden Gardens. Wouldn one term that as negative mindset? Maybe its time that there was a little bit more perspective in the views of a few of our legends rather than a rush to give their comments and be the 1st to say what everyone else might say. After all having played the game for so many years one would expect them to have a little more insight rather rthan hindsight.