Happiness from iPod and a Water Fountain

It was a cloudy saturday evening and we decided to go off on a mission to get some groceries done for the week. After finishing the ordeal that is called Grocery shopping, we thought we might want to check out the new Apple store in our area. This store has been opened up recently and we never got the time or need to drop in, until now. Apple has released a new iPod Nano and iPod Touch and we thought we could test drive it at the store. We drove around looking for the store for a few minutes, our eyes lying on several different things trying to locate a big Apple logo. My 1.5 year old daughter saw the big Apple logo sign first and said “Apple!” and that’s how we found the store. The store was slightly bigger than the one at Country Club Plaza in Kansas city.

How thin can an iPod be?

Apple has put iPod Nano on a strict fat free diet. It has squeezed the jelly out of it using a sugarcane juice maker. Then using a Chappati rolling stick, normally used by wives to beat the crap out of husbands, they have rolled the iPod Nano sideways to give it a thin oval look. This thing was so thin and light that if someone stood upside down in the store on his index fingers, I would have said “huh! Big deal!”.

The screen was brilliant and bright and the interface response time was quick. The colors were fantastic and I loved the Orange, Yellow and Silver of the lot. The screen is too small for playing a video, so it is probably just for occasional peeking and wouldn’t be usable for full length TV Shows or Movies.

The new iPod Nano shuffles beautifully. You just shake the iPod and it plays the next song in the shuffle line. Remember the days when you used to beat the top of your radio to get a clear reception, well this is sorta like that. This is a cool new feature, I don’t have to look at the screen and just have to shake it to listen to a random next song.

Available in 8GB for $149 and 16GB for $199.

Me: “I love it. I want it one now, honey! Can I buy this 8GB one? It is just $149″                                                                     (Picture: http://www.apple.com)

Wife: “You already have a perfectly good iPod Nano!”

Me: “But this is new. Owning this will make me the happiest man, please, pretty please! See even the daughter is loving the iPod.”

My daughter was getting all curious and attempting her minority report stunt to grab hold of the iPods lying on the table. She was very curious looking at all the colorful ipods.

For Bargain Hunters, I saw the older iPod Nanos at 4GB- $99 and 8GB – $129. Just put a word to your relative in US heading to a vacation in India, but don’t point them to this blog!

iPods are also Touchy!

(Picture – http://www.apple.com)

When you get rid of the phone component in the iPhone, you get the iPod Touch. The new iPod Touch is even more thinner than it’s predecessor. Thin is becoming a feature now, a fashionable demand. Whenever you think how much thinner can it get, Apple shows it in the next version of the iPod. iPod touch has WiFi and can do email, Web browsing, Games, Applications and YouTube. In the first version of the iPod touch it was difficult for me to type on the touch screen, but this new version seems much more easier to type and I was quite surprised by that. I wonder what changed, perhaps the software.

YouTube is the key here. It can be very addicting especially due to the simple and cool YouTube user interface on the iPod Touch. So I searched and watched this song and it came out really well on the device.

I also played this song, one of my daughter’s favourite. She always laughs whenever she sees Rajinikanth on the screen. Perhaps, she thinks that he is a comedian and he is always funny, especially due to this song.

She smiled wide as she saw Rajinikanth dance for the Style number in Sivaji.

Me: “This is a cool iPod. I think we can buy this. I don’t want the iPod Nano, I will have this one. It is just $229 and it will make me very happy.”

Wife: “You keep changing your mind!”

My daugther concurred with me as she was now all stimulated to grab hold of the iPod touch playing Rajinikanth’s song on Youtube.

We finished our window shopping and then came out of the store. It was a cool dark evening and the fountain just by the store was glittering beautifully in the halogen light coming from inside the fountain. We stood there for a while to enjoy a calm moment, a gentle breeze, sound of the water flowing in the fountain. It was a happy moment to just look at the fountain in silence.

I didn’t want to buy it and have it for myself, but it made me happy. It wasn’t a cool iPod with cool features, but it made me happy. My daugther was agreeing with me as she smiled wide looking at the water and the light and making attempts to try and catch the flowing water.

I realized two things:

1. Happiness is a temporary feeling that shifts from one thing to another that you like.

2. Happiness is not just in buying cool things but Happiness is in the way you like something around you.

It is amazing to see the wisdom that a child brings to you.

Imaginary Climax of Robo (Endhiran)

Prologue:

Continued from the original story post of the movie. If you would like to just read the summary of the climax you are more than welcome to skip the following narration and scroll down to it.

Narration:

WARNING: The following section contains narration of Graphical Violence, some content may not be suitable for people under 14 years. Readers discretion advised.

Aru: I am not letting you do this. Murdering people is not the solution. We have to let the law handle these people. I will not let you kill anymore people.

Robo: Sorry, if you don’t join me, I will have to take you with me.

Robo shoots a tranquillizer shot at Aru’s thighs. Aru holds his thigh and struggles to maintain his consciousness but the image around him starts to dim. Aru sees a blurred image of Robo approaching him and suddenly his vision moves from looking straight to looking at the ground as Robo carries Aru. Aru is unable to hold his consciousness now and barely sees a Maruti 800 parked on the terrace. Robo activates a button in its chest and the Maruti 800 quickly converts into a carbon black sonic pod. Aru registers it in his mind but now he is completely knocked out. Aru is put in the back seat of the pod and Robo ventures into his next murder.

…

Kayal begins her night shift at her University Laboratory, where Arivu is a Guest professor. Arivu leaves the lab as Kayal enters it. She chances upon a schematic on a big sheet of paper at Arivu’s desk. She sees a lot of scribbling around the schematic and notes one thing in particular. A hand with the laser gun. Kayal finds out who is murdering with the laser weapon.

…

Palani meanwhile makes a big lead into his case. He tracks down and finds that the people who were killed in the serial killing were Real estate businessmen. According to his observation, they were all partners in the business and finds out that there are 3 more left in it. They are also the ones suspected with fraud and high level real estate corruption from Aru’s case. The victims are known, he calls up the commissioner and requests for police force. He has to do 2 ironical things now – Protect the victims and then get Aru to arrest them in his case.

Palani’s Cellphone rings …

“Hello! Kayal?”

“Yes Palani sir, I found a very important clue!”

“Me too, but yours first!”

“The killer is Robo!”

“Robo?”

“Scientist Arivu has been working on it. He has called it R.O.B.O – Research Oriented Bionic Organism. The schematic shows the right hand with a laser gun!”

“Oh my god, Arivu has unleashed a deadly Robot. I have found the victims, they are real estate business partners. I am heading to Thangaraj’s, one of the victims. I have to tell Aru this message.”

“You go ahead, I can call him up!”

Palani rushes to Thangaraj to protect him, while Kayal calls Aru.

…

Palani gets there late. Thangaraj is already on the floor with burnt chest and stomach. Thangaraj seems to have struggled a bit as he sees some broken glasses on the floor. But Palani wasn’t too late either as he hears footsteps leading to the terrace. Palani runs towards the sound.

Kayal calls Aru and Aru wakes up from the vibration of his cellphone. He gets out of the M800 sonic pod in a slightly crouched position as he is unable to hold himself straight, finds himself on a terrace. Robo approaches the M800 as it turns into the sonic pod and gets in quickly. Aru grabs hold of the pod but is unable to hold on to it. Aru’s grip wasn’t steady and firm since the tranquillizer hadn’t fully worn out. Palani reaches the terrace and sees Robo fly away in the pod.

Palani: “Robo!”

Aru gets up uncomfortably with an aching body: “Yes, I know! I couldn’t stop him, he is too powerful”

Palani: “He has already killed Thangaraj. We have 2 more left – Nataraj and Swaminathan. I will go to Nataraj’s place and you go to Swaminathan’s. We have to capture Robo, No matter what”

…

Palani reaches Nataraj right just as Robo reaches there. Palani rushes to the terrace to stop Robo.

Robo: “I don’t want to fight you!”

Palani: “You leave me no choice!” as Palani punches Robo’s steel abs. Robo is pushed back, but quickly regains his stance. He gets back at Palani and showers a few punches. Palani defends a few punch from Robo but in a few seconds Robo gets the punch at him. A high impact steel punch at Palani knocks him out.

Nataraj runs away in his car. Robo chases him and blows the entire car away with a high intensity laser beam from his pod. Robo flies his pod through the flaming car and out of it. Only one more left.

…

Aru reaches Swaminathans’s and warns him about Robo. Aru gets the police force and puts them around Swami’s house. He couldn’t let Swami go away as Robo would chase him and it will be difficult to catch Robo. So Swami was kept in his own home with protection from full police force. Aru waits in the terrace with a dozen S.W.A.T styled Police force personnels. Robo flies down in his pod on the terrace and sees Aru waiting for him.

Aru thinks of this as the battle of his Good and his own Evil. But Robo sees this as a mere event in the big picture of eradicating the corrupt real estate individuals.

Aru: “There is no escape now Robo. You are surrounded by a huge police force. You cannot reach Swami!”

Robo: “I don’t have to.”

Aru (Shouts): “Fire …!”

The Police force starts firing at Robo. Robo steps down and quickly activates its shield. A sphere of electromagnetic protective shield forms around him and deflects away all the bullets fired at him. Aru realises this being a futile attempt, orders them to stop firing. Aru asks the force to grab Robo and arrest him. The Police force jump on Robo to grab him but Robo punches them away as each of them fall into corners.

Robo jumps on Aru and grabs him. Aru is perplexed and tries to untangle himself from Robo’s grips. Robo activates its x-ray vision and spots where Swami is sitting. Aru now grabs hold of Robo’s laser gun hand. Robo’s laser gun misfires into a tree and burns it down. The struggle continues as Aru and Robo fall on the floor. Robo fires another shot and it blows the water tank at the terrace.

Aru now tries to find a switch that might deactivate Robo. Aru presses a button that converts the pod into M800 and back into the pod as they both roll on the floor. Robo misfires another shot that breaks the terrace’s Parapet wall and blows it away leaving a huge hole.

Robo finally conquers over Aru and uses its x-ray vision and takes a moment to position the gun and fires an intense laser beam. The beam burns through the terrace floor goes through the building and hits Swami on the top of his head.

Four cops in the room look bewildered as they see dead and burnt swami with a huge hole on the ceiling leading through which they see Robo from the dim street light. It was the deadliest thing they have ever seen in their life.

Robo now lets Aru go. Aru falls aside catching his breath heavily.

Robo: “My Mission is complete. The bad has been destroyed and you have been saved from your death. I will no longer exist, as I am born out of your death. I will now vanish from existence in a few seconds”

Aru: “You are under arrest Robo! What do you mean you will vanish?”

Robo: “10 … 9 … 8 …”

Aru stands up as he hears the countdown from Robo’s body.

Robo: “3 … 2 … 1″

Robo disappears into a blue beam of light and the Pod implodes into a read ball of light. Nothing is left, only empty space. Robo is gone and Aru is left behind.

Few days later, Aru is called by the police commissioner at his office.

Commissioner: “Aru, I have another big case for you. We have a huge level corruption in the Governement defense department. We are relying on your expertise. Scientist Arivu has smuggled his Time Machine away as he didn’t want it to fall into wrong hands. ACP Palani will be dealing that case. I want you to work with Palani again in this case.”

Palani, who was sitting by the side, nods slightly in approval. Aru is ready for his next case.

…

House of an employee(Raju) in Govt. Defense Dept.

6AM is usually when Raju wakes up to go to work. Raju enters his bathroom and breaks the tranquility with a loud spit in the wash basin. He walks to the commode. There is absolute silence and the only noise was the sound of water drops from the pipe. In a few seconds, the bathroom wall blasts and rips open. Raju is frightened by that and opens his eyes wide. A double shot of laser is fired straight into the head of Raju, which blasts into million pieces.

No one else is there to see this. If there was someone to see this sight, they would see a Carbon steel bodied bionic organism floating in mid air powered by an ionic engine backpack, with both the hands holding out in the form of a gun. The entire body made of the same material as a Samurai’s Sword, seems to be slightly shining on the right side from the dim dawn light.

R.O.B.O II arrives.

THE END.

Summary of Climax:

R.O.B.O is Research Oriented Bionic Organism, is a prototype Bionic being designed and constructed by Scientist Arivalagan. Robo is built with a steel frame with a lot of advanced technologies that it is too powerful to be battled out. There is no stopping of Robo even as Palani and Aru try their best at it. Robo is able to conquer and complete his mission and kills the remaining 3 corrupt individuals. But since all of these corrupt people are killed, Aru will no longer be murdered in the future and hence there will be no Robo built out of Aru’s dead body. Hence, Robo disappears right after he finishes his mission.

Robo’s existence is nullified. But, Aru is a cop who will get himself into a lot more cases in future. He gets his another high profile case which might lead him into trouble in future. Hence, the moment he takes his next case, R.O.B.O II comes back from future on a mission to kill the corrupt. As long as Aru keeps taking these cases and involves himself this way, he is always at risk and R.O.B.O will keep appearing. Robo immortalizes Aru and the only way to keep Robo from coming back is peace. When there are no people who are corrupt, where Aru no longer has to work in high profile cases trying to catch the corrupt, peace will prevail, Aru will not die the gory death in future and R.O.B.O will no longer be needed.

Until then, Robo will appear in every corrupt individuals backyard. So, Beware of Robo!

Conclusion:

I had to end this script unconventionally because I started off unconventionally. However, looking at the first poster of the movie Endhiran, I doubt if the movie will be anything like what I have described. We will have to wait and see what the movie has to offer, after all it is Shankar’s dream project.

An Imaginary Story of Robo (Endhiran) – The Movie

We all know how much we are looking forward to Director Shankar‘s next Rajinikanth Magnum Opus movie – Robo. The story of the movie was supposed to be written by the legendary Sujatha, but he is with us no more. May his soul Rest in Peace. What would be the story like? Given that it is a Shankar movie and Sujatha was lending his hand with the pen, I would like to make a humble imagination of the story of the movie – Robo.

Warning: This story is not in any way related to what may be Shankar’s actual script. Any similarities are purely coincidental and I have nothing to do with it.

(Picture: From the movie Sivaji at Behindwoods)

It is current day in the city of Chennai. Real estate prices in Chennai are going over the roof. People attribute it to inflation and world level price rises, demand from IT companies and Corporations. But who is left behind, the common man. Comman Man has to go far away to the outskirts of Chennai to buy their dream houses. Comman Man gets cheated by Real estate Gundas. Agricultural lands are getting bullied into being converted into Residential sites. A lot of black money gets exchanged to avoid the Govt. Tax. A real estate revolution is happening albeit in a very wrong way. Who would have to solve this and put an end to this? The case is handed over to the local Assistannt Commissioner of Police Mr. Arumugam Periyasamy. The character of Arumugam is played by Rajinikanth. Yes, Rajinikanth will be playing a cop after a long time.

Arumugam’s job is to weed out the corrupt Real estate Brokers in the city who cheat Common People by selling them Fake land. Quite a small and simple case when compared to other big ones you can get. But Arumugam’s sincerity and dedication to job is boundless. Kayalvizhi, is a local College lecturer, played by Nayanthara, who also works as a Police informer. Arumugam (Aru) gets Kayalvizhi’s (Kayal) contact through another Police friend, ACP Palanivel Rajan(Palani) played by Prabhu. With the help of Kayal, Aru begins to collect evidences against the Goonda Brokers.

When the story builds up to this, a big real estate tycoon in the city gets murdered in his bungalow. It is one of a unique kind of murder, that no one has ever seen. The victim is burnt through with a 1 rupee coin sized hole in his chest. You can literally see what’s behind through that hole and the boundary of the hole is completely charred. ACP Palani gets to handle this case and begins his investigation at the bungalow. The Forensic department shows the result that the Victim is killed using a Thick, sharp Laser beam, which is very rarely available, probably in high profile physics research institutes and is not of a portable size. Palani is bewildered. Why would anyone kill with such a rare equipment? and How is it possible to do it?

Few days later, Another victim of the same kind falls in another place killed in the same way. Palani understands that it is mostly a scientist who is on this serial killing spree. He starts collecting information on Research institutes with Laser Laboratories. But none of it gives him any clue. He has no finger prints, no traces of the Murderer, no information at all.

Meanwhile, Aru’s case moves forward and he narrows down to one big broker in the city. He gets the arrest warrant from the City Commissioner and rushes to his bungalow to arrest him. Alas, This big broker is already murdered before Aru reaches his home. Aru runs outside the bungalow to see if there was anyone out there. He quickly sees a person jumping the compound wall but he is unable to see clearly due to the dusk light. Aru chases this mystery person. The person keeps running and suddenly makes a huge jump from the ground to the 2nd story of a tall building and starts climbing up very fast. In the speed the person’s trousers gets mangled with a beam in the building and it tears apart. Aru witnesses something very strange, It was a bionic leg. Aru quickly gets hold of the pipe on the building and climbs fast holding other supports from the building.

The mystery person gets his leg stuck in one of the floors and he is now struggling to get his bionic leg off, while Aru steadfastly climbs up and closes in on the person. The mystery person frees himself up, but it is too late because Aru catches his legs just as they reach the terrace. A struggle occurs. Aru fights the mystery man but whenever Aru punched the man his knuckles ache. It was like he was punching a steel bag. The mystery man who is still shown from the behind hardly budges from Aru’s punch. Very strangely, he doesn’t hit Aru back but only tries to get away from him. The mystery man’s face is slightly visible from the hood he is wearing and Aru tries to get it off. After a few seconds of struggle, Aru places his right hand on his face and uses the left hand to pull out the hood.

It wasn’t a man. It was a Robo. Steel faced, expressionless but with hair. The camera rolls around Robo. Robo was none other than a look alike of Aru (Rajinikanth). Aru stands back. It was like looking into the mirror with a coating of stainless steel on his face. This is the century’s best stand off between the Antagonist and the Protagonist. The conversation between Robo and Aru happens:

Robo: Hi Aru, How are you?

Aru: Who are you? How do you know my name?

Robo: (laughs) It is interesting to see that you are asking yourself who you are?

(Aru shows a confused face.)

Robo: I will explain. 10 years from now, The people you arrest in your real estate case come out of the prison. They have enough money and contacts that they evade a few years of imprisonment.

Aru: I haven’t caught anyone yet.

Robo: You see that’s a paradox. (The following is shown as Flash Forward in the movie) These real estate gundas will kill you as soon as they are out and your body is sliced up and thrown into the gutter. Your face is the only recognizable part in the body. Scientist Arivalagan (Played by Nasser), your college friend smuggles your body from the mortuary and turns you into a bionic steel bodied Robo. That’s me.

(Robo tears open this hooded jumpsuit and reveals a thin steel framed Robo body with just the face alone intact with the hair looking exactly like Aru. His bionic right hand’s index finger is longer than the other fingers and looks like a laser gun that can be triggered by the button over that finger using a thumb. This was probably what he was using to kill the people.).

Aru: What do you mean? How did you get here?

Robo: If I kill the ones you have to arrest, you will have no one to arrest and no one needs to kill you with a Vengence. This is the paradox.

Aru doesn’t believe it.

Aru: Again, If you are built 10 years from now, how did you get here?

Robo: Arivu’s Time machine that he had built last year from today. It is kept as a military secret for everyone’s safety, but there are too many things at stake so Arivu himself gave it to me to go back in time and kill them.

Aru: It is not lawful. You cannot just go on a killing spree. If you are planning to save my life by killing them, don’t bother. I am not someone who is afraid of death.

Robo: I know you are not afraid of death because I am not afraid of death either. Heck, I came back as me from the dead you. Death for you and me is just a temporary state. My main reason for being here is not just to save your life. The future of this city and the common people depends on this murder. If i don’t kill them now, they will grow more powerful 10 years from now and the city will be entirely under their control. You don’t know how bad that will be, because I know, Arivu knows. You will have to let me go and finish my job. Now I have 3 more people to murder before we solve this.

Aru: I am not letting you do this. Murdering people is not the solution. We have to let the law handle these people. I will not let you kill anymore people.

What will happen next?

Will Robo be able to convince Aru about what needs to be done with a Bhagvad Gita styled advice and both Robo and Aru be able to kill the last 3 bad guys? or Will Aru not believe in Robo and fight against Robo and prevent him from killing the other 3?

Whichever way the story moves into, I am sure it will be pretty darn interesting. But I am not going to finish this story either way and I am going to leave it open.

Perhaps, you can pick this up as a Blog tag and write your own ending in your blog. You can link back to this post and write your own last few scenes and the Climax of the movie Robo. I will be glad to read your perspective and if I like your ending I will be updating this post with a link back to your climax post.

(Edit: I have my own climax thought out but will not be posting that now.)

PS: A script of a movie is usually very detailed, but since this is just a summary story in a blog I had to limit myself to the main content of the story. There will be lot of questions in the readers mind and I am assuming that you will be able to answer those yourself sensibly and just infer the main story alone. If you would like to point out loop holes and unanswered inferences in the story please leave them in the comments, I can try to answer those or perhaps fix the loop holes by correcting the story as I can. I appreciate you reading this, Thank you for your time.

PPS: It seems the Title of the Robo movie will be either Yantram or Iyandiram (or Iyanthira?) as Praveen says in his comment.

Update: You can read my version of the climax here.

Movie Review: Kuselan

Kuselan is a very ordinary movie with a simple story. The Story as most people already know is loosely based on the story of Friendship between Sudama and Krishna in Mahabharatha. A poor Barber played by Pasupathi is the friend of the Superstar Rajinikanth during the young days and how they meet later in life is the essence of the story. There are no surprises in the movie. The film is an enjoyable family entertainer filled with comedy and emotions, other than that it is hard to categorize it as a Rajinikanth film.

Rajinikanth plays the role of a humble superstar and brings out the actor in himself very well. P.Vasu mixes boiled rice with Sambar, Rasam, Curd, Poriyal, Aviyal, Appalam and Ghee and serves it in a golden platter. The Golden Platter being none other than the Superstar himself.

Pros:

1. A Simple story. Because people need not come to the theatre wondering what the story is like, search for hidden meanings or anything of that sort. Sometimes keeping the story very simple helps a lot to enjoy the other aspects of the movie rather than trying hard to understand the movie itself.

2. Comedy. With a team of actors like Vadivelu (who spearheads the comedy track), Santhanam, Livingstone, Santhana barathy the movie is actually filled with comedy for the most part. Vadivelu is enjoyable as Pasupathi’s competing hair-dresser. His attempts to meet the superstar is the highlight of the comedy track and he has performed well. Watch out for Santhana Barathy in his adiyal get up, he was very comical.

3. Nayanthara, though she was not needed at all in the movie, seems to have satisfied her fans very well. Nayanthara plays Nayanthara in a very glamorous way, perhaps the most done by her ever. May be the new movie Sathyam will beat her show in Kuselan.

4. G.V.Prakash shines in the Background score department. The part where Pasupathi yearns to meet the superstar but unable to do so was neatly portrayed with the background score and the climax scene when they both actually meet is the highlight of G.V.P’s performance. Songs were all good on screen but there were some shortcomings and they could have been picturized better in a somewhat better situation. For example, Charal song appeared out of nowhere and Om zaara re needed some better choreography.

5. Rajinikanth’s performance was undoubtedly awesome. He easily juggles between a stylish superstar, a humble person behind the star and a good friend. Rajinikanth’s acting in the last 30 minutes was applaudable, he was simply superb. In fact, the movie has attained the stature because of Rajinikanth, had there not been him, this movie would have been just another average Kollywood movie.

6. Meena plays the role of Pasupathi’s Wife very cutely and reminds us of her formula of success during the days when she played the female lead role. This could be a successful comeback for her.

7. Pasupathi needs a special mention. He had done wonderful acting in movies like Virumandi and Veyil. His performance in Kuselan was simply top notch. Portraying the character of a principled, hard working hair dresser  is one thing, Pasupathi also brings out a Father, husband and friend in him in a great way. He also involves himself in the comedy riot and proves he can be funny too. Pasupathi scores full marks for his performance.

Cons:

There are lots of minor cons in the movie due to the limited brain size and capacity of the director P.Vasu. If only he had replaced his hat and augmented it with some grey cells, the movie could have been made much better. Because, at the end of the movie I was left to feel that there were some places which could have been touched upon in a much better way.

1. Pasupathi is the main character in the movie, but it would seem in some places that he is lost in the gang of comedy riots. He deserved more footage and perhaps more part in the screen play.

2. P. Vasu can turn a happy song like “Perinba” into a pukable item number and can make dolphins (who have escaped from Hitchhiker’s guide to galaxy) jump in a shallow country side river.

3. The story builds up very well in the first half and leaves as very interested to look forward to the second half. Unfortunately the second half seemed like going round and round in a carousel and then getting out to move on to the climax of the movie. P.Vasu seemed like he had lost some direction in the second half.

4. The shooting spot. It must not have been a difficult task to pen some mini script/screen play for the shooting scenes. Instead, P.Vasu goes for cheesy 5 minuters like Annamalai Part 2, Chandramukhi part 2 and serves to be of no use in the screen play other than just fillers and entertainment for fans.

5. There were some moments when you would feel like comedy was becoming an overdose. I hated those and I just had to let it go to enjoy the rest of the movie.

6. Pasupathi’s attempt to meet the star could have been better. In fact, Vadivelu’s attempts were much more interesting and funny.

All said, the movie overall is quite enjoyable with the family for its Comedy, a simple story and a good climax. Kuselan wins in a simple way.

Music Review: Sathyam

The last album of Harris Jayaraj that I really liked was from the Kamal Hassan starrer “Vettaiyadu Vilaiyadu”. Bheema had a few songs that were really good but others sounded repetitive. After that, I have to say Harris has come up with a likeable set of songs in the new album “Sathyam”, though not anything spectacular.

A peppy foot tapping number that starts with a highly meaningful word “Shabarababam” is sure trying to fish the hearts of the youth. Ada Gada is the song name and I have to say Premji Amaran has done a decent job voicing this song.This song is a Hip hop/Rap Wanna be with usual beats.

Harris Jayaraj was runaway hit when he came up with the song Vaseegara for the movie Minnale. It was fresh and the voice of Bombay Jayashree was mesmerizing. The song Chellame from this album sounds like Vaseegara yet feels fresh, new and youthful.

En anbe is soft and melodious and can put you to sleep. This is the song that I liked most from the album, even though it feels predictable and monotonous.

From the demands of the All India International Federation of Kuthu song fans comes the song Paal Pappali. This song stands out for choosing a unique opener “Paal Pappali” which means Milk Papaya. It begins with beats that sounds like the song “Uran thottathula” from Veyil and goes on with a “Sarakku vachurken” tune from Shah Jahan and sandwiches some “Maduraikku pogathadi” tunes from Azhagiya Tamil Mahan in between. Even though I sorta liked this song in the beginning, I am afraid it might lose its shine and fade away.

Un Udayam is a song for the Hero and this is the song that I didn’t like from the album. It sounds like Oru Mugamo from Bheema and is purely there to praise the character that the Hero is going to play. It doesn’t feel like a theme song, while it could have been.

Harris Jayaraj is good at background score. Movies like Kaaka Kaaka and Minnale had a fantastic background score that moulded greatly with the screenplay. I hope Harris can show some great stuff in the background score for the Movie.

The success of this album will depend on how well the movie does.

Music Review: Kuselan

In simple words, the first impressions of Kuselan music can be termed as Average. G.V. Prakash’s music can take sometime to grow on you (Just like ARR’s) and sometimes you will love the music more when you watch the video. For example, When listening to Sivaji for the first few times, the songs Style and Athiradee didn’t stick to me. But once I saw the movie and the song picturisation, I went “Brilliant”. It is really in the hands of the director to leverage the music’s ability. GVP’s Polladhavan had a similar fate with me. I only liked “Minnalgal Koothadum” from that album, but once I saw the movie the rest of the album caught up with me as I was able to relate the Audio with Video in much more clarity.

The album has 5 songs. On the first round, I loved the song – Sollamma. It is a pure, soft, mild melodious number sung by none other than the “Indian Bono” Hariharan ( I don’t know if it is appropriate to call him that). This song had the GVP touch for melody.

After a couple more listening, I began to like Charal and Om Zaara re. Shreya Ghosal does a great job in raining the tunes of Charal, I bet this is the song that will feature as an opening sequence for Nayanthara, must be a treat to her fans.

For the first time ever Daler Mahendi sings for a Tamil Song and I guess he must be thrilled to open his innings with none other than the Superstar. Om Zaara re seems to have been brilliantly customized for Daler Mahendi, as his voice lends the necessary match for the tune and the beat. Since, this is his first tamil song I will be forgiving his Tamil pronounciations. Yet, He has done a good job and his Tamil Massacre is less gory than Udit Narayan’s 100th Tamil song.

The song Cinema Cinema seems to be a celebration song for Cinema and the Superstar but lacks the oomph needed for such kind of a song. This song will heavily depend on how it is picturised, until then it will need a ton of glue to stick on to me.

Perinba seems to be recycled from “Veyilodu vilaiyadi”. It seems like Recycling is a heriditary disease. GVP’s Uncle ARR has done it more than a few times, very noticeably. GVP could have made this less obvious by atleast using a different singer. This song just like Cinema Cinema praises the Superstar but fails to bring the much needed Punch. I guess this will also depend on how the video would turn out to be.

The thing that is missing in the album is a theme music. GVP is good at background scores. His BGMs in Polladhavan, Kireedom, Veyil were mind blowing. When you watch the movie in DTS the BGM will take you into the movie frame by frame. I guess we have to see how GVP fares in Kuselan with respect to Background score when the movie comes out.

Kuselan Music is a Conditional Winner.

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PS: Beware of Om Zaara Re. This one is very catchy.

Mini Review: Yaradi Nee Mohini

“Who are you Mohini?” is the literal translation of the title of the Dhanush starrer Yaradi Nee Mohini, herein referred to as YNM.

If you have watched an earlier movie of Dhanush – Polladhavan, you would have noticed that sometime in the second half of the movie he loses his job because he loses his bike. So obviously in his next movie YNM, he starts jobless, very logical indeed. He lands a job and Sure enough, sometime in the middle of YNM he loses his job again which means in his next movie he has to start his job hunt all over again. He did Marketing in Polladhavan and now in YNM he is a Software Engineer, what’s next? If you guess his next job right, you will get one Kadalai mittai packet as prize, during the interval of his next movie.

So he falls in love with Nayanthara (Mohini no. 1), earns a job inspired by her, works under her as a trainee and proposes his love for her finally. She refuses the love.

His father (played by Raghuvaran) dies and his Brahmin friend invites him to his village house for a change. There is a surprise element here and I won’t reveal it.

He then meets an annoying pesky little teenager at his friend’s house who immediately falls in love for his magnetic personality. She is Mohini no. 2.

In the same house there is an Acharamana Brahmana Patti (Idealogical Brahmin Granny), a Widow, Who absolutely hates Dhanush. She beats the hell out of him and scoffs at him whenever there is a chance. She is Mohini no. 3.

Which of these 3 Mohinis will get to go home with Dhanush is the essence of the movie and that is why the title – “Yaradi Nee Mohini”.

Pros:

1. Raghuvaran – A man who made his mark in the Tamil Film Industry with his unique style of acting is no more. This movie dedicates itself to one of the greatest actors of our times. May his soul RIP.

2. Dhanush – His success is based on the fact that he chooses his movies right. His character suits him for his personality and may be that’s how he chooses it. He knows his boundary and capabilities and focuses real hard on just that.

3. Yuvan’s Music – It doesn’t go wrong if Yuvan teams up with Dhanush. Yuvan brings his magical melodies in this movie with the songs “Engeyo partha mayakkam” and “Venmegam pennaga”. Background score is as usual brilliant. The only thing that Yuvan needs now is a chance with the big stars – Rajinikanth and Kamal Hassan. He is not far away.

Cons:

1. Someone please find a permanent job for Dhanush, before he is marked as a stereotypical Job searching Vetti Payan in every single movie of his. Time to freshen up his character sketch a bit.

2. If you are a software engineer, you will not be able to tolerate a monochrome monitor scrolling pages of Java code when the system crashes. Seriously, couldn’t they get a few computers with Windows XP and Eclipse loaded? and then Dhanush goes on to fix everything in one night. What the heck !@%#@^&%#&

3. Karthick and Karunas – Their characters were not utilized to the fullest extent, especially that of Karthick. There was room for using both of them in more situations than the way they were handled.

Overall Verdict: Watchable once for Yuvan’s Music and Nayanthara’s Magic (If you are a married man just pretend that the screen play is good, you won’t be lying anyway).