L(cu)EO – Not So Badass!!

(Spoilers Ahead)

Spotted Hyena are rare in the world and more so in India. As the main protagonist (expertly played by Vijay) and the respective authorities race to catch it up in the first few minutes of the movie, so does the audience as we catch up with the half-faithful remake of ‘History of Violence’ in director Lokesh Kanagraj’s latest movie offering. The movie stars a galore of stars like Vijay, Trisha, Sanjay Dutt, Arjun and has music by Anirudh.

Pros

·         Lokesh is known to bring out the best in characters played by relatively unknown dance masters/actors. Dance Master Sandy’s portrayal of a pyscho killer is menacing and we are left wanting for more in the superbly choreographed fight sequence in the coffee shop/bakery. 

·         Anirudh has clearly established himself as a king of BGMs and the I’m Scared song takes it to the next level showing Vijay’s mental vulnerability beautifully. ‘Naa Ready Thaan’ has been a chartbuster from the time it has released and is quite well choreographed by dance master Dinesh.

·         CGI’s have been a bane for Indian movies. However, the believable Hyena and stunning car chase is quite a highlight. 

·         But the stage is truly and well set for Thalapathy Vijay who aces each and every scene in the movie, showing a range of emotions right from fear to pure action in the many of the fight sequences. Lookout for the impromptu dance steps leading up to the fight sequence in the coffee shop, which is truly a delight for his many fans.

Cons

·         Director Lokesh has set very high standards with his previous movies and has expertly written them. However, this movie (even though is inspired/remade from ‘History of Violence’ movie) fails to recreate the magic of Managaram, Kaithi or Vikram movies. A better written story and with better connected characters (Sandy’s character could have been a long lost son of Arjun and the story unravelling from there) could have added some zing to the movie.

·         The character arcs of the main protagonists, played less menacingly, by Sanjay Dutt and Arjun along with a pretty weak flashback fail to convince us why the protagonist reformed from a dreaded gangster to a peace loving family man.

·         Trisha has justified her role as a doting mother and wife, however other supporting characters could have etched better to create a wholesome movie experience.

Every movie with a big actor and a star cast reaches its intended audience, the fans and rakes in record profits. However, the actual litmus test depends on whether it has reached the encore masses and whether it stands the test of time. LEO’s forced entry into LCU (Lokesh Cinematic Universe) entertains us half-heartedly and leaves us a little unsatisfied. Hoping for a better experience with the rest of the movies in the LCU franchise.

 

Pyramid Mysteries!!

Once the tallest structure till the early 13^th century, the Egyptian pyramids were once part of the 7 wonders of the world. They have awed every visitor, kings (like Alexander and Napolean) and commoners alike with their structural beauty.

They also have intrigued many archaeologist and conspiracy theorist alike with their hidden mysteries which we seem to be finding everyday. The Giza pyramids are amongst the most well-known of all the 118 pyramids in Egypt and attract millions of tourists each year and pyramids come in various sizes, shapes and forms (bent pyramids/stepped pyramids).

Spectacular Pyramids

·         Unlike the common perceptions, the pyramids do not house any remains of any pharaoh nor do they contain any hieroglyphics (Language of the early Egyptians). All the mummied corpses are housed in valley of the dead and all the hieroglyphics are found in various temples (like Temple of Luxor).

·         If we just take the Kafre Pyramid, named after Pharaoh Kafre (who supposed built it), it supposedly contains 2.3 million stones with each stone weighing an estimated 10 to 20 tonnes. Add another 2 million stones that makes up the base of the structure, we have a extensive overlay of stones just for that one pyramid.

·         Inside the pyramid are two chambers (King and Queen) made entire of absolutely tight-fitting granite stones which contain a huge sarcophagus (Grantie Box with a lid). Till today, nobody truly knows what was contained in it. A narrow shaft leads from each of these rooms and points to Orion Belt of stars. Also, the three pyramids of Giza are aligned exactly like the 3 stars of the Orion Belt.

·         They way to each of these chambers is through a long narrow passage called the ‘Great Gallery’, which is truly spectacular as it contains of stepped stone ceiling, that have brunt the weight of all the stones and allowed safe passage inside the structure for many centuries.

·         But truly making the pyramids mind boggling are its dimensions. It is just 3.4 degrees off of true North and its dimensions match up to Earth’s dimensions (https://www.youtube.com/shorts/TpkhqQ54guA). Even more amazing, is the fact that, The pyramids are 8 sided and not the usually 4 sided ones that we have come to understand. Each side is bent a little inwards at the center, which is only revealed at the spring and autumn/fall equinox days.

·         The pyramids stones are supposed brought from Aswan valley, which is about 500 miles away. There are non concrete theories on how the stones are transported, with many suggesting that raft over Nile river. Even by today’s technology moving stones over by rafts and skating them over wooden logs is next to impossible. The cracked and unfinished obelisk at Aswan and the Sphinx requires another blog post in itself.

·         Given these and many more structural amazements, there has been many conspiracies ranging from alien construction to usage of sound vibration technology to lift the stones debarring gravity.

 

Extrapolating the pyramid theology, we have found them on every continents, with pyramids being found in Mexico (Chichen Itza, Teotihuacan), Cambodia, Indonesia, eastern Europe and many countless places. All the pyramids seem to connected by what is called a ‘Power Grid’ that runs across our planet. Using this, explorers were even able to find a underwater pyramid near the coast of Japan.

Even though we have scratched the surface of this masterpiece of technology, we may truly never be able to understand the real significance of the pyramids. The Kafre Pyramid, with a Golden crown and limestone covered surface must have a quite an awesome sight for every person in its heyday.

Do let me know your thoughts and comments on how and why you think Pyramids and other olden man-made structures were created.

Chandrayaan - 3!!

With less than 100 hours for the countdown to land on the lunar south pole of the Moon, India’s most ambitious space program has come a full circle. The space mission has come a long way from rockets transported on bicycles to now, where it is propelled by the LVM3 M4 rocket and consists of a lander ‘Vikram’ and a rover ‘Pragyan’ along with a propulsion module that acts a orbiter. 

Our only satellite, Moon, has been the subject of many explorations half a century ago and provided a new perspective to our human history with July 20^th 1969 etched in our memories for ages. The Moon is unlike any of the million satellites that orbit the many planets. 

Here’s why.

·         The Moon is 400 times less than the size of the sun and exactly 400 times closer to Earth than sun, thereby providing us with the most spectacular solar eclipse with the Moon barely swallowing up our sun for a few minutes nearly every year. This phenomenon is unparalleled and happens only on our planet.

·         We at Earth, see the same face of the Moon because the Moon’s revolution matches its rotation. In other words, Moon’s year is the same as its day. This is because its position is interlocked with Earth’s and its own gravity. This causes the bright side of the moon to have a blistering temperature of nearly 250 Fahrenheit and the dark side of the moon to plunge to a staggering negative 387 Fahrenheit.

·         The Earth and Moon exerting gravitational pull cause the oceans to bulge out and thereby creating high and low tides and also lock in Earth’s axial tilt to a manageable 23.5 degrees.

·         With all these reason’s many speculate that Moon is artificial satellite set up by a unknown force of nature or otherwise to monitor the people of earth.

·         Infact, there was a top-secret project ‘A119’ to detonate a hydrogen bomb on the moon to answer some of the mysteries and anomalies of the moon.

Whatever the reason maybe, our dear Moon has always enthralled and enchanted the space-explorers in us and the many poets describing its beauty through the ages. With the recent failure of Russia’s Luna-3 project, high hopes rest on our country to lead the way to successfully attempt to land the first rover on the south side of the Moon and set up a base for human exploration project. 

This would be first step in our superhuman effort for exploration of Mars, other planets all the way up to Nibiru/Planet X as shown in the countless Sci-Fi movies. Please join me in wishing our country all the very best for this and any future endeavors.

P.S: A big shout out to my all my friends and family for taking time to asking for and reading my blogs regularly.

Thalaivar’s HUKUM!!

With the least expectation of all Thalaivar’s movie (because of the disastrous last outing), my friends and I ventured into the world of ‘Tiger Muthuvel Pandian’ and his HUKUM in Rajni’s latest movie release ‘Jailer’. 

The movie directed by Nelson boasts a star-studded cast of Mohanlal, Jackie Shroff, Shiva Rajkumar, Ramya Krishnan, Tamannaah, Yogi Babu and host of other actors.

Pros

• Music by dedicated fan-boy ANIRUDH is a blast with ‘Kaavala’ ruling the airwaves from the time it hit the market. The movie’s BGM is one among the BEST, and I doubt if Anirudh can push himself beyond this.

• The story and screenplay in the first half of the movie is delightfully fast-paced, entertaining with as many twists and turns as you think off.

• Shiva Rajkumar climax entry is as whistle worthy as much as every frame Rajni is captured upon. Each of the mass scenes along with rollicking BGM are sure to erupt all the theatres.

• Last but not least is beast of this man, our very own lovable SUPERSTAR RAJNIKANTH, (73 years old and ruling the industry like no one) sparkling in each scene whether it be mass or performance.

CONS

• The second half of the movie lags to start with and then seems to take confusing twist and turns, till it reaches an interesting climax. Logic takes a back-seat in any mass masala movie, but black-hole sized loopholes is taking it a little too far.

• All the stars of each industry (Hindi, Malayalam and Kannada) sparkle is limited capacity and perhaps is a effort to make the movie pan-India.

• The supporting cast and crew are under-utilized and could have been used better which is also true for the flashback portion of the movie.

• The cinematography deserves quite a praise for some good shots, but some really out of focus scenes disrupted the flow of the movie with some of wondering about our eyesight.

Great directors set up the movie in the first half and reveal/take forward the actual story in the second half while others exhaust everything in the first half with not much to carry forward. Even though the movie was quite entertaining, it definitely could be written/executed better.

In totality, the movie is well summarized by the director Nelson, who once said in his promo view, “I expected one thing and you provided me something else”. 

Do share your comments and thoughts on the movie.

Ela Veezha Poonchira!!

If you are a movie buff like me, you would have waited for that one movie; that would have twisted your mind completely with that one piece in the story’s puzzle revealed in the climax. The impact of the movie would be felt for a couple of days. If you are that person, you are in a ride.

Ela Veezha Poonchira (based on an actual location) is a murder mystery thriller associated with a dismembered body with pieces strewn across the hilltop. The location is famous for quick cloud formation and subsequent lighting as well as a very remote location and this characteristic has been woven superbly into the movie.

Highlights

• The movie’s story has been written by two police officers who actually served duty time on the hilltop. This story as a core idea is one of the best I have come across.
• The cinematography by Manesh Madhavan deserves special mention as it not easy to shot in a real location with limited space. The shooting on the sets merges perfectly with the natural location and adds a flavor to the movie.
• The music by Anil Johnson and editing by Kiran Das highlight the tension as it builds up as a crescendo in the movie’s climax.
• Sudhi Koppa and Jude Anathany Joseph have played their parts adequately as the additional police constable.
• However, the highlight of the movie is ‘Soubin Shahir’ who’s stupendous performance as Police constable Madhu, brilliantly comes to the fore in the movie’s climax. He displays nearly all the human emotions subtly and carries the movie brilliantly on his shoulders.
• No praise is however worthy for the movie’s director, Shahi Kabir, who has crafted a superb movie. Mystery thriller can be quite tricky to pull off and full credit to the director for fantastically revealing each twist in the story at the appropriate time with a huge twist in the movie’s climax.

If you have time and the patience to sit through a nearly boring first 20 minutes of this movie and have the stomach for a twisted climax oriented story, this movie is highly recommended (not during lunch or dinner time).

Do let me know your thoughts on the movie.

There is also historical importance to the actual location with Pandavas resting there during the incognito time. Another attraction is the ancient temple of Krishna, established by Panjali herself. It is believed that Panjali's Akshayapatra, an inexhaustible vessel of food, is concealed here and guarded by Agastya. There is also another legend connected to the Ramayana, as it is commonly believed that Lord Rama lived here with Lakshmana for a few months during his vanavasa.

Por Thozhil!!

The first scene of any crime thriller movie pretty much tells you what’s in store. Por Thozhil’s first scene is an ordinary interaction between a police driver and a inspector ending up on ghastly note, pretty much summarizes what a absolute cracker of a ride this movie would be.

The movie’s takes us through a brutal killings of young women, bound and murdered, in particular fashion. The case is led by an experienced crime branch cop, expertly played by Sarath Kumar and a newbie, Ashok Selvan, who with a bookish knowledge is the anti-thesis to his superior.

Highlights

• The story and screenplay are woven very tightly and you never feel any lag in the movie, which is quite a must in a crime thriller movie. Full credit to the writers Alfred Prakash and Vignesh Raja to keep us on the edge of our seats.
• The cinematography by Kalaiselvan Sivaji catches every frame of the movie prudently and keeps us invested in this thriller. The grey shades towards the climax nearly goosebumps us into a supernatural thriller mode.
• The most crucial piece of the thriller movies is its editing. Sreejith Sarang has done a wonderful job in this regard, keeping the most engaging parts in this movies stitched seamlessly.
• Jakes Bejoy’ music combines the eerie silence and required decibels for this thriller and lifts up the movie, especially in the scenes, where each of the dead bodies are recovered.
• Sunil Sukhada, has done a fabulous job (will not reveal his character). He provides his characters with enough depth in the few scenes he comes in the movie.
• Nikhila Vimal has aptly conveyed her part and its related emotions quite well.
• Ashok Selvan has done a fabulous job as an under-study cop in this movie. His vulnerability as well the character’s brilliance has been aptly portrayed and this is his sweet success after ‘Thegidi’.
• But the true pillars of the story are the two ‘Saraths'. Sarath Kumar has played the senior grumpy intelligent cop to perfection and so has Sarath Babu as the repentant antagonist brilliantly. His interactions with Sarath Kumar and Ashok Selvan’s characters provide us with heart-beating moments in the second half of the movie. Wish Sarath Kumar plays more character based roles in future.

However, the success of this movie truly belongs to the captain of the ship, the director Vignesh Raja. The individual characterizations, the set-up of each of the scenes along with the usage of scientific technology (like the thermometer scene) elevates this movie to one among the best Tamil crime thriller movies and aptly conveys a crucial social message to us along as well. The movie ends with space for a sequel and we are definitely waiting for it.

Do let me know your thoughts on this movie.

Social Satire – Kat-Hal!!

From time to time, serious (like Sherni) as well as comedic social/political satires (like ‘Peepli Live’) adorn the Indian movie landscape. The latest to join this list is ‘Kat-Hal’ directed by Yashowardhan Mishra starring Sanya Malhotra (of Dangal fame), Vijay Raaz and a host of other actors.

The movie’s story revolves around two cases: one of a serious nature involving a missing teenage girl and other involving a missing (kat-hal or jackfruit) from the tree in the front yard of a local MLA in a small town. Brave Inspector Mahima, played superbly by a emotive Sanya Malhotra is assigned to the missing jackfruit case and is under lot of pressure to crack it. How the inspector decided to pursue both the cases and solved it makes the rest of the story.

Highlights

• Vijay Raaz plays the role of a local politician to perfection, whether it be threating the law enforcement or his son-in-law into submission and bending the political system to suit his needs.
• Rajpal Yadav like Vijay Raaz is a amazing fit into this movie as a no-holds barred risk-taking news reporter, who drives the story forward and adapts quite well to the new age of ‘breaking news’.
• Gurpal Singh, Neha saraf and a host of the supporting actors play their part to perfection in providing a realistic setting to this movie.
• No words can be enough for Sanya Malhotra, who single handedly carries the movie on her shoulders acting to perfection in each and every scene. Her performance in Dangal and Menakshi Sundareshwar were splendid and we look forward to many such enthralling performances.
• But the real show-stealer is Anant V Joshi, who through stellar underplayed role of constable Saurabh Dwivedi, who is also in love with the inspector, brings quite a refreshing honesty and realism into the character, albeit in a muddled way.
• The story by Ashok Mishra, music by Ram Sampath and strong editing by Prerna Saigal (running under 2 hours) lend quite a strong support to the movie.

However, the icing on the cake is director ‘Yashowardhan Mishra’ who splendidly handles every department and delivers an absolute masterpiece. This light hearted comedy that delivers quite a strong message on gender equality, caste discrimination and governmental system in general is a must watch and is available on Netflix with sub-titles.

Do let me know your thoughts on the movie.

CSK – YELLOVE!!

 As my friends and me huddled around for the final over of the 2007 world cup, we knew there was something special around the corner. As we celebrated fanatically Misbah’s miscued scoop shot which rested in Sreesanth’s palms, I knew that T20 was here to stay.

As Chennai Super Kings (CSK) won their first IPL title in 2010, me and my friends in our Masters held out our own small march in our university campus to celebrate the victory. Through the years, CSK has gone through many ups and downs, with them being banned for 2 years, to them not qualifying for playoffs on certain seasons and them even being quipped ‘Dad’s Army’ for the above average age of their players. Every time they have come out stronger and better to win the IPL championship 4 times.

The past weekend was perhaps the best of all IPL matches and my destiny helped me watch the match as it got postponed for a day, due to heavy rain. As the batsman of Gujrat Titans took CSK bowlers to cleaners, I had lost all of hope of a championship win. The rain, which had been playing spoilsport, returned with vengeance once again and it seemed like the match would be abandoned. However, destiny had other plans and the match started with reduced overs with a new target based on the infamous DLS system, which definitely needs to be looked at.

CSK made a brisk start during the powerplay overs, with both openers getting a move on. However, the middle over batting was a revelation, wherein even with loss of wickets at regular intervals each of the batsman (Dube, Rayadu, Rahane) kept going for their shots and it eventually boiled down to 10 runs of 2 balls, an improbable situation considering that they were up against the best death bowler of the tournament, former CSKian, Mohit Sharma (who’s story this IPL has literally been a phoenix rising from the ashes).

All through last year, Ravindra Jadeja career had been under immense pressure. Made the captain of CSK last year, he failed to lead them to play-offs eventually giving it up to Dhoni once again. A freak injury saw him lose out of T20 World Cup campaign in Australia. Coming into IPL, Jadeja had long conversations with Dhoni leading upto some twitter posts which speculated the rift between him and his captain.

As Jaddu decided to swing for the mountains, he somehow connected the first the 2 remaining balls and it sailed over long-on for a six. With 4 runs needed off the last ball, it reminded me of the infamous 2019 finals, where CSK lost to Mumbai Indians by just a run, setting up quite a heart break. However, Jaddu flicked the last balls of his legs for a boundary and even before the ball reached the boundary, frantically ran through the grounds and into the hands of his captain, Dhoni, who bear hugged and lifted his champion to provide us with one of the most iconic picture of this IPL.

 

Dhoni and CSK had done it again; with a failing knee, rookie bowlers and ageing batsman, pulled not just a rabbit out of a hat but the championship from everyone’s grasp. The icing on the cake was however, was Dhoni’s intention to perhaps return to play next year for his last IPL, for he has promised us that his last match would be in Chepauk, for the people who have loving adored their Thala.

 

 

 

PS2!!

The temptation for the CROWN has created or destroyed many dynasties and given rise to amazing stories of love, friendship, loyalty, betrayal and ultimately power.

Spoilers Ahead

Ponniyin Selvan 2 is the long awaited second half of the most read fiction book Ponniyin Selvan written by Kalki directed by Mani Ratnam with a splendid cast including Vikram, Aishwarya Rai, Karthi, Trisha, Jeyam Ravi, Jeyaram and a host of other actors.

Pros

• Vikram as Aditha Karikalan and Aishwarya Rai as Nandhini are a pure delight to watch and their combination sequence towards the climax of the movie requires a separate spin-off movie in itself.
• AR Rahman’s BGM elevates the movie and its characters with ‘Aga Naga’ song quite the highlight. However, it was cut short much to everyone’s disappointment.
• Karthi as Vandiyadevan and Jeyam Ravi as Arulmozhi Varman have played their roles according to the related story.
• Ravi Varman’s cinematography is crisp and captures some of the most breathtaking visuals. However, the war sequence towards the end is quite a let down.

Cons

Remember the absolute joy when Roja meets Rishikumar (played by Arvind Swami and Madhoo) in the climax of Roja or the massive relief of Shekar and Shaila Banu (again played by Arvind Swami and Manisha Koirala) on finding their missing kids. Unfortunately, PS2 movie contains none of the high or lows of any of the characters or situations and meanders along with the story. You don’t feel for any of the characters or their impending struggles, even though the story has been told for people to understand without any lapses.

Stories like Ponniyin Selvan come across once in a generation and a better effort or a web-series show-casing the depth of the characters as in the book would have created such a impact and left behind a legacy for all the people to cherish. Alas, we might have to wait more time for such a historic Tamil movie to come on screen.

 

HeartBreak - #DADA

The love for some people in our lives is so subconscious that we go to great lengths to do the best for them. DADA is one such remarkable story of a struggling dad who goes through life’s trials to bring up his son as a single parent.

Spoilers ahead.

Below are some of the keys characters/moments in the movie that tugged my heart strings.

• Kavin has aced this movie and it has been quite a meteoric rise from the small screen to the big screen. He has shouldered this movie splendidly while quite underplaying his role. The final scene with the title cards rolling with him lying down and his wife and kid interacting, quite literally suggested the weight off his shoulders. I sincerely hope that he goes on to act in many off-beat roles exploring the many shades of characters in interesting stories.
• Aparna Das has outshone Kavin in the pre-climax and climax sequences. A glance or even a silence from her character has spoken a thousand words. In a Tamil cinematic world devoid of strong women characters, this movie and Aparna’s performance comes a breath of fresh air.
• The music by Jen Martins, with Yuvan’s heart melting ‘Pogathe’ as well the ‘Va va Enuiyre’ songs (lyrics included) deserve a big appreciation.
• Ganesh K Babu’s maiden directorial venture with a strong story, screenplay and direction is quite praiseworthy. Hope he continues to provide off-beat but entertaining movies in future.
• Harish K as Amith (hero’s best friend) is quite literally the highlight of the movie with amazing presence and comic timing.

The movie is a shout-out to all the deserving DADAs who think about the betterment of their family all the time sacrificing many of their needs and ambitions.

Hope you enjoyed the review. Do share your thoughts or comments.

Vaathi…Coming..

 

With relative references from the famous ‘Vaathi..Coming..’ song from ‘Master’ movie and Hindi movie ‘Super 30’, ‘Vaathi’ is an ode to that one single teacher, who pushes the boundaries, fights against the corrupt education machinery and does wonders for the students of a small village.

Pros

·         Dhanush is a powerhouse of acting, as he seamlessly conveys multiple emotions through his eyes and plays the part of ‘Balamurugan’, the teacher, perfectly.

·         Samyukta Menon, conveys all the emotions precisely and certainly up for a long road ahead in Tamil movies.

·         The music by ‘G V Prakash’ is quite a show stealer, with Shweta Menon’s ‘Vaa Vaathi’ quite a pleasing chartbuster. The BGM in a couple of scenes definitely elevates the movie.

Cons

·         Director ‘Venky Atluri’ from Tollywood has set up the story as a bilingual and except Dhanush, Samudrakanni and Kun Karunas, the other characters feel more from a Telugu movie than a Tamil one. This robs the core intensity of this story.

·         The story, screenplay as the execution requires that one extra push to have conveyed quite a strong social message for this movie quite effectively. Logical reasoning of school teachers only teaching 12^th grade feels quite empty.

·         Samuthirakani as the protagonist does a decent job but could have been a little more menacing. The perceived cat and mouse game just does not seem to hold on.

 

Climax revisited – Spoilers Ahead!!

Sometimes a very strong climax can salvage a movie. In this case, as the story ends, I feel a few modifications would have been good to not end the story on a whimper.

As the three kids learn about the teacher Balamurugan (Vaathi), it would have been picked up by the press and created quite a stir. As the 30 village students (who have had successful careers) search for their master, it could have been shown that the Teacher was quietly prepping up another 30 odd poor students in Ooty to become the next topper. Dhanush could then been shown then to address the large coaching center than the village students had set up with Samuthirakani sitting in the front seat, apparently accepting Dhanush’s persistence and a rousing reception for the all-enduring teacher.

 

Sometimes you feel how much impact a movie would have had, had it just taken the next few hard steps. ‘Vaathi’ falls into that category which feels it is nearly there, but not enough. If you are ready to glance through the relative logical shortcomings and have a Sunday afternoon to pace through, this movie is a good clean family entertainer. Do let me know in your thoughts on this movie.

Age Old Sports!!

 

As Fernando Alonso cramped himself into the Aston Martin F1 car for the start of his third decade in F1, even he would have been quite surprised finishing on the podium in the first two F1 races of this year. Pushing 42 this July, he joins a list of elite athletes who have turned their age into just a number and continue to compete with youngsters.

As Greame Smith, the former South African cricket captain, called it quits at 33, I wondered if being on the wrong side of 35 is detriment to any sportsmen’s career. However, Alonso along with many sportstars from across the fields (Federer and Nadal – Late Thirties), LeBron James (Basketball), Tiger Woods (Golf) and Tom Brady in their late forties and countless other professionals have pushed it past their prime and proved me wrong.

New scientific body recovery techniques including cold-bath, importance to a balanced nutritious diet along with well-rested sleep have helped star athletes perform their best over many years day in and day out. However, soccer star, Christiano Ronaldo’s gameplan stands out wherein, he takes six short naps each day with Ph ingrained water along with protein rich super foods to rejuvenate his body.

This post can definitely cannot end without references to Master Blaster, Sachin who played close to quarter a century number of years scoring a century of centuries and our own ‘Thala’ Dhoni who at 41 can give a run to any cricketers half his age. The IPL 2023, starting from tomorrow will test his endurance to the very limit and we wish him all the very best in his adventures.

So share in the comments or your feedback, on who you think is the sportsmen/women who have pushed the boundaries of age and have kept performing at the highest levels of their sports.

Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam

The onset of covid in addition to the quality of Indian movies in recent times had repelled many a movie buffs including me. The inability to box ourselves in a dark room for hours for a movie when there is alluring content on Instagram, tiktok and other social media sites has certainly been challenging.

But movies are a gateway to another world, a world or charm or dreams standing the test of time. In a testament to that, is the recent movie ‘Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam’ (like a afternoon dream) which I accidently watched and which literally had transported me to a quiet village in southern Tamilnadu.

 

 

The movies provides a brilliant take of two distinct shades of life, a group in a hurry to reach their hometown and another, a laid back village and its members. Mammooty plays to perfection two contrasting characters as James (a Christian from Kerala) and Sundaram (a Hindu from Tamilnadu). James as a grumpy angry person admonishes anything loud or unnecessary around him, while Sundaram is the definition of a happy-go-lucky person.

The movie starts off after James and his extended friends/family return after visiting Velankanni church and is quite grounded in its approach to capture the very essence of human life. As each of the characters crowd into the small van, the journey begins taking us on a ride. As the van meanders through the windy backroads, everyone soon falls asleep after having their lunch. James, suddenly stops the van and ventures into a small, sleepy village and transforms into Sundaram and what happens next forms the crux of the story.

The movie is a beautiful take on humanity and its current situation in the society. Be it James coming through late and then complaining about lack of space in the van or the ladies discussing the lack of restroom facilities on a trip or the men consuming alcohol and sharing hilarious stories, the layers of human emotion are very subtly conveyed. The background music consisting of a hosts of old tamil movies, songs and advertisements is a beautiful ode to yesteryear’s silent movies where one absorbs the full circle of life. My favorite is the old granny with humongous black glasses (perhaps due to cataract), who adds the most poetic touch to the movie, ever-watching the television as well being an active member of the family.

The cinematography, especially in the early morning sunrise shots when Mammotty goes to deliver milk is quite exhiliarting. The wide angle static shots also transport us right into the sleepy village and quite literally transforms us as one of the characters in this story.

 

Theory of how James became Sundaram

Spoilers ahead, so I would recommend you to watch the movie before reading on.

The movie is a little inconclusive on how James ended up becoming Sundaram. Sundaram’s (James) accurate knowledge of people, places and his experiences in the village, portray that he had lived the life of Sundaram, which brings us two possibilities.

1.    Sundaram and James were born as twins and separated at birth. Both grew up in completely different circumstances with accumulated behavioral patterns. Sundaram, who left his village two years back, died in some circumstances. As James’s van approaches the village, the spirit of Sundaram would have entered James and led to the happenings in the movie.

2.    Sundaram and James born as twins, separated at birth, would have both grown up in different places. As James nears Sundaram’s village, the twin telepathy (https://www.livescience.com/45405-twin-telepathy.html) or some type of twin split personality would have showed in James making him act up like Sundaram.

 

Whatever, be the logical explanation, this is one of the best movie I have watched this year and I would highly recommend to watch it on a relaxed weekend afternoon.

Thala-Thalapathy Story!!

The tamil cinema’s first star or celebrity started off from the 1930s as his first hit tamil movie ‘Haridas’ brought fame to M.K.Thyagaraja Bhagavathar. This was followed by the famous rivalry of MG Ravichandran (also known as MGR) and Sivaji with MGR donning widely accepted do-gooder roles while Sivaji focused on performance oriented subjects. MGR was successfully able to utilize his popularity to jumpstart his political career and served as Tamilnadu’s chief minister continuously for 2 terms.

Rajni and Kamal Hassan followed the footsteps of MGR and Sivaji in the respective ways and achieved their intended fame. However, they also started the era of fandom where fans of actors would clash during the release of movies of both the stars. This peaked during the late 80s to 90s which also had a huge list of new actors making foray into field of acting, but 2 of them were able to pull through among the crowd of actors.

Introduction to late 1990s

Staring in Naalaiya Theerpu, Vijay made an unimpressive entry to movies under his father’s guidance and direction. It took him some time to warm up to deliver his first major hits in ‘Poove Unakkaga’ and ‘Kadhalukku Mariyadhai’. Finishing the decade with super-hits in ‘Thulladha Manamum Thullum’ and ‘Kushi’, he made quite a name with his dance numbers.

Mirroring Vijay’s career, Ajith started his career unimpressively only to find some solid footing with excellent performance in ‘Aasai’ and ‘Kadhal Kottai’. After a brief lull, ‘Vaalee’ established him as one of the scorching performers to look out for. He also ended that decade with super-hits in ‘Amarkalam’ and ‘Kandukondain Kandukondain’ (which is truly one of my favorite movie).

2000 to 2010 – Rise of the Action Stars

Both the rising stars understood that they need to convert their next door lover-boy images to action stars.

Ajith started on the journey a touch before Vijay to star in a highly appreciated titular role in ‘Dheena’ which earned him the nickname ‘Thala’. With a slew of movie failures, he seemed to lost interest in acting and focused more in racing F3 competitions. His ‘Varalaru’ earned him a good appreciation for astutely playing the role of dancer in one among his triple roles with remake of Rajni’s ‘Billa’ helping him solidify himself as one of the top heroes with plethora of fans.

Meanwhile, Vijay had quite a smooth sailing in the early 2000s with many average movies with quite some decent returns. His ‘Ghilli’ (a remake of Telegu movie ‘Okkadu’) was a chartbuster establishing him as a premier action hero followed by another remake movie in the highly successful ‘Pokkiri’. However, luck ran out for him as encountered a slew of nearly 6 super-flop movies on the trot.

2010 to 2020 – Bigger Hits

The start of the 2010 decade saw the biggest commercial and critically acclaimed movies in the career for both the stars.

Ajith rode on the back highly successfully ‘Mankatha’  movie where he played a character with grey shades sporting the salt and pepper look for the first time. It departed from the traditional handsome do-gooder hero movies of all the actors we had been exposed to and he soon moved to sporting his original shades in nearly all his movies. His association with Director Siruthai Siva ran quite deep and long with 4 of movies, the last of which (Viswasam) running quite successfully.

Vijay experienced quite a similar fate as his competitor, with him roaring into action with highly acclaimed ‘Thupakki’ stealing the show. He too combined with Director Atlee (liked 'Theri' movie) and Murgadoss in three of their movies to sustained and reasonable success earning him a huge mass of fans who also celebrated the singer in him as well.

2020 and Beyond

The last movie of both Vijay (Beast) and Ajith (Valimai) did not stand up to the expectation of the audience and performed underwhelmingly. In a industry where you are known by your last movie or success, both the stars would like to deliver a good movie and there is no better time than this festive season to belt out a highly successful one.

I along with millions of fans of both the actors would be rooting for both Vijay’s Varisu and Ajith’s Thunivu to rock the theatres this Pongal.

P.S: Contrary to expectations I am no fan of either actor, but just of all the good movies that entertain us.