Month: May 2005

Michael Jackson

Check out this news report about the quotes from Jackson — ready made fodder for the late night talk show hosts! I hope this case is over once and for all. The media is nuts to be covering this on the front page every single day for god knows how long!

Diplomatic traffic

In case you haven’t noticed, the number of foreign dignitaries visiting India in the last few months has been truly phenomenal. In my lifetime I have not witnessed this level of diplomatic traffic. Top leaders from China, Iran, Pak, Japan, Afghanistan, Russia, USA, to name a few. Hopefully India can leverage some of these relationships to land a permanent seat on the UN security council.

Movie Review: Chandramukhi –The Return of the Tamil Superstar

Chandramukhi (Tamil film) stars Rajnikanth, Prabhu, Nayanthara, Jyothika and others.

An all time hit, Padayappa, a relative flop, Baba, a few political false starts, and a two year hiatus from films. This was what Rajnikanth was up against. One more flop and the man would have been history for all practical purposes. Under these circumstances, selecting a come back vehicle must have been a tough call. Based on current press reports it sounds like Tamil cinema’s superstar has once again delivered a super hit despite all these odds.

The film is very much an “un-Rajni” film. Its a family drama. The hero has no villain to fight against. There are no cigarette tricks, no political dialogues, no tailored punch lines. Yet, its a watchable, entertaining, and engaging film especially if you have not seen the original malayalam version, Manichitrathazhu. Despite the long break Rajnikanth does not seem to have lost his touch. As many of the usual ingredients of a typical Rajni film have been weaved into the story: An intro song with a fast moving background with scores of extras while the hero moves energetically with an MGR-esque sleight of the hand, a couple of fight sequences, a few songs (Konja Neram being my favorite), plenty of comedy etc.

Tamil films unlike Bollywood, still seems to prefer pretty faced women with well endowed back-sides. Nayanthara and Jyothika do justice to this requirement. Vadivelu’s comedy is an asset to the film. Prabhu is a passenger (I guess he was more focused on the production activities). The rest of the supporting cast does a reasonable job.

As for Rajnikanth. Credit to him for having maintained himself so well. At 55 the guy is slim and trim. After his lip job, and perfect wig, and plenty of make up, Rajnikanth seems to have been geared up for a successful return to the silver screen. For once, great care has been taken in his dressing. He is well dressed throughout the film without being distracting. His racy dialogue delivery style remains intact. He did throw in his trademark sun glasses flip, barring which the conventional style was absent. Given the story and script there was little room for it. In any case, he handles his role with the utmost ease.

A lot has been written about the plot, so I am going to avoid mentioning it here again. If its a Rajni film it doesn’t really matter. Does it? If you are a typical Tamil film viewer, either you are pro or against Rajnikanth. If you are pro you will like anything he dishes out. If you are anti-Rajni you will find something criticize no matter what. So the plot is inconsequential anyway!

Overall, the film is certainly worth watching, especially if you haven’t seen the original Malayalam film. The background score is quite annoying (I find this to be as trend among a number of Indian films, especially the fast jerky screen movements accompanied by loud music). The music is adequate and the acting of the supporting cast decent.

Lastly, having been there and done it over and over again, I hope the superstar will use the success of this family drama, to transition to movies where he doesn’t necessarily have to be portrayed as young, fighting villains, prancing around with 20 year olds etc. If he does manage to accomplish this transition, Tamil cinema would be much better served. There is no question, Rajnikanth is Tamil cinema’s all time great box office draw and has remained so for over two decades. That’s a tall order. The question is if he can make a transition and offer something new going forward and still maintain his top draw status instead of simply re-hashing the tried and tested formula.

India Cricket Team Coach

The contenders as reported in the press: Greg Chappell, Tom Moody, Mohinder Amarnath, Sandeep Patil, Dean Jones.

Firstly, I think Indian coaches should be eliminated from contention. Sorry, but I think an Indian coach will succumb to too many pressures — zonal, political, personal etc. I don’t think Indian cricket has reached a stage where it can accommodate an Indian coach.

As for the phirangs, IMHO that top cricketers seldom make good coaches. If you agree with this, Greg Chappell is automatically eliminated. That leaves a choice between Tom Moody and Dean Jones. I think both of them are pretty good, but if I have to pick between the two I would prefer Tom Moody because he is an all rounder. It helps to be intimately familiar at a personal level, with all aspects of the game. In this respect I think an all rounder is best equipped.

I have a strange suspicion that someone other than those mentioned in the press will eventually be chosen. Anyway, it should be interesting to see who eventually makes it. A strong communicator and a good thinker who is not afraid of any consequences is the best choice.

Flying Autos are here

The airline industry in India is poised to take off in a big way. The rapid economic growth, a growing middle class, plenty of multinational companies, all combined has driven a huge demand for airlines. Quite understandably a number new airlines have enterted the fray: Jet,Sahara, Deccan, Kingfisher, Magic, Spicejet to name a few. Jet Airways, the leading and most established among these, is eyeing the international market. It has just started flights to Singapore and Middle East. The market in India is clearly huge. Airlines can be hugely profitable provided they can find the right routes and maintain affordable price levels.

Deccan airlines uses RK Laxman’s “common man” as its logo/symbol signifying that its aspiring to reach the masses. They have launched a price war by announcing a limited number of seats at Re. 1 per ticket (requires 90 days advanced purchase plus some other requirements). Other airlines are threatening to follow suit. I hope these airlines survive and don’t compromise on quality, safety and other bare essentials associated with air travel.

A friend of mine, aptly described his flying experience in one of these low cost airlines, “It was like a flying auto!!”.

Maid in India

Having maids to help at home has been the norm in India, particularly in Indian cities. On my recent visit to India, I realized how much the “maid industry” has grown, diversified and spawned specializations! A friend of mine has 5 maids! One for cooking and cleaning dishes, another for sweeping and washing clothes, another for cleaning the bathroom, fourth for cleaning the car and fifth for pick-up, drop off and babysitting! When some friends suggested that he re-locate to the US, his first reaction was, “Man, we can’t survive without these maids!”.

A minimum of three maids is almost a certainty in most households in major cities. These maids earn upwards of Rs. 1000 per month depending on their role. Most maids service several household everyday. Many of them are well dressed and extremely well to do. All of them are armed with cell phones! And pretty soon some of the high end ones will be driving cars. In short, maids in India is a rapidly growing industry. Its largely overlooked by the mainstream media and hence there is no real hard data to track its growth. With the rapid economic growth in India, the maid industry is bound to grow and more and more village folk are likely to migrate to cities to grab these job opportunities.

Movie Review: Udayananu Tharam

Malayalam film starring Mohanlal, Meena and Sreenivasan. The title translates to Udhayan is the star.

Mohanlal-Sreenivasan combo is know for many super hit malayalam films. Sreenivasan incidentally has written many of these successful stories and scripts. Here he manages to deliver another super hit. Saw the film after 100 days and it was still packed. Mohanlal plays Udhayan, a struggling movie director, story, screenplay writer. Sreenivasan is a friend and also an aspiring struggling movie star still looking for his first break.

The story revolves around how Sreenivasan’s character steals Udhayan’s screenplay and story and becomes a superstar overnight by insisting on acting in the film. The rest of the story revolves around how Udhayan struggles and yet comes on top at the end. Meena plays Udhayan’s love interest and a leading actress in the film. The relationship between the two is particularly well handled. Mohanlal’s performance is simply fantastic. The various emotions he portrays with minimum fuss is simply fascinating. He is a class act. No doubt.

The movie has some interesting twists and turns and keeps you engaged. Sreenivasan’s tantrums are a little annoying but there are several comical scenes especially the reference to films stars diversifying into other business (selling parottas with their pictures on the packets). The songs are decent. Overall a good package, and hence a super hit. I hear that the malayalam films are on the decline and good movies are hard to come by. So when something even reasonable shows up a hit is almost certain. That’s the local theory.

Udhayananu Tharam is definitely worth watching. I enjoyed it. Won’t be surprised if a hindi version is in the works.

For the first time (and hopefully the last)

Saw a man hanging from a tree. Most likely committed suicide. Was driving by and saw a small crowd gathered. A few cops were taking pictures. Looked up to see what was going on, and saw a man hanging from the tree! Thankfully, I saw only below his chest because of the crowd and the traffic. It was a strange experience. Didn’t know how to react. Took a while to sink in. Location: Trivandrum in Kerala, India.