Acham Yenbathu Madamaiyada - ARR's Cracker of an Aural Thunderstorm!

Two decades and 4 years before, Yeah! the Flashback starts!,  the Kollywood music industry was shaken to the core by a phenomenon known as AR Rahman. The moment "Chinna Chinna Aaasai" lit up the screens with the freshness of a morning dew to the electrifying "Tamizha Tamizha" which is now regarded as one of the top 10 best soundtracks in the world, AR Rahman firmly took the Tamil film music by the storm and sent everyone into delirious state of positive madness. Little did the whole world at large knew that here was a musical genius then who was to transcend not just the boundaries of the numerous Indian States but also globally with his sheer groundbreaking and dynamic brilliance that enabled him to pocket the most prestigious and coveted Oscar Awards - not just one but two! "Don't give us lecture on ARR. We know enough about him already. Why are you giving us this gyan on ARR now when you should be telling us how AYM is?". I can telepathically sense your screaming mind voice. I will definitely tell you exactly why I took some time to give a brief intro on ARR by the end of this review. With awards galore and 288 months down the line, ARR has once again proved in AYM that music is not only his heart and soul but everything in his life. 

When "Thalli Pogathey" was released as a single number in Jan 2016, it created tremendous amount of excitement just like how "Chinna Chinna Aasai" made each and everyone to get all worked up and go over the top! Sid Sriram, who made his debut with ARR's "Adiye", literally teases and tantalizes you with his mellowed down voice for the first few minutes. You think he is going to hit his famous "Adiye" top pitch but he doesn't. ARR and Sid make you wait and wait. To put matters into perspective, it's like the fox and the grapes story!  And then Sid does it. Simply magical as he goes to his high range and together with Aparna's vocables in the middle and ADK's rap, "Thallli Pogathey" was the "Hosanna" of AYM.  It set the expectations sky high for AYM.

Then, "Rasaali" happened in early June as yet another single track. It is nothing short of a pure carnatic blast. You don't have to know carnatic music but unless you have an ear for carnatic music, "Rasaali" is like a dazzling and colourful rainbow to a blind person. Sathya Prakash sets the right tone for this palatially breezy and enchantingly mesmerizing melodious number. Just like the Nadaswaram bit in the fag end of "Omana Penne" which elevated the song to completely new heights, the violin cum percussion in "Rasaali" sends you in  raptures that all you can say is "Aha! Pramadham!" by admiring the Maestro's carnatic touches. Shashaa Tripathi takes "Rasaali" into another orbit with her "Ninukori" bit and surely gives a run for Harini's "Nilakaigirathu" in the second half. By the end of it all, you will feel that your heart is extremely gladdened and your soul is brightly warmed with this richly immense and intense musical bliss.

So, two down and the date of release for AYM was set for June 17. As the D-Date arrived, my first reaction was to listen to the techno number "Showkalli". A teaser got released prior to the album's release capturing the mind-numbing and unbelievable fast rap portion in the song. I was like "what just happened here" by the end of the teaser. So, my natural inclination was to listen "Showkalli" first as I had played "Thalli Pogathey and Rasaali" in a non-stop and continuous loop for many a day and night. The teaser was like the start of a bike. The entire song was simply vroooooommminngggggggggggggggggggg and zippiiinnggggggggg at full throttle. It was complete bonkers! In a perfectly good way. Adithya was like the calm before the storm in this highly energetic and passionate song for bikes. But, the song belonged to the rappers, ADK and Sri. They went all bananas, mangoes, oranges and other fruits! in the final phases of the song and were totally unrestrained like a free horse running at lightning pace across the moors. ADK and Sri were simply blazing all guns with fiery gusto and frenetic outburst in their rap portions. ARR might have felt that he was not a part of this raving party. So, what did he do? He cheerfully demolished the entire song single-handedly with some terrific hard and heavy electronic beats that is sure to be whacking great in theatres. Just hoping that Gautam Vasudev Menon has done justice with the visuals to this feverish techno-explosive.  

It came down to the last two. "Idhu Naal" was sparklingly lively and delightfully youthful especially with an out of the world chorus in the final few minutes of the song. To give a comparison with VTV, it was heads and shoulders above "Anbil Avan".  Aditya does a Vijay Prakash's "Hosanna" here and Jonita Gandhi literally took the breath away with her smashing rendition on the lines of Shreya Goshal's "Munbe Vaa". Unfortunately, the ending steals the show from the talented singer which was divinely delicious like the nectar churned out of the ocean particularly from 3:00 till the song's completion. It was simply too good to be true!

Finally, the last one. Imagine you are sailing on a boat with your King/Queen on a full moon day and a gentle breath of relaxing breeze waves across your faces in that dear moment. "Avalum Nannum" is that kind of song, if you are a romantic type, in the typical Vijay Yesudas' execution though certain parts of the song somewhat reminded of "Chithirai Nila" from Kadal. Nevertheless,"Avalum Nanum" is the perfect soother amidst all the high octane and bubbly bubbly breezy songs from the Master Musician.

To put it in a nutshell, AYM is ,without any doubt, going to be the irresistible chartbuster of the year by busting all the charts - be it pie chart, bar chart, column chart or line chart!  Overlooking my poor joke, AYM songs are just going to be on the lips of everyone much like VTV. Your ears are in for a killer overtime with the head phones to be in truly love with the ARR's magical AYM.

Is it better than VTV?

AYM manages to just crawl and inches a step head of the gorgeous VTV. The wonderful combo of ARR-GVM-STR does it again!!  

PS:

It is there very much on my mind. I did not forget why I had a short brief on ARR prior to the actual review. Just like how "Thalli Pogathey" created a skyrocketing expectation around AYM and strongly laid the platform for the to-be-released scrumptious AYM's album when it was released way back in January, I wanted to have a strong foundation for the review.  What better way to do it than to show my gratitude and salute to the ever humble, always soft-spoken and the eternal Mozart of Chennai.

Irudhi Suttru - The Final K.O.

I can still remember the girls in my van swooning over Madhavan with his charming smile in Alaipayuthe. The talks were infinitely endless about him. It was literally a nightmare for all the boys! That was 16 years ago. There was no sense of resemblance to that smart and handsome chocolate boy in 'Irudhi Suttru'. Here, Madhavan was really beefy and brawny.  He has stepped up and sweated it out everything for this role. And yes. It was a screamer of a performance only to be eclipsed by the debutant and real life fighter, Ritika Singh. As Ezhil Madhi, she was flawless - be it her free spirited nature or devil-may-care attitude or her self-confessed love towards her master - Oh my goodness. Anushka did not steal our hearts this time but Ritika Singh certainly did!

How she was stubborn as a mule and refused to attend her regular trainings but had a sea change of heart when she learnt that Madhavan had sold his precious bike for her sake and the way she transforms into a proper boxer with her rigorous training under the careful sight of Prabhu and wins the world title in the end, the director has really captured the essence of the fighting soul of the film in a beautiful way. Irudhi Suttru is not only about a slum girl with no chances of even qualifying for a prestigious tourny yet lifting the championship but also the intense sibling rivalry, sleazy and dirty politics as to how the authorities misuse and abuse their power to satisfy their own personal agenda instead of focussing on the larger picture is shown with a great set of characters - be it the girls in the train who tell Ritika that it's only a advisable thing to accommodate with the chief's desires to grow in life or her own sister asking whether Madhi slept with the coach to get a shot at the main event or Dev removing Madhi's name from the list to have a go at Prabhu for his earlier rude and arrogant attitude towards him - the events are very realistic to the core.

Irudhi Suttru is not only a rag to riches story but also it is about having the fire constantly and continuously burning in the belly  to achieve a bigger and meaningful goal in life rather than just to get a railway job or to fulfill materialistic desires . Prabhu notices it instantly in Lux when he see her for the first time and dismisses her for her lack of passion and strong conviction despite she being trained for more than 8 years. Likewise, he sees a tremendous spark in the fiery Madhi who shows great zeal in her hard punches. Santhosh Narayanan's BGM stays attuned with the story and the romantic number "Hey Sandakara" was a rustic delight to the ears. Overall, Irudhi Suttru is a story strongly grounded in reality with well-founded characters anted up further by the commendable performances of Madhavan and Ritika Singh.

Beach Beautification

Chennai will be all smiles and shines by this time next week. Confused? Wondering how?

For the seventh straight year, Chennai Trekkers Club are once again organizing a massive drive to clean up the Chennai Coasts. CTC was established in 2008 by a group of trekking enthusiasts. As there is no membership fee or any other hidden charges, the group began to expand slowly and gradually by strong word of mouth. As of today, there are more than 27000+ members in this non profit nature of business which purely thrives on equal sharing and volunteering basis - be it for the treks or any awareness initiatives. This has ensured the tremendous success of CTC which has a very solid loyal base in South India due to their infectious passion and commitment shown towards the environment.

I have been a part of this initiative thanks to Gopi Krishnan Rajkumar. It's really amazing to see 1000s of volunteers bustling with energy on the quiet early hours of a Sunday morning to ensure that our city is green. Kids, Youth, Corporates, 60+ young men and women gather up @ multiple locations teeming with fire and spirit in teams to improve and make better the condition of the coasts.

How many times we would have said that Marina Beach is littered with garbage? Now is the opportunity for us to make it right. That's how I saw it when I started to take part in this initiative. It is not only merely collecting the rubbish from the beach but also the segregation is done according to the category as Hard Plastics, Soft Plastics etc. so that it will be easy to dispose or recycle.

Some might feel it would be demeaning to pick up the wastes left intentionally or unintentionally by others. Still others might think that how could this be a permanent solution when the shore is bound to get mucked up immediately after the clean up. I agree that it is only a temporary fix and a long term solution is the order of the day by means of eliminating the source that causes the beach pollution in the first place. It's like you have a disobedient child at home who refuses to change his bad habits. What do we do? Incrementally ensure that the child is disciplined. In the same way, constant awareness is being given to the slums near the beach. Rome was not built in a day. The seeds of awareness are being sowed by the CTC members on a regular basis to the people living along the shores. The effort will take time to fructify.

In the mean time, as Gandhi rightly said "Be the change that you want to see in the world". Everyone can make a difference in our own small ways but the sumtotal of the combined effort is ginormous.

Depending on the location, team strength and the volume of waste present, the exercise can go up to noon. At the end of it all, when you look at the beach after your own herculean efforts and see that our Stink aagura Chennai is transformed into Singara Chennai, for once, you will realize that your sweat is sweet.

Delhi Highway - A Satisfying Expressway to a starving stomach!

They say "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach". Delhi Highway has taken this particular words of wisdom very seriously in terms of their quality of food, choice of food, excellent service or elegant decor.  

On a hot and sunny day, I was traversing through the busy Nungambakkam roads @ speeds matching that of a snail! It was then I could hear a bunch of butterflies fluttering fastly at breakneck pace in my tummy. Nungambakkam is known for its slew of restaurants especially the KNK road. Taking some turns along the many twists of the road, I finally reached the Wallace Garden Road. Out of nowhere, I came across the sign "Lunch @ 499". There was no second, third or fourth thought. I simply went into the place for the first time without having any expectation by merely looking at the price. 

Two menu cards were given to me after I had seated comfortably and ordered for regular water. As soon as I saw the first menu card, I decided that it would be a criminal waste of time to look at the second a la carte. The reason was simple enough. The "Lunch @ 499" was made available in the Table d'hote that was given first!

SO, my delicious lunch started with an appetising tomato shorba that was very stimulating followed by an out-of-the-world sev puri. As of this day, I have never tasted such a mouth-watering Sev Puri in Chennai! My Goodness!! I can still feel the taste dancing on my tongue! Tearing apart myself from the tantalizing Sev Puri, I was then greeted with 3 entrees. One was Paneer and I forgot the names of the other two. The waitperson was very eager to serve more entrees as he knew I liked them very much. But, as I was starving, wanting and waiting to sink all my teeth into the main course, I forcefully restrained myself by not indulging in more of the appetizers. 

The main course included a fantastic Veg Biriyani, 2 Naan and 2 Rotis to go along with the 4 side dishes and Kheer. Palak Paneer was simply the best of the sides along with the Kheer. The waitperson saw that I was relishing to the core and promptly wanted to refill my bread basket. However, all my butterflies were completely satisfied and flew away with a small butterfly just about waiting for the dessert. 

Yes.It was dessert time. Chocolate or Strawberry? was the choice offered to me and a scoopful of chocolate was placed before me in a matter of minutes. The bill read Rs. 500 inclusive of this tax, that tax and the other tax. 

If the price was the killer deal for such a sumptuous meal, then it's not over yet. Delhi Highway has different menu for every day from Monday to Friday. Now, I know where to head for to have a relatively inexpensive yet high quality Mittagessen. 

The Angry Birds - Colorful Rampage of the Plumages!

Whenever a highly successful game or a novel is loved by a vast majority of the people, you can be rest assured that Hollywood will be very close at the heels of the creators to procure and secure the rights of the best-seller. So, when the swash buckling game "The Angry Birds" was well-received by the public in 2009, it was as clear as daylight that the popular game would be made into a film in a matter of time. Yes. It happened after 7 long years!

By the fag end of the movie, I was actually surprised that "The Angry Birds" had a tolerable storyline when it could have been a raging disaster! Our hero, Red is forced by the head to attend the Anger Management course to temper his temper so that he is not a bad influence to his fellow people, sorry birds! Yeah. I know it's a terrible yet laughter invoking joke. But, we have a lot of such jokes spread throughout the film in clusters like Red says "I am not blushing. I am simply red" or the famed Mighty Eagle tells the group "I see all and know all. What are your  names?". Keeping aside the exasperating yet hilarious puns, The Angry Birds strikes unadulterated gold in its rich visuals. Be it the birds territory or the pigs kingdom, it was indeed a pleasing treat for the eyes in this slingshot of avian revenge against the oinkers for stealing their beloved eggs. 

This was probably the maximum best one could expect from a game app that was an instant roaring rage especially amongst the kids. The Angry Birds could have been a monstrous cash cow, no cash bird! had it been released immediately post the game's launch. In the end, just as the flightless birds flew to the Piggy island by flinging themselves from the catapult, time was also hurling past me quickly with lots of punny funs and lavish scenes.

Idhu Namma Aalu - A Non glamorous and Joyful Simbu-Nayan Matrimonial Bond in Reel Life

As the old adage goes "Marriages are made in heaven". But, that was not to be the case with the ever charming STR's and Kollywood's ravishing queen Nayanthara's love life. When things were going really well between them in their real life, it was only a matter of time when the high profile stars got engaged themselves in the timeless relationship called marriage. However, destiny had other ideas and the duo had to split thus burning up their wedding pictures without even a picture taken! Stop it. We know all about the famous Simbu-Nayan controversy. What's it got to do with the review? Yeah. I can hear this murderous rambling which is rumbling loud and clear in your minds. Breathe. Relax. And continue to enjoy the three weddings that take place in INA.

It seemed like Pandiraj impractically desired Simbu-Nayan's wedlock to happen in reality than the pair themselves despite their relationship was beyond repair and hope. He has single-handedly ensured that they married not once but thrice in a very humorous and breezy manner. I think they were married 3 times to compensate to what happened to them in actuality!

Simbu's previous encounter with 'Vaalu' was more like a Ajith Dubsmash. However, the good news for STR is that INA gives his fans, and of course other audience, plenty of things to cheer about - be it his coolly casual dialogue delivery, deft and nimble dance movements, decent acting and ginormous screen presence with his suave looks and style quotient. He is known for all these things from his previous films but his selection of films has always been a major thorn in his foot which is not to be the case this time around with INA. It is not that INA is a picture perfect movie. The movie lags and drags big time in the second half courtesy to an elaborate and lengthy intimate exchange between the film's lead couple. Fortunately, the movie strongly rides on Pandiraj's smart way of story telling, Simbu's sophisticated appeal, Nayanthara's flawless acting and Soori's impeccably timed one-liners. In fact, Soori is one of the central component of the film rather than being just a mere sidekick to the hero. Santhanam takes up the sidekick role! INA would have bitten the dust hadn't it been for Soori's funny facial expressions, exquisite sneering and sardonic punches revolving around the true life of STR.

STR really deserves a pat on his back for making a literal mockery out of his own personal life in INA. It showed his level of maturity to see and handle his affairs in a light-hearted way. Andreah is so chubby chubby and vivacious that at one point of time you think that Andreah and Simbu is a fantastic pair. Her role in the movie could have been more important had Pandiraj concentrated on developing her character further and the story gaining enough traction for a good climax instead of the tedious and soporific telephone conversations in the second half. MY GOD! It is shown that time flies between Simbu-Nayan when they are engaged in their cellular conversations but the fact is that time was refusing to move in reality. It seemed like ages for their tete-a-tete to be finished. Albert Einstein was on the money when he said "When a man sits with a pretty girl for an hour, it seems like a minute. But, let him sit on the hot stove for a minute, it's longer than an hour. That's relativity". Many people in the audience felt like they were sitting on the stove during their heart to heart telephonic chats!

Pandiraj has shown great cleverness in his screenplay especially in the first half with his taut narration. Be it the intro scene where he captures the essence of a typical IT person's lifestyle or displaying quirky download images for flashbacks or using Jai as David (Jai was Nayan's lover in Raja Rani!) to reprise as Nayan's lover here as well, Pandiraj has handled with minimum fuss and gets tremendous applause and whistles for his knack of telling a simple love story so sweetly and humorously. Unfortunately, things go topsy-turvy when the second half begins. INA could have been thousand times better if Pandiraj had dedicated his efforts in shaping up solid post interval scenes to ante up the all good work that had gone before the inevitable slide.

Is INA not even worth watching once? Thanks to Soori's outstanding repartees and railleries, you can actually watch it twice but don't forget to fast forward all the songs and the prolonged chats!

Captain America:Civil War - A Whipsmart Encounter between the Suit and the Shield

At the half-way mark, there was only one question that was buzzing like a bee in my head "How is this conflict going to end"? My mind was racing into the future at QuickSilver's slowness and was lightning-quick open to various possibilities:

a) Bucky is innocent and framed. CapAm and Iron Man join hands to save him

b) Bucky is the culprit. CapAm reconciles with Iron Man to apprehend him

c) Bucky is the culprit. CapAm goes after him. Iron Man and others cross swords with the Mastermind

d) Bucky is innocent and framed. CapAm, Iron Man , Bucky and others fight the Mastermind

I am not going to spoil the fun by revealing which amongst these possibilities was true. Yes. There is one! In fact, the writers went one step ahead by embedding an interesting out-of-nowhere twist in one of these options. 

They say expectations hurt. When X-Men spectacularly missed the mark by a big margin, I did not have much expectation going into CapAm even though the trailers boasted of The Avengers team pitting against each other with the new Spider Man joining the ranks of Team Iron Man. The trailer was fantastic but so was X-Men's and we knew how it turned out. So, was CapAm also just another Marvel's Ok-Ok superhero movie?  Read On to find out.

The third installment of CapAm begins after the Sokovia's events when a building is destroyed and several people were killed in Lagos by The Avengers. This act was the final straw and the UN decided that enough was enough by passing the Sokovian Accords that will ensure that The Avengers were no longer a private outfit but a a team subjected to their rules and regulations. The usually selfish and arrogant Tony Stark was the first to support such a move as he was already burdened with his guilt due to the destruction of Sokovia. His guilt magnified itself to a great extent when one of the HR managers in MIT blamed him for her son's death. However, CapAm had other ideas. He was strongly opposing the idea that they were to be under the control of another organization who wants their freedom to be curbed. Dissension ensues and The Avengers are split due to their differences of opinion over the contentious Sokovian Accords. Things go downhill further in the relationship between Tony Stark and CapAm when Steve Rogers protects his child hood friend, Bucky from the clutches of Iron Man and The Black Panther when Bucky is accused for bombing at Vienna. Is the morally right CapAm wrong about Bucky this time when he defends him by saying that his old friend is not capable of doing such a thing? Was Tony Stark right in signing the Sokovian Accords? Whether the broken The Avengers bind together again? The answers to all these questions are presented in a swashbuckling manner by the Director.

Just like how the The Avengers was a revelation and boasted of gorgeous rib-tickling one-liners, CapAm:Civil War has also got plenty of amazing wisecracks and rejoinders that surely brought the house down! When Ant-Man enters into the Iron Man Suit and damages it, he says "It's your conscience. We don't speak a lot these days" when Tony Stark asks him "Who's this?". Similarly, when Tony Stark goes to meet Peter Parker at his residence and asks him whether he can go to Germany, Peter Parker replies "I got..homework". Here's where Robert Downey Jnr's phenomenal sarcastic barbs come to play. He immediately quips "Alright. I'm gonna pretend you did not say that". The entire movie is seriously and hilariously packed with such gems especially the face-off between Team Iron Man and Team Captain America at the airport. You can just watch the fight sequence "n" number of times yet still have the feel that you are watching it for the first time. Also, when Bucky pushes and takes the bike from a biker during the chase is another whistle-blowing scene.

Though most of The Avengers are back here, it is still a Captain America film as he furiously and ferociously defends his wrongly accused friend, breaks his friends out of  the Raft prison and indulges in a fantastic combat with Tony Stark. Captain America: Civil War is slick, smart, fun and funny with exceptional performances by new entrants - Spider Man and Black Panther. The latest Spidy is thoroughly wacky and is completely bitten not just by the genetically modified spider but also by the stardoms of the other Marvel characters. The Black Panther a.k.a Challa, who has a regal lineage, is set out to take revenge on Bucky for killing his father but later realizes his folly when vengeance had completely consumed him. His nonchalant and menacing "I don't care" response to Hawkeye who formally introduces himself during the airport action segment was a cracker! But, it was Tom Holland's Spiderling...Spider Man who will really steal your hearts with his innocent and child-like effervescence.

At the end of the movie, I just had one another small question in my mind "Should Singer take a leaf out of the Russos' book to handle a superhero movie when it is deluged with superheroes and their powers by giving depth and equal importance to the characters?". I leave it to Singer as a food for thought.

This review cannot be deemed as finished if I don't talk about the 2 notable scenes which also happens to be my personal favorite as well

PS 1:

When things get really hot at the airport, Ant Man becomes GiANT Man on the press of a switch. A startled Tony Stark asks his team "Okay. Anybody on our side who is hiding any shocking and fantastic abilities they would like to disclose? I am open to suggestion". The entire audience were laughing like mad hell at this point of time.  

PS 2:

Captain America is in conversation with Sharon Carter who gives the Cap his shield and they kiss each other. The instantaneous reaction which Falcon and Bucky give when they see the Cap kissing is something that is just etched in your mind and can play it back at will to humor yourself. Such is their fantabulous expressions that it is really worth to see the movie a third time just for their inimitable and unparalleled reactions!