Endhiran Music review

Well thats my first music review of an album. And what better than the most happening movie of this year Endhiran - The Robot !

Well the music launch as usual was less than 1% dedicated to music, which is expected. Now some people asked me of whether directors were less interested in emulating Gautam's style of VTV audio launch .... Well my only answer to them was, its more a producers event. The music launch nowadays is held generally a month before the movie release so that the hysteria surrounding the movie peaks during the release. And lets not forget, VTV is a different case in the sense, Gautam needs ARR more than the other way around. Truly, ARR is the biggest star of the movie closely probably followed by Trisha. So to centre an event around ARR actually was a good way to promote the film. With that perspective, Endhiran is too big a star cast to center an event over ARR. Infact theres a whole political motive behind the SUN pictures producing this movie. As to what we all think is a patch up between the SUN group and the Kalaignar Group is more of a cold war playing politics for now to oust any third party gains. It is more than evident that Dayanidhi Maran and Kalanidhi Maran want to establish an empire as strong as that of Karunanidhi ... now thats not easy considering he has a Mu Ka "... " everywhere in the state ... including my latest realisation Mu Ka Muthu in Coimbatore ! The event was anything but a Rajni and Maran label. So much so that even Shankar who generally does well in proudly stating his crew and himself couldnt beat the mass appeal that Rajni or the producer had. Well all this explanation only to concur with the fact that probably thats all he deserved !

One has to probably blame rahman that for the 10 crore that he has been allegedly paid, the album doesnt sound that sumptuous. The album consists of 3 songs that will probably occur full fledged in the movie and three others that may be used in part or as BGMs. I shall go from the worst to the best since that builds up well to a end on a positive note!

Boom Boom - Yogi B - Well least said about this composition, the best. 4 minutes of unclassified music very unlike a Rahman one (which is now becoming his style!). There are few patterns here are there which are pretty nice usages but its like ... see this is supposedly tough and so its good .... technical scrutinising to argue in facour of Rahman has become a disease now ... although people probably dont realise that just patterns dont make a good composition or any art for that matter! The technical aspects are just good for a scientific analysis .... music has nothing generally to do with it .... rather to rephrase it ..... the complexity of any part of a song has absolutely nothing to do with how good / bad/ normal / abnormal it sounds ....... But this is more of escapism .... in the sense .... a musical concert is the best analogue of the situation i can think of .... There is a very revered and experienced singer who sits in the dias .... he is so very knowledgeable that people are in complete awe at his prudence .... now the question is .... whether the singer will try to work towards audience's sentiments and sing rough and tough patterns that although may not be very pleasing to hear .... are technically sound ... or he will balance the concert with skill but pay attention to whether audience really are moved by his performance ? With live performances its really tough becos each day is different. With movies, music albums thats an advantage ... u can comment .... add flavour and listen and re-listen and watch and re-watch to understand the nuances ... this is not possible for eg. in a stage play. Which is why live performances demand that audience understand and enjoy what u do otherwise it is equivalent to shit. Well typically this shud be the aim irrespective of the form of art. I dont expect someone to click with every creation of his .... but if someone is going to claim a mediocre presentation as creative and say that art appreciation is basically te viewer's own discretion .... i am sorry .... this cannot be an excuse to escape.

Puthiya Manidha - SPB - Techno stuff .... typical of ARR and typically what i wud hav expected for an intro song with a robot's description. I wud have rated it average but for the interludes in second charanam. Somehow i am very uncomfortable of this commonplace usage of two melakartha and janyams of theirs - Natabhairavi & Kharaharapriya and occasionally even Shankarabharanam. Guys please, western music style is too different in many aspects. The variety they hav is very different from the variety we use. Predominantly many of their compositions are in these two janyas. But in our musical style we have too much of a variety. I earlier was of the thought that only Yuvan had this habit of re-using to the nth limit tunes from the same janya - the whole album of Manmadhan, and many of his most loved songs. The next to join this party was Harris Jeyaraj (HJ) ... i dont feel like commenting on him .... so of the last 4 years ... pick up any of his hit songs ... and mostly it will be in either of these two janyas. Now ARR in the past three years follows suit ! - Dil gira Dafatan, Masakali, Balleilaka, Athiradee, Aaromale, usure poguthe, kaatu sirikki, naan varuven .... and now .... Puthiya manidha, Arima Arima !! Well , having tried my hands on some similar things .... let me help u guys with this ..... these are some of the easiest melakarthas and janyas to score songs on ..... name some of the most famous cine songs and they will be in this .... but typically from the big guys u expect something novel in the usage of these ragas. Ilayaraja fumbled in this place .... re-using lots of his tunes .... novelty shrudded in basic tunes in the late 80s. He fell prey to the same idea of complicating songs becos people admire complications .... well many of his songs in the post 80s were not really great to listen although technically they were high end! Rahmanji is now followiing this safe route ... .a couple of songs in almost every movie from this janya which is not really novel .... Usure poguthe though a nice tune is not sounding different .... Enge enathu kavidhai was ... even though its a completely digested sindhu bhairavi. Aaromale was actually a good song to bring in Bhagyashree ... but common the plaintive idea was similar to Dil Gira Dafatan .... Westernised notes to indian lyrics ... even the stretching of the lyrics and pacing of the song from the second charanam was very similar in both. Puthiya manidha .... has some unusual notes in sangathis .... for that matter ... its start itself is unsual ... from a mel sthayi Ga at " Naan Kandathu .. " but the sampling of " puthiya manidha " at the start is bad .... the female voice is soothing ... but yeah Rahman i know that u did " Maale Manivanna " in Sivaji in Suddha Dhanyasi .... and it caught almost everyone's attention ..... y do u want to make it sound similar and remind us of waht u gave earlier. I can understand less capable heroes doing it. Some directors do it ... but u neednt. U are a celebrity whom people follow to the toe. U neednt remind us of ur previous albums ..... or are u feeling insecure that u cudnt give ur best in the right places and so are trying to compensate that by reminding the audience that hey ... look theres one place i did something decent ... if u havnt noticed till now ... atleast do it now !

Irumbile - ARR - he had to sing ..... and thank GOD it was this song ...... well the hindi version sounds just suited for the hindi audience .... dunno if was made with them in mind ..... when i first heard this ... i spent a lot of time thinking of how to classify this one. But then i thought .... forget it ..... its so ordinary that i shudnt worry too much ..... i am trying desperately to find something typical of rahman atleast ....if not something novel and nice ..... but in vain. Its that kind of a tune that u feel " heyy yea its very familiar " .... not copied or something ... but u just feel u hav known this tune somehow .... its starts straight with " naina mile ( irumbile)" Generally Rahman's songs never start striaght and simple ....Ilayaraja's does.... "poongatru ... from Muthal Mariyathai .... is the one i immedaitely recollect ..... this one is just like that .... some touches of sindhu bhairavi westernised .... hypnotic supersonic and all such adjectives .... i think rahman has left this one to be carried by the video. I thought "Style" was a much better attempt ... here i cant identify one.

Kadhal anukkal - Shreya Ghosal - Well ... nice song .... but fades poorly .... its a pity that both " sahana saaral " from sivaji and " kaadhal anukkal " here are good numbers fading badly. A very youthful tune and from the promos of the second trailer seems a really well thought of choreography and situation fo the song. Especially the long shot where SS walks across the river in between the desert is cool. Everything is fine until " Odugira thanniyil ... " starts ...... whats happening there on man ? Shreya does some absolute crap of a brigha which is not clear even on headfones. And the sangathi there was very ordinary .... And the male lead after that "Asaye va va ..." until the end of the charanam is really ordinary for the start. I am pretty much sure only one of the charanams is going to come in the movie ...this is going to be a short song 3:30 minutes or so on screen .... so basically no point talking about the second interlude and onwards ... But interludes again ..... dude we know Corrs .... u hav give us "Dil Gira dafatan" with a similar feel .... " Yaley - Sakkarakatti " with similar feel and ur cousin gave "On mela aasa dan " with slow motion of the same .... Why again a similar interlude ..... are u guys seriously out of ideas. Bloody 10 crores for such an inspiration ?? Save the intial guitar ensemble and the saxy voice of the male .... forget Rahman u are past ur peak. Ur consistency seems to drop.

Arima Arima - Hariharan - Open ..... trumpet ..... followed by chorus and a brilliant orchestration of percussions ..... followed by a pathetic start off by Hariharan faulting in Shruthi at three place in the first three lines ... all at the pick ups .... Hariji ... please stop judgin other students .... aapka performance pe dhyan rakhiye .... For a live performance ... while throwing energy its ok to slip from shruti here and there .... but on a record .... when crores of people are going to play and re-play the error prone version .... Rahmanji ... u hav too much of a confidence... Y not just request Hariharan to have a retake ?? afraid that he will not be really happy about it ?? But yeah, but for that unfortunate negligence ....this is an ultimate climax entertainer .... full of persussions .....really a long time since i heard such a song from Rahman. And this is why i would not mind pardoning Rahman for such a simple and trite tune. The beauty of the song is the tempo and magnificence .... and rahman ensures that it is maintained brilliantly all throughout. Although Hariji slips initially i think his pick up of " Rajathi ... " is too good .... if there is anyone else who cud hav managed an equal precion and throw ... i cannot think of anyone else other than Shankar Mahadevan. Moreover, the weight transfer of the voice at the "thi" to make it soft yet loud and vibrant is amazing... becos in "asai thee " u need a stress at the second word ...since its a different word. So that balance of softening of the first usage and stressing the secon subtely .... hats off !
The interludes have not much to be spoken of .... while the charanams have enough. First Vairamuthu's lyrics ..... i think he has thoroughly enjoyed this album ...and instead of "aambals and ink fillers" he has much more sane and reverberating lyrics. I thoroughly enjoyed them, although i am receiving mixed reviews from many others. Nothing much to say about the tune of the charanams .,... the Jonpuri touch .... rite from Athiradee ..... but very different in usage ..... I wud have expected Sadhana to be slitely more open in her voice ... it was too soft for Hari's and the overall mood sombers down ...i can understand the situation of the lyrics ... where the leading lady is pleading that she needs someone more soft and with feelings ..... but theres an overall energy of the song which sufferes at this juncture .... rather at almost every point where the female lead sings. Vaaji Vaaji was better that way .... the mood was carried right till the end and madhushree though had a tough time with tamil .... carried the energy well. But if theres one thing that shud be commented positively in this song, it is the use of violins and other percussions ..... in recent past i havent heard any other song boast such a brilliant orchestration. The seconds and chords neednt be diferent and outstanding .... but the way it enriches the overall richness and feel of the song is amazing .... truly that is the crux of the song. I like it!

Kilimanjaro - Javel Ali , Chinmayee - I heard few portions of this song when there was a video leak almost a couple of years ago ..... the first portion of the movie to be shot ..... and for the small bits that i heard then itself ... i knew what this song is going to be .... i have always enjoyed entertaining numbers that hav been born from the Shankar-ARR combo and this is one of them. Funnily though, Pa Vijay's lyrics hav clicked with me for the first time and it seriously rocks ! ....several points ...... the mettu of the song itself is a tough one to frame lyrics on. .... but probably my most favourite is : " nee nooru gram than idai, unakku ini yaaru naan dan udai "; " aindadi valarntha aatu chedi ennai meyndhu vidu motham , pachai pasumpul nee aanal, puli pul thingume enna kutham? " .... i wud have surely considered vairamuthu as a candidate for such a simile. and of course " Yeavalukku thangachiye en kooda than irukka, aal uyara olive pazham appadiye ennaka ! " ... Clearly, each place the mettu with the rhythm has perfectly synced with the lyrics. If there are any compromises it affects botht the tune and structure and so a big thanks to Pa Vijay for such wonderful links seriosuly Paaaa ! The song as such is a peppy tribal number with a para-tribal tune ..... nothing much to say specifically ... the mettu in itself is the magic .... but of course .... the tabla ..... some awesome improvisations in the charanams ....i liked the one in the second charanam a lot. But the part of the song i enjoyed the most is the last line of Charanam1 " Udattayam Udattayum pooti kondu .. oru yugam mudithu thira anba " What a wonderful rendition by Chinmayee .... sooperb control ..... she was just in excellent form all throughout the song.... but had a subdued exhibition becos thats how rahman wanted her to sing .... but this place is where she sings normal throat although at a lower scale ...... but she rocks here big time ..... And i maintain my stance ... Shreya may have a sweet voice ... but if theres one female singer who i consider is a crazy talent , its got to be Chinmayi. Rahman is experimenting too much with her in such an early stage of her career ..... its very understated .... but i think she is already a big singer ....the only other person Rahman has tested and tried as much is SPB ... " thazhuvudu nazhuvudu ....sakkara inikkara sakkara ..." and the likes. Javel Ali suits the tamil version pretty well. Overall a very good song. Not to forget the chorus, which joins in the first three lines of each of the charanams .... i liked that thought .... a really nice one to end at Pa, Pa and then Ma. So for guys who didnt pick up the swaras ... its basically the note at which the line ends ..... the chorus echo at that note except for the third time when they give the lead ... as in the swara from which the fourth line starts ..... nice thought! Aha Aha ... Aha Aha

Chitti Dance: I would have had Kilimanjaro as my best song of the album and Arima Arima an equaly good and catchy one ..... except for Chitti Dance ..... no words to describe .... just the beats ..... this one if captured at its best by Shankar ( which i hope he will and hav a strong belief he has) will really rock. Fantabulous thought to hav jathi ..... Some really intricate patterns ....and it suits .... its not that just the cmplexity rocks ..... the whole mood and tempo and gethu is uplifted ..... the best part though is reserved for the last ..... the ending of the piece is a mega booster ! U can witness that in the trailer .... jsut gives an unprecedented hype to the directors name when it pops up with that music .... its a total high ...... similar to " thalangu thakajunu ... thadeem tha thakanujunu .... in Ra Ra at the end .... but only ten times better " the beauty is that until then speed was twice that of the last ending phrase ..... and drummers will immediately recognize that its a very drummable beat .... just phrased in terms of sollukattu (jathi). One jarring instance is when the piece really picks up and Rahman scales up the overall pitch of the piece and then within the sangathi itself brings it down. ..... But ... its quite common in western music to do this .... so can be exempted .... the purely western strings in between is a welcome intrusion and the jump back into rock and roll is a complete fantasy .... This is already a sensation in the little but ironically big community at ASU so much so that even the hindi speaking counterparts like this a lot. If there is one place Rahman scores big time ... its here.

Overall .... the album is better than many of his other albums .... Raavan and VTV he has had good songs and bad songs ... here .... nothing is non-listenable .... but i wud probably say ..... this is more likeable becos most of the songs are not great but are good ..... whereas with VTV and Raavan ... except for a song or two ... others are catastrophies.

PS: I wish to review Raavan music becos its the first Rahamn album of which i liked atleast a couple of songs, since a long time that i liked. But I would be happy if someone blogs so that i can comment. Sometimes it just sucks to enter in words ... wud as well have something similar what Stephen Hawkings has ..... its easier that way!

Where "Raja Kayya vechu ..athu Wronga pochu" ...

Many music composers have given the world of music some really excellent compositions that at once melt the hearts of thousands of music lovers all over the world. India's contribution in this list is a very significant one because right from the time the film industry has laid its foot at the centre stage, cine-music has been in tremendous highlight reaching almost immediate popularity amongst all classes of the public. We have seen some really amazing composers in the past 75 years or so ... Naushad, Shankar- Jaikishan, S D Burman in the Bollywood and K V Mahadevan, MSV-Ramamurthy, Raja, Rahman in Kollywood. Each and every music director mentioned above has gifted us with some amazing contributions through their songs and BGMs but today's post is memory of one man who quite single-handedly towered the value of music in movies from mere appreciation of nuances to a royalty. No other music director has had thousands of people crowd outside his recording studio for more than 5 hours awaiting a glimpse. No other music director has had producers queue in front of his office begging him to score music for an otherwise ordinary movie in order to rise himself out of the burden of growing debt. It can be and has to be -Raja.

Generally the career of any artist / sportsman (an indvl) has a growth period, a peak and then a deterioration
period. Very few people make the first two last long and cast a non-failing impression during the same. Sachin Tendulkar is one such imminent example i can think of who has pretty much safe-guarded his image and reputation though we all know that he is not what he was. He is making his twilight a much more admirable. But a genius has some traits. One of them ( and probably the most important one) is that he/she doesn't confirm to a generic set. There is a typical anisotropy that one can relate them to. Einstein had such an anisotropy in the fact that until his death he could just not bring himself to accepting Quantum Mechanics. Many of the then famous scientists like Dirac and Schroedinger requested Einstein to just at least virtually work on this field because they knew that if he did, surely some miracle would result. The egos of geniuses never go hand in hand, but with Einstein, there were many who had foregone their ego to go and request him as far as possible to just give a cursory look into the quantum theories. But he just wouldn't. Not because he had any enmity or counter-ego clashes with these scientists. It was just that moving on to work on something that he couldnt bring himself to believe was just not possible. It is like those orthodox grandparents of our generation who would as well stay hungry the whole day if they couldnt find a pure-veg hotel when out for a tour. ( Warning - Anisotropy is a characteristic of geniuses, but the rule doesnt work the other way ! ). Raja in the same lines had his own reservations. He sets the rules in his game since he knows what he is doing. There is another thing that Raja possessed which is quite unique to him (at least in comparison to someone i shall talk of later) - he was never flattered by money.

Come Thalapathy and Raja scaled a height that no other Indian music director has ever scaled before. His intro-song for Rajnikanth (Rakkama kaiya thattu) was selected in the top ten of the world's most popular songs that year. Remember, that this was the time when Mani had not still weaved the Roja magic; a time when Rajni was still a great hero but not yet the super-star that Annamalai and Baasha made him. And lets also not forget that its not just the popularity of the reigning duo that would have made some really strong critics consider a song while rating it. It just had to be this song because of the extreme violin play right at the start of the song. To my knowledge, it still stands out as the finest piece of violin orchestration in Indian film music. how many layers and all with violins !!! the London Philharmonic immediately arranged our Raja to come and perform for them and give some Lec-dem kind of thoughts on how he assembled his music - which include nuances of music they were the finest at like chords, harmonics, seconds etc etc - that is quite an acheivement. But what Raja missed was the timing.

Early nineties is the time when radios and televisions started becoming a household possession of all classes. The media reach through electronic medium rose in the last decade of the 19th century. And raja was 30 yrs old into fim music by then. Electronic media (esp TV) was younger than Raja and Rahman who was parallel to this period struck the right chord. Moreover, Rahman suits Mani the way Raja suits Bharathiraja. The brought up, the ideologies, the period ( Raja is much elder than Mani ) all decides on how good you are able to relate with a theme. This is why no-body has extracted Rahman as good as Mani and Shankar. Mani's movies are the typical middle class pro-sophistication pro-elegance type and this reflects the way he was brought up. Its very similar with Rahman and it clicked the best in Roja. Roja music is not rich as such, but the sync with the story is what makes it such a memorable album. Raja was out of sync in this respect. People started having the taste of digital media and Mani represented want the common man liked. Shankar showcased what a overall audience would like. The generation gap is what Raja missed. He had the opportunity to update himself since Rahman was born only 7 years after Punnagai Mannan which is the first tamil movie to use a sequencer (or whatever, basically the digital music era that can avoid an orchestra). But he under-estimated this revolution. And Rahman who knew that it would spin wonders struck gold !

Otherwise who in his right mind would have even thought of displacing Raja. It had to be Balachander who produced Roja requesting Mani to shift gears and when Mani and Balachander present a change .... a change as good as Roja ... theres not much on can do ... not even the mighty Raja : reality revealed itself untidily over Raja's face - The producer is the king-maker in a movie.

To tell the truth Raja never had a really good hand over the technical gimmicks since from Punnagai Mannan onwards .. the usage of the sequencer and synthesizers made Raja's music too simple and out of content. The Punnagai Mannan theme starts off brilliantly, but has an equal abyss in the middle portions until the violins rescue it back. Raja couldnt master the nuance of mixing the sounds of a synthesized tune and an orchestrated tune which is where Rahman excelled. Raja worked on a format that he invented when he arrived, a format that was 30 odd years old and a format that needed modifications. Raja was known for brilliantly embedding various styles of music in one song. the perfect example is " Enda poovilum vaasam undu - Murattukalai ". (the initial guitar piece though is lifted from a brazilian guitarist). The point of comparison lays flat if one carefully listens to that song. The start is western and the pallavi is also oddly rendered by the female vocalist but in the charanams the song is very folkish (typical raja). So the shifting of styles clearly has to happen in the interludes and this is exactly what Raja does in a very very convincing and smooth fashion. But note curiously that Raja shifts styles maintaining the inherent chastity of each style intact. This is what he introduced. But Rahman on the other hand followed what i would accredit as the MSV-style. He maintained a predominant style always in which he subtly mixed other styles as and when required. The best example that i can think of here is " Aaja meere bahoon mein - Yuvraj " ... we can clearly see that there is no unique style at any point of time during the song. (You may ask that " Tu muskura " from the same movie has two distinct styles .... but thats a story compulsion that anil kapoor sings a classical hindusthani which blends as a fusion with the western style). Rahman's overall style is nowhere. Its a mix of western music, some digital gimmicks and some tiny inventions all tidily wrapping around a carnatic base. So every listener gets what he wants though its not available in discrete.

The unfortunate point here for Raja was that, the digitalization of electronics necessary for recording was more suited to the western classical music than ours. It was more of a sound engineering which suits well with their kind ofwhere the gamakams and the brighas are absent. Raja in the late eighties , i must confess, did qutie a poor job of handling the then recent advancement that technology had provided. "Pottu vaitha Kaadhal thittam " was good ... but im not convinced that it is great example of the digital culture .... " Nee paartha parvai - Hey Ram" was. the definition of richness of a song or the completeness in a composition had changed .... " Senthoora Poove " - is a perfect song that i can think of in the 70s but in the 90s it had to be " Veerapandi kottaiyile ". How smooth one instrument blends into another was defined as "A" by Raja but was re-defined as "B" by Rahman.

But still if there is one thing that separates Raja from Rahman, it is his sincerity to the art. Never can i imagine Raja working in a movie just because he gets a shit load of money in it. But i know very well that Rahman may produce a shit album but still work in a movie as long as the banner is big. And it is this very reason that even during his decline Raja produced an amazing album in Veera. It was a big movie since Rajni was the hero. He had a very good chance to convince the audience that he was still there ... but alas .... the Rahman wave had swept across the state by then and all Raja's fans could do was appreciate the fact that their generation was over. The younger generation got what they liked exactly as they got what they liked and hence its farewell to Raja. And Raja has always been a people's man in the sense that its the continuous appraisal that helps him going. It was as though the moment the attention of the crowd diverted ... all his musical skills plummetted. Yes Pithamagan was a good album ... but wasnt the song that was a very famous hit " Ilankatru veesuthe " reminding us of " Thendral vandhu theendumbodhu - Avataram " ??

Wasnt Hey Ram sounding like the cries of Bheeshma ridden on a bed of arrows courtesy Arjuna, facing someone he knew was good but only that he couldnt go against his loyalties to be on the same side and remain the greatest warrior ever ?? Ironically similar is the situation of Rahman that he does things that is atypical of Raja so as to establish his ground because he knows that in the areas that Raja has touched ... it would take a lifetime of an extreme genius to better. Arjuna knew that it would be impossible to destabilize Bheeshma from his chariot and the only way had to be to attack in a manner that Bheeshma would not participate in. Only there in the Mahabharat ... both loved each other and fought against each other unwillingly owing to differences in loyalties. Here ... God only knows !! Bheeshma on his death bed gave the "Vishnu Shasranama" which is what he is connected most with. Raja in his twilight has given us a song composed of just three swaras (Sa, Ri and Ga) which re-iterate my stands:

" pAda piRanthathu pAttuththAn - enathu kUda piRanthathu pAttuththAn!

(Music is born to be sung, it is born along with me)

vAzha piRanthathu pAttuththAn - enathu vAzhkkai muzhuvathum pAttuththAn!

(Music is born to live, my life in totality is music)

'ollywood's tribute to sex

This is something that i had wished to write about for quite a long time, but just didnt have the patience to sit over and do the needful. But today i sum up all my endurance to write this piece of article. Yes you read it right. The first letter is purposefully left so that it can basically take any character (i = A, B, C, ... K ... M ... T ... ). And i must thank Selvaraghavan's epic "Pudupettai" for urging me to write this very article.

PS: All those who dont have the ability in them to swallow bitterness of a Selva's movie are advised not to cross this Lakshman Rekha.

The indian civilisation is one of the oldest and representation of sex is not new to us (infact we are Pitamahah of this art) with temples containing carvings of various sexual positions and over and above all this, we hav a text form exclusively for this sake. (The Kamasutra is probably one in a million texts and the very authority of indigenous texts which links material pleasure to spiritualism and provides pathways to realise spiritual bliss even through ahem .. sex. Well i shall not delve into the aesthetics of sex, but this was just a brief introduction required to set the scene for a much more intriguing and present day discussion.

We have all witnessed the shrugging of shoulders that a K R Vijaya offers to a Sivaji Ganesan's typical grab of the lower left shoulder. ( I would have screamed in pain, but that's ok, after all sex is just manifestation of a pleasure in pain! ) Those were the days when the country was not yet in a position to accept holes in the pants and whatsoever position they me be at. ( I think people missed the point there. Such holes in the pant were probably a typical commercial example of an intereferometer ! or we are talking of hopping mechanisms in solids, where electrons and holes hav to hop from one site to the other and not tunnel through the barriers. Im amazed !! So a typical seduction / molestation neednt have the hand travel all through the underway. One can just hop between sites !! ) I am just curious of the cinematographers then. How would they convey the fact that on screen, his grab of the shoulder looks scary and not sexy. But those were the times and thats how it was.

Then came the times of Kamal and Rajni in their younger days. Kamal started better off with Balachander to guide him. I think if one watches the epic "Manmadha Leelai" theres no more to write . Still for the benefit of the audience, these were times when patting on the back became a fashion. Putting a hand around the hip, allowing the sweat to travel lustfully from the end of the lower lip to just end of the neck (as though people were unaware of where it wud hav gone next) and showing bare backs (that never sounds anywhere close to even a U/A for me). This is also the time when heroes started showing the hair on their chest ( Well acknowledged by the Greatest philospher of all times " Shri Goundamani" in the movie Indian, when Urmila asks for a male partner to practice for a FashP sequence and when His Holiness offers to help, she rejects him saying that the amount of hair on his chest was a bit less. ) There were other typical styles of directors too. To start with is BharathiRaja's style of showing the hip in the most unholy manner. I never got any close to being intimidated. He depiction of a typical vilage girl, sun tanned all throughout, with absolutely no glamorous make ups and in some ironically un-ironed and dirty cloth on the mud floor and someone, who by the virtue of her character, would take bath probably just once a week. This is it. Her hip would matter me lesser than raw flesh in Bai's shop ! But still, it was something that people admired and acknowledged by going to the theatres repeatedly and keeping their jaws wide open, enough to swallow a Tirupati laddoo all at once.

And theres also the S P Muthuraman style which is magnanimously presented in Sakala kala Vallavan where Kamal describes the pleasure of making out in a single cot (as though we dont know that when people get close enough most of the space of a double cot gets vacant). This is no intelligence. Its a mock to the people admiring such foolish statements. Who on the hell will get on a bed ( whether single/double/triple cot) and lay one and half meters away while getting started. And yet people clapped and applauded. Oh yeah, i have to dedicate atleast a couple of lines to the Bhagyaraj era. The 'Murungakkais' (Drumstick) and whatnot flourished during his period. He actually scrypted a style for himself which i can (though not accept) appreciate, since it was different and actually horny. But repeated usage of Radhika is intolerable (and she doesnt look hot). Ahh, now i enter the true stage of comparisons, contradictions and condemnations. Mani Rantam and Co.

This is the contour that surrounds my time. And so it can be talked about in good detail with confidence. Mani Ratnam is a name that resonates with Indian movies, i still dunno why. If you want better movie makers, he himself acknowledges the presence of many others. And if you want commercial movie makers, i cant count. He probably clicked because he represents the typical middle class family who didnt want anything too deep but at the same time wanted everything. Its like i am fine watching my hands go near the navel, but not touch it. Its manipulating the boundary conditions. And Mani's flavour attracted many, it touched me too (but with anger at times) . In many ways Mani is the forerunner of plenty of novelties in the Tamil and Indian Cinema industry. Portraying moods is something he does well, and even his Pisa would have been alarmed when honey drops were poured onto Amala's navel. ( Heyy, this is Shakeela stuff, only Amala is too pretty). How did this go unscathed? Im surprised. I actually wonder at times, for all the respect that we have on such a director. I cant imagine him narrating this part of the scene as he would narrate some other. And i also cant imagine how the heroine would react on first hearing to this. I can surely imagine Selvaraghavan telling his brother " look at her hips like there is a diamond and open let your tongue bow down in shame ". But Mani telling Amala " In this scence, we will have honey poured on your belly " (okay, i cant do it) But Mani is supposedly the best story teller around. And P C Sriram measuring camera angles to present it aesthetically. Common guys, its vulgarity. And trying to depict vulgar lust with a sense of aesthetics is like decorating shit. Shit is shit , whether presented ambiently or not. That way, a shameless depiction of the animalistic instincts by Selva actually gains my appreciation for being bold enough to show that vulgarity is vulgarity and looks dirty for all expect the person behaving so. Btw im curious why so much focus around the navel. Is it some Black hole kind of vanishing into nothing that is so amazing about it? Or is it just that, we dont want to get an extra inch or two further, into the regions of " That which must not be named " ? Even in Roja, there’s this scene where Arvind Sami plays with Madhubala while she is just wearing her top half and pulling that as much as she can to cover her bottom half. This is cheating (as a child would say). He just silently introduced a lot of things, but many others get spanked on for vulgarity on screen and he gets to sit and silently laugh at them.

And yes, I am talking of Shankar and his Boys. It was not so great a movie, but to corner this movie as an insult to womanhood is seriously audacious. Then what of the umpteen tiger bites that our yesteryear heroes awarded their heroines with? What about the lustfull and shameless looks that Kamal and Rajni offered to their heroines and the cameras that switched relentlessly between the heroes’ face/eyes to the heroines wonder curves tens of times? What about those arrogantly audacious Bhagyaraj movies where he was probably just marginally better off than an unholy C Grade movie? And what about the latest sensation S J Suryah (I wont describe anything about his movies, I hav resolved not to). But its not that Shankar is as pure aas 24 Carat Gold. I was quite nervous all throughout this famous movie of his, not knowing how I will convince my parents, when they will come to know that I had watched this movie. In fact its quite interesting how Shankar depicts these things. Leave out Boys (since its storyline required something more than ordinary and he gave quite an overdose) but otherwise, his is more dialogue oriented (refer Anniyan dialogues just after the song 'Kannum Kannum Nokia' or just before ' Randakka'). Madhubala’s navel seems to be everyone’s delight (obvious in Gentleman as in Agni Nakshatram). But im sorry for Aishwarya Rai. I couldn’t just stand that idiot of the first order Prashant kissing her some 15-20 odd times in one song! And imagine the count with the number of retakes. That would easily have been the day of his life. He may even leave his last few breaths thinking of this.

Come year 2000 and we have our Selva with us. He is a brand now and in fact his movies are a cult (I dunno how he managed that). That smile on the heroes’ face in 7G Rainbow colony is seriously a gem of a face expression. Shamelessness to the core. Its like if someone hits you, shouts foul at you, throws nasty things at you, insults your mother, father and the whole family of yours, describes you as some cheap nasty disgusting brat, and you are still there, as ever, in peace, giving that nasty little smile that drives the onlooker crazy to start shouting foul again. I think the Indian Cricket team needs him. He can drive the Aussies crazy as they try to sledge. I can imagine the plight of Andrew symonds tired (like Dushshasana) of shouting foul and staring like (a monkey) himself.

Moving to the heroines themselves, in the present millennia there are people who stand out for some of their achievements. Rambha – for her thighs (this is still something im pondering about, do our men ogle at ‘hippopotamus thighs’?) And next comes Simran- for her hip (this is something I will vouch for any day) She is probably one of finest actress the Tamil industry has seen for quite some time. She has looks, is a trained dancer and acts well. This is a very very rare combo and hats off to all those directors who got the best out of all these three departments of hers. Her dance in Allthotta Bhoopathi is something I admire every time I watch. What a pity in the way she was utilized in ‘New’ (I hate S J Suryah). Trisha- face. Man she is too good. But unfortunately she is utterly bitter an actress to swallow. But amongst all these things, I think that it would be unfair if I don’t talk a bit about Bollywood.

Bollywood in itself is a topic for a blog entry but I shall just acknowledge the advancements in this region of Indian movies. Girls seem to need only two inches wide clothes to cover themselves and THEY DON’T LOOK PRETTY. Worst is the combination of the music that they dance to. ‘Pappu can’t dance sala’ is easily the worst Rahman Song probably only in competition to the Ghajini crap. None of the Bollywood directors have impressed me in terms of their exploitations of heroines in this aspect in recent times. It seems like even well reknowned actors like Nana Patekar need a bed-room scene to kick off their Taxi No. 9211 which I just ‘fast forwarded’. Guys please wake up. Im talking of some really admirable scenes like the one in Desperado by Robert Rodriguez. If you cant think just cut the crap. There are a lot of Shakeela’s doing the job and don’t forget, at a time in the Mallu industry, two new releases of Mohanlal and Mammooty flopped with a Shakeela movie rooling the roost for more than 100 days. Titanic was holy, Irrepresible was holy, for that matter even Malena was holy ( in the same lines as Selva’s Kathal konden and Pudupettai). But showing hip just because its ‘masala’. Showing cleavage arbitrarily just because people need to stay is just intolerable. For that, the script can as well have a complete scene dedicated to some masala stuff which is properly thought of and then presented. That way, S J Suryah’s Valee was really good. The storyline required that. Or a Avvai Shanmughi that had women come and reveal their problems was funny (plus served the masala purpose). But please stop the ‘from nowhere song in which Nayantara dances with kids lesser than the age of 10 revealing her so-so’.

There are situations when moods and sex complement the movie and narration. At such points it’s a treat to watch and appreciate the imagination of the storyteller. But in other cases, its just plain money-marketing. I would like to end this off with an off-beat but ‘something I liked’ quote of Vijay in one of his movies Sivakasi “ Uckle la kaathu vaangaruthu, thoppul la ring podaruthu, thodaila aart varayarathu. Onga odambula ethana macham irukkunu mathavangalukku theriyara maadiri dress pannikitu apram anga pathan inga thottan nu oora koota vendiyathu” (Whether he realizes or not, it is exactly the same when we watch heroines nowadays come on screen. And this is a comment that would suit better the DIRECTORS, noy the audience)

THE STOLEN REQUIEM

Bright sunlight sparking rays of enlightenment
eased through the window sill and grazed the floor
The mosaic shined and blitzed with effervescence
and the ever-inviting room lit with sunshine galore.

I entered with my foot right up to my knee,
“The march was spot on”, I acknowledged that
perfection envisaged my humble age.
I stood tall, ready, with a red tie and black hat.

I walked through ‘my’ street - majesty adorned,
many a head bowed in perfect synchrony.
I sat at the crux of the crowded lane, and
a perennial list of followers, queued in harmony!

For many I was more than a hero
whom the Almighty had sent to reassert justice.
Though in a manner so crude and rough
I was surely faring better than an apprentice.

The numerous kisses that my right hand accepted
and the numerous wishes that the ears have heard
seemed to don the majesty in me.
The nerves of steel, yet the heart of a third.

From nowhere amidst a huge crowd
clothed in rugs and bits of materials stitched
appeared a child that instantly drew attention,
and spoke thus, in a voice low pitched,

“You are a great man, people here say,
Their problems, you solve within a day,
come whatever, you never just fray,
and all day long, for the people you pray!

Oh best amongst men, please let your mind sit
on this little kid, for you are so fit
to fulfill my wish and do your little bit,
for a ‘candle’ that has no flame lit”

Praise has never ever let down man,
It is the one thing that can make him live past
a hundred years of drought and famine.
And humbled I was, by my ego so fast.

I looked at the child and saw in it the tear
that waited for the permit to cross the eyelids.
Overpowered by emotions, the most stable mind
stumbled across a child with innocent bids.

“Go on, young fellow, ask whatever you feel.
The honour shall be mine to fulfill them, it’s a deal.
In return, I have a favor that you shall have to seal,
by having along with the mighty ME, tomorrow’s meal”

A cute little nod as cute as it gets
and a big head nod in acknowledgement.
The child came closer, and I moved forward too,
Every word of the infant, sounded drums into the tent.

“Father he is and his son I am,
His wife he hit, not yours, after all
It wasn’t a big mistake, it is no crime.
The woman wasn’t complaining, but you had no time.

So you cared least about what the issue was,
And carried him like a thug onto this very seat
And took your sword and with just four blows
Took off both his hands and legs, mighty neat.

that person whom you punished yesterday night
for having slapped his wife, unsteady drunken.
That man robbed of his two hands and legs
I want him back, Oh great amongst men!”

My lips tightened and my seat stiffened,
My eyes shut close and my breathe chilled cold,
With mouth open involuntarily in shock
I blinked, knowing not, what to be told.

Trembling hands and unsure legs
Led me out of the scene, though slow
My eyes switched, but not my thoughts
What a drastic end to a superlative show!

Twilight enlightened me of the child’s maturity.
He had not expected any answer, of me.
My thoughts grew old and so did I,
And I realized soon that, this is the way to be.

No one writes my end other than me
and such is the end, I wished to see.
But now, upside down is the family tree
that it happens not as it has to be.

Bright sunlight sparking rays of enlightenment
eased through the window sill and grazed the floor
The mosaic shined and blitzed with effervescence
and the ever-inviting room lit with sunshine galore.

A TRIBUTE TO MEANINGLESS POETRY!!

One day, I was eating at a panipoori shop,
the pani poori had holes, and the pani filled through the top
I ate and ate until my bladder hit me hard,
I had to run down the lane to find a place of guard!

I pissed until I wished, and came out with head high
“wow” I felt, what a relief, the achievement - it’s a high!
I had to catch the bus to go to tambaram,
So I walked along the street and the liquor shop selling rum.

Kalyani – shouted a drunkard and the owner stood in doubt
Maater aa meter aa he asked, it was more than a shout.
“aa.. Yechusme sister…I need a duster”
“yen on ootukkari illaya”, she bursted like a mustard.

My little heart breaking, and avamaanam touching,
I left crying and broke a bottle on the ceiling,
I broke it so hard that a dog nearby was startled,
It shouted at me carelessly and hence I was rattled.

Disrespect from a Dog, my God it’s a big shame,
Nearby no fan to hang myself the excuse isn’t lame,
I looked hard for a toilet with a smell so precariously high,
That no one even in his wrong sense would approach it nearby

At last I found one, at the end of the street,
I walked lazily, but depressed were my feet,
OMG, there were cries of mating in the dark,
It was a bitch, being fucked with an occasional fart.

Even suicide wasn’t my cup of tea, disgusted by the dogs,
Attempting in vain I left my search for bogs!
“ida dan na appove sonnen”, laughed out a rugged fool
sitting on the top and contaminating the water pool!

I scratched my head like a mental, and people stared frightened,
A car splashed on me slurry of mud which was strengthened.
A manhole lay infront of me! “I am going there”
I opened the manhole only so that a rat could lick my hair

An intelligent person amongst the hundreds of men,
Threw stones at me, casual as a lion in its den,
And each one of them hit me and the stones started growing bigger,
I pleaded to him “Beta, im not yet a beggar”
He stopped and cried like an actor would have,
And asked for forgiveness like a sinner would have
I asked him “what is the problem you have”
He said “I was trying to save you from the rat you have”

Compassion wins hearts I only realized then,
I tore apart my clothes and generously parted them,
Some people stood in disgust and other is awe “heyyy dude”,
And it took me almost an hour to realize that I was nude!!!

The Indian police are shrewd and came immediately with a van,
I knew what I had done and waved a hand to every man.
Some people cried but not for me,
And many others laughed, not at me!

But the chaos was broken by an enriched voice –
“Katradhu kackoos alavu, kallaaladhu coovum alavu”
I clapped and laughed and danced and cried
Only to understand the true meaning, I tried.

The gates of the vehicle opened for me,
And it read “Heaven for Thee”
I entered majestically only to find it occupied
By DOGS and BITCHES, now I joined the tide!

I lost any hope of living and started to feel dizzy,
But a bitch nearby me was licking me very busy,
I had to appreciate its love, it made me feel easy
And I reciprocated to it! It all happened in a jiffy!

A new ray of hope shone through the window grills,
The dog lay on my lap and humming a romantic tune shrill,
I decided that “this is my life” and committed to it,
The police station arrived and unsurprisingly smelled shit.

The inspector asked me, all the formal questions,
But I was in my world, a world of new things,
He hit me and thrashed me and I kept looking at the bitch,
As, she was my only hope of galloping out of the ditch.

I looked at her in her eyes and she looked at me back.
The police station was stunned, everyone stepped back.
But then the one true policeman came to me,
And asked me in sign language “am I steady”?


I replied “yes” symbolically, and told him I had a wish,
He enquired me (through signs again), of my wish.
I pointed to the bitch and then to me and asked for a “thali”
The police man got frightened and said “mavane ne gaali”

I was unperturbed by these taunts and stood steady like a king
“I am a major and so is she, and you have to give us the ring”
He gulped in saliva and then spat it down knowing not, what to do,
And then unwillingly he obliged to a history in the making phew!

The stage was set and the “mantras” and the “melam” were played by a recorder.
The eldest of their family and the eldest of mine assembled in that order.
The knot was tied and flowers fell like a shower, everyone blessed from their heart!
And the celestial wedding changed my life; ‘our’ life has got its start!!!

P.S: This poem is not the result of hours of hard work and unscrupulous dedication, but a result of inspiration to capture absurdity in a poetic sense as much as possible though at places some sense does creep in inevitably. This is a dedication to all those hundreds of poems and poets who have written utter nonsense and which have become famous amongst public surprisingly for being aesthetically and sensibly worst (BAD, YET FAMOUS!!). Comments are eagerly awaited.

McD !!!

" All characters in this passage are fictious. Any resemblence to anyone living or dead is purely coincidental".

OLKB productions in association with Puba. LTd proudly presents :

!! McD - aii soru !!

well thats precisely what this edition of the blog offers.


To give an introduction to the person to whom this epitome is dedicated ... a sincere and stalemate person who prefers a low profile image amongst low profile people and who very fondly exercises his art of fiddling with big shots in what we affectionately term as ' pols ' , Challa is one in a million ( wow !! i thought every individual was unique , and hence the word - individual !! ) . well india's population having crossed a billion , my statement may be slightly outdated, but its yet applicable in a longer proportion considering the fact that he has been pivotal and has anchored the " gay revolution " ( well im talking of the colours , dirty dogs ! dont misinterpret me !! )

His latest sensational work is " the pseudo intellect " - well its not a book , its a Blog !
please take pain killers before u read the posts and keep urself equipped with enough armory since ull be on a journey from the present world back to ( God knows what era ) and back !

McD after a break -

" washing powder Nirma , washing powder Nirma , doodh ki safedi , nirma se aayi , rangeen kapda bhi khil khil jaye , Sabki pasand Nirma ..... washing powder Nirma , washing powder Nirma ; NIRMA !!! "

McD continues ...

4 words of praise though for this " pseudo intellect " since he himself has admitted: he doesnt go through his articles once done ... WoW - What a Man !!

Well as to why my post has been titled McD .... please it has nothing to do with the restaurant McDonalds. But yeah it has a lot to do with Scrooge McDuck.

Well this great person has a little passion ... its little to him ( bus itna sa khwab hai ! ) but its a hell to others.
Food Food Food ... its never Boring !!! 7:30 am - BANG ; 11:30 am - (BANG)^2 ;
6:30 pm - (BANG)^3 ... too unfortunate is our mess , its always in a mess , they dont dare speak out against ' You Know Who ' - the terror, the man with the moustache of a cat, the man with the posture of 'swami vivekananda' and the vision of ' Bigle ' ( courtesy Oram Po ! ).

McD after a break -

" Boost is the secret of my energy ... Our energy "

McD back after the break ....

to challa's credit, he knows 6 languages ( WoW ! ) and none properly ( OMG !! ) ...
his age + natural frequency + improper knowledge of languages + attitude causes him to be 16 times slower than a nomal person in reacting to situations. well but the law of conservation of Energy holds eternally true .... and hence this is compensated by his enthusiasm for two things .... food and Kottai ( ohh its actually three things .... saary na kanakkulla knjm weak ... )

Challa has two very close mates ( yeah mates ) ... Arun G ... and more profoundly ... Anirudh (ohh im sorry i spelt ur name wrong ..... fuck the hell off .... who told u i am good in english .... moochula pechula paatula thalaatula na thamizh thotta payyan .... )

Curiously, challa has a perennial source of jenny ... indian handkerchief industry will never go bankrupt ... and bus-walas dont need horns anymore !! yay yay !! challa has become the source of another revolution " Jenny ( jalp) -revolution " ( its a 360 degree per revolution !!!) ministers hav double duty now ... they have another perennial river added to the indian topology ... and it suits best to join this with the famous Cooum river ..... and Rajnikanth shall observe a day's fasting and offer 10 paise as the first 'poni' for this sacred cause !!

McD after the break -

" all i want is english marie .... also english the real marie .... crispy crunchy mmmmmmm ....;
9:30 ko dekhiye agla karyakram ... wikram aur betaal .... "

McD stay tuned ...

Well he is a part of the club called " Matrix " which is the busiest club around, that finds time only to sit in the Redi's and discuss over a cup of tea - when they can meet next to hav tea and bun !! ... wow Dogs have a stiff competition and what with Challa -the frontier of the moevement : the bun movement ; ' sapuduvom sapuduvom , saagum varai saapuduvom ; sapuduvom sapuduvom ; vayar vedikkum varai sapuduvom ' Challa climbing 5 steps at a time .... challa's growth seems unstoppable ......


continued ...

top ten songs of the year so far - kollywood

The year , almost a three fourth done , its really a pity that the quality of songs have dropped drastically , that only 4 or 5 films qualify for some decent music . Techno stuff have probably made music redundant to listen. The purity of sangathis stand facing a big question mark . Except for some standard music directors , others continue to disappoint. The plus points as far as the year until september is concerned :

a . Rahman back with a bang ! some good scope provides him the required breakthrough from a jinx taunting him for some 4 years or so.

b . Harris Jeyaraj , now a household name amongst tamilians , hits three successfull albums, 2 of which topped the charts as and when they were released. Though he has a peculiar and quite observable similarity in his
compositions , the tunes and sense of beat are just amazing to make them hits. Way to go, considering that in today's age songs r more of a pre-hype to the release of a movie.

c . Yuvan Shankar Raja - king of the trade , knows all the nuances of a success , (though not authorised ones) like redoing his father's legendary works and those from other legends before and after his father.



TOP 10 SONGS OF THE YEAR SO FAR :

01. Vaaji Vaaji : Sivaji - The Boss : A R Rahman

02. Unakkul Naane : Patchaikili Muthucharam : Harris Jeyaraj

03. Athiradee kaaran / Style Style : Sivaji - The Boss : A R Rahman

04. Mudhal Mazhai : Bheema : Harris Jeyaraj

05. Sahara Pookal : Sivaji - The Boss : A R Rahman

06. Balleilakka : Sivaji - The Boss : A R Rahman

07. Vaikasi nilave : Unnale Unnale : Harris Jeyaraj

08. June Ponal : Unnale Unnale : Harris Jeyaraj

09. Jalsa Pannunga Da : Chennai 600028 : Yuvan Shankar Raja

10. please fill in ... the last slot vacant for the other musicians as a complementary option.



do look out for the explanations justifying the above rankings in the forth coming posts !