Der Untergang (film)

I felt like 'you need to be this stubborn guy to be able to speak German','you have to dig your gutter out to bring this Umlaut and Eszett through your tongue'. Actually this movie - Der Untergang - made me to feel like this. Bruno Ganz's casting as Adolf Hitler will make anyone watching this movie to shout 'Hail. My Furher'. The whole story is about the interesting and terrible go-thro's experienced by the youngest private secretary 'Traudl Junge', during the last ten days of Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun in the Furherbunker. As the real Traudl comes into picture claiming her insanity of admiring and fascinated to Hitler - in her words 'the greatest criminal ever to have lived'.

Movie starts as a group of young ladies from Berlin, including Traudl, arriving at the Wolfsschanze - Hitler's eastern headquarters, for interview to be Hitler's private assistant, where young Traudl Humps gets selected. Then the next scene lifts to 56th birthday of Adolf, the war almost reaching its end. Movie goes on as showing the trusted generals of Hitler couldn't do anything against the upcoming Soviet enclosure to Berlin. In the mean time the movie describes the people loving kindhearted Colonel Dr.Gunther helping the medic team treating the civilians and military units. Third line of story explains a boy - Peter - from Hitler Youth fighting and witnessing the terrible things happening around him and a mob killing his parents for not leaving Berlin.

This movie also shows the personal experience of Traudl Junge with Hitler, and her experience witnessing him committing suicide with his 48 hours wife Eva Braun. After Hitler's death Joseph Goebbels becomes the Chancellor and commits suicide with his wife Magada after killing all their six children. Movie ends with Traudl escaping with young Peter through the Soviet Army. Subsequent facts of the other survivors were superimposed in the end.

Every actors in this movie had lived to their character and Ganz gets the salute. Director Oliver Hirshbiegel had taken much care to make audience feel the heat but failed in some scenes. Remember this movie doesn't show the real Hitler who was barbaric in nature, and this is only the view of an innocent secretary who apologizes being innocent. So don't get sympathized to Hitler as Ganz will make you to. I give four out of five to this Downfall and a full to the actors.

Wake up folks...

I received this image in a mail...... I am not sure how true it is, but don't you think we lost our self esteem by preferring alien culture to our native??? 

Enthiran (film)

No exaggerated hero introduction, No extravagant first song. It is all a Shanky's than a Rajinikanth movie. I personally felt like watching a Cameron plus Spielberg stuff in Tamil. I hope no one would have missed it, yet as it has to be a movie review I'm adding the plot here. Dr.Vaseegaran, a robotics expertized professor spends his time and effort (even avoiding his girlfriend Sana) to make an andro-humanoid robot and names it as Chitti. He wants to help the Indian Army by replacing infantry by Chitti like robots and for that purpose takes the robot to AIRD evaluation which was headed by Dr.Bohra where Chitti was rejected for not having emotions and feelings. Vaseegaran works on Chitti by using artificial hormone simulation gives him all human feelings which in turn makes Chitti fall love with Sana. Knowing this Vaseegaran gets angry and dismantles Chitti and throws him in garbage. Dr.Bohra, being sold himself to European Weapon dealers brings back Chitti's life and inserts a Red Chip with destructive programs. Chitti being more powerful than ever creates many robot similar to him and kills Dr.Bohra who opposes it. Chitti and other robots capture the AIRD building and abduct Sana. Chitti forces her to marry him. The story goes on like how Dr.Vaseegaran defeats the robots and saves his lover Sana.

Rajinikanth has shown his grace in style for the Robot character. Some 'I Want to Whistle' like moments(though i could do it only like King Julian) are

• Robot walking like Superstar in the first scene.
• Chitti giving answers for the questions asked in the Robotic Conference.  
• Vaseegaran and Chitti hugging as Chitti declares God's existence in his creator Vaseegaran.
• Chitti version 2.0 calling Vaseegaran as 'Black Sheep'
• Chitti version 2.0 explaining about Robo-Sepians to Sana.
• Touching climax dialogues by Chitti.

Although it was a nice movie, some of the scenes were really irritating and could have been avoided. The mosquito scene and Kalabavan mani appearance scenes were unnecessary. Pre-Climax scenes were very lengthy and could have been shorted.

Coming to other departments Music was done exceptionally well by ARR. No better words can describe the way CG had been done. Once again hats off to Shankar and team..:) and watch the movie only in Theatres...;)

What works for Me???

26.09.2010

Someone told us it is a personality development programme, someone told us it is to know how to use your basic senses in an effective manner. I didn't refer any wiki sites to know what it is, that gives a definition as 'NLP is a controversial approach to psychotherapy.....', which might have stopped me from gaining an wonderful opportunity to know how do I communicate with others.

It was a Volunteer Value Addition Programme organised for Students Quality Club volunteers by one of our seniors, Mr.Vivek. This full day foundation workshop on Neuro Linguistic Programme was conducted well by Mr.Ramesh Prasad, a NLP trainer. He made us speak. He made us ask questions and answer for them by which we could analyse ourselves and could gain self awareness. It personally gave me a better view on how to communicate professionally, how to make my listener to have a better idea about me. I learnt a lot. Thank you vivek anna..., thank you Ramesh...:)

We - presenting a momento to Mr.Ramesh

Advantage India....

First day was the worst day. Both the Indian singles lost their respective matches to their Brazilian opponents and after that day it was all smiles over the Chennai crowd as India made its perfect comeback from 0-2 to 3-2. If it was the veteran pair Paes-Bhupathi who brought their nation to life in the Davis Cup, it is young Devvarman to bring to a tie and Bopanna to ensure its Victory. This victory helped India to join the elite world group to have won the tie after being 0-2 down. The 30 year old Indian after the fresh doubles show in the US Open with Aisam Qureshi, delivered his excellent single outcome here. Another single blast Devvarman was referring the earlier defeats as a saviorship match. He mentioned,"..friday didn't hurt us, in fact it helped us". While talking about Paes, Bhupati explained that Paes plays a level higher than usual when he plays for the country. And the 37year old veteran who completed his 20 year tennis journey said it was the young teammates deserved the victory. Now India has secured what it has required and they look forward for February and to win the first round to ensure avoiding the play-offs. Hail India....!!!

Remembering Mother Teresa...

Today, August 26, 2010, we step into the birth centenary of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta - a simple nun who came from the Ottoman Empire to Calcutta and showered love and care to the poor, orphaned, sick and dying for 45 years. Let's all remember her and work for love and peace as she did...

Works of Love are Works of Peace

Check to the Stalemate

Most of us might have been familiar with the Indian Crab story. It is the story about how a fisherman kept a basket with crabs  uncovered, and when asked about not closing with lid, he replied "They are Indian Crabs; If one tries to climb up, the other will not let it go and they will pull it back in, hence there is no need for a lid". All right, It is a old story, probably used to teach kids about unity and it is outdated now as India and Indians have improved a far better level. But this story came to my mind when I heard about Vishy's Doctorate Controversy. Asking nationality about a man who made his country proud and an upstanding level in International Chess arena is totally out of sanity.

He appeared to be little hurt when the nationality crisis started and his wife Aruna Anand had immediately faxed his passport and it was sent to the HRD ministry immediately. Treating persons like Anand in this manner will surely disappoint them and their career. Though he had controversies around his neck he tackled 40 mathematicians  beat 39 of them, drawn a match to Srikar Varadaraj - a 14 year old teen from Bangalore. Anand looked cool all around the play and said "I always played under Indian flag and held Indian passport right from the time I took my first overseas trip. I came here to play chess and to enjoy the conference. So let us leave it at that". Aruna later said "Every time he plays a match, the tricolor is placed beside his table, and when he won the world championship, the National Anthem was played. He never bothered about these awards. But asking to prove his nationality is disappointing."

HRD minister Kapil Cibal apologised  to  Anand and  said "I told him that we are sorry for what has transpired. It should not take time [to implement such decisions], but sometime it happens. He has done India proud like Arjun Atwal [who won a top professional golf championship in the U.S. on Monday]. We should be proud of those who climb the heights of global excellence and keep the Indian flag flying.” Meanwhile, Vice Chancellor of the University of Hyderabad Seyed E. Hasnain met Mr Sibal on Tuesday to sort out the issue. He said "There was a system failure, but things have been sorted out and he [Mr. Anand] will be given the degree,”, as clearing the deadlock.

Thanks for Cibal to end the controversy in a smooth manner. Most of the Indian sportsmen prefer to stay in Europe as most of the world tournaments takes place around the continent. By means of just staying there, doesn't mean they are not Indian citizen. They work from outside the country to make the country proud and up on the stage. We have excellent individual sportspersons and they should not be constrained within the sub continent. Only few Indians take sports as their career. It would be better if we let them have some freedom and help to get expertised with International arena. It is every Indian's responsibility to upgrade other Indians. Let an Indian be an Indian....

Happy b'day India...

Mother India has completed her 63rd year and today stepped into 64th. She has been giving us everything needed for survival - food, shelter, peace and so on. It is our duty to remember the martyrs who shed blood for Free India. Here are some pictures of the First Independence day celebrations. 

The Union Jack is replaced by Indian Tricolour flag on Aug 15,1947

Jawaharlal Nehru, Lord Mountbatten, Lady Edwina during independence celebrations

Jawaharlal Nehru's 'Tryst with destinies' speech on Midnight of Aug14,1947

Nehru sworning in as PM of India

Mountbatten and Lady Edwina on their way to celebrations

Troops presenting arms to Lord Mountbatten

People around Raisina hills, New Delhi

People along Red Fort

People gathered near Red Fort

Photos: Chathriyan

"FREE INDIA IS BORN" these were the Hindu headlines on August 15, 1947. It is good to see them again in today's newspaper. Hats off to The Hindu.

Happy Independence Day, I love my India, Jai Hind....:)

08.08.08

It was the date I was transformed from a school boy to a college student. Two years had gone as a wind, making me feel the breeze. Wonderful friends, colorful environment, funny moments, tricky thoughts, sleepless nights, late wake-ups, flunked up GPAs,... It is all awesome being here. Thank You Friends.... Thank You CEG

Route to Square...

Favourite Cover Drive...

Suresh Raina lofted Welegedera's delivery above the fence to end up with squaring the series. It was once again a LBW series for India. Not Leg Before Wicket but Lose Before Win. They lost their first match defying Murali's spin and Malinga's yorkers, drawn the second with an excellent debut century from Raina and masterful double centry from the Master himself, and won the third by nicely guided team performance and a saviourship century from Laxman. This series has digged out some batsmenship from Indian bowlers. Ishant, Ojha's kill time strokes, Mithun, Mishra's value adding runs are top hills for Indian batting though they have done underexpected contributions with the ball. Mithun seems to have some all rounding abilities. It would be nice if the board turnn its gaze on to him and bring him up.

What a victory Mahe!!!

But here once again Mahela Jayawardene gave some "Arnold's" kind of comment on India's aggression in the second test. He had written in Cricinfo that "I was disappointed. I thought they might go for an early declaration and make a game out of it, which they didn't. I think they are not as aggressive as a No.1 team should be...". He talked like he wanted a result with India declaring earlier. If Sri Lanka needed result they should have declared when they crossed 450, which they didn't. It seemed like they played the second test for centuries and records which was evened by our Master Sachin. He had also mentioned that they put a lot pressure on India forgetting how Sangakkara and Mahela's faces turned pale with Ishant and Ojha on crease trying to extend the defeat into draw. All I say is let India bat first and think they scored 500 up, then you will know who in the world is best at pressure building. At the end of the article he added "....as long as we know we have beaten a No.1 team in a test series. It would be a feather in our cap". What a contradictory mind. Beauty is that he paid well for his brainy thoughts in the third test. He couldn't do what a bowler Mendis had done in 2nd Innings. It was as if no Srilankan batsmen know how to bat in a Test Cricket. They scored more runs and made big partnerships in a dead pitch and were cut root down by new born spinners in a sub-continental pitch. What a pity......!!

Thats where I always hit...!!

On a whole the series ended up with 1-1 with India safely retaining its 

position and Sehwag getting both Man of the Match and Player of the Match. Hope for the best in the tri-series.

What makes us live???

'Salvation lies within', these are the words Bob Gunton says to Tim Robbins holding The Holy Bible across the bars in Shawshank Redemption. It is not that the verses in Holy Books leading us to live out the life, but the hope we have upon them. It is the trust on things that makes us live. The first breath we took, first step we walked, first scribbles of us, in every other first things we had done involves trust. But which makes us much pessimistic on trust is negative thoughts. When we feel the present insecure and hard, we imagine a future that is even more tailsome and exhausting. According to the Law of Attraction as in the Secret film, it is our thoughts that makes our life. When we think of getting lost in a chaos, we are. Instead of thinking in a pessimist's way, we can imagine a harmless, joyous future which makes us feel better so it makes us better. One may ask 'what is in imagining about pleasant future  when we are a grave helpless?'. The answer is a simple question as Morpheus says in The Matrix 'What is Reality?'. If we think what we see, feel, hear is real, it is true that reality is just the electrical signals pass from neuron to human brain. Thus brain fools us about the outer world with its own rules. Your imagination should never make you feel you as little grain of sand in the Universe, it should make you feel the whole Universe is hanging in your hand cups. Now just close your palms and look into the dark space available between them. You can just feel like holding the whole Universe inside. That's the power of imagination. It doesn't mean the thoughts cheat you, but they help you to unveil the secret of living. The Universe always tell you the truth "your wishes might come true". Optimism can make you to the top, without making you feel like climbing up. It is not that the seed under the ground fights the sand to grow. It just trusts that the gravity will pull down the sand grains surrounding it, and so it happens.

Be hopeful, Think positive & Live the life...

'While there’s life, there’s hope'

-Marcus Tullius Cicero 

Back to Business

Later fortnight of May had gone and now June is on its voyage back. It is once again a new semester starting with July, and I'm going back 300 miles away from home to Chennai, to continue with the work of studying given to me with an investment of time and support of friends. And from now for the next five months, I am not going to be all alone, I am not watching any movie alone, I am not sleeping all day, I am not fighting with silence. Once again the race starts and I'm on board to enjoy the joyous July...

Life looks Beautiful when our eyes are shut...

Super Heroes...

'They cover their face with mask and never show them in public' - this is the unwritten theory and basic characteristic of every super heroes like Superman, Spiderman, Batman...etc. But they are all fictitious characters. What if we could see one of those in our real life - showing different face in different occasions, can we??. Knowingly or unknowingly we are living with these kind of super heroes in day to day life. Yes, it is simple truth that we can consider every single living being with the existence of sixth sense in this earth, precisely the human beings, are super heroes. Difference is that they do not wear mask to cover up their real face but they simply talk - usually backbite - and not every human works for humanity like super heroes. 

We have seen some good people who don't want to show their face and working for social enlightment. We have seen ashrams which are adopted by unknown faces. We have seen some nicknamed writers like Kalki, Sujatha who never wanted to boast their names in public. But being in the same society we can observe these unknown ideal souls are no longer exist in today's selfish world. Selfishness has become the earth's identity which was once patience. We work for ourselves and we live for ourselves. I don't say it is wrong to be living for one's own happiness, but it should never interfere others' life not even through words. To be like a human, we should learn to be true to our conscience. If we can't be true to ourself, how is it possible to be true to the society?, how is it possible to be a human?, how is it possible to tear off the mask?. 

So friends, stop showing off if you were and be true to your conscience, let's make the world a better place for humanity. Be a Super Human.

A Blog in Tamizh...

Hi friends, I have been watching Tamizh(thanks for Vignesh Venkatesan for reminding me it is Tamizh and not Tamil) Semmozhi Conferrence. In a flash I got a thought of creating a Blog in Tamizh. So now your favourite Arun Vignesh has created a new blog - "தண்தழல் வெண்சுடர்" - and this blog is only for thoughts and strictly not for personal experiences.
Visit this blog at www.arvithamizh.blogspot.com.

5 Days 3 Novels...

It is really difficult to be alone during holidays, I prefer to do the difficult things to the easier ones... From 15th May to 15th June, it has been one month since I left college. During these days all I have done is sleeping well, watching movies, 15 minutes per day to learn four-wheeler driving - the only useful thing I think, and sleeping again. To avoid these tireless sleep I had decided to read Novels and I did. 3 Novels in 5 Days - actually 5 and a half - was not hard as they were written by great writers and as two of them were in Tamil.

Started with Digital Fortress - I agree it is too late to read this one but the later two i am going to say are far too late - had given a good techno-thrilling experience and was finished in almost one day. Then I decided to read 'Ponniyin Selvan' written by Kalki. I agree it is really one of the best Tamil historic novels and it will ever be. Every word had it's own meaning and I was dragged back deep in time. It is almost 'Live in and feel It' type. 5 volumes of imaginary facts... Inspired by Kalki I read another one of his historic novels 'Parthiban Kanavu'. It looked like a continuity of 'Sivagamiyin Sapatham'. He had almost done research in Pallava dynasty. He made them more twisty and drifty. They are more like stories than histories...

I am bored of reading... What to do now??? Oh!! thank God, I've got some work in designing poster for Kurukshetra 2011...(I'll explain about that in my next post... till then WAIT!!!)

Black n White

Vishwanathan Anand has proved it again... 12 matches of excitement with last game victory Vishy has defended his title successfully. It might have been hard for him to play with an opponent not even talking with him and his experiences with Eyjafjallajoekull and tough FIDE rules. He was defeated with a Grunfeld Defence first game. But later with Catalan attack emerged back in the tournament. At the end of 11th game, both Topalov and Anand were in a tie with 5.5 points each. But the final game shown the difference. With Queen's Gambit Vishy pushed his opponent to make a mistake by relatively open King and made him resign the match, getting 6.5 points with last match victory - one and only for the defensive Black in the tournament. Anand rocks ever........

IPL 10

IPL 2010 got a great success - despite the terror threats, match-fixing and Income-Tax controversies -  and Chennai Super Kings are the new champions. This season have brought out many talented Indian youngsters - Naman Ojha, Sourabh Tiwary, Ravichandran Ashwin are some of those. Veterans like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, have shown their experience and guided the youngsters all over the tournament. Big stars like Shane Warne, Jaques Kallis, Muthiah Muralitharan have given their commitment to make this season interesting. In total, this IPL was more twisty and interesting than the previous editions.

Here comes the brief story of IPL 10. Tournament started with a tight KKR vs DC match giving KKR their first victory and the Deccan Chargers' early lose. Some crucial matches brought a race for the semis spots except for Mumbai Indians who had lost only 5 matches including pity-full finals. Low scoring victories to DC, high scoring loses to KXIP, DC's storming semi-finals entry, Bollinger's  bowling, Malinga's yorkers, Pollard's sixes, Sachin's boundaries, Ashwin's spins, RR chasings, Murali Vijay's century, Ojha's wickets, Yusuf's fastest century, Uthappa's maximums, Raina's saves, Kumble's rapid balls made the tournament entertaining. Ravi Shashtri's commentaries seasoned the telecast. Looked like Indian fielding improved much better. Final A R Rahman concert was beautiful and unforgettable. This time both Pink and Orange caps captured by Indians, P Ojha and Sachin respectively 

Final between CSK and MI was pretty more interesting. I didn't watch but listened through FM as my internal assessments were on. Partnership between Raina and Dhoni was delightful. First over maiden made the MI's confident go down. Pollard's sixes looked like making the match turn around but failed to do so. Defeating the Mumbai Indians by 22 runs Chennai Super Kings bagged the trophy. Credits to Ashwin and Raina. 

As I told earlier, this is the best IPL of the three, if controversies (Modi and Match-fixing) are forgotten.

Paiyaa (film)

5 Songs + 6 Fights + 1 Car = "Paiyaa"

This time we entered the theatre with less expectations as we had already got comments from my friends. I went to Paiyaa mainly for Karthi and Yuvan, both have done their jobs well.

Karthi comes as "Shiva" - an unemployed ECE engineer searching for job in Bangalore with the help of his friends. He falls in love at first sight with "Charu"(Thamannah). Shiva goes to railway station to pick up his friend where he sees Charu with a man. That man thinks Shiva as a Taxi driver and he gets a chance to take her to Chennai. Later he knows about her uninterested marriage arrangement at Chennai and helps her escape from it by taking her to Mumbai. A villain gang set by her step mother chases them. First half is enjoyable with Karthi's funny dialogues and expressions. Second half starts with Shiva's flashback explaining his clash with Milind Soman. Whether Shiva safeguarded Charu and handed over her to her grandma and whether they escaped from respective chasing groups is the rest of the story.

All the five songs with Yuvan's music are amazing, especially "En Kaathal Solla Naeram Illai..." song is mindboggling. Tamannah has acted well and her expressions are improved much from Ayan and Anandha Thandavam. In this movie Karthi hums his brother's "Oru Maalai Ilaveyil Naeram" and his father's "En Kanmani Un Kaadhali" like tributes to them. Picturisation of Songs is really nice.

How could Charu and the man with her think a man with Mitsubishi Lancer as a Taxi driver?? Both Charu's step mother and Shiva's father were not shown and only could be heard. Milind Soman comes in only four scenes. I don't say fight scenes should be realistic but they could have avoided it being over-dramatic. Madhi's cinematography is the only convincing thing for eyes.

Paiyaa - a one time watchable entertainer...

Smiling Tears...

Days are long, Night is dark,
It's all mystery here, but -
Where in the world am I??

I feel strange, missing someone??
I feel incomplete, missing something??
Neither... I lack it..., but -
What do I miss here??
Friends! - No,
Faith!! - No,
Care!!! - No, - then
What do I miss??

It's all mystery here, but -
I know what I lack, that I never lack it...
I forgot to have it...
Oh, my eyes are crying,
Tears roll down,
My eyes are not my Eyes, but Heart...
Tears roll down,

It's all mystery here, but -
I know what I lack, that I never lack it...
SMILE...
But, where did I miss them??
Oh, my eyes are crying,
Tears roll down Smiling...

When I was a Child....

I am 18 now, far away from childhood, thinking about the future...well, most of us are concerned about the future. Just forget about them them for few minutes and relax. Now, unwind your childhood memories..... I want to share mine....

Mom's love and Dad's care - they are never going to decrease - I felt our family as my world, I could remember the moments I was walking around the streets holding my father's hand and not caring about others. Almost every child considers their dad as the only hero of life, so did I. First day of school leaving Mom and crying in the halfway - unforgettable. Busy schedule with crayons and pencils, collecting marbles, street cricket with broken door woods, press the calling bell and run moments, watching cartoons - superheros, enjoying first drops of rain, sailing paperboats, early night sleeps, running after butterflies and dragonflies, playing with ladybirds.... I can never forget these moments of my childhood. I miss them a lot.

 Childhood days are the most wonderful days of everyone's life. Remember those days and be happy...

"There is a garden in every childhood, the enchanted place where colours are brighter, the air softer and the morning more fragrant than ever again" - Elizabeth Lawrence

Gold Rush...

Indian Boxers punched well to bag all the 6 possible Golds in Commonwealth finals this time. With this they surpassed the previous maximum count of 4 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze they won in 2005 at Scotland. 

Paramjeet Samota(91+ kg), Amandeep Singh(49 kg), Suranjoy Singh(52 kg), Jai Bhagwan(60 kg), Vijender Singh(75 kg) won their bouts comprehensively while the sixth one Dinesh Kumar(81 kg) was awarded gold as his opponent Johnson withdrew due to elbow injury. 

World No.1 Vijender with bleeding nose from first round punch from opponent Buglioni, was expected to struggle but he fought with grit to defeat the English with 13-3. “I was a bit nervous thinking that the referee might stop the bout because of my bleeding nose. However, the support of the home crowd spurred me to carry on,” said Vijender, who was adjudged the best boxer of the meet. 

India emerged as the best team with 36 points surpassing England with 23 points(3 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze). Meanwhile England's Weaver became the most promising boxer of the tournament. 

It was really glorious day for Indian sports. All the 6 boxers played with fury and clinched all the six. 

Chak De India

IWD

It is said that God first created man, but then He felt that He could do better and created women as a symbol of beauty. Her beauty is not just restricted to skin but lies deep into her heart by which she makes the world happy. She is gifted with immense intellectuality which makes her the root of happiness - She cares about you as your Mom, She fights with you as your Sister, She guides you as your best friend, She shares your moments as you Wife. She is the real architect of  Society. She has all abilities to compete with men, do not discriminate or prejudice, treat her equal as men...

Happy womens day...

Will You Cross The Skies For Me?

This time Gautam Vasudev Menon has given us a wonderful love story. I went to Satyam for Vinnaithandi Varuvaaya with 40 of my classmates today. We simply forgot Silambarasan Rajendar and Trisha Krishnan and could only see is Karthick and Jessie romancing. Once again the name Karthick has got a romantic character after Alaipayuthey, Rhythm and Mozhi. 

VTV has some impacts of the director's previous movie Vaaranam Aayiram like love at first sight, Simbu almost imitates Suriya in most of the shots - probably Gautam is still in Vaaranam Aayiram hangover. First half starts with Jessie's wedding at a church where Karthick narrates his flashback. It looked more romantic with limited narrations and excellent screenplay. Unlike other Gautam movies second half is interesting despite its slow pace. Simbu proved himself as an actor in the second half (He has not used his finger mannerism and punch dialogues for the whole movie). I'm sure you will think about your love at present or in the past for at least a moment at the climax.

Gautam Menon has given special care for every characters in this movie. Simbu and Trisha have given their best performance in this movie. Ganesh Janardhanan has got a unforgettable character as Karthick's friend. K.S.Ravikumar comes as director and makes us laugh with his simple comments. But most of the characters were missing in the second half. Manoj Paramahamsa's cinematography is the key of the movie's success, especially the Malta Island and the locals of Alappuzha are treat for eyes. 

Music - from the beginning till the end, A R Rahman has given excellent background score. Songs are more seasoned with Rahman Music. Vaalvukum Pakkam Vanthen part in Hosanna, Swasthi Swasthi Muhurtham chorus in Aaromalae and Kollamal Unnai Kondru Pudaithaen in Mannipaya have given some exceptional moments  from A R R. Background music at the climax part of the movie is incredible. Rahman rocks!!!

In whole this is made for those who loves Love...

'A Movie For the Melody Lovers'

200*

They were waiting for this day... From January 5, 1971 and at last their dreams have become true in the 2961-st ODI match... Master strikes the first-ever ODI double ton at Gwalior.

After crossing 190 mark with 5 overs left, he just faced 9 balls to make this historical moment. They varied their bowling length from Helmet high short deliveries to Knee high full toss but all in vain. He just drove them out of the rope either touching the grass or flying in air. This time he has shown the youngsters how to play a one-day innings. Starting with 1-0 in 1 over, he made India reach 401-3 with 25 classic fours and 4 big sixes scoring 83 off the last 47 balls he faced. He got almost 60 percent of his runs from boundaries.

Two century partnerships, with Karthick and Dhoni, may look small when comparing to his score but played a vital role in making this record easy for him. He passed through Kapil Dev and then his own record, then through Kristen's 188, Jayasuriya's 189, Anwar's 194, Coventry's 194* and at the end reached 200 in the last over of the innings. Interesting fact about this record is that this is the same day when he made a 664 run partnership with Vinod Kambli which was a world record then.

New Records today:

1. Sachin - First man to hit a 200 in ODI cricket
2. Sachin - Top scorer of ODI cricket (200*)
3. Sachin - Most fours in an innings (25 fours)
4. Sachin - Most runs against South Africa (1859 runs)
5. India - Most 400 knocks (3 times)

Later in the match Indian bowlers didn't let the proteas to make the Historical 434 chase again. Pacers collapsed the top order. A B de Villiers lasted till the end with a consolidation century.

India retained its second position in One Day Internationals...

India Rocks...

A Dark Night Dream

It was dark and deep, I was looking for the Light,

Could I find the One?? No, but Why??

I think I am looking for the wrong one at this cold night,

I went down it, for nothing but to cry.

It was dark and deep, I was looking for the One,

Could I find the Clue?? No, but Why??

The sky was blue and I saw the rising Sun,

It told to me just to make a try.

It was dark and deep, I was looking for the Clue,

Could I find the Truth?? No, but Why??

I saw the Sun, thought I'm not in blue,

It told me nothing but an ecstatic lie.

It was dark and deep, I was looking for the Truth,

Could I find the Light?? No, but Why??

It all came to the end, I woke up from dream,

Oh dear, my search ended in a tie.....

#1

It is not that easy for a cricket team to come back immediately after a great defeat, but it was not that hard for the Indian Team today. This time it is Harbhajan Singh, who broke the 76 minutes last-wicket partnership between Hashim Amla and Morne Morkel with his killer slider to the left hander, helped India to retain No.1 spot. Later he said, "we wanted to be at the top of the table; we know we have the players to keep being No.1". Yes, India have them, especially Kolkata Masters Laxman and Harbhajan.

Proteas were on song till the end of second session of Day 1. Once after tea, it was Indian bowlers taking over the control. Once again it was Eden Gardens turnaround. After dismissing the opponents to 296, Indian batsmen turned the key towards them. Four excellent centuries from Sehwag, Sachin, Laxman and Dhoni provided a first innings lead of 347 runs. Third innings was badly affected by rain and bad light. Weather condition and Zaheer's injury made India's victory doubtful. They had to take seven wickets in the final day. Wickets started falling in one end and the other was it was Hashim Amla extended the innings. Parnell and Morkel gave him company to get yet another century. At last (just 2 overs were remaining) it was Harbhajan once again to slide the ball on Morne's front pad for LBW... India drawn the series and retained its No.1 spot... with only 9 mandatory balls left...

Amla was awarded Man of the Match and Man of the Series for his excellent centuries.

Harbhajan became the top wicket taker at Eden and Laxman crossed 1000 runs mark here. Hats off to both Eden Kings....

Techofes'10

From 14th February to 17th February, College of Engineering, Guindy gave us 4 days of full entertainment. Though it was not much entertaining as last year, this Techofes had some catchy moments as well.

Day 1:

It was Aayirathil Oruvan day. We had Director Selvaraghavan as Inauguration Guest and we got a great show with his movie AO. Though I watched it before, I couldn't miss OAT enjoyment with hundreds of college students.

Day 2:

Concert from Singer Kaarthick. From song selection to presentation, everything made us to sing with him. Anjala song was amazing... 2 hours was not enough for us...

Day 3:

Most memorable day of this Techofes for me. Light Music brought out young talent. SRM Easwari's En Kaadalae song was breathtaking. Benny Dayal gave some outstanding songs for us. Best part of this evening was the Variety Show. MIT's AIDS awareness play, Pachaiyappa arts' Save Our Tigers play, Crescent's Titanic and Kannagi shows and Jayaram Enngineering College's Srilankan Tamilan play were really amazing and creative. Hats off to them all....

Day 4:

Lollu Express was superb, especially Vettaiyadu Vilayaadu spoof and Ayirathil Oruvan spoof. Choreo Nite was not much effective as last year. Nice classical dance from HANS club. Nothing more was special. We got bored and went back to room.

This time Techofes has shown its effectiveness in bringing out young talent. Promo videos were superb - especially Green Brigade Promo... It was really a ROSTRUMS RENAISSANCE...

Tamizh Padam (film)

'First full spoof in Tamil, other than that nothing is there' this is what we thought before watching the movie. I watched this movie in Saidai Raj on Saturday 6.45 pm show with three of my friends.

Movie starts in a village where boy children were killed using Cactus milk like in Karuthamma. Reason for this leads to Naattaamai spoof. But the kid says to his granny to put him in Goods train as in Thalapathy - even new born kid knows that a goods train from village will reach Chennai in Tamil movies. Then his granny brings the kid to chennai. There his friends Siddarth, Nakul and Bharath help him to succeed in his love - Boys. In the mean time he kills some rowdies in different manners - Anniyan style and Aboorva Sagotharargal contraption and using his Unwashed Socks. Later he is revealed as a Police Officer like Pokkiri. He finds out the underworld Boss and gets promoted as DGP.

Though this movie has no unique story, it has some unforgettable spoof scenes...

Thalapathy hospital scene, Mouna Raagam library scene, Shivaji spoof and the Kathalukku Mariyathai scenes are awesome. Riding the cycle to grow, Hero becoming rich in one song are among those criticising reality lacking Tamil movies. When Chennai Central is shown one man says Chennai has many other landmarks to be shown. That thing is amazing. Among the songs 'Omagazeeya' is excellent - one of the best spoofs of the movie.

Watchable movie with friends...

13!!!

I don't have Triskaidekaphobia - I am not superstitious about 13... In fact today - Feb 13th is one of the most enjoyed days of this semester for me.

Reasons:

1. My first assessment got over. I've done my Control Systems assessment well, not like the other five....
2. After one week I could get a chance for a noon nap...
3. After a long gap with stress storming 4th semester books - especially Computer Architecture - I went out for a good movie - Tamil Padam...

These may sound silly. But these are the only happy moments I could get being alone, far away from parents' care, silly fights with sister, never-ending chats with friends.... I miss them all....

I miss my school life, I miss my childhood, I miss my hometown... But Life isn't Easy...

For all those who care for me and whom I care, I wish you Happy Valentine's Day...

Khan wants Justice...

It is really saddening that "My Name Is Khan" is running under so much controversies just because one actor expressed his own ideas in this free India. Don't you think this is injustice? Don't a celebrity have his own freedom of thoughts?? Even if anybody doesn't agree with his ideas, why can't it just be settled with SRK and not with his movies. MNIK has lost almost 45crores as a result of this unnecessary controversy. SRK himself feels that the Shiv Sena should talk to him personally without troubling others. Meanwhile movie director Karan Johar had met the Mumbai Police Commissioner to get assurance for Security at Mumbai theatres. But it was reported within hours Sena has attacked some of the theatres. Are they all needed?? Think... If you agree with me, just go and watch the movie and put full stop to the bogey menaces... I'm already having my ticket...

Dreams Never Sleep

My eyes were closed, not my mind...
It said it's the time to wake my dreams up,
So I did...
I knew, It never slept to be awaken up,
But I tried and tried and tried...
Not to wake it up but to make it up to wake me up...
Why?? Am I in deep sleep?? - Yes,
My eyes were closed, not my mind...
It's time to wake my dreams up,
So I woke up...
For my Sleepless Dreams...
"Dreams Never Sleep"

Best quote i've ever read... "Do it now... Today will be Yesterday, tomorrow..."

Perfect Timing, Bad Innings...

If you think this post is about sports, I'm sure you are wrong. This is once again about my festival time unreserved journey to hometown, but different...

Sometimes we may feel the things around us uncomfortable and we may have bitter experiences. But when we look back to those moments, we will smile. Thats what happened to me on 13th of this month.

I was going home for 'Pongal' holidays. I had reached the station at 17.30 itself, for my train at 19.55. I was standing in the queue - probably 30th from the first. This time I was more hopeful that I would get a window seat, but the problem that I didn't realize then, was the heavy luggage I was carrying - mostly my engineering Books. Most of the people standing in queue thought the train would arrive at 18.45 or 19.00, where they (including me) went wrong. As the Train arrived the station only at 19.40 - only fifteen minutes earlier from the departure time - the RPF could not control the crowd and we all missed the line. Carrying heavyweight I couldn't even enter the compartment - I think I tried thrice to enter into the train, but all failed. I had no choice but to stand near the compartment door. Suddenly another group of passengers started pushing me from out. I was moving, squeezed, moving and at the end I was almost in the middle of the compartment - standing. There was not even a small space to sit or stretch legs.

I started my first ever standing journey. But it gave me a chance to make some train friendships. As usual I started listening to ARR music and started sleeping - best part of standing train journey is that there is no need to hold anything for balance, of course you can sleep while standing. When I woke up, train had made it to Trichy and most of my standing companions got down to stretch their legs so did I. Again train started and we were stuffed into it. Time was fleeting... After 10 hours of standing I got a seat as the train reached Sivaganga, and I got a short time wonderful sitting journey of 45 minutes at last...

It was hard to tackle the problems while I was traveling, but it gave me more pleasure when I looked back and shared this with my friends...with a smile...

"ACCEPT THE PAIN"

3 Idiots (film)

When I watched '3 Idiots', -yesterday- it was a pleasant experience for me to see a college friendship story with college friends as a college student. It is Aamir's hat-trick box office hit after Taare Zameen Par and Ghajini. The writer duo -Rajkumar Hirani and Abhijat Jhosi- has developed the storyline more smoothly from the original. Hirani's movies always stands for its writing department.

Whole movie gave us a mixture of humour and emotion. When the movie character Raju's family is shown to you -black and white-, you will feel pity for their life and the story narration will make you laugh even at that moment. Muraleedharan's camera played a solid role in success of this movie. Songs were amazing especially 'Zoobi Doobi'...

Every characters -from 'Rancho' to 'Millimeter'- have done their jobs well. 'ViruS' and 'Silencer' were amazing. Movie gives us a good message that if we stand for our Originality, all will be done well, from the main character Rancho through his inventions -Helicopter with a wireless camera and Vacuum extractor with a Power Inverter.

Hats off to Aamir and Hirani...

Maniratnam - the legendary Director

He is the man who made me visualise what was happening in Sri Lanka. He is the man who made me wonder 'Can anyone think like him and be straight forward??'. He is the one who made me realise what friendship is... He is Mani Ratnam.

From Pallavi Anu Pallavi to Guru he gave different emotional characters on screen. No one can forget 'Idhaya Kovil' and 'Mouna Raagam'. First godfatheristic movie 'Naayagan' based on a underworld don in mumbai - it is said to be Varadharajan Mudhaliyar - got a place in Time magazine's "ALL-TIME Best 100 Movies".' Thalapathy' taught how a friend should be. 'Roja' and 'Bombay' gave A R R to the world and got National Integrity Awards. 'Dil Se' and 'Alai Payuthey' expressed love in Mani's style. 'Iruvar' gave a visualisation of two political icons life and took out Prakash Raj's talent as an actor. 'Kannathil Muthamittal' gave a look around Sri Lankan Tamils. 'Guru' was extraordinary. Every movies he directed made me stick to the story for some days and every dialogue in his stories made me wonder. Thats why I say He is Tamil Nadu's best movie dierctor...

Waiting for 'Raavana'....

Why Expectation Hurts???

Yesterday my friend asked me "How could you be always smiling?". I replied with a smile "I never expect anything". Yes, expectation always hurts. When we expect someone to do something or expect ourselves to be like someone or expect ourself to do something, we are supposed to think of the future - a result that's uncertain - is expected. This gives us a lot of stress and we forget to be happy. Remember friends life is a One Way. Here you can look back and you can remember what happened but you can't either ride back the past or expect the future. So live the present memorable and enjoy every moment... Keep Smiling... Be Happy...

Note: I expect you friends not to expect anything...

Jacquieline Saburido

"Not everyone who gets hit by a drunk driver dies".

This will be the first thing you will notice when you visit Jacqueline Saburido's website http://www.helpjacqui.com/...

Jacqueline was returning back to her home with friends after attending a birthday party at Austin. Reginald Stephey, a 17-year-old high school student, was on his way home after drinking beer with his friends at a party. Reggie's GMC Yukon veered into the Oldsmobile carrying Jacqui and the others. Saburido was left to burn for around 45 seconds as the flames engulfed the vehicle. Her face was totally disfigured and she needed 40 operations to ensure survival, including Cornea transplant. Reggie was sentenced to two concurrent seven-year prison sentences inside Huntsville Unit and was fined $20,000.

Jacqui started her campaign against drunken drive. She is most well known for a commercial in which she holds a pre-accident photo of herself in front of the camera, which she lowers to reveal her disfigured face and says, "This is me, after being hit by a drunk driver". When asked why she appeared in the campaign, Saburido stated "I feel very good to do it because I know people can understand a little more what happened to me -- why my life changed completely. So I think for me, for everybody, it's a good opportunity".

Saburido and Stephey met for the first time after his trial and conviction in 2001. Stephey later stated that "What sticks out in my mind is, 'Reggie, I don't hate you.' It's really touching someone can look you in the eyes and have that much compassion after all that I have caused". He was released from Huntsville Unit on 24 June, 2008. Jacqui stated, "I don't hate him, I don't feel bad because he's out, he can reconstruct his life again".

Its hard to forgive a person after he had destroyed your entire life. But Jacqui did this and she is continuing her campaign against drunk driving from her home at Louisville, Kentucky.

Do Not Drink N Drive.....