Mausam -- Movie Review

Over the weekend, we decided to take the Arien aunt out for a movie and lunch. The Arien aunt is back in Bangalore from Mumbai for a month. It was my idea to take her to Mausam because I felt it would be slow with no major dishum dishum. You may recall, she enjoyed Deivathirumagal. Both the Arien and self found it quite boring in some places and very slow. Anyway, come saturday, both the Arien and self book tickets for Mausam, and treat the Arien aunt to an interesting lunch at Gokul Kuteera, a veg eatout. Both self and the Arien aunt chatted nineteen to a dozen while the Arien watched us both, amused. My aunt was enjoying her timeout and was keen on having some fun. The mistake was taking her out to watch Mausam! *Spoiler Alert*

The first one hour of the movie moves at a languid pace and you enjoy the antics of the gaon ka handome chora (Shahid) as he tries one dare-devil stunt, runs across rooftops to catch sight of the love of his life (Sonam) using a pair of binoculars from a different era, teases his sister, makes fun of his would-be brother-in-law, and generally behaves like a naughty younger brother you may have. If you recall your first crush and your behavior at tht time - you may feel a lil indulgent. But, as the movie moves on, we now have Shahid as a smart ofser with a moustache and a vardi, both of which look very good on him btw, and Sonam in Scotland as a ballerina, that you wonder -- whaaattt??? You wish 7 or 9 years had such an effect on you :P

Image Courtesy: www.ibnlive.com

Anyway, they are apparently as crazily in lowe as they were then. Sonam seems to have developed her fashionista sense at Scotland and family members of Sonam are quite impressed with his vardi that they claim it is an honor that someone known to them is in a vardi! He is the absolute pukka sahib. But, somehow he comes across very serious for no reason. If he had come to announce someone's death - I can understand tht expression but seriously holding on to that expression throughtout the second half - killed the movie. On the day Shahid is supposed to meet Sonam's dad to ask for her hand, kargil war beckons and Shahid goes away before getting married. At this juncture, the movie becomes absolutely boring and you really want to go home - the Arien asks aloud "Where is the villain?" I had to shush him. The movie is far from over.

Image Courtesy: http://www.forevernokia.com/

After the war, Shahid has paralysis on his left arm and believes Sonam may not lowe him anymore. (Reminds you a lot of that Aamir Khan and Manisha movie). Are you dead yet? Well, believe me it goes on and on and on. Rather than boring you further, I will take you to the last but one scene :D This scene was largely mistaken for a dose of humor or slapstick comedy in an otherwise very boring part of the movie. In ahmedabad, there are riots going on and people are setting fire to houses, cars, people. Sonam has been living here for several years and Shahid has jes landed here to attend the wedding of one of his punju friends from the dare-deviliry days. Amidst all the confusion, Sonam runs out and meets Shahid who saves her. Shahid then goes on to save a horse, and a child from a giant wheel whose mother lies dead - all by himself with one paralysed arm. They decide then to set up home with the horse and the child. That was when ppl started walking out. My aunt said "Aiyooo - this movie will never work". And then the song "Malla Malli" is thrown at us - no one is keen on watching it at all and is quickly walking towards the exit sign.

I like Shahid. This movie did not work for me at all. While the initial part was nice, interesting, indulgent, and slow but still likeable - the rest of the movie went over the top with slow scenes, no impact scenarios, and the final saving scene involving a child, a horse, and the heroine was absolutely a throw-back from the 70s era. We now watch those scenes and laugh - It jes served to confuse the already confused audience. The arien summed it up in one word "BLADE". I have to agree. I hate to do this but watch this movie with very low expectations and you may not feel so bad.   

Wordless Wednesdays - Balmuri Falls & Ranganathittu

Wordless Wednesdays -- Smoothie made by the Arien

180 Not Out

Happiness need not be a beeg nice happening in the day - it can be one small happening - a word, a smile, a handshake, a chocolate, a cookie, a small accomplishment, a word of praise, a second look, a nice cuppa chai, anything.

Well, I jes submitted my 180th post!! Its a small accomplishment but it means a lot to me. Woohoo!! Woohoo!! Ya - you are allowed to shout from rooftops when you are happy. 

Ooops!! The Arien has the shocked look of someone who is on an important call and has to now explain why someone in his house is going Woooohoooo!!! His eyes are giving me the naughty smile: "I was dying there - thanks to ur scream - ppl woke up" while his mouth was saying "Sorry - tht was the TV in the other room - hahahaha - sorry again - haahaha".

Thats my second accomplishment for today. Its very tough to faze the Arien. I jes did it!! woooohooo -- jes lowering the volume! Have to keep the peace in the house.

And if you are wondering what this shoe has got to do with it - Well, thats 180 Not Out. Go figure!

Image Courtesy: www.cricket-hockey.com

Callista -- Nice

Have gone past this restuarant every single day since we moved to the new office premises but the Arien did not budge. This month, the ofc junta chose that place to go for a lunch treat. The food was ok - they had a fixed menu. We had mushroom soup, one veg starter (veg coin), one non-veg starter (not sure wht it was). We had a bread basket and the veg dishes were jeera aloo, a panner dish, and another dish, which I cannot recall now. I think there was a non-veg side dish as well. This was followed by the biriyani (veg and non-veg) and finally dessert. Dessert consisted of fruit salad with ice-cream and gulab jamoon. Quite a mouthful. Not bad at all - in fact, quite good.The ambience would be much better later in the evening, was my thot. They had a huge projector and a few wall-mounted TVs. They also had a decent bar. From outside, it looks quite small but it is actually not that small. I actually enjoyed the place as well as the food though the music played was a bit loud and one waiter was a lil dim. I wanted to visit the place for dinner once before I gave my final verdict.

The same week, we were treating the Arien's bro and sil to dinner and I chose Calista. We reached the place around 10 pm for dinner. (Yupp! Thts a first - we are usually back home by tht time) We opted for the fixed menu again as they did not have a buffet in the evening. The Arien ordered for two non-veg starters (chicken) and was quite impressed. His bro was also happy with the food. I had ordered the Paneer Chilly which was quite spicy and tasty. We moved to the main course - bread basket with yellow dhaal (absolutely yummy), some paneer dish which had no specific taste, and a non-spicy vegetable biriyani which was tasty. The Arien had asked for mutton biriyani which was not available but the chicken biriyani was quite good, he said. The same dim waiter brought our orders. He  blinked when asked any question and then smiled. Next thing you know, he has left everything on the table so that he can call another waiter to answer our question. By then, it was 11 and everything was going to close. He quickly brought the dessert - fruit salad with ice-cream (no change since last visit). The bill arrived around 11:30 by which time most ppl were waiting at their table for their bill. We reached home ~11:45. The Arien and his bro watched a bit of the match on the wall-mounted TV because we were on the other side of the projector. It was a nice, lazy end to a gen day.  

Image Courtesy: www.bangalore.burrp.com

   

Mankatha -- Movie Review

A new movie from Venkat Prabhu, the director who gave us Chennai 28, Saroja, and Goa. It was also supposed to be Ajith's 50th movie. I am not a beeg Thalai fan but the Arien's bro was quite keen. So, 6 of us went for the movie.

The movie is fast-paced. It has shades of "The Italian Job". It is also an all-out guys movie with loads of action. Lot of shooting, guns, bad language, and reference to names given to the stars by their fans. A lil tiring but manageable.

The story is about Arumuga Chettiar, a rich man, who owns a theatre and is involved in a few shady deals in Mumbai. Trisha is his daughter. Ajith, a suspended policeman, is in love with Trisha. Arumuga Chettiar, decides to route 500 crore of betting money (IPL) through his theatre. So, the story is about this heist. 4 guys plan the heist - one is a henchmen of Arumuga Chettiar, other is a policeman who is regularly bribed by Arumugam. Another guy, who runs a bar and his IIT friend. Ajith comes to know of the plan and decides to join them. In another side of Mumbai, Arjun who is the Assistant Commissioner is working to unearth the masterminds involved in the betting scandal. What happens next forms the rest of the movie. 

Image Courtesy: www.latesthot.in

Ajith had absolutely no make-up on - no hair dye and appeared quite natural. Though he did not resemble George Clooney in the least - the salt and pepper hair, and unshaven look actually made him look quite good and required a lot of courage - which impressed me a lot. Trisha had a small, itsy-bitsy role which she handled in her usual style. Lakshmi Rai, was the manipulating bimbette. Arjun, looked his age, but did a good job.

The movie was not at all a typical Tamizh movie that I have to say "Go and watch it!"

Ganesh Chaturthi

I had missed celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi last year thanks to the golden triangle trip we went on. So, I was quite keen on not missing it this year. For the first time, the Arien insisted that I take an off on Wednesday (ytdy) so I do not feel hyper stressed on Ganesh Chaturthi. I think that idea was good. After cleaning up the house, we went out for a drive and purchased Ganesha idol, the go-green one as usual, and all the other misc stuff. We were actually back home before 6 pm on wednesday. Thats a first!

We made Kothhu Kadala shundal, sweet Kozhakattai, and Vadai. The Arien forgot to get Vermicilli. So I could not make Semiya Payasam. The arien suggested Gulab Jamun as an alternative and I agreed. If I mentioned that to any of my aunts especially my periamma - she will burst into laughter and I will never hear the end of that for the rest of my life. So, I did not call her or anybody else to discuss the dishes I made :D

It was a nice celebration - no tension, no stress - jes the way I wanted. Yeah!!! Thanks a lot to the Arien, of course, without whose help I may not have been able to celebrate it - the way I wanted to :D

Wordless Wednesdays -- So Cute!

Zafraan Divine Cuisine

After a marathon run of eating only home cooked food, I rebelled. The Arien acquiesced. It was yet another one of those rainy days. I actually wanted to curl up in bed with a good book and order in food. The Arien wanted to shop and because he had agreed that we could eat out - I was ready in a jiffy. We decided to try Zafraan, which was enroute.

The ambience at Zafraan was quite nice, welcoming, and cozy. The chairs were a bit severe. We should have chosen the sofa but it was already occupied. There were only a few folks arnd and we were late and so I was sure we would be served quickly. We took a few minutes to identify what we should eat and then waited for the waiter to take our order. He took forever to take our order. The Arien was ready to lose his cool when the waiter appeared and took our order. After that we had another looong wait. I noticed that most of the folks who were seated had been waiting a loong time. Some of them were slowly losing their temper. We waited for ~40 minutes before our dishes made an appearance. The food was piping hot and tasted quite different. We actually enjoyed the food a lot. Definitely a lot more than we had expected to. The Arien was also pleasantly suprised.

Image Courtesy: http://bangalore.burrp.com

We had not ordered very spicy dishes and the Arien had also not tried the Non-Veg items on the menu. So, I think Zafraan deserves a second visit from us. Nope, I am not going soft in my old age - I liked the food and really wanna visit again to see if they ever serve on time. While I agree that food gets the highest preference, ambience, and service play a very important role in making you re-visit the restuarant. Making your customers wait 40 minutes is taking the customer for granted.

Locked Out

Today, I forget my keys at home. I did not even realize that I had done so until I got off the bus at the bus-stop near my house, in the evening. I called the Arien instantly b'cos this was only the second time in 4 years that I have done something so foolish. The Arien was going for his Chai break but sweetly agreed to come home immediately. I was glad because Dad was coming home only after 9 pm and I really had nowhere to go and no vehicle either.

Immediately is subjective. That is what I realized after sitting outside my apartment for more than 45 minutes. Before coming home, I even went to the local Bakery and purchased sm general items. I spent the 45 minutes sitting on the stairs playing Global Bloxx to while away the time. A thoughtful neighbour asked me in but I had one of my TB coughs going on and they have a chuntu baby. I really did not want to be blamed if the baby fell sick. As a general rule, I do not venture into the neighbouring apartments and chit-chat. So, their invite made me feel quite awkward. I probably ended up sounding rude. While I was wondering 'bout tht, the Arien called and told me he would be home in 5 mts... and he was.

I did not realize how much of a haven my home was until I was stuck outside with no way of getting in. Oh Oh! This is the first time I have posted on the first of the month -- Woohoo!! Its a blooper post of mine -- Boohoo!!

Myna

I was not too keen on watching this movie. Myna was released in November, 2010. I was sure it was going to be some graamathu kathai with "louvves" thrown in which does not appeal to me at all. The Arien mentioned that I had said the same thing 'bout Aadukalam which I had actually enjoyed. Hmmm...

Well, this was the movie which had a Vizha (Celebration) for its hit status and Kamal Hassan came and said a few words 'bout how great the movie was and how he shed tears and all tht - actually, that should be the one reason for not watching this movie. This whole Vizha stuff is overdone - they have a Vizha for almost anything nowadays. Forcing popular actors to say a few words, making some TV actress dance for the songs from the film etc. etc. After all tht the movie is a total blaade and you wonder why they are having a Vizha??!!! Blade da saami. Hmmmm...

Image Courtesy: http://www.chennaionline.com/

The Story: (No Spoilers)

Surali is the hero, who as a boy rescues Myna and her mother when they get thrown out of their house. He requests an old lady for whom he has a lot of affection, to take care of both of them. Myna's mother makes Kuzhi Paniyaram and other tiffin items and earns her livelihood. Myna goes to school while Surali is a wastrel. Myna's mother always calls him her Maruman (Son-in-law) but when Myna grows up, she decides to get Myna married to someone rich from Dubai. This upsets Surali who has a nasty temper, he picks up a stone to kill the mother. The mother reacts by filing a police complaint and Surali is put in jail for 15 days.

In the meantime, the mother arranges for the wedding. Surali comes to know of this and escapes from the Jail to stop the wedding. The entire police station and all the constables are forced to abandon Diwali celebrations. One police constable and the Inspector go in search of Surali. Meanwhile, Surali reaches home and confronts the mother. The mother locks the door and stays inside with Myna while threatning to commit suicide by burning herself. Myna informs her mother that she would rather die than marry the Dubai Mappilai and the mother can go ahead and commit suicide. She walks out with Surali only to be caught red-handed by the Inspector and the constable. What happens after this forms the rest of the story.

Watch the movie and let me know how you like it. I felt the movie was well-edited and had a good story which was presented well. It kinda reminded me of Aadukalam. Naturally, the Hero's looks meet the requirements of a gramaathu wastrel (unshaven look, curly hair tht fell over his forehead, overall an unkempt appearance).

Deiva Thirumagal

A new movie starring Vikram, Deiva Thirumagal, released last week, with absolutely no hype. If that was not plain weird, I wonder what is. I had not even seen a single trailer. In fact, when I found the movie listed, I did not want to see it until I found out that it was Vikram's movie. And then my Arien aunt insisted that she wanted to watch a Tamizh movie and she said she did not want to watch Vengai starring Dhanush. So, we booked tickets online and went for this movie.

The story revolves around a man who has the mental capability of a five-year old and his daughter, Nila. The mother is no longer alive. And the relatives from the mother's side do not think the father is capable of taking care of the child and separate the two in a very shocking manner. In a funny twist of events, the father meets a lawyer who finally takes up this case. The father's role is played by Vikram. And he has done a fantastic job. Baby Sarah as the daughter has also done a great job. Amala Paul has a small role and she has done her job well. Anushka plays the role of the lawyer. Nasser is the lawyer from the other side.

The movie is quite slow, funny in bits, has absolutely no dishum-dishum, and jes 'bout ook. The Arien aunt fell in lowe with the movie. She is the same person who was very shocked after watching Kaminey, here. I did not like the movie much. I felt the premise was interesting but the movie failed to match it. Its quite possible that a movie about a mentally challenged person is kinda not my favorite type of movie. I did watch Sadma but tht was a looong time ago and while Vikram is almost as good as Kamal - this movie seemed too indulgent. I was quite bored at times. There was a totally unnecessary song between Anushka and Vikram which should have lead to some romance but it did not. Probably the idea was to develop that bit but it got cut or maybe Anushka feared that Amala Paul may end up walking away with the heroine tag and insisted on the song. Y G Mahendran was wasted in a role that did not require him to do much and he delivered. After over-indulging in some places, the story ended in an abrupt manner as though someone had yelled "CUT!". This movie should have been edited better.

the winner

Beginning of July we visited Chennai. The trip was hectic and at the same time quite relaxed. As I was leaving, I picked up the camel club by David Baldacci from my cousin's bookshelf. My SIL offered me another book, the winner, by the same author and so I was all smiles. However, it was only last week when I actually started on the winner because I was keen on finishing The Reversal. I have not read any other book by this author and the fact that the book was recommended by my SIL was an added plus.

The winner is interesting. The story is about an evil genius, Jackson, who carefully chooses 12 people who will ultimately win the government-sponsored lottery for a particular year. He plans to use their money to get what he wants. He fixes the lottery so that his chosen 12 win. Of the 12 people he chooses, LuAnn is the weakest link as well as his nemesis. LuAnn and her baby, Lisa, stay away from the US of A for 10 long years, as instructed by Jackson. This is easy for LuAnn because she is wanted for murder in the US of A. Meanwhile, a reporter is writing a story on how lottery winners usually end up bankrupt and he finds that 12 winners (Jackson's 12) have surprisingly kept bankruptcy at bay and are quite wealthy. This makes him wonder if they had some help. Amidst all this, LuAnn returns to the US of A under an assumed name, Catherine Savage, and purchases a huge property to settle down after years of looking over her shoulder. The reporter makes the connection and realizes that Catherine Savage and LuAnn Tyler are one and the same.

The premise is interesting but it ends quite tamely. Some portions defy logic and no effort has been taken to develop the secondary characters and so mid-way, it gets to be a general rom-com with some action thrown in. Otherwise, it is a good read.