PKMC

I love acronyms and this one is the latest, though not commonly used, this one is for "Pachai Kili Muthu Charam", Gautham Menon's new Tamil flick after his last blockbuster, Vettaiyadu Vilayadu!

Gautham's taken a break from his usual Cops & Robbers storyline and ventured into a family (?) subject. The movie has Sarathkumar, Jyothika, Milind Soman and Andrea (debut) in the cast। Inspired by the book, Derailed, which was later done as movie in 2005 with Clive Owen and Jennifer Aniston leading the pack. IMHO, Pachai Kili Muthu Charam is definitely not for the conservative Tamil audiences, maybe would have remained a good fiction to read!

Sarath too does a different role, a soft one, something different from his usual Nattamai and larger than life characters. He seems to have done a decent job. Jyothika's plays Jennifer Aniston's role and I must say that it is a pretty strong performance and most importantly, effortless! Milind Soman plays the villain and is not too impressive. New comer Andrea, playing Sarath's dispirited wife does not add any pace to the movie. Both Milind & Andrea looked out of sorts throughout the movie. Gautham, once again, has lended his voice to his villain, last time being for Jeevan in Kakka Kakka.

The movie is really slow! I just could not resist the last 15 minutes, it was a big drag and Jyothika over doing (as always!) her character. The songs were also a let down, with just the Unakkul Nanae by Bombay Jayashree and Karu Karu by Karthik and others being just okay. All this for the successful Gautham Menon - Harris Jeyaraj combination in Minnalae, Kakka Kakka and Vettaiyadu Vilayadu. The entire movie seems to have been shot in the dark, especially the first half of it. More of Manirathnam's inspiration I guess (Joke!). Comedy goes on a vacation this time, never seen anywhere near the movie or the dialogues. I only wish Gautham spends more time for his next venture to make up for what he has messed up with PKMC.

PS: Grapevine says that Gautham Menon's next venture Varanam Ayiram (I just love this title) is also an inspiration from Hollywood, this time its Forrest Gump!

CWC2K7

A billion hopes shattered!

Change is certain!

I read from the online edition of the "Daily Thanthi" today that all vegetable and fruits vendors, across Tamilnadu will be on strike today protesting the entry of " Reliance Fresh" across the state. The worst part is that the eviction of Reliance Fresh in TN is supported by the ruling coalition partner PMK. The reason, small players will be wiped away in the course of time!

Isn't it so obvious that the buyers are then cheated / charged high by such vendors? If there is a competition, one has to stand up and face it or just quit rather than protest against something that is certain. Reliance's venture into retail is definite to benefit the masses. Do we all not know what the Ambani's, Tata's and Birla's are capable of? Do we not appreciate Reliance and Tata's achievement in the Telecom sector? How different is the retail?

Can one forget the sea of change India has experienced since the liberalization reforms started in 1991? Its high time people, especially politicians realize that change is certain!

Family Problems - LOL!

Two men, one American and an Indian were sitting in a bar drinking shot after shot.

The Indian man said to the American," You know my parents are forcing me to get married to this so called homely girl from a village whom I haven't even met once. We call this arranged marriage. I don't want to marry a woman whom I don't love...I told them that openly and now have a hell lot of family problems."

The American said, "Talking about love marriages... I'll tell you my story.

I married a widow whom I deeply loved and dated for 3 years. "After a couple of years, my father fell in love with my step-daughter and so my father became my son-in-law and I became my father's father-in-law.

My daughter is my mother and my wife my grandmother.

More problems occurred when I had a son. My son is my father's brother and so he my uncle.

Situations turned worse when my father had a son. Now my father's son (i.e.) my brother is my grandson. Ultimately, I have become my own grand father and I am my own grandson.

And you say you have family problems.... Give me a break!

Guru!

I watched this movie (the tamil version!) a couple of days back and really enjoyed it. The movie is inspired by the Business Tycoon, Dhirubhai Ambani's life and has been well scripted by Maniratnam. IMHO, Abhishek dazzled as Gurukant while Rai (as Sujata) seems to have lost her charm (???). Madhavan and Vidya Balan are also in the starcast and have done neatly. Mithun Chakraborty has made a definite comeback for the meaty role he's done in the movie as Nanaji. The songs were awesome (Rahman & Hindi, the chemistry works a lot) but the belly dance number by Mallika Sherawat was not warranted from some like Maniratnam despite that adding the flavour of Turkey / Middle East.

A serious and an inspiring movie!

CSE = Cricket Stock Exchange

It wouldn't be Infosys and Wipro here at the CSE but Tendulkar's and Lara's. Formed by whizkids from IIT and IIM, the virtual cricket stock exchange will be on till the end of the Cricket World Cup 2007. Having started with the IPO's, it is all set to launch the secondary market operations from 11th March when the real battle in West Indies begins :-)

According to the developers, virtual cash will be allocated for every participant and each of them are expected to invest it rightly to make more money. It could be IPO, Cash or F&O. The same rules as in a real stock exchange but the essence is learning the basics (or even the advanced) of stock markets without losing money :o)

Saddening...

It was yet another Tuesday morning at the office till there were mild tremors felt during 11:50 AM, just before lunch. Almost everyone on the floor felt it, and sitting on 20th floor is no joke. The tremors lasted for about 30 seconds or so but were really frightful. We had been out for lunch and the roads were much crowded than it usually used to be and we found people talking on their mobiles about the tremors. Soon after, we were back at our office and a fire alarm went off causing a bit of a panic after we were asked to evacuate. It was then played down as a false alarm. Shortly after, we again felt mild tremors, atleast not as serios as earlier. It was then on news we found out that there were a two quakes in Indonesia and quite a few lives lost. Pretty sad day after a lot of partying last evening for a farewell.

Year of the Golden Pig!

the chinese new year holidays are just over here in singapore but the MRT's and roads do not indicate so. the crowd is still thin and slowly catching up after a long weekend though few I know are getting back to work only on monday. however, most of the businesses are reopening today, the 5th day of chinese new year, as it is believed to bring luck!

while pig year comes every 12 years, a golden pig year comes in only every 600 years, that adds all the more excitement and of course babies to one of the countries that has the lowest birth rate in the world!

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

burp!

not having packed lunch from home, i tagged along with a few other colleagues of mine who started for lunch. I thought we were going to Lau Pa Sat, the food court until one of my colleagues had other planes. we decided to go to The Soup Spoon. being a vegetarian, i was kinda reluctant till another colleague of mine assured there was plenty of choices for vegetarian. i assured myself and walked towards the outlet which was just past Lau Pa Sat opposite to our office.

I should say, the choice of vegetarian food was more than usual levels for a singapore restaurant. for the soup, i had to decide among Tangy Tomato with Basil, Velvety Mushroom Stroganoff, Meatless Minestrone Soup and Roasted Pumpkin with Caramelized Apple. Minestrone being my favorite, i apparently settled for with Falafel with Hummus wrap and an Iced Lemon Tea though there were choices of sandwich and salads.

I should say the food was awesome! Nothing more, Nothing less! Looking forward for another lunch / dinner to the soup spoon.

Bon Appétit!

Oh Dear!

With RBI hiking the CRR from 5.5% by a whole 50bps to 6%, the commercial banks in India are already scratching for options. The CRR is the cash reserve that all commercial banks will have to maintain with the RBI for their operations like lending and mobilizing deposits. The CRR, sadly does not attract any interest as a result the commercial banks will have to mobilise deposits to that tune, pay an interest to the depositors, and then obviously increase their lending rates.

The impact on the CRR hike definitely is not only on the stock markets as we have witnessed in the past few days with the banks uffering the most, but also in real life like performance of the banks, real estate, cement industry, steel, automobile sector and what not? A hike in lending rates, for home loans, which is already close to 12% by private sector banks is imminent and so are personal loans, auto loans, etc. This will definitely be a tool to curb the runaway inflation which stands at 6.5% currently but this will also put a check to the improving lifestyle of the commons.

The big question here is, was CRR hike the only way to curb inflation? Are we out of options? The answer, to my mind is NO! The government must have definitely put in its heads together to control exports of consumer goods and open up imports to ease the situation rather than hike CRR which now seems to have a bigger impact!

Strategy or Stupidity?

've been an ardent reader of the epaper editon of "The Hindu" since its launch a few months ago and became addicted to it after my move to Singapore. To compliment the idea, I should say its a wonderful service, especially for those who are away from Chennai (and India).

However, It came as a complete surprise to me (and a thousand others?) when I opened up the website as usual this morning and to my horror found that the epaper website was converted into a subscription based one. With heavy heart ;-) I had to digest the fact and then opened up the subscription charges page and was dumb struck at the pricing. A one year subscription is priced at INR 4000/- which is close to 3 times the print edition price!!!

I (maybe a thousand others as well!) simply could not understand whether there was any strategy involved or sheer stupidity in the pricing. With the booming internet usage and the lesser cost to reach out masses, the pricing should ideally have been the other way. I really wish someone can enlighten me on the reality behind such moves (!#$%^&*$%!%^)

A Real Performer!

Sunday morning, 4th Feb 2007, and as always I was hooked to the TV, flipping between the only two Tamil channels (Sun & Vijay) aired here in Singapore before my wife interrupted and wanted to watch 'Koffee with Anu' on Vijay TV which had Malayalam (and Tamil) film actor Jayaram and his wife Parvati as the guests for the show. For a chat / talk show that never had me or my wife glued to it ever before, this one was the most fantastic chat show's 've ever seen.

Jayaram is a real performer. His mimicry capabilities were incredible! His expressions like Sivaji Ganesan and Kamalahassan were too good. The most funniest part of the show was the hilarious narration of his honeymoon trip to Lakshwadeep. I just could not avoid my laughter whenever I think of it!

Again, narration of his friend, Thangappan during their stage performance days, Mammooty's description of their house, pulling his wife parvati during their visit to a cinema theatre in dubai were some of the awesome moments of the show. Definitely Jayaram and Parvati make a wonderful couple!

Definitely this episode has kept me on the watch for the future KWA shows. I heard (?) there is a Sathyaraj & Manivannan episode coming up. That should be an interesting contest, to see if it can topple Jayaram's performance in this one.

Tamizh Thanthuvangal

Some of my favorite Tamizh Thathuvangal from across the internet and mobile world;

1. Meenpidikaravangalai meenavanu sollalam....naye pidikearavangalai nayavanau solla mudiyuma?
2. Enathan oruthan gunda irundhalaum avanai thupakikula poda mudiyadu!
3. School testla bit adikalam,college testla bit adikalam...aana....blood testla bit adika mudiyuma?
4. Pongaluku govrnmentla leave kodupanaga...aana idli dosaiku kodupangala?
5. Kolamavula kolam poda mudiyum kadala mavula kadala poda mudiyuma?
6. Lifela onnumey ilana bore adikum.. thalayil onnumet ilana glare adikum!
7. Vazhai maram thar podum ...aana adhai vachu roadu poda mudiyuma?
8. Pant pottu muttipoda mudiyum aanaaa muttipottu pant poda mudiyumaa?
9. Irukkurappa enna dhaan complan, bournvita nu kudichalum sethadukkapram ellarukkum pal dhaan!
10. South India-la narthangai kidaikkum. Aaana, north India-la southangai kidaikuma?
11. Nee evlo periya paruppa irunthalum, unga veettu samayalukku paruppa kadaila than vanganum!
12. Yevalavu dhaan neechal therinjalum tumbler thannila neentha mudiyuma?
13. Ennathan naiku nalu Kaal irundhalum adhala kaal mela kaal pottu utkkara mudiyuma?
14. Ennathan karatela black belt vanginalum, naai thorathina odi dhaan aganum!
15. Ticket vangitu ulla poradu cinema theatre, Ulae poitu ticket vangaradu operation theatre
16. Mukkalila ukkaralam......... Naakalila ukkaralam......... Ana Thakkali la ukkara mudiyuma?
17. Train yenna thaan fasta ponnalum , Train oda kadaisee potti kadaiseeya thaan varum!
18. Bus la collector yae erinalum...mudhal seetu driveruku dhaan!
19. Aayeram irrunthalum...aayerathu onnu perusuthana?
20. Thookam vantha kanna moodalam, mmmm vanthi vantha vaaya mooda mudiyuma?
21. Files na utkaarndhu paakanum, piles na paarthu utkaranum!
22. Adayar anandha bhavan kilai annanagar la irukkalam, aana adayar aala marathoda kilai angay dhan irukkanum!
23. Yezhu parambaraikku ukkandhu saapida kaasu irundhalum, fast food kadaila ninnukittudhaan saapidanum!
24. Yennathan ahimsavathiya irundhalum chappathiya suttu dhaan sappidanum!

Jumbo Circus in Town?

Is Jumbo Circus in Town? naaah! Looking at this pic from The Hindu, one would tend to ask this but its School Time and this is the most common scene on Chennai Roads, though this one is a bit too much. 've seem 3 or 4 people commonly on motorbikes, but this one is a class apart. I wonder when the police and other transport officials look into such cases and clamp them down the way the auto fares are beng done at the moment...hmmm the wish list never seems to stop ;-)

brrrrr

its close to two weeks since we moved to the new office place, one of singapore's landmark buildings, in raffles and it certainly feels like sitting in a ice box / fridge. i guess the temperature set must be in negative! LOL its just that we've not had snow but definitely as cold as the snowcity in jurong east. one of my colleagues already calls this place a snow city!

it looks like we are working in colder regions of europe / canada, but i only wish i was really there ;-) outside the office, the place is a big oven!

Big Brother? nah...Big Business!

The "Big Brother" show in the UK had recently sparked off a racist row against Indians / Asians. The reality show had almost doubled its viewership in a couple of days after the controversy sparked off. Some of the sponsorships' pulled out soon but eventually, the show came under spotlight. I'd say its cheap publicity more than ignorance or racism. While it is true that sentiments of a lot of people have been hurt at this juncture, something serious will have to be done in setting up strict censorship boards or other boards to control tv shows rather than try to be reactive, diplomatic, point fingers, blah!

Latest Info as on 29th Jan> Shilpa is the Queen! Won big brother with an overwhelming votes of 63%.

Orkut yet?

I registered myself for orkut, a google service that has been existent for quite sometime now. I did that after my cousin, yegu, had sent me repeated invitations to view / join. I was'nt much impressed or to tell the truth could not understand what it was all about before I said to myself, what the heck, let me give it a try.

First looks, the concept is very interesting and nice. It looks like i was the last to sign up for this given the number of communities and users in it ;-) there's a community for almost everything one could think of be it date of birth, year of birth, schools, colleges, work place, etc etc.

I heard it is addictive, from another source, (thanks senthil) and would endorse that. Maybe orkut needs to advertise so(!!!)...lol coz with just 2 days into it, i am already missing it without any access to it from office, eeeeks!

net net, it is yet another site with a different concept compared to that of the groups that can hook on lot people...via friends network, blah blah!

as expected...

finally, MK had give way to the revision of the earlier announced pricing of tickets for multiplexes in chennai. as per the new GO, the maximum price range for the tickets would be between Rs.95 - Rs120 depending on the theatre, canteen facilities, seating capacity, etc

this move is indeed welcoming as it favours both the exhibitors and the audience. now will MK look into setting a cap for the pricing in the canteens in these multiplexes as the fear of hike in the prices of the food items sold here to make up for what the theatres may lose out on the tickets pricing has already set in ;-)

darn it! its the politics again...

In an era of multiplexes, IMAX theatres, state of art sound systems, seating, etc, it is quite ironical for the government of tamilnadu to fix a maximum price for the cinema tickets. Given the grave differences in the facilities offered by theatres like liberty, devi etc with that of sathyam, sangam, mayajaal and etc the price fixing is unjustified. as a common man, i am happy, but the question here is, will these state of art facilities remain for those who can afford it? I’d say no!
Upcoming cinema halls like pvr and sathyam (expanding) have created a lot of employment opportunities and it would be interesting as to what these halls will offer back to the government. It would be ridiculous to expect sathyam or pvr to price their tickets at 20 / 30 rupees and offer state of art facilities.
While I am with the government, to curb the spiraling prices of the food items sold within these theatres, the fixing of max prices for tickets will definitely have to be based on the facilities offered by these theatres. I’d suggest segmentation of the cinema theatres based on the facilities offered and curb the maximum ticket price. That would be a wiser move compared to what has been done recently.
if the cause was for the common man to go to the theatre and watch a movie and eventually curb video piracy, why then pay loads of money to the film stars, the key for element for high production cost, higher distribution cost and finally the sky rocketing price of the tickets? Ideally the government must control if not curb the salaries and refrain from taking such hasty decisions that might deprive the viewers to experience such state of are facilities. At this rate, we might end up with the "touring talkies" days...sigh
ps: I own no theatres, cinema halls or associated with the film industry except watching it ;-)

welcome back!

phew...it was really relieving to see ganguly hit back at all the critics in his very first test match after a 10 month lay off from the national team. most importantly, ganguly pulled india out (yet again!) from the drain when "star" performers could not pull any strings. its not only been a landmark return for ganguly but it marked india's first test win in south african soil thereby joining the elite club of winning a test in each of the test playing countries. india's win was well crafted by the prince of kolkatta along with another returning star, laxman and the bowlers.
wishing india all the best to keep their heads cool to win the series to make dada's return a memorable one!