Robot (Endhiran) -Review

Well,being an ardent fan or rather AC of Rajni, its too hard for me to write an impartial review of Robot. But I'll try. Before that, let me tell you one thing. There are only 2 kinds of people on earth, 1. People who love Rajnikant and 2. people who hate Rajnikant. The former set of people would write a review like the one you're about to read. The latter ones would totally slash this movie as unrealistic and stupid.

The story revolves around Dr. Vaseegaran, a scientist played by Rajnikant, who makes an android-humanoid robot Chitti, also played Rajnikant and Sana, Dr. Vasi's girlfriend, played by Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. Chitti who was made for the purpose of reducing human killings in the warfront lacks in the understanding of good and bad. Things turn around when Vasi try to include human emotions into Chitti. Chitti falls in love with Sana and then ofcourse a love-triangle. Vasi's envious mentor Dr. Bora, played by Danny Denzongpa, manipulate Chitti into playing the bad guy.

Robot works beyond the obvious storyline. It's the terrfic heights of execution the film reaches which makes it work so well. Forget those silicon dabbas in other sci-fi bollywood movies, this robot looks more realistic. The small sequence in which you see 100s of robots trying to form into patterns explains the entire climax which in turn will make your jaws drop with awe. 100s of Rajnikants together- Thats enough for me for a lifetime. I can die on that.

The second half becomes sluggish at certain points, particularly, the scene in which Chitti chases a mosquito. Quite forgettable. And much for the reassurance of non-Rajnikant-fans, Dr. Vasi never becomes super-human and thrashes the bad guys.

Acting- This is Rajnikant's forte. He's totally likeable both as Chitti and Vasi. Aishwarya is the beauty you want in such a movie, somebody you want even a robot to fall in love with. Danny is appreciable. But on the whole, the film doesn't demand too much from its actors. Special effects due take the entire credit.

Music- After a long time, A R Rahman has given such a forgettable album. The picturisation comes to its rescue. The Kilimanjaro song is breathe taking.

Finally, it's a movie you shouldn't miss anyhow. Once in, not lifetime because technology is something you can hardly predict, may be in the near future.

P.S :- I watched the movie with my mother-in-law and Molly chechi and Kichu, all of whom hate Rajnikant. The most disheartening thing- when Maa said that she watched the movie just because of Aishwarya and Mollychechi nodded to that.

P.S.S :- Probably watching this movie at Palakkad would've been much better experience. Having to watch a tamil movie with a crowd which wouldn't understand half of what is said on the screen is like... hell, man.

P.S.S.S :- Just so you know, I hate Aishwarya to the core. And I sometimes can't stand her.

Why I love tamil movies?

I'm a bunch of contradictions when it comes to movies. Normally, I'm sort of romcom girl. I love those colorful movies, as in literally colorful. If there is a dull or dark or blue shade to the screen, I just avoid seeing that movie. Maybe, thats why I end up seeing college-or-school-cindrella-type-movies again and again. But one unlikely movie, "Shooter" changed all. I started watching action-movies all of a sudden. Hitman, Incredible Hulk etc. And I also saw The Invasion. I was so engrossed in the movie. Thousands of thoughts were roaming inside my head until I saw the climax a week later. The last time the same thing happened was when I was reading Anne Frank's book. You just feel ki you're inside that house and when suddenly someone calls out for you, you feel "how can I go outside, it's all nazis out there".

On a funnier note, I just finished up writing up a list of English movies I saw since I came home and that would be since last August. The list has about 115 movies excluding the fact that I have seen all these movies a minimum of two times. The last movie to make into the list is "The Women" which I saw today. *This is what happens when you are utterly bored, craziness creeps-in in different forms*

Did I mention that I had a huge-huge headache the last 3 days and that kept me away from TV. It is for compensating that I saw The Women. Really, there's no competition for Meg Ryan. She's a league of her own. And boy, I missed VTV songs too. :( And that's when I thought of writing down why I just love Tamil movies.

The bunch of contradictions starts right here. Even though I expect every Malayalam or Hindi movies to have REAL content, that rules dims away with Tamil. My Rajnikant can throw bubblegum in the air and catch it with his mouth meanwhile fighting 50 odd hatta-katta guys. But that's a strict no-no with Mohanlal or Mammootty or Shahrukh or Aamir. I'm a music freak but then I hate to watch Hindi musicals. Maine Pyar Kiya, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam and Hum Aapke Hain Kaun happens to be in my never-watch list. I'm romantic but I can't fathom why DDLJ and Dil Toh Pagal Hain were so successful. I just dragged myself through the movies to find the reason.

But recently, I have had enough of Hindi films being real. Suddenly the songs vanished to make that impact it used to make. Suddenly every other song is a Punjabi bhangra. And the choreography, it all happens in a luxurious stage with lightings. No big difference. Where has the typical bollywood-dance songs gone? That used to just pop up when you thought of it the least.

I was watching CNN-IBN Real Heros Awards function the other day and I saw Rahul Bose saying. "We live in a world of invsible Indians, we see through most of India". And indeed, Bollywood does the same. And perhaps that's the reason why most of the Indian stories take place in foreign countries. Of course, I cannot ask "New York" to be in India, but what about "Kal Ho Na Ho" or "Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna" or the recent one "Hum Tum aur Ghost"? And does the directors even know about the respected middle class of India. Somehow, poverty has ceased to be a storyline in the films. Luxury and more luxury it is, right? Well, I respect some filmmakers like Shyam Benegal, Rajkumar Hirani for saving the image. When it comes to real, I prefer to watch Abhay Deol films. Its a lot satisfying you know. But its too infrequent and sometimes go unnoticed. And Malalayalm, forget it, I haven't seen a decent film in ages.

And this is where I love Tamil movies. It talks about the common man and please I'm not talking about Rajnikant movies here. It has all classes. You have films which are totally based abroad and still find cult village classics. And the music for every genre. Right from the melodies to the rocking fast numbers. Unlike Malayalam, Tamil is a language totally adaptable with English. Even if you add a few Rap beat into a Tamil song, it will only be sone pe suhaga. ARR, Harris Jayaraj, Yuvan Shankar Raja doing justice to all kinds of music listeners.

Watch this song from VinnaiThaandi Varuvaya(VTV). Sung by Naresh Iyer, the Roobaroo fame. Btw, that reminds me Pattar once had a chance to meet Naresh Iyer at a family function and took a pic with him. They must be relatives, I guess. I recommend this video for its excellent choreography and to know what I miss in Hindi songs. Music is by A R Rahman. Need any comments there???

And there are a whole new generation of actors in Tamil. Everyone is given their own space. Kamal Hasan and Rajnikant never compete against Ajith, Vijay, Surya or Vikram and they in turn don't compete with Simbu, Vishal or anyothers. But its disheartening to say that there is no future for Malayalam films. Prithviraj , Indrajith and Jaisurya are trying to play second fiddle to Mohanlal and Mammootty or rather they are forced to do so. As for Hindi, I just want a new breed of actors, some who could play a college girl or boy. A good college love story. I just don't want 40yr old Aamir to play a 20yr old again. Recently anyone without a proper launch has been thrashed at the Box Office. I guess, there was some remake of Juno and God knows what happened with that.

Another video from VTV recommended for the same reasons. If you get bored and if you have fine internet connection please hop over to time 1:37 *Really recommended*. Isn't it the sweetest way to picturise a girl. Trisha looks so beautiful. I wish I were her. Yeah, I know...who would want to see a monkey with a flower-hat.

Acting and glamour go hand-in-hand here just like any other industry. Even Aamir fell short of Surya in Ghajini's remake. We just fell in love with the name Sanjay Ramasamy because of Surya.

Probably, you could never satisfy me with one genre of movies. I tend to like different movies at different times. Sometimes a sci-fi like Independence day, sometimes a romcom like When Harry Met Sally, sometimes a politically motivated Satta, sometimes tragic instilled Chandni Bar, sometimes out-an-out comedy like Panchathanthiram, sometimes an investigative thriller like The King. But that's where all others fail and Tamil rise. It rises and raises the bar.

The last and final recommendation. If only you could understand Tamil. This is a superb comedy scene from Panchathanthiram.

P.S. :- I never had such a horrific time writing a post. Youtubing for videos is deadly since I own very-high-speed-internet.

P.S.S. :- I was intending to put only the videos and let it explain in itself, but talkative me :-P

Cinema Paradiso

Needless to say, movies are my only rescue these days. When I get back home tired after writing some heck mock CAT, Rosebowl shows up with their matinee movie which they have put in the category "Sweethearts". And then I see While You Were Sleeping, Sweet Home Alabama, You've Got Mail for the umpteenth time. But I can't resist seeing 'em. Romantic-Comedy is my usual genre. By the way, I found one thing. That Hollywood filmmakers have always been in love with Cinderella. They have adapted the story in many shapes and sizes. Like, there is one geek girl, who prefers to be invisble. She has a love interest who happens to be the boyfriend of the most popular girl of the school. And then when Prom Night comes, she wears this holy beautiful gown and impresses the hero. Then there is some bitching by the Villi. But the story ends well. The hero and the heroine live happily ever after. So how many movies have you seen of this type? Ask me- its innumerable. But the funny thing is I still enjoy these movies. Particularly when it comes to the school stories, they are so colorful which forces me to sit down and watch each one of these movies.

But occassionaly I do see other kind of movies. Which are of not my type, generally those slower ones. AM was the one who used to see such movies. UTV movies being her favorite channel. Because of her, me and Lallu used to see Japanese and Chinese movies which had no stunt sequences. Before that, my perception about the movies from those regions were that only Jackie Chan and Jet Lee made movies there. The other day, I saw Cinema Paradiso which I saw just because a friend of mine suggested it. Thanks to my internet connection, it took more than a month to download it. And after all the effort, I was glad that I saw the movie. For me, it wasn't anything related to inspirational or motivational. And me being ignorant of the world cinema, I couldn't even get, what to say, the development of cinema during and after the world war which was showcased in it. But for me, it was as if I were reading a pleasant book. The memories of the childhood, the childhood hero, the fantasies we have at that time, the blunders at school, the first love etc. You say it, and it was there in the movie. The knowledge that someone is there with you in whatever you do and whatever you achieve is a great relief. It doesn't burden you but it strengthens you, to do more.

Two scenes of the movie which made my mouth wide open with awe were 1. the scene in which Alfredo allow the crowd outside the theatre to watch the movie by turning the projection and the young Toto is mused to see it. 2. the last scene in which Toto sees the series of kissing scenes which were earlier manually edited by Alfredo upon the Priests' order, Alfredo had left Toto with this film after his death. When I saw this scene, I was totally relieved. Alfredo was earlier was being accused to have made Toto loose his first and only love. But leaving behind the film, meant that he had always cared for Toto and also believed in his capabilities as a film maker. How nice it is when you have a person who believes in you more you do in yourself. These were a few things I enjoyed in the movie.

Its me, the victim, this time

There is a sense of guilt that is overflowing my mind these days. And it is probably because I find my blog more of like a gossip column. If I have the right to mock at my friends, I should also never be spared. And since I am also a democratic along with being a communist, this time the post is dedicated to me and only me. The list of my blunders is too long to list, so I will limit that to a few incidents that happened recently.

Story 1:

I think I don’t have to explain anything about the “road-crossing” (take it literarily), right? You are in a metro and you can cross the roads whenever you get a chance. And if you become a traffic-rules-obedient citizen, then you are going to wait forever. “Cycle gap mein auto ghusana” that is what happens here. So on one such day, I was crossing the road with Blore and LJ (I don’t remember whether Binu, Donimol and MM were there or not). In fact, it was one of those odd days when you get a large space to cross the road and you could do it lavishly.

If I had crossed the road with at least 15degrees deviation, my “road-crossing” would have been totally uneventful. But I crossed at zero deviation. Now that is what you call the Aamir Effect (perfectionist). There was a guy who did the same. At the middle of the road, we were just going to bump on each other.

In a fraction of a second, my thoughts threw me into the grasslands of Switzerland. Note that there was a stream of music which was being played in the background. And if I remember it correctly it was a typical open note for a melodious duet and the lyrics of which consisted only of swaras’ – sa re ga ma. And then we were dancing and romancing on the tunes of a beautiful duet.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrcccccccccccccccccccccccccccchhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh………..
I came back to reality. We hadn’t bumped on each other at all, infact, we were standing atleast 10 inches away from each other. And then we departed in different directions. Wasn’t it unfortunate that a love story was pinched off in the pre-init stage itself? Anyways, Thank God, none was hurt in this incident.

But think of this scenario, if………..if someone, say I, was hit by a vehicle, he would have felt the guilt na? You do know what I mean by that, right? Something similar to what happens in Hindi movies. Atleast here there was a love story developing. OMG!!!!! What am I doing here in a software company? I should have been in Bollywood. Of course, K. Johar would have accepted such crap stories. But I am sure I wouldn’t ever go with this story to Mollywood. My heroine would rather allow a lorry to roll over her than to be hit by Mammootty, Mohanlal, Suresh Gopi and….and…and….is there any other actor in the industry?

Story 2:

There are a few principles that I follow when I mouthlook (sorry, I couldn't find an appropriate word for that in English, so I am simply writing the translation). Infact, I have a classification. Mouthlooking can be of two types: Temporary and Wayyyytemporary. You can put yor schoolmates, collegemates etc into the temporary category where you mouthlook them for atleast a few months. And the other one wayytemporary is the one in which you have glances of guys and gals on the roadside, in malls or anywhere and where you don't have a chance to bump on them again. So coming back to my principles.

1. Character does matter to me when it comes to temporary mouthlooking. Does it matter in the other category?
2. Boys who are slim are always preferred.
3. When you like a person, what is the harm in letting him know about that. (Infact, I don't mind anyone knowing that.)

Well, there are so many. But that is enough for now. Ok getting to the point. What happens when two mouthlookers go savvy? The answer is "They Meet". Once when I was loathing around the platform of our Railway Station (with my father beside me), I saw a line of guys who had just boarded off a train. I was having a glance of each and every one of them. Just then I saw a guy who was doing the same. There was a short telepathic conversation between us (Font in orange color is mine and green is his')
"What?"
"What?"
"Me?"
"Hmmm.."
"Oh...No... Buddy....Are you nuts?"
"Nooo.........Not you"
A sigh of relief.......
" Then what? Go Next."
And then me too went NEXT. Shouldn't you appreciate my guts to mouthlook with my father just round the corner.

Story 3 :

It was just a few days back that I saw the hindi translation of Operation theatre. It is SHALYASHALA. As though we are shalyams (trouble) for the doctors. One funny thing about our Railway Hospital that I learned only a few days is also related to the shalyashala. The nurses and attendants working inside come outside and ask if anyone is there for operation or not. What the F***(beep!) man! Now you can wait in a queue for operation with the linen you have been covered with. I saw many of them (literarily) walk into the theatre. I have learned from Sydney Sheldon books that these doctors become so talkative inside the theatre and mostly they talk about food. In my nightmares, I see them operating my head and seeing my brain they exclaim "OH! This is not eatable!".


P.S. :- Song suggestion of this week: For hip-hop lovers, I guess, you should listen to the Taxi Song from the film Chakkarakatti (Tamil). It is an awesome number from the genius A R R. And you would also love the video of the song. When was the last time you heard a hindi song and said its lyrics was different and good too. When was the last time you heard a hindi song on friendship which comes close to Yeh Dosti Hum Nahi Chodenge. Well, that is what I like about Tamil songs. You have songs for every occasion with awesome lyrics.

Hey, and one more thing. I have changed my name here. It is Communi. I think it suites me more than Angel. Now that you know I aint no Angel. So if anyone comes up with a good name, I will be obliged.