Onayum Aattukuttiyum - Why Raja is GOD

This is a season of comebacks in Kollywood, Myshkin, one of my favorite directors is back with a bang after the failed project of his ambitious Mugamoodi. OA is a proof that he is still a different and better filmmaker than many others here.

In OA he is the Onai, playing a character named Wolf, Sri of Vazhakku En fame, a final year medical student, saves Wolf without knowing he is a paid killer and police department is after him. This starts a chase of police department and Wolf's leader to kill him. Wolf while trying to escape he is also on a mission to save a family. The whole things are explained only at the end the suspense and the pace is maintained very well.

Myshkin as a director has done most of the things right, especially deciding to go back to Ilayaraja for the background score, casting, minimal dialogues, etc. He really has guts not only to make a movie of length nearly two and a half of hours without any song or a heroine, but also to make it really interesting. OA has his marks (or cliché) all over, those camera angles facing the actors feet, Sri's reaction which reminds the heroes of Myshkin's previous movies, those weirdly dressed villains, etc. The CBCID Lal's character reminds me of Ponvannan's from Anjathe, who is smart than rest of the other policemen.

Myshkin never deviates from the plot, have not added anything extra. Not even a flashback sequence to explain what has happened. Also, he is good as an actor and extracted good acting from all of them. The film was entirely shot in the night and the cinematographer has done an excellent job as well, but those camera angles, I think, belong to Myshkin.

The biggest plus that has happened to this movie is really Ilayaraja sir's background scores. He is the real hero of the movie. For the first time a film's BGM was playing in my mind after reaching home. He has taken this movie into a next level. Myshkin has filled most of the time in this movie without any dialogues to let the action speak and Raja sir's BGM fills most of the movie. Thank you Myshkin for going back to Raja and yet another time Raja proved he is the boss when it comes to BGM. In the BGM scores already released, there is a track named "Somebody loves us all", it is none other than Ilayaraja himself.

OA is a fantastic thriller after a long time in Tamil with excellent screenplay, good performances, brilliant and fantastic scores from Raja sir. OA should be really enjoyed in theaters, one of the best from Myshkin.

My rating 4.0/5.0.

Inferno - Dan Brown

Inferno, Dan Brown's latest thriller featuring Robert Langdon, his fourth book featuring the Harvard University professor of religious iconology and symbology. And, my third book in this series following the DaVinci Code and Angels and Demons.

If you have already read Dan's thrillers featuring Landgon, you can easily guess the basic plot. It was his same tried and tested formula. Some person dies (this time suicide instead of murder), then Langdon was contacted by some high authorities (by WHO) to find something (a virus), accompanied by a young lady for his help, following the clues that can be cracked only by him to get to the final destination. All of the above things was in his other books as well. Dan is much comfortable with this style.

The plot happens in three places. It starts in Florence, Italy then moves to Venice and ends in Istanbul. As usual Dan have described the architectural beauties of all these places in detail. Sometimes, it's boring when Dan starts taking history lessons in the middle of some serious scene. And, I don't remember any of those history lessons now(too bad). 

Dan has taken the world's population problem as a plot, which is growing exponentially and will make people extinct soon. So a brilliant scientist, Zobrist, who wants to stop this problem has decided to do something. He contacted the WHO to discuss that, but they were not willing to listen, so he decided to do a job by himself. He successfully made a virus which will solve the population issue to make the earth stable and set it to go out at a specific date and he commits suicide before that date. Langdon and others, the WHO authorities, are trying to find the place in which he had hidden the virus and want to stop it before spreading. I doubt why Zobrist left all those clues to find that place. Zobrist is the winner at the end, even though Langdon was able to find the place.

So Zobrist has done something which will actually decrease the population and stable the earth, but that virus will not kill half of the people. So the world was changed at that date and I think Dan feels it's the right way to end. The hero and his team loses to the Villain, and Dan makes you think whether he is really a Villain or a hero himself who saved the world. 

There was enough surprises, twists and turns in this book to keep you engaged, but you have to be ready to read all those history lessons. I felt the whole book was similar to Angels and Demons. I think it's time for Dan to change his formula and offer something new in his next, but Inferno is still worth a read.

மூடர்கூடம் - Go for it.

This post also appears here in behindwoods :)

மூடர் கூடம், a film directed by a newcomer Naveen, produced by Pasanga fame Pandiraj. It casts mostly newcomers. JayaPrakash and Oviya are the few known faces in the movie and the director also acted in this movie. Film is of genre dark comedy following the success of SoodhuKavvum, Neram, etc.

The film is about four youngsters or fools (Director, Sendrayan, White, Kuberan), among them only one is educated (the director). They happened to meet each other in a police station and join together. No one has any job or any proper home so decided to a robbery at White's uncle's house itself when he left for a trip with his family. They end up in the house when everyone was present, they house arrest them. And, what happens next, did they get any money, did they get caught, forms the story. The film is slow, silly and may test your patience at times.

The three guys always does some foolish things which irritates Naveen are good fun like Sendrayan getting monkey cap instead of a Mask, other guy Kuberan who leaves the arrested people unattended to have lunch, etc. Naveen has done an excellent job both in direction and acting, especially the dialogues. Most of the dialogues are really good and funny. Sendrayan as Sendrayan, who have acted in Pollathavan, Rowthiram, Aadukalam, really done his role well and who makes mistakes in all his tasks.

Everyone in this movie has a flashback, the four guys, a dog and even for a doll, but each one was unique with a song, which is more like a bgm. The songs used are funny rhymes, Bharathiar song and an old song remix. The doll really plays an important role at the end. One of the flashback was shown in animation which was nicely done, but the dog's flashback was little boring, gone overboard. Every flashback comes at a different point not in any order, which actually tells the reason for that character's particular action like why Sendrayan punishing everyone by asking them to stand upside down, why Naveen gave the money to a poor mom for her daughter's operation, why White let Oviya marry his lover and leave the home. The reasons are actually explained in the short flashback along with their story.

On the downside the film is little too big, and the flashbacks keeps on coming even towards the end and some unfunny moments inside the house which should have been trimmed since most of movie revolves inside the house itself. And, also too many dialogues on rich and poor trying to justify all those who are rich are bad people. Still Naveen has many interesting thing like Dawood's Chennai branch. Jayaprakash's young girl falling for the leader of the group Naveen, there is another thief who doesn't know to read English and speaks about Job Ethics and a small girl who tortures Jayaprakash in the phone.

So, MoodarKoodam is a really good attempt from Naveen. May not be received well by all, but definitely a must watch for those who enjoy a different kind of movie. And, those who watch all movies like me, don't miss this one. This film could be this year's Aaranya Kaandam.

Rating 3.0/5.0.

My recent trip to Kodaikanal

Kodaikanal is just a 200kms away from Coimbatore, but we are planning to go for a trip to this place since we were in college. We went there during this Vinayagar Chaturthi weekend. The trip was bit fun, bit boring, bit freezing, but overall it was refreshing.

We were six members in this trip. The first day evening was really entertaining as well as freezing. Started with a fun ride in cycles around the lake, group of friends riding cycles together after a long time, last time I remember was during our school days while returning home from tuition center. Then, tested our balloon shooting skills in which I have failed miserably. My aim was as good as Pulikesi's. I think its time for me to change my facebook cover photo after getting to know about my skills in this subject. Other fellows were quite good actually.

Then we went for a boat ride in the Kodai lake. The person who came with us to row the boat was enthusiastic and he even taught us how to row a boat. So everyone took turns to try our hands in rowing. I was quite good in this and one of my friends as well. Other four guys, who were good at shooting, were not up to the task. So if I go to a lake again with my girlfriend (if any :( ), I can take her alone in a boat for a romantic ride without anyone's disturbance.

After that, we had some snack and dinner and back to our resort, it was already freezing outside. After reaching the resort we started were chatting for sometime. If boys get together what will be the topic, as usual the topic is girls. Actually everyone narrated their love story, I should say love "failure" story. It was a good time pass, even though I have heard some of the stories already. We really had a good time.

The next day was very boring for most of the time. It was raining, and in all the spots we visited like Suicide Point, Guna Caves, Pillar Rock, etc., we just saw mist, mist, mist, except pine forest. We also went to a most boring wax museum. When we are about to come back to Kodaikanal city, we went to another spot Dolphin Nose. It was raining, we were reluctant to get down from the car. Finally, we decided to step out, one of our lazy friend stayed back in the car itself. We have to walk for nearly thirty minutes to get to a viewpoint, the view was really superb, finally we get to see something that day. Then, we went farther down to stand at the edge of the mountain with our legs shivering, it was a thrilling experience (Obviously, took some snaps to update in FB). Then, even farther to the echo point and that's it no other way to go farther. This spot was really awesome which made our day. We have to walk nearly two or three kilometers, but it was really worth it. We must admit we all struggled while climbing back. And, at the halfway we met our friend who came looking after us. He too joined us in our struggle to climb back, but he missed all the fun we had.

Then back to Coimbatore. It was a better trip than our last trip to Ooty. Anyway the weather was so pleasing, of-course it will be when I go to any other place from Chennai and two days spent with friends. So in this trip I found out I am terrible in shooting, but better in rowing a boat :).

0312 0326 0319

Those who are wondering the meaning of the title are definitely not from Perur or at-least not traveled in route no 2. And, those who are from Perur and traveled in route no 2 in the morning will definitely know what these numbers mean, even the timings. These are the registration numbers of the buses, route no 2, in which we all travel from Perur to Peelamedu. As I told in my previous post, I have traveled in these buses for 12 years. I don't know what position government will give to those drivers and conductors for 12 years of service :)

The bus travel is always fun which makes us start our day in a good mood. The fun starts from getting a seat in the morning. It's not just a seat its "the seat" which will be our usual seat. We started from the back seat and moved to front year after year and some guys wont sit at all, started standing near their girl friends ;). We don't allow anyone else to get our seat. Same goes for others, you can see a same person sitting in the same seat daily morning even now in all weekdays. We can see different methods for getting a seat from everyone, getting into the bus in the previous stop itself, dropping their bags via the window, etc. During our school days even four members will share a single seat (How thin we must be :( ).

Bus travel gives us a lot of time to talk with our friends which will be always fun in the morning, if it's exam time we will busy reading in those forty five minutes and we covered most of the portions in bus. And, during my school days my friend and I will even write homework in the bus. It's an art to write while traveling in the bus :). The thing is there won't be much difference in my handwriting even if I write in a classroom or in a bus, it looks bad always. Then, we used to play some games like trump cards, I don't know whether it's still available. Thank god no one had mobiles during those school days.

We have seen many conductors and drivers, some are friendly and the travel will be good, some are very strict like a teacher which makes a dull travel. We will skip some buses because of some conductors. And, some friendly conductors still remembers us even now.

In our bus we have seen a lot of love stories, one side love, successful love,  stalking, etc. And, those priceless moments "machan ava unna than da pakura" :), then trying to catch the same bus in the evening in which that girl also travels. One of my friends had a crush on a girl after seeing her in the bus, love at first sight, but unfortunately it ended as a one side love story. Even I had a crush on a girl who used to come in our bus in the morning, but it was just a crush and nothing more. I don't even remember her face properly now :(.

The travel was enjoyable for me only during my school days. I had a lot of my friends traveling with me in morning and evening. But after getting into college most of my friends joined different college and nobody came with me in route no 2. It was so boring and even worse during my office days. So, I usually slept during my travel while hearing some songs. After some days I was getting late at work and I will not be able to even catch the last bus, so started going by bike to office and didn't travel much in these buses 0312, 0326 and 0319 after that.

I got a lot of friends in bus from different areas, different schools and colleges. I get to see most of them only in the bus and haven't seen many of them anywhere else outside the bus. I don't think these buses, 0312, 0326 and 0319, are still operating, but it will be running in our memories without any breakdown.

Peelamedu and Myself - Still a better love story than Twilight

Peelamedu is a very special place for me. I have spent half of my life nearly 12 years in this place as a school boy, a college student and a software engineer (What a changeover mama). Life wasn't a circle as VJ said in Thirumalai, it was always straight for me for many years :), Perur to Peelamedu in the bus with route number 2.

As a school kid: It's all started during my 7th standard, when I joined Sarvajana school. I was really afraid to travel so long in bus. Still remember the first day in the bus, I had no idea I will be travelling in the same bus for the next twelve years. 

In the first four years in Peelamedu I know only the bus stand and nothing much. In higher secondary, got to visit at least some bakeries and hotels around, playing cricket in Tech ground. Peelamedu has become a part of me already in this six years.

As a college student: Then, I joined PSG tech, dream college for most people in CBE, so another three years in Peelamedu. In this three years I must have spent a lot of time in and around Peelamedu. Visited all hotels available, bakeries, all other shops. Those where the times when Avinashi road was pleasant with trees in both sides of the road. Our gang used to sit in the two wheelers parked opposite to our college and spend the whole evening under the tress. Now not even a single tree is there, so sad.

As a software engineer: Then, I got placed in TCS. I thought I will be moving out of Peelamedu ending my nine year old relationship with Peelamedu. There comes a twist, due to the recession TCS dint call me. Then, back to Peelamedu again, got a job in a company inside my college itself (Iyyo ithu Varama Sabama). Start of another chapter with Peelamedu. On my first day of my job during lunch, my lead said if you cross the road you can find some hotels, thinking I was new to this place. It made me laugh and thought to say, "Neenga padicha school la naan headmaster boss" :).

The most time spent in Peelamedu are at NMB, which is the landmark of Peelamedu, every student of Sarvajana and PSG Tech knows this store and bakery. I have been regular to this bakery every evening, starting from 12th standard. Then, Boomerang, where we usually spent our free hours during college for a fifteen rupees ice-cream. Also, to watch live cricket on TV. Then, Krishnammal bus stop, one of the most colorful bus stops in the evenings in CBE. And, lot of other places like my college mate's home, a park nearby, a mushroom shop opposite to a ladies hostel, PSG IM stone bench and IM canteens, etc. Also, got my driving license in the Peelamedu RTO, joined MCA in distance education in the Peelamedu study center. Even when I visited a CCD for the first time, it happens to be Peelamedu CCD. Lot of things in my life connected with Peelamedu.

My relationship with Peelamedu came to an end when my company shifted to a new place leaving only few people here in Peelamedu. Still remember that day, this was my status on FB

Its official, moving away from Peelamedu where I spent most of my life nearly 12 years :(.

Moved to that "Thanni illa kaadu" PappamPatti Pirivu, really a very sad moment. When we are working inside PSG, whenever we feel it's tiring or boring, a walk around the PSG campus or the Avinashi road refreshes us, it will be so colorful (If you know what I mean), but in our new place we can see only pigs around (EKSI), I have started missing Peelamedu more and more daily. And, now finally out of CBE itself.

I have started traveling to this place as a school kid in half trouser to a software professional in formals. I must be the one who traveled for many years from Perur to Peelamedu and will remember those days for years to come. Peelamedu has given me a lot of memories, who knows I may even get back to Peelamedu again :).