Kanchivaram - Beautiful attention to details

I saw the movie kanchivaram yesterday. Just beautiful. No kuthu songs, no comedy tracks, just pure story to keep me glued for 2 hours.

The story happens pre-independence continuing a bit post-independence until 1948. The picturization and attention to details makes the journey of PrakashRaj very enjoyable.

The story itself is very touching and focusses on a poor weaver's life, and his dream to weave a silk saree for his daugher, on her wedding.

And the beauty of the story-telling was many things were explained visually.

No need to comment on Prakash Raj's performance. As usual, awesome. The supporting characters including Shriya Reddy and his friend fitted in perfectly. All in all I think it is a very well-made, enjoyable, and to an extend disturbing movie.

the end.

P.S. :Talking about PR's performance, I think one of his best performances (and the one I liked the most), was in the movie Appu. I think it is a brilliant role, and only he could have done that.

Word of thought...

I wonder what Veena's parents mean when they call me mapillai. Is it:

1. "ma"-pillai - meaning Amma pillai

2. ma -"pillai"- meaning big-son a.k.a. son-in-law

3. "ma-pizhlai"- meaning big-mistake.

the end.

Finding Mrs. Me

Finding Mrs. Me

I am just an ordinary guy. My schooling, college, and professional life was somewhat void of one thing - ladies. While I had good friends in school, I was an unofficial member of the "anti-kadalai" gang in college... and was content looking at couples (actually only ladies) from a far distance in the SW firm I worked for. Though I don't take pride in not socializing with them, I thought it was an extra effort to actually maintain some amount of contact with them. Knowing that I was not good in that aspect, there were few concerns that crossed my mind. "Will I get married? Will I find my better half?"  And some other times it was the inquisitiveness to know who it was. "She's there somewhere", Amma would say often. Wish it was cinema where the next frame would be heroine intro. As fate be it, the passive but eternal search for Mrs. Me ended in Cincinnati. There she was waiting all this time for me :- well actually she landed some days before. The wind, the birds, the waves which stopped still after my separation with Amma - resumed. I acknowledge the best relation in this world is a mother. Actually its a mother who makes this world the best place. Either way,I was happy to find traces of Amma in her, in everything. Cinematically speaking she saved me from desperation. Honestly I am too young to be desperate on marriage, or to comment on the long-wait some people have to find the ideal-self. But finding her at the right time saved me from resembling the Chinna Thambi "yenakku kalyanum" guy. Long before I started thinking about the thesis proposal, I actually proposed, and defended successfully. While she could have chosen to say the easy NO, she took the hard YES path. ("S" is hard - see how curvy it is). And she diligently followed it with efforts to convince her parents that I am in fact from the same planet. And finally, in a few days, I will have a new role to play. "With new role comes new responsibility?" NO. I am responsible to the extend of being myself, knowing that someone is there  to take care of things. And I can develop added-irresponsibility. NO more caring about washing dishes, washing clothes, cleaning house, and cooking something edible - the jobs I did since leaving home. After all, its home again.  Hmmm... looking back the things we shared, 2 years didn't look a long time to know each other so well. Probably it was longer than 2 years, much longer. I don't know, but it feels so. And when we feel something we acknowledge it. And when we acknowledge it, we know how important it is. Ofcourse we are important to each other. I wonder why I even brought this sentence. But then, you cannot stop feeling blessed when you know how important you are to the people you love the most.   Goodbye bachelorhood, I am leaving you for good. the beginning... Original Post: http://sites.google.com/site/subrowedsveena101908/finding-mrs-me

Majic Jack

I recommend this product, majic jack, which is an intermediate step between VOIP and internet chat. Technically it is a jack, to be plugged into your computer USB. Any telephone can be plugged into the other end of the jack and used. One great feature is that it autoloads the drivers necessary from the jack itself, so you just have to wait for 5 minutes on a computer with internet connection, and you are ready to go.

It is comparable to traditional VOIP for reasons:

1. You get a US based number

2. Caller ID, Answering Machine, etc.

3. Portable: connect to any computer, anywhere and still use the same number.

However it differs from VOIP in sense:

1. It needs to be plugged into a computer, which means the computer should be ON while using it.

2. Technically its a phone, but practically the computer cannot be ON 24 hrs, so thats a downside. However you can go online and check the messages you missed.

Cost: $20 per year which is lowest possible VOIP connection.

Verdict: I bought one for my mother in India. She uses airtel connection and the connection and call quality is brilliant. I think its a cheap, alternate way to connect to India or other international locations.

the end.

Vaaranam Aiyuram

One of the most awaited movies of the year, VA, is a technically solid, sound, and enjoyable movie. Surya is brilliant. It was unbelievable to see him as a school boy, and an ageing old man, all in the same movie. Due praise to the brain behind it, Gautam Menon.

But I found the movie a confusing mix of too many things. Were they trying to portray the strong yet mostly unnoticed father-son relation?

Were they showing the journey of a young man, and how his father played an important step moulding him along the way. I dont want to confuse more adding the possibilities, but the movie was a heavy mix of many complicated things. There was too much to stuff in the 3 hr long movie, that many relations or scenes were minimal. Like the romance between Surya and Sameera in US was very short lived.

And taking this movie to be a contribution to father-son relation, I am inclined to compare it to Thavamae Thavamirunthu, a technically normal, but high-impact movie. With due respects to VA team and their great efforts, I think it is nowhere close to TT. 

Overall, the outstanding feature of this movie remains Surya's acting, makeup, and possibly the last composition of Harris Jayaraj for Gautam Menon, though the screenplay could have been more comprehendible. 

the end.

Since then...

Welcome Home.
Its been quite long since I blogged.

And a lot has changed since then.

No, I am still in school and in the verge of graduating.

But something more important has happened.

I am no longer a carefree bachelor (actually I have never been).

And it gives me a sense of pride to say that.

Now there is someone else whom I am more than happy to share my journey of life with.

I thank my mother for making it happen.

I thank my recently discovered parents for gifting my wife.

And I am happy God is with me for the most pressing matters in life.

I am happily married ever after...