Nuvvostanante Nenoddantana

The Verdict first : The movie works!

Genre : Romantic comedy, Family entertainer.

Synopsis : Not worth talking about. Rich boy meets poor girl. Falls in love. His family objects. He persists. The girl's brother tests him. Villains show up. Everybody lives happily ever after. Basically Maine Pyar Kiya with a little Hum Aapke Hain Koun and just a dash of Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam. Predictable. Mostly unoriginal.

So, why does the verdict say that it works?

1) And this is the primary reason. My Man Siddharth! His energy levels in the first part of the movie are near manic! And he has carried the second half off at a more sedate pace as well!

2) The rest of the cast does what they are asked to do to a perfect T. Trisha, even though grotesquely over made up, manages to look good (in a few scenes, an Aishwarya Rai that can act a little).

3) Choreography: I was really impressed, especially Something Something and Niluvadhamu Ninu Epudaina the only somewhat original aspect of the movie I could see.

4) The almost slapstick comedy that is integral to the movie, keeps you distracted enough to not be bothered by other things you would be bothered by otherwise.

So, lots of unoriginal ingredients borrowed from here and there, but tied into one package in a way that hangs together long enough that you get through the movie without major problems.

About the Reviewer

I have been reading movie reviews on people's blog pages and have decided to join the band wagon, being Time Magazine's person of the year and all. So, as a first step, I thought I should say something about myself so as to put the reviews in context for a random reader. I am Tamil by birth, but grew up all over India and since then have been all over the northern hemisphere of this planet as well. I have been watching movies all my life, as that was the chosen method of killing time in India. Only recently have I started watching movies as a fan of the medium. Language is no bar for me. I have watched movies in all languages, whether I speak it or not.

As a critic, I am of the point of view that any story is acceptable and must be taken in as is. The only thing that distinguishes a good movie from a bad one is how the story is told. Also, I am a perfect audience of one for any movie. I cannot criticize a movie the first time I watch it because I am totally absorbed by what they are telling me on screen. It is only after the first viewing and seeing how that leaves me feeling, I decide if I should watch the movie again to see what in the movie made me feel the way it did.

Ok, that is it for now. Coming up, reviews of Siddharth's movies I have been watching for the past couple of weeks.

Human Beings and Signals

I am still in the middle of my work day and should really not be blogging. But a thought occurred that I wanted to write down somewhere. I was wasting a few minutes googling my crush Siddharth. And of course I came across a whole bunch of discussion about Karan Singhania. How do I say this? In some interview, the director Rakesh Mehra said that there was some chemistry between Sonia and Karan in the movie that they did not bring out front because of want of space. Then, I came across a whole bunch of normal people comments that said that they noticed this chemistry (something along the lines of love and pain in Karan's eyes). I saw this movie a whole bunch of times recently just so I could watch my crush and I did not see this at all! I thought the signal was that Karan had a special spot in his heart for Ajay Rathod and it carried over to his girlfriend Sonia as well and that was what made Sonia special for him.

Now, this is in principle alright because in any work of art, the viewer's perception is the correct perception, irrespective of how it matches up with the creator's perception. Along the lines of "Oviaththin Jeevan Engu uLLathu? Uttru paarkum aaLLin kaNNill uLLathu" type thing. What is bothering me is the following. I had a major problem until a few years ago. I acutely misread signals sent by people to me. This lead to several rather needless confusions in my relationship with my friends. But, now that I am older and wiser, I thought that problem was one that belonged in the past. But, my misreading of Rakesh Mehra's and Siddharth's intended portrayal is indicative of the fact that the problem is actually still there and the only thing that has happened is that I have stopped interacting people for a while now? If that is the case, then there is more trouble in store for me in the future!

New Leaf Again!

I just looked at my blog and in the two weeks or so that have elapsed since my last post, that leaf has turned old and fallen off and today is new leaf day again! So, what have I been doing in the meantime whenever the need arose to waste some time? I have a crush! I have n't had a crush like this since Shah Rukh Khan in DDLJ! This time around, it is this guy Siddharth. I usually dont get crushes on chocolatey guys like this, so this one is an anomaly. Just look at him!
My list of permanent crushes consists of people like Greorge Clooney. So, I guess I am undergoing a change of life or something. Anyways, what I have been doing these past two weeks is watching Rang de Basanti, Ayutha Ezhuthu, Boys and even Nuvvostanate...first golt movie I have watched by myself! BTW, check him out here as Siddharth, not Karan or Santosh or Arjun, going a thousand words per minute in the tone of a desi sophisticate. Got to go now and try and turn a new leaf!

First day of a new life

It is only 2:45 in the afternoon and I am exhausted already. But, today I turned a new leaf (as you will find out in the future I do this periodically) and hence my list of things to do is still long. I need to start a second project (I spent the morning with activenematics , so I should either read the long list of papers that I have to read or complete a calculation for Sean), but given my energy levels, that is unlikely to happen. So, moving on to the next item on the list, need to get some exercise, wash my needlessly long hair and take the trash out. Even thinking about it is making me sleepy, but as I heard some one say once, I will, I can and I must! Plus, it is snowing like crazy outside! The blog of note today was of someone in Florida and it made me nostalgic for the land of sun fun and skin cancer that used to be my home until recently!

A Lazy day

Well, today was a day down the drain for most parts. I woke up late. Then, after a needlessly leisurely breakfast, left to go to my office. I got there and then realized that I did not have my office keys on me. So, I threw in the towel and went for a drive and spent the better part of 200$ shopping for this and that. Then came home and haven't done a thing yet. How lethargic can a person get? I seem to be exceeding all known limits recently. But, I have a clean bathroom and a well stocked fridge and closet, so I guess today is not as bad as some others have been. As always, I am turning a new leaf today. As a wake up call, I got an email from the C boss asking to see me tomorrow morning. But, the problem is that wake up calls appear not to wake me up these days. I should be at work trying to quantify the notion on active nematics I had this morning when I was driving around town. But here I am writing a blog that no one other than me ever reads. Oh, well, that's it for now.

An aside: Yesterday evening was more colorful, USC lost and the Gators beat Arkansas. So for somebody that bleeds orange and blue, both were good for the soul. My friends back in gainesville went overboard celebrating. I had conversations with some really hung over folks this morning. If I am still awake at eight tonight, will be sure to check out the BCS verdict.

Another Saturday Morning

I have been at my office for about 6 hours now. But I have not done much to account for all that time. The task this morning was to try and understand active nemaitcs. I have not gotten to the point where I can say anything yet. So, I will have to reserve comment on that till tomorrow. Which leads to my next thought, I am inclined to quit now and go home. This means that I have to work tomorrow morning also in order to be able to sort out this stuff in time to tell the C boss on monday morning.

Also, I went to a popular physics talk this morning. J was talking about "jamming". The purpose that this served is to make me realize one more time that when I say "cow", you may hear "dog" if that is the only four legged creature you have seen and you have a vague idea that a cow has four legs as well. If communication is this tough, how are we ever going to be successful in making another person understand what we are thinking? It is depressing to contemplate this.

The only other thing I did between yesterday afternoon and now is that I watched the movie "Jillendru oru kadhal". I thought it was an "okay" movie. The screen play as such had a lot of potential. It needed a Maniratnam touch to turn into a good movie. Still, may be beacuse of the state of mind I am in now, I liked it. I was n't expecting to, as all the people that told me about the movie said it was bad. The other good thing for me is that I have added three more songs to my list of A. R Rehman songs I like a lot. And one of these songs has the potential to move to the category of songs that always make me smile.

Aside: After writing the title I realized I seem to be very fond of "Another". Indicates boredom may be?