Magizhchi!

I did mention on my SoCS post that I will be watching ‘Kabaali‘ movie with my friend. We did. Even though I was shocked to see only 5 of us in the theater in Boleyn Cinemas I am not sure if it should be attributed to the success or failure of the movie. There was a news that the movie was leaked online a day prior to its release. And Boleyn Cinemas was not a well maintained movie theater, sadly. The only saving grace was they had the subtitles for my friend, who otherwise would have had a very bad time trying to understand. Heck, I needed those subtitles for some parts of it because the slang was very Malaysian Tamil and I didn’t understand most of those words. And according to my friend, the subtitles were very well done (as opposed to some of the ones he had the pleasure of seeing in Bollywood movies where he had to focus hard to ignore the grammatical errors 😛 )

So what did we think of the movie? I am a Rajni fan, but not to the extent that I have watched all of his movies. I haven’t watched his last two movies because I knew, even from the trailer that they would turn out very bad and it did not give me the ‘you gotta see this’ vibe. But ever since I watched Kabaali’s trailer I wanted to see it. And there are a lot of good points that I really really appreciated. He isn’t romancing the heroine who is almost half his age. The romance angle was very subtle and also it shows more of when he is old and still in love with his wife and is searching for her. He plays his age. He has some scope to act when compared to his last 5 movies. It was a gangster movie. When I heard the songs separately, I didn’t quite like them, but in the movie most of them were in the background, so they went well with the story line. This was a big deal for me. I wanted a commercial entertainment movie and that is what I got. And interestingly my friend also liked it for its commercial value.

We both were a little confused with the Malaysian politics and how people kept backstabbing each other. But after some time I got the hang of it. My friend struggled to get that part especially in the first half. It is based in Kuala Lumpur and about two gangs there. Unless we are aware of what had happened with Malaysian Tamils over there, I don’t think we can appreciate it. But I am glad that someone made an effort to shot an entire movie (except for a small part in Tamil Nadu) in KL based on the life there. I have no clue why there were so many bad reviews for the movie or why Rajini was criticized so much. He is criticized not matter what he does, so I shouldn’t be bothered. I don’t really care for his or any of the movie star’s personal life. That is their own. As a profession, he, the director promised me a good time in the movies. And they kept their promise. That is all that matters to me. Magizhchi! (Cheers!)

Second time, Second day

I am here in London, my second visit this year and guess what. I am going to watch the movie Kabali (Tamil) (it is a big deal for Rajnikanth fans all over) the second day of its release here in London. Got it booked in Boleyn Cinemas. Yes, it will be today, the saturday, the 23rd. My sister who is a very huge fan of his was a bit upset that she couldn’t see the first day first show. But thankfully they got tickets in my home town for the second day and both my siblings and their families would have seen it before I get to the theater. I have heard mixed reviews but nothing beats the excitement to see my favorite movie star in a pucca masala entertainment movie. I am also taking my friend (non-Indian) to this movie and hope that there are subtitles for him to follow. He knows more about Bollywood movies than me. But this will be first Tamil movie. I am really excited.

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Post for this week’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt.

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “second.” Use it any way you’d like. Have fun!

 

 

SoCS Badge by HopeFloats@ My Leaky Boat

Champion Pistah Cricket(er) – Be ready to dance

If you are a follower of IPL (Indian Premier League) matches then you would know that for this year the official promo song is ‘Pistah’. No no…not the eating pista. This pistah (…see the extra ‘h’ at the end? That makes all the difference) refers to someone who thinks of themselves as a big shot (It’s a slang term from Chennai). Here is the official video of IPL 2016.

The original video of this song, shot for the Tamil and Malayalam movie ‘Neram’ (meaning Time), is one of my favorites because every time I hear it it makes me want to dance. The proper local kuthu dance that the South India is famous for. You should also try it sometimes. You can check out this video for some cool kuthu steps 😀

I am not sure how many of you actually saw Dwayne Bravo’s Champion dance after they won the recent World T20 Cup. It was amazing and fun to watch. If you have missed it by any chance, here it is. It feels so nice to see them enjoying after the win with their own song.

This is Dwayne Bravo’s song. Do you know that he writes music and has some music videos to his credit too? He is super cool, I say. Here is the original version of it. Now, after watching it, you should try and do that ‘Champion’ step without fail.

Now, let’s go…

Champion we are real Champion
don’t vex if your name not call
We have to leave time to bat some ball
We love Soca and Dancehall
We love cricket and Football
From ah dancing , ah my name your call
Champion, Champion

O K K

This Sunday, went to the newly released Tamil Movie ‘O Kadal Kanmani‘. This isn’t about my views on the movie, although I should say that I was impressed by the storyline and liked the movie a lot. Good music, very good background score, handsome hero, beautiful and expressive heroine, understanding old couple… It had its moments of cliche’s and unwanted scenes, but overall was a breezy and nice romantic drama. This isn’t the first movie to talk about live-in relationships. There was a Thriller called ‘Pizza’ which had a small plot but since it wasn’t very important to the main story line, it got breezed over. But this being the romantic drama, the story revolved around that and also about Alzheimer’s of an older couple. It reminded me of the movie ‘Away from Her‘, which is so amazing and so heart wrenching.

Incidentally, just a week before, even before I knew the plot of this movie, one of my friend was coercing me , as usual, to get ‘settled’ in life a.k.a get married again. He is a little conservative in his opinions and beliefs. So when we ended up talking about marriage and live in relationships, he told me that it wouldn’t suit our culture. I told him that I ain’t as worried about the culture as I am worried about my comfortability with it. He wasn’t convinced, as usual 🙂 Having grown up in a conservative and orthodox family, until I started work, I had no clue as to what live-in relationship really meant. But then once I started work, and got to know about the outer world, I should say I was a little surprised, but then as long as people involved are happy and content, it is fair and OK with me. Once, a young girl in my hostel came to me and asked me what I thought about live-in relationships. I had no clue as to how to answer her, because  she sort of looked up to me and I didn’t want to be in a position to guide her in these matters, when I wasn’t sure what it entailed. This society being a patriarchal society even now, I had heard of cases where the women were the ones who end up being emotionally hurt (not to mention in some cases where the physical hurt was also involved) in such relationships. Not until 2005, cohabitation or live in relationships were even recognized. I told her that as long as the people involved were strong enough to handle the ups and downs of it as it would be in any relationship, it is fine with me.

There is a line in the movie, where the hero’s sister in law sort of interrogates the heroine suspecting something and when she is confronted, the heroine agrees to their living arrangement. So the sister in law asks if they were gonna get married. For which the heroine asks how does a marriage certificate would change anything at all with the way they live. Finally they do get married for a different reason, but that is entirely their prerogative and not because they wanted to prove something to the elders, who didnt understand their live in arrangement. Where do I stand with these kind of relationships? I don’t think I would mind a live in relationship to be with someone whom I like and can actually see a future with, if not forever at least a few years. If that has to be sealed, signed and delivered, for all practical and legal purposes through a marriage, then that is the path the relationship should go through. Does a marriage certificate really change the relationship ? I would say, yes, it does to some extent. It gives it a legal binding and we are emotionally attached to it so some extent. Some people need that kind of grounding and trust that comes with it. But not all.  I believe emotionally , it doesn’t matter. Until the emotional attachment between the people involved is strong and alive, the paper binding holds good and has value. Else…

I am glad that such topics are being handled in the mainstream Tamil movie and making people at least start talking about it, rather than in hushed tones.

Regional Movie Updates

Some quick updates on regional movies I recently watched.

Yennai Arindhaal (Tamil)

Watched this movie of Ajith (one of my favorite actors in Tamil Cinema) when I went to my home town. Went for a night show with my siblings. Overall it was a good movie but it was a little slow. Ajith has aged 😦 and Trisha looks very beautiful. But the one that steals the show is Arun Vijay. He has done a pretty good job as the villain. Good job. I like Gautam Menon (the director)’s depiction of love and romance. It is always a little different. In this too, he shows the love between a single mother and a cop , which is not very common in Tamil movies. But Anushka wasn’t that impressive and I wonder why the first song was in at all. The movie goes back and forth in time a little bit and that is a little confusing but then that is Gautam’s usual style too. Songs werent that impressive. Forgot them as soon as we left the theater. If only they had did some editing and made it a little faster, it would have been awesome.

Roy (Hindi)

Saw this over this weekend with a friend. The concept of the movie was good but it was too bloody slow. I almost fell asleep in some parts. It is about the parallel’s of a director and screen writer’s life and that of his character Roy’s. How their lives are entwined and how one woman plays a very important part in both of their characters is what the story is about. I really liked it to be honest. But it could have been a lot more fast paced. Arjun Rampal and Ranbir Kapoor, two good looking men and the trailer, that is what exactly got both of us ladies  to the theaters. Jacqueline looks part Priyanka and part Sunny Leone. Acting wise there isn’t much to say, but I would definitely give credit for the screenplay and the story line. And it is sad that on a Valentine’s day this movie was only half filled, especially with such a star cast.