On My Playlist

Kahin To Hogi Woh... from 'Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na', a love ballad sung by newcomer Rashid Ali (where on earth does ARR find all these awesome new singers?), and Vasundhara Das who finally breaks out of the item number rut she's been stuck in for a while. My gut tells me this is destined to be the new-age Pehla Nasha... if its picturized well.

Kabhi Kabhi Aditi Zindagi... from 'Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na' has super-hit written all over it; most ARR numbers require a lot of listening to before you get to like it. Kabhi Kabhi Aditi Zindagi..., like the other insta-ditty from ARR Enrendrum Punnagai... from 'Alaipayuthey', is mind-bogglingly addictive. ARR ought to let down his hair and indulge in these hip numbers more often; he's been stuck in the 'Swades' and 'Jodhaa Akbar' mode for a while now (not that I don't enjoy those either, 'Yeh Jo Des Hai Tera' and 'Khwaja Mere Khwaja' are amongst my favorite ARR songs). Rashid Ali does a repeat here, and he's got a lot to thank ARR for.

Meherbaan from 'Ada' makes it ARR thrice in a row. ARR singing is increasingly becoming more and more common unlike say, 5 years ago, and it is quite possible that I might get tired of listening to him croon song after song. Right now, however, his high-pitched, slightly nasal voice is undiluted music to my ears, so much that I even listen to the likes of the 'Jaagenge...' from 'Bose: The Forgotten Hero' (and that turned out to be quite an inspired choice of the name, I have to say!). Btw, this is such an awesome album, and so is 'Tehzeeb', never mind their status at the B.O.

Mast Kalandar from 'Hey Baby' is a wild song, totally. The nasal, slightly whiny voice of the main singer takes nothing away from the sheer energy of this number. Even the fact that the picturization of the song was no great shakes (despite the presence of Akshay and SRK) couldn't prevent this one from busting the charts.

Engu Ninnu Vanna from 'Calcutta News' is a very nice song, albeit a little old-fashioned. Madhu Balakrishnan has made a career for himself on the nostalgia factor of Keralites, and he does the same here (and this is not taking away from his considerable singing abilities at all). Veteran Chitra easily dominates the song though. The video sucks big time, with Dileep trying hard to pass off as an intellectual, but only succeeding in trying to look like a bad hair gel commercial.

Hawa Sun Hawa from 'Ada' is the typical Rahman song that takes ages to get used to, but once you do the tune refuses to get out of your head. Its easily one of the better duets Sonu and Alka have sung together. Somehow, the tune reminds me of the neglected Khamoshiyaan ditty from 'One Two ka Four', but hey that could just be me.

Hare Raam Hare Raam from 'Bhool Bulaiyya' is probably the most infectious track in the past few years. Even my horror at what old Priyan had done to poor, old-fashioned Manichitrathazhu couldn't stop me from nodding my head to the rollicking beat of this one. Akshay, for all his faults as an actor, is extremely good at most song picturizations, and he doesn't put a foot wrong here.

My World This Week

BOOKS:

Read a satisfying book after ages - debutant novelist Cody Mcfayden weaves a great tale of serial killers and an elite FBI taskforce in his 'Shadow Man'. Given that this is a theme done to death (and that too, by authors as gifted as Thomas Harris and Michael Connelly, just to name two offhand), the author does a fabulous job. Smoky Barrett, wounded in all senses of the word, makes for an endearing heroine - not quite a Clarice Starling, but pretty great alright. I'd recommend this book anyday, especially to fans of the genre.

MOVIES:

Watched 'Iruvar' once again, and fell in love with the movie all over again. For the few unfortunate moviegoers who haven't seen this movie yet, rent / buy a copy straightaway; somebody has also put up the whole damn movie on Google Videos, fyi. For one, its the best Mani Ratnam movie ever, IMO. And, it has Mohanlal at his awesome, vintage best (he really deserves to be called vintage now!) - whoa, what a performance! In addition, it has Prakash Raj matching Mohanlal scene for scene, in the second amazing performances of the movie.

The movie deals with the dynamics of the MGR-Karunanidhi duo. Hindsight is a great thing to have, and it shows in a lot of the dialogues (a young Karunanidhi remarking to actor MGR that the latter's entry into politics would really 'kill' him - ironic and sorta sad, since it did turn out to be sorta true). The weak link is mostly Jayalalitha's character, played by Aish Rai in her first ever screen appearance. She's better here than all her other screen appearances put together, but most of her screen-time appears to be heavily edited, and the character suffers as a result. There's another scene where Mani slyly hints that Jaya might have actually goaded MGR into raising arms against his old friend KNidhi. In the end, its virtually a school of acting from Lal - given a meaty role to sink his teeth into, Mohanlal shows once again why he's up there matching shoulders with the rest of them.

Kamal Hassan's 'Hey Ram' is another movie that has few things wrong with it. Except for some self-indulgent direction and poor graphics, this is a near masterpiece of a movie. Semi-fiction as a genre is rare in Indian cinema, and so is a film criticizing the policies of Gandhi (no matter how obliquely). 'Hey Ram' straddles both worlds with aplomb most of its running time.

Its a heavily researched movie, and the effort shows. Characters speak in their own mother-toungues most of the time (unlike a Kashmiri terrorist conveniently knowing Tamil, for instance), and are seldom black or white. Kamal himself is grey here - a mere puppet in the hands of Hindu hardliners such as Abhayankar (splendidly enacted by Atul Kulkarni). References abound - whether they be to Sarvarkar's controversial works (its not clear whether the movie refers to Hinduvta or Gandhi Gondhal), or to the Ramayana. Its intelligent movie-making here from Kamal, with little thought or compromise made in the name of entertainment. It might have affected the movie's BO prospects, but then so be it, I guess.

The performances are just awesome: Naseer as Gandhi is very convincing. Amjad Khan's son plays a rioting Muslim, and is pretty sleazy. Rani and Vasundhra Das do turn in good performances, but end up being remembered more as the target of Kamal's lecherous gropes. Atul Kulkarni steals the show from the lot of them with ease. Kamal is just apt acting-wise, but its as a screenplay writer and director that he is in complete control here.

Also watched Farhan Akhtar's and SRK's version of 'Don'. Of course, none of the current actors manage to match the charisma of their counterparts in the original (esp Kareena; SRK comes the closest); but still, watching the new hi-fi Don is fun alright. The action sequences are nicely done, SEL put in some nice numbers (the new numbers, that is; the remixes are not a shade on the originals) and the climax packs a tremendous punch (which the purists and staunch AB loyalists are gonna hate, obv).

Farhan manages to rein in Khan, and except for the horrible dialect he attempts as the normal guy, he comes out truimphs in and as the new-age Don. He is much more cruel and sadistic than AB ever could be; however, he's not a patch on AB in the style department. AB was naturally stylish, despite the horrible clothes he wore; SRK tries hard to be, and the effort shows sometimes.

'Jaaneman' was alright, I suppose. Salman struts his stuff, Akshay Kumar was affable for the most part (and I loved that goofy laugh of his) and Preity is her chirpy self. Director Shirish Kunder attempts to make a Broadway show out of the movie, and would have brought it off were it not for the stale, insipid music by Anu Malik (save the Ajnabi number). Also, for the record: its painful to hear Gulzar pen words like 'mera future hai tere hath mein' or some such crap. He should stick to his splendid Urdu-spouting self. Oh, and how I wish men would learn not to weep like they'd caught their dick in their zips or something; SRK started the trend, and now everybody seems to be following suit; terrinble I tell you!

'Vivaah' was too, too sweet for my taste. All the reverence and goodness made me want to puke. Amrita Rao (who I like) looks piteously at everybody, behaving like a pregnant cow; Shahid sports his 'I'm SRK' ruffled hairstyle and runs around like a loveshorn puppy - uck, in one word!

MUSIC:

Its ARR all the way here. First it was 'Munbe Vaa' from the Tamil flick 'Sillunu Oru Kaadhal', and now its the songs from the much awaited 'Guru'. As has been the norm, ARR seems to reserve his best stuff for Mani Ratnam.

'Tere Bina' is a gem of a number sung by ARR himself in a Sufi style, reminiscent of the great Nusret - its amazing how different Chinmayi sounds here (she sang the title track in 'Kannathil Muthamittaal'). 'Aiy Hairathe' is another splendid romantic ditty, that wouldn't have been out of place in the upcoming 'Jodha-Akbar'; its sung exquisitely by Hariharan and Alka. And then we have the soaring 'Jaago', which begins as a hush and soars into a full-blown extravagantly orchestrated piece.