Manmadan Ambu - A Review

      

The Cruise

• The first thing one would realize after a scene or two of watching this movie is the reason behind naming the movie Man Madan Ambu(Kamal Maddy Trisha) and truly the title has done justice to the movie.
• With the finesse in cinematography being uptrend in Indian movies these days,  Manush Nandan's work has truly lived up-to it and kept the standards high.
• Casting has been spot on and its just picture perfect. Be it the choice or the number of people right from Sangeetha's two kids and Urvasi-Ramesh Aravind pair to the Malayali Producer couple.
• Its a typical Devi Sri Prasad music score and he has just been what he is, nothing new or nothing different to the common listener.
• Gowthami has done a commendable job when it comes to costumes, be it Kamal (no surprises on that) or from Madhavan to Madhavan's dad and from Trisha and Sangeetha to Usha Uthup.
• Shan Mohammed has done a splendid role as the editor which peaks in the Neelavaanam song.
• The Obvious Show Stealer was Kamal Haasan
  
  • The first catch for me as a movie enthusiast is obviously his looks, ONE OF A KIND is just the phrase I can put forth to describe, he still is just so flawless in his acting and it would only be apt to call him The Sachin Tendulkar of the Indian Cinema.
  • His prowess at screenplay and dialog writing is just so fantastic and has made sure a lot of subtle yet powerful messages be conveyed at various occasions in the movie.
  • This movie had been yet another instance to showcase his trademark natural-tears-swelling-up-in-the-eyes scene.
• Maddy has delivered the suspicious big-shot role to the extent it made sure that no one else could have done that better.
• A divorced Sangeetha looked so laudable and natural, has fit the bill with her set of thoughtful and realistic snippets about the guys.
• Trisha has donned her role to the best that was expected out of her fitting rightly as an actress on screen.
• Its a sort of a different combination of genres for K.S.Ravikumar with a mix of humor, smartness with lack of flashy dialogs and he has indeed done justice to add as another feather to his directorial cap. 
• Lastly the song Neelavaanam has just held the audience awestruck literally with its one of first of its kind song portrayals in Indian Cinema. Was it an inspired thought from this or was it a coincidence is a questions to ponder.

The Hole(s)

• The feel of contentment and rejoice at the interval was reduced considerably while walking out of the theater at the end of credits.
• The sort of confusions and dialogs that were tried at around the last 20 mins of the movie had the shades of Panchathanthiram sans the similar thrill and enjoyment, maybe that's the difference between Crazy Mohan and Kamal Hassan.
• Trisha revealing her feelings for Kamal wherein her mix of feelings of guilt, pity and concern seemed to have been extrapolated to love without adequate validation and was like "Its not Maddy anymore and now its Kamal" and the confusions later did not make the situation any better.
• The Maddy-Sangeetha pairing up towards the end was like the director telling "Oh...so you two are left out, ok come on quick, pair up!!!"

Bottomline

        The Cruise was set on sail en-route an amazing destination with a superb and adventurous journey all throughout however with a few holes found here and there. Did the Cruise reach the destination with the holes covered up or did the holes leave the Cruise sink into the ocean, is left to the audience to decide upon !!!

'Hand'some People

          

          If you had been to an Indian wedding especially the South-Indian ones, you would have noticed that the feast would mostly be served on a large banana leaf. What’s more interesting is the fact on how people eat, finish off their share of food. Further on shifting focus to how the people’s hands are, at the end of a meal, struck coherence with the following analogy in my mind.

• All fingers draped – These are the set of people who have all their fingers dressed-up with food (mostly of the sorts of last consumed) and they are the type of people who would like to have a grab of anything that comes to their offing in life but may actually do/make-use-of that, uninterestedly. They do not seem to have the passion of enjoying whatever they do.
• All fingers clean – For a second, these people may give a picture as if they haven’t had a meal but on a closer introspection, one can notice that their deft lips and tongue have made their fingers clean (and maybe better than how it was, when they started). A variety of people fall in this category with the likes of those who thoroughly enjoy the experience of whatever they have, use or like in their lives, to those people who grab stuff (be it a company quarters, official travel, or even simply a friend’s treat and lots more) to utilize or enjoy it to the fullest at someone else’s expense.
• Few fingers draped – There are quite a handful of people, who make use of just few of their fingers as a compulsive, self-ascertained dining etiquette immaterial of how much they eat. These people are more of the self conscious type for whom their appearance and presentation of their own selves is next to being god. More often than not they choose not to do/have/use something that they like to, in the manner that it needs to be enjoyed/cherished because of “What if other may think…”, “What if I don’t look classy and decent?”  Sorts of questions pondering in their minds redundantly.
• Spoons in lieu of fingers – These kinds of people are a rare breed but yes they do indeed exist. They cannot subdue their practice of using cutleries for dining and, banana leaf meals are a no different ball game for them. They for sure end up as highlight elements for other meal-mates to giggle about, for the next few days.  They are interestingly a daring breed who stick to their principles and practices wherever they are and (most importantly) do not shy away from doing it in spite of the vulnerability involved of being laughed-at/commented/criticized. They are firm believers of what they do and are ready to debate endlessly justifying their actions, though it (their actions) may be out rightly out-of-place/unaccepted/refuted by many. 

With such a variety of ‘hand’some people around which one do you think you fall under..? or Are you totally a different unlisted genre?

Note :This post is a syndication to my article published on Thoughts On Sale at this link.

Top Ten Reasons Why People Pursue MBA

     GMAT, CAT, XAT and what not, being the core mantra for many, these days and what is it, that drives them to take all/many of these and become an MBA graduate? Well there are quite a lot of reasons why people choose to pursue MBA, here are my pick of ten reasons that top the chart in no particular order, unless stated explicitly.

• My Uncle in US/Dad/Mom/Brother/Sister/Dad's best friend/My Brother's fiancée suggested it was the best career choice as on date.
• For my course and score in under graduation I don't think I have good work prospects, so let me do an MBA to recoup for the loss.
• I've felt my aptitude and vocabulary being competitive and I want to crack this as a challenge.
• My Aunt's son or daughter/Friends/College Senior/Best friend from school/Girlfriend or Boyfriend  is doing it.
• A thing of beauty is always an HR lady, I sure wanna work in an ambiance with such people around me, doing my MBA in HR henceforth.
• I had all the experience, ideas, potential to be a perfect fit, for this job but they rejected me as I was not "qualified enough".
• My company offered an all expense sponsored e-MBA course at a premium institute and I took it gleefully with both hands.
• I have no clue why I took this and still trying to figure that out.
• With my under-graduation in Engineering and my "skill set" I was worthy of just a Rs 3L p.a job, but then with a little effort I landed into this MBA and my remuneration gets to start anywhere from Rs 6L p.a after I am done with this. It is way better than what I would earn with a Bachelor of Engineering and experience of 2 years. To me MBA is Money Best Assured.
• Lastly I hope at least a handful would say "I have aspired to become an entrepreneur in my field of interest some day and this is  a firm step towards it".

Love Cycle

Years to realize the fact.

Months to prepare myself.

Days to decide the D-day.

Hours of contemplation.

Minutes to profess my love.

Seconds of hearing rejection.

Minutes of rebut and reasoning.

Hours of disappointment.

Days of dejection.

Months of seeking respite.

Years to move on...

Deception

It was exciting when I first felt it.

But then after those initial days

it grew out of my control.

Sometimes I trimmed it down,

many a time I liked the feel of having it.

"What's wrong with you?" questions and stares arose.

Confused and clueless of their misconceptions

 I maintained a clean-shave, since then.

The Great Indian Blogologues - Bits and Pieces !!!

     History has been made and yeah for the first time EVER (from what we heard from the Stray Factory folks) a string of stand alone blogs, mostly written burning the midnight oil I guess, has been brought to light or rather should I say LIMELIGHT. Now, having watched it twice here's my take on the bits and pieces that made up this show.

Starting off with the three plays...

@Judy finds ‘The One’

• Firstly, kudos to the director for striking a connectivity between more than a handful of posts and delivering with absolute precision and timing.
• Its sarcastic genre has surely struck a chord at a lot of stark realities prevalent in the social and work surroundings.
• It was appreciable that the voice audibility level imbalance between the two characters that was seen in the first screening was overcome here.
• Bottomline: Amazing adaptation and indeed Judy found 'The One'.

@Vigilante Vs Vigilante

• Great to see such a complex set of posts be taken in for an adaptation, honestly I couldn't comprehend completely though, still. However must say that I felt the second screening was a bit more "adapted" in an attempt to suit the audience understanding.
• The Loan Sharkji dialogs seemed to use expletives like as if she was made to sign up for just that.
• The crying scientist girl acting overflowed (கொடுத்த காசவிட ஜாஸ்தியா நடிச்சா) in the second screening in comparison to her apt act on the first.
• The background score was not of much support to the scenes at hand.
• As Inspector Sathya knew his jaab, he saved others' butts, with just bruises.
• Bottomline: I was twice as "Vigilante" as I could be, both the times but still the clone escaped over my head.

@Confessions of a scattered a mind

• The first thing that came up in mind was the musical touch that I enjoyed and it was truly refreshing after a befitting fighting-for-samosa break. Must say that the scientist had a good singing potential.
• The idea of using a mime to create a traffic jam on-stage was truly laudable, hands down but I did not know why it was a wee hour traffic jam rather than a peak hour jam.
• Mr.Modi was amazing and might have left the real Modi gaping for a moment, had he watched.
• The character Anuraag struck a good balance in his intonation and rendition and for sure the script did complete justice to the blog post.
• The என் இனிய தமிழ் மக்கள் who "filled" the last part were good on their accent, body language and voice throw but not on the substance.
• Bottomline: Truly lived up-to its name and kept the audience mind scattered.

Moving on-to the collaborators...

@Indiblogger

• Its pretty evident to know that Indiblogger has grown to the extent of being looked upon as a pioneer in showcasing Indian Blogger talents and no one else would've been a better choice for Stray Factory for this venture, than you folks.
• Kindly stick to timelines when showing promotions for shows like this and remove it or update it upon completion of the shows because the first thing I still see logging into your forum is the blogologue tab with 'Buy Tickets' button for the 31st Oct show, STILL. It gives a feel that the site has been cobwebbed due to some poor site administration. There are quite a few more for which this is not the space for me to highlight though.
• Bottomline: Indiblogger will surely make it to that coveted world level showcase SOONER, sans these technical glitches.

@MacTrics

• I know you guys have the potential to have pulled off even a larger, bigger and more 'realistic' traffic jam. No idea whether what you had showcased was all, that was expected by the director.
• Your part in the second show did not do justice as to what the first show did and there was an evident lapse of coordination which I am sure you people would've realized already.
• Bottomline: The performance was way below par off a trademark MacTrics performance.

@Hip Hop Tamizha

• I was very much disappointed and confused with your performance, which was just like a background score in bringing the cast and crew on stage in the first show.
• However, I am blessed to have made it to the second show wherein I had been a witness of the true potential of what you were capable off. I loved and enjoyed your  scintillating performance on stage.
• The lyrics was well scripted and stuck up-to the message that you wanted to convey.
• It made me decide to get a copy of your tracks if it has been released already.
• Bottomline: HIP HOP தமிழா உனக்கு நான் தலை வணங்குகிறேன்.

@Stray Factory

• The sync-up, discussions, brain-storming sessions with the blog authors were truly up-to the expectations and the run-up to the event was well informed as well.
• The live-recorded conversational pair debuted truly in style and sure it was well received by the audience too.
• I'm rather surprised to notice that the 'LCD Screen Conversations' worked picture perfect for 'Judy...' but not for 'Confessions...' on both the screenings, with a little improvement for 'Confessions...' on the second show making not much of an impact though.
• The lighting and audio queues are definitely something that should be on the MUST IMPROVE list as it faltered and the actors on stage had to cover up for it.
• The props management needs fine tuning as well, or maybe the bad light-queuing made this look a bit clumsy especially in the second screening.
• Though the LIMELIGHT objective was achieved, the Bloggers were not given a worthwhile mention, on either of the shows.
• All said and done, yet again a must say is that this is indeed an amazing venture and I'm sure you guys will go places.
• Bottomline: Stray Factory bravely strayed into the unexplored and the unheard off domains and no doubt are en-route a firm path towards fame, achievements and accolades from a growing audience, each time.

From Hider's Den

    The recent interview and news sharing has brought to light that Zulqarnain, who's sweetly referred by PeeCeeBee as 'Hider' these days, has sought asylum in Britain. Our close sources from London has unearthed some reasons so far, behind Hider's move to Britain.

• Hider was not sure if the South-African media had such a potential of taking him to that pinnacle of limelight that 3 of his team mates got, a few months back based on a whistle blown by NOTW.
• The potential risks of answering / involving (sharing the limelight) with the senior team members and mostly importantly attending being-a-puppet press conferences with the team manager has been thwarted.
• His bookies are apparently London based and his remuneration as a Pakistani cricketer was just not enough to support him on the high ISD calls rates he had to pay whenever he spoke to them.

Our London reporter was able to catch up a drink at a "Booker" hotel with a famous Bookie Mr.Paisa Power and the unconfirmed yet very strong reports suggests that in-fact the entire course of  Hider's winning performance versus SA in that ODI and seeking asylum in Britain was a small shred of a newer version of a BIG BUCKS fixing scandal. Asking him on Hider's involvment with match-fixing  and here' s what Mr.Power blurted to us on what all were fixed.

• The selection of Hider into the National side was itself fixed, to start with.
• The Paki team's lead sponsors are a bunch of bookies who for the first time ever booked a player (Hider in this case) to play a match winning knock.
• On every match that Paki plays some player or the other, play a "fixed" role.
• The retirement announcement from Hider is based on the biggest bet placed on a new comer till date in the CBL (Cricket Betting League) and incidentally this announcement was followed by the 25th anniversary of CBL wherein Hider was the guest of honor!!!

More to unfold soon...

Born Winners !!!

It was a do or die race for survival and existence.

It was not on a track of 8 people nor a race of many laps.

It was a Marathon of thousands of aspirants

for the ONE WINNER GETS ALL contest.

In the end I WON,

so did Billions,

 in their respective Marathons, 

world over!!!

Mr.Chovan Held Kobama's Hand Longer Than Expected

      For the first time in the history of Send-Off ceremonies, Mr.Ashog Chovan was seen SHAKING HANDS with Mr.Kobama LONGER than that was defined by the Protocol draft and in-fact the Protocol Minister Juresh Jetty was seen restless having witnessed the incident from close-quarters.

   "With reports and comments flowing in from various Government establishments, we're still unaware of the reason for Mr.Chovan's unruly act." - An FBI Security Chief at the Mumbai Airport

The White House was the first to react stating "This incident is totally unacceptable and we've called on a High-Level Meet to assess ALL the possible security breaches summing up-to this."

"We had been briefing and making 'these people' in India, on how to shake hands with Mr.Kobama and now with this lapse we have identified that Mr.Chovan had skipped the last two training sessions. We sure will take this issue with our Indian Intelligence Counterparts ASAP" - The CIA Chief-In-Charge of Security at the Send-Off location.

A Sting operation by INN-CBN has released EXCLUSIVE INN-CBN watermarked video tapes of the disgruntled Mr.Jetty post the incident sighing - "He (Mr.Chovan) did not have the latest Protocol Script v5.0. and He did not pay attention to me as well."

Ms.Rirupama Nao of the Ministry of External Affairs stated  - "Its too soon to comment on this and we are yet to receive any formal report / complaint from our US counterparts."

With various Indian National News Television agencies already in full preparations to bring out their versions of discussing this ISSUE of NATIONAL SHAME, our close sources revealed that 

• Sardeep Rajdesai of INN-CBN has already roped-in THREE PROTOCOL Experts from both India and US to discuss this issue prime-time tonight along with a strong contingent of 25 other experts.
• Proving they're not too shy at this game, NDeTV has asked Ms.Darka Bhatt to audition a set of 100 young people between the ages 20-30 based on who-claps-the-loudest and air a show prime-time tonight discussing this issue. 
• Nimes TOW has already started Breaking News as I speak, raising questions of speculative nature like...
• Whom to blame?? Was it Mr.Kobama or Mr.Chovan, who held the hand LONGER??
• Could this be a publicity stunt by Mr.Chovan to make up for his Adarsh SCAM???
• Did Mr.Chovan just follow "orders" of the Congress High Command in doing this???
• Was there a foreign HAND involved in this incident???
• The rest of the National English Channels are busy watermarking each of OUR photo stock as EXCLUSIVELY theirs.
  

With camera person Will-capture-all-footage Singh, this is I-am-the-news-breaker Patel for Pee Tee Aai, signing off!!!

Achievement !!!

Right from the day she joined school

all she was coaxed repeatedly,

 was to excel in her education.

She topped throughout school,

further onto securing State-Ranks,

and the Gold-Medals at graduation,

was a pioneer in a ground-breaking research in her PG

and FINALLY went on to start her proud career as

"Dr.Mrs.Homemaker"

Her Outburst

She was with me, everywhere.

I used to frequently check how she was doing

while she remained silent, mostly.

Left her back home forgetfully once,

I felt crippled all day that day.

Only to get back and realize,

 she had cried a lot that day

as her home screen read

"17 missed calls, 24 Messages"

The 3Gs for being a TRUE Human-being !!!

   The term 3G has been abuzz throughout India for quite sometime now with NTT DOCOMO all set to revolutionize the 3G space in India. As a part of this 3G Life Contest in collaboration with Indiblogger, the following are the 3 Gs for LIFE, according to me.

• The power to GIVE - We Indians have always been caring, concerned and philanthropic to our best capabilities at occasions that demanded it, be it for the poor or for the homeless, or for calamity / disaster victims and the oppressed and yeah I am proud to say there are countless such INDIANs who have achieved this, all single-handedly and I really hope many more of us take cues from them on this cause.

• The power to GATHER - With the need for the quickest possible ways for all that we GIVE to reach the respective needy people, it requires a tremendous teamwork of efforts. Hence came the existence of NGOs and other philanthropic boards that succeeded gathering resources (Workforce, Charity Marathon Events, Public Awareness etc) to make the achieve this noble-hearted goal in a every possible manner. Hence it is not just suffice if we start being individual philanthropists but we need to GATHER as a team and achieve the goal of making India a better place to live, for everyone.

• The act of taking it GLOBAL - This journey of philanthropy should not stop with taking care of our needy fellow Indians but extend our helping hands to any Country or Community who're in dire need of the basic amenities too and strive for making every HUMAN BEING in this world LIVE a life rather than merely EXIST.

With the penetration of mobiles in almost everyone of our day to day lives, I am more than convinced that with the true speeds that the 3G technology has in the offing one can achieve or rather even revolutionize the above 3Gs with it!!!

If you are a member of Indiblogger community and if you liked my post, I would love it if you could spread this thought by voting for this post by clicking here.

Top Five Reasons That Indian Girls Say While Rejecting a Guy's Proposal

    Proposing or professing their love to an Indian girl, a guy can get either an overwhelmingly excited YES or a "variety-filled" NO. There is also a third possibility of a "silent" reaction which will anyhow boil down either of the two above, finally. In the world of countless possibilities of reasons for why a girl would say NO,  here are 5 varied reasons which I think will top the list.

• #5  Caught Unaware - Who're you btw...? I don't even know your name in first place and how did you even think of approaching me and doing such a thing DOT.
• #4  Family Woes - You know what happened when my cousin sister did the same thing and how it bombed in our family. I do not want a similar story out of me as well. This will not work out for me various reasons, forget it DOT.
• #3  Brotherly love - I think the heading itself is self explanatory DOT. 
• #2 The Unclear Chatterbox - I never expected this from you. Off all people I never thought you would do this to me...blah blah...on and on and ends her bombastic speech obviously pointless DOT. 
• #1 The Ultimate Killer - (With sense of much concern for the guy and with no commotion) I "like" you a lot BUT...

The Great Indian Barterers

           The Barter system has been something that has been existent in the period prior to the thoughts and ideas of using money. Practices changed with the course of evolution however we Indians have still stuck onto the Barter trade in a variety of aspects of course with loads of reasons nonetheless and have given up a lot of  "pridefully ours" for things that may not be truly worth it...

• Cheap labor and remunerations FOR Indian Brains.
• Comparatively high paying outsourced good for nothing jobs FOR possibly challenging local jobs.
• Gymnasiums and Health SPAs FOR Yoga and Meditation.
• KFCs, McDs and Pizza Houses FOR கை ஏந்தி பவன்ஸ், Indian cuisine restaurants and dhabas.
• Traditional relationship oriented Indian marriages TO sex and convenience oriented to-be-named relationships.
• Natural nutrient-rich home made or country made hair supplements TO the likes of L'Oreals and Garniers.
• Beverages like Coke, Pepsi & Co FOR the elixir called water.
• The safety of Indians in the name the Nuclear Liability Bill.
• The age old traditional Kamasutra TO you know what.
• The well nurtured laziness in our blood succumbing TO punctuality, deadlines and quality policies. 
• From the various Indian English accents TO various English accents to the Indian languages.
• The Western lazy seats instead of the "Indian" styled muscle flexing exercisable toilets.
• Nike, Reebok, Adidas brands of clothes and accessories instead of the lesser known actual exporter brands from India.

...and those above are just a shred of a whole lot of stuff that we Indians have bartered/are bartering/will barter FOR!!!

Mesmerized!!!

She was waiting for me.

I spread my arms wide open as I reached

and whilst she walked in up-close,

her fingers brushed against my skin.

I lifted her up with excitement and ease, 

her fragrance filled the vicinity.

It hardly lasted a minute

but she walked out hurriedly telling

"Elevator's too slow these days!!!"

Another Destiny?

We both lived in the same locale.

Since the time THE DAY was decided for either of us

everyone started treating us with utmost care.

With lot of guests pouring-in

we feasted almost everyday.

Surprisingly our "THE DAY" coincided wherein 

I realized my end was a sudden death

while hers was a slow torture.

Why not Mommy?

From the day she conceived

till the day she felt I could take care of myself 

I grew up on her care, concern, teachings, wisdom and what not,

only to realize that

 the world was so chauvinistic 

cos almost everyone's "getting to know me as a kid" conversations 

began with the question

"What's your father?"

Job Openings

Requirements

Age: No bar

Qualification: Not Important.

Experience: Excellent skills in quality product delivery to the customer, on time.

Location: In and around Chennai where lots of Engineers work.

Remuneration: On par or even better than those of most of the customers.

Are you game for it??? If so,

Reach us at: tea-kadai-entrepreneurs@next-big-thing.org

End of an Era

       7th October, 2010 marked the end of an era in my life and of course a new beginning (hopefully good). Well, I am not sure if 18 years was too little for to be called an era but for sure w.r.t me about 80% of my life's area of existence has become void now and hence yeah its indeed the end of an era for me.

• It all began with the first thing which I could remember of happening was getting admission into Chinmaya Vidyalaya.
• Learning the balancing act on my little cycle (with a sense of achievement of having removed its balance wheels all by myself).
• Playing hide n seek forever with Sai, Anirudh, Natti, Kumar, Arjun, Chetan, my cousins and lots more throughout the summer holidays for quite some years.
• With the tech age setting in, moved onto Contra, Mario, Tank, Pacman and what not while at times of power cuts as well as during endless "Don't get your eyes spoilt" retorts from elders, switched gears to the epitome games of those times such as Business, Monopoly and WWF Trump cards.
• Then came the ages of Cricket madness starting from playing with empty asefoetida cans and aluminum rods to almond shells and exam pads and rubber balls and local bats to Cosco balls and seasoned willows as well as the assorted indoor cricket madness of Book cricket and Big Fun wrapper collections.
• Then came the crux of the era, the "Balaji Bakery" which played a major role in my journey of the-making and sustenance of lotsa friends (seniors, juniors, elders too) till date. Its name was so very entwined to our lives and people around that, the present owners of that shop (being muslims)  failed to succeed in renaming it as well.

     Almost the entire unit of school folklores were (a few still are) in and around this area and another reason to the importance and grief was the fact that I had been the witnesseth of each of those folks migrating out of this area one after the other and that was truly a slow blow to me. With so much of countless stories at almost every spot in and around this area, it was truly a herculean task for me to physically to move out of this area however mentally slowly moving on, clinging onto the hopes...