Gujarat - Back Again

Almost all political analysts would have written their views on the recent mandate in Gujarat.
This poll reflected the Exit poll results. BJP is enjoying Modi's Victory and Congress is finding it difficult to face the media to explain the loss

One should think that Congress loss is not a big factor but on the other side if Modi had lost ,we could say that would have been the down fall of BJP . If BJP could not win in Gujarat then It cannot win any where. Gujarat is the only state where there is not much scope for regional parties and the fight is between Congress Vs BJP.

Modi has silenced all his critics . With very little support from Media and other forms he was able to register the victory.

With the 2009 National Elections coming in it will be interesting to see how Congress plays its cards now . Any how all congress leaders will have a big break and will have to think on the strategy

We were able to see the benefits of two party system in this election. Whether it is BJP or Congress we would have seen a absolute majority for one of these which is good for the development of the state..

I guess this victory would take Modi as a role model Chief minister and the way by which he has lead Gujarat should be studied and followed by the rest

Few are criticising that Modi was autocratic and National leaders could not control him. But to me BJP top leadership did a good job here by not interfering much. Good leaders will create more to follow them and that is what BJP has done..

New York Deserted

I was first frustrated to see my most favourite City Haunted and Empty. But thanks to the graphics /camera I could see all the important locations of NY in short time.

The movie started with the medicine cure for Virus and set some expectations that it is of a Science fiction and Medical Outbreak movie.

The story predimonently revolves around Will Smith and he has made sure that people don't get bored seeing at him. The story is based Richard Matheson's novel so not much to deviate from the base story.Cinematography is good and so are the dialogues. The scene where Smith spells out "Shrek" dialogues was nice to see and the effort to record every single action he does is really creative

The film carries a sick screen play and easily predictable story line. Though this is a Science Fiction where we cannot question on the logics the twists/turns in the story could have been better. The film seems to be of Horror category than thriller.

Will Smith has some good fan base in chennai and this movie should have some good viewership in chennai because majority of the viewer ship still loves action movies and movies of this genere. The climax many audience could not understand since most would have expected a action packed end to the story rather it ended as it was in the book with the fix for the virus found.

In short this movie can satisfy only those who wish to see this kinds of Genere's and for the rest it is a boring 100 mins

Living in Water - Alapuzha

I had been to Alapuzha(Kerala) for 3 days and it has been one of the memorable experiences I have had so far. More than spending time on touring a place I got a different experience on seeing a very different lifestyle of people.

I visited Alapuzha and stayed in a village called Pulimkunnu about 18 kms from Alapuzha town. The resort I stayed was very nice. It is called a village resort,so it had basic features of our Indian villages like Power cuts,lack of telephones. But other than this this is a very good village atmosphere set in. You do not have much options to eat but what ever served was very nice.

The Kerala style of cooking though not much different other than using coconut products was nice to have.

The best part of the trip is the one day stay at the house boat. I have heard of couples staying at house botats in Kumarakom and bachelors partying at house boats at Alapuzha before but what I experienced was a entirely different one. The house boat started from Pulimkunnu and went for about 40 kms on the backwaters full into the villages. I was thrilled to see kilometer boards kept on the water for the destinations .

The life style of people in the villages I could see was entirely different from what I have seen before. Many tourist places these days are crowded and people also change their life style accordingly. There is not much nativity seen in many places . But these villages I saw live in water and spend their life in boat travel.

There are no big trucks,traffic roads and pollution.Most of the villagers user boats for commutation and for crossing the banks cars/two wheelers use the boat . Fish is the staple food here and god has given it in plenty to the people here.

School children commute by boats to schools,Government runs boats like they run metro buses. Though the life of people living close to the banks is a concern during heavy rains ,people does not seem to bother about it.

One of the different way of Irrigation I saw (Though I'm not a strong agriculturist),on either sides of the backwater the paddy fields are flooded with water during rainy days and once the monsoon season is over(June-Sep) the water from these paddy fields are pumped into the backwaters,paddy is cultivated and then harvested by February and then again by June they start filling water. The rain water harvesting is done traditionally here but they do not call it by that technical name

I would say this is one of the must see places . If you are a nature lover and love to read/experience different life styles of people Alapuzha is a nice place to go. If Anthony Bourdain has not visited here before,I would recommend him to do so.

The Boss - Review

By this time most of the Tamil youths would have seen Sivaji and many websites would have given their review. So lets not discuss about the story now. We will see the positives and Negatives of this movie.

Full credits to shankar for making a movie specifically for Rajinikanth. The whole of the movie is nothing but Rajinikanth. We have not seen this Rajini Style in long time. In the previous hits Rajini either came in Young/Old roles(Padiyappa) or he was doing Urban/Rural hero based stories (Muthu/Arunachalam).

Art director Thotta Dharini has done a amazing job and Shankar has picturised the songs so beautifully. If Sivaji songs are alone sold as Music Videos it would generate good business. May be AVM can think of doing this

Though the story line is very thin and screen play not too effective ,it is Rajini who keeps the momentum going on and keeps the audience happy. Vivek has supported well.

Shankar in all his movies has taken some social cause and this time it is black money. We believe that AVM and the production team has paid to all the people who worked for Sivaji in White money. One thing to accept is all developed nations have a better way to track the business and money transactions and India has failed to do so far.

From the revenue point of view AVM has done a good job in releasing the film in maximum locations to make profits in the first few weeks. This movie may not run weeks like Chandramukhi but it should get the profits well ahead

Shankar has come down in his ideas for screen play .Anniyan itself reflected it and this further proves it. He has to seriously put his efforts here else he can be over run easily

Some times stories make a film successful,some times Music makes a film success full,but for Sivaji 'Rajini' has made the film successful. Hats of to Rajini for giving such a entertainer.

Pathetic Display

It has been said said for the past 6 weeks regarding this Cricket World Cup 2007. Lets not waste time by criticizing Indian players and their performances. But when you seriously this world cup was a total disaster in terms of entertainment. Lets ignore the argument of a length tournament. Sports if it is played with total spirit and produces entertainment people will not question the time period of the tournament. All they want is entertainment.

None of the matches were interesting baring one or two that too on the preliminary stages . The Super 8's where totally One sided and Semi's and finals followed the same story...
We can ignore this at least but when we see the last few minutes Bad light saga by the ICC referee/Umpires it was so pathetic. We at least are in the Eastern Time Zone. I really pity those cricket lovers from Asia who must have been awake the whole night to see this finals. One of the most Idiotic decisions taken that day. The total communication failure among the officials reg the D/L system,Rules on bad light created a havoc. Even a normal person could have taken a proper decision that day which was totally screwed by the Umpires and ICC Referee.

With cricket loosing its fame in non subcontinent countries ,the teams not playing well and if the event organization is getting screwed we are seeing a very BRIGHT FUTURE for THIS GAME

Whome to blame

Last one week it has been a overwhelming news regarding the Virginia Tech Slaughter. Almost all news channels allocated most of their air time to cover this incident. Every one no matter whom it is who had contacts with the victims as well as the shooter were interviewed

Leaving all things behind if we have to see what thought would have made a normal human being do such a devastating thing ?
Killing people is not some thing a rare event. In war people kill each other. Terrorist kill common people without any kind of mercy. Of course War/Terrorism have some predefined definition for the killings.Whether they are right or Wrong that's different argument but the motive/background is known . But for this incident will a person who is a loner/mentally affected plan so well to execute a Mass Murder ?

I personally would say the parents should play a vital role in shaping a person. We can blame lots of parameters such as Gun laws,Lack of communication among Medical institutes/Police ,college authorities,etc. But none of these has a direct control on this person than those who are close to that guy. I'm not sure whether his medical records were shared with his parents. More over this country has laws of not sharing those things once a person becomes a major.
One main difference in the culture of West and of countries like India is a person is under parents control at least until he/she gets married. One gets moulded/gets to a better shape when he is surrounded by good people around him who care for him .
So a persons brought up in his younger age shapes him better. So Parents ..Pls do take care of your kids and put more effort in shaping them.

A thougtt

I was just seeing 'Gandhi' film few days back and reading his Experiments with truth book. In our younger days we have been told Gandhi as a great man,nobel,wise,etc in our books,etc. But when you read the whole story about him we kind of come to know great this person is. He seems to be a different person when you see him as a politician.

This man has kind of controlled whole of India in 1920's when the communication system was very very less compared to what it is now. Be it be British revolt or Hindu-Muslim clash the efforts he took and people loving him was too good to see. This person was beyond religious/caste/diversity barrier. Every Person from Kanyaumari to the extreme north (could be Pakistan now) liked him

The reason for me telling this is with the growing political trend we do not have a charismatic leader whom people love. Of late the President(Mr Kalam) is kind of liked by all and kids/youngsters consider him as role model. But he has nothing to say in politics.

Of course countries that practice democracy for a longer period than India like US have matured in the political arena. More than Individuals it is the policy/practices the parties follow make people align them selves towards them (Conservative,Left,Liberal,Socialist)

Even though in India we have our parties aligning themselves towards some of these still they do not stick on to it or follow it strictly. One good thing we have achieved is we are into this setup only for 60 years with the biggest diversities existing within the culture.


Having said this there is no point in blaming politicians/politics .Or we cannot expect a Mahatma now .One of the way to stream line/improve is to have educated people involving themselves in Politics.The parties won't chnage suddenly. Only the people running them should change it .So more civilized people and democracy within the party will help streamlining them

World Cup - So far

The worldcup is half way through. More than the tension/excitement on the matches media and public have already had lots of entertainment in various happenings.
India's exit from he world cup, and the related team/coach changes with new initiatives by BCCI ,Pakistan's poor performance and Woomer's death adding to this , Bangladesh's stunning performance against South Africa and West indies dismissal performance.

For a cricket lover barring two matches of Srilanka none of the matches proved exciting or nail biting. With Srilanka defeating Newzeland,the Semi final spots are kind of closed for England and Westindies. Aussies are still the favourites and I'm backing Srilanka to win this world cup...

Sivaji - The boss

As all we know the entire southern film industry is eagerly awaiting for the release of SIVAJI-THE BOSS . Songs were released on April 2nd and already it is rocking every Car/PC/house. Some of the stills released were really pulsating and it shows how rich the movie is.

AR Rehaman as usual has given blasting tunes and few of them get into the mind first time itsel. Followin Rehaman's trend the rest would become hits once we start hearing them.

Super Star's introduction song and one melody with Thirupavai are really good

More than films depending on their strength ,the films getting released on Tamil New years day expect Sivaji to get released the same day aiming that people will come to their films in the event of not getting tickets to 'SIVAJI'.

Hope like Chandramukhi SIVAJI wil satisfy all audiences and keep the people involved in Film business happy

Reservation - A social cause

The recent Supreme Court Verdict on the OBC reservations has clearly indicated our Politicians exist and work nothing for other than Votes.
With the social discrimination prevailing in the Indian Culture, Reservation for deprived classes was in evitable. We all have to accept the fact that we need to bring people whose generations were not given chances before because of the caste system to excel themselves. The main goal of this system is to create a society where every one have equal opportunities.

We have passed 60 years of Independence in which we have been living with this system . Had this system been judicially followed till now we could have created a society in INDIA where we would have at least brought 40 - 50 % of the people and their future generations in line with the developed one
Thanks to states like Tamil Nadu who were front runners in this movement where in they did a excellent performance in making this happen. There it is 69% now but again they created more educational institutions,increased the seats and developed Industries which gave enough opportunities for the students. This helped in keeping all sections of the society happy and get benefited. But in many other states, the political parties merely do vote bank politics. They tend to pretend as if they are supporting the deprived sections but actually not.

The goal of this reservation system will only be achieved if it actually benefits the people who need this. We should have some strong governing laws to see if this is not mis used or once one gets benefit from this they should not be used by their following generations . If this is not done this will further create a big difference among the educationally/economically sections in the backward classes

More than just talking about this system for the past 60 years after independence and not able to achieve any thing ,if the Govt /politicians aim at increasing India's Economic growth/Industries it will slowly evade the caste system we had. We have to create a society where any one can do any kind of work. In Countries like US the person is not differentiated based on the work he does(either running a barber shop/farmer/or working in a company). This is possible because all these jobs have a industrial back ground.
Let the next generation kids at least grow in a environment like that

Guru - A rare expiriment

Guru - Nice Experience


We had a chance to view the film on a busy working day. ManiRathnam has given a good film all together. It is rare to get Biographies filmed as commercial movies in India and Mani has done this with courage and succeeded in it. I'm not sure how this movie will satisfy 'B' or 'C' center audiance but on Metros and in growing corporate life styile of cities in India this should be a success








Reliance Vs Shakthi


Even though the initial title claims that the move is not representing any individual or organisation for every one it is a known truth that it talks about the success of Reliance Industries.

Scenes
The initial scenes of struggles and success of GuruKanth Desai(Jr.Bachan) and the final court scene were taken very nicely taken.

Though the comparisons with Gandhi and justifying the wrong deeds look un ethical the character seems to be interesting always longing to do some thing and succeed in life.

Nice to see a dram/biographt film in the midst of romance and action dominated indian movies.


ManiRathnam has proven his skills in filming about personalities with his first work beiing Iruvar on this category of films.
Over all it is a good movie to watch and before going just read about Reliance industries/its founders and related information on web ,else it will be little bit confusing and at times irritating.. Remember this is not a movie to get your self entertained instead it is about a person who struggled from his middle class background and rose to build one of the biggest enterprises in India.



Bharath