No more waking up before the sun rises anymore!! No more 8 am MWF classes for me. That makes me just so happy. Now if I could get all the other students to go take that test and pass, I'd be one happy, satisfied instructor. If only such success would shine on my thesis work.

I'm pretty sure all Rahmaniacs have already heard ARR croon to the title song of S J Surya's Ah Aah : Anbe Aaruyire. I've never really liked S J Surya, and so I never actually bothered to watch the movie. I don't even know if it has been released in the USA. It probably has. I did hear however that the video sucked. The song was supposed to be tribute of ARR to his fans? Whether it was or not, it's my current fave. It's even my ringtone on my cell phone. I think I can safely assume that it is a tribute...looking at the lyrics:

aararai kodi paergaLil oruvan
adiyane thamizhan,naanungal nanban
aanaa neengal, aavannaa naan dhaan
neengalilaamal naan ingu illai illai

kanneer sindhum kangalukku
naan dhaan kaikuttai
vannath thamizh paatu
1000 solvaen aadavum seivaen
punnagai enum ponnagaiaithaan
mughamenum veetil vaipaen
ungal magizhchiai paatil vaipaen

Another thing that's not important but worth mentioning is something I noticed when watching Roja recently. If you listen closely to the background music in the scene where Roja's sister's 'ponnu paakal' takes place, I'm sure the tune is recognizable. It sounded really familiar to me and I had to pause the movie to actually play the tune back in my head. And there I had it...it was the Telephone Mani Pol tune(Indian/Hindusthani- Telephone Dhun)!!!...to be exact it was the following part:

neerillai enraal aruvi irukkaadhu malai azhagu irukkaadhu
nee illaamal poanaal idhayam irukkaadhu en ilamai pasikkaadhu
vellai nadhiyae unnul ennai dhinam moozhgi aada vidu
vetkam vandhaal koondhal kondu unaik konjam moodividu

I was so proud of figuring that one out. I had a bunch of people listen to it. They were too busy looking at it and had to be to told 'listen' rather than 'watch' to get it. I wonder if he's done this with any of his other BGMs. I sure do know that the 'My Dil Goes mmmm...' track from that crappy movie Salaam Namaste is inspired by a bit ARR did in Swades. One of my fave scenes from Swades too...the time when she ties his dhoti for him. I mean...it's one thing to copy oneself...but come on! It ain't right to rip off someone elses work and not give him the credit he's due!

Yeah I have a thing for ppl who cheat. Salaam Namaste is one big rip off in itself. Most of the movie is like an Indianized version of Nine Months. C'mon you guys, stop copying English movies. If you have to copy it, atleast make sure you do a good job. Watching a heavily (and I mean it! Like some 18 months) pregnant Preity dancing around while singing, was just too much. Javed Jaffry's comedy routine was really really stupid.

Moving back to ARR, Maniratnam comes to mind. It's most definitely because when they get together ARR makes his best music. Maniratnam's movies are awesome, cept for the end. Given my recently acquired aversion to melodrama that most Indian films are given to, I always tend to find Maniratnam's films a little disappointing. Nayakan could not possibly have ended any other way and I love the way Aayutha Ezhuthu ends with Surya moving Bharathiraja aside and stepping into the House and taking his seat, looking like a freshly cut sprig next to the white clad oldies. The scene that precedes this one was overdoing it. When there's a small accident anywhere in Chennai, everybody runs to help that person. Traffic comes to a halt. I know this cos I've been in atleast 3 myself :) It's really unbelievable that three men could keep fighting on the bridge in the middle of ongoing traffic.

I hated the way Alaipayuthe ended. All those old movies where the 'power of love' brings the person out of coma or keeps them from dying come to mind. The movie's great! But I find it hard to watch the end when Maddy cries and begs Shalini to muzhichify. I mean..c'mon!!! Roja was much better, but there's the part where he falls over and she screams and then he rolls down the stairs. We know he's been through a lot, he was kidnapped and held for ransom by terrorists, for Pete's sake!!! Now there's where they probably got the phrase'falling over himself in his haste' from. Necessary? Blah! Her dropping down to her knees and making him hold on to the railing to come over to her. Arvind Swami looks so cute in Roja. What happened to him since then? I mean he looks so fat in everything he did after that. Haven't seen him since Alaipayuthe.

The way Bombay ended was probably the worst. Moving from dousing a couple of innocent children with kerosene to having Hindus and Muslims drop their weapons and come together and hold hands...and if I remember right sing? Do they sing? All I remember doing was screaming in my head...No NO NOOOO! The movie was such a realistic take on what happened and it slid to being a run-of-the-mill Hindi/Tamil movie. I didn't like Iruvar that much. Maybe it's because it's a real life story and I don't like the main characters in it. Kannathil..was probably a good movie. I say probably cos there were times in the movie when I was thinking what's the heck's happening and why the heck is it happening? I know a whole bunch of ppl thought that the kid was good, I found her kinda irritating.

I'd have to say Dil Se was a big let down. The movie had a good enough storyline going for it. The way it was taken was just too abrupt. Manisha was ok, so was Zinta. But SRK totally killed the movie. I used to be a big fan of his, thinking him to be a versatile actor. He's so not one. (Chandler impression there) I think he should stick to what he does best. Stupid movies like Kal Ho Na Ho, Main Hoon Na, Mohabatein and all those crappy melodramatic movies. Even in those movies you'll notice that SRK just cannot emote. Ever notice how he vibrates when he cries? The music for this movie is one of ARR's best yet. It's true that there are plenty of great ARR's songs that never get heard,because the movie wasn't a hit. Check out Meenaxi..some really good songs there. Was Dil Se a hit? Well I shouldn't be saying anything about Dil Se....when there are such movies as Paheli and Koi Mil Gaya that go on to become hits. Dil Se wasn't a great movie, no...but give me this one rather than Paheli anyday. I was disappointed by the fact that Maniratnam was the director. I probably would have been less critical of it had it been a Karan Johar movie. I would have been amazed at Johar's insight. Personally I think that as long as there are pathetic directors such as Johar around, Hindi movies are going to stay low. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to iggy them. Paheli was the abso worst though. I expected much more from Palekar.

I didn't know that ARR had done the score for a Chinese movie called Tian di ying xiong aka Warriors of Heaven and Earth back in '03. I was amazed. When he goes international he well and truly does go international. I was able to catch only 30 seconds of some of the songs on http://musicstore.mymmode.com/album.do?albumID=815889. I'm looking to buy it soon. There were some reviews about the music, both good and bad. Nothing ugly though.
http://hometown.aol.com/musbuff/page74.htm . It was called Between Heaven and Earth for the US media...I think? http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/articles/2004/03_Nov---CD_Reviews_Battlestar_Galactica_and_Between_Heaven_and_Earth.asp .

Oh well, I'm done with the SRK bashing for a little while. Or well maybe not...I just remembered that SRK's all set to remake Thenali in Hindi. Ye Gads! Thenali itself was a copy, and a fairly rotten one of 'What About Bob?'. I vaguely remember seeing the 1991 released Bill Murray starrer when I was younger. I'm fairly sure I found it funny back then. I'm pretty sure I did not find Thenali funny at all, given that Jothika was flabby and wearing close to nothing in the movie. Yeah I know, there have been several occasions when my Dad has told me that if only I would use some of my memory for storing info about studies rather than movies, I'd ace all my tests. Kamal's a great actor, and he did a great job on a mediocre movie, but SRK??? That's one movie I'm not looking forward to watching. My all time fave Kamal movie is MMKR. I was looking around for it but was unable to find it. Wonder where I can find that one.

I have this theory that Maniratnam uses only brand new faces(Arvind Swamy, Madhavan) because he's able to mold them easier. Seasoned 'pros' like SRK could be harder to elicit the required response from? Maybe? I wonder if thats why Dil Se didn't do so well. I'm scared of what the outcome of The Mahabharata will be. SRK and Aamir Khan. Yeah he's another one I'd love to rough up sometime :) Again...the Patti ilk...iggy the blog if you can't stomach the criticism.