12 Angry Men – A Short Review

My friend, Tejas, recently recommended the movie ‘12 Angry men’ to me. Frankly, till then I had never heard about such a movie. He then said that it is an old B&W movie made in late 1950’s. But the reason I really got interested in this recommendation was because, he mentioned that the whole movie was shot in a single room – in a single setting.

The movie takes off brilliantly from the start. The characters and their personalities are gradually disclosed to the viewer as and when required. The cast of actors have done their part remarkably well, though at times it seems that Henry Fond does steal his moments (Henry Fonda was also the co-producer of the movie). Apart from the unique situation, that of a jury in a criminal case with a split verdict, in which the movie is set, it is also the dialogues (or the arguments of the case) that keeps us hooked to the screen. There is no moment where there is a distraction or a chance for the viewer to yawn. The brilliant pace, the heated debates, the moments of short surprises keeps us interested till the very end. It’s a masterpiece and I would recommend this as a ‘MUST WATCH’!

I am keeping this review short without even giving the synopsis of the film, so as to let you enjoy the film.

 Happy Viewing….

The Versions of Kapi..

I am a die-hard A R Rahman Fan. But, I do also like Ilayaraja’s (IR) songs, and his symphonies. One such symphony I liked was a piece called ‘Mood Kapi’ (Based on the carnatic Raagam Kapi), which is available in the recoding of his concert in Italy (Album Name – Ilaiyaraja’s Music Journey). Once it was released it was a rage online and people lapped up the composition as one of his great works. This was in 2004. Later that year or in 2005, IR had a similar concert in Chennai, telecasted in Jaya TV and the same composition received a great response.

And that’s when IR spoke to the audience about the birth of that song. He told that it was composed and part of the soundtrack originally in 1982 for a Tamil movie called ‘Autoraja’. That movie had the duo Shankar-Ganesh as the composers, but the producer wanted IR to render one single track and hence he had composed ‘Sangathil Paadaatha Kavithai..’ in Kapi raagam, sung by IR himself and S Janaki. Unfortunately, the movie and the music sank without a trace.

Later that year, Balu Mahendra was working on a Malayalam movie with Amol Palekar – ‘Olangal’, and he being impressed with that Tamil song requested IR to recreate it for him. That song was ‘Thumbi Vaa..’, sung by S Janaki as a solo number. This number was hit in those times and few of my friends too remember it. But again this did not receive the wide recognition like IRs other hit numbers.

It was Balu Mahendra again in the same year who wanted IR to give him the composition for the Telugu movie ‘Nireekshana’ that he was directing. The song was ‘Akasam Enatido..’ sung again by S Janaki as a solo. And, again the song did not receive the recognition that the symphony version boasts of. This movie was in 1988 dubbed into Tamil as ‘Kanne Kalai Mane’ and the song was “Neer Veezhchi..” sung by S Janaki.

The only person who religiously loved that song was perhaps Balu Mahendra, for he again asked the Maestro to re-create the song for his Hindi movie ‘Aur Ek Prem Kahani’ (the remake of his Kannada original, ‘Kokila’)in 1996. But here is where IR disappoints by re-creating a composition as a fun song, rather than its soulful melodious earlier versions. The song was “Sunday Tho..’ sung by Preethi Uttam Singh, which sank without a trace.

After this it was in 2004 that in the concert at Italy, IR delivered the symphony version of this composition titled as “Mood Kapi” and people were mesmerized by it. This was later staged in Chennai. And then it was a famous number, with people searching for the song everywhere.

If I were to rate these songs then I would rate the Symphony version as the Best and the Hindi version would be the last on my list. The Telugu and Malayalam version were fine tuned and well rendered and the Tamil one being the first version lacks the detailing and tuning found in the other versions.

It is indeed hard to believe that for a great composition like this, it takes almost 25 years to reach the audience. Listen to the song(s) and enjoy.

Below are the links to listen to the songs:

Song Title – Movie/Album – Language – Year of Release
1]Sangathil Padatha – Autoraja – Tamil – 1982
2]Thumbi Vaa – Olangal – Malayalam – 1982
3]Akasam Enatido – Nireekshana – 1982
4]Neer Veezhchi – Kanne Kalai Mane – 1988 [No Link..Sorry ]
5]Sunday Tho – Aur Ek Prem Kahani – 1996

and finally……

* Mood Kapi Song

* Mood Kapi Video

Hats off to IR for such a wonderful composition !

Responsible Journalism

Blood Thirsty – The term I would like to use to describe certain media persons who were bent on making the unfortunate terrorist attack of Mumbai a mega 24/7 event.

They played on till the last bullet was fired and even there after. All this after several sincere requests/warnings from the government agencies to stop the live coverage with the fear of information being relayed to the terrorists holed up inside the hotels (and which, now revealed, seems to have taken place).

There was this one particular journalist who made the whole episode of covering the events a nasty one. Barkha Dutt, considered as the bold face of Indian television journalism after her stint at Kargil war zone, disrupting the army with her ‘exclusive’ reports, had a cover story and she grabbed it with more than eager hands.

This particular journalist was covering the Mumbai terror attack near the Oberoi hotel and if I can recall correctly she was terrorizing and creating panic among the crowd gathered in the road near her. One particular incident that I can clearly recall is where in she was seen shouting to the camera (obviously giving orders to the people at the studio) ‘Natasha! Natasha! I want this in the Breaking news.at the top of the screen….there are shots heard from the Oberoi’. Shots being fired, and all she was worried was about ‘Breaking news’ at the top of the screen ! And hearing her high pitched howls to the camera, the public stranded near her went berserk and started to scatter in all directions creating panic. All this for responsible journalism.

Next she asks the police constable stationed in the road as to who might be responsible for the shots just heard, to which he answered that he could not tell as he was with the crowd in the street many yards away. This makes her draw a conclusion of how ill-informed the state police force was. Aaah!

After the attacks and the siege ended, she was back in studio with the nation’s anti-terror experts like Shobha De, Mahesh Bhatt, Sharmila Tagore, Narayana Murthy, Simi Garewal to comment / dissect the attacks and the governments inaction and so on. And these ‘experts’ played their part wisely by giving their expert comments.

Sample this:

Narayanmurthy says: ‘I want the NSG to be decentralized’. Great one from the IT czar, I thought he was only an expert in IT, but he was there to give remedies for internal security matters of our country.

And it was no surprise when Simi Garewal landed in soup by not being able to differentiate between the flag of Pakistan and the green flag on a mosque she saw in Dharavi. And the person who milked the most out of this controversy: the same journalist who made her give these statements in her talk show…sorry the ‘debate’ show.

Responsible journalism? I don’t think so…

To give some credit to the media world, not all the reporters that day were so sinister. The likes of Srinivasan Jain, Prannoy Roy maintained a decorum and adhered to ‘Reporting’ the events alone.

I believe the media world is now up against the government which has planned to ban the media from covering such incidents ‘LIVE’. After all, the civilian world doesn’t need to know the intricate details of a military operation. I somehow feel now that the good old DD days were better when there were 2 – 3 brief updates per day on such incidents and the progress made. But this 24/7 coverage was a nasty display of Journalistic freedom being abused to a nauseating extent.

Quantum of Solace – Review

For all who thought Casino Royale was the re-boot film in the Bond franchise, there is a surprise. Apparently, the re-booting is not done yet and it clearly evident in ‘Quantum of Solace’.

The 22nd Bond film [20 Official and the Kevin McClory's 'Never Say never Again' being the previous 21 films] is actually loaded with surpirses and deviations. To cut a long tale short, this is not your ‘Regular James Bond movie’.

The die hard Bond fans will be quite disappointed with this film, but in my opinion QOS is a good film. Yes, you do feel a bit let down with a threadbare storyline, which probably for the first time doesnt offer you a ‘Bond Villain’ in his lair, or the numerous ‘Bondisms’ we are used to. As stated earlier, this film is still part of the re-boot process where we find a ruthless, emotional James Bond out on his own mission to track down the real people behind the death of his love, Vesper Lynd. Bond for the first time does not obey or take orders from ‘M’ and goes on his own mission and in the process gets himself stripped of his licenses and official status. Bond, we find in this movie, as a trigger happy person who kills ruthlessly with vengence on the back of his mind.

This Bond is not suave and does not floor you with his charm and wit. He does not introduce himself as ‘Bond, James Bond’. Bond this time gets involved in a lot of action and thrashes every mode of transport in land, water and air. Bond this time has no time for the usual casion visits or parties, though for a fleeting moment is dressed in the best of the suits and exploring his hotel suite and looking for some ’stationery’, moments later he is the man out to get his revenge which leads him to dubious organisation ‘Quantum’ akin to the good old S.P.E.C.T.R.E. Probably the next film in the series will unconver the organisation completely and introduce us to the main villain behind ‘Qauntum’.

Watch QOS for some nice action and a good attempt at character development. Lets hope the 23rd film in the franchise returns with the legendary superspy ‘James Bond’ as we know him.

My Music Chart Toppers..

This is the list of My Fav Music as of today. Note that they are not ranked, just listed.

* SONG -> (MOVIE/ALBUM, LANGUAGE, SINGER)

————————————-

* Mastam Mastam -> (Yuvvraaj, Hindi, Sonu Nigam & Others)
* Dil ka Rishta -> (Yuvvraaj, Hindi, Sonu Nigam & Others)
* Meherbaan -> (Ada, Hindi, A R Rahman)
* Sinbad the sailor -> (Rock On, Hindi, Farhan Akhtar)
* Aasmani Chatri -> (Blue Umbrella, Hindi, –)
* Beladingalante Minuminugutha -> (Psycho, Kannada, Raghu Dixit)

The Beautiful Feet

 

One of the most beautiful things that I have seen in my life is definitely an infant’s feet. The feet that are tender soft yet warm, and that never have touched the ground. With toes that look crafted to perfection and the tiny movements that they make is mesmerizing. It’s a great feeling to hold those tiny feet enclosed in our palms. Everything about a new born is special and beautiful, like the divine innocent toothless smile, the excited movements of arms and legs, the high-pitched shrills and gibberish emanating from the tiny mouth and the confused stare from the pearl like eyes when seeing a stranger. I would definitely add the infant’s feet to this list of beautiful things. Indeed a thing of beauty, which is a joy forever!

Axing Words

The editors of Collins Dictionary have decided to give the pink-slip to 24 words in the English Language. Their argument is that, these are lesser known words and have almost ‘nil’ usage in today’s world.

The list of words with their meanings is as follows:

1] Abstergent:- Cleansing or scouring

2] Agrestic:- Rural, rustic, unpolished, uncouth

3] Apodeictic:- Unquestionably true by virtue of demonstration

4] Caducity:- Perishableness, senility

5] Caliginosity:- Dimness, darkness

6] Compossible:- Possible in coexistence with something else

7] Embrangle:- To confuse or entangle

8] Exuviate:- To shed (a skin or similar outer covering)

9] Fatidical:- Prophetic

10] Fubsy:- Short and stout, squat

11] Griseous:- Streaked or mixed with grey, somewhat grey

12] Malison:- A curse

13] Mansuetude:- Gentleness or mildness

14] Muliebrity:- The condition of being a woman

15] Niddering:- Cowardly

16] Nitid:- Bright, glistening

17] Olid:- Foul-smelling

18] Oppugnant:- Combative, antagonistic or contrary

19] Periapt:- A charm or amulet

20] Recrement:- Waste matter, refuse, dross

21] Roborant:- Tending to fortify or increase strength

22] Skirr:- A whirring or grating sound, as of the wings of birds in flight

23] Vaticinate:- To foretell, prophesy

24] Vilipend:- To treat or regard with contempt

There are some people who are opposed to this move by Collins and are trying their best to persuade the editors to reconsider their decision.

Now that these words are to be ‘exuviated abstergently’ do not use them and ‘embrangle’ your conversations or writings!

Humour

Among the forward mail jokes doing the rounds, I found this interesting one.

************************************************************************************
An Old Story:

The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and
laying up supplies for the winter.The Grasshopper thinks the Ant is a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away.

Come winter, the Ant is warm and well fed. The Grasshopper has no food or
shelter so he dies out in the cold. 
Indian Version:
 
The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and
laying up supplies for the winter. The Grasshopper thinks the Ant’s a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away.

Come winter, the shivering Grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the Ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving.

NDTV, BBC, CNN show up to provide pictures of the shivering Grasshopper
next to a video of the Ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food.

The World is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be that this poor Grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Arundhati Roy stages a demonstration in front of the Ant’s house.

Medha Patkar goes on a fast along with other Grasshoppers demanding that
Grasshoppers be relocated to warmer climates during winter ..

Mayawati states this as `injustice’ done on Minorities.

Amnesty International and Koffi Annan criticize the Indian Government for
not upholding the fundamental rights of the Grasshopper.
The Internet is flooded with online petitions seeking support to the
Grasshopper (many promising Heaven and Everlasting Peace for prompt
support as against the wrath of God for non-compliance) .
Opposition MPs stage a walkout. Left parties call for ‘Bengal Bandh’ in
West Bengal and Kerala demanding a Judicial Enquiry.

CPM in Kerala immediately passes a law preventing Ants from working hard
in the heat so as to bring about equality of poverty among Ants and Grasshoppers.
Lalu Prasad allocates one free coach to Grasshoppers on all Indian Railway Trains, aptly named as the ‘Grasshopper Rath’.

Finally, the Judicial Committee drafts the ‘ Prevention of Terrorism Against Grasshoppers Act’ [POTAGA], with effect from the beginning of the winter.

Arjun Singh makes ‘Special Reservation ‘ for Grasshoppers in Educational Institutions & in Government Services
The Ant is fined for failing to comply with POTAGA and having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes,it’s home is confiscated by the Government and handed over to the Grasshopper in a ceremony covered by NDTV.

Arundhati Roy calls it ‘ A Triumph of Justice’.

Lalu calls it ‘Socialistic Justice ‘.

CPM calls it the ‘ Revolutionary Resurgence of the Downtrodden ‘

Koffi Annan invites the Grasshopper to address the UN General Assembly.

Many years later…
The Ant has since migrated to the US and set up a multi-billion dollar company in Silicon Valley, 100s of Grasshoppers still die of starvation despite reservation somewhere in India,

Gold at last

Abhinav Bindra gave India the long desired individual gold medal at Beijing Olympics. It was a great day for India and Abhinav.

Needless to say, as it always happens in our country, Abhinav was instantly rewarded by various state governments, or should we say ‘politicians’, with cash rewards. It is indeed a good thing to recognize one’s achievement and reward the person. But I was just wondering, if these politicians ruling the various states, divert a part of their so-called development funds to build real world class infrastructure for sportsmen, we would not be in a situation to pray for that ‘ONE’ medal at Olympics.

Every time the Indian contingent fails to deliver more than one medal at Olympics there are talks from various quarters on the pathetic state of infrastructure for development of sports. These accusations and counter accusations lasts for a few days later forgotten till a new contingent returns from Olympics with a disappointing show.

All I feel bad about is that our country with the second largest population in the world fails each and every time to put up a decent show at Olympics. In contrast smaller countries (in terms of population and size) like Poland, Cuba, and Ethiopia etc. manage to win more medals than us.

Lets just hope the ‘Kumar’ trio in the boxing camp help us to increase our medal count this year from ‘ONE’.

Update on star bloggers

More celebrities join the ’star bloggers’ list:
Shekar Kapur – http://www.shekharkapur.com/blog/welcome.htm

Karan Johar – http://www.mynameiskaran.com/