Shajini - 8 pack sanju

Ok let me go to the review of Ghajini hindi movie. If you have not watched Ghajini in tamil then this would really be an entertaining movie, watch it. If you already watched in tamil, its not that it wont be good but its mostly the same but edited well. Lot of minor corrections has been done and the 2nd half is better in Hindi. The climax especially is fantastic. Aamir is simply superb in the role. But we have already seen him in this kind of rich look it was not something new. For Surya it was totally a new charming look as sanjay ramasamy. And more over there is a lot of diff between the rich look guy and the short term memory loss patient for surya while for aamir, he was still charming with that psycho char. I liked Asin because of the character kalpana in Ghajini and she has done the same pretty good job in hindi. Murugadoss along with Aamir has re-edited the movie well. For both Murugadoss and Asin its a very good break in bollywood.

As far as music is concerned I still feel tamil was far better, may be because I got used to it. Even the background score was very impressive in tamil, especially with the scenes were Asin was introduced. Major plus for hindi is Aamir and especially with his 8 packs. Background score during the action scenes are good in hindi as well.

P.S : Thanks to Anees for getting the tickets for Ghajini in Satyam

Slumdog Millionaire

An excellant movie about destiny. This is a story about a boy from the slums of mumbai who wins the competition "Who wants to be a millonaire" (kaun banega crorepati)? It has the touch of art, showing the reality of people in slums in mumbai. It has been directed by a British director Danny Boyle based on the novel "Q and A" written by an Indian Author Vikas Swarup.

However there are few things which I dint like about the movie.

• The movie shows the reality (unlike the usual masala) but couldn't accept the fact that the kids are talking in english that too with such a fluency. But if it wasnt like that it wouldnt have got such recognition.
  
• I did hear lot of controversies about showing India as a poor country or selling the poverty of India. I dont agree with that point, the story is about boy from slum. But at one scene when the kids steal all the things from the foreign tourist, the boy says "this is india" and the American's in return give him money and say "this is america". That was very hard to see because this movie is being showcased all over the world and this projects bad picture of India.
  
• Asking all the questions for which he knew the answers could be his destiny. But do they have to be in a sequential manner of his life? I couldnt consider that also as part of destiny.

Though the movie was good but I was thinking whether was it really that extra ordinary for receiving so many awards. It may be a common story in India but I guess for the rest of world this was something new. It has won the Golden Globe Awards and now is being nominated for oscars. It has been rated as 34 out of 250 in all time best movies in IMDB (http://www.imdb.com/chart/top)

Check out more here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slumdog_Millionaire

Yet another adventure

I know you are reading the title and wondering what it is referring to. Its about the recent US Airways crash landing on the Hudson River. Why did I call it yet another adventure? It is because i have already experienced and seen couple of adventures in NY. Refer to the below links before reading this article, where I have shared my earlier experiences.

• Massive Steam Explosion in Midtown Manhatten
• Newyork Times Building Climber

Coming to the topic, time was around 3.30 pm in US. I was in the 36th floor of 150 E building which was in the 42nd street of Midtown Manhatten. Got a mail from pfizer security desk that a Flight US Airways has crashed into Hudson River, near 48th Street but all passengers were safe. Then me and my collegue Sankar tried to look through the window if we can get some glance. Unfortunately we were on the east side and so all we could see was the distant helicopters.

Then we googled, Youtubed and did all search on the web to see the news. By now everyone would have known the news but let me rewind it to have a record in my blog.



15th January 2009
US Airways Flight 1549 took off from the LaGuardia Airport in NY but within minutes it striked with a flock of geese that made the engine go for a toss. Pilot couldnt go back to the airport and so he did a fantastic job by landing in Hudson River. The temperature outside was freezing at 20 F (around -6 degree celcius) and within 5 to 10 mins all the passengers were evacuated. Near by ferries hurried to rescue them. All passengers were safe. The pilot was Chesley Burnett Sullenberger III and he really did an amazing job by landing the flight safely. I wish I was part of this adventure :)

Vaaranam Aayiram

I edited this picture long back even before watching the movie but wanted to come out with my own story of Vaaranam Aayiram. Dint find the right time and so thought of putting the picture along with my review of the movie.

I happen to go back to chennai officially for a month in december and that was very lucky as I could watch this movie with my wife uma on her bday.

Yet another fantastic movie from Gautham, the direction is simply superb. Its an ordinary story told in an impressive way. The first half is very lively, romantic and enjoyable while the second half is bit dragging but all together i liked it a lot. Songs in the movie are awesome and i have been hearing that almost everyday in my mp3 player while travelling to office in NY. Surya has perfectly done is role and infact im very jelous of him for getting such a character. I guess he would have had atleast 10 to 12 different look in this movie. I dont want to get too much detail into the story but its definitely worth a watch.

Forgot to metion the best part of it........... the six pack sanju

Man in the Mirror

When you get what you want as your struggle for self
And the world makes you king for a day,
Just go to the mirror and look at yourself,
And see what that man has to say.

For it isn't your father or mother or wife
Who's judgement upon you must pass;
The person whose verdict counts most in your life
Is the one staring back from the glass.

He's the person to please, never mind all the rest,
For he's with you clear up to the end.
And you've passed your most dangerous, difficult test
If the man in the glass if your friend.

You may fool the whole world down the pathway of life,
And get pats on your back as you pass.
But your final reward will be heartache and tears
If you've cheated the man in the glass

Tears

Meeting abroad

Karthik and I in City Center, Dubai in 2003

Karthik and I in TimeSquare, New York in 2008 (After 5 years)

Naan Sutte Dosai

At laaaaaaaaaaaast naaanum Samayal ulagathirkul Nulainthu vitten!!!

I'm very lazy and hate to go to the kitchen. I have hardly helped mom in cooking. I had always thought that I could get into that after marriage, but Uma never let me. So Aaandavana paaathu aaapu vechutaan. Yes Uma went back to chennai and im alone here in US :( experimenting cooking.

The picture you are seeing is not just dosa... but a totally new variety called "The Samba Dosa". Very simple to do. When you have Dosai maavu (flour) that is little old, it would have become sour (pulichi poyirukkum). Normally people would either add onion or rava. I was lazy to cut onion, tried searching for rava. Takkunnu kannle pattathu Samba ravai. So thought why not try this. Added the samba ravai and little water to the sour dosa flour. Mixed it and tried it. Wow!!! it came out so beautifully and it tasted good as well.

I was so excited that i made something knew on my own and so called up Uma immediately to tell her about that. She was like "why did u mix samba rava". That would need more time for cooking and if taken raw it would cause stomach ache leading to ________. I'm writing this just after having the dosa. So got to wait for some time to see the results he he!!! I'm prepared with cyclopam tablet ready :)

If you want to experiment the same... I'm not responsible for any consequences

The Last Lecture

This is an excellent lecture (last) from Randy Pausch that inspires people to achieve their dreams. Randy was a professor in Carnegie Mellon university who became one of Time magazine's Top 100 most influential people in 2007. This video is about an hour and 16 mins but worth watching.

12 sustainable design ideas from nature

This is a speech from Janine Benyus about 12 sustainable design ideas from nature. Check it out for yourself.

Every road ends somewhere...