Chez Moi

What makes me think I can write? What makes me put pen to paper or sit at the computer and type random words on a document? What makes me *want* to write?

Am I a writer? Do my writings make sense? Do they actually appeal to anyone?

The answer to all of the above, is I don’t know.

I don’t know if I can write, if what I write means something to somebody, if it is actually worth it. But all I know is I want to keep writing. In the words of Somerset Maugham, “We do not write because we want to; we write because we have to. “

Sid’s second movie was with his guru, Mani Ratnam. He played the role of Arjun, one of the three central characters in Ayudha Ezhuthu. The movie was made in Hindi with Abhishek Bachchan, Ajay Devgan and Vivek Oberoi (who played Arjun - a total waste!) as Yuva. The Tamil version was dubbed in Telugu as Yuva too.

Both my favourite songs from this movie star Sid and Trisha. The first one is the disco number, Yakkai Thiri…. Fanaa. Sid does some amazing moves - what energy, yaar! The next one is called ‘Hey Goodbye Nanba’ - I liked the picturisation of this. Shot in the beach, which is one of my fave spots in Chennai, it has Sid driving a motorbike and looking not too comfortable I think. Awww!

Ale Ale, from Siddharth’s first movie, Boys. Cognescenti has it that when the writer Sujatha saw him on the sets of Mani Ratnam’s Kannathil Muthamittal (which he assisted), the writer introduced Sid to director Shankar, who was then in the middle of casting for his next venture, Boys. The rest, as they say, is history.

Boys is, reportedly, one of his hated movies. It showed him he cannot act for toffee, according to good ole Sid. Well, click on the link to see Sid perform some gravity defying stunts, singing ‘Ale Ale’ and decide if it is as bad as the actor feels.

I like this song mainly cos of Karthik, the singer.

Now for two of my favourite songs from the movie Nuvvostanante Nennodantana. The first link will take you to a clip of the song Niluvadhamu Ninu Epudaina. This song is sung by Karthik, who IMHO is one of our best singer’s today. He has a lovely voice, an excellent pronounciation (he doesn’t chew the poor lyrics) and is well versed in Carnatic music.

The next one is Adire, Adire - well, if giant cows, couple of giraffes and a singing, dancing Sid and Trisha are your cup of tea, then this video fits the bill to a T. Enjoy!

*** SPOILER WARNING: While I have tried my best not to give the plot and the ending away, you might come across some surprising bits from the movie Fanaa, so please be warned ***

Last night, I went out to see Fanaa with my family. After a long time, we went to a movie hall to see an Indian movie, rather than waiting for the DVDs to arrive and catch the flick sitting comfortably in our lounge. But this time, I wanted to make up for missing RDB on the big screen so I decided that we shall make the trip to the cinema and catch Kajol & Aamir in action.

I ‘prepared’ for this outing by listening to the songs so I can get into the groove. It gave me an idea of what the movie is going to be - you can guess that there’s a kid in the movie after listening to the song ‘Chanda Chamke’; ‘Des Rangila’, the typical NRI song (which makes our expat hearts beat fast with its strains of Vande Mataram), is bound to be an on-stage number - well, you get the picture.

After the movie, my first thought was ‘hmm, not a bad movie - good timepass’. There were bits were the implaucibility of the plot was almost laughable but I thought, well, let’s not nit-pick here. Let us excuse poor Mr Kohli of his minor misdemeanors and rise above it. Kajol looked amazing; Aamir looked super cool as he strolled across the airport and the locations were pretty fab.

Of course, by then, the songs were buzzing non-stop in my head and I was playing them in my iPod on the way home as well. Had a discussion about the movie with the half a dozen mates I bumped into at the temple and the restaurant we went to afterwards and heard favourable noises from most.

Then I logged onto the ‘Net today morning and one of the first things I read was the review in Rediff. Suffice to say, after reading it my enthu levels dipped. I began questioning myself - did I really enjoy the movie last night? Was it worth enjoying? None of the reviewers had said much in favour of it. They had taken it apart bit by bit and it wasn’t a pretty sight.

Am I such a bad judge of movies?

Then I sat thinking of all the times I had gone to the movies and come back to find that none other than me liked it much. After that, I didn’t like that movie either and this trend has continued pretty much on and off over the years.

But what is the point of a movie anyway? Is it to take you to a different plane, a different zone as such for 2.5 hours? Is it to make you forget the marital squabbles, exam results, work deadlines and all the other strands of reality for the span of the movie? And what makes it a ‘good’ one? A great storyline, fantastic plot execution, brilliant cinematography, a fab casting, feet stomping music - or should it leave you with a feeling of not just having spent £6.80 on tickets plus £10 on popcorn, fizzy pops in return for a thumping mad headache?

I think from now on, I shall decide if a movie is good or not by checking with my internal monitor - do I like it? Yes? Then it is a good movie. Was it a bit of a blah? Then I shall give it a 10 on the headacho meter. And bully to the critics!