{mosimage}Maniratnam always proves that he is a MBA guy, who knows how to market a product. No, I am not talking about the hype and buzz that every of his movies create, but the way he presents the story. He makes it glamorous with all commercial ingredients carefully in a way that the soul is still retained despite the presence of item numbers, fights and sometimes love making scene too. Recall "Anjali", "Roja" and even his last "Yuva", if you had noticed carefully, the actual story comes in the second half only whereas all the commercial parts were in the first half. But when Mani Sir gave up his glossy techniques and stick honest to the story alone, we got a classic - Kannathil Mutthamittal (A peck in the cheek).

"Sometimes not seeing the original version of a movie can be good". That is what I felt when I saw the Ram Gopal Varma's Indianised take of famous Hollywood cult classic "Godfather". I had heard a lot about that movie inspiring a lot of directors, many of my friends had told that the novel was still more superior. But I don't want to take away the credits from this Indianised version. While seeing the movie I noticed the similarities in other "inspired versions" - Maniratnam's Nayakan had more of it in the second half and almost all over in Kamal Hassan's "Devar Magan". While seeing "Sarkar" I realised the sway Big B, has over the medium, I wished Ram Gopal Varma make more movies as director, not as a producer.

{mosimage} Jillunnu Oru kadhal takes you back to those exhilirating moments when you hear AR Rahman's album for the first time, that happened way back in early 90's. I still remember those magical moments when I heard ARR's albums for the first time especially "Kadhalan" - the chorus "Indhiraiyo ival sundariyo..", Thiruda Thiruda's "Thee thee thithikkum thee..." and Taal's "Ishq bina kya..", which never failed to transport you to the world of fantascies and beautifully mounted visuals. Years passed by, AR Rahman started losing his Midas touch, until "Rang De Basanti" happened. Back in Tamil after a l...ong time, I experienced those mesmerising moments all again with "Jillunnu Oru Kadhal (JOK)".

{mosimage}Scene 1: National Award winner Meera Jasmine was quizzed by the journos that would she accept a movie with Mohanlal? Meera Jasmine answers "Get me that one powerful script that provides us scope to perform without me just relegated to song and dance routine and I'll grab it with both of my hands". Scene 2: Sathyan Anthikaud and Mohanlal team who had provided a lot of memorable movies (including Nadodikattu, Varavelpu, Pingamy etc..) hadn't worked together for 12 years. Sathyan is deluged with questions of possibility of working with Mohanlal again. Atlast everything falls into place and Sathyan Anthikaud signs Mohanlal and Meera Jasmine together.

{mosimage}This is one movie I always quote as a Bible to all of my friends who get married. This is one of the rare masterpieces that delved into the institution of marriage and power of love starting where the other love stories ended - marriage. Again this is one of the beautiful movies that imparted a strong message without being preachy and doesn't get lost in the gloss. I think the suspense is enough - I am writing about K. Balachander's "Puthu Puthu Arthangal" which translated into "New definitions..."

{mosimage}A Vidyasagar - Dharani combination is always special with a proven track record in "Ethirum Puthirum, Dil, Dhool & Gilli". When they come together again, but this time in a new territory - Telugu, I had high expectations. Vidyasagar as usual didn't disappoint this time as they are unapologetic and unabashed about the fact that theirs is a mass product with commercial tunes unleashing tonnes of fun & zing. Out of five tracks easily the pick is "Egire Chirugamma.." rendered by Udit Narayan & Anuradha Sriram, which transports you to the black & white era with hero riding on the charats. The orchestration is modern retaining the nostalgic feel.

{mosimage}I always love Satyan Anthikaud's movies as they are like a leaf out of life, not exaggerated or dramatised. More than any of his movies "Veendum.." holds a special place for me because it cemented my love for Malayalam movies. I was just out of the Engg. College when this was released. I wrote to Ullas Babu enquiring about the girl in the movie who was stunning and talented. She was Samyukta Varma - the demi Goddess of Malayalam movies and the last leg of the female superstar torch which extinguished with her marriage. I got a chance to see it on Asianet after an year of its theatrical release and by that time I had become conversant with the malayalam movies.

{mosimage}I would say it was an unconventional attempt at its time with no hero in it and the movie rode on the shoulders of three female protagonists hailing from different social strata. It was an assembly line product from the Kamal Hassan's Hollywood remake factory, with an inspiration from "Nine to five". It was about a fashion designer Sathya (Revathy), Middle class Clerk Janaki (Urvashi) and a sweeper Paappamma (Rohini), working in a garment factory under the lecherous boss Nasser. How the ladies teach their boss a lesson is the core of the story, with addressing the issues like creche, equality in rights etc... touched then and there.

{mosimage}Thanks a lot for the internet. I am living thousand miles away from my hometown, but for some one who loves music as a second oxygen, internet has brought everything closer. I have easy access to Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Hindi albums, much closer than the people from India, thanks to the broadband. Nowadays I am hooked to Tamil & Telugu albums majorly. Why can't you people also try these albums? I don't buy the arguement that you don't hear because you don't understand the lyrics. Music is always beyond the boundries of language. A few words about the albums I am hearing and enjoying these days.

{mosimage}Sandai Kozhi - warring rooster, there can be no other apt title for this movie. Everybody is warring on their own either be the hero Vishal, or "bajaari" heroine Meera Jasmine, or even the villan Lal or senior hero Raj Kiran. When the award winner & choosy Meera Jasmine signs a movie, whole of Kollywood opines that there should be something special in the movie. Sandai Kozhi is no exception with Director Lingusamy getting better in each of his movies. If you see his debut movie "Anandham" and "Sandai Kozhi" together you will never believe that both are from the same man. So much is the different in the treatments.

{mosimage}It came, it conquered and it is still ruling in the minds of Tamil cinema viewers. It came as a soothing breeze when there was a flurry of action movies like "Kakka Kakka" was sweeping Tamil cinema. As they say, storm startles while the breeze soothes. I am talking about "Parthiban Kanavu [Parthiban's Dream] (2003)" a beautiful dream by its director Karu. Pazhaniappan. It came from the stable of Sathyajyothi Films, who makes movies sporadically with the best of rising talents. Maniratnam, Kadhir were introduced by them and Balu Mahendra's classic "Moondram Pirai" completes their reportoire. As usual this movie moved me because of my strong resemblence to its protagonist Parthiban.

I don't remember when I heard the malayalam songs last. Looking back last year I liked and bought only three albums - Vadakkumnathan, Chanthupottu and Ananthabhadram. Besides these all the music dished out in malayalam movies are pucca trashes. Except Vidyasagar, who became very choosy about Malayalam projects, nobody is good in Malayalam music industry among the current generation. With Raveendran Master passing away, gone are the days where Malayalam songs had melody, soul and sensitivity.