Thursday, October 21, 2004
7-G Rainbow Colony - A realistic love story
This movie will remain special to me for many reasons, one of them being the fact that it’s my first alien language movie in a theater that I saw it on the release day itself! Ideally speaking, the credit should go to another movie “Kathapurushan” – (A terrific Malayalam flick directed by the renowned Adoor Gopalakrishnan) which I saw it in an international film festival that was hosted at Hyderabad some 6 years back. But watching a movie in a film festival with sub titles in English way after its release; and watching it in a theater on the day of its commercial release are entirely two different propositions. So I prefer to give the credit to this movie “7-G Rainbow Colony”. We went to Mayajaal, one of the very few multiplexes in Chennai and the best part about this multiplex is the ride to reach the theater. It’s situated on ECR (East Coast Road), and as Chennaites are very well aware, ECR happens to be a rarity in Chennai by virtue of being the best maintained road. So the ride was great and in a way prepared me for the feast I would be served in a few minutes. I took along a hapless colleague to help me out in the translation of some of the critical dialogues of the movie. :-)
A simple story, “guy loves a girl, girl hates him, eventually guy impresses the girl, girl wants him to settle in life, makes him notice a talent in him, and then an unconventional ending” has been realistically transformed on to the silver screen with the help of some good performances from the protagonists, great screenplay, lovely songs and a terrific background score that is the piece-de-resistance of the movie. Yuvan Shankar Raja strikes the right chords for the right scenes, making it a fantastic experience. The director Selvaraghavan should take all the credit for focusing the movie on a guy who does not fit the ‘traditional definition’ of a hero. As he says it in this interview to rediff.com, he wanted to make a movie on below average, middle class guys and feels that “Nobody is interested in making a film on them” and that’s quite true. We have conveniently accepted the hero in our movies to be doing something special or have that extra zing in him that makes him stand apart in a crowd. Infact I search my memory to find a single commercial movie that has been made on such a hopeless character as “7-G Rainbow Colony” is. But Selvaraghavan does make one and this effort of his can turn out to be the biggest hit of the season. Of course, the movie in parts does suffer from some weaknesses, but those can be easily overlooked. It’s always great to see new, sincere directors taking a decision to make movies based on unconventional themes.
This movie will remain special to me for many reasons, one of them being the fact that it’s my first alien language movie in a theater that I saw it on the release day itself! Ideally speaking, the credit should go to another movie “Kathapurushan” – (A terrific Malayalam flick directed by the renowned Adoor Gopalakrishnan) which I saw it in an international film festival that was hosted at Hyderabad some 6 years back. But watching a movie in a film festival with sub titles in English way after its release; and watching it in a theater on the day of its commercial release are entirely two different propositions. So I prefer to give the credit to this movie “7-G Rainbow Colony”. We went to Mayajaal, one of the very few multiplexes in Chennai and the best part about this multiplex is the ride to reach the theater. It’s situated on ECR (East Coast Road), and as Chennaites are very well aware, ECR happens to be a rarity in Chennai by virtue of being the best maintained road. So the ride was great and in a way prepared me for the feast I would be served in a few minutes. I took along a hapless colleague to help me out in the translation of some of the critical dialogues of the movie. :-)
A simple story, “guy loves a girl, girl hates him, eventually guy impresses the girl, girl wants him to settle in life, makes him notice a talent in him, and then an unconventional ending” has been realistically transformed on to the silver screen with the help of some good performances from the protagonists, great screenplay, lovely songs and a terrific background score that is the piece-de-resistance of the movie. Yuvan Shankar Raja strikes the right chords for the right scenes, making it a fantastic experience. The director Selvaraghavan should take all the credit for focusing the movie on a guy who does not fit the ‘traditional definition’ of a hero. As he says it in this interview to rediff.com, he wanted to make a movie on below average, middle class guys and feels that “Nobody is interested in making a film on them” and that’s quite true. We have conveniently accepted the hero in our movies to be doing something special or have that extra zing in him that makes him stand apart in a crowd. Infact I search my memory to find a single commercial movie that has been made on such a hopeless character as “7-G Rainbow Colony” is. But Selvaraghavan does make one and this effort of his can turn out to be the biggest hit of the season. Of course, the movie in parts does suffer from some weaknesses, but those can be easily overlooked. It’s always great to see new, sincere directors taking a decision to make movies based on unconventional themes.
Don’t miss this movie.
Thursday, October 14, 2004
50 coolest websites + 1
Featured here is a list of 50 coolest websites according to TIME, and they almost get it right. Neatly slotted into categories ranging from “News & Information” to “Just for Fun”, some of these sites deserve to be on your “Favorites” List.
While we are on this topic of cool websites, check out Blogstreet India site too. These people are doing a fabulous job of compiling a directory of all Indian blogs floating out there in the net space. I would urge all bloggers to submit their blogs and claim ownership of them, so that we will have at least one methodical way to find our way in the hundreds of blogs that are coming up all around us, all the time.
While we are on this topic of cool websites, check out Blogstreet India site too. These people are doing a fabulous job of compiling a directory of all Indian blogs floating out there in the net space. I would urge all bloggers to submit their blogs and claim ownership of them, so that we will have at least one methodical way to find our way in the hundreds of blogs that are coming up all around us, all the time.
Happy Browsing!
Thursday, October 07, 2004
Swades – Soothing, great music!
Writing a review of a Rahman album is forever hazardous. And the problem arises from the fact that there is a singular quality about his music that differentiates it from the output of all other music directors, and that’s his ‘growing nature’ of music. Take any album of his, right from “Roja”. I bet that at least 95% of music lovers would have liked a particular song in the entire album and that same opinion would have undergone a radical change when they are onto a fifth or sixth hearing of his album. That’s the magic of this great man’s music. This ‘growing nature’ of his music has another positive spin-off. By making his music grow on the listeners’, he easily elicits repeat hearings of his albums and for a music lover, what more can he ask for? He listens to the same album n number of times and finds to his delight that on each and every hearing, his opinion about the songs is changing for the better and very soon finds that the entire album rocks! Perhaps, one of the reasons for Rahman being considered a great master.
With that firmly set in my mind, I venture to write this review of “Swades” music. Coming from the director Ashutosh Gowariker, this movie is bound to be compared with his earlier classic effort “Lagaan”. In fact the director has almost used the same crew that was there for his “Lagaan”. And so Rahman once again collaborates with Javed Akhtar to create this rich musical tapestry consisting of profound lyrics. The album has 9 songs in all that includes 2 instrumentals.
In almost every album of his, Rahman introduces or utilizes the services of a rank newcomer and in "Swades", its Kailash Kher. Along with Hariharan and Udit Narayan, he sings “Yunhi Chala Chal” which is the catchiest of the lot. The rustic nature of Kher’s voice, coupled with the ebullience of Udit’s voice and the smoothness of Hariharan’s voice makes this song a smash hit!
Udit Narayan sings “Yeh tara voh tara” with a bunch of kids for accompaniment. This song is being shown on television currently and the song catches your attention the first time itself with its lovely lyrics that stresses the magic which can result when people get united. A lovely song.
“Dekho na” – a romantic song sung by Alka Yagnik and Udit. This song is a rip off from one of his earlier compositions that he had done for the movie “Baba”. The only difference between the two versions is that, he has cut off aggressive percussions in the hindi version and has instead focused on soft instrumentals for the entire song that makes this a pleasant hearing on the ear.
"Pal pal hai bhari" – This song is about Sita singing the virtues of Lord Rama and the entire atmosphere of the song makes you feel that it will be shown on the silver screen in the form of a drama that is being staged. This song is a very nice bhajan and is also featured in one of the instrumentals. It’s sung by Madhushree with Vijay Prakash and Ashutosh Gowariker in accompaniment.
"Aahista Aahista" – A lullaby sung by Udit Narayan and Sadhana Sargam. The only song that has not yet registered on me at the time of writing and the only one that disappoints.
"Sanwariya" – A solo effort by Alka Yagnik. The starting of this song prepares you for a journey that is set for typical tabla percussion in the background. But Rahman surprises you immensely in this song by consistently changing gears and by alternately putting in two different sounds. One sound of modern percussions that gives it a funky feel and the other one is of a traditional tabla percussion. An experimental fusion song that succeeds immensely.
"Yeh jo des hai tera" – The best song of this album, which has an instrumental version in the form of shehnai too. Ironically, this song barely registered on me when I heard this album for the first time. But now, this is the only song that I tune into repeatedly. An awesome song sung by Rahman himself with phenomenal lyrics, a lovely chorus and great shehnai music in the background. This song is addressed to that typical Indian who is living abroad and urges him to come back by reminding him of the magic of this country and the duty he has to serve towards his motherland. A very touching song. One thing I always like about Rahman is the way he renders a song with unbridled passion. For instance, listen to Rahman singing this line: “Nayi Nayi Raaho mein….dhabi dhabi Aaho mein”. Period.
With that, I rest my case and the review of this must-buy album here.
Writing a review of a Rahman album is forever hazardous. And the problem arises from the fact that there is a singular quality about his music that differentiates it from the output of all other music directors, and that’s his ‘growing nature’ of music. Take any album of his, right from “Roja”. I bet that at least 95% of music lovers would have liked a particular song in the entire album and that same opinion would have undergone a radical change when they are onto a fifth or sixth hearing of his album. That’s the magic of this great man’s music. This ‘growing nature’ of his music has another positive spin-off. By making his music grow on the listeners’, he easily elicits repeat hearings of his albums and for a music lover, what more can he ask for? He listens to the same album n number of times and finds to his delight that on each and every hearing, his opinion about the songs is changing for the better and very soon finds that the entire album rocks! Perhaps, one of the reasons for Rahman being considered a great master.
With that firmly set in my mind, I venture to write this review of “Swades” music. Coming from the director Ashutosh Gowariker, this movie is bound to be compared with his earlier classic effort “Lagaan”. In fact the director has almost used the same crew that was there for his “Lagaan”. And so Rahman once again collaborates with Javed Akhtar to create this rich musical tapestry consisting of profound lyrics. The album has 9 songs in all that includes 2 instrumentals.
In almost every album of his, Rahman introduces or utilizes the services of a rank newcomer and in "Swades", its Kailash Kher. Along with Hariharan and Udit Narayan, he sings “Yunhi Chala Chal” which is the catchiest of the lot. The rustic nature of Kher’s voice, coupled with the ebullience of Udit’s voice and the smoothness of Hariharan’s voice makes this song a smash hit!
Udit Narayan sings “Yeh tara voh tara” with a bunch of kids for accompaniment. This song is being shown on television currently and the song catches your attention the first time itself with its lovely lyrics that stresses the magic which can result when people get united. A lovely song.
“Dekho na” – a romantic song sung by Alka Yagnik and Udit. This song is a rip off from one of his earlier compositions that he had done for the movie “Baba”. The only difference between the two versions is that, he has cut off aggressive percussions in the hindi version and has instead focused on soft instrumentals for the entire song that makes this a pleasant hearing on the ear.
"Pal pal hai bhari" – This song is about Sita singing the virtues of Lord Rama and the entire atmosphere of the song makes you feel that it will be shown on the silver screen in the form of a drama that is being staged. This song is a very nice bhajan and is also featured in one of the instrumentals. It’s sung by Madhushree with Vijay Prakash and Ashutosh Gowariker in accompaniment.
"Aahista Aahista" – A lullaby sung by Udit Narayan and Sadhana Sargam. The only song that has not yet registered on me at the time of writing and the only one that disappoints.
"Sanwariya" – A solo effort by Alka Yagnik. The starting of this song prepares you for a journey that is set for typical tabla percussion in the background. But Rahman surprises you immensely in this song by consistently changing gears and by alternately putting in two different sounds. One sound of modern percussions that gives it a funky feel and the other one is of a traditional tabla percussion. An experimental fusion song that succeeds immensely.
"Yeh jo des hai tera" – The best song of this album, which has an instrumental version in the form of shehnai too. Ironically, this song barely registered on me when I heard this album for the first time. But now, this is the only song that I tune into repeatedly. An awesome song sung by Rahman himself with phenomenal lyrics, a lovely chorus and great shehnai music in the background. This song is addressed to that typical Indian who is living abroad and urges him to come back by reminding him of the magic of this country and the duty he has to serve towards his motherland. A very touching song. One thing I always like about Rahman is the way he renders a song with unbridled passion. For instance, listen to Rahman singing this line: “Nayi Nayi Raaho mein….dhabi dhabi Aaho mein”. Period.
With that, I rest my case and the review of this must-buy album here.
