My name is Billa

Suave, Sleek, Smart, Stylish and quite Disappointing. That's the Billa 2007. The film takes Tamil Cinema to new heights and is a technical feast. The cuts, the angles, the camera work and Ajit himself, are, to put it, simply a treat for the eyes. Ajit shimmers in his role as Billa. Retaining his touch to the script, Ajit very intentionally and rightly, has not tried to recreate Rajni. That's the high point of the movie. Many a remake is lost due to this faux pas recreation of the yesteryear artist. Billa 2007 has befittingly abstained from that.

Amidst rumors of the movie taking a cue from Farhan's Don, surprisingly, the movie is most loyal to Rajni's Billa. The director has rightly done so, as spin offs from Farhan's movie would have created unhealthy talk. The characters appear fresh in each frame and the color composition of the movie is brilliant. The cinematographer's choice of filters and sublime look is commendable. Nirav Shah has indeed done a good job of it. The film tries to be stylish and surpasses the style expectations. Editing is astute. Till that point, the movie is fine. The Catch-22? The script.

Billa 2007 sticks to the original like a leech and, the drought of twists or turns in this movie creates an aura of drag throughout. The movie seems as if the director was in a quagmire all along. The script pulsates between Ajit and the story, leaving the audience in a dilemma. The first half of the film is dominated by Billa(Ajit), where he's being continuously shown in various frames, disembarking from premium cars and helis, and the never-taken-off-eyes Ray Ban glasses. Dialogues are neither prominent nor many, and do not make much noise. It is the style quotient that is vivid in this part of the movie. The story creeps, and the screenplay inches along. It is clearly not one of Vishnuvardhan's best. Billa is an international smuggler who is desperately being hunted by the police force headed by DSP(Prabhu). After several unsuccessful attempts to nab Billa, the team hatch out a plan and finally corner him. Billa escapes once again, only to be shot at. Unable to sustain his injuries, he dies. This is where the film picks some pace. The DSP(Prabhu) etches a plan to find out the other smugglers and finds out an identical personae for replacing Billa. Velu(Ajit) is convinced to act as Billa. Gokulnath(Rehman) also appears as an Interpol Officer, and his presence puzzles Prabhu, who does not let know anyone about the plan. Santhanam, appearing as Velu's friend does a good job, given the role constraints. The first half ends with Velu announcing himself as Billa to his gang.

The second half makes a quite interesting segment, as there are pretty interesting dialogues. The masterful actor that he is, Ajit effectively potrays the variance between the real Billa and Velu as Billa. Good work, indeed! On the director's front, I do expect a minimal twist and suspense in the storyline when you are Vishnuvardhan. It is there that the film falls and the audience is let down. After some cliched twists in the movie, the DSP is shot dead and the whole Billa gang is caught. Velu is posed with no alternative but to confess that he was acting as Billa and it was a part of the DSP's plan. With the DSP dead, how Ajit manages to convince the police that he is Velu forms the rest of the movie.

Namitha and Nayanthara fail to make an impression and should have put in more effort to add to the oomph factor, atleast. The person in the role of Ranjit looks stale in expressions, but is an able character in the movie.The songs lack finesse and though shot well, fail to linger in the minds of people after the movie is done with. Rehman and Prabhu are fine with their part. Rehman, although has played his part with a subdued effect which makes him look more good than Major Sundarajan in the original Billa. Characterizations are apt.

It's smart. It's chic. It Hollywood influences are rightly seen. Ajit as Billa, is nothing short of handsome and gets into the skin of the characters seamlessly. No comparisons can be made with the original and that's the foremost flavour of Billa 2007. The story though, might have its annuling effects and is likely to not go down too well with the audiences.

Well, to make a remake is an effort. To make a success of it is another story altogether. To make a remake out of a successful remake, cannot guarantee success. Showbiz is never that simple. But, Billa just might prove to be a success story after all.

It's a mad, mad, mad world

The relief of having completed the training program could be seen on the face of the trainees. They had successfully passed the main exam. Fresh from college, a gruelling 4 month experience had made them see a lot of ups and downs. They had been amidst passes and failures alike. The batch party was about to start. The Batch owner, a towering figure, walked into the hall amidst a lot of boos. He managed to have a sheepish grin on his face and looked more like a doll. He was not exactly the popular of figures, his demeanor not being amicable; the students were not exactly happy with the way he handled them.

"When is this *^&%$#@ batch party commencing?" remarked my friend.

"I hope it is on soon", I replied, shifting myself to another chair, to enable me to get a better view of the proceedings. "Hey....There's your girl, man", I started to pull my friend towards seeing this lovely female dressed in orange.

"Good Evening, Everyone! . I would like to thank you all.....", the Batch Owner commence the prologues.

"Man, she looks great today", drooled my friend. I chanced this occasion to have a glimpse of the female in orange. "She does look beautiful dude".

"Of course she would, that's taste my friend", prided my friend.

"Hey, she is still not yours", I pointed out.

"Taste is taste, my dear. That's class", my friend replied, smiling.

"On this occasion of the first batch at........"

"Can't he just finish it off? I am already hungry", I chided.

"This is the last occasion where he can talk something and get away with it. Let him, for one last time, talk", my friend replied.

Not wanting to see him, I then turned my head to the female in orange. I couldn't remember her name, although I never made an attempt to find that out. 'Nature and its beautiful beings are to be admired', I thought.

"The following members will receive awards for their excellent performances in the training programs", the Batch Owner readied himself to call out the names.

"Here go the studious ones. I bet they wouldn't know how the outside world looks", my friend remarked with a tone of anger.

"Who cares, anyway? Hey, what about a party tonight? For completing the training successfully? What say, dude?", feeling good about the idea of a party. Party meant booze and hangovers, of which I loved the former. I was chugging him in.

"No man, not today. We have a session after this entire program, to inform us about our postings".

"We can go in the night, then", I quipped. I was getting annoyed with the fact that it had been ages since I had drunk and I wanted to feel the heat of it. I was not a drunkard, but I loved the idea of passing out. I also loved the idea of calling up my girlfriend when drunk, and talking things. My friends were unaware of the existence of my relationship. I had managed to hide it all the way through. My girlfriend, it was a comforting thought to think about her. Inspite of the umpteen fights we have, we still manage to fight more. It was pretty amusing and my thoughts wandered off to my girl. I loved her. It had been quite sometime since we had met. I was planning to go to my hometown once the postings were to be released. I then gleamed about the opportunity of getting to meet my girlfriend.

"Tea Time folks!". The whole audi reverberated with a sign of exasperation as the batch owner finally called for tea. I was in a world of my thoughts, which were harshly halted in its steps.

"There she goes, my pretty one!". My friend remarked on seeing the girl in orange. Girls are girls. And boys love seeing them. A missing gospel truth, I suppose. My eyes then shifted from the orange one to a blue one, which was quite plump to look at, but had this cute dimple. My girl too had a dimple, not a big one, small, but it was beautiful in its place.

Not again!

"Jose Mourinho, the 'Special One' is ousted from Chelsea", scream the papers! Believe me folks, I am still not able to digest the fact that an outstanding man of talent would be thrown out due to a petty verbal skirmish(so say the papers!). It's disheartening to note that 'The beautiful game' is fast becoming a superficial make up box. Directors buy players for their brand value, and worry little about the balance of the team. It is slowly becoming an open secret that few clubs really aim at providing the best football to the spectators. The football of today reflects a mafia feel to the public with the clubs being bought by the rich and the famous. It's business as usual for them, though. The pretext of providing great football is obliterated by mere branding share and percentage and green equity.

The world knows the talent of the man, Mourinho. He pulled Chelsea from the rugs and took them to towering heights. Though, the championship league cup eluded them, they emerged victorious in a lot of other instances. No wonder that Sir Alex Ferguson saw a boisterous equal emerging. Mourinho was more of a mentor, a teacher, and an inspiration in himself. This vessel of talent was beleaguered and lost due to mere differences. Is it not high time that people who know the game, spoke about it and controlled it? The world has many Mourinho's and an equal share of Abrahamovich's and the latter's proportion does dilute the game to a high extent. Do these people really know about the sport? Being rich means powerful. but, in no way does this guarantee possession of knowledge. This would be the prime element that a lot lack. There are indeed striking similarities between the business of the game and the business of an organization. But blindly applying business centric thoughts to a game might destroy the being of the game. And this is what is precisely happening, even closer home. BCCI and the IHF are 2 famous examples. Can you people propose an idea to remove this element of business in the sporting society? How efficiently or effectively can a structure be built to encourage all, and, to weed out discrimination and bias?

The return

Hi there ppl.....Of chains and fetters, of software and the homo sapien.....Yup...Its been a long hiatus from blogging for me...(Courtesy: My training program at the dream software company)...Internet restricted! Heart's been skippin bleats(blogs-heartbeat) for quite some time. Relief now!!!Sunday's a full 24-hour internet access day..Yippeee!!!

A lot of things have been happening in the worlds, as they always do. Beckham's transfer, the unrest in Myanmar, Global warming, Artic exploration, Sunita Williams, and our local SethuSamudram caper. That's quite a gamut, a variety ridden one. Well, Old habits die hard. And I am planning to commence my series of serial thoughts on the most happening and unhappening, not-so-happening, and the whatever stuff in this world. And sorry Sandhya for disturbing you again!!!!!

Are we painting our nation RED?

The horror of the Samjhauta Express burning incident, for the next door simple citizen, simply reiterates the fact that the internal security conditions in our mainland are pathetic. A boarding point for people of 2 different countries ought to be security tight. Compromises made in these cases can lead to devastating ramifications, which clearly underlines the tragedy that occured.

The Old Delhi Station, very clearly was having the nodus of defective instruments and officials. The Catch-22 zone was being handled with an air of callousness. Yet again, our security have turned a blind eye to this incident. Though the suspension of a few officials might provide some consolation, it nevertheless, cannot obliterate the deaths of 68 innocent persons. 68 ordinary laymen are torched and murdered. What light does this incident shed on our nation? I thought the "Incredible India" campaign was meant to woo only tourists. The country is in pain and why are We, The People still ignoring this? Our non actions in this case are leading to a Gordian Knot. Ignorance is not bliss, it is wrecking our fraternity.

The terrorists torched the express for consolidating a statement: To oppose the visit of the Pakistan Foreign Minister, Mohammed Kasuri. The interrogations that followed the aftermath of the incident lend a humorous tone, than a serious one. The victims already bereaving and grieving, are questioned. And they are then airlifted to Pakistan. And questioned again. Even Roger Federer would be a bit merciful towards his opponents. The technology that has framed the bombing is flabbergasting. The ideas are well planned and are executed with meticulous perfection. Clandestine indeed, but it cannot escape the eyes of an alert citizen. Why blame the security when we ourselves are the ones to be blamed.

Isn't it high time that the public start taking part in fortifying the security measures in the State? On the barest of scales, the public has to be made more aware of the security checks that need to be imposed at places of importance. Two hands joined together are more stronger than one. Imagine a billion hands. It is time for the people to awaken. Or are any other "Alarming bells" required?

Guru: An Inner Retrospect

If Rang De Basanti was an external question and ended on a melancholic note, Guru seeks the inner path and strikes a nightingale's chord with us. The Mozart of films, Maniratnam, gets to work again.

Brilliance. Sheer brilliance on screen. Maniratnam raises the bar of Indian cinema. Everytime this man crafts a film, it comes out a more colourful,stronger and more fresh than the last augustine attempt. "Guru" traces the life of a man, Gurukant Desai, from the 20's to the 50's. The man has a vision and he translates his dreams into reality. Hold it. Not your run-of-the-mill feature. This is where Maniratnam gets into exploring and examining a transitory human side to an otherwise astute and brave businessman. It is about the relationships, the mistakes, the failures, the odds,the challenges, the triumphs.The very phases that we pass through and fall, and yet come out stronger.It is about the growth and triumph of the human spirit over human spirit.

Gurukant Desai(Abhishek Bachchan), an ambitious young man, gets to fly to Turkey for work. Apart from his work, Guru discovers an instinctive business inclination. This propels him to turn down a job offer and fly to India. He dreams of initiating a business venture. And there starts our journey.
A journey that we all travel with and identify with.So many instances in the film remind us of ourselves. Anything more is going to ruin your chances of being swept by the film. I deliberately choose to refrain my words.

Abhishek Bachchan carries the film well enough,though not much convincing. The first half of the film blitzkriegs at a fast pace. The second half might seem to be a bit sagging, but it is slowed down to metaphorize the sudden cut in pace. The varying paces themselves don an important role. Reminds me of Akira's films. The screen play is suave,retro and well paced. I personally hold that a more impressive narrative could have spiced up the film. Mithun Chakraborthy shot at an 60/70 year old is convincing.

Shyam (Madhavan) and Minu (Vidya Balan) are simply stunning on screen. The silent resoluteness of a young journalist to take down Guru is well essayed by Madhavan. The confrontations between Abhishek and Madhavan are excellent.Vidya Balan simply holds you in awe with her child like demeanour and glistens in every frame she wheels into. The other protagonist, Sujata(Aishwarya Rai) has crafted a typical strong Indian woman with her roots grounded. Not easy, I should remark. Because you get the feeling that your mother is on screen. That's because all the characters in this film are self identifiable. This is a story of anyone who dreams, who lives, who marries, who has friends, who does business, who fails,who wins;absolutely anyone. That's the magic of this film. The BGM of the film is classic and a wanted retro feel is added by A R Rehman. Art direction is also appreciable and Samir Chanda has worked meticulously on the sets. The cinematography is par excellence.The camera angles when Madhavan and Vidya Balan share the screen space are noteworthy. Slight camera shakes and movements are deliberate as we whizz past through Guru's life.

Anyone who sees this film might be inclined to term this a Biopic,as I do, but it is to be understood that this Biopic is very identifiable with us, a self retrospective.

Not that it is guaranteed to set the cash registers on fire, but the art of cinema is taken above mere commercial purposes.
On the whole, its business with brilliance.

Do watch it.

Purpose....what's that?

Last night, dad was reprimanding about me not being serious with my career. He then went on to talk about purpose of life and stuff.....Gosh! That puts me off.Why on earth do we need to talk about a purpose when we arent sure about the existence of purpose in itself...or am i getting it wrong???

Movies,Magic and Maniratnam

Maniratnam movies have always been able to capture the triumph of cinema on celluloid.It is this magical touch that enabled him to indulge in the art-the cinema. A few snap reviews of his movies......

Dil Se: Cinema at its criss-cross borders. Fantastic cinematography coupled with stunning music. Was visually and musically dominant. The song "Chaiyya Chaiyya" still reverberates in the indian diaspora. A letdown of the narrative style affected the screenplay of the film. Easily one of Mani's best. Dil Se opened the international market. AR Rehman scores a 10/10 for his music in this film. No wonder he's Mani's golden boy.

Need for more institutes

The govt.guys are planning to set up a few more institutes(thats around 1000 dear).Well,we know whats happening with the so called educational institutes......The money game..quality takes a backseat....

A Beginning............

"The best way out of a difficulty is to blog".........A medium to enable beings of our own to rant their thoughts and postulate their purposes and ideas...........Game on.............3...2....1....