Well it's time to give a standing ovation to one of the greatest if not the greatest entertainment icons on their 70th birth anniversary: TOM & JERRY. Even is someone is an adult he or she can not help enjoying this eternal cat and mouse game. Whether they admit or not even the heavily tattoed, macho men will be bursting their bellys out laughing, while watching these two comic superstars in action. The greatness of this cartoon series is that they still appeal to current generation of kids and adults alike as they had, to the previous generations. Even today's state of the art 3D life like animated characters find it difficult to connect to us like those two did to us instantly. It has got all the ingredients for great entertainment: simplicity, colour, funny, high in action. Kudos to the creators for they just didn't draw the characters, but made the characters perform to perfection. Though there is some criticism that it actually shows violence, masquerading as fun and entertainment and that it may negatively influence young and impressionable minds.
As we all know, in any case, much can be said on both sides. Just like a coin has two faces, this cartoon too has some good and bad in it. But in the end looking at the popularity of these two, I tend to believe that good certainly outweighs bad at the end of the day. Hope it carries the mommentum further and may it outlive our lifespans!
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Saturday, June 26, 2010
World's happiest couple!
Recently I was busy in finding the happiest couple in the whole world. Well to some skeptics the two words 'happy' & 'couple' may sound like an oxymoron, but sarcasm apart, I still tried to find out one such couple. I was about to give up this endeavour which was turning out to be futile, but in the last minute much to my relief I found out one such couple. You may ask why one should put so much effort in a relatively not so important matter. On the contrary I believe that this information will be like a beacon of light in the darkness for all my newly married friends and for those who are awaiting their turn.
And as per my findings the happiest couple in the whole world were Adam & Eve. Simply because Adam didn't have to listen to Eve about all the men she could have married and Eve didn't have to listen to Adam say how well his mother cooked. :-)
To remain as a happy couple, this is the recipe!
And as per my findings the happiest couple in the whole world were Adam & Eve. Simply because Adam didn't have to listen to Eve about all the men she could have married and Eve didn't have to listen to Adam say how well his mother cooked. :-)
To remain as a happy couple, this is the recipe!
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Raavanan!
The limitation of being a master craftsman in what one does, is that the person can not afford to be just ok or for that matter even good. He has to be more than good. That's the quagmire in which the master director Maniratnam finds himself in, with the release of his latest bilingual extravaganza "Raavan" in Hindi and "Raavanan" in tamil. Having clearly been stated that this movie is a contemporary take on the ancient epic Ramayana, it was supposed that it would portray the myriad shades of the wonderful character "Raavanan".
As per the epic Raavanan is a learned, able and strong king and a great devotee of lord Shiva. In fact, except for the misdeed of kidnapping Sita, I have never heard of him being notorious like some of the other characters like Kamsa, dushaasana etc. Rama-though the lord incarnate, is still a human being and is bound by the cycle of karma. As a result he undergoes all emotional turmoils like dilemmas, suffering and happiness and sorrow. Now the drama heats up! Raavan with such an exceptional track record meets with his downfall with one act of imprudence. Raam too, whom we eulogise, too commits a blunder of suspecting his wife's chastity and forcing her to take a idiotic fidelity test. Though the reason for this stupid action is mentioned in the epic, it's sheer stupidity nevertheless especially when looked at from today's perspective.
My expectation from Maniratnam was that he would build the plot upto a point where he will let the audience decide as to who was great:Raavanan or Rama. Raavanan though kidnaps Sita, an act which is immoral still makes us admire him with his decision to first win Sita's heart before having her. On the contrary though Raam is revered to be a perfect man, in my opinion no one else had inflicted so much pain to any woman as he had to Sita. Moreover what would be the thought process of Sita if she were a modern day woman? I guess she may even take Raavanan's side instead of jumping into fire just because her husband has asked her to jump! :-) This drama, crossfire of ideologies, social beliefs, characters is what I expected and I have to reluctantly admit that I was disappointed in the end. I had this expectation based on his previous movie Guru in which he weaved that magic.
But no one can complain about the performances and music. They are top class. Cinematography is truly amazing and there is no point in mentioning separatley this aspect in a Mani's film. Though the deliberate camera shakes to build the tension of a scene resembled Jason Bourne movies, in my opinion they weren't as effective as the later.
Back to square one, if this movie had been directed by any other director it would have been a great movie. Though the movie is good in many aspects, just because it was directed by avgreat director, Raavanan has out as a normal movie.
As per the epic Raavanan is a learned, able and strong king and a great devotee of lord Shiva. In fact, except for the misdeed of kidnapping Sita, I have never heard of him being notorious like some of the other characters like Kamsa, dushaasana etc. Rama-though the lord incarnate, is still a human being and is bound by the cycle of karma. As a result he undergoes all emotional turmoils like dilemmas, suffering and happiness and sorrow. Now the drama heats up! Raavan with such an exceptional track record meets with his downfall with one act of imprudence. Raam too, whom we eulogise, too commits a blunder of suspecting his wife's chastity and forcing her to take a idiotic fidelity test. Though the reason for this stupid action is mentioned in the epic, it's sheer stupidity nevertheless especially when looked at from today's perspective.
My expectation from Maniratnam was that he would build the plot upto a point where he will let the audience decide as to who was great:Raavanan or Rama. Raavanan though kidnaps Sita, an act which is immoral still makes us admire him with his decision to first win Sita's heart before having her. On the contrary though Raam is revered to be a perfect man, in my opinion no one else had inflicted so much pain to any woman as he had to Sita. Moreover what would be the thought process of Sita if she were a modern day woman? I guess she may even take Raavanan's side instead of jumping into fire just because her husband has asked her to jump! :-) This drama, crossfire of ideologies, social beliefs, characters is what I expected and I have to reluctantly admit that I was disappointed in the end. I had this expectation based on his previous movie Guru in which he weaved that magic.
But no one can complain about the performances and music. They are top class. Cinematography is truly amazing and there is no point in mentioning separatley this aspect in a Mani's film. Though the deliberate camera shakes to build the tension of a scene resembled Jason Bourne movies, in my opinion they weren't as effective as the later.
Back to square one, if this movie had been directed by any other director it would have been a great movie. Though the movie is good in many aspects, just because it was directed by avgreat director, Raavanan has out as a normal movie.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Golden age for sports fans!
Don't ever make the mistake that this could be somehow related to cricket by a mere cursory glance at the topic. No, not in the next million years. Looking at the quality of cricket that's being played, all sports enthusiasts like me would certainly be in a state of deep depression. So instead, let's look towards Europe and Africa and there they are!
Tennis- the ultimate individual game and Football- the ultimate team game both are ready to feast our eyes, excite our minds and inspire our hearts. Of course the wheels had already been set in motion two weeks earlier when the French open at Rolland Garros kick started. Now the Football world cup which starts on 11th of this month and Wimbledon which will probably start on the third week of this month will continue the momentum, carry on the excitement well over into the month that comes next. For a sports fan the feeling is like that of a normal person acquiring a home and getting married at the same time (I can find no better example than this one:-) ).
Both the games impose tremendous pressure and test one's technique, fitness and of course one's mental strength. One interesting point is that in French open Rafael Nadal is considered to be the favourite which he did win yestereday. In wimbledon Roger Federer is considered to be the favourite albeit with some reservations because of a looming threat in the form of Nadal. But this time in Football no team is considered to be a clear favourite to win the world cup and this adds some zing and suspense to the proceedings.
No matter who loses at the wimbledon or whichever team loses at the football world cup, one thing is for sure; Tennis and Football will win hands down. If the fans don't have any allegiance to any particular team or to any particular player, they can be winners too! So let's just invite the the golden age of sports that's in our doorsteps ( of course it's just a figure of speech). All you have to do is to just flick the remote on!
Tennis- the ultimate individual game and Football- the ultimate team game both are ready to feast our eyes, excite our minds and inspire our hearts. Of course the wheels had already been set in motion two weeks earlier when the French open at Rolland Garros kick started. Now the Football world cup which starts on 11th of this month and Wimbledon which will probably start on the third week of this month will continue the momentum, carry on the excitement well over into the month that comes next. For a sports fan the feeling is like that of a normal person acquiring a home and getting married at the same time (I can find no better example than this one:-) ).
Both the games impose tremendous pressure and test one's technique, fitness and of course one's mental strength. One interesting point is that in French open Rafael Nadal is considered to be the favourite which he did win yestereday. In wimbledon Roger Federer is considered to be the favourite albeit with some reservations because of a looming threat in the form of Nadal. But this time in Football no team is considered to be a clear favourite to win the world cup and this adds some zing and suspense to the proceedings.
No matter who loses at the wimbledon or whichever team loses at the football world cup, one thing is for sure; Tennis and Football will win hands down. If the fans don't have any allegiance to any particular team or to any particular player, they can be winners too! So let's just invite the the golden age of sports that's in our doorsteps ( of course it's just a figure of speech). All you have to do is to just flick the remote on!
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