Aayirathil Oruvan – Really the One!

// January 23rd, 2010 // No Comments » // Film, Reviews

Hi ,

When we all think that Tamil film industry is not more than a skin show , Selvaraghavan has just showed us that what we are capable of. I went through many reviews online and there was mixed opinions. I think our reviewers have put up the “Reviewers Hat” for this film , when they didnt bother to do so when horrible films like Kandasamy , Vettaikaran came… How much adventure film have we seen off lately ? This is BOLD step forward and we should be giving the director enough encouragement to do another project. Instead we are doing the opposite. May be we are used to the same craps and we don’t want to come out of it…

The whole films concept is a beautifully carved one , the whole story which moves towards the secret society which is living on an island and underneath the rock , could easily make a critic go like ” Why the hell aren’t they coming out ? ” to prove that point , Selva had beautifully given a strong script which justifies why they are hiding. Kudos to Selva. I am not going to explain it to you… you figure them out!

The character development is excellent and all have done their best and have turned to be Magnum Opus for each actor ,mainly to Parthiban! His role as a King is perfect and he has showed how a the legendary Kings will be. His body language , his fierce eyes , his bold speech all makes his character to be remembered forever! Next best is Reema Sen. How many films in Tamil industry ever come out giving importance to the female lead ? Reema`s performance as a project leader, who is sarcastic , bold in the first half and the wicked , sex oozing cunning deceiver in the second half have just shows that Tamil industry have been under utilizing the talent skill of these actress.

Karthik and Andrea have done their best and there is no flaw in it. Particularly the way Karthik transform his acting skills from serious to funny looking character , even though sometimes remembers of his Paruthi Veeran character , is good to watch.

Each frame is a wallpaper !
Read it as much time you want …. Each frame is designed not pictured ! Ramji camera has played a vital part and the cave shot were a whole community lives were majestic and powerful ! I have never seen anything so beautifully depicted in Tamil films… Kudos to Ramji!

In particular the song “Ohh Essa” , was a treat to eye. Even though the song is somewhat inappropriate to the story , but it simply shows the creativeness and excellence in choreo and camera work !

It really needs talent to show how powerful the kings were in those times and Selva has done his best not to show it too much in this modern times. Too much on either side can throw the originally intended theme out of the movie. Selva Raghvan has excellently portrayed the raw power of those old Kings . The scene where he(Parthiban) handles 5-8 layperson single handedly shows the real power they had in those era`s. And in the next scene when a mother asks for the meat , the expression and decision of the king was also so well portrayed. It needs whole lot of guts and talent to show these in this modern era and that too in Tamil Films. He also excels in the fight scene between Reema and Parthiban and particularly when reema switches to fighting with sex as a weapon. How parthiban handles that was also a delight to watch. These are very new to Tamil Film!

Music by G.V was in right proportion and didn’t sway from the story.Remix of “Atho antha paravai polla” was very nice touch and movie goer will be really delighted ! Many were disappointed that their favourite song ” Maalai Neeram” was not in the movie .. Was it cut ? or will it be in Part 2 ? Selva only knows !!

I wouldn’t say the movie is flawless .. there are few.But taking into account all the grand stuff and beautiful story put in a Tamil Movie , I would gladly forget those flaws and watch them.

When all other films are either a copy or a crap , Selva`s bold venture is new beginning for Tamil industry. A new door opened for those who want to venture and take a plunge into the world of unknown. We have a very vast history of Kings , Myths , Adventures , If directors can dwell on them , may be we can see more similar interesting , new variety movies.Instead of seeing only the negatives of this film when positives are soaring sky high , i think we people should try to encourage these kind of ventures or else we would stuck with age old “Hero-Heroine-fight-masala song-villain-happy ending ” kind movies!

My Rating :

-Urs Siva

AVATAR – A Milestone in Movie Making !

// December 30th, 2009 // No Comments » // Film, Reviews

Hi all,
There is always a film which will rewrite the way films are made. There is always a films which will set the benchmark standard for the next generation films. There is always a film which will turn the course of the whole film industry. Avatar is the movie which does all the above…..

Let me break it in the beginning… Don’t expect arrows or bullet to come near you or any flying objects whistling past you. This isn’t “My Dear KutiChathan ” type 3D movie ! James Cameron has made sure his way of 3D is polite and doesn’t interfere the story too much or spoil his dream world – PANDORA!. He uses 3D excellently. 3D movie at its very best. From the first shot where our hero is lying in the long space bed vault, till the end of the war you will love Cameron`s 3D. The 3D won’t be more than few seats from the screen, but see closely on the screen, the depth of 3rd dimension is enormous. You will realise it in each shot how well he has handled the 3D. You will notice the dance of the grass as that future helicopter descends down on that pandora….

I usually don’t like to tell the story; I don’t want to spoil the fun for those who are going to watch the movie. Instead I usually say the best things in the film… technical, sound, graphics, acting stuff.
The level of graphics is enormous and you will realise it when you see the Pandora in 3D. Cameron has handled the 2D and 3D in a neat way. Not all scenes are 3D. If you take you glasses and view… You will know that few scenes are 2D and there will be very neat transformation going from 2D to 3D as the images will start to blur and double… He makes us think the whole movie is 3D, but it’s not so. For me Wall-E had a great graphics, the metal layer and Eva`s shining body made me think “Can anyone beat this level of graphics?”, well Avatar just did it and its miles ahead of Wall-E!  The skin texture, facial expression, the level of detail of Pandora , the sculptures in the film , water fall are all extraordinary and you will remember it till eternity. Few minutes into the world of Pandora, you will think that it’s all real, but in reality it’s not!

Story wise, i wouldn’t say its ground breaking or new, the usual story, but that’s were Cameron shows he is the KING! He takes a normal story, when we see the story from his view, it just appears spectacular. There are many things said in the story , like united society and integration and realisation of the true power of nature,corporates ruling , industrialisation , ruthlessness against life forms just for the sake of natural resource. you will realise it when those big machines run and destroy the lovely Pandora.

The background score is really well done and isn’t too much noisy.Actually its is very much underplayed but utilized perfectly in right areas. It doesn’t hurt your ears like in some Tamil movies or even in few English movies like transformers 2.

The way film is shown is very neat and doesnt lag or deviate too much or makes us bored! This film which took James nearly 6 years to get completed is something to be marveled at. He wrote its scripts in 1994, he then perused the top theatre owners in America to invest in 3D equipments; James was so convinced that 3D is the future of movies. For this movie he along with his photography friends developed the new 3D motion camera where people have to enter the world which are pre rendered with powerful computers , actors have to wear equipments all their body which captures each and every motion and also their facial expression , there by bringing the real expression of the humans to the screen . Usually CGI created characters lack in expression or the look very pale! but in Avatar , you will feel each Naa`vi character. James Cameron had a large area to play with, since it’s his world and his technology, he has surely shown what a director could do with right technology!

Did you guys know that the language spoken by Naavi is totally created by language specialist and it took nearly 6 months to form all the words? Actors were to recite them with proper expression. Imagine spelling “aguminitnop” and giving a expression of smile… That’s tough … Real tough! Actors have done well.Thats not that only things , the trees , animals are all invented and Hierarchied them. He wanted to top what Lucas created … Whether he won or not is still yet to be seen if avatar has sequels.
There is also a cute thing…. the subtitles for the Naavi language will appear in 3D and you will know how cute it looks. These are small things which shouldn’t be missed. It will take at least 3-4 times seeing the movie to fully see the level of 3D and details in this spectacular movie

The movie isn’t without faults , many times the 3D is out of sync causing blurred movie instead of 3D , that’s because the technology used in the film is not perfected , may be future movies with this technology would be much better. The story might be the weakest link here , but that doesn’t show that much as you will enjoying you time in Pandora!

Little advice if you haven’t seen the movie

1.) Watch it in 3D! Surely this film will run for the next 2-3 months in Satyam or Inox , so even if you can’t get the ticket right now , you will get after few weeks. So better see it in 3D… You will be mesmerized!

2.) While you watch the movie, never concentrate on the details behind… Read this article http://www.inquisitr.com/53141/how-to-avoid-james-camerons-3d-avatar-headache/

3.) Try to grab the whole world of Pandora as much as possible… Definitely don’t miss the BIG TREE!

May be I am wrapping this article too early, but more into the article, I might spill out few spoilers. I don’t like it. So let is end here.

Finally …Will this film change the way future films are made? Will this film set a new standard in film making? Will this film be a technological milestone?

!!! YES !!!

My Rating :

-Urs Siva

Pokkisham Vs Kandasamy

// September 14th, 2009 // 2 Comments » // Film

Comparing these two is like comparing a kinder garden kid vs a professional. Former being Kandasamy and latter being the Pokkisham. The way tamil industry or any other film industry going questions the very basic thing , ” Are we becoming that stupid ? “. Todays movie are no more than a glamour show and people behind the film think that people can accept anything that director throws at them. Take for example a hero able to handle 10+ Rowdies ( 10 is the least number here ) , how many of you in real life have seen a person fighting and winning atleast one person ? its simply near to impossible unless you are a trained Karate master. Directors stop thinking that tamil actors are super hero. If you want to show them as super hero then create a super hero movie like super man or spider man . You are making tamil industry look pathetic. Kandasamy is the film which tries to show the hero as super hero , taunting as a suepr hero movie , first in tamil industry , etc ,etc… Kandasamy shows that tamil director can never keep up thier words and also shows that they cant create a super hero movie. Kandasamy is all about promises and how they fail ( suck ) to the core. Before the release the team had a village adopted. they show thier intention are good , but at the same time do this …  ” The inauguration of Kanthaswamy took place on 22 September 2007 at the Devi Paradise theatre in Chennai. For the event, a unique electronic invitation, made in China, was presented to guests who had been invited. The invitation was the size of a laptop and featured a 8 minute trailer of Kanthaswamy.^[9]Rs. 15,000, making it the most expensive invitation in Indian film history Each invitation had cost about ” , a quote taken from wiki.

I still dont get it. they want to have poor people helped out and still they spend lavishly on nothing ( Invitation ) . they could have simply used SMS service to invite or a simple call would have sufficed. why go for a costly ( costliest ever ! ? ) invitation ? . This is the problem with our directors , they over shoot the target my almost a mile or they don’t have a target at all.

Pokkisham , A treasure . Pokkisham on the other hand defines everything , love , class , director , story , cast , song … everything. Why doesn’t these kinda movie doesn’t make a good impression ? why cant these films come up irrespective of who produced it or what its budget is ? Pokkisham is how films should be. and Kandasamy is the film what a Tamil film should never be ! Pokkisham excel in many places like songs , cast , characterization , story , the time it was taken , the details in the film , and last but not the least , a pure love !

I dont think a detail review on both will ever be necessary  , coz i can finish them in few words..

— Pokkisham —- a Pile of Diamond

— Kandasamy — a Pile of Sh!t

Kandasamy speaks about how the world around is corrupt and how hero takes on variuos actions to correct it. its really funny that the director shows no character of any professionalism in any sort. here are a few questions to him

1.) What happens to the big shots after he sees vikram in those funny characters roaming here and there and dancing ..etc ? my question is .. Can one have a pleasant sleep afer seeing all those things ? i doubt it. If so what happened to the roped which are tied around him so that he is still in the bed able to only watch vikram dance and stunt etc…. can he even feel a rope around him ? PATHETIC !

2.) What about the helicopter which came along with the black villain ( i forgot his name … wait should i ever have to remember those names ? ) in Mexico when he travels all the way out of the city in the middle of nowhere just to ask vikram ” Tell me what info`s have you told the CBI ? ” , cant he just ask it in his place ? and hey what happened to the helicopter ? didn’t you pay for it ?

3.) Does breaking a luxury bus prove anything here ? you go to a great distance and spend loads of money where its not needed and you show that you are best at spending it all the unnecessary ways one can think of.

4.) Why was there a Meow Meow song ? Vikram comes to shriya home to get rid of her , then the song .. after that the film continues.. nothing..

there are so many questions. But to sum it up all , just get the Friday review of Hindu a few weeks back and read the review about kandasamy there . There is no suitable review than that. A special hats off to the reviewer.

Well coming to the comparison , Pokkisham is all Tamil industry should take as a sample and work on . And kandasamy is the best sample when all the perfect mixture can result in a disaster. Charan excels in his direction , even though acting could have been slightly better. When all the new movies come out with loads and loads of glamour, Cheran`s Pokkisham differs greatly by not having any of those and to portray just LOVE ! The director shows his love for the language and which i think not many directors nowadays think of. All those little Tamil verse and sweet pure Tamil words, it by itself stands tall and takes home the film to a victory . The last scene where Padma Priya holds the long letter and starts to read , i was thinking , ” OMG how can we sit for such a long time till she finishes the letter ?”  , but again kudos to director , the short pauses and very well narration makes one sit and even stand to the last few minutes . Hats of Cheran Sir .

One thing is sure , People go by the names and cast and everything and forget about story , acting , screen play etc.. films like pokkisham should be hailed and promoted over Sh!t like Kandasamy. When people behind the movies realise that its all about story and acting rather than glamour and crew , then i think we can see some really worthy movies. Until then prepare your self for movies like Kandasamy , Masilamani , Sivaji , Villu etc.

Again Hats Off to the great director , Chearan !

Sony Ericsson W995 – Best of W and C series!

// August 20th, 2009 // 4 Comments » // Reviews

Hi all again. I previously did a review on windows 7 , and also on PS3 , this time , its a phone and its the latest one from SE – W995.

But before i begin my review , i just want to clear few things out for all.

Things you should have in mind before buying a mobile :

I think todays world just goes by the hype and none is ready to stop and think what they and buying and why. How many times you have bought something and found it lying simply there , or you bought something which you don’t know how to use it to full potential or don’t know how to use it at all ? Here are the few things for now regarding mobile phone …

1.) What is your need ?

2.)Do you know wht is wifi ? If so do you have access to it ?

3.) Do you use GPRS ? if so how often ? ( may be nowadays all the phones comes with gprs , but remember , do you know how much it will cost for working with GPRS ? If you dont know , you better stay off , as nearly all the ISP/NETWORK in India are greedy and will scratch all your property.

4.)What is the size of the phone you are looking for ? This is important as many don’t like bulky phones , and some dont like to have small screen. So decide which one to go for.

5.) If possible try the phone and buy. Its sometimes feel good to be showoff with latest gadget , but being a “Early buyer” is like double edged sword. One thing is you can end up having a crappy product which is untested , unreviewed product. On the other side , you will have the latest product and get all the hi-tech features and take advantage , for example in case of 3G and Wi-Fi and other technology.

6.) Always do a back check on the company , and how the service is . Because of recent stories about Motorola going into bankruptcy has put a great concern both in buyer and sellers mind. Many sellers are opting out of it , that’s what i heard.

Ok Lets come to the Review part

Sony Ericsson W995

I am not going to list all the features from ability to send SMS , can take photo stuff , i am going to write about the features which i feel stands out .

1.) 8MP camera in a Walkman Phone , first Walkman to feature it and SE`s commitment towards integrating Walkman and camera series.

2.)Clear Stereo and Clear Bass for the new Media Player , which i think is the best in the whole phone.

3.)Really big screen , 2.6″

4.)Facebook Integration into Message section ( In New firmware R1FA035)

5.)New conversation mode for Messaging

6.)Flash Lite 2.1 Version

7.)8GB M2 Card.

8.)Fastest UI in a SE phone so far

9.)Last but not the least , its the first Walkman Phone to feature a 3.5mm headphone jack

Things i didn’t like much :

1.)Too much Keys on the side

2.)Awkward placement of  W(“Walkman”) button

3.)Short USB cable

4.)No lens Protection

5.)Nearly useless stand on the back.

6.)Slightly difficult to type.

Lets get into the details shall we ?

UI  -  The Best ever.

I am actually switching from K850 to W995 , previously i had K800, K750,K700,T610 , and i must say that UI , the interface we work on , the part which we use for most of the part , what makes one say ” Ohh That Phone is slow” , ” Hey that phone is really fast “. The UI here in W995 is almost same speed as of K750 , fast , reliable and totally cool.

When i got the phone , one of my friend asked me whether the phone restarts often , this idea of restart is basically due to the crappy UI of K800 and K850 ( latter being the worst ) , and now there is wide spread idea that SE phone restart a lot , hang and such things. Actually the real reason for it is when SE introduced the controversial A2 , which was mostly experimental and unstable in K850 , and i have to say that it has come a long way and been through vigorous programming and optimization . For one who switched from the initial A2 to more optimized A2 will know very first that UI is Fast and stable. Why i want to stress on this is , so far W995 has not restarted once . and i have put into many rigorous condition like running multiple games/apps along with Media player . And so far , the UI is very stable.

Update – A Curse :

I will talk about the updates here itself , I have so far updated the phone nearly 3 times , and each time , i don’t know for what reason the phone is completely flashed , i mean the phone contents are removed , everything , from sms to address book to word suggestion .. everything. this is annoying since when someone is using the phone for 3-4 months and get into it with personal word suggestion words for messaging , with a simple update , they can loose all the personal word suggestion , and there is no to backup those words. other things like SMS , and all other things can be backed up using given Phone Manager.  What happened to SE , why are they deleting the whole Firmware and reinstalling from the scratch each time ? May be they don’t want old files / corrupted ones to ruin the fun , so they are clean installing , and not doping a upgrade which they used to do previously.

Camera – A K Series within W ..

The 8MP , Autofocus camera is really a stand out in W series. It lacks a Flash which is the only let down , other than that , the camera features everything you see in the latest K series / C series . With Scenes , Macro Feature , Panorama ..etc. For those who want more from Camera can visit this link , where there is compilation of all Mods for W995.

here is few sample and comparison between my canon 7 Mp and W995 8MP

Media Player – The Best Walkman Ever ..

This is the first time i feel that i am hearing a really Walkman , know the old cassette Walkman we used to hear ? , those are the best , the quality is simply awesome , coz the data there is raw and a good Walkman like Aiwa , Sony will give you the best experience. Why i am comparing w995 to old Cassette Walkman ? , actually the Quality of sound is best on those cassette player ( Provided you had/have a good Walkman player ) . I had a Costly Aiwa way back and it the best Walkman for me so far , i mean for mobile music listening.  After a long time , I was able to immerse myself with similar quality of sound with W995. The sound is superb , Loud enough , the bass Very clear at peak , No distortion at what ever the volume is . My song collection are mostly above 128 Kbps. and I have few with 320kbps. The music and quality in W995 is outstanding , mostly because of the clear bass and Clear Stereo features .

the media player is similar to one you find in PS3 , XMB type.  The media player automatically scan for all the supported files , irrespective of which folder you put in your memory card. this is actually cool , coz you don’t to specifically put in certain folder so that the phone reads. And another sweet thing about SE phones compared to lame Apple products is , SE phones doesn’t need any specific software to upload the songs to the phone.

Connectivity and Other Features :

It comes with Wi-Fi and 3G support. The Wi-Fi handling by the phone is really smooth and easy. It also supports DLNA , meaning you can now stream your favourite songs to other DLNA device like PS3 , this feature is really cool coz , i used to load all my music files to perndrive and play it through PS3 which sounds better on my big speakers. Now with 8GB card , all my songs are on my phone and whenever i want to hear them on big speakers  i stream them through PS3.

Other features include GPS , Global postioning system , which i great , but most of the time you are going to be within your city / state and chances of getting lost i every minimum. Atleast for me , its less used feature. May be could come in handy when i go on a vaccation to some different place. GPS apps like google map , Wayfinder , NearMe , Navigation , etc are bundled up for convience.

W995 has the latest java 8.4 , and really helps in for gaming and other cool functions.

It also packs in latest Browser which is really fast . Youtube player is integrated into the Media Player , so next time you are on a public wifi or college wifi , watch all those funny videos on your phone .

As i said above W995 supports Flash lite 2.1 , meaning you can now have beautiful flash themes. for mroe details , i recommend you guys to visit www.se-nse.net and www.esato.com/board , its worth registering on those sites , as they have great contents and tutorials about SE phones.

Design and Build :

Not much to say on a slider design , but the key placements on the main panel , right below the screen , are very good , right distance , the key size and the two keys on the front row are very soft and they feel like touch keys and responseis really great. On the downside the key pad is little closely arranged and keys are very difficult to work with. And anyone comming from normal candy bar phone and messgaing with big keys will find it a little hard to message. But its not that bad.

Build of the phone is really top notch. The phone feels solid and in my case , feels like a real steel.

Messaging and Internet :

For the last two years , my messaging habit has gone to say 2-10 sms per day , mainly coz , sms are way too costly and i consider them as a old techs.. but W995 changed it all , with the new conversation mode. As you can see from the gallery i posted , the message now are stacked one upon other , this way the message from a friend is stacked above giving a feel of Gtalk/Yahoo messenger , this makes messaging a fun , rather than boring old SMS. ?Now my SMSing habit has gone past 20 per day. DAMN YOU SE !!!

I think i have covered most of the aspect , all i want to say is this phone is reliable and stable and if you are alone and looking out for a good music player , the best , i recommend you to go for W995 or atleast consider it , coz its really worth.

Take look at the Gallery …

Please leave your comments. Wrote this article on a hurry , i wanted to elaborate few things , which i couldnt , will try to update later. anyway if you have enjoyed the review  , please leave your comment.

Slumdog Millionaire – Why Going Gaga Over it ??

// February 24th, 2009 // No Comments » // Film, Music

Slumdog millionaire….

A different film with loads of information and truth in it…A film I very much liked .. but felt at one point of the time that it keeps repeating again n again… anyway a great film to watch..and a must watch film.

Yes its a film based on Indian Kid and poverty but whats that has do it with our film industry .. Only thing we have from our film industry is A.R.Rahman.. but wait , is it the first English movie he is working on ??? NO !!!

Then why is the whole India Celebrating this Oscar ( I meant to say the awards for director , film editing , Cinematography etc..)
The only true victory or say should be proud of is A.R.Rahman … and not the other things… For Your information , Slumdog Millionaire is a DAMN British produced movie and actors are Brit- Origin… now these things said .. Should we really enjoy the victory of SlumDog millionaire ?? and what have we come to ?? Depending on foreign director to uphold Indian Film industry ..!! and virtually saying that there is no good directors in India… Its a Shame!!

O.k Here is another piece of information or say a truth , There are over hundreds of films being released each and every year from the film industry …and this includes the more prominent , Bollywood , Kollywood , Tollywood… and all other wooods….
Why cant we get ONE film into Oscar ??? Isn’t that be the question of the hour ? Or say where is our film industry going towards ?
Except for HYPES ( nowadays even Dog food comes with Hype !! ) , there is not much to dwell into todays film.. Except handful of movies others are mostly commercial oriented.. anyway lets come back to SlumDog Millionaire

Yes , I do agree , its a film which involves Indian actors , Mumbai , Taj Mahal etc etc… but wait is this the only film to show all these or involve these ?? did any one know about a film called The Darjeeling Limited ? Even that too had ” India ” in it ?? and what about the film ” Mighty Heart ” which was entirely shot in India and also involved Indian Actors .!

All I am saying is lets us celebrate the things which REALLY belong to us ..
A.R.Rahman …?? Yes off course .. He should be celebrated as a HERO.But many critics from India have commented that even though A.R.Rahman has won the awards , are the Songs , OST really deserve it ?? I mean to say his works here in India is far more awesome than what was in Slumdog… and needless to say there is a part in the LIQUID DANCE song where he has taken a Tune from ” Gentle Man ” – Chiku Bukku Chiku Bukku Railae ..

Anyway we can take his award as a mush delayed Tribute to the MUSICAL KING OF INDIA!!

So why did we go Gaga over the film ???
What made us go ??
Who is the culprit here ??

The NEWS CHANNELS !!!

I don’t want to write about them here … it would only extend this article..
I don’t know when they will start showing , focusing on the real NEWS ..!!!

All I want to say to all is since because some fool over the TV is saying some Sh!t .. Don`t take it just like that .. Analyze for a moment .. All these news channel want is SENSATION to feed in and we people are really Hungry for it !!