After a long time i woke up today early in the morning when it was still cold outside. After a long time i had got up before 7.00 and i was amused by the fact that is was for a movie, that too in a language i am not fluent in. Ghajini got released in Hindi, today and i was there at 10.00AM at the "Sri Balaji" theater to get the tickets. After a long time i got an opportunity to see the first day first show of a movie and it happens to be the first hindi movie to be seen in theater spending money from my pocket. The main reason was because of all the hype and the expectations set by the movie. Also the film was special since it marked the introduction of Asin in Bollywood.
The movie lived upto the expectations. The movie was faithfully and dutifully copied frame by frame from the tamil version, except for the climax which differed a lot. So it gave a sense of satisfaction even for those who have seen the tamil version a lot many times. Instead of Sanjay Ramasaamy you have Sanjay Singhaniah and instead of chennai it is Mumbai and instead of tamil you have hindi. I might have got this feeling, if not for the beautfully made climax, which not so well crafted in the tamil version. Director Murugadoss has worked a lot on identifying the scenes that can be changed so that it is a lot meaningful. The best part of the movie is Asin, who is meticulous in showing the face reactions. Her face reflects the mood and totally allures the audience. Though all the scenes, dialogues and at times the costume was exaclty similar to that of the tamil version, i remained glued to the seat barely producing signs of motion whenever Asin appeared. When Asin is comical, the theater erupts in laughter, when she faces some ordeal, i noticed a pin drop silence. Looks like with Ghajini she has laid a strong foundation and can build upon that to establish a strong career in Bollywood. Aamir plays his role with ease but you could not help comparing Surya with Aamir and often conclude that Surya was a bit better in few scenes. Wont mention about the movie.
But anyway the movie is awesome and soon it might find its way into this year blockbusters. Worth seeing even if you had seen that tamil version many times.
P.S. - Thought the spelling for Ghajini is गजिनी but noticed it was गजनी in posters.
Friday, December 26, 2008
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Side(u) Middle(u) Berth(u)
That day the train was on time for a change. Myself and Musi got into the S8 coach without wasting time. For some reason we often get seats in S8 and lot of interesting incidents happen whenever weravel in S8. The first reaction once we got into the coach was a sign of relief. The coach did not have a side middle berth. This side middle berth seems to be a ingenious idea of a sincere government servant. On the first sight the concept looked quite ok to me. Side middle Berth meant more seats to lie down and dream for the entire night. But thats the only thing you can do, if you get up a little
fast from your sleep, you will end up banging your head on the side upper berth. The most haunting part is the way in which thereservations are made and how the seats are allocated. The way in which seats are allocated is based on the old algorithm based on 72 seats per coach, so once you board it is just confusion with all people in coach proposing their own ideas on how seats are allocated. To confuse this further you have two numbers written near every seat. The confusion will continue till the TTE arrives. One TTE preferred not to do that and we were forced to sleep on the side berths, which in no way is convenient taking the height factor into consideration.
So that explains why we were happy on seeing the missing SMB. We made ourselves comfortable and started our discussion that ranges from modern day Asin to historic Kundavai. But that did not last long, soon we were disturbed by few people who claimed the seats belonged to them. Soon there were around four people checking the tickets. Everything looked perfect, except for the date of journey. We had reserved seats in S8 for the return journey. For the onward trip it was on S5. Once we realised that we were wrong, we did not stay there for more than one second. Ignoring the smiling faces we walked away and never turned back.
S5 was in utter chaos, the reason was the SMB and two set of numbers written near every seat. Grrrrr once again there were theories floating around. Atlast TTE came around 11.00 and claimed that there is no change in the seating arrangements. The side middle berth is not to be used, which means the old numbering will be followed. But the confusion did not end, as people who boarded at the next station in the middle of the night had no other option other than waking up the people who are lost in dreams.
The final decision still remains unclear, will it continue to be like this, will it be discontinued. Hope government officials resolve it soon.
fast from your sleep, you will end up banging your head on the side upper berth. The most haunting part is the way in which thereservations are made and how the seats are allocated. The way in which seats are allocated is based on the old algorithm based on 72 seats per coach, so once you board it is just confusion with all people in coach proposing their own ideas on how seats are allocated. To confuse this further you have two numbers written near every seat. The confusion will continue till the TTE arrives. One TTE preferred not to do that and we were forced to sleep on the side berths, which in no way is convenient taking the height factor into consideration.
So that explains why we were happy on seeing the missing SMB. We made ourselves comfortable and started our discussion that ranges from modern day Asin to historic Kundavai. But that did not last long, soon we were disturbed by few people who claimed the seats belonged to them. Soon there were around four people checking the tickets. Everything looked perfect, except for the date of journey. We had reserved seats in S8 for the return journey. For the onward trip it was on S5. Once we realised that we were wrong, we did not stay there for more than one second. Ignoring the smiling faces we walked away and never turned back.
S5 was in utter chaos, the reason was the SMB and two set of numbers written near every seat. Grrrrr once again there were theories floating around. Atlast TTE came around 11.00 and claimed that there is no change in the seating arrangements. The side middle berth is not to be used, which means the old numbering will be followed. But the confusion did not end, as people who boarded at the next station in the middle of the night had no other option other than waking up the people who are lost in dreams.
The final decision still remains unclear, will it continue to be like this, will it be discontinued. Hope government officials resolve it soon.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
The Trichy Trip
Had gone to trichy two weeks back to attend see Senthil reluctantly putting an end to his Bachelor life but willingly stepping into the role of a family man. Finally found time today to blog about it. As usual, the preparations for the trip started a long time back, even the marriage preparations might not have happened at that time. And as usual after lot of discussions we decided on starting on saturday morning to Trichy. After a long time i enjoyed a bumpy ride in our normal TNSTC bus with attention oscillating between the "Sivagamiyin Sabatham" and the movies that were played in the bus. Conductor made sure that nobody slept in the bus and played the movie in full volume.
Reached Salem at 3.15 and from there started to Trichy. After a bit of reading, a little of discussion the tiring bus journey came to an end and we were at Trichy. From then started that eating spree. The marriage was grand, and food was just great. For two days every inch of space in the stomach remained occupied.
We did not have enough time to visit the temples around Trichy. When the initial plan was made, we had the plans of visiting all temples but once we started the trip we knew . Fortunately with help of Praveen we were able to visit kallanai and thiruverumbur temple. The recent rains have helped cauvery to cause enough damage to the nearby villages and we could see that on the way to kallanai or Grand anaicut, the dam built by Karikaala Chozhan before 2000 years. Due to the recent floods, water was diverted to Kollidam. The water gushing out of the opened shutters with great force creating a pattern and giving a illusion of standing in a ship was a wonderful sight. After visit to Thiruverumbur, we returned back to Bangalore pledging to return back to Trichy to visit the places we had missed this time. After reading Kalki's book the curiosity to visit the temples has increased a lot. Lets see how the plans go.
Reached Salem at 3.15 and from there started to Trichy. After a bit of reading, a little of discussion the tiring bus journey came to an end and we were at Trichy. From then started that eating spree. The marriage was grand, and food was just great. For two days every inch of space in the stomach remained occupied.
We did not have enough time to visit the temples around Trichy. When the initial plan was made, we had the plans of visiting all temples but once we started the trip we knew . Fortunately with help of Praveen we were able to visit kallanai and thiruverumbur temple. The recent rains have helped cauvery to cause enough damage to the nearby villages and we could see that on the way to kallanai or Grand anaicut, the dam built by Karikaala Chozhan before 2000 years. Due to the recent floods, water was diverted to Kollidam. The water gushing out of the opened shutters with great force creating a pattern and giving a illusion of standing in a ship was a wonderful sight. After visit to Thiruverumbur, we returned back to Bangalore pledging to return back to Trichy to visit the places we had missed this time. After reading Kalki's book the curiosity to visit the temples has increased a lot. Lets see how the plans go.
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