Egg on the Face or வார்த்தை தவறி விட்டாய்...(well almost!)

Now the story of UN did not end with the previous post.

Picking up from the PS of the last one...

G did button-hole the great man. After the initial pleasantry exchanges,

UN: (in English) So, what language do you speak otherwise?

Now you know what Kamal's views are w.r.t. language...

Refer back to the subtle, yet hard-hitting piece in D'ram where Balram Naidu chides Govind about the fact that an Andhraite can talk Tamil but a Thanjavur educated Tamilian prefers to continue speaking in English.

No, this post is NOT about linguistic preferences and the need for us to converse in our mother-tongue. Continuing the dialogue between UN and G...

G: (in English) Well, Tamil is my mother-tongue (semblance of an apologetic tone, perhaps)
UN: Oh... well... D'ram will come out in Hindi shortly (absolute Kamal-speak; usually the man jumps a few steps of logical thought process in his mind and expects others to be in the same plane)
G: (continuing in English) That is good. One small request. Can you please autograph a message for me? I can assure you that I will preserve it, as I admire your works greatly (and all that BS..)
UN: No problems. Where do you want it? (remember Kalaignan?)
G: (produces the work notebook - the usual G'earth one)
UN does a nice half-pager.
G thanks him profusely and withdraws from the scene.

All fine so far.

The only problem is what G did afterwards.

Now he is a great guy with a fantastic IQ and a razor sharp mind. Well-read, different perspectives to life, wine connoisseur, high network guy etc. Sometimes absent-minded, but then who isn't?

He leaves the hotel and after a hard-day's work reaches the airport.
Goes to the internet cafe to do some last minute e-mailing.

Now it beats me (haven't asked him the reason yet), why somebody who has just put in the hard eight hours at office 'and' wields a blackberry, would go to the internet cafe after all that. Let us attribute it to the vagaries of life.

And then - horror of horrors - forgets The autograph work-book in the internet cafe... @#$#%$^

Catches the flight and only after landing in SG realizes the missing autograph.

Oh my! I have given my word to UN and have promptly screwed it up...

(Bertie: Jeeves, what is the word that starts with 're..' and means that one feels very bad after letting somebody down?
Jeeves: Remorse, Sir?
Bertie: Right ho, Jeeves)

You would not be wrong if you thought that the lines above went through G's mind. Indeed, they did. But he is a man of action and calls up his team member in India and directs him to the airport Internet cafe to retrieve the work-book.

Steve Jobs (Apple-fame) said that life is all about connecting the dots and what you do will never go waste and will come back to repay you (good or bad) later. In Tamil they say... முற்பகல் செயின் பிற்பகல் தானே விளையும்...

Moving along those lines, I think Kamal did that song (வார்த்தை தவறி விட்டாய்... in இளமை ஊஞ்சலாடுகிறது) especially for such incidents. Thankfully, G managed to retrieve the autograph and life is back to normal again.

(some embellishments in the above post; but incidents are still true)

Fungus on the Face!

They say at 40, one tends to try different looks just for the heck of it.

Yeah, no young girl is going to look at you (You are already 'uncle', what?)

And the oldies don't care either. The wife does not care (too busy with her own looks, perhaps?) and the children are OK as long as you don't accompany them anywhere :-)

So, one tries different things...

Moustache today; None tomorrow.

After ten days - very short hair - almost GI cut...

Ten weeks later, try colouring the hair (usually it is after 5 weeks; but nowadays hair grows slowly! Could GM Food be the reason?)

Two weeks later, try left side parting...

You get the drift I suppose.

In this eternal search for change, one decided to grow some fungus on the face.

I don't know what is it with a beard - goatie/french, whatever you call it; people invariably show different emotions starting from the

left extreme: indifference to

right extreme: horror

traversing through 'wow', 'nice', 'why this sudden lunacy' etc.

So after a few days of careful saving of water, razor-time and shaving foam, one managed to grow a 'french'.

If you think that I am writing a treatise on growing a beard then please be rest assured that it is not the case.

This post is about

(a) 'Disadvantages of Having a Big Beard'

(b) How one 'Ulaga Nayagan (UN)' had a tough time because of his beard &

(c) Why Kamal is at his best - Reel or Real - when he does humour.

(Ulaga Nayagan = World's Hero or World Hero or (Other) Worldly Hero - depending on who you ask to translate)

Now, you all know that Kamal has decided to cultivate that great beard of his for 'Marma Yogi' and that the movie is to be produced by Walt Disney (The little wag says that Disney must have seen a great potential in Kamal to be an animated character after seeing Baby @ Khalifulla in D'ram!)

Last week in one of the Indian cities, G met Kamal in a 5* hotel break-fast hall. In G's words, it is his first brush with a celebrity. Quite an interesting brush, I should say! Read on.

Kamal, in his camoflage khakis, sneakers and that beard was drinking porridge (அட! நம்ப கஞ்சிப்பா!).

Very healthy, one opines.

UN then calls for a glass of butter-milk (watered down yoghurt for ye, psueds)

Mixes it with the porridge.

No problems so far.

UN then calls for pepper.

A pepper-grinder comes back. (You know those small bottle like things which have un-ground pepper in them and you twist the bottom to get freshly ground pepper powder. The trick is in twisting the bottom by holding the bottle straight and the pepper comes from the bottom opening)

UN tries to shake the bottle upside down. No pepper powder.

UN calls the waiter. (Remember Sathi Leelavathi's 'Waiter, where is the menu card?')

Waiter helps out in a jiffy, albeit with a suppressed smile.

UN mixes the freshly-ground pepper and pushes a spoonful of peppered-butter-milk-porridge (PBMP) into the bushy mouth.

Alamak! Half the gruel on the beard :(

Problem, problem, problem.

But then UN is not UN if he can't resolve this.

Calls the waiter and asks for something.

Waiter nods, smiles and returns in a second with a .... straw!

UN then uses the straw to drink the PBMP.

Break-fast over; Beard is safe!

இதைத்தான் ராயபுரத்திலே 'கூழுக்கும் ஆசை, மீசைக்கும் ஆசைன்னா, Straw போட்டுக் குடி'ன்னு சொல்லுவாங்களாம்! ( நன்றி: K) - Sorry can't translate this - no attempt will do justice to this gem!

Kamal is at his best, when he does humour - Reel or Real.
மேட்டர் ஓவர்! (Defence Rests!)

P.S. G later button-holes the great man and gets his autograph. Thanks for the scoop, mate!

Back to the Passion!

(c)www.vasantham.com



Been involved with the production of the Vasantham Challenge 2008 quiz show for primary children recently.


Very enriching experience to be working with those wonderful people from Pixel.


The mid-night oil burnt all these years on the various community club quizzes (and of course 'the' WC2007 exercise) is helping a lot. But doing something for the national TV audience is a different ball game altogether. Reminds one of the dialogue by Raghuvaran (may his soul rest in peace) in Mudhalvan about the trials and tribulations of being a Chief Minister...


And the children.... oh! they are great. So sharp and so smart! Keeps you on your toes, all the time.


Good fun inspite of the pressure!
Watch out for the episodes on Fridays at 8 pm on Vasantham!
My 15 milliseconds of fame :-)
But missing the hot sun and cricket umpiring !
Mosur is already threatening to take my name off the roster :-(

வேலையற்ற வீணர்களின்...

Got this via some spam.

எவ்வளவு பேர்டா இதமாதிரி கிளம்பியிருக்கீங்க?

அடுத்த படம் கமல் 100 வேஷம்னு கேள்விப் பட்டேன். உடனே மக்கள் அந்த நூறையும் மகாபாரதத்தோட கெளரவர்களோட link பண்ணிடுவாங்க... அடங்கமாட்டாங்கப்பா!

(Heard that Kamal is going to do 100 roles in his next movie. Guys will compare him to the 100 Kauravas from Mahabharata! Tough life!)


Perfect 10!!! Dasavataram

One thing we had noticed is why people didn't get the real subtext and reason for the various roles and hence the title. If you knew the real dasavatharams of Lord Vishnu and their characters you can appreciate the script more. Let me explain, starting with the best adapted role:

1. Krishna avatar - Vincent Poovaraghavan

Lord krishna is actually a dalit, he is dark-skinned [shyamalam]. He saved draupadi when she was being violated and he was the actual diplomat in mahabharatham. Lord krishna dies of an arrow striking his lower leg. Now look at how vincent was introduced.. he appears when asin is about to be molested and he saves her like draupadi. Vincent is the dalit diplomat, fights for land issue [soil issue to be exact] and dies from the metal rod striking his leg. Oh even five of vincent's men are drugged at P. Vasu's.. sounds familiar???

2. Balarama avatar - Balarama naidu

This is an easy one. As the name suggests and the role personifies you can easily get it.

3. Mathsya avatar - Ranagaraja nimbi

Nambi is thrown into water in an act of trying to save Lord from being thrown into sea, though vainly. what more clue?

4. Varaha avatar - Krishnaveni paatti

During the mukunda song, krishnaveni paatti does varaha avatar in the shadow puppetry. The frame freezes on it for a second. there is the clue. Moreover, in varaha avatar lord actually hides earth so as to protect life forms. Here too krishnaveni hides the germs - life form inside the statue so as to protect.

5. Vamana avatar - Kalifulla khan

Remember in vamana avatar, lord vishnu takes the vishvaroopa, that is the giant form! Hence the giant kalifulla here symbolises vamana avatar.

6. Parasurama avatar - Christian Fletcher

Parasurama is actually on an angry killing spree and killed 21 generations of the particular kshatriya vamsa. Hence the real KILLER... Guess what, thats what our Fletcher is! He comes around with the gun [modern upgrade for axe] and kills everyone around. I have to check if he kills 21 people though. :-D

7. Narasimha avatar - Shingen Narahashi

First of all the name itself is a play on the words singam [means lion in tamil] and narasimha [the avatar being symbolised]. Lord Narasimha manifests himelf to kill the bad guy and he also teaches prahaladha. In the movie, he shows up to kill the killer fletcher! and is also a teacher.. Lord Narasimha had to kill the asura with bare hands and hence the martial arts exponent here.. get it?

8. Rama avatar - Avatar Singh

Lord Rama stands for the one man one woman maxim, kind of symbolising true love.. Here Avatar portrays that spirit by saying that he loves his woman more than anything and wants to live for her.

9. Kalki avatar - Govindaraj Ramasamy

As you know, the hero in kaliyug can be none other than the Kalki avatar!!!

10. Koorma avatar – Bush

This is the most loose (பார்த்த நாங்களும் லூசுதாம்பா!) adaptation I couldn't clearly comprehend. But if you look at the real koorma avatar, the lord is the turtle/tortoise that helps in stirring the ksheera sagara and bringing out the amruth. This essentially creates war among the devas and asuras. Similarly today Bush facilitates war between you know whom... May be Kamal also indicates that this avatar is a bit dumb like the tortoise...

Kuselan Songs: எப்படா திருந்துவீங்க?

Hearing the songs on the net just now.

Immediate reaction is given in the title. (Loosely translated: When will you ever change?)

Three out of five songs, extol the virtues of Super Star and that tells you the story. Nothing sells like Super Star and hence the reports about Pasupathy getting peeved on being sidelined in the audio release exercise is justified from both sides :-)

(a) Who would want to devote real estate on CD covers for a person who has probably only one song in the movie?
(b) But then atleast two sqcm of area could have been given for a role which is supposed to be the backbone of the movie!

Well, the mythological story of Kuselan was told to exhibit the benevolence of Lord Krishna, right? So, beggars cannot be choosers - no pun intended here!

As far as the lyrics of Super * songs, the poets (?) have come up with new sobriquets and newer ways to whip up the S* frenzy - why is one word springing to my mind, throughout the listening experience - Sycophancy ?

Without the sword of Rajini hanging over their heads, they have tried to redeem themselves in sollamma & chaaral.

எல்லாம் இந்த ஒரு சாண் வயிறுக்குத்தானே ஐயா?
(After all, it is all for money, right?)

GV Prakash has rehashed ARR's tunes and pieces all over the place and you get the feeling that you have heard the song somewhere before. One of the famous axioms of Broadway musicals is, "People should always feel that they have heard the song before!" - GVP has achieved that pretty much.

So, in short, music is nothing to write home about.

Yet,
- people will - yours truly included - buy the CD/cassette/movie tickets/VCD/DVD at the drop of a hat.
- intellectuals will crib that the movie was not as good as the original (all ye mallu friends! you can have a field day ridiculing this paandi movie as well!)

We shall wait for the next offering of mindless trash from either Rajini or Kamal or Vijay or Ajit or Vishal or Dhanush or ...

What to do? We are like that only!