Raja's read only memories

"Niruthanum...ellathayum niruthanum," are words that have been enshrined in Tamil film history, with movie spoofs, TV channel soaps and even other Tamil movies that were released later, having been influenced by the scene, the setting and the response that it elicits. For Tamil film aficionados worth their salt, the movie with which the dialogue is synonymous needs no introduction, however, for the uninitiated; it is the Rajnikanth, Mammooty, Arvind Swamy starrer, Thalapathy (the general/commander), a movie that stands out on more than one count. With Mani Ratnam as its director, this is something that has to be expected. If Thalapathy has remained in public memory, despite around twenty years after its release, it cannot be denied that its music has played a vital role in doing so, amply justified by the fact that a tweaked version of the hoot of a steam engine bringing to mind, S Janaki’s rendition of the song ‘ Chinna thaayaval ’. Probably, no other Kollywood releas...

Oram Po- one for the 'movies are for entertainment' class Sophistication is the hallmark of the protagonist in any Tamil movie. He can put to shame a battery of Perry Masons with his loquaciousness, conduct explorations that can make an Indiana Jones look like a school-kid at a playground, and at the same time, find time to seduce all the PYTs, leaving behind the older species for the likes of James Bond or any character straight out of an Irving Wallace novel. So, when the hero is portrayed as someone sweating even for his ten minutes of fame, eyebrows are bound to be raised. More so, if the movie in question is the Arya-Pooja starrer Oram Po. With the CD cover of the movie showing Arya standing beside an auto in a khaki -coloured dress, the first impression one tends to gather is that it could be a rip-off of Superstar Rajnikanth’s Baasha or maybe the late MGR-starrer Rickshawkkaran. Thankfully, though, the movie wasn’t one of those maddening archetypes that offer a satia...

The reader is asked to go through the following sequence of events and identify the common thread running in them. You are greeted by a traditional musical performance early in the morning, either a vocal rendition or an instrumental performance. This is usually followed by a tete-a-tete with the latest entrant in the page 3 circuit, who attempts to burst into at the snap of a finger and, on an average, tries adjusting his/her's hairdo at a minimal rate of 45 times per minute. A news ...