Raja's read only memories

The IPL may be over; however, it’s time to examine a TV advert – which did the rounds around the same time – that pitted cricket against football Few in India would dispute that cricket here arouses as much, if not more, passion than the Kama Sutra . When viewed such, Indian society has no room for atheism or differences, for it has a common God aka Sachin Tendulkar (name provided for the sake of the uninitiated), who only recently got elected to the Upper House of the Parliament. The Holy Grail of Indian sport, the sponsors’ and media’s darling, cricket’s popularity also means that its hordes of followers are also its experts. So, pitting this game against any other, howsoever popular, could be viewed as an attempt to either be a trendsetter or a sitting duck to widespread ridicule and criticism. Ergo, intrigue is the watchword when Atlanta’s second cola major, Pepsi, pits Chelsea’s Frank Lampard, Fernando Torres and Didier Drogba against Indian cricketers M S Dhon...

Here’s a sneak-peek into what transpired before the raging debate in our Parliament over an insidious/ thought provoking/ hilarious (take your pick) cartoon Inside the room of the powers-that-be, at 24, Akbar Road, New Delhi, the office of the grand old party of India... “But still, madamji , I don’t understand why he needs to be depicted as flogging a snail, of all creatures.”  “And you say this cartoon figures in our school textbooks. Surely, I hope you are not inebriated, as you were when you made that zero-loss statement on the 2G scam?” “I swear on the Quattrochi’s hefty Bofors commission... (Voice trails as he receives a cold glare that would have frozen a bowl of steaming hot pasta)” “ Madamji , I swear by Andimuthu Raja’s 2G loot that... (Speaker waits for approval from listener which he gets after a momentary furrowing of the eyebrows and a brief rumination) that these books are perpetuating the heinous of the ideologies. The minister who had granted the go-...

Published in City Express, the daily supplement of The New Indian Express, Bangalore on April 16, 2012 A rehash of the director’s earlier hits, Oru kal ou kannadi bears no novelty and entertains, albeit partly And we thought recycling allegorically referred to only leftover-dependant lazy cooks or music composers with little care for copyright issues. Joining the bandwagon is director Rajesh with Oru kal oru kannadi (a stone, a looking glass), which reprises – and ends in a reprisal of – his earlier hits Siva Manasula Sakthi and Boss Engira Baskaran.  An etymology analysis would reveal that the kal and kannadi of the movie’s title – probably inspired by a song of the same name from Siva Manasula Sakthi – refer to the sexes from Mars and Venus respectively; one needs no nuclear scientist to infer that this is a love caper. OKOK opens to Saravana (Udhayanidhi Stalin, grandson of DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi) and his friend Partha (Santhanam) setting out to Pondicherry t...

A novel love story that we should have had... Boy, this movie did send expectations soaring into the upper echelons of the atmosphere first with the involvement of the progeny of screen idols Rajinikanth and Kamal Hassan in it and then the phenomenal success of the soundtrack Why This Kolaveri Di. However, the movie, 3 , a love story that transforms into a thriller, fulfills some of them and punctures some too. A funereal opening scene is followed by a rich-boy-meets-not-so-rich girl scene; love blossoms faster than the setting of quick-dry cement, culminating in a marriage. Shades of Thulluvadho Ilamai and Alaipayuthey are impossible to miss in this almost fresh portrayal of adolescent love, punctuated by hilarious sequences and brief dialogues. Aided by a crisp narrative and flashbacks that segue into the present – a la Mani Ratnam’s Aayutha Ezuthu – this is also the best part of the movie. Expectantly, the matrimony soon encounters choppy waters. The viewer is bombarded wit...

Appeared in City Express , the daily supplement of The New Indian Express , Bangalore, on March 27, 2012                       What are unique to the numbers 658,000, 612 and 750 million? These numbers have captured the imagination of the People’s President, Dr A P J Abdul Kalam as none other, such that he has written an entire book keeping them in mind. After masterpieces such as Wings of Fire , Ignited Minds and India 2020 , to name a few – which largely focused on how India could become a superpower in all aspects – Dr Kalam transcends all national barriers with Target 3 Billion, co-authored by IIM-Ahmedabad alumnus Srijan Pal Singh, and dwells on eradicating poverty across the world. But why 3 billion? The authors expound that the international below poverty line (BPL) community – synonymous in India with the Planning Commission’s ludicrous `32 margin – is about 3 billion; ...

What happens when the supposed docile of our nation's politicos decide to communicate with one another? Here's a fictional account ... Inside a room in the corridors of power of Karnataka... He looked at his reflection on the mirror; that trademark smile of his could not be brought back even with a great deal of effort, and seemed at best only a smirk. During his heyday, it was said that this smile was his lucky charm – which too seemed to have now deserted him. He sighed, ruminated briefly before deciding how to react. He reached for a pen and paper for possibly his last letter, a suicide note. Unsurprisingly, he did not have to hesitate over whom to address it to, Mr Y would do. “Must get to the point straightaway,” he thought as he wrote: “I may be referred to as the smiley CM, but the number of times I have cried in private because of you may easily outstrip your public shedding of tears.” He examined the sentence feeling satisfied that it may set the right dramati...

Article can also be read at: http://newindianexpress.com/entertainment/tamil/article344575.ece An analysis into the success – and failure – of the national award winning Tamil movie Aranya Kandam     The slick, pulp fiction-like poster of Aaranya Kaandam, perhaps the first Tamil neo-noir movie by Rajagopalan Venkataraman Think noir in Indian cinema and it is but natural to think of movies based on gangsters and internecine wars for supremacy. Notable examples in this genre include the Amitabh Bacchan-starrer Zanjeer , Mani Ratnam’s Nayakan and Ram Gopal Varma’s repertoire of mafia sagas, ranging from Satya to Company and D. Save for a few, a majority of such movies, in their bid to dish out “masala” entertainers – a euphemism for a film that has something for all sections of audiences – have traditionally offered the backseat to factors like story and screenplay. Ergo, when Aaranya Kandam (the jungle chapter) – perhaps the first Tamil neo-noir movie...

First in the US and then in India, Google has been making waves with ‘the web is what you make of it’, its ad-campaign for its internet browser, Google Chrome. Here's a lowdown into the specifics A man is passionate about his new-born baby girl and chronicles her upbringing online; a lady executive at an MNC goes on maternity leave, but her passion for cooking spurs her to start a cookery blog; an artisan facing a tough time marketing traditional Tanjore paintings decides to shift his business online. The commonality in the three incidents: ‘the web is what you make of it’, the latest ad campaign of Google Chrome, the internet browser from the stables of search engine behemoth Google. To get a feel of the relation between advertising and cinema personalities or cricket stars, one only needs to only head to the nearest traffic junction characterised by a slew of billboards or turn on the television. From carbonated drinks to air conditioners or clothing fabrics, these personaliti...

The front-page cartoons of this magazine have always been considered a barometer of the nation, and particularly Tamil Nadu’s, political landscape. Rib-tickling and dripping with sarcasm, it’s following has gradually swelled, though, not in dramatic terms, as certain high-profile media houses would flaunt. Be it the DMK or the AIADMK, the BJP or Congress, the Left or National Conference, its leaders have been the butt of many an acerbic but thought-provoking joke. In fact, it may not sound out of context to liken this publication to the American humour magazine, MAD. Sample this: during the height of Anna Hazare’s high-profile fast against corruption, resulting in hectic parleys between his team of lieutenants and the Parliament, this magazine ran a front page cartoon with Team-A on one side and representatives of the UPA government on the other. Team-A, which remains silent when its demands such as inclusion of the Judiciary and prime minister under the Lokpal Bill’s ambit are met...

At first sight, the killing of two Indian fishermen by Italian marines off the coast of Kerala and the murder of three Pakistanis by an American government official exactly about a year ago seem to be starkly different. However, scratch the surface and the similarities can be startling: There was an absolute denial of wrongdoing on the part of the accused (for obvious reasons) – the American, Raymond Davis, which it would be revealed later that he was a covert CIA agent, claimed that he fired in self-defence; the Italian marines, too, made a similar claim, despite others aboard the fishing trawler asserting that they weren’t in possession of arms. Note that Indian fishermen are not allowed by law to carry arms. Davis and the marines, despite their “innocence”, were incarcerated swiftly. Their respective homelands, the USA and Italy respectively, swung into action, demanding their immediate release citing international human rights ...

Touching upon competitive spirit, the legendary writer George Orwell, in an essay dated 1945, had described sport as war minus the shooting. He could very well be referring to the ongoing veiled battle between two of India's English dailies. When “India’s national newspaper since 1878” and the “Largest read English daily in the world” decide to slug it out over Chennai’s newspaper readership, rest assured that the battle would spill over to the TV media, as was witnessed recently. Cheeky indeed were the ads that thumbed the nose at one another; though, few were in doubt over who the target was. To the uninitiated, the two newspapers – The Hindu and The Times of India (TOI) , respectively – have modus operandi that are as identical as chalk is to cheese, or uppu (salt) is to upma , a South Indian snack. The "war" in question is the race to get hold of the average Chennaiite, and eventually the Indian, newspaper reader’s attention. And no, this piece of opinion isn...