ANNA in Chennai

MJ

this is to mourn for the death of "king of pop".
instead of telling loads of stuffs about his achievement("as THEY DONT REALLY CARE ABOUT US")
this is one quote from the legend himself

"WHEN U BELIEVE THAT U R GONNA B LOVED AS U ENTER THE WORLD AND FEEL THE SAME AS U EXIT , THE MIDDLE PART OF LIVING CAN BE EASILY DEALT WITH"

..............................................................

THESE DOTS ABOVE ARE WAITING FOR UR COMMENTS ABOUT THIS "LEGEND"


P.S: "MICHAEL'S GHOST HAS BEEN SPOTTED ALREADY IN HIS RANCH"(WITHOUT ANY KIDS IN ITS COMPANY}

D.K.Pattammal - A legend!!!

She is an immortal creation of God and will live through her music in the hearts of millions. It was less than a year since I had my only telephone call with her and she was such a humble person for all the talent she possessed. The biography of D.K.Pattammal is in a lot of websites for all to read. In this column it is just my tribute to the legend who passed away here in Chennai a few hours back. When I first heard the news through my friend Revant I was initially shocked and deeply saddened to realise that the female trinity of Carnatic music no longer exists. There was a trickle in my eye and in a few seconds all those wonderful things she did in her life came to my mind and I was left speechless for a longtime. But then, considering the fact that she had a lot of complications physically and was literally in pain, departure is inevitable and her age is also 90. I could, like anybody else, only think, May her soul rest in peace!!! Let her keep blessing us all from another world and her demise is definitely an irrecoupable loss to the music fraternity, for she was an authority, easily approachable regarding many technical aspects of music. You will be deeply missed amma!!!

Shreya Ghoshal!!!

It has been almost a decade since she started creating magic!!! The little sweet 16 year old that
came into our lives as the voice of Paro has established herself as the most sought after voice of
the country in a short span of time. There is a lot of fan following and her list of awrds is
ever-growing and yet the singer has not let herself into the fold of what some people call
"Attitude". The list of songs had surpassed her age and experience many years back but what
remains is that there is soul in the singing and most importantly diction is something what she
seems to not compromise on which is one of the main reasons for her success in languages that
she does not speak. If you do not believe, please watch any awards ceremony,Filmfare in gereal,
and point out one proper speech she has given. Even Hindi has been a problem as far as she is
concerned and there is absolutely no connection between the singing and the speaking. She
speaks so badly as against her too good singing. Still, language has never been a problem with
her and she is an established playback singer and one cannot limit her to Hindi playback singer
or Tamil playback because one knows for a fact that she has done appreciable amount of work in
every industry and she is in general an Indian playback singer. I would even term her as the
epitome of National Integration!!!


Considering the technical aspects of her voice, she has a fantastic and a flexible pitch. This pitch
is suitable for singing many genres like pop, ghazal, quawali, Indipop, classical etc. And the range
of the voice is also pretty wide. She seems to be comfortable taking any note as her take-off note
and the landing note with the same ease irrespective of the octave be it lower, middle or higher.
And the tone is again just enough to make an impression, a standing impression. The required
stress at a given point of time to create the mood of the song just comes naturally for her. At this
juncture I would like to cite an example. In the song जादू है नशा है the mood of the song is a bit
sensual and the same mood was created in தழுவுது நழுவுது. This way she gives life to the
emotions through her voice. And this is one of the reasons why her songs are a big hit generally.
The ultimate aim of music is to stir the soul within ones own self and this she does by putting in
her soul into work. The vibrato is also just too good to make a lasting impression on the listener.
Very few people possess this kind of a haunting voice.

A full fledged technical analysis of each song and how effectively she has cultured her voice to suit every mood and every emotion transcending the boundaries of language could be an interesting Doctoral research study for ENTs. Whatever is said and done, she has created a place for herself in the music industry and most importantly the hearts of people world over and this is more than any achievement or award for a singer. Jai Ho Shreya!!!

Disintermediation in the alcohol industry!!

News reports about a bunch of family-men dying due to consumption of toxic alcohol in Gujarat last week was just another piece of news material to read for us Indians. It is just so common to come across material like this in the news. But, the plight of the family of the deceased is quite miserable and there is a need for something to be done about all this and mere compensation amounts and political controversies following these kind of incidents is no sensible action for these to stop happening. Vijay Mallya may try to sell his products and the Gujarat government may find excuses to confront those that act on non-Hindutva lines. But, a sensible solution based on a scientific approach can only stop such things. It is just not enough to say that "Something needs to be done!!", "Act people act!!". People are always acting around cameras and this is seriously a waste of time writing about them. The one solution that would suit the current day problem and is scientific in approach is DISINTERMEDIATION.

When all the middle men are cut out from the supply chain of the alcohol industry, this problem could be reduced in size although not completely eliminated. Most of the problem arises due to middle men and when the manufacturer is directly going to deal with the customer at the tail-end of the supply link, the chances of illegal activity creeping into the chain will drastically fall. The manufacturers of any industry are quality conscious, not because of their concern for societal welfare, but for their self-centered vested interest of grabbing ISO 10000 and whatnot certificates. In any case, the number of men involved in this industry will come down and people will find better and more ethical jobs. And the n0n-availability of cheap and illegal alcohol is a very positive sign from an overall point of view. A lot of people would quit drinking due to non-affordability of alcohol and this could be one way of refraining people from drinking. And those who badly need alcohol would have to pay the hefty price to the manufacturer directly and purchase. This system would also bring upon restriction on the quantities sold and this would be based on purpose of purchase. Unless and until the purpose of purchase is clearly proved with substantial evidential proof to back-up the need, more than a medically allowed quantity should not to sold to individuals. A body to constantly monitor the activities of the manufacturer and the system as such would provide employment to some and this amount of regulation is definitely mandatory for such mishaps to stop.

This approach is already in the minds of the nation's policymakers but then any good idea will have opposition and the legal battle is going on regarding the disintermediation issue. Any suggestions or views in this regard are most welcome and this topic is open for discussion. One can go the extent of sending emails and letters to the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare regarding the same.

Kambhakkt ishq!!!

With all the hype and the publicity and most importantly the bollywood-hollywood hook-up, I just could not wait to go to the theatre and watch the film which many people was a humbug plan!!! But, thanks to one dear friend and my co-blogger(:P) Vishwa who turned up! I must say that it had all the ingredients for a complete (A) entertainer... Every line had either bitch or bastard and God knows what the censor board is doing. Since it has the brand "Hollywood" attahcd to it, probably the allowable limit for crude language has been relaxed a bit!!! But then who cares!!! Its seriously a movie which two spoilt friends like vish and me could enjoy!!! A well stolen script from Pammal K sambandam of all movies(This line is going to trigger controversies and I better should get prepared to be stoned...those poor pks fans!!!) Every character has been remade... Subtle changes just made for the heck of it were clearly visible... Most of the songs were crappy and irrelevant and came out of nowhere and there was no sequence... And the lines written OMG!!!! bebo bebo especially.. looks like the entire film has been made for Kareena.... Kareena has just been herself, the bitch!!! But the beautiful, gorgeous bitch that anybody would like to try to tame!!! Akshay was so damn funny and he has developed a wonderful comic sense and seriously too good to be savoured!!! The expressions and the looks... Some people do look young as they grow old!!! Amrita Arora was again a treat to watch and looks like she has signed a never ending contract to play a supporting role for every Kareena film!!! Kiron Kher was seriously over-acting and that is the post symptom of Om Shanti Om I guess... Poor lady!!! Continues to over-act too much!!! The highlight of the film was the special appearance of Denise Richard(The Bond girl!!!) and "Rocky" Silverstar Stallone!!! One couldn't help feeling that Kareena and Akshay are a little bit too lucky to share screen space with a legend like Silverstar Stallone!!! The little fight in the climax Stallone puts up is a real treat to watch.. Plus Bebo looks stunning thoughout the film. She has got the best hair design and heels for the first time... Akshay as the macho stunt master has naturally done the stunts and its easy to believe that its him after watching him on NGC!!! He rocked!!! The script lacks a sense of direction.. he dialogues sucked!!! The songs were very below average.. except the Shreya Ghosal number..... But pure glamour and publicity has made the film a huge success... This is not a very healthy trend in Indian cinema.. Merely looks and exotic locations are not sufficient for meaningful cinema.. I am still trying to figure out what could have stopped the director Nadiahwala from stealing the screenplay of pks which was particularly good!!! Despite all odds we enjoyed the movie and it was a great entertainer... If meaningless cinema merely for fun is your kind of movie this one is not to be missed!!!

Angels and Demons

I am no exception when it comes to being a Dan Brown fan and I was just waiting to watch Angels and Demons although I was sure till the last moment that the movie would suck bigtime!!! But then I didn't know that I would be so wrong!!! Well... Its been about three years since I read the book and I did not do a "last-minute-revision"(like I always do!!) before going to the movie. So I could only faintly remember some parts of the story here and there. Initially my logical part of the brain couldn help questioning if it would really be so sunny till 7:59 PM in the Vatican and I guess the thought hit Ron Howard after that much time of filming and the lights dimmed out after the 8th hour. The climax has been sensibly modified, probably keeping the temperament of the audience in mind. But, then the movie was great!!! Tom Hanks had done ample justice to the character of Robert Langdon and like always he has been the best!!! Ayelet Zurer in the role of Vittoria Vetra was good. Although she fit the bill, some more care about her make-up could have been taken and she was not the show-stealer!!(Well, may be its difficult to satisfy me;))!! Ewan McGregor in the role of the Camerlango was superfab and there is nothing one could comment badly about his performance. And yes!!! I again could not help getting the feel of watching a screensaver when the anti-matter(in the canister) explodes above in the sky of the Vatican. I know its difficult to bring the effect of an explosion unseen!! But still!!!World critics may keep slamming the film but on the whole it was a great entertainer and a fantastic adaptation of Brown's work without a black spot!!! The angels have shown a lot of mercy on the film and the demons keep attacking and the movie could be a nice example for the sustenance of matter and anti-matter!!!